Does elevated road projects mean a boon or nightmare for residents of Bengaluru
What is common between chief minister Siddaramaiah’s budget and the Bengaluru civic corporation’s budget? Both of them show a vigour to pursue elevated road projects for Bengaluru, a city struggling to manage its nightmarish traffic. Well, almost as if it is the single, sure-shot solution to this ever growing problem. A number of projects, some new and some old, have been announced. One of them is estimated to cost a whopping Rs 18,000 crore: a 100-km road-on-road elevated corridor covering Silk Board to Hebbal, KR Puram to Tumakuru Road and Varthur to Mysuru Road. Another one is a flyover from Pipeline Road to Ring Road through Kurubarahalli, for which BBMP has earmarked Rs50 crore. Then there are older plans such as the steel bridge from Minerva Circle to Town Hall at a cost of Rs 134 crore and a similar one at Shivananda Circle that is estimated to cost Rs 46.7 crore. The cost of grade separators at Suranjan Das Road, Old Madras Road, Sarjapura-Haralur junction, Hulimavu junction, Arakere junction, Sony World junction and a flyover from Cox Town to Banaswadi -which have all been announced with much fanfare -is yet to be determined. Meanwhile, Sathya Sankaran, a founding member of civic group Praja RAAG, has floated a petition on Change.org, urging the government to drop elevated roads or flyover projects and focus instead on ramping up public transport. With over 200 signatures so far, the petition has sparked off a debate among experts on whether flyovers could mean a boon or simply end up being irrevocable mistakes. ET gets two experts to join the debate.
UIDAI cautions e-comm players, public against sharing Aadhaar information
The Unique Identification Authority of India cautioned e-commerce companies such as E-Bay, Flipkart, Amazon not to allow their merchants to collect Aadhaar information from general public for printing Aadhaar cards. It also cautioned general public against sharing their personal information, who are being asked to pay anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 200 on a plastic card in the name of smart card, the Ministry of Communications and IT said in a statement. “The Aadhaar card or the downloaded Aadhaar card printed on ordinary paper is perfectly valid for all uses,” said Director General of UIDAI, Dr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey. “If a person has a paper Aadhaar card, there is absolutely no need to get his/her Aadhaar card laminated or obtain a plastic Aadhaar card or so called SMART Aadhaar card by paying money. There is no concept such as smart Aadhaar card,” he added. In addition, referring to e-commerce portals allowing merchants to ask for Aadhaar card details the statement said “collecting information related to Aadhaar card or its unauthorized printing or aiding such persons in any manner may amount to a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment under Indian Penal Code and also Chapter VI of The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016”.
In 2015-16, record 6,029 km of highways constructed
The construction of highways touched an all-time high of 6,029 km during 2015-16. Prior to this, a maximum of 5,732 km of national highway was constructed during 2012-13. Officials said while NHAI reported construction of nearly 2,000 km, the rest came from works done by the road transport ministry through its agencies including state public works departments, Border Roads Organisation and ministry’s entity NHIDCL for undertaking works in hill states. TOI on January 10 had first reported how the total construction was set to cross 6,000-km mark. Though surpassing 2012-13 record by merely constructing one extra km per day may not be that big achievement, sources said the increased pace of construction will now continue for the next few years.
Govt committed to supplying Euro VI fuel: Nitin Gadkari
Government is committed to supplying Euro VI compliant fuel which will be at par with international standards, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said. “Euro VI fuel will be supplied by the Petroleum Ministry complying to international norms,” Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari told PTI. Dismissing any apprehensions of diluting the fuel standards as false, the minister said government is making sure that “whatever standards have been fixed in the world for Euro VI, will be supplied here.” Automobile industry body Siam had recently criticised the BS VI fuel standards announced in the draft notification by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, saying it was diluted. Siam alleged that BS VI fuel norms in the draft is “inferior” to Euro VI norms. Terming the allegations “false” the minister said petroleum refineries were making a huge investment to supply Euro VI compliant fuel, which will minimise pollution that has become a big problem. The government had earlier estimated that refineries in the country will invest about Rs 30,000 crore to upgrade to the Euro VI fuel standards. Siam has demanded “exactly the same BS VI fuel as per Euro 6 fuel standards prevalent in Europe if it has to meet the BS VI norms for vehicles”, saying “this requirement for the country should be non-negotiable”. Earlier, refusing to budge under pressure from auto industry on stricter fuel emission norms, Gadkari has said carmakers must follow the same standards in India that they do elsewhere. “I do not agree with Siam. When the same car manufacturer can build cars following the same norms across the globe, then why can’t they build it here? The government is not reconsidering its decision,” Gadkari has told SIAM on their request to reconsider the decision to leapfrog to BS VI norms. In a bid to curb vehicular pollution, the government in January decided to implement stricter emission norms of Bharat Stage (BS) VI from April 1, 2020 by skipping BS-V altogether. At present, BS IV norms are followed in parts of India and by April 1, 2017, the whole of the country is scheduled to be covered under it. The decision to leapfrog to BS-VI was taken at an inter- ministerial meeting chaired by Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, which was attended by Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.
Cairn India output from Rajasthan oilfield down 4 per cent
Cairn IndiaBSE 1.75 % today reported 4 per cent drop in crude oil production at its flagship Rajasthan oilfields during the quarter ended March 31, mainly due to under-performance of its second biggest discovery. Production at Barmer block in Rajasthan in January-March dropped 4 per cent to 167,650 barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas per day, Cairn said in a regulatory filing. Its eastern offshore Ravva fields saw a 40 per cent drop in output in the fourth quarter of 2015-16 fiscal at 19,058 boepd while Cambay field off Gujarat managed a 8 per cent increase in production at 10,331 boepd. “Average gross production for Q4 FY2016 was 197,039 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), 9 per cent lower than Q4 FY2015, primarily due to lower volumes from Ravva on account of its natural decline,” Cairn said. Gross production from Rajasthan declined by 4 per cent “mainly due to natural decline and under-performance of the Bhagyam reservoir,” it said. Bhagyam is the second biggest oil discovery in the Rajasthan block after Mangala. “Lower volumes at Rajasthan were partly offset by infill wells in Aishwariya, better reservoir management initiatives across the field and a ramp up of production from successful EOR project execution. “Gross production from Development Area DA1 and DA2 averaged at 150,918 boepd and 16,732 boepd, respectively,” it said. DA1 comprises of Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya oilfields while other discoveries are in DA2. Cambay block production increased by 8 per cent compared to Q4 FY2015 driven by commissioning of an artificial gas lift system and better reservoir performance in 4Q16, it said. For the full 2015-16 fiscal, average gross production was 203,703 boepd, 4 per cent lower than FY2015 on account of lower production from Rajasthan and offshore assets. “Rajasthan production declined 3 per cent (to 169,609 boepd) due to reservoir underperformance at Bhagyam. However, an excellent performance by Mangala EOR and contribution from Aishwariya infill program partly made-up for the decline,” it said. Cairn said Mangala enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project was on track and producing the result as expected. “Prudent reservoir management practices helped us reduce the impact of natural decline in our offshore assets,” it said. Gas production from the RDG field increased to an average rate of 27 million standard cubic feet per day in 2015-16 as compared to 16 mmscfd in 2014-15 and surpassing guidance of 25 mmscfd.
India-Iran sign agreements on crude oil imports, gas field development
Eyeing to step up energy partnership in the post-sanctions period India and Iran have signed an agreement that involves crude oil imports, petrochemical complexes and gas fields development besides Delhi making an announcement of $20 billion for strategic Chabahar Port complex during ongoing two-day visit of Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to Tehran. Pradhan who met his Iranian counterpart Bijan Zanganeh in Tehran Saturday also discussed on increasing India’s import of Iranian oil from its current 350,000 barrels a day. “We hope this number will increase now that sanctions have been lifted,” Zanganeh told Iranian news agency Shana after his meeting with Pradhan. A high-level delegation of Indian major oil and energy firms who accompanied the Minister, also evinced interest in Iran’s oil, gas and petrochemical projects, government sources here said. The two ministers signed a cooperation agreement encompassing oil exports, petrochemical operations and gas-field development on the occasion, sources said. Pradhan addressing a joint press conference on Saturday with his Iranian counterpart said, “Iran and India’s energy ties are no longer limited to crude oil imports,” and that India was ready to invest $20 billion in the port of Chabahar in Southeastern Iran. He added that “energy sector can be determining in development of Tehran-New Delhi relations.” India has already extended over $ 100 million Line of Credit for berths and jetties at Chabahar. India’s participation at Farzad-B gas field topped discussions between the two Ministers, sources informed. Last year ONGC submitted a proposal of $ 3 billion for development of Farzad-B field. In fact the most important item in Zanganeh discussions with Pradhan was the investment to develop Farzad-B offshore gas field, sources said. “It was decided that Iranian and Indian sides agree on the schedule of implementing the project which is a demanding job and take time,” sources quoting the Iranian Minister said. Post sanction Iran wants to cultivate closer ties with countries in the East and India’s close relationship with Iran is an added advantage, Iranian government sources said, adding the Minister also discussed pending oil payments issue by India with the banking authorities in Tehran.
Aviation authority reviews block time for select domestic flights
The Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has advised airlines to use realistic block timings for flights. For this it has “considered” a flight time of 185 minutes for a flight between Delhi and Kochi and 130 minutes for a flight between Delhi and Mumbai. For a Delhi-Patna flight the DGCA has “considered” a new block time of 95 minutes. On all three routes this is five minutes more than the earlier block times. The block time for flights from Delhi to Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru remains as before, officials said. This follows a DGCA review of the block time that domestic airlines can show in their time tables for their flights. Block time is calculated from the time that an aircraft pushes back from the departing gate till the time the captain switches off the aircraft engines after parking at the arriving gate. “Domestic air passenger traffic has grown, airports have become slot constrained and one has to consider seasonal wind patterns while taking a view on the block timings for various routes,” a senior DGCA official said. Officials clarified that a 130-minute block time between Delhi and Mumbai does not necessarily mean that a flight will be completed in that time as the aircraft may have to wait for a few more minutes to actually get on the ground if the airport is facing congestion.
Smart cities need clear legal & jurisdictional framework for private investment: Eckart Wuerzner, Mayor of Heidelberg
Smart cities in India have a big potential to attract private investment from contracting companies if the government formulates a clear legal and jurisdictional framework, according to Eckart Wuerzner, Mayor of the City of Heidelberg in Germany. “If India formulates a proper framework, there will be a lot of foreign and domestic companies willing to put their money in contracting business in smart cities,” Wuerzner told ETRealty.com on the sidelines of the 28th Wilhelm von Pochhammmer Memorial Lecture organised by Federation of Indo-German Socities in India in collaboration with Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung and India International Centre. “Smart cities need private money and contracting is a big concept that can be utilized in India,” he said, adding, “It’s not always subsidy, but a clever marketing instrument to make companies invest.” The government also should give subsidies and implementation strategies to companies, according to him. Citing the example of Heidelberg, which is an ideal smart city, Wuerzner said the government can easily frame their fair deal contracts under the Indian law and implement it. “Technical potential is there in India already, but it is not being utilised at present,” he said. The mayor of the City of Heidelberg also insisted on increasing the citizen participation in smart cities. Citing the example of Germany, Wuerzner said citizens should be made accountable for basic things like waste or traffic management by making the services expensive for the defaulters and subsidising the ones who follow the rules properly. “This is a push and pull approach, which might not go well with the citizens initially, but will be merged in the system with time,” he said, adding, “Impulse programmes for citizens to help them partner in the strategy also can help in better implementation of plans.” The mayor also highlighted the need of sustainable city planning in big cities like Delhi or Mumbai, planning residential, shopping, economic business areas, etc, together. “If this is planned together, this reduced the traffic in the city,” he said. He insisted that smart cities should promote vertical development and need high density areas with concentration of citizens. “A system like SAP or any other system can easily run in such high density cities, leading to proper monitoring and implementation of plans.” The government, both at the state and local body levels, have to play a major part for the success of the smart cities, according to Wuerzner. Legalized strategy plan, annual or by-annual reports and self commitment of political leaders of both state and local bodies should be the major pillars of growth. “Government should be best practice example. Initiatives such as electrical buses, bikes for employees, are some of the measures that the government should take on its end,” he said. Wuerzner also highlighted the need to Empower the urban local bodies with experts. “If you don’t have them, the link is missing,” he said. Germany has recently partnered with India to develop Kochi, Bhubaneswar and Coimbatore as smart cities. “Most important thing that Germany can bring into India is developing a vision, clear implementation plan, controlling system to implement and a time frame,” said Wuerzner.
Tech startups helping retailers lure customers to stores
You walk down a shopping street and your smartphone starts to buzz the Zara top you looked up the other day is available in your size and black colour with a 10% discount, at a store 500 metres away. Sounds like a shopping genie coming alive? It’s your smartphone doing the trick, helping brick-and-mortar retailers know your shopping pattern and preferences. A bunch of tech startups are helping them do it. Sensing the need for technology integration to stand a chance in competing with their online counterparts, offline retail stores are increasingly turning to partner with startups who provide such solutions. InteractionOne provides what it calls a proximity discovery platform that enables stores to talk to smartphones via beacons. A small piece of hardware that uses Bluetooth connection to communicate with digital devices, beacon helps in presence detection and pushes messages to user’s smartphone through an app. The app, called Mobmerry uses machine-learning algorithm to grasp user’s likes and preferences over time through their browsing patterns while also letting them add products to their wish list. Add location tracking to it and the next time the user is near a store, a notification on their phone pops up. Once the user enters the store, beacons mounted in the store detect the user’s presence and credits the user with walk-in points. “Retailers have started to see traction and are more willing to integrate technology in their stores,” said Krishna Prasad, cofounder of InteractionOne that piloted its first project based on IoT in Bengaluru on a high-end shopping street with 80 showrooms. For retailers, beacons inside the store also track the time that consumers spend looking at products, thus defining hot zones in the store. “If integrated with point of sale, it can also help merchants understand their customer’s pocket size, how frequently they shop and their buying patterns,” Prasad said. The company is now integrating its solution across the city and is in talks with 400 merchants to sign up with them in the next three months. In the battle of bricks versus clicks, the ecommerce players have always had an edge with consumer-facing technology driving traffic to their websites. Brickand-mortar retailers are now entering the tech space to woo consumers back to the showrooms. Experiential Design Lab is building interactive solutions for brand engagement. Its solution for retail stores includes an interactive digital experience for a user who walks into their store. The startup has also developed solutions for Asian Paints where consumers can walk into a store, select finishes and view them real-time on their home walls through virtualisation.
How startups are getting the corner store online
The next wave of e-commerce in India will be driven by millions of small merchants taking their businesses online. A host of startups is helping retailers get a web presence, build their brand and make more money Atul Tater has been selling his apparel on Flipkart and Amazon for six months, and sees about ten garments take off every day. He pays 25-30% commission per sale to the marketplaces. Three months ago, Singapore-based e-commerce company Shopmatic approached Tater to build a website for his brand, Reevolution. He signed up quickly since it came for Rs 1,400 a month and included a Facebook page shop, an inventory management tool and a payment gateway. “If I had set out to start my own dynamic website, it would have cost upwards of Rs 50,000,” says Tater. Though he’ll continue to sell on the marketplaces the idea of not having to shell out 30% commission comes as a relief to the Noida-based businessman. For small merchants like Tater, the cost of setting up a website, managing inventory and logistics and establishing a payment gateway can be intimidating. And that’s where e-commerce companies are stepping in. The opportunity to take small businesses online is seen as the next big e-commerce wave. Search giant Google started its ‘India Get Your Business Online’ project in 2011 to do the same, but didn’t succeed. However, startups that have come later have figured out that an online identity without dynamic inventory management and payment gateway is not a recipe for success. These startups provide complete solutions to take brick-and-mortar retailers online. Early-stage investor Blume Ventures has four investments in the space — Snapbizz, Zopper, NowFloats and Instamojo. Its founder and managing partner Karthik Reddy says he is very bullish on such startups. The top 10 funded startups in the domain have raised upwards of $60 million in the last few years, according to startups ecosystem tracking platform Tracxn. In China, there are 40 million small businesses, but only 12 million have an online presence. In India, the numbers are far worse — of the 60 million small businesses, only a million are online. “It is not a question of either being on a marketplace or having one’s own website. A seller needs to have a presence across the range of platforms where the customer comes. Large marketplaces don’t cater to micro merchants and in many cases the demand is local,” says Reddy, adding that discovery is also an issue for small merchants on big marketplaces. For most sellers, the idea is not to miss a single lead that comes their way. Yet, they do not want the trouble of building and managing an e-commerce store. Shopmatic co-founder and CEO Anurag Avula says his platform takes away all these pain points. For instance, making changes to inventory or uploading photos is a matter of drag-and-drop. “We take care of design, look, user interface, user experience. The customization is at a high level; even the font will be according to the theme of that particular seller,” he says. Hyderabad-based NowFloats, which not only gets small businesses online but also drives traffic to the websites, has drawn in more than two lakh sellers since it was started in 2011 by Jasminder Singh Gulati, Ronak Kumar Samantray, Nitin Jain and Neeraj Sabharwal. “A web identity alone does not solve the problem. You need to provide a personalized solution,” says Samantray. Inspired by an artificial intelligence-based global web design platform, Grid.io, NowFloats has automated the process of how a website should look. “That is the going to be the differentiator in the long run,” he says, adding that the company has sales teams in 17 states and a few African countries. In a mobile-first country like India, the players are also taking these business to the app platform. Kraftly, which raised $8 million last month, has more than 15,000 shops listed on its platform.It is targeting small seller communities and home-entrepreneurs in categories such as apparel, accessories, home, crafts, and other eclectic products. Bengaluru-based Goodbox is a chat-based assistant to buy goods and services from 1,500 local merchants on an app. It also lets customers make payments online. These platforms also help the merchants with data analytics, search engine optimization, email campaigns and buying ads on Google. Most of the startups are run as a software as a service (SaaS) businesses. Infosys co-founder and chairman of Axilor accelera chairman of Axilor accelerator Kris Gopalakrishnan, an investor in one such platform, Sellerworx, says the huge opportunity has resulted in plethora of different models and all kinds of experiments. “Even as mainstream e-commerce flourishes in the country, an own channel is always attractive for a brand to drive more sales,” he says. “Despite the presence of so many players, consolidation is some time away. Only a few will emerge big and successful,” he adds.