Month: December 2019

NIP to give a fresh fillip to energy sector, road and urban development

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The government on Tuesday released a five-year roadmap for investments in technically and financially viable infrastructure projects worth Rs 102 lakh crore. In a press conference, Finance Minister Nirmala Sithaaman said Rs 42.7 lakh crore worth of these infrastructure projects are under implementation while the rest are either under development or conceptualisation stage.

Projects in the national infrastructure pipeline (NIP) have been identified by a task force led by DEA Secretary Atanu Chakraborty, each with a minimum investment of Rs 100 crore. The state and central governments will have a share of 39 percent each in these projects while private companies will develop 22 percent of these ventures.

Also Read:  Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces Rs 105 lakh crore national infra pipeline

An additional list of projects worth Rs 3 lakh crore will be added to the infrastructure development roadmap after large states such as Gujrat, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Bihar share an updated list with the finance ministry.

According to the plan that has been drawn up, the government’s budgetary support to the identified infrastructure projects will increase from 0.74 percent of GDP in FY20 to 1.11 percent of GDP by end of FY25. The task force has recommended facilitation of JVs between global and domestic companies in infrastructure as “only a handful of strong private sector participants are available, reducing the pace of infrastructure build-out through PPP modes”.

The task force also analysed the risk-sharing norms and found that infra contracts were loaded with difficult financial and non-financial conditions which led to financial stress amongst developers. The panel has suggested that project bidding and award should be done only after 90 percent of contiguious land is acquired.

The task force also recommended that the repudiation of contracts must be restricted only to situations to be clearly defined in the contract and to facilitate out-of-court settlements, ministry-level committees should be set up to resolve complex contractual disputes.

Calling for an urgent need to enhance rating of infrastructure projects, the task force called for setting up a well-capitalised Credit Enhancement Institution at the earliest. The panel also called for a relook at norms for investment by insurance and pension funds in infra projects. In addition, regulatory tweaks for relaxing leverage norms was also recommended.

Projects under NIP

The sector with the highest investments in the infrastructure roadmap is energy with Rs 25.54 lakh crore, followed by roads at Rs 19.63 lakh crore, urban development with Rs 16.29 lakh crore,  railways with Rs 13.68 lakh crore, irrigation and rural infra with Rs 7.72 lakh crore each, and industrial infra worth Rs 3.07 lakh crore. For the telecom sector, Rs 3.2 lakh crore worth of projects have been identified while Rs 1.43 lakh crore worth of airport projects are also part of the 5-year road map.

The infra development roadmap has been made at a time when, as per finance ministry estimates, investments into the sector by the central and state governments have dipped. According to the finance ministry, in FY 19, total investments in infrastructure stood at Rs 10 lakh core vs Rs 10.2 lakh crore in the previous year.

The proposed investments in the identified projects in  FY20 has been estimated at Rs 13.6 lakh crore, Rs 19.5 crore in FY 21, Rs 19 lakh crore in FY22, Rs 13.8 lakh crore in FY23, Rs 12.8 lakh crore in FY 24 and Rs 11.1 lakh crore in FY25.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

A dose of eco-optimism: Stories of hope and inspiration in 2019

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Don’t lose hope.

This is probably not the cliché you want to hear after what the past year has been like. Extreme weather events, wildfires, water crises, rampant deforestation, record levels of air pollution, thousands of species heading to extinction and most recently, the failed climate conference – 2019 has seen it all.

However, over the 500 plus stories we’ve done in 2019, we’ve found that there still remains a reason to stay positive. All across the country, there are groups and individuals, working in their own small and big ways, towards conservation and environmental protection. Their stories are proof that there is still hope for our planet, its people and the myriad species we share it with.

The past year saw the rise of youth making a strong case for protecting the planet. With Greta Thunberg becoming the face of youth activism for climate action, the involvement of young people in the global climate narrative became more pronounced. The youngest member of our team, Kartik Chandramouli, headed to the UN climate conference in Madrid where he found that youth participation has witnessed a rise and young people world over are demanding further inclusion in decision-making. Back in India, we interviewed 11-year-old Ridhima Pandey on her efforts to hold governments accountable for inaction on climate change. We met with a young woman farmer in Uttarakhand who’s experimenting with agricultural technology to become a change agent.

Despite the cynicism towards the government, in many cases, state and local administrations stepped up with actions to protect biodiversity. The Chhattisgarh government for example, in August this year, declared nearly 2,000 square km as an elephant reserve, promising to not permit any mining activity.  In Chennai, as the city recovered from a water crisis this year, the city administration along with nonprofits and citizens, have been working to restore the city’s water bodies. In another case of concerted action by citizens, with support from the district administration, the waterways in Coonoor were cleaned up. The budget, another highlight of 2019, mentioned Zero Budget Natural Farming, giving a boost to small farmers like Asha in Haryana who has been practising natural farming in her three-acre farm. This year, we also met some of the lesser-known people working within the system to save our environment – forest guard with the Assam forest department, Dimbeshwar Das received accolades for his work protecting the rhino haven Kaziranga National Park and regional forest officer Seema Adgaonkar worked with Maharashtra’s Mangrove Cell to protect Mumbai’s natural defenders against climate change.

Environmental consciousness was not restricted to national parks and green zones alone as we saw sustainability pop up in urban lifestyles too. As high-end designers turned to sustainable fashion the benefits trickled down to the weaving and associated communities with many reporting better health and higher income. The revival of traditional and climate-resilient grains was seen in an unlikely spacecraft breweries that are mixing millets in their beer recipes.

Two of our staff members won fellowships this year that focussed on bringing climate solutions to the headlines. Kartik Chandramouli won the Climate Tracker/Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation’s One Earth fellowship to highlight local solutions to climate change. Sahana Ghosh won the LEDE fellowship for solutions journalism under which she is collaborating with contributors across the country to highlight stories of women in India who are taking charge of climate action.

As we move towards 2020 on a positive note, let’s take a look back some of the stories that gave us hope, inspiration and warmed our hearts in 2019.

Communities join hands to keep alive the hoolock gibbon’s song

Northeastern India is home to two ape species: eastern and western hoolock gibbons. In several of these gibbon habitats, local people are leading conservation efforts that are deeply informed by local circumstances.

Restoration of Ansupa Lake brightens wetland conservation hope

Thanks to a mechanical weed harvester, Ansupa, the only freshwater lake in Odisha, has been cleared of more than 20 types of freshwater weeds. Fishing and tourism have been restored. Watch how the Chilika Development Authority brought back life to this dying lake.

Tharuvaikulam’s palmyra climbers turn sustainable fishers

In Tamil Nadu, a village of palmyra climbers has embraced sustainable fishing practices, after realising that trawl nets were destroying the corals that were homes to the fish.

Sacred sites in Bengaluru: Where heritage helps conserve biodiversity

As many as 121 species of plants thrive in Bengaluru’s sacred sites such as temples and kattes, contributing to the city’s urban biodiversity, finds a study that suggests that such spaces could enhance the green infrastructure in megacities.

Family plants over 6000 trees in Mumbai and inspires communities

The Athalye family is continuing a two-decade-long tradition: planting native trees in populated suburban Mumbai. They have also set up a butterfly park at Aarey.

Highway project in Odisha threatening birds, turtles rejected

In a win for biodiversity, an expert committee of the environment ministry refused to consider a proposal for construction of a highway in Odisha as it would have threatened migratory birds, olive ridley turtles and disturbed flow of various rivers.

A community radio gives voice to the climate-vulnerable in Tamil Nadu

Kalanjiam Samuga Vanoli was the state’s first community radio station as a means to rehabilitate communities after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. It continues to help in disaster preparedness and recovery in the region as India’s vulnerability to extreme weather events is on the rise.

Mysore has a city bird atlas to its credit

The Mysore City Bird Atlas has mapped 192 species of birds in the city. About 60 volunteer birders pooled in their time, effort and bird-watching skills. There are about 400-500 bird atlases in the world but this is the first one in India.

Going organic brings hope to MP’s cotton farmers and wildlife

Cotton farmers residing between the Pench and Satpuda tiger reserves, practice organic farming which helps improve soil and water quality and in turn, preserves the critical tiger habitat.

The lady of Rabindra lake

For two decades, Kolkata’s Sumita Banerjee, a citizen-activist, has mobilising citizens and taking on authorities and rule-breakers to save the Rabindra Sarovar, the only lake in Kolkata enlisted as a lake of national importance.

(This story was first published on Mongabay)

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Core sector growth contracted for the fourth straight month in November

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India’s core sector contracted for the fourth straight month in November even as the pace decelerated. The index of eight core sector industries fell 1.5 percent in November, according to official data released on Tuesday.

Five of the eight sectors witnessed negative growth. The eight core sectors had expanded by 3.3 percent in November 2018.

In the month under review, production of coal, crude oil, natural gas, steel, and electricity contracted. The growth rate of cement production dropped to 4.1 percent from 8.8 percent in November 2018.

The output of refinery products and fertilisers increased by 3.1 percent and 13.6 percent respectively in November 2019 over the year-ago month. During the April-November period, core industries recorded flat growth (zero percent) against 5.1 percent in the year-ago period.

It may be noted that since August, the eight core sectors are recording negative growth.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Four key market strategies to keep in mind before investing in FY21

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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2019 was “a year of dissonance” with the economy and equities sharing an inverse relationship. Nifty50 hit an all-time high while GDP growth clearly witnessed a slowdown. Interestingly, broader markets witnessed a dry spell while a few large caps pulled the market upwards. Government reforms in the form of the corporate tax cut and IBC did set the tone for the future but failed to rule the markets in the medium-term.

ICICI Direct Research in its report pointed out four vital market strategies that an investor needs to keep in mind before building a portfolio for the next year.

1. Keep an eye on quality, which commands a premium valuation

The brokerage in its report said that it expects the Nifty constituent additions such as insurance, AMC etc to drive up the overall multiples of the index. It believes that quality stocks will command premium valuations pursuant to their consistent growth and high return ratios matrix, justifying the higher P/E multiples at index level sustaining, going forward.

In the case of Nifty rally, the report said, “Nifty looks expensive on both trailing as well as one-year forward basis. Thus, it is being observed that forward P/E multiple at the Nifty is inversely proportional to interest rate trajectory and directly proportional to earnings growth. With both levers at play, we expect P/E multiples of the Nifty to sustain amid an earnings recovery along with a downward sloping interest rate cycle.”

2. Don’t keep an index specific approach

The report very clearly indicated that the large caps this year outperformed broader markets amid liquidity issues with the IL&FS crisis and other corporate defaults over the past 18 months. Only quality companies in midcaps and large caps have outperformed the markets, which will continue to stay. Thus, believe in the quality stock selection approach rather than an index specific approach.

3. Avoid bottom fishing in beaten-down stocks

According to the firm’s research, most companies do not suffer from only one of the weakness traits but rather witnessed a combination of two or more of the below-mentioned fundamental weakness signals.

“Empirical evidence on stock price recovery post a significant decline leads us to the believe that bargain hunting in such beaten-down stocks would not be a credible strategy as the recovery of such stocks to earlier levels is rare. During the last eight years, correction of 60 percent or more has hardly resulted in those stocks regaining their previous life-time highs”, the report added.

4. Buy PSUs only if they dominate their sector

The brokerage firm in its report advised that the investment in PSU stocks should be made selectively and not via a basket approach as the broader PSU index has underperformed the BSE Sensex over a period of time.

According to the report, PSU companies with dominance and a strategic moat in sectors like banking, logistics, gas, defence, etc. can create value over the medium to long term.

Historically, PSU companies with a turnaround in business cycles and with stable business growth have created value for investors.

A successful strategic disinvestment/privatization of a large PSU company may lead to a re-rating of dominant PSU companies with strategic moats and should be watched carefully, added the report.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Pawan Hans divestment yet to take off; government to invite fresh EOI

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The government will invite fresh expression of interest to divest its entire stake in helicopter service provider Pawan Hans, ending another unsuccessful attempt at selling it.

“There were some issues..we will invite EOI,” a senior government official said.

The Narendra Modi government, in its second term, floated an expression of interest on July 11 for 51 percent stake. It was reiterated that ONGC will also sell its 49 percent to the successful bidder.

The deadline for submission of bids was extended three times despite several sweeteners in this round.

CNBC-TV18 had exclusively reported on November 20 that the latest divestment cycle of Pawan Hans has hit a bottleneck and the situation is worrisome because the helicopter company’s financials have taken a turn for the worse, especially since the last financial year. In 2018-19 (Apr-Mar), the company posted a net loss of Rs 72 crore and it is already making losses in the current year.

“In the period between April and October, the losses are around Rs 80 crore. At this rate, the losses for the entire financial year could very well exceed Rs 100 crore,” a person aware of the development had told CNBC-TV18 on the condition of anonymity.

The losses are on account of under-utilisation of its fleet of 43 helicopters. Several of them are very old, some touching the age of 30 years, and hence, are out of service for want of maintenance, the source had added.

The drop in revenue from operations from FY 16 onwards can be attributed to lower flying hours due to a reduction in operational fleet caused by 3 accidents during 2015.

Revenue has further declined in FY 19 due to the vintage life of helicopters as vintage clauses enforced by various customers act as a hurdle to participate and win new businesses, Pawan Hans had said in its preliminary information memorandum published on July 11.

Due to the accidents of its helicopters, the insurance cost has also risen for Pawan Hans to Rs 33 crore as per provisional figures for 2018-19 as compared to Rs 18.5 crore in 2017-18.

The divestment of Pawan Hans has been an uphill task for the government since 2017. In October 2017, the government invited bids for 51 percent stake in the company but could not find any suitable takers even after extending the deadline once. At that time, it was not clear whether ONGC, which owns 49 percent in Pawan Hans, will also exit the company or not.

The EOI was soon withdrawn due to a weak response.

In April 2018, the government again invited bids for 51 percent stake in Pawan Hans but soon after, in July, the ONGC board passed a resolution that it will also exit Pawan Hans. As a result, the government floated a fresh preliminary information memorandum in October 2018 and invited bids.

This bid process was not successful as the single bid received was unacceptable. With the onset of the code of conduct ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the divestment process was put on hold.

In 2017-18, Pawan Hans recorded a net profit of Rs 19.6 crore and in 2016-17, it posted a bottom-line of Rs 254 crore.

However, the profit was higher in FY 17 because the government converted dues of Rs 130.91 cr (principal amount) into equity share capital and waived off the balance Rs 339.31 cr (interest cost). Accordingly, the interest amount waived-off was recognised as an extraordinary gain for FY17.

The company has also struggled with high insurance cost in FY17 and FY18 because of the rise to accidents of its helicopters, insurance cost of PHL helicopters has increased significantly in FY 17 and FY 18. However, PHL is taking steps to reduce insurance costs by inviting tenders for insurance advisors with an aim to reduce the insurance cost.

Till July, only 35 helicopters (including one helicopter taken on lease from HAL) had a valid airworthiness review certificate.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Huawei 5G trials: Swadeshi Jagran Manch opposes permit to Chinese telecom company, writes to PM Modi

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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A nationalist group close to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party opposed the government’s decision to allow China’s Huawei Technologies to participate in the upcoming trials for the next-generation 5G networks.

“We are writing this letter to share the disappointment after the department of telecommunication allowed the Chinese telecom company Huawei to conduct 5G trials in India,” Ashwani Mahajan, national co-convener of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

CNBCTV18.com reviewed a copy of the letter.

The government on Monday cleared the decks for Huawei’s participation in the trials due to be held in January. 

The government is preparing to allocate 5G airwaves to various telecom companies before March, according to officials familiar with the matter. The airwaves, or spectrum, will be allocated at a nominal fee for one year to allow for 5G trials, they said, asking not to be named.

In the letter dated December 31, Mahajan wrote that the decision to allow Huawei to enter 5G trials is discouraging to Indian wireless operators. “The presence of Chinese companies in India’s telecom networks will compromise national security,” Mahajan wrote, calling for a clause of reciprocity given that China doesn’t allow market access to foreign companies.

“We request you (PM Modi) to immediately restrict Huawei and other Chinese companies from operating in the Indian market,” Mahajan wrote.

The US government has long held that Huawei poses a security risk and has urged other countries not to buy its 5G mobile network equipment. It has also put Huawei on its entity list, blocking U.S. technology sales to the company. Huawei denies the allegations.

Swadeshi Jagran Manch closely tracks the economic policies of the government, weighing in issues ranging from FDI to patents.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow