As the demand for a grand stimulus gathers steam, the government is targeting an investment of Rs 100,000 crore
The much-hyped public private partnership motto of the railway ministry seems to have gone nowhere, as the ministry continues to sit over proposals from at least three state governments to start luxury trains.
India and Singapore on Tuesday elevated their ties to the 'strategic partnership' level and signed bilateral agreements for enhanced defence cooperation and in areas like cyber security, shipping and civil aviation.
The much-awaited special purpose vehicle for funding infrastructure projects is all set to take off by next month with the Prime Minister's Committee on Infrastructure giving it a green signal.
Combined debt-equity ratio of top companies declines but interest expenses outgrow profits.
The ambitious Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion), 3,289 km Dedicated Freight Corridors are a case in point. Although the project started under former railway minister Lalu Prasad and was renamed Diamond Rail Corridors by incumbent Mamata Banerjee, not a single project has been awarded yet.
Rajasthan's BJP Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday differed on which Union government was behind the expressway project in the state.
Railway minister Mamata Banerjee fought off criticism on Friday that her Railway Budget was Bengal-centric and said she had kept in mind the entire country.
The United Kingdom extracted USD 64.82 trillion from India over a century of colonialism between 1765 and 1900 and USD 33.8 trillion of this went to the richest 10 per cent -- enough money to carpet London in notes of 50 British pound almost four times over.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Monday announced opening of 7,500 outlets at railway stations across the country to facilitate sale of their produce and offered export sop to those who pay suitable prices.\n
On long-haul routes to Bangalore and Hyderabad, new airports being built under public-private partnerships, the increase could be roughly Rs 1,000. In Delhi and Mumbai, which are being modernised under PPPs, the increase could be a smaller Rs 300 on similar routes because these airports do not charge development fees.
Delhi and Mumbai may have made hasty temporary arrangements for the mammoth two-decker Airbus A380s to land exhibition flights earlier this year. But it is Hyderabad that will have south Asia's first A380-compatible airport, which begins commercial operations on March 16, 2008.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced slew of reforms for the masses.
In the midst of the Left parties raising questions over moves to privatise airports, the Civil Aviation Ministry said the move was meant to enhance the public-private partnership in modernising the airports and not to 'selloff' the assets.
Whilst substantive public allocations have been made in the infrastructure sector, this strategy is plateauing due to the fiscal deficit constraint, capacity limitation of statal implementing agencies, the declining ability of PSUs, and the precarious situation of the Railways' operating ratio. It is, thus, high time to get the policy compass to point at rejuvenating private sector investments in infrastructure, says Vinayak Chatterjee.
SemIndia, a consortium of overseas Indians, on Wednesday announced plans to invest $3 billion in an advanced semiconductor manufacturing facility in the country with technology from America's Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur on Thursday signed a memorandum of association to develop the state's first biotechnology park at Kharagpur.
Real estate major DLF and West Bengal government on Monday entered into an agreement to build a township and an industrial hub at Dankuni in the Hooghly district.
"Expression of Interests would be invited shortly for building the cruise terminal that would have a marina, a convention centre, hotels, entertainment places," Mumbai Port Trust deputy chairman Ashok Kumar Bal said.
Responding to a question, he said, "It may also deal with fake news, though there is no specific mention in this regard."
It is a Budget 'high on promises but low on design,' the agency said.
In a major step towards providing faster and updated information on rail services, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Tuesday
Land ordinance has done away with consent and social impact assessment.
The government on Friday announced putting in place a regulator for the civil aviation sector.
"Now the gof India has decided to soon initiate procurement from local industries to reduce import dependence," he said. Reddy, the Union Minister of State for Home, said for many years India was dependent on worldwide Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for procuring arms and ammunition.
With Indo-US relations in its "spring", the two countries should use their resources for common good, science and technology Minister Kapil Sibal said in New Delhi on Thursday.
Tata Power bagged the Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) project in Mundra last year by offering to supply electricity at the lowest rate of Rs 2.26 per unit by burning imported coal.
The fund will have a corpus of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion), which could be increased to Rs 150-200 crore (Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 billion) in the next two years.
The government was going in the "wrong direction" and it was "highly condemnable" that it did not discuss the proposed changes with trade unions and other stakeholders, says BMS, trade union arm of the RSS.
