Indian Railways set to meet all its energy consumption needs of more than 33 billion units by 2030. Current annual requirement is about 21 billion units

 In order to achieve its objective of becoming 100 per cent self-sustainable for all its power needs and also to contribute to national solar power goals, Indian Railways organized wide ranging discussions with key stake holders under the chairmanship of Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry Mr Piyush Goyal.

It may be noted that Indian Railways is committed to utilize solar energy for meeting its traction power requirement and become a complete ‘Green mode of transportation’.

The primary areas of discussion in this meeting were as follows:

• Innovative solutions for setting up solar projects along the railway track.
• Possible power procurement routes for achieving 20 GW renewable energy target, set by the Indian Railways, to become the net zero carbon emitter by 2030.
• Challenges in large scale deployment of solar energy projects by the Indian Railways.

The developers acknowledged the efforts of Indian Railways in leading the development of renewable energy in the country and expressed strong support to Indian Railways on the path of going green and achieving the net zero carbon emissions target by 2030.

This is in line with the recent directive of Hon’ble Prime Minister to solarise railway stations and utilize vacant railway land for Renewable Energy (RE) projects.

It will also contribute towards National Solar Mission, an initiative of the Government of India to promote solar power.

As a follow up, it has been decided by Ministry of Railways to provide solar power plants on vacant unused Railway land on mega scale. A pilot project of 1.7 MW capacity with direct connectivity to 25 KV traction system has been successfully operationalised in Bina.  In addition, solar plant of 3 MW capacity has also been commissioned at Modern Coach Factory (MCF), Raebareli for non-traction applications. Further, 2 more projects – one at Diwana for 2 MW and another at Bhilai for 50 MW capacity for connectivity with State Transmission Utility (STU) and Central Transmission Utility (CTU) respectively are in progress.  

The use of solar power will accelerate the Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry, Mr Piyush Goyal’s mission to achieve conversion of Indian Railways to ‘Net Zero Carbon Emission Railway’.  To achieve this, Indian Railways has developed a mega plan for installing solar plants of 20 GW capacity by utilizing its vacant land by 2030. With the ambitious plan of achieving 100 per cent electrification for Railways by the year 2023, Indian Railways energy consumption is set to become more than 33 billion units by 2030 from its current annual requirement of about 21 billion units.

Indian Railways has adopted a multi-pronged approach towards decarbonization which would be fulfilled by the solar projects being deployed, making it the first transport organization to be energy self-sufficient. This would help in making Indian Railways green as well as ‘Atma-Nirbhar’.

In this regard, to begin with, bids for 3 GW solar projects on vacant Railway land parcels and land parcels along the railway track have already been invited by Railway Energy Management Company Ltd. (REMCL), a PSU of Indian Railways. These solar projects, besides supplying power to Railways at reduced tariff, will also protect the Railway land by construction of boundary wall along the track.

Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry, Mr Piyush Goyal pointed out that Indian Railways is willing to extend all support to the developers for installing solar power plants on Railway’s vacant un-encroached land. Boundary wall along the track will be constructed and maintained by developers which will also help in preventing trespassing on tracks.

Adoption of modern indigenous technology to create an energy self-reliant Indian Railways will contribute towards meeting India’s renewable energy targets and Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), as committed by our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi.

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) - National Mission for Financial Inclusion, completes six years of successful implementation; More than 40.35 crore beneficiaries banked under PMJDY since inception, amounting to Rs 1.31 lakh crore

 

Ministry of Finance is committed to provide financial inclusiveness and support to the marginalized and hitherto socio-economically neglected classes. Financial Inclusion is a national priority of the Government as it is an enabler for inclusive growth. It is important as it provides an avenue to the poor for bringing their savings into the formal financial system, an avenue to remit money to their families in villages besides taking them out of the clutches of the usurious money lenders. A key initiative towards this commitment is the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), which is one of the biggest financial inclusion initiatives in the world.

PMJDY was announced by Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address on 15th August 2014. While launching the programme on 28th August, the Prime Minister had described the occasion as a festival to celebrate the liberation of the poor from a vicious cycle.

On the sixth Anniversary of PMJDY, Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Ms Nirmala Sitharaman reiterated the importance of this Scheme “The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has been the foundation stone for the Modi government’s people-centric economic initiatives. Whether it is direct benefit transfers, COVID-19 financial assistance, PM-KISAN, increased wages under MGNREGA, life and health insurance cover, the first step was to provide every adult with a bank account, which PMJDY has nearly completed.” she said

Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Mr Anurag thakur also expressed his thoughts for PMJDY on this occasion. He said “Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, PMJDY has brought the unbanked into the banking system, expanded the financial architecture of India and brought financial inclusion to over 40 crore account holders. A majority of the beneficiaries are women and most of the accounts are from rural India. In today’s COVID-19 times, we have witnessed the remarkable swiftness and seamlessness with which DBTs have empowered and provided financial security to the vulnerable sections of society. An important aspect is that DBTs via PM Jan Dhan accounts have ensured every rupee reaches its intended beneficiary and prevented systemic leakage.”

As we complete 6 years of successful implementation of this Scheme, we look at the major aspects and achievements of this Scheme so far.

Background

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, Banking/ Savings and Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner.

1. Objectives:

• Ensure access of financial products and services at an affordable cost
• Use of technology to lower cost and widen reach

 

2. Basic tenets of the scheme

• Banking the unbanked - Opening of basic savings bank deposit (BSBD) account with minimal paperwork, relaxed KYC, e-KYC, account opening in camp mode, zero balance and zero charges
• Securing the unsecured - Issuance of Indigenous Debit cards for cash withdrawals and payments at merchant locations, with free accident insurance coverage of Rs 2 lakh (US$ 2,837.28)
• Funding the unfunded - Other financial products like micro-insurance, overdraft for consumption, micro-pension, and micro-credit

 

3. Initial Features

The scheme was launched based upon the following 6 pillars:

• Universal access to banking services – Branch and BC
• Basic savings bank accounts with overdraft facility of Rs 10,000 (US$ 141.86)/- to every household
• Financial Literacy Program– Promoting savings, use of ATMs, getting ready for credit, availing insurance, and pensions, using basic mobile phones for banking
• Creation of Credit Guarantee Fund – To provide banks some guarantee against defaults
• Insurance – Accident cover up to Rs 1,00,000 (US$ 1,418.64) and life cover of Rs 30,000 (US$ 425.59) on account opened between 15 Aug 2014 to 31 January 2015
• Pension scheme for Unorganized sector

 

4. Important approach adopted in PMJDY based on experience:

• Accounts opened are online accounts in core banking system of banks, in place of earlier method of offline accounts opening with technology lock-in with the vendor
• Inter-operability through RuPay debit card or Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS)
• Fixed-point Business Correspondents
• Simplified KYC / e-KYC in place of cumbersome KYC formalities

 

5. Extension of PMJDY with New features – The Government decided to extend the comprehensive PMJDY program beyond 28.8.2018 with some modifications

• Focus shift from ‘Every Household’ to Every Unbanked Adult’
• RuPay Card Insurance - Free accidental insurance cover on RuPay cards increased from Rs 1 lakh (US$ 1,418.64) to Rs 2 lakh (US$ 2,837.28) for PMJDY accounts opened after 28.8.2018.
• Enhancement in overdraft facilities -
• OD limit doubled from Rs 5,000 (US$ 70.93)/- to Rs 10,000 (US$ 141.86)/-; OD up to Rs 2,000 (US$ 28.37)/- (without conditions).
• Increase in upper age limit for OD from 60 to 65 years

 

6. Achievements under PMJDY- As on 19th Aug’2020:

1. PMJDY Accounts

• As on 19th Aug’20 Number of Total PMJDY Accounts: 40.35 crore; Rural PMJDY accounts: 63.6 per cent, Women PMJDY accounts: 55.2 per cent
• During first year of scheme 17.90 crore PMJDY accounts were opened
• Continuous increase in no of accounts under PMJDY

 

2. Operative PMJDY Accounts

• As per extant RBI guidelines, a PMJDY account is treated as inoperative if there are no customer induced transactions in the account for over a period of two years
• In Aug’20, out of total 40.35 crore PMJDY accounts, 34.81 crore (86.3 per cent) are operative
• Continuous increase in per cent of operative accounts is an indication that more and more of these accounts are being used by customers on a regular basis

 

3. Deposits under PMJDY accounts

• Total deposit balances under PMJDY Accounts stand at Rs 1.31 lakh crore (US$ 18.58 billion)
• Deposits have increased about 5.7 times with increase in accounts 2.3 times (Aug’20 / Aug’15)

 

4. Average Deposit per PMJDY account

• Average deposit per account is Rs 3,239 (US$ 45.94)
• Avg. Deposit per account has increased over 2.5 times over Aug’15
• Increase in average deposit is another indication of increased usage of accounts and inculcation of saving habit among account holders

 

5. Rupay Card issued to PMJDY account holders

• Total RuPay cards issued to PMJDY accountholders: 29.75 Crore
• Number of RuPay cards and their usage has increased over time

 

7. Jan Dhan Darshak App

A mobile application was launched to provide a citizen centric platform for locating banking touch points such as bank branches, ATMs, Bank Mitras, Post Offices, etc. in the country. Over 8 lakh banking touchpoints have been mapped on the GIS App. The facilities under Jan Dhan Darshak App could be availed as per the need and convenience of common people. The web version of this application could be accessed at the link http://findmybank.gov.in.

This app is also being used for identifying villages which are not served by banking touchpoints within 5 km. these identified villages are then allocated to various banks by concerned SLBCs for opening of banking outlets. The efforts have resulted in significant decrease in number of such villages.

 

8. Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) for PMJDY women beneficiaries

As per announcement made by the Hon’ble Finance Minister on 26.3.2020, under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, an amount of Rs 500 (US$ 7.09)/- per month for three months (April’20 to June’20), was credited to the accounts of women account holders under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). A total of Rs 30,705 crore (US$ 4.36 billion) have been credited in accounts of women PMJDY account holders during April-June 2020.

 

9. Towards ensuring smooth DBT transactions: 

As informed by banks, about 8 crore PMJDY accountholders receive direct benefit transfer (DBT) from the Government under various schemes. To ensure that the eligible beneficiaries receive their DBT in time, the Department takes active role in identification of avoidable reasons for DBT failures in consultation with DBT Mission, NPCI, banks and various other Ministries. With close monitoring in this regard through regular VCs with banks and NPCI, the number of DBT failure due to avaoidable reasons has observed significant decline from 5.23 lakh (0.20 per cent) in Apr’19 to 1.1 lakh (0.04 per cent) in Jun’20.

 

10. The road ahead

• Endeavour to ensure coverage of PMJDY account holders under micro insurance schemes. Eligible PMJDY accountholders will be sought to be covered under PMJJBY and PMSBY. Banks have already been communicated about the same.
• Promotion of digital payments including RuPay debit card usage amongst PMJDY accountholders through creation of acceptance infrastructure across India
• Improving access of PMJDY account holders to Micro-credit and micro investment such as flexi-recurring deposit etc. 

Mahindra ties up with Israel's REE Automotive to develop commercial EVs

 

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) entered in a partnership with Tel Aviv-based REE Automotive to explore production of electric commercial vehicles.

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between the two companies to explore development and manufacturing of electric commercial vehicles for global markets, said M&M.

Under this collaboration, the company will use REE's revolutionary electric vehicle corner module and platform technology of integrating powertrain, suspension, and steering components in the arch of a vehicle wheel. Along with Mahindra's well-established vehicle design, engineering, sourcing capability and manufacturing assets, is set to be a win-win strategic partnership for both companies it added.

It is expected that the partnership will support REE's global customer need for up to 250,000 electric commercial vehicle units over a few years, including any volumes for Mahindra's domestic and international markets, it added.

"Our collaboration with REE has the potential to bring a disruptive approach to a new age of vehicles capitalising on our respective strengths," said M&M Executive Director (Auto and Farm Sectors) Mr Rajesh Jejurikar.

REE Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mr Daniel Barel said, “Mahindra's unique cost structure, design and engineering capabilities and volume flexibility will be key to the company's ability to address the majority of the commercial EV market with both large volume vehicles as well as more targeted mission-specific vehicles.”

Ministry of Culture announces 7 new circles of Archaeological Survey of India

 

The Ministry of Culture has announced 7 new circles of Archaeological Survey of India. This information was shared by the Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (IC), Shri Prahalad Singh Patel in a video message tweeted by him today. Shri Patel said that the Ministry of Culture has taken this step-in accordance with the Prime Minister’s call to facilitate and strengthen the process of preservation and registration of archaeological monuments along with registration of artefacts with self-declaration. The Minister informed that new circles have been created in Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal, and Gujarat. He said that Trichy, Raiganj, Rajkot, Jabalpur, Jhansi & Meerut have been announced as new circles. In Archaeology, the Hampi city in Karnataka is a place of international repute hence Hampi Mini Circle has been converted into a full-fledged circle, The Minister added. Earlier there were 29 ASI circles across the country.

Mr Patel said that in a large state like Tamil Nadu which has thousands of temples and glorious memories of the Chola kings, Trichy has been made a new circle along with the circle of Chennai. Karnataka is an important state in terms of holiness. Hampi city in Karnataka is a place of international importance from the point of view of archaeological heritage therefore the Hampi Sub-Circle now has been made a new full-fledged circle. In West Bengal, Raiganj has been made a new circle along with Kolkata, this will eliminate geographical inconvenience in a big state like Bengal. In Gujarat, Rajkot has been announced a new circle along with Vadodara.

Shri Patel said that Jabalpur has been announced a new circle along with Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. This will include the monuments from Jabalpur, Rewa, Shahdol and Sagar divisions. The Minister also informed that Jhansi in Bundelkhand and Meerut in western Uttar Pradesh have been announced two new circles along with Lucknow and Agra in Uttar Pradesh.

FASTag made mandatory for availing all discounts on the National Highways Fee Plazas

 

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has made the use of FASTag mandatory for availing return journey discount or any other exemptions on Toll Fee Plazas. Users who wish to claim a discount for making return journey within 24 hours or any other local exemptions, shall be required to have a valid functional FASTag on the vehicle. A Gazette notification no. 534 E dated 24th August 2020 to amend the National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules, 2008 has been notified in this respect.

This is another step towards promoting the use of digital payments on Fee Plazas of NHs. The fee payable towards such discounts shall be paid through pre-paid instruments, smart card or through FASTag or on-board unit (transponder) or any other such device only.

The amendments to the Rules would enable-

• For discount on return journey within 24 hours, it would be through FASTag or such other device and automatic and no requirement for a pass.
• For discounts on all other cases, having a valid FASTag is made necessary.

The amendment would also enable that in cases where there is a discount available for a return journey within 24 hours, there is no need for a prior receipt or intimation and the citizen would get the discount automatically if return journey is made within 24 hours with a valid and a functional FASTag on the vehicle.

MOU signed between NeGD and CSC E-Governance Services India Limited making services on UMANG app available to citizens through the network of 3.75 lakh CSCs

 

With an objective to realise Digital India’s vision of “Power to Empower” and to enable Digital Inclusion across the length and breadth of India, the National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) has signed an MOU with CSC (Common Service Center) e Governance Services India Limited on August 26, 2020 to facilitate delivery of UMANG services at CSCs, in an assisted mode, thereby making services on UMANG app available to citizens through the network of 3.75 lakh CSCs. The CSC operators Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) will enable citizens to avail e-Governance services of 140 Departments through the UMANG App. This will benefit those citizens who either do not have access to smartphones or are not comfortable accessing App based e services on their own. For the masses, this will not only enhance access to government services significantly, but also expand the gamut of services that VLEs offer citizens, thereby increasing their income and viability. All these UMANG services are being enabled on CSCs without any additional cost and NeGD is making all services available to CSCs at zero cost.

Common Services Centres or CSCs, set up under the CSC Scheme of MeitY, are a strategic cornerstone of the Digital India programme and key access points for delivery of various electronic services to villages in India. UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-Age Governance) is the common unified platform for delivery of services of various Government Departments through the mobile platform. This invaluable synergy between UMANG and CSCs, will make available over 1000+services from 140 departments on the UMANG platform to CSCs. This will be of great advantage to the 140 departments connected on UMANG platform too, as their services will be delivered in an assisted mode now, in one go, without incurring any cost.

UMANG was developed by National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics & IT. It was dedicated to the Nation on November 23, 2017, by our Hon’ble Prime Minister. Within a short period of its successful implementation, the mobile app attained four illustrious awards including ‘Best m-Government service’ award at the 6th World Government Summit held at Dubai, UAE in Feb 2018. The aim to develop UMANG has been to facilitate ease of access to major Government services for citizens from a single mobile app.

The UMANG Mobile app is available on Android, iOS, all web browsers platforms and select 57 services on KaiOS (available on Jio feature phones). The app can be downloaded by giving a missed call on 97183-97183 or by clicking on https://web.umang.gov.in/uaw/i/v/ref. UMANG has reached a level of more than 3.12 crore downloads, with 2.05 crore registered users while maintaining an average Play Store rating of ~4 from more than 100K users. Presently 1,011 services (294 from Central, 441 from State departments, 276 from Bill payments), from 70 Central departments, 71 State departments from 26 States are available on UMANG and the count is galloping ahead! UMANG has so far seen about 100 crore service transactions and about 200 crore Hits.

This significant alliance of UMANG and CSCs will empower lakh of citizens in our country, especially during these unprecedented times, ensuring ease, convenience, and security.

Over 85000 water conservation structures and more than 2.63 lakh rural houses among the structures created so far under the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan; About 24 crore mandays employment has been provided and Rs 18,862 crore spent by the 9th week of the Abhiyaan

 

The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) has been launched to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for migrant workers returning to villages and similarly affected citizens in rural areas, in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak. The Abhiyaan is acting on mission mode to provide employment to migrant workers who have returned to their native villages of 6 states namely Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The Abhiyaan is now empowering villagers with livelihood opportunities in 116 districts of these states.

By the 9th week, a total of about 24 crore mandays employment has been provided and Rs 18,862 crore (US$ 2.68 billion) has been spent so far in the pursuit of objectives of the Abhiyaan. Many structures have been created so far including 85,786 water conservation structures, 2,63,846 rural houses, 19,397 cattle shed, 12,798 farm ponds, and 4,260 Community Sanitary Complexes. 6342 works have been taken up through District Mineral Funds, 1002 Gram Panchayats have been provided internet connectivity, a total of 13,022 works related to solid and liquid waste management taken up, and 31,658 candidates have been provided skill training through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) during the Abhiyaan.

The Abhiyaan’s success so far can be seen as convergent efforts of 12 Ministries/Departments and State Governments, which are giving higher quantum of benefits to the migrant workers and rural communities. The stage is set for longer term initiative for jobs and livelihoods for those who choose to stay back.

8,363 projects, with an anticipated cost of Rs 5.88 lakh crore, have been kick-started in the Oil and Gas sector since 20th April this year

 Oil and Gas industry has kick-started economic activities/projects, numbering 8,363 with an anticipated cost of Rs 5.88 lakh crore (US$ 83.42 billion) which resumed progressively since 20.04.2020, following all pandemic related SOP.

These projects of Oil and Gas CPSEs and JV/Subsidiaries, inter-alia, include Refinery projects, Bio Refineries, E and P Projects, Marketing infrastructure projects, Pipelines, CGD projects, drilling/survey activities. The major 25 on-going projects of Oil and Gas CPSEs / JVs having an anticipated cost of Rs 1,67,248 crore (US$ 23.73 billion) and having incurred Rs 7,861 crore (US$ 1.12 billion) worth of Capex leading to generation of 76,56,825 man-days, are given in Annexure.

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan has been holding in-depth reviews of all on-going projects of Oil and Gas Companies, the recent one being on 24.08.2020. Under the Minister’s vision, Petroleum Industry has turned 'crisis into opportunity' and is striving to work on mission mode to generate employment and revive growth. Oil and Gas entities in their role as key actors are working on war footing and contributing to the green shoots of economic revival already visible through the backward and forward linkages of the oil and gas industry. Further, Oil and Gas sector is a key driver of economic growth and, therefore, these projects provide boost to the national economy and will trigger job creation, material movement.

Out of the total anticipated cost of these projects, approximately Rs 1.20 lakh crore (US$ 17.02 billion) is targeted to be incurred as CAPEX in FY 2020-21. In FY2020-21 (as on 15.08.2020), around Rs 26,576 crore (US$ 3.77 billion) worth of CAPEX has already been incurred. Further, in FY 2020-21 (as on 15.08.2020), around Rs 3,258 crore (US$ 462.19 million) has been reported to be payout accrued on labour account during this period.

A total of around 33.8 crore man-days (direct as well as indirect) of employment is expected to be generated towards the completion of these 8363 projects, out of which more than 9.76 crore man-days of employment generation is targeted in FY 2020-21 itself. In FY 2020-21 (as on 15.08.2020), employment of more than 2.2 crore man-days have been generated through capital expenditure in the execution of these Oil and Gas projects.

Oil and Gas companies have reported that in FY 2020-21, they have planned an employment oriented OPEX of around Rs 41,672 crore (US$ 5.91 billion) out of which Rs 11,296 crore (US$ 1.60 billion) has already been spent. This OPEX of Rs 41,672 crore (US$ 5.91 billion) has potential to generate around 14.5 crore man-days employment (direct/indirect). In FY 2020-21 (as on 15.08.2020), direct/indirect employment of around 4.4 crore man-days have been generated through OPEX.

Apple begins assembling iPhone SE (2020) in India, to go on sale soon

 

Apple has started assembling its affordable second-generation iPhone SE (2020) in India that will reach authorised retail stores and online channels very soon, as per the company’s statement.

The company is targeting Android mid-segment users along with the aspirational iPhone seekers. It introduced the new iPhone SE to India, which is similar in looks with Apple iPhone 8 but with the power of iPhone 11, costs just Rs 42,500 (US$ 602.9).

"New iPhone SE packs our most powerful chip into our most popular size at our most affordable price and we're excited to be making it in India for our local customers," said Apple in a statement.

Apple supplier Wistron is responsible to assemble the new iPhone at its Bengaluru facility.

The Cupertino-based tech giant became the first US company to cross the US$ 2 trillion-mark last week and is currently assembling four high-selling iPhones in India: iPhone 11, iPhone XR, iPhone 7 and new iPhone SE.

According to Mr Navkendar Singh, Research Director, Client Devices and IPDS, IDC India, the new iPhone SE is finding good grip in the India market, mainly as it is a new iPhone from Apple at an attractive price point.

"Given its attractive price point and expected price aggression by brands and channels (online platforms) during the next few festive months, we should see the new iPhone SE to further find good traction in next few months," said Mr Singh.

There are not many options available for people who prefer a smaller pocket-sized phone as phones are getting bigger in size.

Apple started assembling iPhones in India in 2017. Currently, iPhone XR and iPhone 11 are being assembled by Foxconn at its Chennai plant and iPhone 7 and new iPhone SE by Wistron in Bengaluru.

Original iPhone SE and iPhone 6s were assembled by Wistron but those were discontinued in 2019.

According to Mr Prabhu Ram, Head- Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR, with the iPhone SE 2020, Apple has added a new chapter to its rather impressive India growth story.

"The iPhone SE 2020 has been doing exceptionally well, capturing 8 per cent market share of the total premium smartphones shipped during Q2 (second quarter)," said Mr Ram.

The new iPhone SE is considered as powerful and compact as it has a 4.7-inch Retina HD display, Touch ID, A13 Bionic chip that enables great battery life and the best single-camera system.

In June quarter the company grew two per cent, said Apple CEO Mr Tim Cook and the company witnessed a strong iPhone SE launch amid great customer response.

"The combination of the smaller form factor and an incredibly affordable price made the iPhone SE very popular. iPhone 11 is still the most popular smartphone, but iPhone SE definitely helped our results," Mr Cook said.

To meet the increasing demand due to COVID -19 Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceutical Ltd creates a record of producing 51,960 pheneol bottles on a single day

 

Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceutical Ltd (BCPL), a public sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has scaled up its production activities to cater to the demand increasing many fold since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. It has created an all-time record by producing 51,960 pheneol bottles on a single day. This achievement goes to the BCPL Panihati, North 24-Parganas Unit situated in West Bengal.

Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri D.V Sadananda Gowda has congratulated the management and employees of the company for brilliant work in recording all-time high production.

BCPL director (Finance) Shri P. M Chandraiah said "It is a record in the 120-year-old history of BCPL. In July 2020 we had managed to produce 38,000 pheneol bottles in a single day. In a month's time Company have scaled it up further and now can produce more than 50,000 pheneol bottles in a single day. As many as 51,960 bottles were produced on 23 August 2020. BCPL said that it used to produce 15,000 bottles per day in period before COVID-19 pandemic. "The monthly sale of pheneol was to the tune of Rs 3 to 3.5 crore (US$ 0.43 to 0.50 million). This has gone up to the range of Rs 4.5 to 6 crore (US$ 0.64 to 0.85 million) a month since the COVID outbreak which is a clear indication of the huge demand of the product".

The employees will work till October 20 (puja holidays) on all Sundays and holidays in two shifts braving the COVID pandemic situation to cater to the huge demand of this cleanliness product.

Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Ltd is the first Pharmaceutical Company of India which makes many household, pharma, and industrial products.