Tag: mumbai

Over $220 billion required for Mumbai’s city infrastructure over 20 years, says report

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

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Mumbai, country’s financial capital and most populous city, needs about $220 billion to invest in infrastructure and smart technology over the next 20 years to be ready for the future, a report published by McKinsey Global Institute said (MGI), as reported by Mint.

However, it’s in contradiction with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Rs 2,000 crore smart city proposed plan.

Indian cities are much worse than Latin American and African cities, when it comes to adopting technology, with Mumbai ranking below Mexico City and Cape Town with a score of 8.8, according to the Mint report.

The MGI report studied 50 major global cities and assessed the city’s smartness on the basis of devices/sensors/communication networks, smart applications and tools and public adoption of these applications, the report added.

Only Mumbai, Pune and Jaipur were the only Indian cities part of the MGI study.

MGI’s study showed that adoption of technology can help reduce urban fatalities by 8-10 percent and also help in reducing crime incidents by 30-40 percent.

On the healthcare front, the study reflected that smart applications can help cut emissions by 10-15 percent, save 25-80 liters of water per person and reduce the negative health effects from air pollution by 8-15 percent, the report said.

Out of the 50 cities that were evaluated for their “smartness”, Jaipur was ranked the lowest with a score of 2.7 while Pune scored a 6.4, at par with
Nairobi. The highest score was set at 37 points.

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

Mumbai Rains: Heavy showers pound the city, Thane; 3 killed in rain-related incidents

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

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The Southwest Monsoon picked up momentum in Mumbai, bringing heavy showers that claimed three lives in the city and adjoining Thane, officials said on Monday.

Heavy rains lashed the metropolis and Thane district throughout the night and continued this morning, causing water-logging at several places and slowing the movement of suburban trains, thus causing inconvenience to office-goers.

Two persons were killed last evening when a tree fell on them near Metro Cinema in south Mumbai, said an official from the disaster management unit of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

A 13-year-old boy was killed and his parents were injured when an adjacent wall collapsed on their house at Wadol village in Ambernath taluka of Thane around 2.15 am today, the district civic body’s regional disaster management cell chief Santosh Kadam said.

In another incident, a 65-feet compound wall of a housing complex in Thane city collapsed this morning, crushing two cars and another vehicle, he said.

The district received 229.81 mm rain in the last 24 hours, Kadam added.

In Mumbai, a huge part of a compound caved-in at Antop Hill area in Wadala. Around 15 cars were damaged with some vehicles getting buried under the debris, an official of the BMC’s disaster management cell said.

No casualty was reported in the incident, he said.

“The fire brigade and Mumbai police officials have reached the spot and are assessing the situation,” he added.

Mumbai received 231.4 mm rain in the last 24 hours, an official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) here said.

“The Santacruz weather station recorded 231.4 mm rainfall in the last 24 hours. So much rainfall is categorised as extremely heavy showers,” IMD Mumbai Director Ajay Kumar told PTI.

“This is the first extremely heavy rainfall recorded in Mumbai in the current season,” he said.

The rain intensity has gone up since yesterday afternoon and is expected to continue further, he said.

Owing to the heavy showers, several parts of the city, like Dharavi, Sion, Matunga, Hindmata, Malad, Kurla, Andheri subway, Bhandup, Worli and Lower Parel, were flooded with water up to two to three feet, and vehicles got stuck in some places.

“Traffic has been diverted from Sion, King’s circle, National College in Bandra, Siddharth Hospital in Goregaon, Chembur Phatak, Pratiksha Nagar in Sion, Milan Subway in Santacruz and Powai area of the city,” a statement issued by civic body said.

A container broke down on a bridge at suburban Vikhroli near Eastern Express Highway this morning, because of which vehicular movement in the area was slow, the Mumbai Police said.

Local train services of the Central Railway (CR), Western Railway (WR) and on the Harbour Line corridor were running late by 5 to 10 minutes, officials said.

“There is some water accumulation at Sion due to continuous rains but trains are running on all three lines of the Central Railway (main line, harbour and trans-harbour) with a slight delay of 5 to 7 minutes,” CR Chief Public Relations Officer Sunil Udasi said.

The suburban main line of CR runs from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) to Karjat, Khopoli and Kasara, the Harbour Line runs from CSMT to Panvel and the Trans-Harbour Line is from Thane to Vashi and Panvel.

The Western Railway in a tweet said, “WR Suburban trains are running with no disruption. There is slight delay due to low visibility in some areas due to rains.”

Certain diversions were made due to water-logging on few routes of bus services of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST), an official said.

The IMD has predicted heavy-to-very heavy rain in the city in the next 24 to 48 hours.

“These heavy showers are due to a cyclonic circulation over north Konkan and adjoining south Gujarat and another circulation in the Bay of Bengal. We expect the rain activity to increase in the coming week, with scattered heavy to very heavy rain on June 27 and 28 in parts of north Konkan, including Mumbai,” an IMD official said.

Also read:Expect heavy-to-very heavy rainfall for rest of June in Mumbai, says IMD

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

Affordable housing: Why Mumbai remains out of reach even for those willing to shell out Rs 10,000 per square feet

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

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“Mumbai Housing market remains a curious market to me. The developers that we have financed report high levels of unsold inventory. But our office boy, Tukaram, is ready to pay Rs 10,000 per square feet for a 250 square feet shanty in Malad, but finds no sellers” wondered Jaiku, a realty fund Manager as he ordered his Mysore masala at our breakfast meeting in Mumbai.

Jaiku’s curiosity turned into an enigma as he learned that Tukaram is not even eligible for housing loan whereas his developer clients are unable to find buyers for new apartments despite  Home Finance Companies (HFC) queuing up to fund home buyers.

Quick googling revealed Jaiku that the options for small apartments in Mumbai were much fewer than those for 2/3/4 BHKs! Affordable housing existed only in distant suburbs.

Now Jaiku’s impatience to unravel the mystery had reached a new high, as if the impatience due to non-arrival of Mysore masala (intensified by the aroma of Sambhar from the adjacent table) was not high enough.

An Obvious Answer

Jaiku (or V Jaikumar) was my classmate at IIT Madras and had come to visit India to have a close look at the housing industry after being excited with the ‘Housing for All by 2022’ initiative of the government. His first question to me was, “With so much demand, why do developers not make small apartments in larger numbers ?

“Yenna, Jaiku….. isn’t the answer obvious ? It costs more to build small apartments.”

“How can that be possible?” Jaiku’s rising impatience showed no signs of withering despite the arrival of Mysore masala.

Now I began my detailed analysis, “Smaller apartments means developers have to make taller buildings to consume the full FSI (floor space index). It also means means larger wastages in lobbies, stairways etc. These factors increase costs significantly. Now since, costs increase as apartment size reduces, popular management concepts such as economies of scale, bottom of the pyramid do not necessarily work in real estate.”

The learnings from the market realities had the desired soothing effect on Jaiku’s inquisitiveness also as the first morsel of Mysore masala had provided a bout of relief to his anxiety levels.

But like a smart investment banker, he was ready with his next salvo, “Since DCR-2034 proposes an increase in FSI in Mumbai, wouldn’t the increased supply soften prices.”

I replied, “Yes. But only if the new supply comes with a lower cost structure. In DCR -2034, additional FSI comes with a steep premium.”

“Hmm … and government needs this premium to fund various infrastructure projects. Indeed a complex situation!” nodded an enlightened Jaiku.

“So how do we now address the anomaly of rising cost at the the bottom of the pyramid?” wondered Jaiku as he savoured the crisp portion of a Mysore Masala dosa with coconut chutney.

“Yes, there is a sweet spot — a new revolutionary concept called, Inverse Incentive FSI (IIFSI).

A Case for Inverse Incentive FSI

Instead of charging a steep premium for additional FSI, developers should be given free IIFSI if they agree to build small homes for sale in market. And smaller the unit size, larger should be the incentive thus negating the size disadvantage.

“Sounds interesting, but as an engineer, I still love formula,” suggested Jaiku.

“In simple words :

IIFSI  for any every apartment constructed = 800 – carpet area of the apartment (in square feet).

So construction of a 600 square feet carpet area would result in 200 square feet IIFSI and construction of 300 square feet apartments, would mean 500 square feet IIFSI for the developer, which he can use to construct additional apartments on the same plot. Large apartments obviously will have zero IIFSI.

If a developer uses additional apartments (as above) to further construct small apartments, he will get still more IIFSI until he reaches an FSI of 4. Effectively, ensuring falling costs with lowering apartment size. Economics of scale would then start making sense.”

Jaiku interrupted with his quick analysis, “Which effectively means that a developer would continue building small homes till he possibly reaches an FSI of 3.5. And will use the remaining FSI for constructing large apartments since he would require then no further IIFSI.

Also developers, not interested in IIFSI, may choose to may steep premium and build luxury apartments complex.  And this is what “Housing for All” truly means.  Effectively, IIFSI would ensure balanced supply and also make  affordable housing a business proposition and not merely a social obligation.”

I replied, “Absolutely. Also the government may even charge a small cess of Rs 500  on IIFSI (to fund city infrastructure). Large volumes would ensure high government revenues. And since IIFSI addresses affordable housing problem in prime city areas, government of India could extend it to other big cities in India”

As I punched in my credit card PIN, Jaiku’s concluding remark was, “I can now fully appreciate how policies like IIFSI can ensure Tukaram to look for an apartment and not a shanty. But only if coupled with radical modification of the entire ecosystem and this is a problem that is probably tougher to crack than even IIT-JEE. Ha … Ha … Ha …! But, I am sure, where there is a will there is a way.”

Deepesh Salgia is director of Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate.

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

Plastic ban: Industry stares at loss of Rs 15,000 crore and 3 lakh jobs

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

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The state-wide plastic ban, including carry-bags and thermocol by the Devendra Fadanvis government, will result in loss of up to Rs 15,000 crore and nearly 3 lakh job, says the plastic manufacturing industry.

“The ban imposed by Maharashtra from Saturday has hit the industry very hard and the plastic industry is staring at a loss of Rs 15,000 crore, leaving nearly 3 lakh people jobless overnight,” Plastic Bags Manufacturers Association of India general secretary Neemit Punamiya told PTI.

Nearly 2,500 members of the association have left with the no option but to shut shop following the ban, he added and termed the ban as “discriminatory”.

On March 23, the state announced a ban on manufacture, use, sale, distribution and storage of plastic materials such as one-time-use bags, spoons, plates, PET and PETE bottles and thermocol items. The government had given three months time to dispose of the existing stocks, which ended on June 23.

Industry insiders have said the job losses from the ban will impact the state’s GDP, and also increase banks’ bad loans from the plastic sector.

While retailers across the megapolis have said heavy fines for violating the bank will make them financially unviable and force them to turn away many customers, consumers have complained of inconvenience, and wondered whether the ban makes any sense.

The civic authorities have imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 for the first-time offenders and Rs 10,000 for the second-time offenders. Those who violate the ban for the third time will face a fine of Rs 25,000, along with a three-month imprisonment.

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

Retailers, vendors feel the plastic ban heat

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

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The effect of the near-total ban on single-use plastic in Maharashtra is being felt mostly in retail and unorganised markets, besides adversely impacting app-based food delivery units in Mumbai.

Several companies that deal in home delivery of food through apps and websites are feeling the pinch due to the ban as single-use plastic carry bags are largely used in this emerging sector for home delivery.

Abhishi Tanna, a resident of suburban Andheri, narrated her experience of ordering food for a get-together function at her home through a home delivery portal post the ban.

The food ordered by Tanna today was not only delivered one hour later but the cartons used for packing it got wet due to rains during the journey from the food joint to her residence.

She said most of the food items were packed in aluminium foils.

“It was a disaster for me. It was a routine get-together and I ordered some food as usual. I was told on my app that the food would be delivered in half an hour, but I did not receive it in the stipulated time.

“When I called the service provider, I was told that the delivery boy is getting late because of the incessant showers. But being a regular customer, I knew that it was Sunday and most of the roads were empty due to rains. The boy finally reached after an hour, but what I received was shocking. There was only one thick plastic bag he was carrying but water had dripped inside and the packing box was completely wet,” she recalled.

Tanna said though the food packed in the aluminium foil was hot it was stuck to the cartons.

“The boy was helpless as he could not risk himself to heavy fines by carrying a plastic bag. The restaurant from where I ordered my food was not keen on using a plastic bag.

There are some types of plastic bags are allowed but they were not sure whether they can use it or not,” she said.

The ban prescribes Rs 5,000 fine for the first-time offenders and Rs 10,000 for the second-time offenders. Those who violate the ban for the third time will face a fine of Rs 25,000, along with a three-month imprisonment.

Roadside vendors are also finding it difficult to cope with the ban.

Ram Prasad Yadav, who sells vegetables in suburban Goregaon, said though the government has allowed usage of thick plastic material the same is not handy.

“It (the thick plastic) becomes very heavy to handle but I have to cover my vegetables and other materials from getting wet. Some days back, some government officials had approached us for sensitising but they only informed us about what not to use. There was hardly any talk about the available alternatives,” Yadav claimed.

The problem of meat and fish traders is more complicated.

Due to the ban, the customers now need to carry his or her own box to take the meat or fish home as it cannot be given in cotton bags.

The demand for fish and meat generally goes up on Sunday.

“We are so used to plastic bags. When we decided to open our shop today, we had to struggle to find an alternative to plastic,” said a meat vendor from Oshiwara.

He said very few customers brought their own boxes today.

“We will have to work out some solution as we cannot let our business get affected. Disposal of fishes is also a huge headache. A lot of fish parts have to be thrown out after cleaning and selling because it is the job of vendors to dispose them. Earlier, we used to throw the remaining parts in plastic bags. However, we will now have to think about another option,” said Rashid Abdul Sattar who owns a meat shop

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

Apple’s new India head to replace existing sales strategy, says report

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

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Michel Coulomb, the new head of Apple’s Indian wing, will replace the strategy of his predecessor and go back to the older methods, reported The Economic Times.

According to the report, Coulomb will dismantle Sanjay Kaul’s sales strategy with an organised distribution structure for iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. This will mean that consumers will not get Apple products at discounted rates from now on.

The reason behind the change is the feeling that the old policy diluted the brand value of Apple, said the report.

“The earlier ‘open distribution’ strategy at Apple India had created a lot of discontent amongst its offline trade partners, since the distributors would often indulge in wholesaling to achieve targets leading to rampant deep discounting online and fluctuation in prices almost every day…So much so, Apple was even considered as a discounted brand. The new country head is pulling the plug after reviewing the scenario,” a senior executive was quoted saying in the report.

In addition, the report said that Apple will sell its products directly to large retailers and online partners, through its new distribution centre Apple set up at Bhiwandi near Mumbai.

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

Stamping of boarding cards at airports may soon become history, says report

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

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Soon domestic flyers from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru may not need their boarding cards stamped after clearing pre-embarkation frisking, reported The Times of India.

According to the report, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has approached Delhi and Bengaluru airports to carry out the pilot project that will end the practice of frisking.

“Hyderabad has already done a pilot for this. We are asking Delhi and Bengaluru to do the same. Boarding card stamping need not end only when the bigger diga-yatra (paperless biometric boarding for domestic flyers) project kicks off and it can happen earlier at some airports,” a senior CISF official was quoted saying in the report.

Earlier, the report said, CISF and aviation authorities had also stopped stamping hand bag tags at several airports.

The development comes after CISF’s new Director General Rajesh Ranjan recently told The Times of India that he ‘wanted to enhance passenger experience at airports by taking steps like stopping boarding card stamping.’

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