Petrol, diesel consumption hits 5-year high in August
Consumption of petrole um products grew at the quickest pace on a monthly basis in five years during August, rising over11 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to nearly 16 million tonnes. It had increased 9.5 per cent y-o-y on an average in the preceding three months.Analysts tracking the sector attributed the surge in petrol consumption to the ban on diesel vehicles in the NCR (National Capital Region) and increased sales of two-wheelers and passenger vehicles. Both diesel and petrol led the way, growing at 14 per cent and 25 per cent respectively on a y-o-y basis during the month. Diesel consumption surged to a near five-year high on a monthly basis in August, primarily driven by commercial transportation. “Consumption of other industrial and commercial pro ducts such as fuel oil, petcoke and aviation turbine fuel (ATF), also surged, pointing to robust economic activity ,” analysts at Religare Securities said. “This, coupled with a higher demand for other industrial fuels, indicates improving economic activity, though the uptick may be reflected in other macroeconomic data with a lag,” they said. The analysts added, “The rising retail preference for petrol, especially in urban areas, with the added benefits of using economical CNG (compressed natural gas) through a kit could be another key driver for growth.” LeSean McCoy Authentic Jersey
NHAI plans Rs 6,000-crore boost for road developers stuck in litigation
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to release Rs 6,000 crore to developers stuck in litigation under the new policy announced at the end of last month, a measure that will help banks recover some stuck loans while also providing funds for stalled projects. The government has asked its departments and ministries along with public sector entities to release 75% of disputed amount where the developer or concessionaire has won an arbitration case. Niti Aayog, which piloted the policy, has written to ministries and departments to act on the decision quickly. At present, 123 dispute cases worth Rs 25,000 crore are pending with NHAI, including cases worth Rs 13,000 crore awarded in favour of private parties. “In overall cases that have gone against us till date, the amount has been Rs 13,000 crore. We have already amicably settled claims worth Rs 5,000 crore,” a senior NHAI official said on condition of anonymity. “So, 75% of the remaining Rs 8,000 crore that has to be released under the new guidelines works out to be Rs 6,000 crore. We’ll start paying that amount on case by case basis. The claims are related to around 20 companies.” The payment process will be initiated as soon as the private party sends NHAI a letter. “Now this will be dependent on the private party as it needs to have a bank guarantee to back up the award claim. We are also revising our agreement format so that the company doesn’t back out from bank guarantee,” the official said. Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), which has already been awarded claims worth Rs 3,400 crore against various government departments, has sought release of Rs 1,000 crore from NHAI. “On Tuesday, we received a letter from HCC asking for a payment of Rs 1,000 crore. We’ll start looking into their claims,” the official said. HCC had in a statement said it has Rs 3,200 crore arbitration award and 75% of it should be released. Under the new guidelines cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, government agencies will pay 75% of the arbitral award amount to an escrow account against margin-free bank guarantee. The escrow account can be used to repay loans or to meet commitments in ongoing projects. The move will allow recovery of loans by banks and allow companies to speed up ongoing projects. A total of Rs 70,000 crore in various sectors is stuck under arbitration. “Construction companies are reeling under liquidity crunch… Even with the release of 75% of amount this would…allow them to make a variety of payments to banks, suppliers and bid for more contracts,” said Vinayak Chatterjee, chairman of Feedback Infra. Justin Evans Authentic Jersey
Investment opportunities in 200 Gujarat infra projects: official
The Gujarat government has identified more than 200 infrastructure projects for foreign investment, a senior official from the state has told US investors. “More than 200 infrastructure projects have been identified by the state government where there are investment opportunities for the companies,” Bharat Lal, who is heading a high-powered Gujarat delegation, told a group of American investors during a road show in Chicago yesterday. The Gujarat delegation comprising of officials and business leaders is currently on a trip to the US and Canada wooing companies to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January 2017. More than 75 government officials and business leaders attended the roadshow organised by US-India Business Council (USIBC) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) at the Baker McKenzie office. “Gujarat is the most progressive and trend setting state in the country and is years ahead on their approach in attracting global fraternity/investors into the state, said Ausaf Sayeed, Counsel General of India, Chicago in his address. Lal said Gujarat is also keenly focusing on sectors like – Agro & Food Processing, Chemical & Petrochemicals, IT & ITeS, Healthcare, Renewable Energy and many others. He further elaborated that the very culture of entrepreneurship that exist in Gujarat and the ethos of government, promotes business and industry as this creates opportunities for the people of not only Gujarat but whole India. “Due to these characteristics, Gujarat has become preferred destination of business,” he said. Ajay Kumar Pandey, CEO, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) said it is India’s first model smart city with world-class infrastructure, offering ease of doing business and numerous tax benefits to the companies who operate in the GIFT City. Chris Conley Womens Jersey
AirAsia India achieves gross profit breakeven in April
AirAsia India, the joint venture low-cost carrier of Tata Sons and Air Asia, has achieved gross profit breakeven in April while targeting its next milestone of cash flow positive and turn EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation) breakeven by 2018-end, said its Chief Executive Amar Abrol. Claiming an aggressive plan of acquiring planes and hiring pilots and crew, he said they expect to receive second round of promoters’ funding by month-end to work towards reaching 20-mark in planes fleet before 2018. “Funding has been secured. We have been GP (gross profit)-positive since April, the month the new management team came into being,” Abrol told ET in Hyderabad on Wednesday. “The next port of call is to get to cash-flow positive. The next year is massive for investment to get 10-12 aircraft which we can get over the next couple of years. Over the strategic framework of next three years, by 2018-end, we will get to EBITDApositive.” Abrol said the low-cost carrier, with the country’s highest load factor of 85%, is currently working on aggressively hiring pilots and cabin crew to train them. The airline is also looking at availability of planes in the open market for lease, apart from analysing the viability of entering certain Indian cities that were already overcrowded by domestic and global airlines. On the delay in entering Mumbai, he said, “Mumbai is very slot-constrained at this point of time. Moreover, it has to make sense for us from a commercial perspective. It has to make sense if there is enough demand and whether the current incumbents are meeting or not meeting that demand.” While highlighting that there is an opportunity for some 330 pairing of routes connecting various Indian cities with A320 airplanes, Abrol said AirAsia India will go to a city only if it makes commercial sense. “Mumbai will make commercial sense with the right time and product,” he said, without elaborating on the kind of product being worked out for Mumbai. Indicating that AirAsia India’s Mumbai check-in may get further delayed, he said, “Right now, there are slot constraints and apparently there is some huge amount of repair and maintenance plan for the first quarter of 2017 at the Mumbai airport from the runway perspective. Once that is sorted out, we will start working with the airport authorities there and start looking for slots.” “When we go into Mumbai, we will go into Mumbai with a full plan so that we are able to capture a significant market share,” he said On the limitations on availability of the planes, Abrol said AirAsia India currently operates single aircraft fleet, A320s. “Within that we need to make sure that the plane is in good working condition,” he said, adding that AirAsia India was also evaluating the model of mixed aircraft fleet. “We are constantly evaluating whether we will have mixed aircraft fleet as well or not.” Phil McConkey Womens Jersey
Unscheduled flights from Russia can get visa for 7 days on reciprocal basis
Ahead of Home Minister Rajnath Singh visit to Russia, India has given a nod for a temporary landing permit (TLP) to crew members of unscheduled flights and ships from Russia, on reciprocity basis. A TLP allows crew members of scheduled/unscheduled flight to enter India without a valid visa and can be granted up-to 7days. Singh is slated to visit Russia on September 18-21 and will meet his counterparts. New Delhi and Moscow are expected to sign multiple bilateral agreement on narcotics, security and international cooperation during this visit. The landing permit for sailors and crew members was curtailed in 2010 following reports of overstay and misuse of the facility. Several foreigners from Russian countries availing TLP later found their way to Goa, claimed officials. A senior government official told ET, “We have also allowed TLP for Cargo flights after Moscow said they are providing such facilities to our seamen and crew members. It is on reciprocal basis.” Officials said that there have been thousand instances of violations of visa policy by Russian tourist in the past who came on TLP or tourist visa and stayed for years. Foreigners from Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) too came to India and got settled in Goa and Pune. Many of them were later found to be involved in drug trade, trafficking and other criminal acts. The home ministry recently eased the tourist visa on arrival (TVoA) for 150 countries including Russia allowing visitors to obtain a visa to visit India online within 3 days. Unlike a normal tourist visa, a TvoA is non-transferable and issued for 30 days. Hines Ward Womens Jersey
TAL Manufacturing inaugurates Rs 100 crore aerospace facility
Tata Motors arm TAL Manufacturing Solutions has inaugurated a Rs 100 crore assembly shop at its Nagpur-based facility for aerospace business. With a manufacturing area of 96,000 sq ft and investment of over Rs 100 crore, the facility has equipment to support technologies such as fluid cell forming, extrusion stretch wrapping, and high speed machining of intricate parts along with facilities for assembly. “We have set up this new generic facility to build some of the most demanding structures of an aircraft with the help of globally benchmarked manufacturing technology. This facility will help us in delivering global quality and cost effective aerospace components & assemblies,” TAL ED and CEO Rajesh Khatri said in a statement. The facility has been built to primarily execute the supply emanating from the RUAG – TAL contract and is equipped to manufacture, assemble and supply over 50,000 precision parts and assemblies every month. RUAG Aero-structures, a global tier-1 supplier to Airbus, awarded a multi-year USD 150 million contract to TAL in 2014 for supply of precision machined and sheet metal parts for the Airbus A320 family of aircrafts. “We treat the inauguration of this new facility as the first step in our realization of making TAL a part of our strategic supply base,” RUAG Aero-structures Vice President Supply Chain and Logistics Alfons Kaspar said. “Our challenge is to help TAL ramp-up quickly and stabilize production, so that we can look beyond parts and sub-assemblies into larger and complex assemblies,” he added. The company is looking at exploiting the potential and capabilities that TAL has built up in composites, which will complement RUAG’s offerings and give an unbeatable value proposition across metallic and composite aero structures, Kaspar said. Laken Tomlinson Authentic Jersey
Zero tolerance for height norm violations near airports: Bombay High Court
The Bombay High Court today said zero tolerance will be adopted for any kind of construction that comes up in violation of height regulations near both domestic and international airports in the city. A division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade made the observation while hearing an application filed by the developer of a residential building near the international airport. In the application, the developer has sought a stay on an order passed by the HC directing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to demolish the top three floors of the building built in violation of height regulation norms. The HC, on August 10, asked the civic body to demolish three floors of the building, developed by SAILEE Developers Pvt Ltd, as it is very close to the runway and overshoots the permissible height limit. The DGCA allowed construction up to 13.9 metres, but the building is 24.7 metres high. The developers today filed an application seeking a stay on the demolition order and argued they were not aware if the height was to be calculated from the main sea level or the runway level. The HC, however, refused to accept the argument and said the developers have earlier also misrepresented facts before the authorities and constructed buildings. David West Womens Jersey
Road ministry, NHAI to take up 82 highway projects for better port connectivity
The road transport ministry and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will together take up 82 projects under the ambitious Bharatmala project, to improve port connectivity. These are part of the broader highway expansion plan the government plans in the coming years for connecting economic hubs to major and minor ports, via road and rail. At present, this connectivity is an issue. As many as 44 routes, of at least 100,000 km of roads, would be connected. A source said the proposal by the ministry of shipping had been accepted by the roads ministry. The proposal would go to the Cabinet after discussion. Under the Bharatmala project, the ministry is to review the national highway network, to improve connectivity to coastal and border areas, religious and tourist places. Around 1,500 major bridges and 200 rail bridges are part of this, as is connectivity to district headquarters and the Char Dham places (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri & Gangotri in Uttarakhand). Road transport, highways and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari has said improving of port connectivity is a focus area, requiring investment of Rs 4 lakh crore. There are 12 major ports — Kandla, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Marmugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Ennore, VO Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia) — which handle a little over 60 per cent of India’s total cargo traffic. There are 200 non-major or minor ports — in Maharashtra (48), Gujarat (42), Tamil Nadu (15), Karnataka (10), Kerala (17), Andhra Pradesh (12), Odisha (13), Goa (5), West Bengal (1), Daman and Diu (2), Lakshadweep (10), Puducherry (2) and Andaman & Nicobar (23). The central government is also developing three new ports at Wadhwan (near Dahanu in Maharashtra), Sagar in West Bengal and Colachel in Tamil Nadu. According to 2015-16 Economic Survey, cargo traffic at all ports increased by 1.1 per cent during the first six months of the financial year (April-September). It increased by 4.1 per cent at major ports but declined 1 per cent at the non-major ports, as compared with the same period in 2014-15. Gerald Everett Womens Jersey
Increased efficiency and timely tariffs revision critical for UDAY’s success: ICRA
State-owned distribution utilities will benefit from the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme in FY2017 but stricter focus on efficiency and timely tariff revisions is critical for their sustained financial turnaround said ICRA in a recent study. UDAY was launched by the centre to improve performances of the state power distribution companies. Sabyasachi Majumdar, senior vice president, ICRA said: “Discoms will benefit significantly in the near to medium term from measures taken under UDAY. These include lower interest costs arising out of de-leveraging, and reduction in power procurement cost arising out of improved domestic coal availability along with recent policy measures by Government such as flexible utilisation of domestic coal linkage and e-auction process for short term power.” “However, serious focus of utilities on improving their efficiencies, mainly aggregate technical & commercial loss levels, is necessary. This has to be in line with targets set by UDAY. Timeliness and adequacy of tariff hike in relation to the cost of power supply is also necessary. It has to necessarily include periodic rise in fuel and power purchase costs. These factors remain critical in the long run for sustained improvement in the financial position of the discoms,” he said. Till now 16 states and union territories have signed memorandum of understanding for participating in UDAY. De-leveraging and refinancing under the scheme is expected to improve liquidity and profitability profile of Discom’s in the near term. Improved domestic coal availability along with recent policy measures by the government including flexible utilisation of domestic coal linkage and e-auction for short term power remain favourable for discoms. These would reduce cost of power purchase. However, ICRA notes that state electricity regulatory commissions (SERCs) in only 20 out of 29 states have issued tariff orders for FY2017 so far, indicating moderate progress in terms of issuance of tariff orders for the year. Tariff hikes allowed in most states have been modest, ranging between, 0.6% and 8.8%. SERCs in three states have not approved any tariff hike. In two states SERCs have reduced tariff for some categories of consumers. SERCs from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab have issued tariff orders recently however the tariff determination process has witnessed delays. Tariff revisions allowed for FY2017 by SERCs in both the states were lower at 3.18% (for Uttar Pradesh) and a negative 0.98% (for Punjab) for the year, against the stipulated level of 5%-6% under MoUs signed for implementation of UDAY. The respective SERCs in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab cited avoidance of a tariff shock to the consumers as primary reason for the modest tariff hikes. Besides, a limited tariff hike is also on account of stricter norms for efficiency improvement as well as certain other cost items by SERCs, which led to significant disallowance of power purchase cost and other cost overheads. Given that the fuel and power purchase costs cannot be controlled and accounts for 80% of the cost of supply for any Discom, a timely pass-through of variations in power purchase costs to consumers is also critical for the financial health of discoms. Majumdar said: “Fuel and power purchase cost adjustment framework for such a pass-through is yet to be implemented in Uttar Pradesh, despite a large unrecovered revenue gap – a matter of concern. Tariff hike has been limited, unrecovered revenue gap remains quite large particularly for distribution utilities in Uttar Pradesh, also with no clarity on amortization of the same by SERC.” Jake Muzzin Jersey
Power department contract workers seek regularisation
Around 250 contract workers of the electricity department from all over the state on Tuesday demanded regularisation of their services with the Power Minister Milind Naik. The affected workers met Naik at his official residence at Headland Sada, and apprised him about their grievances and demanded regularisation of their services as they are working with the electricity department for the past several years. A worker said that the electricity department has recruited several people in various jobs including linemen, assistant linemen, line helper and others adding, “Our sincere request to the Power Minister Naik is to consider our demand sympathetically and give us preference in jobs.” Meanwhile, when contacted Naik disclosed that he had never made any commitment to contract workers on regularisation of service. He said that he will take up the issue with Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar. Naik also said that the issue of appointments and regularisation of services is the prerogative of the electricity department and he cannot interfere in it. Jason Pierre-Paul Womens Jersey