Though the Railways is yet to declare any five-year action plan, it is clear the government is not in a position to hand-hold it for any major expansion or upgrade. The issue, however, is how far the Railways can function within the PPP format. Recent history highlights some of the challenges.
More than half of the total subsidy provisioning, amounting to 54 per cent, is going towards food subsidy, which is estimated at Rs 184,220 crore for 2019-20 - a 7.5 per cent increase over the revised estimates for 2018-19.
Long-term funding was a requirement for infrastructure projects, and asset-liability mismatch in the banking system, impacts the access to finance for infrastructure projects. One of the key challenges would, however, be to get private sector back into investing.
Mumbai is the most hard working city in the world. Mumbaikars work for an average of 3,315 hours annually. In comparison, a full-time employee in Beijing works for an average of 2,096 hours a year, says Shyamal Majumdar.
'A sum of Rs 6,000 a year is very significant for a small farmer whose land holding is very small and whose produce is very small. All these calculations on a daily basis are extremely unfortunate and an insult to farmers.'
Son's offer to supply free power after 25 years is based on the idea that the cost of running a solar plant would progressively decline while its efficiency would increase.
The reason for digital and IT interventions increasingly being adopted is not just the change in ways commuters move but also the mode on which this transport moves, says Jyoti Mukul.
New technologies such as block chain are throwing up new opportunities; so the axe is bound to fall on those who are still stuck in the past and not reskilling themselves, says Shyamal Majumdar.
While consumers will be paying a higher upfront cost for smart metering, the share in the efficiency gains could more than offset this higher spend
'A heavy tanker takes time to move, but when it starts rolling, it's difficult to stop it,' Indian Hotels CEO Puneet Chhatwal tells Shyamal Majumdar.
The ICICI board is looking to the retired petroleum secretary to provide 'maturity and sagacity'.
While auditors have come in for a lot of praise for their proactive stand against what they perceive to be dodgy practices followed by companies, there is still a long way to go, says Shyamal Majumdar.
Jargon-heavy management bluster is taking over everyday office chat.
India will be the global host this year for World Environment Day, with the theme "Beat Plastic Pollution".
A realistic approach towards tax and stock taking is necessary, rather than the old narrative of bringing all petroleum products under GST and playing the blame-the-state game.
Can welfare schemes truly transform from being flagship to flag-bearers for a government that is looking to get a second term in 2019?
It is all about a C and C model -- of choices and consequences -- for women. Women make choices about their lives and for each of them there will be consequences, Shell India Lubricants MD Mansi Madan Tripathy tells Jyoti Mukul.
The founders of IndiGo may have thought it's time to go for a rejig of the top leadership team which can take care of the growing demands of an airline that has grown much bigger than they could have ever imagined, says Shyamal Majumdar.
Six months into his new role, Vishal Wanchoo, president and chief executive officer, GE, South Asia, speaks to Jyoti Mukul about how its horizontal business lines of additives and digital are playing across its verticals.
One of the beneficiaries is Jindal Steel and Power, which had earlier been kept out of procurement for rails