Indian Economy-News & Updates

[Nilgiri]

 

[TimePass]

Doesn't matter. China gave a similar loan to Indonesia. My point isn't about that. Loan or no loan we have to pay the full price. We are going to construct this only once, then why not build the best. We are going to spend 8 billion dollars on this project , plus heavy price escalation (common in Indian projects) and the interest of 0.1% per annum for 50 years. We need to get the best. And we aren't quick like china, so once its built we wont touch this line till it starts creaking, it wont be continuously upgraded.

First step for you is to learn what COST per KM mean.

Do that, then we can talk.

 

[indo]

First step for you is to learn what COST per KM mean.

Do that, then we can talk.

If you don't want to explain or discuss, at least don't waste my time by quoting again.

 

[TimePass]

If you don't want to explain or discuss, at least don't waste my time by quoting again.

I did explain and educate you, now do your homework. Don't expect a spoon feeding.

 

[Hindustani78]

Growers in Vijayapura district are not very happy with the minimum support price for onion announced by the government.— Photo: Rajendra Singh Hajeri

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nation...price-for-onion/article9287278.ece?ref=tpnews

For the past four months, Mohammed Yunis Hamid of Utnal village has been anxiously waiting for the price of onion to stabilise as he has around 20 tonnes of the vegetable to be sold.

the government announcement to buy onion at Rs. 6.24 per kg has received mixed response from growers.

The other growers demanded that the government give another Rs. 10 a kg to help them tide over the situation.

Vijayapura is the third largest onion-growing district in the State with the average annual production of 2.5 lakh tonnes and onion is cultivated on over 12,000 hectares.

 

[RISING SUN]

http://www.newindianexpress.com/sta...rabhu-from-the-indian-twitterati-1533112.html


KOCHI: Being Indian Railway Minister is not easy, especially if you have a Twitter account.
For, what began as an exercise to apprise the Union Railway Minister and his ministry of the troubles that ail the enormous train travelling population of India, has now also become a target of misuse at the hands of select Indian Twitterati. The scenario is such that the Railway Minister is now being treated as a railway ticket agent, as people are tagging the official Twitter handles of Prabhu and Railway Ministry - @Sureshpprabhu and @RailMinIndia, respectively - to share their PNR numbers and requesting them that they get their tickets confirmed!“@sureshpprabhu sir my pnr number is(...).please confirm my ticket. I have to travel from Patna to Haridwar on 15 October” was what Prakash Ranjan requested Prabhu to do.
Ranjan is not alone.

“Hi I’m Payal, female, alone have to travel vide pnr no(…)..status is RAC6. Pls confirm it,” tweeted another user, tagging the IRCTC, Prabhu and Railway Ministry in her tweet.
Yet another user said, “@sureshpprabhu pnr number (...).please help to confirm..my father, my pregnant wife and my small daughter has to travel...help sir.”
What’s more, 10 minutes into writing this report and another tweet by a hapless citizen asking Prabhu to confirm his ticket appeared. And, it would be wrong to say Prabhu didn’t read the plea. For, a few minutes later after that post appeared, Prabhu rewteeted a tweet he was tagged in by another user about the beautification drive in Mumbai station!
In fact, one Twitter user had, two months back, rightly prophesied about such a practice becoming rampant.

“Yeah! Next msgs would be Dear Suresh Prabhu, PNR no.xxxx, need to travel urgently, kindly confirm,” was his reply to a user who had said the “MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) shouldn’t be tweeted to for lost passports, until you are abroad or stuck badly in a war zone, etc.” The latter user had then rightly said, “If I have a issue at my college, I can’t directly tag HRD (ministry) na, I will have to go through proper channels.”
Sadly for Prabhu and the Railway Ministry, not everyone realises it.
NOTE: (The tweets have been unedited and produced as they are.PNR nos have been withheld)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-Chennai-Delhi-route/articleshow/55145618.cms
Chennai: Can container trucks run on railway tracks? From December this year, Southern Railway plans to implement this concept, which is an amphibian-machine known as road-railer, on a pilot basis to transport cargo from Chennai to Delhi. This is a fresh initiative being implemented to give a boost to the freight-earning potential of Indian Railways and capture the lost market from road transport.

Explaning the concept, a senior railway official said the cargo-containers can be brought by road on trucks from a godown and directly coupled with the railway bogies at the railway terminal without having to unload them. At the destination, these containers can be mechanically de-coupled and driven away by a truck.

This concept, already in use in foreign countries like the USA, has been developed by the private sector engineering conglomerate Kirloskar and was in the proposal stage for more than a decade, said sources in Southern Railway. This is one of the latest schemes of Indian Railways to give a boost to the freight traffic and give a stiff competition to movement through road transport, the source said.


"This process is much faster and goods packed at the godown can be directly delivered to the customer's destination. The total process of trans-shipment, where containers are brought to the freight terminal and then again re-loaded onto the railway wagons, is totally eliminated in the road-railer," the official said.
The railways now manually lift the containers from trucks by using huge cranes and other heavy equipment. For this, significant manpower has to be deputed and the process is time-consuming. The concept of road-railer aims to facilitate faster movement of goods; many freight-customers of the railways have complained about the slow movement of cargo through trains and damage to goods as well. Under the new concept, the railways will need to invest less as freight terminals will not need heavy equipment, the official added.


Each road-railer rake can have a maximum of 50 wagons, each of which can carry 40 tonnes of cargo, the official said.

 

[Nilgiri]

 

[That Guy]

@That Guy

Part 2 of that video you posted earlier has been uploaded:

Overall its done quite well and I agree with it overall.

Here is part 1 for all those that missed it:

Sorry, haven't been active in a while, won't be active for a while longer. I have a lot of sudden work that has come up, and a big project that I'm working on for a client.

 

[Nilgiri]

http://www.business-standard.com/ar...enue-to-beat-japan-parent-116103101221_1.html

Maruti Suzuki growing in double-digits; Suzuki's Japan Q1 top line rose only 1%


@bluesky have a good cry.

 

[Bombaywalla]

Maharashtra approves 118km Metro routes to connect suburbs

The Maharashtra Urban Development (UD) Department has approved 118km of Metro lines, which will connect various parts of the Mumbai suburbs. The move is aimed to ease traffic congestion.

According to the department notification, the government has approved following lines: Dahisar-DN Nagar (27km), Bandra-Mankhurd (13km), Wadala-Ghatkopar-Thane-Kasarwadavali (22km), Wadala-RA Kidwai Marg (8km), Dahisar (E)-Andheri (E) (18km), Andheri (E)-Bandra (E) (9km) and Jogeshwari-Vikroli Link road (11km).

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will undertake this work, while the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will work as an advisory for the finalised Metro routes. The estimated cost for the Metro-II route (Dahisar-Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd) is Rs10,986 crore, while Metro-IV route (Wadala-Ghatkopar-Mulund-Thane-Kasarvadavli) will cost an estimated cost Rs14,549 crore.

The Government has also approved the decision of raising loans for these approved Metro lines from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In addition, MMRDA can also take loans from the World Bank or any other internationally approved bank. The Government will not take any responsibility of repaying the loan.

Moreover, the Government and semi-Government agencies will have to rent the land under them to the MMRDA for development of the Metro lines, at a reasonable rate. If it requires to acquire the land permanently, the acquisition will be done as per the new Land Acquisition Act, 2013.

A senior UD official said the Maharashtra Government has declared Metro an important and urgent project, so that various approvals required from the Central and Western Railways could be sought on an urgent basis.

"The Metro project has to be completed within the stipulated time. The State Government will provide power for the project at a reasonable rate. The Government has also decided to have an integrated transport system," added the official, requesting anonymity.

He further said that during the development of these Metro lines, innovative traffic diversion will be done. "People should not suffer because of the project. We will sit with the traffic department officials and do innovative traffic diversion, so that the Metro work can carry on smoothly," he said.

source: http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/repor...uburbs-2267799

J Kumar's casting yard at Bandra Reclamation

cc: Coolguyz

Agra - Lucknow Expressway | UP | 320 km | Under Construction

cc: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...0648493.120173.100001431976848&type=3&theater

 

[Soumitra]

Infrasturcture development is crucial for economic development. unfortunately for 10 years UPA ignored this crucial aspect and focussed on giving subsidies and doleouts

Hopefully NDA will focus on this crucial aspect

 

[Bad Guy]

India tops Nielsen consumer confidence index

After seeing a temporary blip in the second quarter of calendar year 2016 (CY16), consumer confidence index of the country is back on the top.

Latest data released by market research agency Nielsen shows that India topped the list of countries with a score of 133, a point lower than the nine-year high of 134 in Q1 CY16.

The jump from Q2 (when India’s index was 128) is significant. Nielsen said it highlighted the confidence level among Indian consumers at the moment. The global consumer confidence average is only 99 in Q3, indicating just how strong consumer confidence is in India.

“The latest score for India is the highest historically for the quarter and reiterates renewed optimism levels as well. This is now back to first-quarter highs and is in line with the observation that the last quarter was a temporary dip. It is a testimony to the fact that the fundamentals of the economy remain strong,” Prasun Basu, president, South Asia, Nielsen, said.

The survey for the current index was done between August 2 and September 10, covering online respondents in 63 countries. The Philippines and Indonesia come in at number two and three, with scores of 132 and 122, respectively.

Specifically, sentiment levels among Indian consumers about personal finance, Nielsen said, had improved by 6% points to 84% in Q3 versus 78% in Q2.

Over 81% respondents indicated optimism over job prospects in the third quarter, higher than the 78% seen in Q2, Nielsen said.

“The positive sentiment is helped by delayed but good monsoons, controlled inflation, positive economic outlook, and the onset of the festive season,” Basu said.

“The fast-moving consumer goods market, in fact, shows a similar pattern of bounce back in the third quarter, following a muted second quarter,” he said.

Recessionary sentiment among Indian consumers was lower by 4% points at 54% in Q3, versus 50% in Q2. Among urban Indians, 68% say it is a good time to buy things, while 56% said they would spend on holidays and vacations.

 

[lonelyman]

Full steam ahead: Work on bullet train to start in 2017, says Railways

MUMBAI: The Indian Railways administration plans to begin construction work on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed corridor next year.
Railway board member (traffic) Mohammed Jamshed, who was in Mumbai, to attend the chief commercial managers' conference said, "Work on the hi-speed railway corridor will begin next year." However, some contentious issues involving acquisition of land remain. The Railways administration wants the bullet train terminal to come up in Bandra-Kur la Complex (BKC), but the state government has instead offered a plot at Bandra Reclamation. The MMRDA has planned the international finance centre on the BKC plot.The Railways are not keen on the Bandra Reclamation land and the Niti Aayog and the prime minister's office are expected to take the final call.
The administration plans to run the first bullet train in 2023. The bullet train is expected the distance between between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in about two hours, running at a maximum speed of 350 kmph and operating speed of 320 kmph.

The estimated cost of the project is Rs 97,636 crore. The bulk of the funding for the project will come in the way of the loan from Japan.The estimate includes possible cost escalation, interest during construction and import duties.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...n-2017-says-Railways/articleshow/55061837.cms

View attachment 346583

Curious, have u finished land acquisition before construction?

I believe u guys end up with a bad deal, just look Taiwan hsr using Japan's technology, due to high construction and operation cost, it never is profitable and the government end up subsidizing heavily every year.

 

[Surya 1]

The train completed its trials at average speeds of 130, 140 and 150 kilometers per hour (kph) and took 12 hours, 11 hours, 16 minutes and 11 hours and 39 minutes respectively to complete the distance, the report said.

Average speed of 130, 140 and 150 KM is a major boost in speed. Train must have traveled at 200+ KM an our to achieve this timing.

 

[Nilgiri]

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fast...ndian-government-akshay-kothari?trk=prof-post

The fastest partnership I’ve ever struck was with the Indian Government

Up until a few months ago, I had never met anyone from the Indian government. Not a minister, not a secretary, not even an employee. I felt the government was out of reach - you needed to know someone who knows someone in the government to even have a meeting. And because I didn’t know anyone, I always dismissed the government as “too bureaucratic.” Many people probably still think so, but I’m going to tell you a story about the current government that will likely change this thinking.

About 3 months ago, I wanted to connect with the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to talk about the work LinkedIn was doing in India. We took a chance and requested a meeting with the Honorable Minister. To my surprise, Shri Prakash Javadekar agreed to meet first thing the next morning. I got on a flight to Delhi and was at his residence at 9AM. On the dot, he walked into his mini-office, close to his residence entrance holding a folder that included many documents and clippings from the day’s newspapers.

Initially he seemed quite immersed in his own thoughts. Expectedly, as a Cabinet Minister, there was a lot on his mind. He looked up and said “Acha, tell me.” I went ahead and gave him a 2-minute introduction to LinkedIn, something I had rehearsed a few times in my head. He nodded, listening intently, all while juggling a phone call and staffers bringing him more folders. After I finished, he said, “That sounds great. How can I help?” Taken aback by the welcoming nature of his question, I went ahead and talked about all the incredible data LinkedIn has and how it can help transform education and employment in India. I also showcased some of this data by sharing with him a printout of LinkedIn City Insights, which provided a snapshot of professionals in Bengaluru. He nodded, taking in everything. Then, on the back of the printout, he wrote my name in pencil and took down my phone number. He also added me as a contact on his phone and called me “LinkedIn”.

At this time, his secretary came in to tell us that folks from the next meeting had arrived. He wished me well and told me that he looks forward to working together. Now, all of this happened in such a compressed time frame that I really didn’t know what to tell him and how to chart our “working together.” I thanked him for his time and took off. As I was leaving his residence, I couldn’t help but feel slightly dejected.

I realized this might have been the shortest meeting I have ever been part of. And because it was so short, I didn’t think anything would come out of it.

A few weeks later, I received a phone call from a Delhi landline number. When the number begins with 011-23, as I've now learned, there is a high probability that it is a phone call from the government. At that moment I was visiting our headquarters in California, so my phone rang in the middle of the night. I instantly woke up and picked up the call. The caller said that he was speaking from MHRD and that the Additional Secretary R. Subrahmanyam would like to meet with LinkedIn. Elated, I committed to reaching out and meeting with him on my next visit to Delhi.

As soon as I got back to India, I headed to the capital to meet him. This time, I prepared better. I took my colleague and our newest hire, Sehraj Singh, with me. He helped make our story a lot crisper, and our potential collaboration areas, a lot clearer. We also prepared to showcase our new Placements platform, and how this could be a potential game changer for all colleges in India.

When we sat down for the meeting with Shri Subrahmanyam, I noticed the printout which I had handed to Minister, on his table. The phone number in pencil was still on it. He looked up to me and said “The Minister told me about your meeting. He mentioned that we can do something together to improve employability for college students. Can you please share details?”

We went straight into our demo, showing him how Placements worked. In a matter of seconds, he sensed the potential of the platform, and even started quizzing us on product improvements and enhancements that could increase scale and have an even greater impact. He showed a keen interest in learning about our testing partners and soon after said, “This makes sense. Let’s work with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and put together an MoU that pushes this product to Indian colleges.” Boom! In less than 10 minutes, he completely understood the product, realized how it could benefit Indian colleges and already charted the path forward.

Few days later, our CEO Jeff Weiner came to India to launch several products that were made in India, including Placements. We got an opportunity to discuss and share these products with Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Subsequently, we also met with MHRD and AICTE to finalize the details of the MoU. Teams on both sides moved incredibly fast, and I’m excited to share that the agreement to push Placements to every AICTE affiliated college in India was recently signed. Here’s a photo of Sehraj with the AICTE Chairman Anil Dattatraya Sahasrabudhe.

The early numbers of the Placements product are staggering. Over 200K students have now already registered for the product (in less than 8 weeks) and we have received over 1.2 million job applications. What started off as a simple idea of democratizing opportunity for every college student in India, is now quickly becoming a reality

If you were to ask me my top three learning moments from this partnership, I would capture them as follows:

• Align to the government’s priorities: The products we launched in September are closely aligned to StartUp India, Digital India and Skills India. This helped us have a meaningful conversation with the government officials
• Make your asks clear and succinct: It is far easier to chart the course of your partnership with the government if you let them know which part you need action on and exactly how they can help. In our case, we wanted all AICTE affiliated colleges and their students to have access to the Placements product. Signing the MoU was the next step!
• Invest in public policy: You need a person that understands how to work with the government, and aligns with some of the key initiatives you are driving for your company. Investing in a public policy professional helped us get meaningful meetings, which drove tangible results.

The whole experience of working with the government has come as a pleasant surprise. I’ve done deals with other companies, including content syndication deals with news publishers and app preload deals with phone manufacturers. None of them moved as quickly as the Indian government. Truth be told, I couldn’t have even dreamed of saying something like this a few years ago.