1303 Cold Storages with total capacity of over 45 lakh MT established in country since 2015

1303 cold storages with a total capacity of 45,62,860 Metric Tonnes (MT) have been established in the country under the schemes under Ministry of Food Processing Industries and Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) from 2015-16 to 2019-20 (as on 31.10.2019). This information was given by the Minister of State for Food Processing Industries Sh. Rameswar Teliin in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is implementing Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY), which comprises of component schemes namely (i) Integrated Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, (ii) Mega Food Park, (iii) Creation of Backward & Forward Linkages, (iv)Creation / Expansion of Food Processing and Preservation Capacities (v) Agro processing Cluster and (vi) Operation Greens. Cold storages are established as a part of these schemes. The prospective entrepreneurs may apply against the Expression of Interest as and when floated by this Ministry.

Cold storages are also established through the schemes of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW) namely (i) Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) for development of Horticulture in the country and (ii) Capital Investment Subsidy for Construction/ Expansion / Modernization of Cold Storages and Storages for Horticulture Products of National Horticulture Board.

L&T bags orders worth Rs 2,500 crore for its Transmission and Distribution and Transportation business #Business #Sukumarbalakrishnan

L&T Construction, an arm of L&T has bagged orders for its Transmission and Distribution and Transportation Infrastructure business.

According to L&T, these deals range from Rs 1,000-2,500 crore (US$ 143-358 million). The company has bagged a contract to provide off-grid DC solar photovoltaic water pumping systems with standalone lighting systems for farmers in the Aurangabad, Nashik and Pune revenue divisions in the power transmission segment, said the company. These systems will have segment for mobile charging, transfer of automated meter reading and water discharge reading data, it added.

The company has won an order in the United Arab Emirates for the design, supply and construction of a 132kV Substation project with connected 132kV cabling works from one of the government utilities.

The company secured an add-on order in its transportation infrastructure business from an existing client in Qatar for an Expressway. Moreover, many other add-on orders have been received by some existing projects in the Water and Effluent Treatment (WET) and Metallurgical and Material Handling (MMH) businesses, the company said.

Strong Customer Outreach by Public Sector Banks (PSBs) - Rs 4.91 lakh crore disbursed in October and November 2019 #PublicSectorBanks #Sukumarbalakrishnan

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, had announced in September the launch of Customer Outreach Initiative by Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to improve credit delivery and support the needs of the economy, with particular focus on MSMEs, NBFCs, corporates, retail and agriculture sector borrowers, without compromising prudential lending. Customer Outreach in October 2019 resulted in total credit disbursement of Rs 2.52 lakh crore (US$ 36.06 billion).

Total Customer Outreach progress in November: The strong outreach effort of PSBs has continued in November as well, with disbursement of Rs 2.39 lakh crore (US$ 34.20 billion) to MSMEs, NBFCs, corporates, retail and agriculture sector borrowers. This has raised the total disbursement by PSBs to these sectors since the launch of the Customer Outreach in October to Rs 4.91 lakh crore (US$ 70.25 billion).

To boost the MSME sector, out of the total, PSBs have disbursed Rs 35,775 crore (US$ 5.12 billion) in November, raising the total Customer Outreach credit disbursed to MSMEs to Rs 72,985 crore (US$ 10.44 billion).

For NBFCs, out of the total, PSBs have disbursed Rs 25,525 crore (US$ 3.65 billion) in November, increasing sharply from Rs 19,628 crore (US$ 2.81 billion) in October, raising the total Customer Outreach credit disbursed to NBFCs to Rs 45,153 crore (US$ 6.46 billion). Total support sanctioned by PSBs in the form of credit to (including co-origination and on-lending) and pool buyouts from NBFCs since the IL&FS default in September 2018 till November 2019 has risen to Rs 4.23 lakh crore (US$ 60.52 billion), including pool-buyouts of Rs 1.24 lakh crore (US$ 17.14 billion).

FMCG sales on e-commerce sites to touch US$ 4 billion by 2022: Nielsen #FMCG #E-Commerce #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The sales of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) on the e-commerce sites are expected to reach US$ 4 billion by 2022, contributing 5 per cent to overall sales of packaged consumer goods sold in India, according to Nielsen, a market researcher.

Presently, e-commerce contributes 2 per cent or around US$ 1.2 billion to the overall sales of FMCG.

The rise in contribution of e-commerce to sales is because of growing smartphone penetration, increased data consumption, and the attempts by large companies to make their products available online.

Nielsen compared the two sales channel and noted that the contribution of modern trade to FMCG sales will reach 10 per cent by 2022, witnessing a growth from current 9 per cent whereas during the same period the share of traditional trade is will decrease to 85 per cent from the current 89 per cent.

The sales of FMCG products on the internet by various companies such as Hindustan Unilever, Dabur India Ltd, Nestle India, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd., among others has led the research company to start tracking the sales.

"India's FMCG industry is now making its presence felt in the e-comm channel - appealing to consumers' need for convenience, and in sync with increasing smartphone and internet penetration," said Mr Prasun Basu, South Asia Zone President, Nielsen Global Connect. "Nielsen India has launched a specific E-Trak index that will now measure FMCG consumer offtake in the e-comm space to give a complete picture of the changing marketplace", he said. The manufacturers and marketers can get data, information and insights with the help of E-Trax index and can further used it to enhance their e-commerce channel sales strategy.

As of now, Nielsen will track sales of 11 FMCG categories online in the top metros consisting of refined oils, biscuits, packaged atta, vermicelli and noodles, spices, iodised salt, salty snacks, washing powder, packaged tea, toothpaste and utensil cleaners.

In its initial research on the market, the company noticed that online shoppers in the country's top metros were showing higher cases of online shopping making 6 per cent of all FMCG purchases through e-commerce. Among these, the biggest contributor is foods contributing 44 per cent, followed by personal care (40 per cent) and household care (13 per cent).

Mr Mohit Malhotra, chief executive officer at New-Delhi based Dabur India Ltd said that e-commerce posted a growth of greater than 63 per cent, taking its overall contribution to sales to 2.2 per cent for the maker of Vatika hair oil and Real Juices. Earlier this year, the company also launched a range of children's hair care products which is available online only.

Last year, Nestle India the local arm of Swiss packaged goods company, first rolled out its breakfast cereals online. The popular brand Maggi was reintroduced on Snapdeal in 2015 when the crisis-hit brand made a comeback.

Though, Nielsen said that e-commerce is currently being used as an additional channel and not cannibalising other channels. "All channels continue to grow, buying behaviour differs across channels," the report added.

Wipro acquires South African personal care company #Wipro #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The consumer care business of software provider Wipro Ltd, Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (WCCL), acquired Canway Corporation, a South African personal care maker to enter the country with 58 million consumer base.
Canway Corporation, a Durban-based company is US$ 21 million personal care company having portfolio in category including bath and shower, hand cream, body spray and kids' products and markets mass brands such as Oh So Heavenly, Iwori and IQ.

The deal size of the transaction was not disclosed by the companies and is now subject to the approval of regulatory authorities.

The acquisition will act as an opportunity for Wipro Consumer to enter into South Africa which is the largest personal care market in Africa and is the second largest economy of the continent.

"We are clear that we want a footprint in developing countries where we have a headway and penetration and consumption goes up. South Africa is a developing country with a per capita income of US$ 6300, which is three times that of India. Canway has grown double digit over the years. It gives us a tremendous base," said Mr Vineet Agrawal, chief executive at WCCL.

The company already has a small presence in South African market with its flagship soap brand Santoor. The company plans to evaluate its launch in India, after this deal, in terms of appealing packaging, perfume parameters and gifting by February.

The company had acquired Philippines’ personal care maker Splash Corporation for US$ 80 million in April. The acquisition of Singapore’s Unza Holdings in 2007 of worth Rs 1000 crore was the company's largest deal.

"We have spent US$ 950 million over the last 17 years on 12 acquisitions. This is the first time that WCCL has made two acquisitions this fiscal. The geographies are different, and we are equipped to handle two acquisitions in a year now."

After this deal, WCCL now has presence in India, South Africa, China, Malaysia and Philippines. The sale from international business accounted for nearly 51 per cent of Wipro Consumers' annual sales of a billion dollar in 2018.

"Post the Philippines acquisition in Splash in April, we roughly earned 54 per cent of our business from overseas. Since this deal is relatively smaller, we will remain at the same value," Mr Agrawal added.

The company plans to expand its presence in the markets of Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe.

Total value of organic products exported from India is Rs 5150.99 crore in 2018-19: Shri Narendra Singh Tomar #OrganicProducts #Sukumarbalakrishnan

Government of India has been promoting Organic farming in the country through dedicated schemes namely Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER) since 2015-16. Both the schemes aim at promotion of cluster/ Farmers Producer Organization (FPO) based chemical free, low input cost sustainable organic farming and support farmers from input procurement to market linkages.

The quantity of organic product produced during 2018-19 under Participatory Guarantee System-(PGS)-India and National Programme on Organic Production (NPOP) of Agriculture Processed Food and Export Development Authority (APEDA) is given at Annexure I. The total value of organic products exported from India is Rs 5150.99 crore (US$ 737 million) (for 614089.614 MT).

Assistance of Rs 50,000 (US$ 715) per hectare/ 3 years is provided, out of which Rs 31,000 (US$ 444) (62 per cent) is directly given to the farmers through DBT for inputs (bio-fertilizers, biopesticides, vermicompost, botanical extracts etc) production/ procurement, post-harvest management etc in PKVY scheme. Farmers adopt low cost Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) of certification for domestic markets.

Assistance of Rs 25000 (US$ 340)/ ha/ 3 years to farmers is provided for both on-farm & off-farm organic inputs, and seeds/ planting material in MOVCDNER and third party certified organic farming is encouraged for export of niche crops.

Organic Farming has also been supported under other schemes viz Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), Network Project on Organic Farming under ICAR.

The major thrust of the Government has shifted from production centric to market linked production so that farmers can get better returns for their produce including organic produce. To further boost production of organic produce, a dedicated web portal https://jaivikkheti.in/ has also been created to connect farmers involved in organic farming with consumers directly for better prices.

Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned 18 projects covering all the North Eastern States for Rs 1456 crore for development and promotion of tourism: Shri Prahlad Singh Patel #Tourism #Sukumarbalakrishnan

The Ministry of Tourism is focussing on development and promotion of tourism in the North Eastern Region. For development Ministry under the Swadesh Drashan and PRASHAD Schemes has sanctioned 18 projects covering all the North Eastern States for Rs 1456 crore (US$ 208.3 million).

The Ministry of Tourism undertakes various activities for the promotion of North Eastern region of the country as a tourist destination. These activities include:

(i) Release of television campaigns on Doordarshan and private channels in the country.

(ii) Production of publicity material, creatives and television commercials/promotional films on the region.

(iii) The North East region is the theme of the India Pavilion set up by the Ministry at the South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE) in which the Ministry participates annually.

(iv) Complimentary space is provided to the North Eastern States for their participation in the India Pavilion set up by the Ministry at major international travel fairs and exhibitions.

(v) The Ministry organizes an annual International Tourism Mart in the North Eastern region with the objective of highlighting the tourism potential of the region.

The projects under the Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD schemes are identified for development in consultation with the State Governments / Union Territory Administrations and are sanctioned subject to availability of funds, submission of suitable detailed project reports, adherence to scheme guidelines and utilization of funds released earlier. Submission of project proposals by the State Governments and its sanctioning is a continuous process.Ministry has also identified Kaziranga as one of the 17 sites for development in the country under the
Development of Iconic Tourist site scheme.

Ministry of Railways signs an MoU with Department for International Development (DFID), United Kingdom #DFID #Sukumarbalakrishnan

With a goal of transforming Indian Railways into "Green Railways", complete electrification of Railway network has been approved by Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) which will reduce its carbon footprint and will also improve its finances through reduction in fuel cost.

As part of its obligations & commitment to reduce carbon footprints, Indian Railways is taking several initiatives in the field of Green Energy to achieve the same. In line with this, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Ministry of Railways, Government of India and Department for International Development (DFID), United Kingdom on 2nd December 2019 for collaboration on energy and sustainability. The MoU was signed in the presence of Mr. Rajesh Tiwari, Member (Traction), Railway Board by Mr. Rajesh Kumar Jain, Executive Director/Electrical Engineering (Development), Indian Railways and by Mr. Gavin McGillivray, Head, DFID-India.

Through Power Sector Reform (PSR) programme, the MoU with DFID envisages to include co-operation for Energy Efficiency & Energy Self Sufficiency for Indian Railways. The MoU will broadly cover:

i. Energy planning for Indian Railways in line with Governments' policies and regulations as applicable from time to time including 100% greener sources of electricity supply through

Renewable energy planning and deployment

Off-shore wind and solar energy

Energy storage and new energy technologies

Off-grid renewable energy services
ii. Promoting energy sustainability initiatives like

Adopting energy efficiency practices

Enabling Fuel efficiency
iii.Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure deployment

iv. Battery operated Shunting Locomotives

v. Capacity development like training programmes, industrial visits, field visits etc.

The collaboration of Indian Railways with DFID, United Kingdom will go a long way in ensuring self-sufficiency and efficiency in terms of energy and greener Indian Railways.

Wind Power Projects of 12,162.50 MW Capacity awarded so far #WindPowerProjects #Sukumarbalakrishnan

Wind power projects are set up in the country, including in the state of Rajasthan, on the basis of commercial principles taking into account wind resource, land availability, transmission infrastructure, etc.

So far, bids for 15,100 MW of wind power projects have been issued, out of which projects of 12,162.50 MW capacity have been awarded.

The cumulative installed capacity of wind power (as on 31.10.2019) in the country is 37,090.03 MW. The details of state-wise installed capacity of wind power are given in Annexure I.

The Government has issued 'Guidelines for Development of Onshore Wind Power Projects' on 22 October 2016 with an objective to facilitate development of wind power projects in an efficient, cost effective and environmentally benign manner taking into account the requirements of project developers, States and national imperatives. The Guidelines have provisions for requirement of site feasibility, type and quality certified wind turbines, micrositing criteria, compliance of grid regulations, real time monitoring, online registry and performance reporting, health and safety provisions, decommissioning plan, etc.

The Government has also issued 'Guidelines for Tariff Based Competitive Bidding Process for Procurement of Power from Grid Connected Wind Power Projects', on 8th December, 2017, with an objective to provide a framework for procurement of wind power through a transparent process of bidding including standardization of the process and defining of roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders.

The Government is promoting capacity addition of wind power projects through private sector investment by providing various fiscal and financial incentives such as Accelerated Depreciation benefit; concessional custom duty exemption on certain components of wind electric generators. Besides, Generation Based Incentive (GBI) is available for the wind projects commissioned before 31 March 2017. In addition to fiscal and other incentives as stated above, technical support including wind resource assessment and identification of potential sites is being provided through the National Institute of Wind Energy, Chennai.

This information was provided by Union Minister of State (IC) New & Renewable Energy, Power and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Shri R.K. Singh, in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

Annexure I

The state wise wind power installed capacity as on 31.10.2019.

STATE Cumulative wind power capacity as on 31.10.2019 (MW)
Andhra Pradesh 4092.45
Gujarat 7203.77
Karnataka 4753.40
Kerala 62.50
Madhya Pradesh 2519.89
Maharashtra 4794.13
Rajasthan 4299.72
Tamil Nadu 9231.77
Telangana 128.10
Other States 4.30
Total 37090.03Wind power projects are set up in the country, including in the state of Rajasthan, on the basis of commercial principles taking into account wind resource, land availability, transmission infrastructure, etc.

Apollo Tyres enters Saudi Arabia through tie-up with Al Jomaih Tyres #ApolloTyres #Sukumarbalakrishnan

Apollo Tyres Ltd, plan to enter Saudi Arabia through a tie-up with Al-Jomaih Tyres Company Limited. The company is aiming at the large and growing truck-bus radial and passenger car tyre market, looking to obtain a sizeable market share, in each of the segments, in the next couple of years.

"The entry into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the culmination of a long-term product planning and development programme. We are now ready with products suited to cater to the Saudi market, which is the largest and important replacement tyre market in the Middle East region," said Mr Shubhro Ghosh, group head ASEAN, Middle East & Africa of Apollo Tyres.

"Saudi Arabia has a market potential of approximately 22 million tyres, and we have set a very aggressive target for ourselves, of selling nearly 800,000 tyres per annum, including both commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle tyres, within the next five years", he added.

Mr Sheikh Abdullah Al-Jomaih, CEO, Al-Jomaih Tyres, said: "We have noticed that the premium tier 2 market in Saudi has been expanding at a fast pace and Apollo Tyres meets the need of local customers who are seeking quality products at competitive prices."

The tyres sold in Saudi Arabia would be modified according to the demand of the local market and would be covered under a 5-year warranty from the date of manufacturing.

Apollo Tyres had set-up its hub for the Middle East and Africa region, in Dubai, in 2011.