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Cancellation
of coal blocks
PM asks cola firms to blend aerated drinks with fruit juice
Modi to launch ‘Make in India’ campaign today
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Pvt operators vital for Digital India rollout, says Prasad
Decision on natural gas price put off
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Cancellation
of coal blocks Sanjeev Sharma Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 24 “While the judgment may have been intended to bring in transparency, it will jeopardise the investments made in the sector. It will raise questions on sanctity of government policies impacting the investment climate. The government will need to expedite reallocating the cancelled producing blocks so that production is not affected in the short term,” said Ajay Shriram, president, CII. It would also be important for the government to put in place a new transparent mechanism for allocation of coal blocks at the earliest, he said. CII said the court’s decision has created uncertainty and is likely to impact key sectors, including power, steel and mining. In particular, given that the power sector is the largest consumer of coal in India. This is likely to exacerbate the shortage of fuel for the power sector. Currently, close to 80 million tonne of coal is being imported to meet the sector’s requirements. Another sector that will be impacted by this ruling is the financial sector as the exposure of public sector banks to the power and steel sectors is considerable. FICCI said the cancellation of coal blocks involves significant investments and will obviously impact the economy and investment climate, therefore a quick response from the government will help allay the apprehensions. Assocham said the SC ruling cancelling 214 coal blocks, including those which are operational or are on the verge of getting operational, is a bit harsh. “Our main concern is on the kind of negative impact on the economy which has just been showing signs of recovery after over two years of slowdown,” said Rana Kapoor, Assocham president. Markets reacted to the ruling with shares of mining companies and banks under pressure. The losers included Jindal Steel and PNB which ended around 10.60% and 4.67% down, respectively. Bhushan Steel, SAIL, Tata Steel and Hindalco also ended in the red. In a related development, Reliance Power announced that it is terminating discussions for acquisition of Jaypee’s hydro power projects.
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PM asks cola firms to blend aerated drinks with fruit juice
Tumkur (Karnataka), September 24 “We drink Pepsi, Coca-Cola and I do not know how many similar beverages are available in the market. The trade runs into billions of rupees. I have asked the companies if they can blend 5% natural fruit juice in the beverages they make,” Modi said after inaugurating the country’s first integrated food park here. “I am not asking for much. If 5% of juice from fruits produced by our farmers is added, the farmer will not be forced to search for a market to sell. A single decision can ensure billions of rupees of trade,” he said. Modi added that he has already asked the Central government’s research bodies to work on the possibility of blending cola drinks, which are widely considered unhealthy, with natural fruit juice. By doing so, he said, farmers will not be forced to dump their produce and let it go waste because of unremunerative prices and the country can save Rs 30-40,000 crore by reducing the wastage of food products through processing. According to a report by Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations released last December, the consumption of non-alcoholic beverages is expected to increase by 16.5-19% over the next three years in the country. The report says corporate manufacturers of non-alcoholic beverages are expected to grow at an annual rate of 16.5% and non-corporate manufacturers at 19%. The estimates are based on an assumed gross domestic product growth of 7%, which is much higher than the 5% growth several economists have forecast. The country’s beverage market is largely unorganised, with nearly 75% of the demand serviced by companies in the unorganised sector. Modi stressed the importance of proper storage, processing and value additions, which will be done at the park. He also underscored the need for adopting more scientific methods of farming. — PTI
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Modi to launch ‘Make in India’ campaign today
New Delhi, September 24 According to a government statement, the launch will be at both national level, state level and in missions abroad. State governments, business chambers and Indian missions abroad are playing an active role in the launch of the initiative. The government is pursuing a path wherein business entities are extended red carpet welcome. Invest India will act as the first reference point for guiding foreign investors on all aspects of regulatory and policy issues and to assist them in obtaining regulatory clearances. The Government is closely looking into all regulatory processes with a view to making them simple and reducing the burden of compliance on investors. A dedicated cell has been created to answer queries from business entities through a newly created web portal. A pro-active approach will be deployed to track visitors for their geographical location, interest and real time user behaviour. Investor facilitation cell will provide assistance to the foreign investors from the time of their arrival in the country to the time of their departure. The initiative will also target top companies across sectors in identified countries. The ‘Make in India’ initiative also aims at identifying select domestic companies having leadership in innovation and new technology for turning them into global champions. The government has identified 25 key sectors in which the country has the potential of becoming a world leader. The Prime Minister will be releasing separate brochures for these sectors along with a general brochure.
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Pvt operators vital for Digital India rollout, says Prasad
New Delhi, September 24 Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao today met Telecom Minister and expressed confidence in the policies of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government. Prasad said India is going to be a big market for them “1.25 billion people, Digital India explosion and these companies are going to play big role in retail rollout obligation for taking it to villages and towns.” The government has brought all projects being run by it worth Rs 1.13 lakh crore involving IT and Telecom under the single umbrella of Digital India. The project includes availability of broadband services up to village panchayat by March 2017, 100% teledensity and digital literacy etc. Even the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) has been brought under the ambit of Digital India programme which will function as common back-end infrastructure for broadband services. It has asked telecom operators to collaborate with it for delivering broadband services to end-consumers using NOFN. The government has proposed to build a Wi-Fi based network at village panchayats for delivering broadband services. The Digital India programme also envisages Wi-Fi hotspots in the urban areas.
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Decision on natural gas price put off
New Delhi, September 24 The NDA government, after coming to power, had put off implementation of the previous UPA-regime approved Rangarajan formula, which would have at least doubled rates to $8.4 per million British thermal unit, till September 30 for holding wider consultations. — PTI
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While the judgment may have been intended to bring in transparency, it will jeopardise the investments made in the sector. It will raise questions on sanctity of government policies impacting the investment climate. The government will need to expedite reallocating the cancelled producing blocks so that production is not affected in the short
term