Union Minister Shri Giriraj Singh addresses National Milk Day celebration; Thanks Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for protecting farmers' interest by not joining RCEP; Milk production increases by 36.35 per cent from 137.7 MT in 2013-14 to 187.75 MT in 2018-19 #ProtectingFarmers #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Shri Giriraj Singh today addressed entrepreneurs, milk producer farmers, academia and media on the occasion of National Milk Day-2019 at Pusa in New Delhi. Addressing the august gathering Shri Singh thanked Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for protecting interest of 10 crore farmers by not joining Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). He said that Prime Minister has always given the prime importance to the betterment of "Gaon Gareeb Kisaan" and RCEP was not in favour of farmers (Kisaan). Shri Singh further added that PM Modi had said that he cannot turn away from the needs of India's farmers.

Shri Giriraj Singh stated that milk production has increased significantly from 137.7 million tonnes in 2013-14 to 187.75 million tonnes in 2018-19, thereby indicating an increase by 36.35 per cent. Similarly, the per capita availability of milk increased from 307 grams in 2013-14 to 394 grams in 2018-19. Annual growth rate of Milk Production during the period 2009-14 was 4.2 per cent, which has increased to 6.4 per cent during 2014-19. The annual growth rate of world milk production has increased by 1.2 per cent during 2014-19. The Union Minister added that India is the ray of hope of the global dairy industry with opportunities galore for the entrepreneurs globally. Since last 20 years, India continues to be the largest producer of milk in the world. This phenomenal increase is due to several measures initiated by the Union Government to increase the productivity of livestock.

Shri Singh also said that Livestock sector contributes significantly towards livelihoods and security net for the landless and marginal farmers. About 70 million rural households are engaged in dairying in India with 80 per cent of total cow population. During the last 15 years, Milk Cooperatives have converted about 20 per cent of milk procured into traditional and value-added products that offers about 20 per cent higher revenue. This share of value-added products is estimated to increase to 40 per cent by 2023-24.

Addressing the gathering, Minister of State, Shri Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said that the 6.5 per cent growth rate is still low due to the base effect but this will change as the Ministry is ensuring all policies and schemes are being formulated for improving the quality of livestock and quantity of milk. Shri Balyan thanks PM Modi for setting up a separate Ministry for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying so that emphasis can be laid on their development. He said that resources of the Government are limited, and private sector should also support the initiatives of the Government. Shri Balyan also said that there is a perception in the minds of the people about milk adulteration and it needs to be changed.

Minister of State, Shri Pratap Chandra Sarangi said that technology should be harnessed properly for improvement of the sector overall. He said that breed improvement can be done with innovative ways. He also said that policies should be made favourably to ensure both quality and quantity of domestic production, consumption and exports can be improved.

The Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying emphasized that Government has initiated a number of dairy development schemes in order to meet enhanced demand of milk through domestic sources by laying special emphasis on raising milk production through improved productivity and health of our dairy animals. In this direction a new scheme has been launched by the Prime Minister called "National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP)" with an allocation of Rs 13343 crore (US$ 1.91 billion) for complete control of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis in the country. Nationwide Artificial Insemination Programme for enhancing AI coverage thereby increasing milk production and productivity was also launched by the Prime Minister along with Start-up challenges. The Department is also working on convergence of schemes with the schemes of other Departments and Ministries so as to double farmers' income.

The President of India launches web-portal of "National Youth Parliament Scheme" #ParliamentScheme #Sukumarbalakrishnan

A special function on the occasion to commemorate 70th Anniversary of adoption of the Constitution of India, - "Samvidhan Diwas" was organized in the Central Hall of Parliament today.

The President of India, Vice President, Prime Minister, Speaker and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs graced the occasion and addressed the gathering of the Members of both Houses of Parliament.

On this occasion, the President Shri Ram Nath Kovind launched the Web-Portal of "National Youth Parliament Scheme".

Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has been implementing Youth Parliament programme since 1966 in Schools under the Directorate of Education, Government of NCT of Delhi and NDMC, Kendriya Vidyalayas, Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and Universities/ Colleges. So far, around 8,000 educational institutions and more than 4,00,000 students have been covered under the Youth Parliament programme of the Ministry.

The web-portal of the National Youth Parliament Scheme is available at www.nyps.mpa.gov.in. The main objective of the portal is to increase the outreach of the youth parliament programme of the Ministry to hitherto untouched sections and corners of the country.

The salient features of the portal are: -

All recognised educational institutions of the country are eligible to participate in this programme.
The registration for participation will be done by the education institutions through the web-portal.
E-training modules, videos, photographs and scripts are available on the portal for online self-learning of the participants.
After successful registration, the educational institutions will be able to conduct youth parliament sittings in their respective institutions.
Each student taking part in the sitting will get a Digital 'Certificate of Participation' and each Teacher-in-charge and Head of Institution will get a 'Certificate of Appreciation' through the web portal.
This portal will give shape to Prime Minister's vision of organizing youth parliaments in all parts of the country.

Govt collects Rs 729 crore from sale of 10 per cent stake in RITES #PublicAssetManagement #StakesRites #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The Finance Ministry has collected Rs 729.44 crore (US$ 104.37 million) from divestment of 10 per cent stake, or 2.5 crore equity shares, in its railway engineering consultancy company RITES Ltd through the Offer-For-Sale (OFS) route.

According to the secretary of department of investment and public asset management (DIPAM), "Government undertook offer for sale for 10 per cent of paid-up equity in RITES on 22-25 November 2019. The base offer was fully subscribed (100.01 per cent) with disinvestment proceeds of Rs 729.44 crore (US$ 104.37 million)".

In the last three sessions, company's share witnessed a drop of nearly 8 per cent on the government's decision to divest its stake in the company. The stock fell a slight to 0.25 per cent to Rs 282.15 (US$ 4) on the BSE on 26th November 2019.

The proposal to sell the 10 per cent stake in the company was presented on 22nd November to non-retail investors only and on 25 November to retail investors and non-retail investors, with an option to also sell up to 1.25 crore equity shares, representing 5 per cent stake, through the offer-for-sale route.

The floor price for the OFS was fixed at Rs 293.50 (US$ 4.1) per share. Discount of 5 per cent to the cut-off price was also given to retail investors.
As on 30th September, 87.4 per cent stake in RITES, the only export arm of Indian railways for providing rolling stock overseas, was owned by the government.

This transaction will help the government to reach closer to its divestment target of Rs 1.05 trillion for the current financial year, which is higher than the target of Rs 90,000 (US$ 1287) in 2018-19.

The privatisation of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) was approved by the Cabinet last week, where the government will sell its entire 53.29 per cent stake in the company to a strategic buyer along with transferring management control. Although, the sale will not include Numaligarh Refinery Ltd in Assam and the refinery will become a separate entity to be later hived off to another public-sector firm.

The Cabinet had also declared selling of its 30.8 per cent shareholding in Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor) to a strategic buyer along with handing over the management control. At present, the government holds 54.8 per cent in the company. Shares in Shipping Corporation of India Ltd of around 63.75 per cent will also be reduced by the government.

NephroPlus gets Rs 323-crore funding from Bahrain's Investcorp #Fund #NephroPlus #Sukumarbalakrishnan

NephroPlus, the dialysis service provider, has got a fresh funding of around US$ 45 million (Rs 323 crore) from Investcorp, the Bahrain based, Global alternative asset management company.

This is the biggest investment in the Hyderabad based start-up since its foundation that was about a decade ago. The company has expanded its presence to 20 states with 196 centres.

Its previous investors consist of venture capital firm Bessemer Venture Partners, SeaLink Capital and International Financial Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's investment arm.

According to Mr. Vikram Vuppula, Founder and CEO, the company had set up a diversification plan within the country and overseas markets in West Asia and South East Asia.

The funds of the latest round of investment will be invested into the expansion plans as well as the exit of one of the original three investors which is SeaLink Capital Partners of Herman Hajarnavis, that came in around three years ago with Rs 90 crore (US$ 12.88 million) investment.

"We will use the funds to grow our India business through select acquisitions as well as expansion of centres and fresh beginnings in overseas markets in Middle East and South East Asia", said Mr. Vuppula.

He also added that the company plans to set up joint ventures and signing operations and maintenance contracts too.

NephroPlus, recorded a turnover of Rs 200 crore (US$ 28.62 million) during 2018-19 and expects to end the current fiscal at around Rs 270 crore (US$ 38.63 million), said Mr. Vuppula.

The company was founded by Mr. Vikram Vuppula, an ex McKinsey and Kamal Shah, who, in 2010, was personally fighting kidney disease. The company has reached a remarkable dialysis network in around 125 locations, providing a cost effective and ease of use dialysis to patients.

The deal act as a big boost in the ecosystem and investment in healthcare sector in Hyderabad, particularly for start-up's and entrepreneurs, especially with Hyderabad boasting of T Hub, ICICI Knowledge Park, Genome Valley and a rapidly growing culture of entrepreneurship.

"It's been a company that we've been following from the sidelines for some time now…In terms of breadth and width of delivery, NephroPlus has, possibly, the largest reach in India…We think, given our experience in healthcare globally, there are a lot of areas where we can add value," said Mr. Gaurav Sharma, co-head of private equity at Investcorp India.

Coal India Liquidates 35 Mt of Coal from its Pithead Stock in the First Half of FY 19-20 #CoalIndiaLiquidates #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The state-run Coal India Limited (CIL) has liquidated 35 Million Tonnes (MT) of coal from its pithead stock in the first half of the current fiscal 2019-20, the Coal Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi informed parliament on Monday.

"The pithead coal stock with CIL was 54.15 Million Tonne (MT) as on April 1, 2019 which reduced to 19.15 MT as on September 30, 2019. Thus, the coal stock liquidation was 35 MT in the first half of the financial year 2019-20" Coal Minister Shri Pralhad Joshi said in a reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The minister also informed the upper house that CIL's coal production rose by 10.6 per cent in the first half of FY 18-19 to 256.47 MT as against 231.88 MT produced in the corresponding period of FY 17-18.

In a reply laid on the table of the upper house the minister also informed that India's coal production grew by 8.14per cent to 730.35 MT in FY 18-19 in comparison to 675.40 MT of coal produced in the county in FY 17-18.

In another reply to the Rajya Sabha, the Minister informed that 319 Billion Tonnes of geological reserves of coal have been estimated in India so far as on April 1, 2018.

Auction for Sale (Re-Issue) of '6.18 per cent GS 2024', Auction for Sale (Re-issue) of 'GoI Floating Rate Bond 2031', Auction for Sale (Re-Issue) of '7.69 per cent GS 2043', and Auction for Sale (Re-Issue) of '7.72 per cent GS 2049 #Sale #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The Government of India has announced the Sale (Re-issue) of (i) '6.18 per cent Government Stock, 2024' for a notified amount of Rs 4,000 crore (US$ 0.57 billion) (nominal) through price based auction, (ii) 'GoI Floating Rate Bonds, 2031' for a notified amount of Rs 6,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction, (iii) '7.69 per cent Government Stock, 2043' for a notified amount of Rs 2,000 crore (US$ 286.16 million) (nominal) through price based auction, and (iv) '7.72 per cent Government Stock, 2049' for a notified amount of Rs 4,000 crore (nominal) through price based auction. Subject to the limit of Rs 16,000 crore (US$ 2.29 billion), being total notified amount, GoI will have the option to retain additional subscription up to Rs 1,000 crore (US$ 143.08 million) each against any one or more of the above securities. The auctions will be conducted using multiple price method. The auctions will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai Office, Fort, Mumbai on November 29, 2019 (Friday).

Up to 5 per cent of the notified amount of the sale of the stocks will be allotted to eligible individuals and Institutions as per the Scheme for Non-Competitive Bidding Facility in the Auction of Government Securities.

Both competitive and non-competitive bids for the auction should be submitted in electronic format on the Reserve Bank of India Core Banking Solution (E-Kuber) system on November 29, 2019. The non-competitive bids should be submitted between 11.30 a.m. and 12.00 noon and the competitive bids should be submitted between 11.30 a.m. and
12.30 p.m.

The result of the auctions will be announced on November 29, 2019 (Friday) and payment by successful bidders will be on December 02, 2019 (Monday).

The Stocks will be eligible for "When Issued" trading in accordance with the guidelines on 'When Issued transactions in Central Government Securities' issued by the Reserve Bank of India vide circular No. RBI/2018-19/25 dated July 24, 2018 as amended from time to time.

MoAs for Light House Projects Under GHTC-India Exchanged between MoHUA and State Govts #LightHouses #Sukumarbalakrishnan

Shri Hardeep S Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs launched the CLSS Awas Portal (CLAP). Separately, Memorandum of Agreements (MoAs) for Light House Projects under GHTC-India were also exchanged between MoHUA and State Government of 6 states viz; Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh at the event. Sh. Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, senior Officers of the Ministry and State Governments, Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers of several Banks and Housing Finance Companies were also present.

Speaking at the occasion, Sh. Puri congratulated the team of experts for such exemplary work in last few months on developing the IT based CLSS Awas Portal (CLAP), particularly to the collective effort put in by the Ministry, Central Nodal Agencies (CNAs) and Primary Lending Institutions (PLIs).He expressed that with the launch of CLAP, the grievance of the beneficiaries will be addressed in a much comprehensive, organised and transparent manner. He further highlighted that this software will help other stakeholders to work in synergy for release of subsidy to beneficiaries on time.

For addressing the housing demand of more than 10 million houses by 2022, Government of India launched Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban, in June 2015. To accomplish Housing For All Mission, Global Housing Technology Challenge-India (GHTC-India) was launched to get globally acclaimed, alternate and proven construction technologies for speedier and cost-effective construction of affordable housing. The Prime Minister declared 2019-2020 as 'Construction Technology Year'.

Shri Puri expressed his appreciation to the State Governments for construction of these Light House Projects at Indore, Rajkot, Chennai, Ranchi, Agartala and Lucknow. For LHPs, the Ministry has introduced a Technology Innovation Grant as an additional grant of Rs 2.0 lakh (US$ 2861.63) per house which is over and above of the existing share of Rs 1.5 lakh (US$ 2146.22) per house under PMAY (U).

Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA shared that the Ministry has developed a web based real time monitoring system called CLAP in which all stakeholders such as MoHUA, CNAs, PLIs and Beneficiaries are integrated. Shri Mishra explained the importance of CLAP portal, as a well-designed concept in using IT based platform to bring transparency and efficiency in release of subsidy to the beneficiaries under CLSS. This Portal will enable processing of individual application, verification at initial stage, release of subsidy, transparency and minimizing grievances.

Speaking about the GHTC and signing of MoAs for LHPs, Shri Mishra highlighted that these LHPs are model housing projects to demonstrate and deliver ready to live-in houses expeditiously than the normal convention construction which are cost-effective, economical, sustainable, climate resilient and superior with better quality of construction.

FII equity holding in firms rises to eight-quarter high in July-September #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The ownership of foreign institutional has reached an eight-quarter high of 20.93 per cent by the end of September for 414 firms in the BSE 500 index, that consist of at least 90 per cent of India’s market capitalization.

According to the data provided by Capitaline, this is higher than the 20.81 per cent stake held by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in these companies in the June quarter and the 20.50 per cent in the September quarter last year.

Irrespective of the massive sell-off of domestic equities by the investors, FII ownership holdings increased in the three-month period. The overall stock markets were down in the September quarter, which possibly describes why FII holdings increased even though there was an outflow in Indian equities, according to Mr. Himanshu Srivastava, senior analyst and manager research, Morningstar Investment Adviser India.

In the three months ended September, FIIs sold Indian shares worth US$ 3.17 billion, while the benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty were down 2-3 per cent in the same period.

"Uncertainty, hope, and despair, the three moods of investors, were effectively captured by the Indian equity markets through the quarter ended September 2019. The premise for the markets at the start of the quarter was not encouraging. In fact, the signs of stress were visible towards the end of the previous quarter (ended June 2019), with initial euphoria around the election results subsiding and focus shifting to fundamental drivers. By the end of June, markets started to lose steam on the back of growing concerns over domestic macro conditions and the pressing global environment," said Mr. Srivastava.

The main hurdle for FIIs was the introduction of an extra surcharge on foreign portfolio investors in the budget, that led to a massive sell-off in Indian equities. Though, the government turned back the surcharge in the latter part of September and announced a slew of stimulus measures, including the reduction of corporate taxes.

The factors that came in concern of FII's were subpar monsoon in key areas, a weak earning season, slowing domestic growth and weakness in the rupee in July-September, Mr. Srivastava said. The rupee declined by 2.60 per cent against the dollar during the same period. FII holdings grew mostly in banks and financials, and media and entertainment sectors in the September quarter.

Meanwhile, domestic institutions continued to invest money into Indian shares. The data showed that holdings of domestic mutual funds and insurance companies in the 414 companies of the BSE 500 rose to their highest level in at least 25 quarters.

Domestic institutions held a 13.25 per cent stake in the BSE 500 index at the end of September, which was an increase from 12.64 per cent at the end of June and 11.99 per cent a year ago. The September quarter recorded Rs 53,818.92 crore (US$ 7.70 billion) of net domestic institutional investments in local stocks.

The participation from retail was also high in September. The total amount collected through systematic investment plans (SIPs), that allow people to invest a fixed amount in a mutual fund scheme periodically at fixed intervals, stood at Rs 8,262.94 crore (US$ 1.18 billion) for the month alone.

Paytm raises a billion dollars at a valuation of US$ 16 billion, plans expansion #Paytm #Sukumarbalakrishnan

Paytm, the country's top financial technology entity, has raised US$ 1 billion (Rs 7,200 crore), at a valuation of US$ 16 billion, from existing shareholders Ant Financial, Softbank Vision Fund and also new investors, including funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price Associates, among others in a mega funding round.

Over the next three years, Paytm plans to invest an amount of Rs 10,000 crore (US$ 1.43 billion) in order to expand its services in tier-III cities and smaller towns. Discovery Capital, which is an existing shareholder, also participated in the round. Paytm plans to invest Rs 10,000 crore over the next three years, with the stated aim of expanding its services in tier-III cities and smaller towns.

After this funding round, the Mr. Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led fintech giant became a top-tier Asian digital firm, much ahead of others. The company has made US$ 1 billion equity closure in this round, where SoftBank Vision Fund (SVF) invested US$ 200 million, Jack Ma's Ant Financial added US$ 400 million and the rest balance amount came from T Rowe Price and Discovery, among others.

This comes amidst when the investors are not making big bets on companies and SoftBank is still recovering from the WeWork Initial Public Offer debacle. As of now, Paytm has raised an amount a little over US$ 2.5 billion in investments. The investments from the latest round would be focused on further expanding its payment and financial services business.

"Paytm is a great opportunity. We are addressing the India opportunity the best possible way. I think the very business model of acquiring customers and small businesses and bringing them to the formal financial system is viable and our investors understand that. India is underserved when it comes to financial services and this investment will be used to expand in that direction; our investors believe in that goal…Paytm is reaching its monetisation phase, where other financial services in due course will start bringing in revenue, so it becomes a story of a mature digital financial services company," founder Mr. Vijay Shekhar Sharma said.

The company started having the talks for the new funding round last year in December and since then had several rounds of discussion with its investors. The existing investors were interested in raising their stakes to fuel the next level of expansion.

"Talks started almost two board meetings back, sometime in December. When we had the Tokyo board meeting in September (this year), we concluded the terms and the agreement happened",added Mr. Sharma.

The company in its first phase of growth, brought in low-cost digital payments acceptability, using its QR-code technology to shops and retailers and now plans to add a host of Internet of Things (IoT) devices to the mix, enabling small merchants in towns to more easily accept digital payment.

"We are adding physical devices, IoT-based devices, which will enable QR payments, card payments. Devices and IoT-led payment solutions would become an important part in our next level of journey. We have been doing beta tests of some of our IoT devices, which are proving quite successful. Payment driven by mobile phone and QR code is taking the next leap, where merchants will have many device options that will help them to avoid fraud, scale (up) business systems and bring efficiency and trust," promises Mr. Sharma.

According to Paytm, it now serves merchants in a little over 2,000 cities and towns, in 650 districts.

Paytm will use this Rs 10,000 crore to add as many small merchants and businesses as possible into its fold, although, its competition, including Google Pay and PhonePe, are spending massively on cashbacks.

"We are not that much in P2P (peer-to-peer). We will continue to double down and spend aggressively more into better IoT devices, so that it helps us in signing up small merchants. Our primary business model is merchant payments and the larger part of the funds would be spent there," he added.

Despite the stiff competition faced by Paytm from other players, company has continued to hold its position as the biggest payments' player in the country. The sector experts believe that this funding round will help strengthen the company.

The main focus of the company is to expand its reach of its financial services for the company and its backers. Mr. Sharma said there are no plan of going public, as of now. "There is no commitment that we have made for going public. We have clearly said that we want the financial services business to (first) take off. Paytm has been able to build a business that is contribution positive; we are since last year getting into financial services," he added.

As per the company, Paytm Payments Bank has around 50 million accounts and is among the few mandated by the ministry of electronics and information technology to drive the highest targets for merchant acquisition and digital transactions.

Paytm Money, the financial services firm, is at present one of the largest contributors of new Systematic Investment Plans to the mutual funds segment. It has by now received approval to launch stock broking, dematerialisation services and National Pension System services.

All India Institute of Ayurveda Signs MoU with Western Sydney University Australia #Sukumarbalakrishnan

All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Western Sydney University, Australia at New Delhi. The MoU will promote the collaboration in research and developing guidelines for integrating Ayurveda principles with modern medicine.

Professor Barney Glover, Vice Chancellor, Western Sydney University, Australia and Prof. Tanuja Nesari, Director, All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) signed the Memorandum of Understanding on 22nd November during the visit of the delegation led by Dan Tehan, Minister for education, Australian Government. The signing ceremony took place at Ministry of AYUSH.

The memorandum was agreed and exchange on the occasion of the event "India Australia International Education and Research Workshop" at Ambedkar International Center, New Delhi. The exchange took place in presence of Shri Ramesh Pokharial, Human Resource Development Minister and Dan Tehan Minister for Education, Australian Government along with H.E Ms. Harinder Sidhu Australian High Commissioner to India.

"Both Institutions are committed to take the collaboration to the next Higher Level by identifying specific areas for collaboration in education, research and practices of Traditional medicine while ensuring the quality standards and also by encouraging investment in traditional medicine related infrastructure. Complementing the Traditional Ayurveda Medicine with conventional concepts of Modern Medicine is expected in generating scientific evidences that further help in contributing to the global healthcare"

India is a priority country among Australia's international partnerships. The signed memorandum is another milestone in the history of health care industry. Combining data-driven precision based technologies and Ayurvedic medicine will be a valuable contribution to the current goals for providing a better and safe health care system to the Universe, specifically towards developing a safe and effective integration of traditional and complementary medicine", stated Professor Barney Glover, Vice Chancellor WSU.