Increase in AI by Indian firms can result in 2.5 per cent increase in India's GDP: Report

India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the immediate term can witness an increase of 2.5 per cent with a substantial rise in Artificial Intelligence (AI) by Indian firms, a study has found.

Investments in software, databases, and computer machinery as a proxy for AI was considered in the study and AI intensity was measured as the ratio of AI to total sales of the firm.

The study was conducted by IT industry body Nasscom along with think-tank ICRIER and Internet giant Google and is called Implications of AI on the Indian Economy. It said that to produce a positive growth shock, AI intensities should be sharply increased.

Earlier, Government has allocated an investment of Rs 7,000 crore (US$ 993.05 million) in the Union Budget towards an Artificial Intelligence. It is expected to increase the AI intensity by approximately 1.3 times, translating into spill over benefits of 3.2 per cent increase in India’s GDP.

Mr Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog said Artificial Intelligence has become a strategic lever for economic growth across nations and will continue to be one of the most crucial technologies of the future. "By integrating new technologies like AI and ML into various sectors, we can radically leapfrog and catch up with advanced economies.”

Policy measures were also suggested under the report to support AI’s wider adoption in India which includes identifying a nodal agency for the development and diffusion of AI, building collaborative frameworks for engagement between governments, industry and academia; building an all-encompassing data strategy for India and addressing India’s skill gap in AI among others.

Mr Rajat Kathuria, Director and CE, ICRIER said, “The government has an active role to play in creating institutions and providing public goods that enable India’s AI ecosystem, while also encouraging private actors to innovate and thrive.” “The vast impacts of AI and the current circumstances combine to merit mission mode action of AI programs across sectors, by government at all levels. This will help overcome the inherent market failure evident in early phases of any technology”, he added.

Mukesh Ambani's RIL overtakes Exxon to become world's no 2 energy company

Reliance Industries Ltd., controlled by Asia’s richest man Mr Mukesh Ambani, toppled ExxonMobil Corp. to become the world’s largest energy company after Saudi Aramco, as investors piled into the conglomerate lured by the Indian firm’s digital and retail forays.

On July 24, 2020, Reliance, which manages the biggest refinery complex, gained 4.3 per cent in Mumbai adding US$ 8 billion to take its market value to US$ 189 billion, while Exxon Mobil erased about US$ 1 billion. Reliance has witnessed a 43 per cent rise in its shares this year while Exxon’s shares have dropped 39 per cent as the refineries are struggling across the globe with a plunge in fuel demand. The world’s biggest energy company is Aramco with a market capitalization of US$ 1.76 trillion.

The contribution of energy business in the total revenue in the year ended March 31 was about 80 per cent, Chairman Mr Mukesh Ambani’s plan to expand the company’s digital and retail arms and has so far attracted US$ 20 billion into the Jio Platforms Ltd. unit. This has helped in adding US$ 22.3 billion to Ambani’s wealth this year, driving him to the fifth spot in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The deals involve investments from Google to Facebook Inc. into digital platform in recent months. The 63-year-old tycoon has identified technology and retail as future growth areas in a pivot away from the energy businesses he inherited from his father who died in 2002.

The large scale global oil demand has seen a decline to some 30 million barrels a day, or a third of regular usage, in April and has caused trouble in energy markets, from which they’ve only recently started to recover. The big oil companies have suffered because of worst-in-a-generation oil prices combined with OPEC production cuts, leading to collapse of refining margins and millions of barrels of unsold crude.
 

The MyGov movement must go forward: Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Law & Justice, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology, said, “The MyGov movement must go forward". He was speaking at the event of celebration of 6 years of MyGov.

MyGov ‘Saathis’ – representatives of 1.2 crore MyGov users and followers, celebrated 6 years of citizen engagement and participatory governance, earlier today.

Shri Prasad appreciated the work being done by MyGov and called upon to take initiatives to take citizen engagement through MyGov to every Municipal Body and to every district and every panchayat, and be a catalyst for giving a platform to the most talented minds to share their ideas. Hon’ble Minister also called upon MyGov to enable effective data analytics and ensure that suggestions given by citizens are shared with concerned departments and mature into actionable items.

The online event was graced by Shri Sanjay Dhotre, Minister of State for HRD, Communications, Electronics & IT; Shri Ajay Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT; and Shri Abhishek Singh, CEO of MyGov also. 

There were some very special guests too: the Chief Ministers of Assam, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura, whose video messages were shared during the event.
The Saathis - from Nagaland to Kerala to Mumbai to Kashmir – presented specially composed songs and poems, to mark the occasion, and also shared ideas and suggestions for citizen engagement as also for making our nation - Aatma Nirbhar.

Shri Sanjay Dhotre, MoS called upon MyGov to aim for outreach governance by building upon and strengthening participative Governance.

Shri Ajay Sawhney asked MyGov to expand its outreach in regional languages to reach to every person in the country.

MyGov citizen engagement platform was launched on 26th July 2014 by Minister with the vision of MyGov as mentioned by Prime Minister: “Let us join this mass movement towards Surajya, realize the hope and aspirations of the people and take India to greater heights.”

Mygov.in was conceptualized as a common platform for Indian citizens to "crowdsource governance ideas from citizens".

MyGov platform provides an opportunity to citizen and all stakeholders from across the world to share their views on key governance issues across all stages by directly engaging with the Government Departments, policy makers and implementers.

MyGov successfully transformed to a sought-after citizen engagement and dissemination platform for government programs and policies. Since its launch in 2014, MyGov has more than 122 lakh registered users, around 778, 000 submissions have been made in 953 tasks and around 45 lakh comments have been received in 839 discussion forums. Around 53 lakh people have taken part in 126 quizzes and 33.70 Pledges have been taken in 24 Pledges.

Almost all Government Departments leverage MyGov platform for their citizen engagement activities, consultations for policy formulation as also to disseminate information to citizens for various Government schemes and programs.

MyGov is amongst the most active profiles on Social Media – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. It has around 2.1 million followers on Twitter, 1.1 million on Facebook and 1 million plus on Instagram.

MyGov has also launched State instances in 12 States, and other States are in the process of being on boarded.

MyGov’s reach has helped in getting citizen inputs during policy formulation resulting in the development of programs and schemes that are able to address key citizen concerns. It has also helped in expanding the outreach of Government to citizens, thereby improving the image of the Government. MyGov has today evolved into a complete and end-to-end engagement platform with wide variety of engagement models as well as offering Performance Indicators of various Flagship Programmes of the Government.

Today MyGov has become a trusted source of information for citizens during these harsh and tough time of Corona. The team has worked extensively to ensure that timely and correct information reaches to citizen.

Railways to ensure its goods and services procurements through Government e-Market GeM with integration of Railway Digital Supply Chain with GeM. Railway procures goods and services more than Rs 70000 crore annually

Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry Mr Piyush Goyal reviewed the steps to promote Make in India products in procurement process of Indian Railways as well as Government of India. 

During the meeting, Shri Piyush Goyal urged to take measures to generate confidence in industry of corruption free and transparent procurement environment on Indian Railways.

While reviewing the steps to promote Make in India products in procurement process, it was emphasised to increase the participation of local vendors in procurement process. It was also decided to that local content clause in the procurement should be such that we may get more bids from local vendors/suppliers. This would also give a boost to mission Atma Nirbhar Bharat. Active support of DPIIT was sought to make suitable policy revisions, if required, to facilitate the efforts of Indian Railways in this direction.

It was felt that encouragement needs to be given to such vendors who can supply higher locally manufactured content. It was also suggested to create a FAQ section and a helpline number so that vendors may get clarity on various issues relating to procurement process.

Detailed presentation was made by the Member (Materials Management), Railway Board on enhancing Make in India and steps being taken to procure through GeM along with the progress made.

The review meeting was also attended by Minister of State of Railways Shri Suresh C Angadi, Railway Board Members, CEO/GeM and representatives of DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce.

A need for devising strategies for further increasing the participation of Indian service providers and component manufacturers was felt. Government e-Marketplace (GeM) is a highly innovative idea in public procurement, across the globe. Shri Goyal emphasised the need to do Railway goods and services procurements of approximately Rs 70,000 crore (US$ 9.93 billion) on GeM platform to open up the market to industry even at remote places and specially MSMEs.

Indian Railways, one of the largest procurement agencies of the Government of India, is integrating its procurement systems with GeM to use GeM’s full potential. The department shared the timelines for integration of Indian Railway e-Procurement system with GeM. Railway emphasised the need to have a seamless integration of the two systems eliminating need for any manual interface. Strength of both the systems i.e. Railways IREPS and GeM should be productively leveraged to generate synergy to take the Railways procurement to GeM’s full potential.

Post integration GeM is intended to move further in the direction of becoming single point public procurement portal for all agencies of Government of India.

During the meeting ways and means to create a corruption free public procurement environment in India were discussed in which Ministry of Railways, DPIIT and GeM have extremely important roles to play.The need for engagement of industry for developing more indigenous vendors to participate in the growth journey of the Indian Railways was emphasised in the deliberations.

During the presentation, it was decided that Railways would work more towards having a user-friendly single step vendor web-based interface for all its activities. The website should, transparently, provide every interested vendor a clear idea of how to do business with Indian Railways. The website should have all relevant information to generate confidence of corruption free and transparent environment on Indian Railways.     

Kashmiri saffron gets GI tag

Kashmir Valley’s Saffron received the geographical indication (GI) certification from the central Government in a boost to the home-grown spice. This is expected to raise the Saffron prices in the international markets.

Jammu & Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor (L-G), Mr Girish Chandra Murmu said, “This is the first major step to put Kashmir Saffron on the world map, thanks to the GI tag. The recognition would help Kashmir Saffron to acquire more prominence in the export market and would help the farmers get the best remunerative price”.

The L-G also congratulated Mr Altaf Aijaz Andrabi, director of agriculture, J&K, for his relentless pursuit for the GI tag for the homegrown Kashmiri spice.

He added that this move will aid in restoration of Kashmir’s saffron’s pristine glory which has been a top priority for both the union territory (UT) administration and the Central government.

The saffron industry will be benefited by the inauguration of the state-of-the-art Spice Park at Pampore in south Kashmir in August under the National Saffron Mission (NSM).

Mr Navin K. Choudhary, principal secretary, agriculture production department, J&K, said, “GI certification establishes specific geographical origin and certifies certain unique qualities of the product. GI certification enables those who have the right to use the sign in order to prevent a third party from using the sign. The GI certification would also stop the prevalent adulteration of Kashmir Saffron and the authenticated spice would fetch a much better price”.

He added that Kashmir Saffron is the only one spice in the world grown at an altitude of 1,600 metres, making it a one-of-a-kind variant that is known for its unique characteristics such as natural deep-red colour, aroma, bitter flavor, etc.

Mr Choudhary further said that the sprinkler irrigation system is being installed in saffron fields as per L-G’s instructions and is expected to be completed in the next two months.
 

Average completion time for houses under restructured Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin comes down to 114 days; 1.10 crore houses completed which includes houses to 1.46 lakh landless beneficiaries

To achieve the objective of “Housing for all by the year 2022”, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the restructured rural housing scheme, namely Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) on 20th November, 2016 with the target of construction of 2.95 crore houses with all basic amenities by the year 2022.

The selection of beneficiaries through a three-stage validation (Socio Economic Caste Census 2011, Gram Sabha, and geo-tagging) has ensured selection of the poorest of the poor under PMAY-G. The department took various measures including IT/DBT to ensure smooth flow of fund to the beneficiaries account, use of new housing designs after studying local region specific typologies, evidence based monitoring through geo-tagged photos taken at all pre-determined stages of construction, transaction based MIS, adequate provision of fund, training of rural masons etc., for timely completion of houses.

All these measures ensured increased pace for construction of houses resulting in completion of 1.10 crore houses which includes houses to 1.46 lakh landless beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G). The increased pace of work has been reflected in the NIPFP study which indicated 114 days as average completion time for Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) as compared to 314 days earlier. The Ministry of Rural Development has also completed construction of around 72 lakh houses under Indira Awas Yojana totalling construction of 182 lakh houses since 2014.

PMAY-G also addresses the basic needs of households through convergence with various government programmes. The poor not only get a home but also get up to 90-95 days of work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Their homes are also provided electricity connection under the existing Ministry of Power schemes and LPG connection under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Scheme besides the households’ toilet under Swachh Bharat Mission / MGNREGS and tap connection under Jal Jeeval Mission. Efforts have also been made to provide livelihood development and diversification opportunities to 1.82 crore rural households, under Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM).

With partnership with the States, the Ministry of Rural Development is confident that with a large number of houses under different stages of completion and increased pace of completion of houses, it would be able to achieve the target of construction of 2.95 crore houses under PMAY-G by March, 2022.
 

Amazon to open 10 new India warehouses; offers insurance

Amazon.com Inc's India unit announced its plan to open 10 new warehouses in the country and begin offering auto insurance, in moves that will help the e-commerce giant widen its reach in a key growth market.

Amazon will now have over 60 warehouses or fulfilment centres across 15 Indian states with an area equivalent to more than 100 football fields, said the company.

It plans to add these new warehouses in 10 Indian cities including Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, it added.

India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing markets for US-based Amazon, although the company had to face the most regulatory hurdles, and a backlash from traders over accusations of offering discounts.

Amazon also said that its local payments arm, Amazon Pay, has partnered with private firm Acko General Insurance to offer car and motor-bike insurance. This marks India as the first market where Amazon is offering such a financial service.

The insurance service is available on Amazon's app and mobile website.

Customers of Amazon's Prime loyalty programme -- which promises free movies and music streaming as well as faster deliveries for an annual 999 rupees (US$ 13.36), will also get extra benefits and more discounts, Amazon said.

The service will compete with local rivals including SoftBank-backed digital payments firm Paytm and insurance aggregator Policybazaar.
 

Largest Solar Power Plant of Navy Commissioned

Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla, PVSM, AVSM, NM, VSM, ADC Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command commissioned a 3 MW Solar Power Plant at Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala on 22 July 2020, via virtual conferencing. This is in line with the Govt of India initiative of ‘National Solar Mission’ to achieve 100GW of solar power by 2022.

The solar plant is the largest in the Indian Navy and has an estimated life of 25 years. All components have been indigenously sourced, including 9180 highly efficient monocrystalline solar panels employing the latest technology. The project has been executed by Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd (KELTRON).

Despite heavy monsoons and restrictions due to COVID-19, all concerned agencies including Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) continued work on the project adhering to all guidelines/ protocols against COVID-19 and executed the work in a timebound manner.

The Solar Power Plant project will help Naval Station Ezhimala in reducing the carbon footprint and is one of the many initiatives undertaken by INA towards a clean and green environment. Surplus power generated will also feed the KSEB electricity grid.
 

India to set up solar power park in Sri Lanka

India plans to build a solar power park in Sri Lanka as part of a strategy to project its presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) amid Chinese attempts to lure nations into its ‘Belt and Road’ initiative.

India’s largest power generation utility NTPC Ltd plans to set up this project in the island nation under the aegis of International Solar Alliance (ISA).

This comes as the presence of Chinese in the Indian Ocean Region has been increasing and is considered as sphere of influence by India. On July 20, 2020, the Indian Navy conducted joint exercises in the Bay of Bengal with the US Navy, which sailed in with an aircraft carrier battle group led by the USS Nimitz.

“We are looking at setting up a solar park in Sri Lanka," said a senior Indian government official.

India has been working on improving the energy infrastructure in Sri Lanka. State-run Ceylon Electricity Board has an installed power generation capacity of around 35.8 gigawatts (GW).

Earlier, Petronet LNG Ltd announced its plans of setting up a liquefied natural gas terminal in Sri Lanka.

It is also exploring laying an overhead electricity link with Sri Lanka as part of efforts to create a new-energy ecosystem in the South Asian neighbourhood. China is already one of the biggest investors in infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka.

This will be NTPC’s second foray after Colombo scrapped a proposal to set up a US$ 500 million coal-fuelled power project in Trincomalee over environmental concerns in 2016.

Though, no official statement was released by NTPC or India’s ministry of new and renewable energy.

With an installed capacity of 62.91 GW, NTPC’s Sri Lanka solar move is one of several such contracts being pursued to help build 10 GW solar capacity in ISA member countries.

Currently, Green energy projects accounts for more than a fifth of India’s installed power generation capacity of 370 GW.
 

Nitin Gadkari launches advisory platform, RestartIndia, to help MSME sector

The Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) sector, Mr Nitin Gadkari launched www.restartindia.in, a mentoring platform primarily aimed at aiding the sector to restart businesses across the country.

This was developed jointly by Muthoot Fincorp and INKtalks as an open platform for advisory support. It is expected to help the common man by bringing global management information and expertise to the doorstep, said Mr Gadkari.

It is in sync with Atmanirbhar project and is a single platform to get information on various schemes that the Government has initiated and to connect with professionals/experts from various fields, added Mr Gadkari.

According to Muthoot FinCorp release, experts from various fields and industry domains will address the questions and provide information on schemes and initiatives of the government.
It is designed to help the MSME sector, particularly the nano and micro enterprises. It will provide solutions to the problems faced by many women entrepreneurs making a livelihood by setting up very small businesses, following the pandemic crisis.

The website also provides details of various MSME-focused governmental/institutional support and resources on how to run or set up a sustainable business venture.

“The objective is to raise the self-confidence primarily of small businesses by creating an environment for the re-establishment and progress of their businesses”, said Mr Thomas John Muthoot, Chairman and Managing Director of Muthoot Fincorp.