AAPI: September 2024

DELHI, September 2024

Index of this Newsletter

INDIA

INDIA & THE WORLD

21. India-GCC-Golf Cooperation Council countries bilateral trade reaches $162 billion, exports show consistent growth
22. ‘Singapore Plans to Invest Huge Amount in India’
23. The UK’s battery market can boom again
24. Digital Public Infra to Reach 50 Nations in 5 Years: Nilekani
25. India plans to increase women's participation in aviation sector to 25pc by 2025: Minister Naidu

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DELHI, September 2024

NEWSLETTER, September 2024

INDIA

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

1. Bharat Biotech Rolls Out Oral Cholera Vax

ET, 28 Aug. 2024

Bharat Biotech International Ltd on Tuesday announced the launch of Hillchol, a novel single-strain oral cholera vaccine following a successful phase-III clinical trial which confirmed the safety of the jab. BBIL has established large-scale manufacturing facilities in Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar with a capacity to produce up to 200 million doses of Hillchol, said Bharat Biotech Executive Chairman Krishna Ella at a press conference.

He further said the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) gave the nod to manufacture the vaccine at the company's plant here.

The vaccine maker said Hillchol (BBV131) was developed by Bharat Biotech under license from Hilleman Laboratories (funded by Merck USA and Wellcome Trust) to combat cholera.

"Hillchol is an excellent success story of partnership leading to public health solutions. Our new large-scale cGMP production facilities in Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar will significantly enhance our production and supply capabilities for this Oral Cholera Vaccine, advancing our efforts to combat cholera globally," he said.

He further said BBIL will soon approach the World Health Organisation for a pre-qualification to supply the vaccine worldwide through international agencies.

Global demand for Oral Cholera Vaccines (OCVs) exceeds 100 million doses annually, making them crucial for cholera control. Globally, there is a shortage of 40 million doses of OCVs as there is only one manufacturer, he said.

A multi-stage, clinical evolution process, culminating in a Phase III study confirmed the vaccine safety, immunogenicity and non-inferiority to existing OCVs, establishing its potential for white spirit, and public health use, a press release from the vaccine maker said.

Hillchol's safety and efficacy have been rigorously tested in pre-clinical and Phase I and Phase II clinical studies. A multi-stage clinical evaluation process, culminating in a Phase III study, confirmed the vaccine's safety, immunogenicity and non-inferiority to existing OCVs, establishing its potential for widespread public health use, it said.

While cholera is preventable and treatable, global cases and deaths have risen steadily since 2021. From early 2023 to March this year, 824,479 cases and 5,900 deaths were reported in 31 countries, the release from the BBIL said.

The vaccine, a single dose respule, is administered orally 14 days apart (two doses) and is suitable for individuals older than one year.

2. Comprehensive Strategy to Provide Social Security Cover to Gig Workers in the Works, says Mandaviya

ET, 02 Sep. 2024

The government is working on a comprehensive strategy to provide social security to gig and platform workers, labour and employment minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Sunday.

He said the measures that are being put in place include registration of gig and platform workers on the eShram portal and formal recognition of such workers under the Code on Social Security.

Mandaviya took a comprehensive review on the existing provisions for gig and platform workers and progress on the government’s vision for a universal social security as outlined in the Code on Social Security. Labour secretary Sumita Dawra attended the meeting along with other senior officials of the ministry.

The labour and employment ministry is closely working with aggregators and other stakeholders to develop a robust framework that aligns with the evolving nature of work and provides adequate protection to gig and platform workers, said a statement issued by the ministry.

“In a significant move aimed at safeguarding the welfare of gig and platform workers, the government is actively exploring various avenues to ensure these workers are covered under social security schemes,” Mandaviya said. “We are working on a comprehensive strategy to provide them with the social security they deserve as they form a crucial part of our workforce.”

Commenting on the initiatives being undertaken to facilitate the implementation of social security measures, the minister said that the registration of workers will be undertaken on the eShram portal.

“Aggregators, companies that employ gig and platform workers, will be asked to take the lead in registering their workers on this portal through an online window which will be made available for them to ensure a smooth and efficient registration process,” he said.

Mandaviya also underscored the importance of the Code on Social Security, which, for the first time, defines gig and platform workers in India. “This is a significant step towards acknowledging and formalising the roles of gig and platform workers within our economy,” he said.

Reiterating the government’s commitment to inclusive growth and the empowerment of all sections of the workforce, including gig and platform workers, the labour and employment minister said the government is determined to ensure that every worker in India, irrespective of their employment status, is granted the right to social security.

3. Professor Pankaj Arora NCTE Chairman: For India to become Vishwa Guru, it is critical to invest in teachers & empower education sector

ET Gov. 4 Sep. 2024

Teacher’s Day serves as a poignant reminder of the contributions made by teachers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said: “Education is not just a way to gain knowledge but a means to transform the world.” This is a fine point. After all, it is our teachers who will lead this transformation, making India not only a land of knowledge but a beacon of hope and wisdom for the world.

Teacher’s Day serves as a poignant reminder of the selfless contributions made by teachers throughout their careers. It allows students to express their gratitude, love, and respect for the people who have guided and inspired them to become a true citizen.

The celebration is a vehicle for recognising the immeasurable value teachers bring to society and emphasising the importance of education as a pillar of the nation.

On the eve of teacher’s day, India moves closer to realizing its dream of becoming a Vishwa Guru, the teaching profession continues to be a vital force in this journey, as India is well on its way to reclaiming its ancient mantle.

India's rich educational heritage is deeply rooted in its culture, recapitulating the legacy of Indian education, where teachers are equated with creators ‘Brahma, the creator of the universe’ in Hindu philosophy.

This essence of the guru-shishya (teacher-student) relationship, where knowledge was imparted by sages in gurukuls, gave a strong emphasis on holistic development of children. The teachers or ‘Gurus’ were revered, holding a status that was even higher than that of emperors.

India’s ancient universities like Nalanda and Takshashila were some of the earliest global learning centres of learning for the world. India's ancient texts, such as the Vedas and Upanishads, have long been sources of wisdom for the world. As India strives to reclaim its position as a global leader in knowledge, the role of teachers becomes even more crucial who are at the centre of this transformation.

The time is ripe for the youth of India to embrace the teaching profession; by investing in the teaching profession and addressing its challenges, India can build a strong foundation for a future where it leads not just in power, but in wisdom and knowledge as well.

The role of teachers in this endeavour is indispensable, making them the true architects of India's bright future. By inspiring curiosity, encouraging critical thinking, and instilling values, they are shaping the future leaders of the world. (Prof. Pankaj Arora, 4 Sept. 2024, in ET)

Prime Minister Modi’s vision for India as a global leader is not just about economic growth or technological advancement; it is about creating a society where knowledge, wisdom, and values are cherished. As India marches towards its goal of becoming a Vishwa Guru, the teaching profession will be playing a pivotal role in shaping this vision.

Teachers are the torchbearers of knowledge, and their empowerment is crucial when India embarks on its mission of becoming a Vishwa Guru. India's aspiration to become a Vishwa Guru is deeply intertwined with its education system, where National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has emerged as a significant step in this direction, focusing on improving teacher education, professional development, and creating a conducive environment for teaching and learning.

The New Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which emphasizes a more flexible, multidisciplinary approach to education, places a strong focus on the professional development of teachers.

For India to truly become a Vishwa Guru, it must invest in its teachers, who serve as architects of the nation’s future through their unwavering dedication. This is where NCTE is playing a pivotal role in providing them with the resources, training, and support they need to excel in their profession.

The flagship programmes of NCTE are instrumental in elevating the status of teachers in society, by giving them the right support and training. India’s teachers will undoubtedly lead the way in shaping the future of the world.

It recognizes that to nurture future leaders, teachers themselves must be continuously learning, evolving, and adapting to new pedagogies to ensure that they are equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

(The author is the Chairperson, NCTE; Views are personal)

4. Converting Savings into Capital Key for Growth: PFRDA Chief

ET, 4 Sep. 2024

Can a clothing brand make the world a ‘better, more peaceful place’? Tadashi Yanai, Uniqlo’s dynamic founder who has been at its helm for 40 years, reveals his business philosophy to Glynda Alves and why he believes that luck walks hand-in-hand with success

Tadashi Yanai walks into a room in his Tokyo office, entering through a towering door, nearly twice the height of a regular one. He’s all smiles. Once in, he’s surrounded by large glass windows overlooking a landscape filled with green, blue and the Sumida River. At the centre of the room is an extraordinarily long mahogany wood table, suitable for nearly 40 people. It’s clear that Yanai, and Uniqlo, the company that he founded decades ago, don’t play it small. Not when it comes to his vision, the company’s ambition, or even his office.

Today, Yanai is Japan’s richest man with a net worth of $48 billion, while his company Fast Retailing — which includes Uniqlo, GU, PLST, Theory, Helmut Lang, Comptoir des Cotonniers, Princesse tam.tam and J Brand — is celebrating 40 years globally. In India, having entered in 2019 and transitioned from the pandemic, the brand turned profitable after three years.

Profits have been maintained above 10% and business has grown at a CAGR of 59% in the past five years. But while the brand has had many successes, it wasn’t always smooth sailing. When Uniqlo shirts were blocked at the US border in January on concerns that they violated a ban on cot ton products produced in the Xinjiangreg ion of China — where there have been reports of forced labour — the brand stressed that it didn’t use material linked to human rights violations. When we ask him about it, Yanai simply says, “You should not try to avoid struggles.” He adds that when working with a new country, you have to ask questions such as, “what benefits can you bring to that country?” and “what can you do for that country? ” “If you can’t answer them well, you will not succeed,” he says.

A senior Uniqlo employee describes his boss as “sweet”. When asked to describe him self using just three words, Yanai opts for ‘business’ and ‘golf’, two of his big passions. He then ponders, and adds: “I have such common sense. It’s really truth, virtue and beauty: That’s my goal as I live my life.”

In an interview with Brand Equity, Yanai talks about his success, as well as succession (his two sons Kazumi and Koji are directors in Fast Retailing), and legacy. Edited excerpts:

Over the past 40 years, what is the one conventional wisdom that you have changed with Uniqlo? And what do you want to change in the future?

I have always wanted to cater to the needs of the customers. We need to be thinking and adapting ourselves, keeping this in mind. As for the future, with AI and the internet, I don’t want an information e conventional wisdom that you have changed with Uniqlo? And what do you want to change in the future? I have always wanted to cater to the needs of the customers. We need to be thinking and adapting ourselves, keeping this in mind. As for the future, with AI and the internet, I don’t want an information divide to exist, especially in this current, fearful, political world. For instance, what [Joe] Biden, [Donald] Trump, [Vladimir]Putin or [Narendra] Modi said or did, can be accessible instantaneously to everyone.

In terms of our brand, if you look at the clothes being worn in Tokyo and Mumbai — two big cities with cultural differences — there are [similarities]. Global is local and local is global.

The mindset we need is to ma ke su re we provide benefits, make a positive difference and re-innovate ourselves.

You’ve had partnerships with sports [Roger Federer, Adam Scott]. Do you see similarities b et we en sports and running a brand?

Sports and fashion are both exciting. The Olympics just got over and we got to see just how excited the world gets about sport. A game can reflect the life of a person. Life, like sports, is all about practice, working towards a goal, polishing your skills. And you can’t do anything on your own.

And you know, even when the sportspeople are struggling, the people who are watching it are still enjoying it.

You have pledged to do “unprecedented things at unprecedented levels in the apparel industry”. What’s the most unprecedented thing Uniqlo has done?

Our goal is to make the world a better, more peaceful place. We describe the basic impulse that informs this goal as the “democratisation of clothing”. It’s a kind of revolution in the world of clothing. Surveying the history of clothing, you realise that it has always been governed by certain rules or conventions. Uniqlo first came into being when I asked myself: Why can’t people decide for themselves how they want to dress? So, rather than high-functional clothes at high prices, Uniqlo has offered “made for all” apparel to the world in large quantities and at prices anyone can afford.

We have made it possible for people all over the world, in their own hometowns, to access exceptional outfits designed by those who know clothes better than anyone else — people such as Inès de la Fressange, Jil Sander and Christophe Lemaire. This is the ‘democratisation of clothing’.

In 2019, you had mentioned that you would prefer to be succeeded by a woman. What advice would you give to big brands struggling with succession — like the Murdoch empire currently?

Oh, did I say that? (Laughs) I think you looked at a different newspaper? I don’t remember saying that, but maybe I did. Gender is irrelevant. I think it is very important that this person be able to revitalise every single person in the company. Whether a man or woman, this person should be supported by every employee. In any case, in the position I am in — where I am chairman, CEO, owner and founder — it’s a full house, right? T here isn’t anyone else like me [in the company].

So, in this case, it would have to be the team management, out of which we might be able to pick the successor, someone who has the right leadership ability and who can direct the company. The person’s basic way of thinking should be the same as the founding principles of this company. From the top leader, all the way to the rank-and-file members, everyone should be aligned with the principles.

What legacy do you hope to leave behind for the next generation of leaders?

I have high expectations from the next generation. We are always training young management candidates in countries all around the world.

There is a framed Japanese calligraphy picture in my office, which says, “Stores exist to serve customers and flourish along with employees.” These are the words that have had the biggest impact on me as a business leader. For employees, it’s important that they do everything for the sake of our customers, and to the best of their abilities.

5. Teachers. Superstars.

ET, 5 Sep. 2024

Meet a few of India’s superstar test-prep educators who teach millions and earn the big bucks. They represent a new generation of teachers who combine dissemination of knowledge with scale enabled by technology

India’s most sought-after new-age test prep educators are mini-celebs among students, and while some enjoy the lifestyle of millionaires, others harbour political ambitions.

For generations, influential teachers captivated students with their profound knowledge and charismatic teaching.

The new crop are influencers of intellect, who combine dissemination of knowledge with scale enabled by tech.

The pull of these star educators is huge. From packing cinema halls to the brim, to holding roadshows—or Samvaad—to quell queries from pupils and parents, to having the population a few small districts in India wait for a video to go live on YouTube, they do what their predecessors never could.

They command a mythical status among many, having built their following from scratch, and on the back of solid results.

THE EVOLUTION

Over the past decades, each era has given rise to a new model of test-prep and with it, educational icons. Postal programs till the 90s, to mom-and-pop local tutors, to scaled up hybrid models – the market has seen it all.

Delivering through tech is the biggest differentiator for this generation.

“The current phenomenon of uber-popular YouTube educators is an outcome of mobile and bandwidth revolution globally,” says Satya Narayanan R, founder and chairman, CL Educate (earlier Career Launcher), a test-prep company founded in 1996.

At first glance, their lectures make them seem like pedagogues atop a pedestal: delivering monologues and over-the-top performances to a passive and unwitting audience. But there is a method to all of this. Take the example of Prabhakar Kumar—from Pusa in Samastipur, Bihar—who cleared the SSC Combined Graduate Level Exam in 2023 and is now a CGST Inspector.

Kumar has been following Abhinay Sharma since 2018, he credits “Abhinay Sir” for providing him with a unique and concise method. Kumar added, “He is the first teacher to (upload) complete the Maths syllabus for SSC exams on YouTube for free. This has helped many students who cannot afford to go to Delhi for preparation.”

Or take Doli Purohit, who cleared NEET in 2022. She enrolled in Physicswallah in a batch meant for aspirants who defer their studies by a year to land a college of their choice.

Purohit, the daughter of a bus driver in Rajasthan says, “Had there been no Alakh (Pandey) sir, there wouldn’t be a doctor in my family.”

Later, when she met Pandey, she insisted on tying a rakhi.

She says online classes ensure aspirants are spared from crowded hubs and can study in the comfort of their homes.

SLICING THE MARKET

Scale enabled them to cater to the massive demand, with an aspirational population of young Indians looking to carve a better tomorrow.

Today India’s fragmented test-prep market is distributed in four segments – undergraduate (exams like NEET, CUET, JEE, CLAT, CA); postgraduate (MBA, PG, NEET, GATE); national government exams (civil services, SSC CGL, banking and railways exams) and state government exams (state civil services, teacher and police exams).

Data from consulting firm EY-Parthenon (EYP) shows that in 2023, there were 4 million test-takers in UG; 1 million in PG; 30 million in national government exams and 40 million in state government exams.

The UG market is dominated by the engineering and medical entrance, with NEET and JEE testtakers accounting for more than 85% of total test takers. The JEE/NEET market in particular, has many organised players.

The test-prep market for government exams (except UPSC coaching) and PG courses comprise of small unorganised players, with many also offering courses online.

These teachers have many unlikely followers as well. Sanjay Kumar Yadav, a native of Chhapra in Bihar, cleared the 67th Bihar PSC exam in his 7th attempt and was allocated the Bihar Education Service after securing 96th rank.

The catch? He, as a 10th pass candidate joined the Indian Army, serving the nation for 16 years till 2013. He completed his schooling all the way up to master’s through open learning, cleared banking exams and served in Canara Bank. Along with the army’s attitude, he credits constant revisions by “rasgulley wale sir” for his success in exams. “The questions we find insignificant are covered by him, those are the ones that can either make or break you,” said Yadav.

WHAT NEXT?

Will the bull run continue for superstar educators? Avantika Tomar, education partner, EYParthenon India, says: “During Covid, since people did not have the option of physical classes, the pendulum shifted too much towards online. However, high-stake test prep needs discipline and entrance test mindset that is harder to achieve in online-only style of preparation, and therefore the market will continue to self-correct with greater prominence of offline/ classroom programs.”

Ultimately, to attract students, the only magic sauce is student outcomes, says CL Educate’s Narayanan. “Delivering superior results for each student vis-àvis competition or self prep is key.”

For these superstar teachers, exams aren’t ending anytime soon.

- Agriculture, Fishing and Rural Development

6. India needs a fertilizer efficiency policy that works for farmers and the planet

ET Gov. 23 Aug. 2024

Farmers need nutrient advisory personalized to their crop and farm conditions and which protects yields.

Promoting balanced use of fertilizer has been a long-standing goal of the government. There is growing hope that expanding natural farming (to gradually reduce and remove use of synthetic inputs) will reduce overuse of synthetic fertilizer. This year’s budget announced that 1 crore farmers (~10% of all farmers in India) will be initiated into natural farming and ₹100 crore allocated for organic farming. While these measures show promise, there are additional initiatives required to optimise fertilizer use.

Fertilizer – how much is too much?

When fertilizer is applied in balance, plants have their fill, grow strong, and produce healthy yields; when applied in excess, fertilizer does not increase yields, wastes critical money (for country and farmer), pollutes water, degrades soil and releases nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 270 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat. On average, that’s nearly ₹1 lakh crore of ₹1.7 lakh crore spent on fertilizer subsidy. Fertilizer is subsidized but not free so (many very poor) farmers still end up spending.

Excessive fertilizer use is triggered by two factors. First, the Green Revolution persuaded farmers more fertilizer meant more yield. The reality is most the parameters that influence yields – rainfall, soil quality, pest and disease attacks - cannot be fixed by fertilizer. However – and it is important to acknowledge this – farmers lean on fertilizer as insurance against these parameters which are outside their control.

Second, subsidies have incentivsed one nutrient over others. Urea – a nitrogen-based fertilizer—is subsided by nearly 90% and is 65% of total fertilizer subsidy. It is available at a fraction of other nutrients’ costs and is consequently is applied most excessively – leading to nutrient balance ratio of 11.8:4.6:1 (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium), – instead of the recommended 4:2:1. Decades of excessive and imbalanced use of nutrients are one of the leading drivers of soil degradation and water pollution.

Changing how farmers use fertilizer is not easy

Fertilizer use efficiency requires action on two fronts. First, supply side interventions like coating fertilizer with neem, reducing the weight of urea bags, or chemistry innovations like slow-release urea and nano fertilizers to improve fertilizer use efficiency.

However, supply side alone will not change the ‘more is better’ narrative. Farmers get information on fertilizer from multiple sources (e.g., soil health cards, fertilizer sales advisory, extension agents.) Often, these provide generalized nutrient recommendations – “apply X fertilizer for Y yield” which do not always work because one-size-fits-all approach does not factor in diversity of farm conditions and farmer practices. Also, the ideal yield is sometimes theoretically correct but not practically real – leading over-application of fertilizer.

The second part is helping farmers transition to better farming practices. There is consensus that natural farming improve soil health and protects biodiversity, but more research should go on yields and farmer incomes. Organic fertilizers like manure and compost supply significant nutrients, but they may not be enough to increase yields. We need to find the right balance between synthetic and organic fertilizers that help increase yields.

What do farmers need?

Farmers need nutrient advisory personalized to their crop and farm conditions and which protects yields. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has developed a model called Nitrogen-balance (N-Balance) to assess how much nutrient is needed for crops and makes it easier for farmers to measure how much nitrogen is added, minus how much is removed during harvest, to figure how much is extra. When crop yield is good, but the nitrogen balance is high, N-Balance helps farmers reduce fertilizer without losing yields. When yield is poor despite high nitrogen, points farmers to look at problems not related to fertilizer. Essentially, it gives farmers the power to get fertilizer right.

A 2022-23 trial with 3,475 rice farmers across 6 districts in Bihar by Samagra Shikshan Evam Vikas Sansthan and supported by EDF shows promise. 68% or 2370 farmers had been applying extra urea. From about 249 kilogram/ hectare (kg/ha), farmers reduced urea use by 24% to 214 kg/ ha with yields remaining constant. The group saved 33.6 metric tons of urea, or ₹1.9 lakh in cost to farmer and ₹16.7 lakh in cost of subsidies!

Looking ahead

A number of things need to come together to help farmers optimize fertilizer use.

First, better science around fertilizer regimes for different crops and agro-ecological regions to understand the balance of nutrients (synthetic and organic) and the timing of application to secure yields and improve soil health.

Second, social science research on behaviour change at scale is needed. Changing farming practices is incredibly complex and requires an influencing ecosystem that delivers consistent and effective communications.

Third, science needs to be translated into actionable farmer advisory. Agriculture research and extension systems require augmenting with technologies and tools like remote sensing, AI and N-Balance.

Finally, India should make the most of the recently announced PM Program for Restoration, Awareness Generation, Nourishment, and Amelioration of Mother Earth (PRANAM.) It proposes 50% of savings in fertilizer subsidy be shared with states who decrease synthetic fertilizer use. If all of Bihar’s 11.6 million rice farmers adopted N-balance, they would have saved 1.6 lakh metric ton of urea costing ₹821 crore in fertilizer subsidies.

Getting fertilizer right will help farmers save costs, protect yields, arrest soil degradation, and reduce local pollution. There are wins for farmers, the government, and the planet!

7. Jal Jeevan Mission has led to drastic cut in water-borne diseases: UP minister Swatantra Dev Singh

ET Gov. 31 Aug. 2024

Uttar Pradesh’s Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh addresses a workshop titled ‘Waterline to Lifeline -- Stop Diarrhoea Campaign’ organized by the Jal Jeevan Mission in Lucknow on Thursday.

The Jal Jeevan Mission has ensured pure drinking water to a staggering 2.25 crore rural households in Uttar Pradesh. This has led to drastic 98% cut in water-borne diseases. This was stated by Uttar Pradesh’s Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh at a workshop titled ‘Waterline to Lifeline -- Stop Diarrhoea Campaign’ organized by the Jal Jeevan Mission at the Lucknow’s Indira Gandhi Pratishthan on Thursday.

As per the data from the health department, cases of water-borne disease cases have drastically decreased from 4.43 lakh in 2019 to a mere 7000 in 2024. Furthermore, in east UP region not a single child death was reported due to Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in 2024.

Speaking at the workshop, the Minister emphasized the importance of collective efforts to maintain the supply of clean water and prevent water-borne diseases. He praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision and the state government's efforts in making clean water accessible to every household.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath are working tirelessly to improve the conditions of the poor. They are putting in everything to ensure clean water, houses, roads and quality education for every person,” he added.

The Jal Shakti minister also announced that clean water has reached every household in Bundelkhand region and the few houses that are still left out would also start getting clean water within a month. He said the region has long faced challenges in accessing clean water.

The success of the Jal Jeevan Mission has been attributed to the government's commitment to providing clean water, coupled with the active participation of gram pradhans and villagers. The mission has not only improved the health and well-being of rural communities but has also empowered women, who have been actively involved in water testing and maintenance, he said.

The State Minister Ramkesh Nishad who was also present at the function said: “Earlier the same water that was a cause of various water-borne diseases is now spreading happiness.”

Speaking on the occasion, Anurag Srivastava, Principal Secretary of Namami Gange and Rural Water Supply Department, said since the launch of the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme in the country’s most populous state, it was decided that the contractor associated with the project would also be responsible for its maintenance for 10 years. This novel ‘maintenance policy’ was also formally cleared by the cabinet and as part of which the contractor will be paid only after verifying that clean water supply was reaching all targeted households.

Over 600 gram pradhans and women water testers from across the state participated in the day long workshop. They also received appreciation certificates and won wholesome praise from the Jal Shakti minister.

Participating in one of the sessions during the workshop, Dr. Lokendra Gupta from Medanta said: “Water-borne diseases can be controlled, and loss of life can be prevented if they are identified in time.” Professor at the King George’s Medical University (KGMU), Dr Sheetal Verma, Dr Saurabh Kashyap and paediatrician Dr Salman and Dr Rahul Vasihya were also present during the session.

Meenu Khare, Director of All India Radio, said: “Water conservation is inherent in every religion and all need to follow the wisdom ingrained in those teachings.”

Ashutosh Shukla, Editor of Dainik Jagran, said: “All of us are responsible for the poor condition of rivers. We need to think anew for water conservation and cleaning of rivers.”

One of the sessions at the workshop was on "Strengthening Enabling Environment for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene" and the second session was on "Transforming Rural UP".

The workshop concluded with a call to action, emphasizing the need for continued efforts to maintain the momentum and ensuring every household in Uttar Pradesh had access to clean water.

8. NITI Aayog unveils strategy to boost edible oil production by 43.5 MT for self-sufficiency

ET Gov. 31 Aug. 2024

Overall, the proposed strategic interventions could achieve projected edible oil supplies of 36.2 MT and 70.2 MT, by 2030 and 2047, respectively.

NITI Aayog on Thursday released a report outlining strategic interventions to increase India’s domestic edible oil production by a massive 43.5 million tonnes (MT) to bridge the import gap and put the country on a trajectory toward self-sufficiency.

The report titled "Pathways and Strategies for Accelerating Growth in Edible Oils Towards the Goal of Atmanirbharta" was released by NITI AAyog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery in the presence of senior officials.

Overall, the proposed strategic interventions could achieve projected edible oil supplies of 36.2 MT and 70.2 MT, by 2030 and 2047, respectively.

The potential gain in edible oil production estimated from the proposed strategic interventions combined with the existing production level is anticipated to achieve self-sufficiency with the recent growth trend (CAGR of 3 per cent), the report states.

The strategic interventions recommended in this report, offer a vibrant path towards reducing import dependence, according to the report.

It states that strategically retaining and diversifying oilseed crops and focusing on areas potentially lost to cereal cultivation could boost the country's edible oil production by 20 per cent in nine states, adding 7.36 MT of oilseed production and reducing import dependence by 2.1 MT.

It also points out that rice fallow areas across the country reveal a promising opportunity for horizontal expansion in oilseed cultivation.

Utilising one-third of the rice fallow area in ten states for oilseed cultivation could increase oilseed production by 3.12 MT and reduce import reliance by 1.03 MT.

The report further states that bridging the yield gap from 12 per cent in castor to 96 per cent in sunflower through widespread adoption of improved technologies and effective management practices, i.e., vertical expansion could increase the country's domestic oilseed production by 17.4 MT. This would reduce edible oil imports by 3.7 MT.

Palm oil alone, through targeted expansion, can potentially increase a staggering 34.4 MT of edible oil, making a substantial stride towards closing the existing demand-supply gap.

The effort should focus on capitalizing on the untapped potential identified by ICAR-IIOPR in the 284 districts, which estimates an additional 2.43 million hectares of land across the country for oil palm cultivation.

Furthermore, tactically utilising two-thirds of the highly suitable areas of wastelands located in ICAR-IIOPR identified districts (i.e., 6.18 million hectares) presents a significant opportunity for further horizontal expansion, the report observes.

It highlights that rice bran, offers an estimated potential of 1.9 MT of edible oil, with 0.85 MT currently untapped. Similarly, cottonseed presents a potential for an additional 1.4 MT of edible oil production, contributing to a further 9.7 per cent reduction in the country's edible oil demand-supply gap or import dependence.

In addition, the report highlights that optimizing seed utilization and processing capabilities is critical to strengthening the foundation for edible oil self-sufficiency indicating that high-quality seeds alone can contribute significantly (15-20 per cent) to increased production, potentially reaching even higher levels (45 per cent) when combined with efficient management of other agricultural inputs.

However, the current Seed Replacement Ratio (SRR) falls short of the target of 80-85 per cent, ranging from 25 per cent in groundnut to 62 per cent in rapeseed mustard, hindering overall yield improvement.

The report also suggests that modernising existing mills and strategically investing in processing infrastructure will improve efficiency and minimise waste since the country's vegetable oil sector is characterised by many small-scale, low-technology plants with substantial excess capacity, utilising only 30 per cent of its edible oil refining capacity.

Since achieving self-sufficiency in edible oil is a critical national priority, to navigate this path successfully the recommendations and the way forward of this report laid down are based on the valuable insights gained from a primary field survey encompassing 1,261 farmers across seven major oilseed-growing states (Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka), it adds.

The report concludes with several recommendations to achieve self-sufficiency in edible oils, including focusing on area retention of oilseeds, seed traceability and quality assurance, adoption of improved and advanced production technologies, value addition through processing and refining, effective marketing and robust market linkages, encouraging public-private partnerships, developing a dynamic trade policy for balanced growth, broadening the scope of the National Mission on Edible Oils, enhancing public awareness on recommended dietary guidelines, incentivising and encouraging domestic oilseed consumption in the food industry.

The report can be accessed here.

9. Digital Agriculture Mission: Centre to create Aadhaar-like digital IDs for 11 crore farmers by FY27

ET Gov. 6 Sep. 2024

The mission is built on two foundational pillars: Agri Stack and Krishi Decision Support System.

In a bid to empower the farmers' community, the government is targeting to create digital identities for 11 crore farmers over the three fiscals which will be similar to Aadhaar card.

The goal is part of ‘AgriStack’ initiative which has been designed as a farmer-centric Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) to streamline services and scheme delivery to farmers.

A crucial feature of AgriStack is the introduction of a 'Farmer ID', similar to Aadhaar card, serving as a trusted digital identity for farmers.

The government said it will aim to create 6 crore such digital IDs for farmers in FY 2024-25, 3 crore in FY 2025-26 and 2 crore in FY 2026-27.

“These IDs, created and maintained by the state governments/union territories, will be linked to various farmer-related data, including land records, livestock ownership, crops sown, and benefits availed,” said the government.

The government also plans to launch the ‘Digital Crop Survey’ nationwide within two years, covering 400 districts in FY 2024-25 and all districts in FY 2025-26.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, digital revolution has significantly transformed governance and service delivery in recent years by creating digital identities, secured payments and transactions.

This paved the way for a thriving digital ecosystem across various sectors, including finance, healthcare, education, and retail, positioning India as a leader in citizen-centric digital solutions.

For a similar transformation of the agriculture sector, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the 'Digital Agriculture Mission' with a substantial financial outlay of Rs 2,817 crore, including a central government share of Rs 1,940 crore.

The mission is built on two foundational pillars: Agri Stack and Krishi Decision Support System.

Additionally, the mission includes ‘Soil Profile Mapping’ and aims to enable farmer-centric digital services to provide timely and reliable information for the agriculture sector.

The implementation of AgriStack is progressing through partnerships between the central and state governments, with 19 states having signed MoUs with the Ministry of Agriculture.

10. Walmart Foundation expands support for tech solutions to help over 3 lakh farmers

ET, 10 Sep. 2024

The Walmart Foundation has announced three new grants totaling $2.78 million to advance technological innovation in India’s agriculture sector. With the Walmart Foundation funding, the National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN), Cornell University in support of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI) and Precision Development (PxD) collectively aim to reach over 3,00,000 farmers in India.

Together, NEN and PxD will support farming communities in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

Through tech-powered interventions, these grants aim to enhance farmer livelihoods, increase market access and promote sustainable agricultural practices, thereby contributing to the Walmart and Walmart Foundation goal of reaching 1 million smallholder farmers by 2028, with at least 50% women, across India's agriculture sector.

“Smallholder farmers are a crucial link to advancing India’s agriculture ecosystem. Our grantees are investing in FPOs to promote sustainable agricultural practices, enable more opportunities for smallholder farmers and enhance access to tech-driven solutions- all of which help farming communities that lack financial resources add to their incomes in a scalable way,” Julie Gehrki, Vice President for the Walmart Foundation, said in a statement. “We are excited about the tech-based solutions that Cornell University, NEN and PxD will bring to build a more inclusive value chain that bolsters a resilient ecosystem and empowers farmers.”

Advancing Agri-Tech with AI Solutions in Grain Assessment

This grant of more than $1,500,000 to National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) aims to develop innovative AI-based solutions for grain assessment. NEN will accelerate the usage of its AI-driven app, to address food security, as well as help farmers in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra assess the quality of soybean grains to gain better market access. In addition, NEN's project will aim to integrate the AI model into other agri-tech platforms, serving as a Digital Public Good (DPG) for agriculture, which is proposed to enable future training and quality assessment for grain varieties.

Shekar Sivasubramian, CEO – Wadhwani AI (a program of the AI unit of NEN), said, “With support from the Walmart Foundation, we are focused on empowering smallholder farmers with enhanced knowledge and awareness of grain analysis and quality pricing. Through the new grant, we will provide customized advisory support to 200,000 farmers through 330+ FPOs in the two states, enabling real-time quality assessment before their products reach markets.”

Enhancing FPO Visibility through 'My FPO Connect' Database

The Walmart Foundation has awarded a grant of $990,000 to Cornell University in support of the Tata-Cornell Institute for Agriculture and Nutrition (TCI). This grant to Cornell University aims to further develop its FPO platform, which was launched as a hub at its Center of Excellence (CoE) in Delhi in August 2021. New projects include accelerating the web-based 'My FPO Connect' platform, a single-point source for data on over 33,000 FPOs. The platform supports Producer Organizations by building their online presence and making them easily discoverable for relevant stakeholders. It allows FPOs, researchers, and stakeholders to access comprehensive information through an interactive dashboard, offering insights on crops produced, sponsoring agencies and financial data, among others. The database will also be available in regional languages to increase access and understanding of FPO success models.

Prabhu Pingali, TCI Director, said “Accelerating the growth of FPO models is vital to enable India’s smallholder farmers to leverage opportunities, increase market access, and improve farmers’ incomes. The new funding made possible by the Walmart Foundation will further support the understanding, development and promotion of effective farm-aggregation models. It will also help in preparing comprehensive databases, such as ‘My FPO Connect’, which will serve as an invaluable resource for all stakeholders interested in supporting FPOs.”

Harnessing Technology to Boost Customized Digital Advisory

Precision Development (PxD) will continue working with smallholder coffee farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to offer customized advisories. This $260,000 grant is the second PxD has received from the Walmart Foundation. The new grant will institutionalize PxD's digital advisory service, Coffee Krishi Taranga (CKT), with the Coffee Board of India to provide farmers with ongoing access to cultivation information, price updates and coffee industry developments. It will also support the integration of a voice-based, provider-agnostic weather forecast service into CKT, and develop videos on key agricultural practices for the Coffee Board.

PxD's digital agricultural services have previously led to consistent engagements, with regular polling results indicating considerable knowledge adoption. With 90,000 farmers onboard, CKT continues to adapt its offering to meet farmers’ evolving needs. The new grant further aims to reach over 130,000 smallholder farmers.

"We appreciate the continued support from the Walmart Foundation. This grant will be instrumental in empowering farmers, 50% of whom will be women, by providing them with the tools and resources needed to adopt sustainable practices, strengthen coffee-producing communities across Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and have the effect of building their incomes.” said Gagandeep Kaur, Head of Programs, PxD.

“CKT has reached over 125,000 farmers across the South Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. The regular broadcasting of information on priority practices has been highly beneficial. Additionally, the option to record questions and receive expert answers, along with access to daily price information, has been a hit among the farmers!” said, Shri B.Shivakumaraswamy, Deputy Director (Extension), Planning & Coordination Cell, Head Office, Bengaluru, Coffee Board of India.

- Industry and Manufacture

11. Diamond Houses Mining for Chinese Buyers

ET, 20 Aug. 2024

A simple Japanese engagement ceremony was dramatically transformed in the late 60s when De Beers, the dominant cartel of the day, sold the idea of a diamond ring to young Japanese riding the post-war prosperity.

Agencies

A campaign waged by a group that was criticised amid the anti-apartheid wave, altered the age-old custom of an Asian society steeped in tradition, and added a riveting chapter in marketing literature.

After five decades, another ad blitz is about to begin on the other side of the East China Sea, as diamond houses, miners and retailers put their money and heads together to win back choosy Chinese consumers at a time when the world of natural diamonds is at a crossroads.

Unlike the conquest of a new market (like Japan) in another era, today it’s a battle for survival in a complex, fragmented world to regain a market that was lost to the ravages of Covid-19. During the pandemic years, Chinese households, which had been earnestly purchasing the precious stone over the decade, discovered to their dismay that diamonds, unlike gold, did not fetch the resale value when they needed it the most.

As more and more Chinese turned towards a more fungible asset like gold, diamond demand from China, once accounting for about one-third of the cut and polished diamond market, shrank. Now, efforts are underway to woo them back.

“We had a couple of meetings with Chow Tai Fook. The final meeting is scheduled at the Hong Kong Jewellery Show in the second week of September. We have planned a big campaign in China along with Chow Tai Fook and De Beers,” Vipul Shah, chairman of India’s Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). Eight out 10 rough stones mined are cut and polished by skilled diamantaires in Surat. “We will use every marketing channel to revive confidence among Chinese buyers in natural diamonds,” Shah.

The campaign would cost $8-10 million, said trade circles. The global retail demand for diamonds is lower than what it was 15 years ago with the sale of polished stones down from $21.8 billion in 2014 to $16.3 billion in 2023. While supply of roughs could stay largely unchanged at 100-110 million carats, the hunt is on for buyers amid low demand, US sanctions on Russian mines, fears of slowdown in America, and lab-grown and artificial diamonds with an entirely different dynamics — unchecked factory supply and a fraction of the price — nibbling at the market.

Last week, a meeting of natural diamond houses was held in Mumbai to discuss the road ahead. They have overcome the sudden crunch during the financial meltdown of 2008-09, but are sensing a different challenge this time around. Even De Beers, once a force to be reckoned with, is weighing new strategies.

“The natural diamond world is at a tipping point. Rough supply will be the same for about a decade, but demand is not going up. Retail consumption has been stagnant for the last 15 years. Unless we start addressing the demand issue in a big way, there could be serious challenges,” said Pranay Narvekar who closely tracks the trade and advises the industry.

Many in the trade, however, are counting on the recent data from the US, which is half the retail natural stone market, showing 8.5% rise in revenue in July from loose and finished natural diamond on the back of higher consumer spending. The jury is out on whether it would sustain.

Meanwhile, a simultaneous marketing campaign is being planned for the Indian market which has been promising in the past one year. Kirit Bhansali, vice-chairman of GJEPC, said a meeting has been planned next week with leading jewellers such as Malabar Gold & Diamonds, Kalyan Jewellers, Tanishq, Joyalukkas and other stakeholders to launch a generic campaign for natural diamonds. “The aim is to further promote diamonds at home so that we can fall back on the domestic demand till exports pick up,” said Bhansali.

Along with the 1948 tagline ‘A Diamond is Forever’, many US jewellers use the 2016 slogan, ‘Real is Rare; Real is Diamond’ to remind millennials of the luxury element and value of natural stones — a concept that has fascinated economists for 250 years.

In 1776, Adam Smith raised the paradox that diamonds were prized possessions while water, which was essential for survival, had little value. Resolving the riddle, about a century later, Karl Marx in 1867 had famously said, “If we could succeed at a small expenditure of labour, in converting carbon into diamonds, their value might fall below that of bricks.” Marx’s logic was simple: diamonds take a lot of ‘labour’ to produce, but water does not. Lab-grown stones were not in anyone’s wildest imagination then.

“It all boils down to selling the ‘diamond dream’ — whether consumers perceive it as a luxury, as an aspiration,” said Narvekar. “If they stop dreaming, all bets are off,” he said. The question is: where are the dreamers?

12. Azim Premji CM Bhajan Lal Sharma: CM Bhajan Lal Sharma & Wipro Chairman Azim Premji inaugurate Wipro Hydraulics facility in Jaipur

ET Gov. 24 Aug. 2024

The new facility is equipped with next-generation technology, including automated production lines, robotic arms, highly advanced paint line and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) for material movement.

Wipro Hydraulics, the hydraulic cylinders and components manufacturing business of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, today announced the launch of its state-of-the-art-facility in Mahindra World City, Jaipur. This is Wipro’s first hydraulics manufacturing facility in Northern India, delivering hydraulic cylinders to customers worldwide.

The plant was inaugurated in Jaipur, on August 22, by Bhajan Lal Sharma, Chief Minister of Rajasthan, and Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Enterprises, along with Ajitabh Sharma, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Government of Rajasthan, Deepak Shetty, CEO & MD, JCB India and Pratik Kumar, CEO, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering & MD, Wipro Enterprises.

The company has invested approximately INR 250 crores to set up this facility, which is projected to generate around approximately 400 jobs. This manufacturing facility is equipped with critical-to-quality processes under one roof and is designed to meet the stringent requirements of our global customers.

Speaking at the launch, Bhajan Lal Sharma said, “Today, Rajasthan is attracting significant investments, enabling innovation, and has become one of the key manufacturing hubs of India. We welcome Wipro to contribute and be a part of this growth journey for Rajasthan and India. Their state-of-the-art facility exemplifies the kind of forward-thinking investment that will drive our continued success and development.”

Ajitabh Sharma, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Government of Rajasthan said to ETGovernment, "We at the Government of Rajasthan are deeply committed to transforming the state into a thriving hub for manufacturing and exports. With our progressive policies, strategic initiatives, and robust infrastructure development, we aim to create a conducive environment that not only attracts investment but also drives innovation and growth in these sectors. Our vision is to position Rajasthan as a leader in the manufacturing and export domains, ensuring sustainable economic development and prosperity for all."

Commenting on the inauguration of the facility, Pratik Kumar, CEO, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering and MD, Wipro Enterprises, said, “Our new facility marks a major step forward, enhancing our ability to deliver comprehensive solutions and strengthen our market leadership. As a leading independent hydraulic cylinder manufacturer with over four decades of market leadership, Wipro Hydraulics has delivered over 1.5 million cylinders globally, demonstrating its commitment to excellence and innovation. This expansion will further strengthen our presence in key growth markets and enable us to respond more swiftly and flexibly to customer demands."

Sitaram Ganeshan, President, Wipro Hydraulics, added, “Wipro Hydraulics is one of the world’s largest independent hydraulic cylinder manufacturers. With India emerging as one of the fastest-growing markets for construction equipment, our new state-of-the-art facility in North India will enhance our ability to meet the increasing domestic and export demands.” “At Wipro we are also committed to increasing gender diversity on the shopfloor. In addition to hiring, we have also invested in the WINGS Scholarship program in Jaipur which supports young women to pursue diploma courses in engineering.”

13. Maharashtra Says Tower-Adani to Set Up $10b Semicon Unit

ET, 6 Set. 2024

A Maharashtra cabinet panel Thursday approved a $10-billion (₹83,947 crore) investment proposal by a Tower Semiconductor-Adani Group joint venture to set up a semiconductor chip manufacturing unit at Taloja in Panvel, the state’s deputy chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, wrote on X.

The semiconductor manufacturing unit, in the Navi Mumbai suburbs in Raigad district, will have a total capacity of 40,000 wafer starts per month (WSPM) in the first phase and an overall capacity of 80,000 WPSM. Of the total investment in the project, ₹58,763 crore will be infused in the first phase and the remaining ₹25,184 crore in the second phase, Fadnavis said.

Emails sent to Tower and Adani Group did not elicit a response till press time.

Sources in the ministry of electronics and information technology said that while the project might have been approved at the state level, a joint application submitted by Israel’s Tower Semiconductor and Adani Group was still under consideration by the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and the IT ministry.

“The states are free to set up their own (semiconductor) units,” a senior government official said. “All applicants expecting incentives under the central government’s plan must, however, get approvals from the ISM.”

If approved, the project will be India’s second chip manufacturing facility and the sixth semiconductor plant which either manufactures or tests and packages silicon chips.

Earlier this week, the Union Cabinet had approved a Rs 3,307-crore outsourced assembly and testing unit proposal by Mysore-based Kaynes Semicon. The company will set up its OSAT unit at Sanand in Gujarat with a total capacity of 6.3 million chips per day.

India has five centrally approved semiconductor projects. A chip fabrication unit is being set up at Dholera in Gujarat, besides four chip packaging units. Three of the latter are being set up at Sanand in Gujarat and one at Morigaon in Assam. The proposed cumulative investment in these units is Rs 1.50 lakh crore.

The Dholera chip fabrication unit is a joint venture of the Tata Group and Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, with a capacity of 50,000 WSPM.

14. Cosmetics sector: Addressing policy, industry gaps to drive growth and generate employment

ET Gov. 12 Sep. 2024

Counterfeit products not only are detrimental to consumer interests but also do not contribute to the sector’s employment growth story. The Indian cosmetics sector holds an essential position in the nation's economy, offering consumers extensive benefits while creating numerous employment opportunities. This industry addresses various personal care needs with affordable, high-quality, innovative products.

As of 2023, the Indian cosmetics market was valued at USD 6.28 billion, driven by increasing consumer purchasing power, higher disposable incomes, and a growing awareness of skincare products. However, to ensure that the industry is able to provide increased benefits for consumers and the Indian workforce, certain progressive measures such as increased reliance on domestic capabilities, enhancing the ability to innovate so that consumers can benefit, and tailoring the regulation as per the current requirement of the industry concerns may be required.

Importance of the Cosmetic Industry for Consumers

The cosmetic industry plays a crucial role in consumers' lives by providing a diverse range of products that enhance personal care, self-esteem, and overall well-being. Consumers rely on these products to meet various needs, from basic hygiene to specialised skincare and beauty enhancements. In 2023, skincare products constituted 40% of the global cosmetics market, with haircare and makeup following at 21% and 17%, respectively.

The industry's advancements in formulations and technologies have led to high-performing products like broad-spectrum sunscreens, waterproof makeup, anti-ageing creams, and specialised hair care solutions. These innovations ensure that consumers can access effective and safe products that cater to their specific requirements.

Moreover, the cosmetic industry has made significant strides in addressing concerns such as sun protection, oral health, and personal hygiene, contributing to better health outcomes. As consumers become increasingly aware of the importance of self-care and appearance, the demand for high-quality, innovative cosmetic products continues to rise. This ongoing evolution and responsiveness to consumer needs highlight the industry's essential role in enhancing the quality of life.

Employment and Economic Growth

Beyond its aesthetic contributions, the industry is a significant driver of female economic independence and entrepreneurship, profoundly impacting India's socio-economic landscape. Employing over 500,000 women as hairdressers, beauty advisors, managers, and leaders, the industry provides massive employment and growth opportunities for women, promoting financial independence.

Significantly, in the post-covid era, the demand for beauty personnel increased by 35-50 per cent. Furthermore, the reliance of small businesses such as kirana stores on the sector is pertinent to the discourse as distributing beauty and personal care grocery retailers constitute a significant percentage.

Various major cosmetic businesses are women-led, showcasing the sector’s role in promoting female entrepreneurship. By focusing on empowering women, the industry creates a ripple effect, enhancing gender equality, boosting household incomes, and contributing to broader economic growth. As the country is poised to become a new hotspot for beauty products, employment opportunities in the sector are expected to grow exponentially. These benefits can continue to be accrued if various progressive changes are made to the policy framework.

Challenges and the Impact on Industry’s Growth

Despite the industry's robust growth, policy gaps need addressing to sustain and accelerate this momentum. Currently, drugs and cosmetics are treated under the same legislative framework, creating ambiguity and impeding the industry's ability to innovate and respond swiftly to consumer trends. This regulatory ambiguity leads to delays in product launches and increased costs. A change in this regard could help the sector accelerate its growth trajectory and provide increased benefits for consumers and the Indian workforce. Therefore, a tailored approach to regulate the cosmetic sector in India may lead to innovation & growth in the sector.

Another major challenge is increasing counterfeiting in the sector. Fake products, often sold through e-commerce platforms, not only hurt the reputation of legitimate brands and sellers but also lead to consumer harm. In a report from 2022, around 34% of the surveyed respondents said that they received a counterfeit cosmetic product via online platforms in the last three years.

Counterfeit products not only are detrimental to consumer interests but also do not contribute to the sector’s employment growth story. The menace of counterfeiting in the sector needs to be cured through the collaborative efforts of the government and the industry.

Conclusion

The cosmetic industry is a cornerstone of the global economy, providing significant consumer benefits and creating substantial employment opportunities. As the industry grows, driven by innovation and consumer demand, it will play a pivotal role in building the nation’s economy.

Addressing policy and industry gaps will ensure sustained growth, positioning India as a leader in the global cosmetics industry. If these recommendations are considered, the sector’s ability to enhance consumer well-being and contribute to the nation's economic and social progress can substantially increase.

(The Author is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha; Views are personal)

15. Lenskart Gets 10/10, Bags Top Honours

ET, 13 Sep. 2024

Omni channel eyewear retailer Lenskart bagged top honours at the 10th edition of India’s most prestigious awards for entrepreneurship — The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA).

A high-powered jury led by Infosys cofounder and chairman Nandan Nilekani picked the Gurgaon-based company as the Startup of the Year at a meeting in Bengaluru on Wednesday. The award recognised Lenskart’s success in building a fast-growing, large-scale, omnichannel consumer retail venture while creating an entirely new category, the jury noted. The 10-member jury chose eight winners from a shortlist of 41 contenders after deliberating for over 2.5 hours.

Lenskart, founded by Peyush Bansal, Amit Chaudhary, Ramneek Khurana and Neha Bansal in 2010, joins a list of eminent winners that have previously won the top prize. These include Zomato, Zerodha, Razorpay, OfBusiness, Delhivery, Oyo Hotels & Homes, Swiggy, Freshworks and Ola. Three of these—Zomato, Delhivery and Freshworks—are now listed companies, highlighting the strength of the businesses that have snagged the coveted award since its inception in 2015. Ola spun out Ola Electric as a separate entity and went public a month ago. Ola Electric was also one of the six nominees in the Startup of the Year category.

“The overarching theme of ETSA is that the so-called startup world is coming of age,” Nilekani said after the jury meeting. “We learnt a lot because many of these companies which we may not have heard of, some technology innovations we have not seen and even the quality of entrepreneurs... In all, this was a good learning experience for us.”

Mukul Arora, co-managing partner at Elevation Capital, was chosen winner of the coveted Midas Touch award for best investor because of his astute sense of timing on making exits from early bets. The jury zeroed in on Arora for the variety of his investments ranging from sectors such as food delivery and ecommerce to used-car sales and edtech. His investments include Meesho and Swiggy.

Strong revenue growth and profitability along with plans of eventually going public emerged as the key linking theme during the jury meeting. “I think the process was very well established and we asked everyone to nominate two candidates and sit down and have deeper discussions and those who know the companies well give good arguments and then go back and forth and decide the finalists,” said Nilekani.

The award for the Bootstrap Champ went to Boult—which sells earphones and smartwatches—for not having to access external funding in a capital-intensive category and yet scaling the business to be among the top players. The jury highlighted its ability to record steady growth in revenue and profit in a highly competitive sector while being bootstrapped.

The prize for Top Innovator went to BrainSightAI, based in Bengaluru, which is building tools for neurosurgeons and psychiatrists to detect mental health symptoms faster and better, recognising its ability to tap into such a broad sector with growing importance for mental health awareness.

Geetansh Bamania—founder of furniture and electronics rental startup Rentomojo—was chosen as the winner in the Comeback Kid category while ClaimBuddy was adjudged the Best on Campus.

Hardika Shah, founder of Kinara Capital—a non-banking financial company (NBFC) that lends to small enterprises with a special focus on women business owners—was the winner in the Woman Ahead category. Haqdarshak, which helps people access the government's social security services, won in the Social Enterprise category.

The 10-member jury, comprising top entrepreneurs, investors and corporate leaders from across the globe, chose the winners after several rounds of discussions followed by a secret ballot. Several of the contests proved to be intense.

Joining Nilekani at the milestone event were Mithun Sacheti, founder, CaratLane; Nyrika Holkar, executive director, Godrej & Boyce; Ritesh Arora, cofounder and CEO, Browserstack; Albinder Dhindsa, CEO, Blinkit; Sumer Juneja, managing partner and head, India & EMEA, SoftBank; Nikhil Kamath, cofounder, Zerodha; Nandita Sinha, CEO, Myntra; Prativa Mohapatra, MD, Adobe India; and Shubman Gill, vice-captain of India’s T20I and ODI cricket team.

“It's amazing to see the companies become so large and of such scale and now they are beginning to have an impact on the society and that's great news,” Nilekani added. The initial pool of candidates for the 10th edition of The Economic Times Startup Awards was drawn up by a select group of around 200 founders, investors, and other stakeholders of the country’s startup ecosystem. ET’s editorial team worked with knowledge partner Tracxn, a research platform, to put together the final shortlist.

- Services (Education, Healthcare, IT, R&D, Tourism, etc.)

16. Foxconn has invested $10 billion in India; working to set up battery energy storage system unit

PTI, ET Gov. 18 Aug. 2024

Foxconn has invested USD 10 billion in India so far, and plans more investment in the coming year, Liu said.

Sriperumbudur, Aug 18: Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn is working on plans to set up a Battery Energy Storage System unit in India, its chairman Young Liu said here.

With an eye on the electric vehicle segment, Foxconn has been expanding its battery manufacturing business, with the first plant already set up in Taiwan.

Liu noted that Foxconn's information and communication technology segment has just started in India.

"We are also waiting to put our 3+3 future industry in India. I have been talking to the minister for industries here about how can we collaborate on BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) in Tamil Nadu...," Liu said.

As part of the "3+3 strategy", Foxconn has prioritised the three key industries -- electric vehicles, digital health, and robotics industries, each has a significant growth potential with current scale at USD 1.4 trillion and over 20 per cent compound annual growth rate.

Foxconn's battery storage business is more focused on electric vehicles.

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) enable energy storage from renewable sources like solar, wind etc.

The company has proposed to set up an electric vehicle unit in India as well.

When asked about the status of EV production, Liu said it will start "very soon".

Foxconn has invested USD 10 billion in India so far, and plans more investment in the coming year, Liu said.

Liu, a Padma Bhushan awardee, said that during his current visit, he met various chief ministers and feels that India is on the rise.

"So far, till last year, we have done USD 10 billion. We will do much more in this coming year," Liu said.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of the company's women-only residential complex near Foxconn's plant here.

"After visiting so many states in India, I felt that India is ascending. Foxconn wants to be a part of it. We will grow together with India's growth," Liu said.

17. GCCs offering up to 20 pc higher salaries than IT services: Report

ET Gov. 29 Aug. 2024

GCC offers up to 20 per cent higher salaries than IT services, driven by AI, ML, and cybersecurity investments: TeamLease Digital report

Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in India are offering up to 20 per cent higher salaries as compared with the IT services, especially at entry and mid levels, a report said on Tuesday. According to the report by TeamLease Digital, India has over 1,600 GCCs employing over 1.66 million professionals. It is poised to welcome 800 new GCCs in the next 5-6 years, which shows the country's growing prominence as a global tech hub.

GCCs are centralized units established by multinational companies to manage specific business functions or processes, leveraging cost advantages, a skilled workforce, and favourable business environments in strategic locations worldwide. GCCs play a vital role in driving efficiency and innovation across sectors such as IT, finance, and research and development.

On the other hand, IT products & services encompass development, production, and management of hardware, software, networks, and services that enable organizations in the creation, management and optimization of or access to information and business processes.

"GCCs are rapidly surpassing the IT sector in the talent market, especially at entry and mid levels. They offer salaries that are, on an average, 12-20 per cent higher than those in IT services and non-tech industries," TeamLease Digital CEO Neeti Sharma said quoting the report.

This wage premium underscores the growing influence of GCCs as they attract top talent from the IT sector to fuel their expansion, signalling a shift in market dynamics where GCCs are emerging as the dominant force, she added.

The 'Digital Skills and Salary Primer for FY25' report is based on an analysis of 15,000 job roles from the 3 sectors, including GCCs, IT services and non-tech sectors.

Currently, in GCCs, there are more opportunities for people with 0-10 years experience. The senior level has a wider salary gap for many of the functional areas, and the premium for niche skills is also higher.

The report further showed that there is a growing trend of setting up GCCs in tier-II cities like Kolkata, Ahmedabad, and Vadodara, which indicates a geographical diversification of tech opportunities across the country.

Skills that are seeing an increasing demand in GCCs are PyTorch, AWS, DevOps, NLP, Kubernetes, Hyperledger Fabric, Blockchain, Tableau, SQL, and ServiceNow, the report added.

In GCCs, the percentage of women tech professionals is expected to increase to 35 per cent from the current 25 per cent by 2027.

However, the report also revealed that there is a persistent gender pay gap in the tech industry, ranging from 10-17 per cent on an average and sometimes reaching 22-30 per cent for roles like Data Analysis, it added.

Further, the report found that in the IT products and services sector, cloud investment is set to grow by 25-30 per cent in the next 5 years.

IT products and services are expected to account for 8 per cent of India's GDP by 2026 and create 14 million jobs by adopting cloud solutions, underlining the sector's potential for economic impact, the report said.

Meanwhile, the traditionally non-tech industries are also being transformed through the use of advanced technologies with over 70 per cent of the companies in telecom, media and entertainment, BFSI, and energy and utilities sectors, dedicating more than 20 per cent of their technology budgets to digital advancements.

The tech talent pool in this non-tech sector is also expected to expand annually at 7.86 per cent, reaching 11.15 lakh by FY27 from 7.65 lakh in FY22, highlighting the increasing integration of technology across various traditional industries, the report added.

18. India to Turn Largest Hub of Software Developers by ’2027

ET, 2 Sep. 2024

India will overtake the US as home to the largest software developer community in the world by 2027, converging with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), GitHub chief executive Thomas Dohmke said. Dohmke told the ET World Leaders Forum that tens of millions of developers in India are creating the digital public infrastructure of the future, fueling economic growth.

GitHub is a developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage and share their code. The company was acquired by Microsoft in 2018.

“Developers drive GDP growth and technological progress to the tune of trillions of US dollars. And the opportunity goes further because software developers are adopting AI faster than any other sector of the global workforce,” Dohmke said.

The executive has been at the forefront of GitHub’s integration of OpenAI’s GPT models, creating the world’s first AI developer tool that helps autocomplete software coding, GitHub Copilot.

“Developers are already 55% faster using Copilot, an acceleration not seen since the industrial age,” Dohmke said.

For India, AI is the opening chapter of a new book of opportunity, he said. “We are living in an era where every company can and must become an AI company… each company who embraces this and become early adapters will exist on a whole other spectrum of productivity entirely.”

Dohmke said companies must first identify gaps in productivity, and then fill them using AI. “Identify the productivity gaps in your company at large, because AI in search of a problem is pointless. AI for the sake of AI's pointless, AI is a solution to the problem, that is the whole point.”

Citing GitHub’s example, Dohmke said experimenting with AI has brought down customer support volumes by over 20% year-on-year, urging companies to infuse a culture of AI integration.

“Every person in your organisation needs to buy into this culture from the leadership team down to the entry level employees and that starts with leading by example. We need leaders who will model what it looks like to leverage automation in their everyday lives,” Dohmke said.

19. Government's Futuristic Skilling Package: Empowering India's youth through industry collaboration

ET Gov., 5 Sep. 2024

The employment-linked scheme has the potential to generate hundreds of thousands of jobs, enabling inclusive growth.

The Union Budget 2024-25 unveiled a robust package aimed at enhancing skilling opportunities and fostering collaboration among state governments, industries, and aspiring youth. Recognizing the significant challenge faced by young people transitioning from education to their first jobs, the initiative offers incentives such as covering the first month's salary for both employers and employees to address this gap.

In addition to the existing ecosystem and central to this initiative, is the goal of skilling 20 lakh youth over the next five years, highlighting the government's commitment to equipping the workforce with contemporary skills aligned with industry demands. The employment-linked scheme has the potential to generate hundreds of thousands of jobs, enabling inclusive growth.

The initiative to modernize 1,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) with a new allocation of ₹1,000 crore under a revamped hub and spoke model is commendable. This will elevate selected ITIs into centers of excellence equipped with modern infrastructure and industry-relevant curricula. Emphasis on outcome-oriented training aims to enhance employability, addressing the shortage of skilled workforce especially for MSMEs. Additionally, offering internship opportunities to 1 crore young individuals in top 500 organizations will provide firsthand industry exposure, enhancing their readiness for the global workforce. Moreover, financial incentives through EPFO and the flexibility to recover stipends under CSR funds will encourage private sector institutions to invest further in their human resources.

In parallel, the Government has bolstered the skilling ecosystem by enhancing the Model Skill Loan Scheme, now offering loans up to ₹7.5 lakh with a government-promoted fund guarantee. This measure aims to support 25,000 students annually by reducing barriers to skill development and facilitating easier access to funding aligned with market needs and aspirations.

Furthermore, the budget introduced significant support for higher education, addressing gaps in accessibility to quality education through financial assistance for loans up to ₹10 lakh, specifically targeting youth who have not previously benefitted from government schemes. This provision aims to democratize access to higher education, empowering more individuals to pursue advanced studies and enhance their career prospects.

The overarching goal of these initiatives is to harness India's demographic dividend by nurturing a skilled and educated workforce capable of driving economic growth and innovation. By aligning skill development with industry requirements and expanding educational opportunities, the Government aims to equip youth with the necessary tools to thrive in a rapidly evolving global economy. To enhance women's participation in the workforce, the budget has provisioned for the establishment of working women’s hostels and creches in collaboration with industry partners.

The Union Budget 2024's focus on skilling and education highlights a strategic vision aimed at positioning India as a competitive force on the world stage. By investing in human capital development, the Government has not only addressed current workforce challenges but also laid the foundation for sustained economic progress and inclusive development.

In conclusion, the initiatives announced under the Prime Minister's package for skilling and collaboration represent a pivotal step towards realizing India's potential as a global economic powerhouse by leveraging the demographic dividend effectively.

20. Digital Health: National conference on Universal Access to Healthcare and Digital Solutions kicks off in New Delhi

ET Gov. 7 Sep. 2024

NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul on Friday inaugurated a national conference on “Universal Access to Healthcare: Digital Solutions” in New Delhi. Union Health Secretary Apurva Chandra and Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Bharat Lal were also present.

The day-long conference, organised by NHRC in collaboration with the Sankala Foundation and supported by the NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, brings together practitioners, government officials, leading experts, innovators and policy makers in the field of healthcare and digital healthcare technology to explore the way forward for universal access to affordable and quality healthcare services especially for people living in rural, remote and hilly areas.

Addressing the event, Dr Paul highlighted that transformative changes are taking place across the health sector in India. Noting that “a strong primary healthcare system is a high priority for reducing the healthcare burden in later ages,” he emphasized the steps being taken to particularly strengthen this network.

Dr Paul underlined the following five key principles for digital health solutions to embrace:

Use of digital technologies and scaling them for saturation

Creating new technologies like robotics, AI, etc but in a way that it does not increase the digital divide, and can be easily used by those who are not digitally literate.

Ensure solutions are within the ambit of rights and promote inclusivity, protection of human rights and further democratisation, with attention to protect the beneficiaries from cyber fraud.

Digital solutions should promote or create an ecosystem of ease of living and not make it more complex for people.

Digital solutions must enhance quality of life, embrace wellbeing, include traditional knowledge, and accelerate our healthcare actions, he added.

Apurva Chandra stated that one of the goals of national digital mission is to increase the reach of healthcare services and reduce the disparity between rural and urban areas.

The Union Health Secretary highlighted the success of CoWIN and Aarogya Setu app which helped in delivering more than 220 crore vaccinations across the country. He stated that the Union Government wants to replicate the same model through the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, a flagship scheme of the government. He also highlighted that there are already many portals operating across different segments like telemedicine, TeleManas, eRaktKosh etc and the effort is to combine them in a single portal.

Apurva Chandra also informed about the upcoming launch of U-Win portal later this month which will keep a permanent digital record of vaccination and medicines of more than 3 cr pregnant women and mothers and almost 2.7 crore children born annually. He mentioned about the progress in bringing about the National Health Claims Exchange which will promote greater transparency and ease the process of insurance claims and also touched upon the work going on in the areas of artificial intelligence.

Bharat Lal said, “Healthcare is a basic human right and without good health, the full potential of a human being cannot be realised.” He highlighted that the scope of NHRC has increased from economic to the domain of socio-cultural sectors and since the health sector impacts everyone, it is currently engaged in this sector as well.

Stating that “digital technologies hold tremendous promise for leapfrogging towards achievement of the goal of universal healthcare,” he emphasized the importance of engaging with all the stakeholders towards improving the quality of life through such solutions. He also stated that NHRC is involved in various healthcare initiatives involving issues like mental health, leprosy, etc.

During the occasion, the dignitaries also released a report on 'Leveraging Digital Solutions for Universal Health Coverage’ based on the research and field study carried out by the Sankala Foundation. Three technical sessions on 'Models of Change in Healthcare', 'Future Frontiers in Digital Health', and 'Technology-enabled Universal Health Coverage' will be held during the day-long event.

Madhukar Kumar Bhagat, Joint Secretary (E-Health), Dr Basant Garg, Additional CEO, National Health Authority, Girish Krishnamurthy, CEO and Managing Director, Tata MD, innovators from civil society and startups, domain experts from WHO, UNDP and senior officials from the Union Government and states are participating.

India and the World

21. India-GCC-Golf Cooperation Council countries bilateral trade reaches $162 billion, exports show consistent growth

IANS, ET Gov. 29 Aug. 2024

Showing strong growth, the bilateral trade between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries reached 162 billion dollars last year, the government has said.

The GCC now contributes 15 per cent of India's total trade and sectors like energy, defence, security and health are growing in the region, according to Aseem P. Mahajan, Joint Secretary (Gulf), Ministry of External Affairs.

At a FICCI event in the national capital, he said that while overall trade figures might fluctuate, India's exports to the GCC nations have shown "consistent growth".

According to him, the country exports various food processing, jewellery, synthetic fibres and yarns, textiles, pharmaceuticals and engineering goods, and chemical products to the GCC countries.

Mahajan emphasised that the cultural and bilateral relations between India and the Gulf countries are strong.

India’s economic linkages with the GCC have increased steadily, especially due to growth in oil imports. These have increased significantly in FY22 due to rising oil prices in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as well as due to the resumption of demand following the Covid-19 disruption.

As per the 2022 government data, GCC countries contribute almost 35 per cent of India’s oil imports and 70 per cent of gas imports. India’s overall crude oil imports from the GCC in 2021-22 were about $48 billion, while LNG and LPG imports in 2021-22 were about $21 billion.

Since FY2017-18, on a compounded annual growth rate basis, bilateral trade between India and the GCC has grown by 10.57 per cent.

In February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. PM Modi held wide-ranging talks with the top leadership to take forward the bilateral strategic partnership.

The Prime Minister also inaugurated the BAPS Mandir, the first Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi, and addressed the Indian diaspora.

The two countries are among each other’s top trading partners with a bilateral trade of about 85 billion dollars in 2022-23. The UAE is also among the top four investors in India in terms of foreign direct investments in 2022-23.

PM Modi also visited Qatar and held wide-ranging talks with the leadership, focusing on significantly expanding bilateral ties in areas of trade, energy, investment and new technology. Bilateral trade between India and Qatar currently stands at roughly 20 billion dollars.

22. ‘Singapore Plans to Invest Huge Amount in India’

ET, 6 Sep. 2024

Singapore, which has already invested about $150 billion in India, is ready to invest five times that amount in the coming years, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said Thursday.

At the All India Industries and Commerce Ministers conference, he also said India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) have signed a free trade agreement, under which New Delhi has received an investment commitment of $100 billion over the next 15 years. These investments will come in states and they have to take advantage of it, he said.

EFTA includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

On Wednesday, the Swiss Federal Council adopted a dispatch on the free trade agreement between the EFTA states and India, the Swiss government said in a statement.

The Federal Council, which is the Swiss federal cabinet, is the highest executive authority in the country. The Swiss Parliament is expected to debate the dispatch in the upcoming winter or spring sessions.

“Today, the world wants to invest in India. Singapore has already invested about $150 billion in India. They are ready to invest probably five times that amount in the coming years,” Goyal said. Our Bureau

23. The UK’s battery market can boom again

Latitude Media, 13 Sep. 2024

After several years of ricochet, revenues for the U.K.’s battery storage market are poised to rise again.

The last few years have shaken up global energy markets. 

In the United Kingdom and Europe, for instance, the Russian invasion of Ukraine contributed to soaring prices and high volatility in the gas and electricity markets in early 2022. Since those peaks, though, markets have substantially calmed, with prices and volatility gradually returning to pre-2021 levels.

But as the market has fluctuated, so has the revenue — and general attractiveness — of the U.K.’s battery storage market. These highs and lows provide a window into what the future might hold for revenues in this space.

Making money from batteries

One feature of the U.K. market that makes it attractive to owners of batteries is the ability to easily ‘stack’ and jump between a series of different revenue streams, allowing for the maximization of returns. 

Revenues can broadly be broken down into four main areas: wholesale arbitrage, the balancing mechanism (BM), the capacity market (CM), and ancillary services.

National Grid, the U.K.’s system operator, uses BM as a tool to match supply and demand every 30 minutes, with participants submitting bids and offers to increase or decrease their supply as required. Meanwhile, the CM is a fixed payment made to generators to maintain long-term security of supply, with capacity procured through competitive auctions ahead of delivery.

National Grid procures ancillary services to cover a range of services to support the management of the electricity system. These include managing system frequency or voltage, as well as reserve capacity to manage supply imbalance. Ancillary services have been a longstanding revenue stream for flexible generators like battery storage in the U.K. In 2022, ancillary services accounted for more than 80% of revenues for the country’s battery assets. 

Boom and bust

The high prices and volatility seen in gas and electricity markets in 2022 and early 2023 resulted in record revenues for U.K. batteries. 

For instance, an ancillary service known as dynamic containment — a system frequency management tool — obtained average revenues of more than 20 pounds ($25.58) per megawatt-hour and a maximum of nearly 80 pounds ($102.33) per MWh during 2022. 

These high revenues helped to bolster investor confidence in U.K. batteries and encourage the growth of this sector. However, the declining wholesale prices and the growing saturation of the ancillary service markets have dampened these revenues throughout most of 2023 and early 2024 — 1.5GW of battery storage capacity came online in 2023, bringing the total to 3.5 gigawatts. In that period, dynamic containment averaged less than 1.50 pounds per MWh before dropping to less than 50 pence per MWh last February.

This decline has led to reduced confidence from investors and developers, with some investors stating that they will not be announcing any new projects in 2024.

Boom again?

Despite the slump, recent trends indicate that all is not lost, and that the latter half of 2024 could see at least a partial resurgence in battery revenues. 

In April 2024, high volumes of wind generation — 35.1% of the monthly electricity generation mix in the U.K. — have resulted in a number of low- or negatively-priced periods and have therefore increased the revenue potential from wholesale arbitrage. This is a trend we expect to see continue, with greater focus by battery operators on activity in wholesale markets and the BM, that is then supplemented by the ancillary service revenues that previously dominated the revenue stack. 

A breakdown of future battery storage revenues and costs. This evolution of the revenue stack for U.K batteries is helping to steady the ship and drive a strong long-term trajectory. 

Meanwhile, in March 2024 the system operator launched its new balancing reserve service, which is already providing a valuable additional revenue source for batteries — although at present only 400MW are being procured. Balancing reserve is a day-ahead service designed to help correct imbalances between supply and demand, which the BM would have historically done in real time. The hope is that this new service provides greater system security by procuring reserve volumes in advance of day-ahead energy market trading.

What does the future hold?

While U.K. battery storage revenues have experienced a turbulent few years, the overall investment case remains strong. The saturation of the ancillary services market and accompanying shift in the revenue stack have made a case for participating in wholesale arbitrage and the BM. 

There is a huge pipeline of viable renewable projects in the U.K., and with this increase in renewables will come a growing need to manage the intermittency of generation and provide other system services to manage the system’s inertia. 

Revenues are unlikely to return to the extremes of 2022, which were driven by atypical factors linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but the long-term trajectory for batteries remains strong. It will be important for investors to focus on this rather than comparing against the most recent trends.

Matthew Chadwick, PhD, is a lead research analyst and Joe Camish is a lead analyst at Cornwall Insight. The opinions represented in this contributed article are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the views of Latitude Media or any of its staff.

24. Digital Public Infra to Reach 50 Nations in 5 Years: Nilekani

ET, 14 Sep. 2024

India will take its digital public infrastructure (DPI) to 50 countries in five years, said Nandan Nilekani, non-executive chairman of Infosys, in response to a question from Amazon CTO Werner Vogels here on Friday. DPI is currently being used in 15 countries. Nilekani and Vogels were addressing an event organised by ecommerce platform for artisans, Zwende, in which the latter is an investor and advisor.

Nilekani gave a quick reckoner on digital public infrastructure that India has in identity and payments, and was recounting his journey from 2009, from becoming the founding chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to Aadhaar-enabled KYC to opening of Jan Dhan bank accounts.

“Today we are 1.3 billion people who have the ID and most of India has been covered, and they’re using it 80 billion times a day online for real-time authentication in sub-second response time. We had all the pieces to participate in an economy: identity, bank account and mobile connectivity,” he said.

“Today, UPI does 14.4 billion transactions a month, with 500 million users and 50 million merchants taking payments. Our philosophy was public rails and private innovation,” he said. “We estimate that on this infrastructure, there are more than $100 billion worth of companies that have been created on top of this, leveraging this technology,” he said.

25. India plans to increase women's participation in aviation sector to 25pc by 2025: Minister Naidu

ET Gov. IANS, 14 Sep. 2024

Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Ram Mohan Naidu at the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation (APMC) in New Delhi on Thursday.

Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Ram Mohan Naidu highlighted India's ambition to increase women's participation in aviation to 25 per cent by 2025.

Addressing the two-day Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Civil Aviation (APMC) on Thursday, Ram Mohan Naidu stated that the conference reflects the shared vision of the Asia-Pacific region to build a more connected, resilient and robust aviation landscape.

The minister emphasised the region's goal to accommodate 3.5 billion annual passengers by 2035, urging strategic investments in aviation infrastructure.

He also highlighted India's ambition to increase women's participation in aviation to 25 per cent by 2025 and the nation's commitment to making flying more accessible through initiatives like the UDAN scheme.

Emphasising on the three pillars of aviation —Infrastructure, Integration, and Innovation, he underscored how “India has been leading the way in incorporating modern technologies like Digi Yatra, a biometric-based digital tool for seamless travel."

He also highlighted India’s recent regulatory advancements in Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) aircraft, “paving the way for sustainable and innovative urban air mobility.”

Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Cooperation, Murlidhar Mohol, President of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), Salvatore Sciacchitano, and Secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Vumlunmang Vualnam, along with distinguished delegates from 29 countries from the Asia-Pacific region participated in the event which is underway at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi.

ICAO chief Salvatore Sciacchitano while addressing the conference stated, "As we mark the 80th anniversary of the Chicago Convention, this gathering is crucial for addressing new challenges in global aviation, especially in the Asia Pacific region, which accounts for 32 per cent of global traffic and holds immense growth potential."

He further applauded the region for surpassing pre-pandemic traffic levels and stressed the importance of collaboration to ensure sustainable growth in aviation.

Salvatore Sciacchitano also shared that ICAO has set the goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, recognising the impact of climate change as another pressing issue.

According to him, countries like India are leading the way with Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) initiatives, and this conference’s Delhi Declaration must symbolise the aviation sector’s commitment to safety, sustainability, and innovation.

Union Minister Ram Mohan Naidu was nominated as APMC chairman, with Viliame Rogoibuli Gavoka, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation of Fiji as Vice Chairman.

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Thursday 19 September 2024

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NEWSLETTER, September 2024

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

- Agriculture, Fishing and Rural Development

- Services (Education, Healthcare, IT, R&D, Tourism, etc.)

India and the World