Smart city project in Kochi to be completed by 2020: CM Pinarayi Vijayan
The construction of the Smart City Kochi in will be completed in three years. This was announced by the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after a meeting with Smart City authorities in his office in Thiruvananthapuram. The project will create 1 lakh job opportunities. The construction of about 55.5 lakh square feet of space out of the 88 lakh square feet Smart City will be completed by 2020. In the Smart City project 67 lakh square feet space has been earmarked for IT industries and 21 lakh square feet for non-IT purposes. So far only 6.5 lakh square feet of space has been developed in Smart City. The next board meeting of Smart City will be held at Kochi on August 6, 2016. Jesse Davis Jersey
Arun Jaitley woos Chinese firms to invest in India’s infra sector
Making a strong pitch for Chinese investments in India’s expanding infrastructure sector, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said India will be the only economy in the world which is poised to grow at 7.5 to 8 per cent in an “unsupportive global environment.” Addressing ‘Invest in India’ Business Forum here, Jaitley said “in the immediate future we will certainly maintain the growth rates which we have.” “Hopefully if there is good monsoon this year, which is expected to be, we have a potential to improve upon those growth rates. Even in an unsupportive global environment we probably would be only economy which moves up towards 7.5 per cent and more towards the eight per cent growth rate,” he said referring to the IMF downgrading global economic growth. “In a supportive global environment if things change for the better I do not know what the rate itself would be. But I am assuming that the global environment would remain the same,” he said laying out a detailed roadmap for massive development of rural and urban infrastructure across India. “Therefore India in these roadmaps offers an attractive opportunity,” he said at the meeting attended by a large number of top Chinese bankers and wealth fund managers. “Because this size of the economic activity is now going to carry on and expand in the next few decades,” he said inviting Chinese firms to step up investments in India. Outlining a host of measure initiated by his government, Jaitley said Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill which is pending in Rajya Sabha is expected to be passed soon. “We are now trying to bring direct taxes down and the corporate tax to a highest level of 25 per cent. The first significant step in this regard has been taken. Over the two to three years one can expect major reforms in that direction,” he said. “Indirect reform is pending before the Parliament and I hope to see it through very soon. It is called Goods and Services Tax (GST). We had a major challenge about resource allocation in India. We completely distanced the government from allocation and allowed the market mechanism now to determine that,” he said. Elaborating on “emphasis areas” of the development in India in the next few years, the Finance Minister said “the first emphasis area is going to be infrastructure creation. “And for a large number of Chinese investors present here, I think having gone through that experience in China, we are now passing that phase where there is massive infrastructure programme which is on India. Part of the infrastructure programme we are building rural roads, national highways,” he said. “Seven hundred thousand villages in India are going to be connected with regular road by 2019,” he said. “This year we are building about 10,000 km of national highway. That is the pace at which the changes are being carried on,” he said, adding that plans are afoot to build more airports and sea ports. There is also “private participation in railways infrastructure”. Indian railways is a large network therefore its modernisation is necessary, he said. In the power sector, particularly in renewable energy, a very big target has been set besides establishment of smart cities. “These are the infrastructure programmes which are on the anvil. Therefore the kind of returns they offer are also very large. Investors can look at each individual project or they can even look at the national infrastructure investment fund which we have set up, where the government itself remains a minority partner consistently,” he said. “We are also putting in a lot of resources as an emphasis in India’s rural sector like rural sanitation, roads, electrification, housing so that we could create development apparatus in those rural areas,” he said . Manufacturing is a great emphasis area, he said. “Startups are being given utmost priority. There is a big programme of financial inclusion which is going on in India as a part of the social sector reforms,” he said. Jaitley said, “State support, subsidies as they are called, we have rationalised the whole process. This again is work in progress. This has been one of the most important changes which have taken place in India. So that state support reaches those who really deserve it and not those who do not deserve it.” “Therefore through legislation a unique identity number being given to every Indian. We have managed to put that reform in place. We have tried and brought in major amendments to our arbitration law and other legal systems to ensure that resolution of disputes in relation to commercial matters including public private partnership contracts takes place expeditiously,” he said. “We passed the bankruptcy law which makes exits even easier. Over the next one year besides the indirect tax reforms and certain reforms in the company law, certain reforms of regulations in banking and easier resolution of disputes are all legislative changes which are pending,” he said. While explaining India’s economic development since his government took over, he said in the last few years significant changes that have been taken place in India. “Three years ago India was considered relatively among the weaker points as far as BRICS nations were concerned” with questions whether India will be able keep up with the reforms and its growth potential. “These were the questions being raised. India succeeded in putting all the questions behind it because the country managed to grow and grow reasonably well and grew in environment where the rest of the world has slowed down,” he said. “When in unsupportive global environment you grow that displays your real strength potential. That is what India has been trying to do. Last two years has consistently seen India pass the seven per cent growth rate. 7.6 last year and 7.2 per cent the year before last,” he said. Corey Clement Jersey
FDI will kill Indian brands, says Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today reiterated that her government will continue to oppose foreign direct investment in various sectors, including pharmaceutical and agriculture, as it will “kill the Indian brands”. “I am not against people getting jobs, but it (FDI) will kill our Indian brands,” Mamata said. “TMC MPs will discuss the matter in Parliament. But 100 per cent FDI be it in pharmaceutical, agricultural or manufacturing sectors will have an adverse impact on Indian brands. We have to look after the Indian brands. We need to do the branding of our own products,” she told the state assembly. Trinamool Congress has been consistently opposing FDI in many areas and often outlined reasons for it at different fora. It was on the issue of allowing FDI that TMC had walked out of UPA-II government in 2012. Banerjee said there were certain issues on which the Center should take a call after talking to all political parties. Citing the instance of the pharma sector, she said “allowing FDI in it will lead to increase in prices of medicines including life saving ones.” “It will increase medicine prices and no one will be able to buy them. If you allow 100 per cent FDI, the merit and talent of our country will not come up,” she said. The BJP-led NDA government has relaxed FDI norms in a host of sectors including civil aviation, single-brand retail, defence and pharma by permitting more investments under automatic route. The other sectors in which FDI norms have been relaxed include e-commerce in food products, broadcasting carriage services, private security agencies and animal husbandry. Patrick Kerney Authentic Jersey
Top India LNG Buyer Said to Plan Terminal Expansion by September
Petronet LNG Ltd., India’s biggest buyer of liquefied natural gas, will complete expanding its import terminal on the nation’s west coast by September, boosting shipments to the facility, according to three officials with knowledge of the matter. The capacity of the Dahej terminal, the nation’s largest LNG import and regasification plant, in India’s Gujarat state will be boosted by 50 percent to 15 million metric tons per year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The expansion will lead to additional LNG imports of at least 1 million tons in the September to December period, they said. While Petronet uses the terminal for its own imports, it also allows other companies to lease the facility for taking delivery of their LNG purchases. The expansion will allow Indian buyers to ship additional volumes from overseas, taking advantage of a global glut that’s cut prices for the fuel by two-thirds since September 2014. Higher processing will increase Petronet’s income from regasification, boosting profits. Petronet Chief Executive Officer Prabhat Singh didn’t answer two calls to his mobile phone seeking comment. Surging Imports The New Delhi-based company has already leased out about half the expanded capacity to other energy companies such as Gail India Ltd., Indian Oil Corp. and Bharat Petroleum Corp. These firms import LNG to Dahej and pay Petronet regasification fees. India’s LNG imports have more than doubled in the past seven years as domestic gas supplies dried up. The nation purchased 2.08 million tons of the super-cooled fuel last month, a 43 percent increase from a year earlier, according to provisional data from the oil ministry’s Petroleum Planning & Analysis Cell. Jermaine Kearse Authentic Jersey
IOC to increase its capex to Rs 200 billion a year over next 5-7 years
Public sector oil major Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said that it would increase its investment every year from the current Rs 140-150 billion to around Rs 200 billion over the next 5-7 years. The proposed investment would be towards brown and greenfield expansions. IOC also confirmed its participation in two key projects including a Rs 800 billion mega refinery in Maharastra and revival of three fertiliser plants in the country along with other PSUs at a cost of around Rs 150 billion. IOC’s Director (Finance) A K Sharma said that over the next 5-7 years the company would invest around Rs 1200 billion, of which around Rs 300-350 billion would be in petrochemical. Petrochemical is doing well and now contributes nearly 30% of IOC’s EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation), he noted. This is one of the areas IOC has been betting big to address cyclical risks. The other area, which IOC is betting big is LNG. IOC’s new Rs 50 billion LNG terminal at Ennore, near Chennai would go on stream by 2018 and the company is still looking for strategic partner, said Sharma. He was bullish about company’s performance during the upcoming quarters since the crude oil price has established. Inventory loss came down from around Rs 150 billion in 2014-15 to Rs 90 billion in 2015-16 and during the current quarter company is not expecting any loss. While the company is going for brown field expansions, IOC also confirmed that along with other oil PSUs it is looking at setting up a mega project with 60 million tonnes capacity. Sharma said the Maharastra Government has offered land and IOC is evaluating it. The refinery would require around 5,000 acres of land and the state government has offered the land in the Konkan coast. The project will be implemented through a JV and broad understanding on ownership has been put in place among the oil companies. IOC will have major chunk on the project, which will have initial capacity of 40 MTPA and would cost around Rs 700-800 billion. “Such project is required in the country to meet the future demand,” said Sharma. The oil company is also getting into fertiliser, though it is not its core area or adjoining business, IOC was asked by the Centre to participate in reviving three fertiliser plants in the country. IOC along with NTPC, Coal India, Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI) and HFL is planning to revive the three defunct fertiliser units at Gorakhpur, Sindri and Barauni. Total project is estimated to be around Rs 150 billion and equity portion from these PSUs would be around Rs 50 billion. “Yes it is not our area, but Government wants us to help to revive the plant for the sake of country’s economy and want to capitalise IOC’s management skills,” said Sharma. Their will not be a major pressure because of equity commitment for IOC, since it is would be very minimal. All the investments would be funded through debt and internal accruals mainly, said Sharma adding that the company also got over Rs 100 billion worth of bonds and value of its investment is around Rs 300 billion. IOC also said that it is open for acquisitions and it is also right time to look for assets. The company to invest $1.2 billion as its shares to acquire Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft). IOC along with Oil India (OIL) and Bharat Petro Resources (BPRL), a 100% subsidiary of Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), have signed definitive agreement to acquire upto 23.9% shares from Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft), NOC of Russia in JSC Vankorneft, a company organised under the law of Russian Federation which is the owner of Vankor and North Vankor Field licenses. Sharma said the company has reported asset valuation loss in Canada (writes off around Rs 6 billion and Venezuela since they are trapped in oil price. Brett Hundley Jersey
Mahanagar Gas IPO does not move the needle much for GAIL
The GAIL (India) Ltd stock has underperformed the Sensex in the last one month. True, investors expect Mahanagar Gas Ltd’s initial share sale to unlock value for GAIL, which is selling 12.5% stake in the city gas distributor. However, in the overall scheme of things it may not amount to much. For perspective—at the higher end of the price band of Rs.380-421 per share, GAIL will fetch about Rs.520 crore through the offer for sale while its market capitalization on Thursday was Rs.47,618 crore. Also, at Rs.421 per share, GAIL’s remaining 32.5% stake is valued at around Rs.1,350 crore, hardly moving the needle. Nevertheless, investors have reason to rejoice. So far this fiscal year, the share price has increased 10% from a closing low of Rs.340 at the beginning of April. A recovery in its petrochemicals business is on the cards. Overall, fiscal year 2016 was a challenging one. Stand-alone pre-tax and one-time earnings declined by a fourth from a year earlier to Rs.3,173 crore. The petrochemicals business has been a major source of pain what with the segment posting earnings before interest and taxes (Ebit) loss of Rs.807 crore in FY16. Performance was impacted on account of lower sales volume and weaker prices. However, the business is expected to swing to profit this year. The re-negotiation of RasGas long-term LNG (liquefied natural gas) contract at lower prices is expected to reduce raw material costs, helping petrochemicals performance. GAIL has commissioned its petrochemical plant expansion in Pata (Uttar Pradesh) with capacity of 0.4 million tonnes per annum or MPTA (taking total capacity to 0.81 MPTA). Accordingly, the segment should also benefit from a gradual ramp up in volume. Further, if crude oil prices continue to improve, an improvement in petrochemicals prices can be expected. Investors must also keep a tab on tariff hikes. Motilal Oswal Securties Ltd informs that GAIL has implemented KG basin pipeline tariff from 1 April and final tariff orders for other pipelines are awaited. The only worry, however, is that GAIL’s share currently trades at about 14 times estimated earnings for this fiscal year, suggesting a good portion of the optimism is already in the price. Therefore, meaningful upsides could be limited in the near-term. In the last one year, the GAIL stock has shed 7% compared with a 2.9% decline in the benchmark Sensex. Saquon Barkley Authentic Jersey
Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl’s letter to employees on Nikesh Arora’s resignation
Seems the news of Softbank CEO Nikesh Arora’s sudden resignation from the company created a bit of unrest in the Gurugram-based startup Snapdeal. SoftBank is the largest shareholder in the online marketplace Snapdeal, holding over 30% stake in the company. As the company’s founder and CEO Kunal Bahl sent out a letter to employees assuring them that Arora’s exit will not have an adverse impact on Snapdeal. Here’s the letter (verbatim) sent by Bahl to employees across the company. Dear Team, Many of you would have read in the news today about Nikesh’s departure from SoftBank. Needless to say, it comes as a surprise for the world at large. Nikesh has been making all of us very proud throughout his career at Google and SoftBank. He has also been a great supporter of Snapdeal, and many other startups in the Indian internet ecosystem. I am quite confident that his next wil be a very positive one, and we all wish him supreme success in his future endeavours. While Nikesh’s departure from SoftBank is a loss, I want to assure everyone that we continue to be fully supported by SoftBank, strategically and financially. So, don’t worry too much about this, Nikesh will continue to be involved with advising us in all our key initiatives, as he has been doing over the last 18 months. Masa-san, SoftBank’s Founder and CEO, has assured me of SoftBank’s complete support in all our initiatives, in the same exact way that they have been supportive since the time they made their first investment. Needless to say, our focus doesn’t change with this news. We have to sharply continue our efforts to build the most reliable and frictionless commerce ecosystem in India, and create massive impact for our country. And for that, we have all the support that we need from SoftBank and all our shareholders. Once again, congratulations to everyone on all the progress we are making! We are doing really well. Let’s just keep ROCKING! Michael Palardy Authentic Jersey
Great Indian startups some way off, will continue to support those with which I was involved: Softbank’s Nikesh Arora
Nikesh Arora, who helped back Indian startups with over $1 billion in SoftBank capital in less than a year, believes that “great businesses” are some way off and the way to get there is for founders to be focussed on execution. The outgoing president of the Japanese conglomerate told ET by email that he will continue to support the startups that he was involved in funding, observing that he has made friends with the founders. “Indian startups are going through a phase of consolidation both of their sectors as well as their positions,” Arora wrote in response to questions from ET. “It will be a long road from here to great large businesses,” he added. Arora, 48, a former chief business officer at Google, announced his surprise resignation from SoftBank on Tuesday after the Japanese group’s founder Masayoshi Son said he planned to continue as the chief executive officer for years more. Arora had been tipped to succeed Son in 2017, when the Korean-origin businessman turned 60. “We had an honest conversation if he was ready to give up. Upon reflection he felt his work was not done, which of course is a founder’s prerogative. I didn’t feel I wanted to wait for 5-10 years, hence my transition to adviser,” Arora said. The companies that Arora backed in India include online retailer Snapdeal, ride-hailing app Ola, on-demand grocery retailer Grofers, budget hotel aggregator Oyo and realty portal Housing. While emphasising the value of execution, Arora, who takes on an advisory role at SoftBank from July 1, said there is no doubt of the potential of India as a market. “The market is there, the consumer trends are there too it is a matter of sustained, disciplined execution with an eye to satisfying the customer with a product that delights,” he said. Just a day before he resigned, Arora was exonerated by an internal committee of the Soft-Bank board probing allegations of conflict of interest and financial mismanagement against him by anonymous shareholders. Arora said his integrity is unimpeachable. “I had no doubts about what the special committee was going to report. Integrity and doing the right thing has been ingrained into my family by my father who served in the Indian Air Force,” he said. As for the future, he said he had not thought about what to do next, deflecting questions about interest in politics or working in the government in India. “I haven’t spent time thinking about what next. I intend to continue supporting the smart people I have helped SoftBank hire and also the investee companies of SoftBank,” he said. Nick Holden Authentic Jersey
MP Govt. to impose six percent tax on online shopping
The Madhya Pradesh Government has decided to impose six percent tax on online shopping in order to increase the state’s revenue and entail everything in the tax bracket with no exceptions at all. “Madhya Pradesh Government will soon impose six per cent tax on online shopping.This will be imposed on the items we get here through transporters. All the online shipments will be put under supervision, whether it’s within the country or from abroad,” MP finance minister Jayant Malaiya told here. “The motto here is to put all the tax free things in the tax bracket and work towards the benefit of those who suffer losses because of selling commodities by imposing with taxes,” he said. Malaiya also said the initiative came as a response to the losses suffered by the government due to the constant proliferation of the internet-based retailers like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. “This has been followed in many other countries and now when Indian government has also taken it under consideration, suitable measures have been taken to entail it effectively,” he added. Shaun Alexander Jersey
Pilot Programme to run two wheelers on CNG launched by Shri Dharmendra Pradhan & Shri Prakash Javadekar
In a major step to curb rising air pollution in Indian cities, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas (I/C) Shri Dharmendra Pradhan and Minister of State (I/C) for Environment, Forests & Climate Change Shri Prakash Javadekar launched first of its kind Pilot Programme in the country to run two wheelers on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in New Delhi today. Smt. Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament, was also present on the occasion. Welcoming the initiative, Shri Pradhan said that the Government is pro-actively striving to promote clean fuel in the country. He said that under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Government is promoting the use of gas in the country, thereby providing a better lifestyle to the people and also fulfilling the COP-21 commitments to curb pollution. Shri Pradhan said that the Gas share in the country’s fuel basket is just 7% compared to world average of around 24%. Describing the pilot programme to run two wheelers on CNG as historic, he said that after evaluating its experience, it will be expanded very fast. Expressing the Government’s commitment to Clean Delhi, the Minister said that he has already written to Delhi Government to make Bawana power plant fully operational on LNG so that cheaper and clean power is made available to residents of Delhi, but no satisfactory reply has been received. He said that 350 MW Badarpur Thermal power plant in the capital is making several times more pollution than all the vehicles of Delhi put together. Speaking on the occasion, Shri Prakash Javadekar said that the Government is fully committed to control pollution in the country, and for this purpose, there will be a jump from Euro-IV type fuel to Euro-VI by 2020. He said that Environment Ministry will fully support the endeavours to promote clean fuel, including Gas. The Minister said that the launch of pilot phase of the project for CNG kit in two-wheelers will have a far-reaching implication in reducing pollution. Outlining the steps taken by the government, Shri Javadekar said that steps such as cess of Rs. 400 per tonne on coal, introduction of E-rickshaws and providing subsidy to electric/hybrid cars, show the urgency and intention of the government to fight pollution. Mrs Meenakshi Lekhi congratulated the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for initiating the welfare measures. She said that pilot project is a sign of growing India-Iran cooperation, as the Iranian kits have been used for retrofitment. Being implemented by Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) and one of its parent company, GAIL (India) Limited, the Pilot Programme involves 50 CNG retrofitted two wheelers. Of these, the first batch of ten CNG retrofitted two wheelers were flagged off by the dignitaries today. The introduction of CNG in two wheeler segment has the capacity to revolutionize the fight against air pollution in the country and especially in the metros like Delhi, where two wheelers contribute a major portion in the vehicular emissions, according to several studies. The ‘Hawa Badlo’ movement is a people’s initiative to fight air pollution which is supported by GAIL and city gas distribution companies. As part of the movement, a number of awareness drives have been carried out regarding the fight against air pollution. ‘Hawa Badlo’ also supports research initiatives in this regard, of which the CNG retrofitted two wheeler programme is a part. The scooters are being retrofitted with CNG kit manufactured by M/s Ituk Manufacturing India Pvt. Ltd. The type approval of the CNG kit has been taken from Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) as well as Transport Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi. The type approvals of all Components, parts, assemblies in the kit have been received from Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO), International Center for Automotive Technology (ICAT) and Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), as applicable. The retrofitment in vehicles has been undertaken in a centre authorized by Transport Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi. As per idle emission test, the hydrocarbon emissions from CNG retrofitted two wheelers are 75% lesser and CO emissions are 20% lesser as compared to petrol driven similar models. The CNG kit for two wheelers comprises two CNG cylinders of 4.8 litre water capacity each, which can be filled with up to 1 kg of CNG in each cylinder. These CNG retrofitted two wheelers can drive upto 120 kms in a single fill and are expected to be substantially economical as compared to a similar petrol run vehicle at the current level of prices, as per the kit manufacturer. The performance of 50 CNG retrofitted two wheelers would be closely monitored in terms of efficiency, emissions, etc. during the pilot phase by all the stakeholders and the learning from this project would be used to develop the roadmap for introduction of CNG in two wheeler segment across the nation. Noah Hanifin Authentic Jersey