Dharmendra Pradhan Launches Customer Awareness Campaigns To Educate Customers About Cashless Transactions At Pumps
Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan too launched Customer Awareness Campaigns for digital transactions at petrol pumps, the recent ones being at the auto Care Centre, a flagship HPCL Retail Outlet at Niti Marg, New Delhi and also at BPCL Outlet at Moti Bagh, New Delhi. Digital awareness campaigns to educate people about cashless transactions is clearly the flavor of the moment across the nation. Digital awareness campaigns to educate people about cashless transactions is clearly the flavor of the moment across the nation. The Customer Awareness Campaign focuses at spreading digital awareness and facilitating the common man to use Cashless payment options during day to day transactions. With the introduction of Cashless payment options like Credit & Debit Cards, POS terminals, e-Wallet options and Loyalty Cards at Retail Outlets, the campaign reinforces the fact that convenience lies in being cashless in today’s time. The various digital payment solutions available to the general public, were also showcased. Speaking on the occasion, Sh. Dharmendra Pradhan said that the campaign will fulfill the objective of moving towards digital transactions. Transition will be towards less cash and then towards cashless. For this purpose, all service providers have been brought on board, and a MoU has been entered with Common Service Centers (CSCs) of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, who will be deploying trainers at Oil Marketing Companies’ Retail Outlets across the country to train the general public on use of various Digital/Cashless payment modes and to promote them. Tie-ups have been done with Public sector banks, Paytm, Mobikwik, Oxygen, Citrus, Olamoney, Ideamoney, Jiomoney, Airtel money, Vodafone MPS, Freecharge etc. In one month all retail outlets in Delhi will be covered under the customer awareness cum training programmes, and subsequently it will spread to all the ROs across the country. Sh. Dharmendra Pradhan said that in the first phase, all Retail outlets numbering more than 53 thousand in the country will be covered in the campaign which will be further expanded to cover Gas distributors, LPG stations, bottling plants and other establishments. He said that Petrol pumps will not provide fuel through cashless transactions but also dispense cash. So far, 3413 retail outlets have been dispensing cash and they have dispensed Rs 63.55 Crore so far through PoS machines against swiping of debit cards. He said that almost 99% ROs in Delhi have PoS machines. Task force have been set up to look into the expansion of cashless services, overcome the hurdles in the path, facilitating such services through feature phones also, and exploring ways to undertake such transactions in offline mode. Today’s Customer Awareness Campaign for Digital transactions is yet another Consumer-empowering initiative launched by MOP&NG and a step forward promoting the vision of #CashlessEconomy of our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi. Teemu Pulkkinen Authentic Jersey
SECI Launches Largest Rooftop Solar PV Tender of 1 GW for Government Sector
As a step towards fulfilment of the Government of India’s target for installation of 40 GW rooftop solar power plants by the year 2022, Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has launched a tender of 1000 MW capacity for development of grid-connected rooftop solar capacity for Central Government Ministries/Departments. This is the largest rooftop tender launched by SECI and is expected to give a big boost to the hugely potent rooftop solar power generation segment. The 1000 MW tender, one of the largest globally, is a move to rapidly escalate rooftop solar capacity in the country,and comes in quick succession to SECI’s earlier tender of 500 MW capacity, targeting buildings in the residential/institutional and social sectors. SECI is the leading PSU in the rooftop solar segment, and has already commissioned over 54 MW capacity of rooftop solar projects under multiple government schemes. The 1000 MW tender is especially targeted at utilising the numerous buildings of the Central Government Ministries/Departments. The highlight of this tender is its innovative ‘Achievement-Linked Incentives scheme’ wherein the incentives in terms of capital subsidy shall be provided on the basis of performance achieved by designated Ministries/departments against their committed targets in the given time span. In this scheme the Grid connected rooftop solar systems shall be installed with the financial assistance for MNRE in the form of Incentives. The power generated from the systems shall be used for meeting the captive requirement of the buildings and the surplus power, if any, shall be fed to the grid under the net-metering arrangement of the respective State. Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) has allocated 21 Ministries/ Departments to SECI interalia Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs etc. The ministries have shown great enthusiasm and have assured their commitment with submission of “Green Energy Commitment Certificates” to MNRE for implementation of Grid Connected SPV power plants at the roof of their offices/other buildings etc., as part of their Clean energy initiatives and achieving National target of alleviating Global Warming. Various ministries/department have been sensitized by MNRE/SECI for implementation of Grid connected rooftop systems. MNRE has also collated the demand of the various Ministries/departments for implementation of the systems. Based on the indicative list of sites provided by MNRE and various interested Ministries, SECI is carrying out a potential assessment which shall be provided to the solar PV developers (SPD). The SPDs will be selected state-wise through national competitive bidding process and provision of one Rate / state shall be kept in the scheme. The 1000MW capacity will be distributed between CAPEX and RESCO modes of implementation in the ratio 30/70. In this scheme, SECI in consultation with MNRE, is also introducing a Payment Security Mechanism which is apparently a first in the history of the rooftop programme, with the assurance of all rightful payments to the SPDs under RESCO model. SECI has also tied up with Financial institutes (FIs) Banks such as IREDA and SBI for disbursement of loans with Special Discount Packages to be offered by these institutions to the developers. Mike Cammalleri Authentic Jersey
ONGC awaits DGH nod for $5 billion KG-D5 gas development plan
Oil and Natural Gas Corp is awaiting nod of upstream regulator DGH to commence investing $5.07 billion in bringing to production oil and gas discoveries in its Bay of Bengal block KG-D5. About a year back ONGC submitted to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons(DGH) a field development plan (FDP) for bringing to production 10 oil and gas discoveries in KG basin block KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5), which sits next to Reliance Industries flagging KG-D6 fields. DGH so far has not approved the FDP, an official said. A meeting of the block oversight panel, Management Committee (MC) headed by DGH, has been called next week to review the FDP, he said. “Without waiting for the approval, tendering for long-lead items has started to ensure the 2019- 20 schedule for starting production is not missed,” he said. The board of ONGC had on March 28 approved an investment of $5,076.37 million for developing Cluster-II discoveries to flow natural gas from from June 2019 and oil by March 2020. “While the FDP was submitted a year, the board gave investment approval in March after the government allowed higher rates for deepwater discoveries, thus making KG-D5 viable,” he said, adding since then DGH nod is awaited. In 2014, ONGC had announced plans to start gas production from 2018 and oil by 2019 but a final investment decision was made contingent upon government approving a remunerative price for the deepsea block as the current rate of $2.5 per million British thermal unit was unviable. The government in March announced a new pricing formula for difficult areas that would at current prices give developers just about $6 per mmBtu price. KG-D5 gas fields are viable at that price, he said. The 7,294.6 sq km deepsea KG-D5 block has been broadly categorised into Northern Discovery Area (NDA – 3,800.6 sq km) and Southern Discovery Area (SDA – 3,494 sq km). The NDA has 11 oil and gas discoveries while SDA has the nation’s only ultra-deepsea gas find of UD-1. These finds have been clubbed in three groups – Cluster-1, Cluster-II and Cluster-III. Gas discovery in Cluster-I is to be tied up with finds in neighbouring G-4 block for production but this is not being taken up currently because of a dispute with RIL over migration of gas from ONGC blocks, the official said. From Cluster-II a peak oil output of 77,305 barrels per day is envisaged within two years of start of production. Gas output is slated to peak to 16.56 million standard cubic meters per day by end-2021. Cluster-2A mainly comprises of oil finds of A2, P1, M3, M1 and G-2-2 in NDA which can produce 77,305 bpd (3.86 million tonnes per annum) and 3.81 mmscmd of gas. Cluster 2B, which is made up of four gas finds — R1, U3, U1, and A1 in NDA — envisages a peak output of 12.75 mmscmd of gas, the official said, adding that peak output is likely to last 7 years. Cluster-3 is the UD-1 gas discovery in SDA in ultra deepsea that poses technological challenges. Cody Kessler Womens Jersey
‘Levy on airlines can disrupt competitive conditions’
Describing India as among the “most open” aviation markets, international airlines grouping IATA’s chief Alexandre de Juniac has said the country stands to benefit from the regional air connectivity plan but imposing levy on carriers can disrupt competitive conditions. While being appreciative of the Indian government putting in a “consistent plan” for the aviation sector, Juniac also emphasised the need to have the right infrastructure and lower costs for the airlines. “In general, we are not favouring levies because we think that it is a disruption or disturbance in the competitive conditions,” Juniac told in an interview here. His comments come against the backdrop of the government levying up to ?8,500 per flight on major routes from December 1 in order to fund its ambitious regional connectivity scheme. The scheme — UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) — seeks to connect small cities by air as well as make flying more affordable for the masses. “Regional connectivity is good for air traffic but using levy, tax or cross subsidy system, let’s name it as it is, is not convincing,” he said, adding that it is being opposed by many operators as something which would not be efficient. To provide viability gap funding for the flights operated under UDAN, a levy would be imposed on every departure on major air routes such as New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Under the scheme, fares for one-hour flights would be capped at ? 2,500. Brandon Montour Jersey
Aerospace and aviation industry should double turnover in 5 years: Ananth Kumar
Considering the huge potential the aerospace and aviation industry holds, the country should double its turnover in the next five years, said Union Minister Ananth Kumar. Addressing a conclave organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) on Indian aerospace and aviation industry, Kumar said: “If the Indian aerospace and aviation sector needs to grow, we need to set up specific growth targets. This sector has all the potential to exceed its own targets. The business turnover by public sector, which is $4 billion, needs to double.” Similarly, the MSME sector, which plays an important role, needs to grow several times from its current minuscule $0.5-billion base. “We can do that. We need to start to dream of higher turnover from today’s conclave itself,” he said. He further added: “This will not happen overnight, we require five years of confabulation and constantly talking with industry players and vigorously pushing it with the Central and the respective State governments. A lot of work is needed to achieve this target, only then can we realise the dream of making the Indian aerospace and aviation sector world class.” Kumar listed out the potential of the industry and said India is projected to be the second-largest global player in civil aviation by 2030. The fleet size is expected to increase by nearly 2,000 wide-body aircraft. The general and regional transport aircraft are also expected to grow by about 1,000 over the next 10-15 years. The demand for civil helicopters, too, is expected to grow by a similar number. Just in military aviation, the projection is that there would be a demand to the extent of $100 billion over the next decade, with an offset creation of about 35 per cent. Kumar said: “All in all, this industry presents a huge opportunity and we need to be ready with a combination of the right policy intervention and the right amount of encouragement in the form of reducing ease-of-doing business parameters. “It is a matter of great pride for our government that as a result of several path-breaking policy changes and interventions, we are seeing the entry of the private sector in a big way. Many of them had taken initial steps, but now, most are beginning to accelerate and scale up their plans. The fact that both large Indian business houses and global majors are showing keen interest, augurs very well for this sector and I expect that we are on the cusp of a phase of explosive growth in this sector.” Austin Hooper Authentic Jersey