141 Villages Electrified last week ; 8,960 Villages Electrified till date under DDUGJY
141 villages have been electrified across the country during last week (from 11th to 17th July 2016) under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojna (DDUGJY). Out of these electrified villages, 5 villages belong to Arunachal Pradesh , 56 in Meghalaya, 31 in Assam, 4 in Mizoram, 3 in Jharkhand,9 in Rajasthan ,3 in Madhya Pradesh , 23 in Odisha and 5 in Bihar, 1 each in Himachal Pradesh and Tripura . An update on ongoing electrification process In view of the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s address to nation, on Independence Day, Government of India has decided to electrify remaining 18,452 unelectrified villages within 1000 days i.e. by 01st May, 2018. The project has been taken on mission mode and strategy for electrification consists of squeezing the implementation schedule to 12 months and alsodividing village electrification process in 12 Stage milestones with defined timelines for monitoring. 8,960 villages have been electrified till date. Out of remaining 8,995 villages, 497 villages are uninhabitated. 6,009 villages are to be electrified through grid,2,657 villages to be electrified through off-grid where grid solutions are out of reach due to geographical barriers and 329 villages are to be electrified by State Govt . Total 1654 villages were electrified during April 2015 to 14th Aug 2015 and after taking initiative by Government of India for taking it on mission mode, 7,306 additional villages have been electrified from 15th August 2015 to 17th July, 2016. In order to expedite the progress further, a close monitoring is being done through Gram Vidyut Abhiyanta (GVA) and various actions are also being taken on regular basis like reviewing the progress on monthly basis during the RPM meeting, sharing of list of villages which are at the stage of under energisation with the state Discom, identifying the villages where milestone progress are delayed. Cortez Kennedy Womens Jersey
Banks, financial institutions provide over Rs 78K crore for clean energy projects
Banks and financial institutions have sanctioned about Rs 78,830 crore funding for clean energy projects, of which Rs 33,482.83 crore has been released till March end this year, Parliament was informed today. “Banks and financial institutions (FIs) have supported (renewable energy) projects of 30,983.70 MW capacity with sanction and released an amount of Rs 78,829.69 crore and Rs 33,482.83 crore respectively as on March 31, 2016,” Power, Coal, Mines and New & Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha today. Overall, as many as 23 public sector and 7 private sector banks as well as 4 public sector and 2 private sector non-banking financing companies (NBFCs) have committed for financing renewable energy projects of 76,350 MW in the country with an outlay of Rs 3,72,240 crore. Goyal said the World Bank has also approved a loan of USD 620 million (Rs 4,228 crore) and a grant of USD 5 million (Rs 34.50 crore) from clean technology fund for the grid connected rooftop solar programme in May 2016. Public sector banks have provided Rs 19,639.52 crore finance for 12,619.83 MW renewable projects and have already released Rs 7,333.35 crore. Private sector banks have provided Rs 18,660.01 crore for 6,905.24 MW projects, and have released Rs 8,615.07 MW. Luke Kunin Jersey
Government committed to complete rural road projects by 2019: Ram Kirpal Yadav
Government is committed to complete road projects indentified under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) by 2019, Rajya Sabha was informed today. The scheme was envisaged during the previous NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee but the progress slowed down as the UPA government reduced its funding, Minister of State for Rural Development Ram Kirpal Yadav said, adding that “we have increased the fund amount for the scheme.” Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour, Yadav referred to Bihar and said it had made comparatively less progress under PMGSY and added that the pace at which work should have been carried out by the state government was not maintained. Yadav also said that paucity of funds was not a reason for the slow progress made till now. Minister of Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar also shared details relating to Bihar as per which in the last four years, 6,301 road works were sanctioned for the state by the ministry. Of these, 2,942 road works have been completed and 3,359 road works measuring 6917.517 kms are under consideration. The states are responsible for tendering, awarding and executing road projects under PMGSY, Tomar said. In reply to another question on allocation fund for cleanliness campaign, Tomar who also holds the charge of Drinking Water and Sanitation, said the criterion adopted for allocation of funds to various states for ‘Swacch Bharat’ campaign was based on the population and number of families in the state. He was asked on what basis was Himachal Pradesh given Rs 98.3 crore under the scheme, to which he said it was as per the set criteria. In Maharashtra, he said a total of Rs 528.94 crore has been sanctioned for the year of which Rs 264.47 crore released till June this year, assuring that more funds will be released after receiving Utilisation Certificates. Concerns were also raised in the House about the success of the project for constructing toilets especially in hilly areas, with members saying it should be linked with the availability of water, “otherwise it remains a subject of advertisements”. Kevon Looney Authentic Jersey
After Jet’s recent plane order spree, India finds itself hard-pressed to find parking slots
At last week’s Farnborough Air Show, an Indian carrier placed a $7.7 billion order while an additional $72 billion of contracts are in the offing. The next challenge: Finding landing and parking slots for these planes. As air travel heats up in the world’s fastest-growing major aviation market, infrastructure has failed to keep pace with traffic growth fueled by rising incomes and affordable fares. The average time an aircraft spends circling before it can land in Mumbai during peak hours is about 45 minutes to an hour, versus 25 minutes for Singapore and zero for Qatar, according to Dubai-based Martin Consulting LLC. India plans to invest $5 billion to improve airport infrastructure, which is “inadequate” compared with China’s proposal for $130 billion in 15 years, a June research paper by KPMG and the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India said. A proposal for a new airport in the outskirts of Mumbai has languished on the drawing board since 1997 even as Boeing Co. estimates Indian carriers need 1,740 aircraft over the next two decades. Huge Issue “We need to move fast,” Sanjiv Kapoor, chief commercial officer of Vistara, a local unit of Singapore Airlines Ltd., said in an interview. “That’s a huge issue. You cannot have a commercial capital and a political capital that do not have slots available for growth,” he said, referring to Mumbai and New Delhi. Out of the nation’s 450 airstrips and airports, only 75 handle commercial airlines, with the rest remaining idle or rarely used because of weak demand, according to the government. The lack of facilities may force carriers to defer deliveries, hurting planemakers including Boeing and Airbus Group SE. Scores of airlines struggle to manage as many as 2,000 flights a day, and none of the Indian carriers, barring AirAsia Bhd.’s local unit, could touch the 90 percent on-time performance, a key for low-cost models, data from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation show. The air-travel market in Asia’s third-biggest economy grew 20 percent in 2015, compared with about 10 percent in China and less than 5 percent in the U.S., according to the International Air Transport Association. Last week, AirAsia group Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said he was “very, very bullish” on India. The potential for further growth is spurring operators to scale up their fleets. At least 709 planes are on order for the next few years. Go Airlines India Pvt. said it will buy 72 A320neos from Airbus at Farnborough last week. SpiceJet Ltd. is in talks for 150 aircraft and IndiGo, the nation’s top budget carrier, has ordered 430 Airbus narrow-body jets on top of the 108 it already flies. The problem is not just limited to India. There has often been a gap between intention and infrastructure delivery for Asian airport, according to a 2015 research paper by OAG Aviation Worldwide. “Infrastructure has to catch up as dynamics of aviation have changed,” said Mark D. Martin, founder Martin Consulting. “Countries must make sure that airports are built not just for bigger jets, but also for smaller, 5-10 seater planes to connect its people.” It isn’t the case that India hasn’t done much in the past 10 years. It spent $2.7 billion to upgrade the airport in New Delhi and added a new terminal in 2010, while it plowed $885 million to modernize the Mumbai airport in 2014. Though the facilities in New Delhi and Mumbai were named the world’s No. 1 in the 25-40 million passengers-a-year segment by the Airport Council International for 2015, the nation’s busiest airports don’t even figure in the top 20 globally by traffic. As much as $40 billion in investment is needed in the next 15 years to improve India’s airport infrastructure, according to estimates by Sydney-based CAPA Centre for Aviation. In an effort to attract capital, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June eased norms for foreigners, who can now fully own existing airports without government approvals. To make the airports more attractive, Modi is promising tax incentives for companies providing maintenance, repair and overhaul services. The government estimates Indian carriers alone generate MRO business worth 50 billion rupees ($745 million) annually, and most of that is spent in countries like Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia as India lacks MRO facilities. Modi is also seeking to revive many of the idle airports to enhance regional connectivity. Weak demand have made many of them unviable for commercial single-aisle jets. His government last month said it would compensate for losses if states cut taxes on jet fuel and offer free parking and landing, in a step that may encourage carriers to fly to the so-called “ghost” airports. “Ghost airports are ghosts for a reason — not enough business potential currently,” Vistara’s Kapoor said in a Twitter post on July 12, “Yet hundreds of A320s on order. Where will they all fly, am really curious!” Russ Grimm Jersey
Government doubles down on solar parks after SunEdison setback
India will double the target for energy to be generated from solar parks by 2020, a top government official said, as roof-top installations progress slower than anticipated and U.S. company SunEdison’s projects are threatened by its bankruptcy. The solar parks are sought after by companies because the Indian government acquires land for the installations and sets up transmission lines, major attractions in a country notorious for red tape and public opposition to land transfers. Debt-heavy SunEdison was one of the first companies to be drawn into the programme to encourage solar use, bidding aggressively to win a 500 megawatt (MW) project in Andhra Pradesh state in India’s south last November. But after its bankruptcy, SunEdison has been forced to initiate stake-sale talks with companies like Adani Group and Finland’s Fortum Oyj for funds, according to sources. “We are adding 25 more solar parks to create a buffer for exigencies like SunEdison,” Upendra Tripathy, secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, told Reuters on Monday. “Solar parks are a hit with companies. A lot of them are interested.” Tripathy declined to name any companies. But the new generation target of 40,000 megawatts for solar parks was likely to be approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet in two months, he said in an interview in his office. Pashupathy Gopalan, president of SunEdison Asia Pacific – which focuses mainly on India – did not immediately respond to calls for comment. He has previously said the company would stick to its India growth plans. Analysts said it was doubtful any rival would pick up the Andhra Pradesh project at the aggressive power prices promised by SunEdison. Once the fastest growing renewable energy developer in the United States, SunEdison beat out 29 other bidders for the solar park with a record-low tariff of 4.63 rupees per kilowatt-hour. Japan’s Softbank Corp, Taiwan’s Foxconn and India’s Bharti Enterprises have pledged to invest a total of about $20 billion in India’s renewable sector. Global solar giants like First Solar Inc, Trina Solar Ltd and Fortum are also expanding their presence. Modi wants India’s solar capacity to jump nearly 30 times from 2014/15’s levels to 100 gigawatts by 2020. Last month India secured a loan of more than $1 billion from the World Bank for its ambitious solar programme. Total investment needed for the solar goal is around $89 billion, according the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. India wants renewable energy, excluding hydro-electricity, to contribute 8 percent of the energy mix by 2022, up from 5.7 percent early this year. Kelvin Beachum Jersey
Power-surplus India to electrify Bangladesh trade
After turning power-surplus, India is working with Bangladesh on a plan to double the capacity of existing transmission interconnects and set up a third link for increasing cross-border electricity trade in a bid to widen the regional market as new generation capacities come up on both sides. Sources said the two sides are working to double the capacity of the Baharmapur-Bheramara line to 1,000 mw and also examine the possibility of raising the Tripura-Comilla line’s capacity to 200 mw. Also on the table is a proposal to lay a third line from Assam’s Bongaigaon to a suitable interconnect point in Bihar through Bangladesh. Though the proposal is at a nascent stage, sources said a HVDC (high-voltage, direct current) line with a capacity of around 2,000 mw is being looked at. The new line is expected to wheel power from hydel projects proposed to be built in the northeast, some of which can also be shared with Bangladesh.This line would allow an easy tap-in or tap-off facility for both countries to feed -or plug into -each other’s markets. According to the Asian Develop ment Bank, interconnected networks increase the operational efficiency and reliability of existing national grids and encourage the development of new renewable power resources.Besides Bangladesh, India also exports power to Nepal and imports from Bhutan. A wider regional market with easy export and import options will help balance the output swing from the 175 mw of solar power capacity being pursued by India. The talks for enhanced interconnect capacity are well-timed with developments on the ground as power generation grew at more than 9% in the April-June 2016 period against the same period of 2015. Ryan Anderson Authentic Jersey
NTPC saves Rs 550 crore/month on coal rationalistion, import control
State-owned NTPCBSE -0.54 % has achieved savings of approximately 30 paise per unit – approximately Rs 550 crore per month – on account of coal rationalisation and reduction in imports of fossil fuel, Parliament was informed today. “NTPC has achieved saving of approximately 30 paise per unit (approximately Rs 550 crore/month) due to rationalisation of coal linkage and reduction of imports,” Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal informed the Rajya Sabha. Further, due to various efficiency measures, including reduction in grade slippage, specific coal consumption (coal consumed per unit) in the first quarter of 2016-17 has come down by 2.9 per cent as against the same quarter in the previous fiscal, the minister said. The minister further said the government has taken various measures in order to ensure synergy between power and coal sectors. The coal availability, he said, is regularly monitored at the highest level, resulting in increased supply of domestic coal. The blocks have been allotted to certain power utilities to improve domestic coal availability and 100 per cent crushed coal is supplied from Coal India. Coal India, he said, will supply 100 per cent washed coal of G10 grade and above from October 1, 2018, as per environment ministry guidelines. “The amount of coal imported during 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 was 166.86 mt (million tonnes), 217.78 mt and 199.88 mt (provisional), respectively,” he said. Le’Veon Bell Womens Jersey
Narendra Modi govt puts hefty $1 bn burden on ONGC, Oil India
Government-owned explorers ONGC and Oil India face an additional royalty burden of more than $1 billion after the Narendra Modi government decided that they would have to pay royalty to crude oil-producing states such as Assam, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu at ‘pre-discount’ rates. “It has been decided that ONGC and Oil India will pay royalty to all similarly placed crude oil-producing states at pre-discount prices effective February 1, 2014, pending the outcome of the special leave appeal filed by ONGC before the Supreme Court,” said a petroleum ministry order dated July 15. This means ONGC and Oil India would have to pay royalty to the states based on their gross realisation on sale of crude oil and not on the net price. This is despite the fact that the shift from gross to net price for royalty was made in 2008, in concurrence with the petroleum ministry. The difference between the gross and net price is the subsidy burden borne by these upstream companies to compensate state-run IOC, HPCL and BPCL for selling sensitive petroleum products below market cost. Though the exact additional burdens on ONGC and Oil India because of the ministry’s stance are not immediately known, officials say their combined additional payout would be $1 billion. DK Sarraf, chairman and managing director, and AK Srinivasan, director (finance) at ONGC, could not be reached for comments, as both are travelling overseas. Thanks to the drastic fall in global crude oil price that reduced India’s oil subsidy substantially, in FY16, ONGC reported gross realisation of $48.26/barrel. After forking out for subsidy at $1.12/barrel, its net realisation stood at $47.14/barrel. In FY15, ONGC gross realisation was $85.28/barrel and after sharing $40.41/barrel towards subsidy, its net realisation dropped to $44.87/barrel. “We have decided Assam and oil-producing states will get additional royalty from ONGC and Oil India. Assam might get above R1,400 crore,” said petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan. ONGC and Gujarat are embroiled in a legal tussle over the calculation of royalty payments. In November 2013, the Gujarat High Court ordered ONGC to pay R10,000 crore dues to the state till September 2013 to make up for the royalty dues. The ‘maharatna’ PSU appealed in the Supreme Court against the Gujarat HC order and on February 13, 2014, the apex court stayed the high court order, but told ONGC to pay royalty at the pre-discount price starting February. In October 2003, upstream companies were directed to make good a part of the under-recoveries of oil-marketing companies. However, the Centre initially said the revenue of states in terms of royalty should not be affected by the discount offered to OMCs. Based on this direction, ONGC from April 2003 started paying royalty to the Centre for its offshore fields at the post-discount price, while for onshore fields it paid royalty on the pre-discount price. But ONGC realised that royalty payments to the states were in excess of the statutory limit of 20% of the price realised by the company, as mentioned in the Oilfields (Regulation and Development) Act of 1948, and in 2008 got the oil ministry agree to the shift towards net price for royalty to states. Aldrick Rosas Womens Jersey
Nitin Gadkari asks Tesla to choose India as its Asia manufacturing hub
Urging U.S.-based electric car major Tesla to make India its Asia manufacturing hub, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has offered it land near major Indian ports to facilitate exports to South and South East Asian countries. Road Transport and Highways Minister Mr. Gadkari visited the Tesla factory near San Francisco and offered to promote joint ventures between the firm and Indian automobile companies with a view to introducing pollution-free road transport in India, especially commercial and public motor vehicles, an official statement said. Mr. Gadkari said the Indian government was committed to encouraging alternate pollution-free transport in the country by providing incentives to bio-fuel, CNG, ethanol and electric vehicles. Offers land “He proposed to the Tesla senior executives to make India their Asia manufacturing hub and offered land near major Indian ports to facilitate export of their vehicles to South and South East Asian countries,” Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in the statement. Tesla senior executive admitted that their manufacturing hub has to be outside the U.S. for markets in rest of the world. They appreciated the Indian offer of cooperation which they said will certainly be considered at the appropriate time in future, the statement said, adding that the company assured him that India will definitely be a market for its next generation low-cost sustainable Model-3. “Replying to specific queries from the Transport and Highways Minister regarding manufacturing of electric trucks, buses and two wheelers, the Tesla team said they have future plans for trucks and pick-up vans but not buses and two wheelers,” the statement said. They evinced keen interest in knowing if there was any subsidy on electric vehicles in India, to which Mr.Gadkari asked Tesla executives to outline their plans.
‘Construction equipment sector seeing strong growth’
The construction equipment and earthmoving industry — traditionally seen as bellwethers of economic activity — has seen strong growth in the first half of this calendar year, an indication of optimism in business sentiment and a revival of economic activity, according to a top official at JCB India, one of the largest providers of such equipment in the country. “De-growth in the sector started in April 2011 and went on until September 2015,” Vipin Sondhi, managing director and CEO of JCB India told The Hindu in an interview. “Then October to December 2015 was a period of flat growth. In the last six months, January to June, the industry has clocked a growth rate of more than 40 per cent.” Business activity “People won’t buy the machines unless they are expecting to begin work soon,” Mr. Sondhi said. “This involves large capital investments. The actual digging of earth on the ground is a sign of business activity, not just new project announcements.” The first five months of 2016 recorded sales of 21,869 units in the construction equipment sector as a whole, according to industry data shared by JCB, which represents a growth of 47.6 per cent over the same period of the previous year. The growth in the sector accompanies an average 8.25 per cent growth over the same period in the cement category of the Index of Eight Core Industries as computed by the government. This is far stronger than the nearly flat average growth rate of 0.01 per cent seen in the sector in the January-May period of 2015, lending further weight to the assertion that the construction sector is seeing a revival. Optimism “There is a business sentiment of optimism, but it has not yet translated in all industries,” Mr. Sondhi said. “Some of the bellwethers have started moving faster. The heavy commercial vehicles sector has grown, as has the construction equipment sector.” However, the construction equipment sector is yet to recover to the highs of 2011, Mr Sondhi said. “The industry is likely to reach to that level by the next calendar year.” The sector sold 52,893 units that year, the data shows. Now that the infrastructure sector — roads and highways — has started growing, the economy needs sectors like railways, real estate, and irrigation to start firing, Mr. Sondhi said. “It is then steel and cement can pick up and the wheels of the economy can really start moving.” “But we need to be an investment-led economy,” he said. “Consumption is good, but is not enough for sustainable job creation.” Brian Urlacher Authentic Jersey