Singapore looking at upgrading Indian cities, transport sector: Official
After providing the master plan for developing Andhra Pradesh’s new capital Amaravati, Singapore is looking at “retrofitting” of more Indian cities and plans to upgrade the transportation sector, a senior official said today. Singapore provided the master plan for Amaravati, the new capital city of Andhra Pradesh, setting the stage for crucial participation in the massive development of India. Yeoh Keat Chuan, managing director of state-owned Economic Development Board, said Singapore is looking at participating in retrofitting of Indian cities and plans to upgrade its transportation sector, increasing its focus on Smart Cities. “We are looking at re-engineering transportation sector,” Yeoh said, citing it as one of the opportunities for participating in the retrofitting of older Indian cities. Such solutions would help reduce congestion on the stressed infrastructure, he said after addressing some 1,200 delegates at the IIMPACT 2016 conference and exhibition being held here on April 8-9. He said several Indian, Chinese and South East Asian companies are collaborating and setting up partnerships and joint ventures in Singapore. “Singapore is a good location for international companies to collaborate and form partnerships,” he said, pointing out that there are over 6,000 Indian, 5,000 Chinese and 10,000 Southeast Asian companies operating from the island state. Yeoh spoke about the 50-year development of Singapore to turn it into a global business centre, having developed expertise in urban redevelopment and water solutions. A call was also made to increase focus on developing infrastructure in India with Singapore being an intermediary for funding projects. “Structurally, there are a lot of things happening in India which can be enduring, can be durable, but more importantly the infrastructure that needs to be created has to be both competed for and collaborated with markets like Singapore,” said Shyam Srinivasan, chief executive officer of the Federal Bank. “Singapore’s message for India would be for urbanisation,” Sam Pitroda, a former technology advisor to the Prime Minister of India, said. Singapore can also help India in its cleaning initiatives. “Singapore can help us design a strategy in cleaning,” said Pitroda at the conference, organized by the Global IIM Alumni. He believes cleaning India would require massive investments in machinery, training, logistics, support and landfill among others which requires an elaborate plan. Pitroda also underlined the importance for India to continue on developing its infrastructure to support the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
Nitin Gadkari urged to retain three roads with Border Roads Organisation in Arunachal Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh has requested Union Minister Nitin Gadkari for retention of three strategic roads with the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in the state. The roads — Joram-Koloriang (158 km), Anini-Meka (235 km) and Demwe-Hawai (165 km) — have already been handed over from BRO to the National Highway Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited ( NHIDCL). Chief Minister Kalikho Pul, who is currently camping in the national capital, yesterday took up the matter with the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, an official release said here today. In the event of natural calamities or any law and order issues, BRO with its adequate manpower, machinery and dedicated line of communication was better equipped to handle the situation, Pul said. Gadkari assured that he would look into the matter and asked the state government to monitor the works of the BRO, the release said.
AAI’s plan-B to avoid link fail
Airports Authority of India (AAI) is putting in place a backup for the microwave link that connects critical aircraft communication, navigation and surveillance equipment to prevent a repeat of Thursday’s blackout. AAI officials said RailTel was installing its internet backbone to provide a second connectivity to fall back on in case the primary microwave link service provided by BSNL failed. “Installation of the redundancy line has been expedited and should be in place in three-four months,” an official said. RailTel owns a pan-India optic fibre network on exclusive right of way along railway tracks. While Thursday’s link failure had led to a critical situation in Kolkata air traffic control as connectivity to remote VHF radio units had also failed, a radar link failure had happened in October 2015, necessitating the backup. Seamless connectivity between air traffic controllers and pilots is of paramount importance to ensure flight safety as it is the controllers who monitor the relative position of planes and provide navigation guidance by communicating through VHF radio.
Cairn Energy’s daunting I-T maths
The I-T Dept had on Jan 22, 2014 issued a draft assessment order of Rs 102.47 billion on alleged capital gains Cairn made in a 2006 reorganisation of its India business. British oil explorer Cairn Energy Plc has told its shareholders it faces a penalty up to Rs 102 billion over and above the Rs 290 billion in tax and interest demand slapped by the Indian income tax authorities, involving a case of retrospective legislation. The company, in a circular to shareholders dated Wednesday, said it had on February 4 got “a final assessment order from the department”, of Rs 102 billion plus interest backdated to 2007 totalling Rs 188 billion. “The aggregate amount excludes any applicable penalties which may also be applied to the final assessment (potentially up to 100 per cent of the final assessment order, excluding interest),” it said. It added that Cairn strongly contests the final assessment proceedings in India and is pursuing its rights under Indian law to appeal, both in respect of the basis of taxation and the amount assessed. And, to protect from enforcement against the assets of CUHL (Cairn UK Holdings). An e-mail to Cairn seeking clarification on the circular remained unanswered. The I-T department had in January 2014 issued a draft assessment order of Rs 102.47 billion on alleged capital gains Cairn made in a 2006 reorganisation of its India business. The final assessment order was issued on February 4, 2016. The notice was, however, issued before Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget for 2016-17 made a one-time offer to waive interest and penalty if companies paid the principal amount to settle the retrospective tax disputes. The company said it had on March 11 this year filed a Notice of Dispute under the UK-India Investment Treaty, to protect its legal position and shareholder interests.
Green nod for HPCL’s Rs 8 billion storage tank project in Mumbai
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has received environment clearance for construction of storage tanks in the existing complex of its Mumbai refinery, entailing an investment of Rs 8 billion. HPCL’s Mumbai refinery has a total installed capacity of 7.5 million tons per annum. The company intends to decongest the refinery through relocation of storage tanks to newly acquired 57 acres of Calico plot at Chembur. “Based on the recommendations of the Expert Appraisal Committee, the Environment Ministry has granted environment clearance and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance to the HPCL’s project,” a senior government official said. The clearance has been given subject to general and specific conditions, the official added. As per the proposal, HPCL will construct storage tanks and associated facilities for white oil products at the Calico plot. The project includes construction of storage tanks for six different types of white oils apart from storage for Naphtha and Slop. Six different types of white oils are MS-I, MS-II, HSD-I, HSD-II, SKO and ATF. The project also involves laying of new pipelines (to and fro) from Calico plot to HPCL Mumbai Refinery and connecting to existing pipelines for distribution of products with the cost of the project estimated to be Rs 8 billion.
IOC to spend Rs 200 billion to expand Gujarat refinery
IOC’s Gujarat Refinery has been asked to move to the more stringent BS VI norms from the current BS IV. Indian Oil Corporation is going to spend Rs 200 billion for the brownfield expansion of its refinery in Gujarat, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. “IOC’s Gujarat Refinery here has been asked to jump directly from BS IV to the more stringent BS VI norms for petrol and diesel, so that cleaner transport fuels become available sooner to bring down vehicular emissions,” the Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas said after visiting the refinery. He told PTI that the Gujarat Refinery was expanding capacity to 18 million tons per annum (MTPA) from the existing 13.7 MTPA. The expansion is expected to be commissioned in 2020. “After the expansion, it will become the refinery with the largest capacity for the company,” the Union Minister said. Pradhan also said he would be visiting Iran on April 9, and was looking to expand energy ties with that country. The agenda of the visit includes ONGC’s participation in developing the Farzad-b gas field, buying additional crude oil and settling pending payments for earlier oil purchased from Iran, he said. “I will also discuss projects including petrochemicals and fertiliser plants in the special economic zone at Chabahar port in Iran,” he said. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will visit Iran later this month, he said. With changes in the geopolitical situation, India is in a better position to source natural gas and LPG from Iran and oil and gas from Russia, he said. “Post-sanctions Iran provides a huge opportunity for India for sourcing natural gas which would increase the availability of CNG and cooking gas in the country,” he added.
TAPI Pipeline to Bring Sustainable, Cleaner Energy to India
Shareholders of the TAPI Pipeline Company Limited (TPCL) signed an Investment Agreement on April 7 in a ceremony witnessed by petroleum ministers and senior government officials of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India and senior Asian Development Bank (ADB) officials. The TAPI pipeline will pave the way for the delivery of sustainable natural gas supplies to India. The Investment Agreement provides an initial budget of over $200 million to fund the next phase of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline. This includes funding for detailed engineering and route surveys, environmental and social safeguard studies, and procurement and financing activities, to enable a final investment decision, after which construction can begin. Construction is estimated to take up to 3 years, according to ADB. “TAPI is a partnership that will bring about economic integration and prosperity in the region. It will not only provide a long-term and sustainable gas supply to India but also allow the country to improve its energy supply mix,” said K.D. Tripathi, Secretary of India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. TPCL will build, own, and operate the TAPI pipeline, which once completed, will transport up to 33 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from Turkmenistan for the next 30 years. The pipeline stretches about 1,600 kilometers from the Afghan/Turkmen border to the Pakistan/Indian border “TAPI exemplifies ADB’s key role in promoting regional cooperation and integration over the past 20 years. It will unlock economic opportunities, transform infrastructure, diversify the energy market for Turkmenistan, and enhance energy security for the region,” said Sean O’Sullivan, Director General of ADB’s Central and West Asia Department. Acting as TAPI secretariat since 2003 and as transaction advisor since 2013, ADB has been instrumental in the progress of the TAPI pipeline to date. In the latter role, ADB helped establish TPCL, select Turkmengaz as consortium leader, and finalize the Shareholders and Investment Agreements.
Less than 2 in 5 get warning on tobacco packs
Less than two out of five tobacco users understand the message conveyed by the health warning images on cigarette and beedi packets. Nearly one-fourth are barely aware that such a warning is there, said 89-year-old senior oncologist Dr V Shantha, who is campaigning relentlessly for bigger health warnings on tobacco packs. A recent survey conducted by Cancer Institute of 180 people from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh who used tobacco products at least 10 times a day for at least six years found that 78% of them noticed the warning. While 21.7% understood the text content, nearly 40% comprehended what was on the picture. Many perceived the image as that of a chest, heart, skull or liver. Half of those surveyed said they planned to quit tobacco use. But, here’s the catch: Among the 180 people surveyed, only one cited pictorial warning as the reason for quitting smoking. Dr Shantha, who is a recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, said the Centre’s decision to increase the size of the health warning from 40% of the front panel of the packs to 85% was an important public health measure that would bring down tobacco use and eventually curb tobacco-related cancers of mouth, tongue and lung. “I am ashamed that the government realised the importance of warnings so late. We have been giving them evidence for formulating such policies for decades. Now that they have said it is mandatory, it should not be withdrawn. I will consider it as a personal defeat in my battle against cancer if they do that,” she said in an interview to TOI. On April 1, the government mandated cigarette makers to cover 85% of the area of a cigarette pack with pictorial warnings, including text saying “smoking causes throat cancer.” The tobacco industry moved court, shut down production units and is said to have lobbied with the expert panel constituted by Parliament to reduce the warning size to 50%. The Centre refused to budge, and, on Tuesday, Dr Shantha said it was important for doctors to run a parallel campaign to ensure the government did not buckle under pressure. The stakes are too high now for the government to withdraw the rule mandating warning images to occupy 85% of the face of tobacco product packs, say anti-tobacco campaigners. The Union health ministry has ruled that all tobacco packs sold from April 1 should have bigger pictorial warnings and carry a cancer warning text. Tobacco companies like ITC said implementing this would be an elaborate process involving substantial cost. A month ago, the parliamentary committee’s expert panel suggested 50% pictorial warning. “The government itself held out that it would await the committee’s report, industry was led to believe the government would re-notify new health warnings after considering the committee’s recommendations,” an ITC release said. The case about new warning was still pending in court, it added. Tamil Nadu People’s Forum for Tobacco Control state convenor Cyril Alexander accused the company of looking for a way to escape the rules. Until now, health warning rules in the country had been extremely lenient compared to countries like Australia, Canada, Nepal and Mexico. The new rule, upping size of warnings to 85%, will be one of the most stringent along with Thailand. Since pictorial warnings on tobacco packs were introduced in 2009, studies, including National Family Health Survey , have shown a decline in tobacco users across the country. Among women, a decline is already being seen in oral cancer cases. “But we still have a long way to go,” said oncologist Dr V Shantha. Several organisations, including Canadian Cancer Society , have said effectiveness of the warning would increase with the size. “The idea is to give lesser space to the promotion of branding of tobacco products, and attract attention towards the warning. That’s key,” she said.
Offline retailers ask for enforcement of FDI norms in ecommerce
India’s brick-and-mortar retailers are lobbying the government to make sure that ecommerce companies follow the new marketplace norms, seeking further clarifications. On Thursday, the Retailers Association of India, along with members such as Shoppers Stop, Aditya Birla Retail and Future Group, petitioned the government on taking appropriate action if the norms are being disregarded. ET’s Neha Tyagi talked to several leading retailers on why they are upset and even considering legal action after having lauded the recent policy guidelines on foreign investment in ecommerce. Here are the edited excerpts of what they said: KISHORE BIYANI, CEO, Future Retail “I don’t want to be diplomatic at all. I don’t think anyone is following these guidelines currently. I see many of them (ecommerce players) shutting down or changing their models, after the FDI law got enforced. It’s not a battle between online and offline. It is between clarification and regulation. It’s illegal if an ecommerce company sends a gift voucher/cash back email after the FDI law is announced. This is a contravention of the laws of this country, and this has not been a level-playing game. BS NAGESH, Non-executive vice-chairman, Shoppers Stop “Our only request was to ensure a level-playing field. We are not running away from competition.” PRANAB BARUA, Director – retail and apparel, Aditya Birla Group “We are all clear now what the rules are, but unless it is implemented and followed through it does not matter. One thing we need to understand is that these are only clarifications. So these are no guidelines. We are also looking to see what the government will be doing regarding the past because there has been clear violation of the law of the country.” ALOK GUPTA, MD, Mobile Store “Predatory pricing has eroded the value chain completely. The fact that people enter the store, look at the price and quickly leave because it is available at less at an online store is not fair.”
Air India orders probe against pilot who delayed flight for particular woman co-pilot
National carrier Air India on Thursday ordered an inquiry into an incident in which a commander allegedly refused to operate a flight from Chennai without a particular woman co-pilot. The company will neither “condone” nor “tolerate” such acts, Air India chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani said in a statement here. As many as 110 passengers onboard the airline’s flight from Chennai for Male via Thiruvananthapuram were made to wait for over two hours at the Chennai airport on Wednesday morning after the commander allegedly insisted for the particular woman pilot to operate the aircraft with him. “On the issue of the recent incident on (Air India flight) AI 263 from Chennai to Male via Thiruvananthapuram where the pilot refused to fly without a particular co-pilot, the airline has taken a strong view on the matter and has ordered an immediate inquiry into it,” Lohani said.