Indian Oil Corporation refuses stake sale offer in Nagarjuna oil project
Indian Oil Corporation has rejected an offer to buy a stake in a project of the financially-stressed Nagarjuna Oil Refinery and help resurrect it, arguing that the project’s technical configuration and financial burden were a hurdle, according to company executives and officials. Indian Oil took the decision recently following a due diligence on the proposed refinery. At a recent meeting, Indian Oil executives conveyed this to officials of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), sources said. More than six months back, the government had suggested Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum consider buying a stake in the Nagarjuna refinery project. All three were hesitant but Indian Oil undertook a due diligence. It had considered investing in the project in Tamil Nadu more than a decade back. Nagarjuna Oil Refinery, which is setting up the refinery, is controlled by Nagarjuna group that owns about 35% of the firm. The group, led by KS Raju, also has fertilizer units. “There has been no construction activity at the project site for almost four years since the time cyclone hit the place, while the financial burden has been mounting,” said a source. The project suffered damage in December 2011 cyclone and hasn’t been able to overcome its impact since. The company has been engaged with multiple potential investors but hasn’t clinched a deal yet and arrange necessary finance to complete the project. The 6 million tonne refinery, spread over 2,100 acre and including a captive port and power plant, was originally scheduled for commissioning in April 2014 at a cost of Rs 11,500 crore. Capacity was to be eventually doubled. The project has design and foundation in place already. “Undoing design and foundation is very complicated,” an Indian Oil executive said. “Had the configuration suited us, we could have accepted the project.” “Even with concessions, it could have been a challenge to resurrect the project,” he said. Part of the refinery would comprise older units relocated from Germany, which further diminished its attraction. The refinery is configured to produce Euro-III and IV standards fuel, which essentially means it can’t sell in the domestic market after April 2020, the government-set deadline after which only Euro VI fuel can be sold. To upgrade to Euro VI would require more investment. Moreover, Indian Oil and other state firms are themselves engaged in capacity expansion. Brandon Saad Authentic Jersey
Petrobras’ Indian partners fight delay in troubled Brazil oil project
Petrobras has warned its Indian partners in a huge offshore project to not expect oil from the site until 2022, according to sources, a fresh sign of how low oil prices and the state-owned company’s corruption scandal and mountain of debt are dragging on Brazil’s energy industry. The previously unreported, four-year delay in the “super-giant” discovery off the northeastern coast of the Brazilian state of Sergipe is forcing India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp and IBV Brasil Petroleo Ltd to seek ways to speed up the Petrobras-led project which has cost them $2.1 billion with no return in sight. The delay and pressure from the Indian partners is just one of many challenges for new Petrobras Chief Executive Pedro Parente, named by Brazil’s interim-President Michel Temer in late May amid an ongoing financial crisis. In the face of a massive bribery and kickback scandal and Petrobras’ $126 billion of debt, Parente has pledged to run the company in a more market-friendly way but has declined to comment on individual projects. He has also promised a revamped investment plan by the end of October – though it is unclear whether it will address the Sergipe offshore standoff. In April, Petrobras told IBV, a 50-50 joint venture between state-owned Bharat PetroleumBSE -0.81 % Corp and privately held Videocon IndustriesBSE -0.33 % Inc, that there will be no oil output from Sergipe “until at least 2022,” an IBV executive told Reuters. A year ago, Petrobras’ promised first oil by 2018. Hoping to speed up development, IBV told Reuters it has offered to arrange up to $10 billion in loans from Indian and other international development banks to finance the Sergipe development – Brazil’s biggest oil prospect outside the prolific subsalt region near Rio de Janeiro where Brazil is pinning hopes of energy independence. “It’s a common and simple loan structure, if Petrobras is willing to provide future output as collateral, it won’t have to pay a penny until oil starts flowing, something we could can probably do by 2020,” the IBV executive said. “But we get the feeling that Petrobras has yet to accept its new, more restricted circumstances,” the executive added. Petrobras told Reuters it has yet to receive a formal proposal from its Indian partners to finance the project. Asked about the delays, Petrobras said in a statement it has invested about $3.5 billion on exploration in the Sergipe blocks it owns with ONGC and IBV. It expects to complete a development plan for the areas by 2020 but has no date for the first production of oil. All development decisions have been made in conjunction with its partners, Petrobras said, and delays have been the result of “considerable” deepwater technical challenges, efforts to reduce costs and a lack of infrastructure to transport the area’s natural gas. After investing $2.1 billion in the offshore finds since 2007, the Indian partners are getting impatient. “We can’t put off a return forever,” the IBV executive, whose company has spent $1.6 billion in Sergipe, told Reuters. “We’ve been investing for nearly a decade. They now say we’ll have to wait at least four years more. In our experience with Petrobras, it will probably be longer.” An ONGC executive, who also declined to be named, said the partners hope the new Parente regime will speed up development plans “so that we can monetize and unlock the potential at the earliest.” The company did recently relinquish its stake in one of two proposed production areas in the Sergipe block that it owns a quarter of to partner Petrobras. SHARED BLAME FOR DELAYS In nine years, ONGC has invested $500 million exploring with Petrobras off the coast of Sergipe. It has spent another $2 billion elsewhere in Brazil and produces about 12,000 barrels a day in the country, a small amount considering the outlay so far. The expected prize, though, is Sergipe. The BM-SEAL-11 block, 40 percent controlled by IBV, holds more than 3 billion barrels of oil and equivalent natural gas, enough to supply all the world’s petroleum needs for more than a month. There are no public estimates for the two adjacent blocks, one fully owned by Petrobras and the other owned 25 percent by ONGC, but people involved with them say the volumes of oil and gas are very large. The Sergipe project’s problems have also been compounded by IBV and ONGC’s own failures. Two sources involved with the Indians in Sergipe exploration said IBV and ONGC often missed deadlines to pay their share of costs, only paying after Petrobras threatened legal action. The Indians confirmed the delays, which they blamed on partner Videocon, which has cash flow problems and may sell its IBV stake. Videocon executives were not available for comment. Venugopal Dhoot, chairman of Videocon told the Business Standard Newspaper in June that his company was considering the sale of its oil and gas assets to pay debt. Both IBV and ONGC also declined to invoke clauses in the blocks’ contracts allowing them to move ahead with development on their own if Petrobras demurred. “Unfortunately, everybody in Brazil is afraid to challenge Petrobras, even if they have a case. They know Petrobras, and perhaps the government, will retaliate,” said John Forman, a geologist and former director of Brazil oil regulator ANP. “Court fights can drag on for years, so you lose even if you win.” Whatever the reason for delay, Brazil may be the biggest loser. While ONGC and IBV bought their Sergipe stakes in 2007 from existing leaseholders Petrobras and Encana, Brazil’s oil regulator ANP has allowed partner Petrobras to delay a start to production by extending exploration rights in the areas repeatedly. Had the ANP enforced tighter deadlines, designed to prevent companies from hoarding assets without developing them, Sergipe might be producing, or near first production, today and providing revenue for Brazil’s cash-strapped Treasury, Forman said. The tendency to give Petrobras such wide latitude underlines Brazil’s conflicted priorities as it tries to revive both its economy and largest company,
KGLNG gets green nod for Rs 1,270-cr expansion project in AP
Krishna Godavari LNG Terminal Pvt (KGLNG) has got green nod for development of an offshore LNG floating storage and re-gasification unit at Kakinada Deep Water Port in Andhra Pradesh at a cost of 1,270 crore. Due to shortage of domestic supply of natural gas, the net gas supply made available to Andhra Pradesh is very low. KGLNG’s proposed project is aimed to boost natural gas supply for various industries like fertiliser in the state. “Based on the recommendations of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC), the Environment Ministry has given clearance to KGLNG’s proposal,” a senior government official said. The clearance is subject to certain conditions, including obtaining prior permission from the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife, the official added. As per the proposal, KGLNG — a special purpose vehicle of US-based VGS Group Inc — will set up offshore LNG floating storage and re-gasification unit (FSRU) in two phases with a handling capacity of 3.60 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in phase-I and ultimate capacity of 7.20 mtpa in phase-II to meet natural gas demand in the state and project region. The total cost of the project is Rs 1,270 crore while that of phase-I will be Rs 870 crore that will be commissioned in 1 year after obtaining due clearance. The phase-II project, which will cost Rs 400 crore, will be commissioned in 24 months after the commissioning of phase-I. Among other conditions specified, KGLNG has been asked to obtain the ‘consent to establish’ from the State Pollution Control Board and comply with the conditions of the AP Coastal Zone Management Authority. It has also been told to operate the terminal for 270 days in a year. Joe Pavelski Womens Jersey
Shri Nitin Gadkari exhorts highways builders and skill development institutions to train highways construction workers
The Minister of Road Transport& Highways and Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari has exhorted highways builders, contractors, and skill development institutions to come forward in a big way to train the local, unemployed youth in highways construction, and to upgrade the skills of existing workers. Chairing a meeting of Ministry officials with representatives of National Highways Builders Federation and several construction training institutions in New Delhi today, Shri Gadkari said that his Ministry will pay Rs 15,000 per trainee (on the basis of minimum wages) as stipend to compensate for loss of wage during the training period. The payment would be made directly to the Aadhar linked bank account of the trainee. In addition to this it would also be made mandatory for every Contractor who is awarded a highways contract, to train at least ten persons for every one crore spent on the project. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is in active consultation with stakeholders to finalize and unfold the programme for skill upgradation of highway construction workers and drivers of commercial vehicles. The programme, proposed to work on the PPP model, is aimed at upskilling both unemployed local youth as well as those already working under contractors. The National Highways Builders Federation, Original Equipment Manufacturers and NHAI would be the main programme partners. The Indian Academy of Highway Engineers will be the Lead Agency and will coordinate all activities pertaining to the training programmes. Standards of training programmes, intake, syllabi, trainee-trainer ratio and other parameters for the training programmes, within the National Skill Quality Framework, will be finalised by IAHE with the approval of the Ministry. The training will be imparted in various trades related to highways construction such as masonry, concreting, machine operation and so on. The programme aims to start with training 20,000 highway construction workers immediately and increasing the numbers so that the manpower requirement of the sector is fulfilled together with creation of employment opportunities for jobless youth. Shri Gadkari said such active intervention to promote skill upgradation will benefit lakhs of unskilled and under- skilled local, unemployed youth in the near future. The course content and certification will be as per approved standards of the Ministry of Skill Development. He stated that accountability, and proper auditing will be the key elements of implementation together with putting online, all details of trained workers for ensuring complete transparency. Derek Barnett Jersey
Mandi waste to be used for highways construction: Nitin Gadkari
Solid waste from Ghazipur mandi in the national capital will be used in construction of highways, while plans are afoot for landscaping of two peripheral expressway projects worth Rs 8,037 crore, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today. “Eastern and Western bypasses, which the government plans to build in 400 days will be the first pilot projects and architects will design beautification of these. This will involve landscaping and other works,” the Road Transport and Highways Minister said here on the sidelines of an event to launch plantation drive under National Green Highways Mission. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of these two projects last year with a combined length of 271 km last year. Gadkari also asked the Haryana government to come forward for the venture saying that the projects will be implemented in such a fashion that driving will be a pleasure through these roads as is the case in various countries. He said the projects when complete will ease congestion in DELHI and reduce its pollution by at least 50 per cent. The Eastern Peripheral Expressway will be 135 km long and cost Rs 5,763 crore while the 136 km Western Peripheral Expressway will cost Rs 2,274 crore. The minister also said that to minimise pollution in Delhi, NHAI will utilise the waste from Ghazipur in construction of highways. The famous Ghazipur mandi, which supplies vegetables and fruits to a large portion of Delhi and adjoining areas, is known as a major contributor to air pollution in the region because of the landfill gases from the garbage dump caused by the waste from the market. NHAI is already utilising fly-ash up to 30 per cent of earth filling in the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and using other slag materials elsewhere. Gadkari said the government had entrusted the assignment of technically verifying whether Solid Waste Material generated from Municipal/city waste can be utilised for highway construction to Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI). He said the report suggest it can be utilised by segregating the waste. “Our department has taken a good initiative in Ghazipur. Plastic, glass, bottle, garbage these all will be segregated. I had a a talk with Delhi Chief Minister and sought Delhi government’s cooperation,” he said. Earlier CSIR and CRRI had conducted a study by collecting 70 tonnes of municipal solid waste from different locations of 5/10/15 years old from Ghazipur Land fill site of Municipal Corporation of Delhi. It recommended that the municipal solid waste contains about 65 to 70 per cent of soil components which can be used in embankment construction after segregation. Josh Manson Womens Jersey
India, Bhutan discuss possibility of road linking Tawang-Assam
India and Bhutan have discussed ways to improve security along the international border and the possibility of opening a road, linking Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang with Assam via the Himalayan country. Better security coordination along the Indo-Bhutan border, more trade between Bhutan and Indian states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal, cultural exchange and a host of other issues were discussed by Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju with the top Bhutanese leadership, including Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, during his two-day visit here that ended yesterday. During the meeting, the Bhutanese Prime Minister is believed to have cited various concerns of the people of Bhutan because of which the country is not yet ready for proposal like joint security along the border, sources said. Bhutan has in the past cooperated with India and helped to flush out militant groups like United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) from the Himalayan nation. Besides, there were several incidents in the past along the border in which Bhutanese nationals were attacked by NDFB militants. “Honourable Prime Minister of Bhutan is known for his humility and vision. I am touched by his acknowledgement of my useful meeting with him. He has clear commitments for India and useful relation with neighbouring Northeastern India,” Rijiju said. Besides issues of cultural exchange, more trade with Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and West Bengal, better security coordination, Rijiju discussed with Bhutanese leaders how to improve relations in spiritual and religious fields. “I raised the issue of road link of strategic Tawang with Assam via eastern Bhutan,” he said. Rijiju said he had “fruitful meetings” with Bhutan’s Foreign Minister, Home Minister, Army Chief of Bhutan and discussed various issues with them. During his meeting with Bhutanese Army Chief Batoo Tshering, the Minister discussed providing security at the Indo-Bhutan border and to the citizens. “India-Bhutan friendship is unique which has direct bearing on Northeast India. It was a fantastic visit,” Rijiju said. Indo-Bhutan friendship is fantastic due to our shared cultural and spiritual heritage and common political interest, he said. The Bhutanese Prime Minister said in a tweet that he had enjoyed hosting Rijiju in the country. “Enjoyed discussing a range of issues with Kiren Rijiju, India’s MOS of Home Affairs, this afternoon,” Tobgay tweeted. Jeff Driskel Jersey
Flipkart mulls big changes to its flagship sales event ‘Big Billion Day’, loans likely for buyers
Flipkart is considering major changes to its third annual flagship sales event, including staggering it through October and extending loans for customers. India’s largest online marketplace is discussing internally if it should hold its Big Billion Day event on separate days in October so it has greater control over deliveries and customer service, according to people aware of the company’s deliberations. Flipkart is also in talks with lenders to arrange pre-approved loans for customers under a ‘buy now-pay-later’ scheme during the all-important festival season, which will also have Amazon India, Snapdeal and, potentially, new entrant Alibaba Group competing for buyers’ wallets. “BBD was earlier planned for 15-16 October but Flipkart has preponed it to the first day/week of October,” one of the sources said. “What’s being discussed right now is that the first BBD will be the big one, followed by medium and small BBDs,” one of the sources said. Such mega online sales events had come under a cloud after the government in March, as part of its guidelines for online marketplaces, barred these companies from “directly or indirectly” influencing the sale price of goods or services. But Flipkart, Amazon and Myntra, after a brief pause, have continued running sales arguing that the discounts offered during such promotional events are offered by their sellers and not them. The magnitude of this year’s Big Billion Day will depend on how many sellers and brands Flipkart is able to get on board for the event and how much they are willing to discount, the person quoted above said. Flipkart’s first Big Billion Day, held on a single day in October 2014, fetched it $100 million (about Rs 650 crore) but was marred by bungled handling of an unanticipated large volume of orders. The company began preparing early for its next flagship sales event, which brought it $300 million over three days in October last year. For this year, the company has already ramped up its online marketing budget to entice more people to its mobile application and its desktop website, the sources said, all declining to be identified. Flipkart plans to leverage the customer data it can glean through its mobile application to target its marketing and other schemes. This includes the loans initiative, for which Flipkart will assess the financial standing of customers through data obtained from its app. “Flipkart is in talks with several banks to disburse these loans, which will be underwritten by it,” a second source said. “Flipkart is launching its loans product just to promote repeat purchases during BBD and win back the Metros.” Flipkart declined to comment, but an investor, requesting anonymity, said the company’s core focus remains “keeping the lead in mobile, electronics, large appliances and lifestyle categories, winning exclusive deals and ramping up service and delivery standards.” Preparations for the flagship sales event this year is being led by Kalyan Krishnamurthy, who rejoined Flipkart as head of category management in June. Krishnamurthy, who is also a managing director at Flipkart’s largest shareholder, Tiger Global Management, was the company’s chief financial officer and head of categories during its first Big Billion Day. This year’s event is highly critical for Flipkart in light of Amazon’s huge capital allocation towards its India operations, said experts. “During the festival season last year, Flipkart was the clear market leader but now Amazon has overtaken Snapdeal and is close behind Flipkart,” said Mrigank Gutgutia, engagement manager at internet consulting firm RedSeer. “This festive season could make it amply clear who is the market leader between Flipkart and Amazon.” Putting on a big show in October is important for Flipkart also because Paytm plans to spin off its online retail business by then, which is expected to be Alibaba’s ecommerce launchpad in India following the government’s decision to allow 100% foreign direct investment in online marketplaces. The Chinese ecommerce giant and its affiliate Ant Financial already control 40% of Paytm. Gutgutia expects that the discounts and overall sales from the event will be more rational this year. “With investors becoming cagey about financing e-tailer’s discounts, e-tailers will be more strategic in terms of only certain categories being on heavy sales this year,” he said. Ben Ijalana Womens Jersey
Patanjali ads unsubstantiated, misleading: ASCI
Advertising watchdog ASCI has once again pulled up yoga guru Baba Ramdev-promoted Patanjali Ayurved for running “misleading” ad campaigns that disparages competitors’ products. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) said that Patanjali Ayurved “unfairly denigrates” products of its rivals in the advertisements. The Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) found that Patanjali’s claim for its ‘Kachi Ghani Mustard Oil’ that rival makers are selling mustard oil “adulterated with oil made by solvent extraction process with neurotoxin containing Hexane”, was not substantiated. “Also, the claim is grossly misleading by exaggeration,” the ad regulator said in its list for the month of April, 2016, in which it upheld 67 complaints against several companies. Besides, Patanjali also failed to substantiate its claims for Patanjali Fruit Juice, where it had claimed rival brands as “expensive juices containing less pulp”. According to the regulator, the ad was accompanied by reference to the prices of other branded juices and “by implication unfairly denigrates the entire class/category of fruit juices”. Similarly, it also failed to substantiate its claims in the ad for cattle feed ‘Patanjali Dugdhamrut’ as “other companies mix 3 to 4 per cent urea and other non-edible things in their cattle feed.” ASCI also held Patanjali Ayurved’s ads for toothpaste ‘Patanjali Dant Kanti’ as misleading as it did not substantiate claims of it being effective against pyorrhoea, swelling and bleeding of gums, yellowing of teeth, sensitivity and bad breath and provides a natural shield against germs. When contacted, a Patanjali Ayurved spokesperson said the company is looking into the details and exploring legal options in this matter. “We are looking into the details and are in talks with the legal department,” he said. In May this year, ASCI had rapped Patanjali Ayurved for “false and misleading” claims in its various advertisements, including its hair oil and washing powder brands, while issuing list for month of March. ASCI has also pulled up companies like Nissan Motors, Tata Motors, Amazon, Pernod Ricard India, Reckitt Benckiser, Colgate-Palmolive, Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Health Care, Hindustan Unilever, Idea Cellular, Reliance Industries. It upheld complaints against an ad of Nissan Sunny, where Nissan Motors has shown the driver speaking on the phone, vehicles coming from the wrong sides, car overtaking from the wrong side and the driver not wearing seat belt.
I don’t think any political party will try to commit suicide by opposing GST: PM Narendra Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tells ET that the goal of reforms is a ‘transformed India’. In a written response to ET’s questions, he says ‘reforms go much further than FDI’ and that many ‘economic reforms are also governance reforms’. The prime minister agrees that ‘corruption in higher places has been curbed’ and his government is ‘working hard to reduce corruption at all levels, not just at the top’. Excerpts: How satisfied are you with the pace of economic, administrative and governance reforms in the past two years? And what do you rate as your biggest success and the one area you feel where your government could have performed better? There have been major achievements in each of the areas you have outlined, namely, economic, administrative and governance reforms. Key economic reforms include liberalisation of FDI (foreign direct investment), including in sectors like insurance, railways, defence and civil aviation. In respect of civil aviation, India now allows a level of foreign direct investment which is not allowed in the US, Europe or China. Our sweeping FDI reforms over the last two years are directly responsible for India becoming a leading destination for equity FDI in 2015. But our reforms go much further than FDI. Indeed many of our economic reforms are also governance reforms. The new Real Estate Regulation Act will help home owners and buyers throughout the country by ensuring that they get a fair deal from real estate developers. It will prevent delays in completion of projects, ensure proper utilisation of money invested by home buyers and introduce a regulator which will protect the consumers. This is a long overdue reform. Similarly, the Bankruptcy Code, which we have passed, will greatly increase the speed and efficiency of recovery of loans. This will stimulate a vibrant credit market in the country and enable much higher level of financing for economic activities, thereby creating employment. The Act for introducing Aadhaar will help us to ensure that subsidies and government benefits reach those who are deserving without allowing misuse and corruption. Another important reform is the linkage we have created between employment and tax deductions, a concept which I emphasised in my Independence Day speech. In the past our tax laws have provided incentives for investment. We have now introduced a strong linkage between incentives and employment. We have gradually increased the reach of e-governance in areas ranging from environment clearances to income tax administration. Our governance reforms have focussed on opportunities for youth and empowerment of women. We have solved the pending issue of One Rank One Pension which other governments were unable to decide on for decades. My aim is reform to transform. If you look at the combined effect of the various reforms we have started, the goal is a transformed India. To achieve this transformation, we intend to ensure speed and focus. We will show the same speed and focus in constructing toilets as in constructing airports, in promoting the welfare of fishermen as in promoting our maritime economy, in the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Aandolan as in bringing women in combat roles in the air force, in developing skills through ITIs as in fostering innovation in IITs. This government has its feet firmly planted on the ground but its eyes are focussed on attaining global standards. We are Indian in our approach but international in our outlook. Curbing corruption in higher places has come to define two years of your government. The challenge is now to plug small ticket systematic corruption that hits common man. How is your battle on this shaping up? I am happy that Economic Times has acknowledged the fact that corruption in higher places has been curbed. I ask you to look back two or three years. Could you have imagined that such a reduction in corruption was possible? There was a general feeling of inevitability and resignation, that such ills could not be removed in our country. If this change, which was not imaginable a few years back, has happened, then many other changes can also happen. We are working hard to reduce corruption at all levels, not just at the top. The use of Direct Benefit Transfer has already saved `35,000 crore of public money which would otherwise go into undeserving pockets. In ministry after ministry, we are clarifying policies by making them clear and transparent, leaving minimum grey areas and avoiding scope for discriminatory treatment. We are using technology in the fight against corruption. By introducing universal neem coating of urea, we have reduced the diversion of subsidised urea to the chemical industry. This has helped the farmers who are no longer facing fertiliser shortages. Through technology, we have speeded up payment of income tax refunds, a fact which I am sure your readers would have noticed. There was a time when getting a gas connection was a source of corruption. MPs used to have a quota which used to be much sought after. Today, we have reversed the situation. Instead of applicants having to wait and struggle to get gas connection, we are going and giving the gas connection to the rural poor under the Ujjwala Scheme.Each and every one of these is a measure to cut corruption at the level of the common man. What are the five things you would want to be able to claim by the time your term ends in 2019? In other words, your five big targets for next three years? Frankly, if in 2019 when my first term ends, I am only able to “claim” certain achievements, I would not consider that as a success. For me success would mean that without my claiming things, people should experience the change. That would be the correct yardstick. My aim is to ensure that no village in India is without electricity, the electricity sector is financially viable, the nation has adequate power for industrialisation, and India leads the world in renewable energy. Railways, shipping and inland waterways, will increase their share of cargo
Snapdeal changes biz model yet again; sells services
Snapdeal today announced its entry into online services segment like flight and bus ticket bookings, hotel reservations and food ordering, becoming the first e-commerce marketplace to introduce services. “Online services is an industry potentially worth USD 100 billion by 2020 and is poised to play a huge role in driving habit commerce in India. The introduction of services on Snapdeal is a big leap forward in catering to nearly all the consumption needs of our customers,” Snapdeal co-founder Rohit Bansal said in a statement. With this segment, Snapdeal becomes the first e-commerce marketplace to introduce services on its platform, the statement said. Snapdeal has launched the services through partnership with Zomato, Cleartrip, UrbanClap and redBus. “We will continue to add leading service providers from other categories in our journey to offer a single point access to the widest range of services. We are confident that the introduction of services on Snapdeal will bring us closer to our goal of 20 million daily transacting users by 2020,” Bansal said. Earlier this year, Snapdeal introduced recharges and bill payments and clocked more than 1 million transactions for the same within a month of the launch. Cleartrip, redBus, UrbanClap and Zomato are available on Snapdeal’s services section for flight and hotel bookings, bus ticket bookings, personal services and food ordering, respectively. Zomato Founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal said partnership with Snapdeal enables it to reach out and tap a larger user base of the largest Indian online marketplace, and will allow even more customers to order food online quickly and easily. “redBus is happy to have partnered Snapdeal. This is an exciting partnership for us as it allows redBus to tap into a larger pool of customers who transact online, while giving Snapdeal users the opportunity to book bus tickets seamlessly,” redBus CEO Prakash Sangam said. Nick Martin Authentic Jersey