Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday pitched for front loading of capital expenditure, saying it is critical for revitalisting the economy post the coronavirus pandemic. During a virtual meeting with senior government officials to discuss the infrastructure roadmap ahead, she also asked ministries to aim to achieve more than their capital expenditure (capex) targets. The Union Budget 2021-22 provided a capital outlay of Rs.5.54 lakh crore, a sharp increase of 34.5 per cent over the Budget Estimate of 2020-21.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) are in talks for a partnership to run private trains. According to officials in the know, the two public sector undertakings (PSUs) are planning to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to run passenger trains on routes for which IRCTC has put in bids. "BHEL will be putting in the money required for private rail service, while IRCTC is going to focus on operational requirements," an official said. "IRCTC's business model has not been capital expenditure-focussed. It has built only operational enhancements," he added. Bids for public private partnerships (PPPs) in passenger train operations were opened last month.
During his first Union Budget in July 2014, former finance minister Arun Jaitley announced the setting up of an institution called 3P India, with an allocation of Rs 500 crore. The intention was to mainstream public-private partnerships (PPPs) in India. The plan was to bring together the capacities of the government and private sector to push PPP projects.
Ad man Gerson da Cunha, a multi-faceted personality who was very passionate about civic activism in later years, died in Mumbai on Friday. He was 92.
7 key areas that the Budget must address to re-energise the infrastructure sector, suggests Vinayak Chatterjee.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for leasing out airports at Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram through public-private partnership (PPP).
'We would like to develop Andhra Pradesh into a logistics hub not only for India, but also for South Asia.'
"The Asian Development Bank will provide India up to 700 million dollar in loans to accelerate its roll-out of infrastructure projects through public-private partnership initiatives."
No other corporate house in India is in a better position than Tata group for the takeover of debt-laden airline Air India, former deputy chairman of erstwhile Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Thursday. Tata Sons has emerged as the top bidder for the takeover of the state-run airline but the bid is yet to be approved by a group of ministers headed by Home Minister Amit Shah. "You can't have a better corporate, with a better position than the Tatas, we can hand it (state-run airline Air India) over," he said while replying to a question in a virtual event.
Lavasa, a career bureaucrat, joined as Election Commissioner on January 23, 2018, and being senior most on the poll panel would have become CEC in April next year after the term of incumbent Sunil Arora ends.
Only NIIF has stayed the course as a viable infrastructure financing institution.
The government plans to establish 30 mega food-parks in different parts of the country through the public-private partnership (PPP)-route and special purpose vehicle modes.The public-private partnership route or special purpose vehicle mode would be adopted for these parks, he added. The centre planned to set up the parks from this year on, he said.
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.
'Recent underperformance notwithstanding, equities should constitute a major part of investors' financial portfolio.'
Bharat Biotech's Covaxin has demonstrated 77.8 per cent effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 and 65.2 per cent protection against the new Delta variant.
It was one of the toughest times in history to announce a budget, says Harsh Goenka, chairman of RPG Enterprises.
The National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune under the ICMR has isolated the monkeypox virus from the clinical specimen of a patient, which can pave the way for development of diagnostic kits and vaccines against the disease, officials said on Wednesday.
'Overall, compared to the previous episode, we are in a better shape because the vaccine is already out there and vaccination drives are proceeding'
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Tuesday stressed the need for public-private partnerships to meet the challenge of building 100 Indian School of Business (ISB)-type campuses across the country.
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The Central Bureau of Investigation has booked Venkata Krishna Reddy Gunupati, chairman of the GVK group of companies, and his son G V Sanjay Reddy, managing director of Mumbai International Airport Ltd, among others for alleged irregularities to the tune of Rs 705 crore in running of the airport, officials said.
"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.
No expecting mother ever needs to travel for more than 30 minutes to reach one of their hospitals, believes the Cloudnine group.
The Delhi high court on Thursday said the moral fabric of people has been "dismembered" to a great extent as instead of coming together to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, they are engaging in hoarding and black marketing of oxygen cylinders, medicines and concentrators.
As many as 2,000 chips are annually designed in India by semi-conductor and fabless companies, Intel India managing director Prakash Mallya said in a conversation with Business Standard. Mallya was reiterating the importance of India in the semi-conductor sweepstakes. "As much as 90 per cent of the semi-conductor companies have a design footprint in India.
These could include strengthening the public-private partnership (PPP) dispute resolution mechanism, uniform PPP institutional framework, easier terms for infrastructure companies accessing bond markets, and tax sops, Business Standard has learnt. Investment in infrastructure projects with high multiplier effect has been the Centre's main plank to revive the economy, create employment and boost consumption.
The Palaniswami government is expected to utilise the Rangarajan Committee's recommendations before the 2021 assembly election.
'...the President is pleased to accept the resignation tendered by Shri Ashok Lavasa, Election Commissioner with effect from the 31st August, 2020,' the notification said.
The Indian Railway Station Development Corporation is now looking to modernise 90 stations across the country.
Safety and Efficacy results from the final analysis will be available in June, and the final report will be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication.
Presenting the Budget for 2020-21, Sitharaman said Rs 1.7 lakh crore has been provided for transport infrastructure in 2020-21.
Veteran banker K V Kamath on Friday said it is "time to be brave" for the government, and it should stretch the fiscal deficit target set in the budget if need be, to push growth. He said benign interest rates of under 8 per cent and abundant liquidity are also necessary to seize what he called as a 25-year growth runway opportunity awaiting the country. The government has targeted to get the fiscal deficit at 6.8 per cent for FY22 in the Budget presented early this year.
Maintaining a rapid pace of the vaccination drive and quickly bridging healthcare infrastructure gaps across both urban and rural areas would emerge as the most sustainable stimulus for durable recovery of the Indian economy, says a report by the department of economic affairs.
Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and other ministers took charge of their respective offices on Thursday, a day after taking oath at a ceremony held in the Darbar Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
While the Constitution makes everyone in India eligible to work anywhere in the country, states have used legal loopholes to frame laws.
The Finance Minister's concerns come at a time when delays in 110 central infra projects due to regulatory hurdle issues have resulted in over Rs 1.57 lakh crore cost overruns.
Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda presented the Railway Budget in the Parliament on Tuesday.
The airport has formulated standard operating procedures for post-lockdown safety of the passengers, which include social distancing, stringent thermal screening, positioning temporary quarantine centres and also continues to sanitise and disinfect the airport to ensure safety and well-being of the passengers when operations resume.
Railway route privatisation is not as rosy it looks as there is no bar on competition on one hand and demand-risks outweigh the benefits on other, even though the private operator is free to fix the tariffs, warns a report.
'People should realise that what we are fighting for today is actually for tomorrow, for future generations.'
