AAPI: March 2018

LISBON, 20th March 2018

Index of this Newsletter

INDIA

INDIA & THE WORLD

21.1. Engineering exports to touch new high this fiscal: Teaotia
21.2. US, EU, Canada see red on India raising pulses tariff
22.1. Delhi and Mumbai airports ranked among best in world
22.2. India at 81st rank in global corruption perception index
23. India and Brazil’s role in the bioeconomy
24.1. Indian Tea Exports Touch Record High in 2017
24.2. RCEP: India, ASEAN aim to bridge gap on tariff issues at Singapore meet
25. India, Jordan sign pacts on defence, health

* * *

LISBON, 20th March 2018

NEWSLETTER, 20-III-2018

INDIA

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

1.1. Making a difference to lives and livelihoods

BusinessLine, 9 Mar 2018

Three score and ten years after achieving independence, India is still working to provide all of its people with the basics of life, be it health, education, housing, jobs or infrastructure. In addressing these myriad challenges, many heroes have emerged — men and women who have changed lives for the better.

The BusinessLine Changemaker Awards celebrates the work of these individuals and organisations, of whom there are many. Indeed, of the six categories that were up for awards, the Social Transformation category received the most nominations. Arriving at a shortlist from these formidable contenders proved a Herculean task. But eventually, we zeroed in on the following names:

Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan: An autonomous, secular, rights-based organisation that fights for the rights of Muslim women.

Sridhar Vembu: His company, Zoho, competes with the likes of Microsoft, Google and Salesforce with its SaaS products, which are used by over 30 million customers. Zoho’s products are made not just by top engineers but by people from economically poor backgrounds.

Ekam Foundation: A not-for-profit organisation working to improve public healthcare and lower child/maternal mortality.

GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute: It has changed the way emergencies are handled with its 108 service, India’s first mass-scale emergency response mechanism.

Centre for Aquatic Livelihood – Jaljeevika: This Pune-based NGO promotes entrepreneurship in inland fisheries as an alternative for those otherwise dependent solely on rain-fed agriculture.

Cochin International Airport: The first greenfield airport built in PPP mode and the first in the world operating entirely on solar power.

Energy Efficiency Services Ltd: A joint venture of PSUs, which is helping drive energy efficiency in India. Its appliances and technologies have saved over 35 billion kWh of energy a year.

1.2. I personally feel NHPS (National Health Protection Scheme) has not been thought through fully: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Livemint, 26 Feb. 2018, Teena Thacker

The National Health Protection Scheme needs to be integrated with primary healthcare to make it viable and sustainable, says the Biocon chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

New Delhi: The centre’s ambitious National Health Protection Scheme needs to be integrated with primary healthcare to make it viable and sustainable, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairperson and managing director, Biocon Ltd said in an interview.

Regulatory compliance is a big challenge for everyone across the world and firms in India need to adapt to changing regulatory environment at a rapid pace, she said, adding that India’s drug price regulator does not differentiate between large firms with high-quality standards and smaller ones lacking them while fixing prices, which is a problem. At Biocon, she wants to focus on insulin therapy and wants the company to provide a Biocon product to one in five people across the world.

Edited excerpts:

What do you think about the health care sector in India? Do you think we invest enough? An ambitious National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) was announced in this budget. What do you think about the scheme and the sector overall?

The NHPS announced in this budget is welcome and long overdue because it shows that there is a thinking and a focus on some form of Universal Health Care (UHC) for at least the poor strata of our population. Because, without positive health indicators, India’s inclusive growth potential is stifled and it is already estimated that you can increase the GDP growth by 1.5% with better health indicators, while India has very poor health indicators when it comes to child and maternal mortality, nutrition and underweight, etc.

So, there is a huge problem and NHPS is extremely important that it has got the deserved focus. Now, coming to whether we are investing enough...there has been lot of discussion and debate about what is the model that we are going to follow...is it going to be an insurance model, a trust fund model that means reimbursement— what is it?

Insurance or a reimbursement model—that itself has to be figured out. Then the bigger question we need to ask is it is just a cash-less hospitalization scheme or is this is an end-to-end healthcare scheme.

That’s a fundamental question we have to ask...I personally believe that it has to be an end-to-end UHC scheme, which means we must actually integrate primary healthcare into this scheme. If you want to make it into a sustainable, viable model, then you will have to down-stage the disease to primary healthcare, which means preventive healthcare becomes a very important part of delivering on this particular goal.

Do you mean to say that we need to integrate primary and tertiary care to make it implementable?

Correct; if you don’t combine it and integrate it with primary care, it won’t work because you will only find people going to the hospitals. Now, we need to make sure that you down-stage the disease so that the people actually going to the hospitals, either secondary or tertiary, will really be the ones that need to go.

Are you concerned about implementation of the scheme?

I am saying if you want to implement the scheme and are looking at secondary and tertiary care hospitalization, it’s never going to be viable. It’s not going to sustain because of the amount you need.

Today, numbers from Rs10,000-20,000 crore are being talked about. What is the right number, you will never be able to address unless you understand what you are trying to do. I personally believe that healthcare has to be thought through in that way...

My view is, before you roll out a whole plan, you should do it on about a million families, like a pilot. Then, the Rs2,000 crore will be well spent because you need to map it out and see how it works... but somebody needs to run this pilot very holistically and if you get companies doing things under CSR, and give them some kind of partnering models to come together and roll this plan out, then you can do it fast.

But if the government wants to start from scratch and build it up ground up, it’s going to take a lot of time because I feel that it’s not been thought through fully.

You termed 2017 as a landmark year for Indian science in one of your blogs, given the fact that there are regulatory issues with severe criticism coming from US regulators. What is your take now?

Regulatory compliance is a big challenge for everyone, not just in India but across the world, because US and European regulators are becoming far more stringent than they ever were. In the past, compliance norms were not so stringent as they are now so as they become more stringent, we have to catch up and make sure we are as compliant today as before.

Now, we are trying to play in bio-similars. From that point of view, compliance has become so important for every large Indian pharma firm that we are actually investing a lot in beefing up our compliance systems making sure everyone has appointed a set of consultants to help us improve.

A few years back, due to some regulatory issues pertaining to clinical trials, you had to go to the US for your oral insulin. Is it still the same in India?

It has improved to a certain extent. The Indian regulator has improved its standards of inspection, and is accompanying the US FDA and European inspectors to learn how to inspect better; all that has improved I must say, but when it comes to regulating the smaller guy, it’s not yet done.

On one hand, NPPA doesn’t differentiate between large and small firms and they fix up prices based on the lowest common denominator—which is the small unregulated guy. Is it fair that as a patient, if I am taking a medicine, I don’t get to know the quality? Won’t I be willing to spend a little more if I know it comes from a larger reliable firm than just from some unknown small firm just because its cheap?

And the larger firm says I can’t make it at those prices because that person doesn’t have those standards and systems we have. Where is this discussion and disparity that has to be sorted out? And the government is not sorting it out equitably.

Coming to NPPA, what do you think about price control in India?

There has to be a price regulation, I agree. I don’t think we should just allow hospitals to charge whatever they want but I think every drug can be priced and there has to be ceiling price. But how to arrive at the ceiling price is the question. The logic that they are using is flawed. They are looking at a whole bunch of prices irrespective of quality, who is making it, what is the infrastructure, investment, R&D investment—they are looking at like-for-like comparison.

If I were to compare Cipla, Lupin, Sun and Biocon, I would say it’s a fair comparison but if I start comparing with some small company in the back of beyond which is a Rs50 crore or a Rs10 crore company—they are making medicines with no R&D, have no quality systems, QAQC (quality assurance, quality control) and are not inspected by any regulator. Today, we are all inspected by US and European regulators. So, how do you differentiate between the firms that have got EU kind of standards with firms that have very poor standards, and then say this firm is making it at 10 paisa, why are you charging Re 1? And then, you say everybody should charge 10 paise. That’s not acceptable... I feel that people who are taking these calls are not even scientific. It is becoming a commercial financial decision, which is absolutely wrong when it comes to drugs and science.

At Biocon, you have an exclusive league of biosimilars. What next?

Biocon is on a journey of making impact on global healthcare. I have to make sure that I have one in five persons who needs insulin therapy to use a Biocon product—that is my dream... in the next ten years, I want that to happen...whoever needs insulin and insulin analogs.

Let’s hope that one in five of those people around the world will use a Biocon product. That is a big dream...I want to make sure that our bio-similars capture a huge market share and help cancer patients around the world, which we are already doing in the developing world because we didn’t have access to these drugs.

Biocon enjoys a large reputation of giving them high-quality cancer drug...my biggest dream is I want Biocon to be a company of which at least one drug makes it big, whether oral insulin or fusion mAbs (monoclonal antibodies)...I want it to be a big drug and Biocon should be known for that—this is my ‘what next’!

2.1. World's largest solar park launched in Karnataka (2,000 MW park)

PTI, Mar. 05, 2018

Bengaluru: The world's largest solar park set up at an investment of Rs 16,500 crore at Pavagada in Karnataka's Tumakuru district was launched by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today.

The 2,000 MW park, named as 'Shakti Sthala', spans across 13,000 acres spread over five villages and is a benchmark in the unique people's participation in power model put on ground, according to officials.

The park's development is anchored by the Karnataka Solar Power Development Corp. Ltd (KSPDCL), an entity formed in March 2015 as a joint venture between Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd (KREDL) and Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI).

The project has been executed within a record time of two years, with zero land acquisition, Siddaramaiah said.

Moreover, the farmers who have leased out their land are reaping greater benefits with Rs 21,000 per acre being offered as rental, an amount which has the scope to grow by five per cent every two years, he said.

The beneficiaries of this project were 2,300 Pavagada farmers, he said.

The chief minister said Karnataka has emerged as the third largest producer of renewable energy in the nation and was taking "bold strides" towards emerging as an energy surplus state.

"We have set the goal to source at least 20 per cent of people's power requirements from renewable projects," he added.
The park will create employment and act as an incentive for natives and farmers to explore new opportunities of socio-economic growth in the region, state Energy Minister D K Shivakumar said.

"This ambitious project, spanning five villages, looks at farmers as the key partners, as also beneficiaries. Shakti Sthala is creating new job opportunities and economic growth leading to the prosperity of the people of Pavagada," he said.

The state has witnessed an overall increase in capacity to 2,379 MW as on January 2018, he said. Shivakumar said 600 MW solar power generation has been commissioned during December 2017 and balance capacity of 1400 MW will be available by December this year.

Earlier, a 648-mw power project set up by the Adani Green Energy, part of the Adani Group, in Tamil Nadu in 2016 was billed as the world's largest solar plant.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

2.2. Rs 7,000cr ($1.09bn) facelift for 700 large dams

TNN, Feb 26, 2018, Vishwa Mohan

NEW DELHI: The safety and operational performance of 700 large dams across 18 states will be improved through repair and rehabilitation work over six years (2020-26) at an estimated cost of nearly Rs 7,000 crore. Some of these dams will also be developed as tourist destinations so that it can generate revenue for maintenance and create jobs for local people.

The World Bank-funded project was cleared by a screening committee of the department of economic affairs last week . "It's an in-principle approval of the ministry of water resources' plan. It will now go to the World Bank for its nod before finally going to the cabinet," an official privy to the screening committee's decision said. The project will be implemented under phase-II of the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) which is working on strengthening safety aspects of 223 dams in seven states at an estimated cost of Rs 2,100 crore in phase-I. DRIP-I was initiated in 2012 and will continue till June 2020 . The move is aimed at making these dams safe as many of them are very old and need maintenance and safety upgrade. There are 213 large dams in the country which are over 100 years of age.

India had in the past reported 36 dam disasters including the worst one in Gujarat (Machu dam in Morbi) where 2,000 people died and 12,700 houses were destroyed in 1979. Construction of the dam was completed in 1972 but its flanks were washed away in floods seven years later - sending a warning signal of dam failures in other parts of the country if their rehabilitation was not taken up.

Top Comment

Policy paralysis of UPA versus proactive governance by NDA.Dr Vidyadhar

"States have already identified the dams which will be taken up for rehabilitation, based on safety screening template developed by the World Bank. We'll need to prioritise them during the implementation phase," said the official. Some of the priority dams include Bhakra (Himachal Pradesh), Srisailam (Telangana), Koyna and Jayakwadi (Maharashtra), Matatila, Ramganga and Raj Ghat (UP), Pong (HP), Ukai (Gujarat), Rana Pratap Sagar and Mahi (Rajasthan), Hirakud and Rengali (Odisha) and Umiam (Meghalaya). Besides the three components of DRIP-I of rehabilitation and improvement, safety strengthening and project management, dams under the DRIP-II will have a fourth component in the form of 'revenue stream '.

"Developing dams for tourism and recreational activities and use reservoirs for high quality fisheries will be part of the revenue stream," said the official, referring to Niagara Falls in Canada and many dams in Switzerland.

3.1. PM launches National Nutrition Mission, and expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, at Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan

Press Information Bureau, Mar. 09, 2018

Jhunjhunu: On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi launched the National Nutrition Mission and Pan India Expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) covering all 640 districts of the Country at a mega event held at Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan today.

The Prime Minister also awarded ten districts for showing outstanding performance in the areas of effective community engagement, enforcement of PC&PNDT Act and enabling education of the girl child.

Addressing the large gathering on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that through the power of technology, the entire nation is connected with Jhunjhunu. He appreciated Jhunjhunu district for furthering the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao movement. He said there is no question of discrimination based on gender. The Prime Minister stressed on the importance of girls getting access to quality education, just like boys. Emphasizing that a daughter is not a burden, he said girls are bringing pride and glory for our nation, and excelling in several fields.

The Prime Minister also spoke of the importance of providing proper nutrition to children. He said Mission Indradhanush has brought an extremely positive change in the lives of women and children. The acronym PM should remind everyone of ‘Poshan Mission’ from now onwards, Shri Narendra Modi said in a lighter vein. The Prime Minister further emphasized that both the National Nutrition Mission and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao should be run in the form of a Jan Andolan to make them a success on the ground.

Addressing on the occasion, the Union Minister for Women & Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi highlighted the journey of success and struggle of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Scheme since its launch by the Prime Minister on January 22nd, 2015. The Minister said that with continuous and persistent efforts, the attitude of the society towards the girl child has shown a clear cut change for the better and within three years itself, the ratio of girls to boys has shot well above 900. The credit for highlighting and taking forward the issue goes to the Prime Minister, she said. Smt Maneka Gandhi explained that several new initiatives have been taken by the government like the successful implementation of BBBP in 161 districts, six months’ maternity leave for working women, training of women sarpanches, universal implementation of Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana.

The government has setup 200 Sakhi Centres for women affected by violence and more than one lakh women have availed of the services of these centres till date. A Shelter home for one thousand widows has been set up in Vrindavan, Mathura by the Ministry and another one is being constructed in Varanasi, she disclosed. Similarly, a forensic lab is being setup in Chandigarh for speedy forensic processing of rape cases. Smt Maneka Gandhi said that an historic Bill against trafficking of women & children will be brought in this session of parliament.

The Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Smt. Vasundhara Raje , in her address, highlighted how women have broken the glass ceiling and moved ahead in several new areas. The State of Rajasthan is giving undivided attention to the education of the girl child and is distributing laptops, scooters and cycles to the girls to encourage them to go to educational institutions. Several unique initiatives have been undertaken by the state government as well as the people including planting trees at the birth of the girl child, appointing successful girls as brand ambassadors, marriage vows to save and protect the girl child amongst others, the Chief Minister explained.

The Prime Minister also awarded the winners of the Spot the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Logo Contest and the winner of Logo for National Nutrition Mission. To commemorate the 3rd Anniversary of BBBP, the Prime Minister released a Photo Journey Book showcasing the innovative initiatives undertaken by the districts. The Prime Minister interacted with 200 girl children born in Rajasthan after the launch of BBBP in January, 2015 along with their mothers.

The ten districts which were felicitated by the Prime Minister today have been awarded for their contribution in the following categories:

Effective community engangement (Six districts awarded): Raigarh (Chattisgarh), Sikar (Rajasthan), Bijapur (Karnataka), North Sikkim (Sikkim), Tarantaran (Punjab), Hyderabad (Telengana)

Enforcement of PC&PNDT Act (Two Districts awarded): Sonipat (Haryana), Ahmedabad (Gujarat)

Enabling education of Girl Child (Two districts awarded): Jhunjhunu (Rajasthan), Udhampur (Jammu & Kashmir)

As per data available in the Health Management Information System, there has been an improvement in the sex ratio at birth. The efforts with the active participation of States/Districts have brought out encouraging results in achieving its goal; as a result of which the Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) which was 918 in 2014-15 has improved to 926 in 2016-17 as per HMIS data. Buoyed by its success, it has been decided to go Pan-India and expand the programme to all districts. The total outlay of BBBP is 1132.5 Crore from 2017-18 to 2019-20. Initial focus of BBBP had been on the districts which were either below national average or were the worse in their own states in terms of absolute values of CSR. However, looking at the magnitude and criticality of the problem and its spread across the country, no district can be left out of BBBP ambit to make a real dent on overall CSR and following strategies are proposed to be implemented in various districts under its pan India expansion :

The National Nutrition Mission (NNM) has been set up with a three year budget of Rs.9046.17 crore commencing from 2017-18. The NNM is a comprehensive approach towards raising nutrition level in the country on a war footing. It will comprise mapping of various Schemes contributing towards addressing malnutrition, including a very robust convergence mechanism, ICT based Real Time Monitoring system, incentivizing States/UTs for meeting the targets, incentivizing Anganwadi Workers (AWWs) for using IT based tools, eliminating registers used by AWWs, introducing measurement of height of children at the Anganwadi Centres (AWCs), Social Audits, setting-up Nutrition Resource Centres, involving masses through Jan Andolan for their participation on nutrition through various activities, among others.

NNM targets to reduce stunting, under-nutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent girls) and reduce low birth weight by 2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively. Although the target to reduce Stunting is at least 2% p.a., Mission would strive to achieve reduction in Stunting from 38.4% (NFHS-4) to 25% by 2022 (Mission 25 by 2022). More than 10 crore people will be benefitted by this programme. All the States and districts will be covered in a phased manner i.e. 315 districts in 2017-18, 235 districts in 2018-19 and remaining districts in 2019-20.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

3.2. Pharmacies may soon have separate shelf for generics

Livemint, Mar. 14, 2018

New Delhi: The government is planning to make it mandatory for pharmacies to display generic medicines conspicuously on separate shelves so that consumers can opt for low-cost alternatives to expensive branded drugs.

The Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) “agreed to keep a separate rack/shelf reserved solely for the storage of generic medicines in a part of the premises separated from other medicines, which shall be visible to consumers”, according to the minutes of a meeting held on 12 February.

Mint has reviewed the minutes of the meeting.

The government is also considering a proposal to allow pharmacists to sell a generic version of a drug if the doctor prescribes the branded alternative, two people aware of the matter said, adding that the change is likely to take some time as it requires amendments to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act.

“DTAB decided to take a step forward by allowing the pharmacists keep a separate rack to promote generic drugs,” said a senior official in the health ministry.

The government has been promoting generic drugs for a while now and its efforts gained momentum with Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing plans to put in place a legal framework in April last year to ensure doctors prescribe generic medicines.

The government launched Jan Aushadhi Scheme in 2015 to make quality generic medicines available at affordable prices through outlets known as Jan Aushadhi Stores (JAS). Under the scheme, state governments are required to provide space in government hospital premises or any other suitable locations for JAS. As of now, such stores have 714 products available in the centres and the government proposes to increase the portfolio to 1,000 products by 31 March.

To promote generic drugs, DTAB earlier approved an amendment to Rule 96 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act that sought changes in the labelling of medicines to boost sales of generic alternatives. Rule 96 deals with the manner of labelling drugs. “The change in label is another effort in the same direction. Not only are we encouraging doctors to write their prescriptions with generic names, consumers will be benefited if the generic name is legible and easy to read on the packs,”said another official in the ministry.

The government wants doctors to prescribe drugs by their chemical names in an effort to break the ‘doctor-big pharma’ nexus that often leads to prescription of high-cost medicines when cheaper options are available. The Medical Council of India issued orders in 2016 to all central and state government hospitals asking them to ensure that doctors prescribe generic medicines.

The move assumes significance as, according to the World Health Organization, India features among the countries with the highest out-of-pocket expenditure on health care. Even the National Health Policy admits that 63 million people are pushed into poverty annually owing to health care expenses. “Medicines account for 70-75% of a household’s out-of-pocket expenditure on health. While generic medicines are also good quality medicines and cost much less, the doctor-chemist nexus often pushes people into buying more expensive alternatives,” added another person.

To push the use of low-cost generic medicines, even the draft pharmaceutical policy last year had proposed that public procurement and dispensing of medicines should be of generic drugs bearing the names of salts. The draft suggested a major shift where only the name of salts (active ingredients) would be displayed on the package. “Branded generic drugs are currently sold like other patented medicines, with their brand names displayed on the packaging. A manufacturer will only be allowed to stamp the company name and the generic name on the packaging and not the brand name,” the draft had proposed.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

4.1. Indian scientists develop next generation technology loop to generate clean energy

Press Information Bureau, Feb. 22, 2018

New Delhi: Indian scientists have developed a super critical carbon di oxide Brayton test loop facility that would help generate clean energy from future power plants including solar thermal. This next generation technology loop was developed indigenously by Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

This is India’s first test-bed for next generation, efficient, compact, waterless super critical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle test loop for power generation. The technology is perhaps the first test loop coupled with solar heat source in the world.

This early stage research could potentially be useful for meeting the energy needs of the country. The new generation high efficiency power plants with closed cycle CO2 as the working fluid have the potential to replace steam based nuclear and thermal power plants, thus reducing the carbon foot print significantly. The facility was inaugurated by Science & Technology Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan at the IISc campus in Bengaluru on Thursday.

“I am sure all these intense scientific efforts and collective endeavours would enable us to realise the vision of an affordable, efficient, compact, reliable Clean Energy systems which will be robust and suitable in diverse geographic conditions,” said Dr. Harsh Vardhan, while addressing the scientists. “We will be facilitating all such efforts and complementing and supplementing both in terms of technical knowledge and finances, wherever required.”

This test loop is designed to generate the necessary data for future development of scaled up S-CO2 power plants, which would require overcoming several technological challenges –developing critical components such as the turbine, compressor and heat exchangers that can work at the desired pressure and temperature ranges and using materials that can withstand these conditions.

This effort has already been identified as a possible national initiative for the next generation of solar thermal power plants. This gives India an opportunity to become a world leader in this technology, and fulfil a major objective of the National Solar Mission which emphasizes indigenous manufacturing.

“This breakthrough research could potentially be game changer for meeting the energy needs of the country in terms of higher efficiency and capacity at lower operating costs and size. I am sure this would result in research, development and demonstration of state-of-art tools, techniques and products which are of critical importance for our energy security,” said Dr Vardhan.

The minister announced plans to set up a research centre on Clean Coal Technologies at IISc. He said, the Science & Technology Ministry has already made an investment of Rs. 500 crores in research endeavours at IISc during the last three years.

Today’s thermal power plants use steam to carry heat away from the source and turn a turbine to generate power. However, it could generate more power if, instead of steam, supercritical CO2 (SCO2) is used. The term “supercritical” describes the state of carbon dioxide above its critical temperature of 31°C and critical pressure of 73 atmospheres making it twice as dense as steam.

In order to make this technology a reality, a research group at Interdisciplinary Center for Energy Research at Indian Institute of Science (ICER, IISc.) has been set up - India’s first S-CO2 Brayton Cycle based solar thermal test loop at the laboratory scale.

The group has made tremendous progress and have developed optimized thermodynamic cycle designs, heat transfer and fluid flow codes for designing the test loop, critical components such as compact heat exchangers and solar receivers, and state -of-the-art instrumentation along with loop control sequence algorithm.

The efficiency of energy conversion could also be significantly increased by as much as 50 percent or more if S-CO2 is operated in a closed loop Brayton cycle. Besides increasing power generation and making the process more efficient, there are other advantages of using this new technology. Smaller turbines and power blocks can make the power plant cheaper, while higher efficiency would significantly reduce CO2 emissions for fossil fuel based plants. Moreover, if the power plant used solar or nuclear heat source, it would mean higher capacity at lower operating costs.

Prof. Pradip Dutta and Prof. Pramod Kumar of the Department of Chemical Engineering, IISc were the key scientists involved in this path-breaking innovation.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

4.2. Swachh Bharat’s waste management problem

Livemint, 22 Feb. 2018, Ramdeep Singh and Soyen Park

Indian cities generate a massive amount of waste that goes untreated; look to South Korea for lessons in how to handle this

To anyone tuned into Davos last month, Indian leaders presented an impressive picture of a country open for business. “If you want wealth with wellness, come to India”, was the message. For those closer to the ground, however, the quality of life in India’s towns and cities seems distinctly suspect 2025. Blame urbanization and industrialization, but the consequences of India’s megacities producing tonnes of waste are tangible and troubling.

Here is one important aspect of this: India generates over 150,000 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) per day, with Mumbai being the world’s fifth most wasteful city. Yet, only 83% of waste is collected and less than 30% is treated. According to the World Bank, India’s daily waste generation will reach 377,000 tonnes by

India’s waste predicament presents numerous social and environmental challenges for urban local bodies (ULBs), whose prerogative covers MSW management. Most noticeably, urban waste has significant effects on our health. There is then the invisible plight of the thousands of informal ragpickers who sustain their livelihoods by collecting, sorting, and trading waste. By some estimates, ragpickers save almost 14% of the municipal budget annually. We have also failed our duty as trustees of natural wealth. Take, for instance, the apocalyptic scenes at the Ghazipur landfill site in Delhi, where waste burning is a major contributor to the air pollution crisis.

A noteworthy first step from the Narendra Modi government was propelling sanitation to the top of the policy agenda under the flagship Swachh Bharat Abhiyan programme. The Clean India Dashboard tracks programme achievements, 24x7. Out of 82,607 wards, 51,734 now have 100% door-to-door waste collection, up from 33,278 in November 2015. Almost 88.4 megawatts (MW) of energy is generated from waste-to-energy (WTE) projects. Nevertheless, the disproportionate focus of the programme on toilet construction and eliminating open defecation deflects attention from colossal failures in waste management systems.

For policy prescriptions, we should look East rather than West for a change. South Korea has one of the world’s most sophisticated waste management systems, and has been hugely successful in decoupling the link between economic growth and waste generation. Its small size notwithstanding—a country of 51 million people, generating around 53,000 tonnes of MSW per day—it has a daily per capita MSW generation that is two to five times larger than that of India. Despite rapid industrialization over the past half century, it is the only Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development country that has reduced MSW by 40% while its nominal GDP (gross domestic product) has seen a five-fold increase.

Indeed, the unique economic and social development trajectories of individual countries mandate different approaches to waste management. Until the 1980s, Korea, like most other developing countries, focused on improving efficiency of waste management through incineration and landfills. This was considered relatively easier than public campaigns to “Reduce and Recycle”. However, by the late 1980s, in the face of accelerating waste generation, South Korea implemented a volume-based waste fee system—a paradigm shift focused on controlling waste generation and achieving maximum rates of recycling while raising additional resources to finance waste management.

It has since seen a drastic reduction in MSW generation: from 30.6 million MT in 1990 to 19.3 million MT in 2016. It is now the country with the second-highest recycling rate in the world (60%) after Germany. It is one of the few countries to separate and recycle food waste. Meanwhile, landfill and incineration rates have decreased dramatically from 94% in 1990 to 38% in 2016.

“Reduce and Recycle”, however, has not been the only focus of the government. Landfill recovery projects such as the Nanjido recovery project carried out by the Seoul metropolitan government in 1999, have successfully transformed hazardous waste sites into sustainable ecological attractions. Today, the Nanjido site welcomes 10 million visitors a year, and saves about $600,000 a year by providing landfill gas to be used as boiler fuel. Other municipalities are following suit: the world’s largest landfill, Sudokwon landfill in Incheon, is currently being converted into “Dream Park”, a leisure and environmental education centre.

A complementary policy focus has been to harness energy from WTE plants. South Korea released “Measures For Waste Resource And Biomass Energy” in 2008, which provided budgetary and technical support to local governments to expand WTE facilities. The world’s first landfill-powered hydrogen plant was built in South Korea in 2011, and currently over 60% of new and renewable energy is produced from waste—a contrast to India where wind and solar constitute major renewable energy sources.

A comprehensive yet creative policy mix for effective waste management in South Korea would not have been possible without political will and strong public demand for cleaner, healthier living environments. As India’s own economy grows faster and further, the country will face an insurmountable waste crisis, unless the government puts a high priority on waste management. We must demand our right to live in a clean and healthy natural environment.

Ramandeep Singh and Soyen Park are, respectively, a PhD candidate at King’s College, University of Cambridge, and an independent researcher based in New Delhi.

5. Billionaire Sanjeev Gupta to beat Tesla, plans to build world's biggest lithium ion battery

IANS, Mar. 16, 2018

CANBERRA: British billionaire Sanjeev Gupta has revealed plans to build the world's biggest lithium ion battery in South Australia.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said that the battery would benefit the broader community, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We know that more renewable energy means cheaper power, and that's why we have increased our renewable energy target to 75 per cent and also introduced a new renewable storage target of 25 per cent," Weatherill told reporters in Adelaide on Friday.

"These targets will accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewables and lower bills for South Australians."

Since its completion in December 2017, Tesla's South Australia battery has surpassed expectations, regularly supplementing the state's power grid to prevent widespread blackouts.

The planned 120 megawatts (MW)/140 megawatt hours (MWh) storage capacity of Gupta's Liberty House is larger than that of the current record holder, built by Elon Musk's Tesla in South Australia in 2017, which has a cap of 100MW/129MWh.

The battery will power solar farm to be built at the site of a former steelworks near Adelaide which Gupta's Liberty House bought in 2017.

Gupta secured a nearly $8 million loan from the South Australian government through its Renewable Technology Fund for the project which is expected to create 100 construction jobs.

The announcement of Gupta's project came on the final day of campaigning ahead of Saturday's state election, a campaign where renewable energy has been a key issue.

Funds for the project were committed by Weatherill's government prior to the government going into a caretaker period, meaning the project will go ahead regardless of Saturday's result.

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- AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

6.1. The rising agrarian distress in India

Livemint, 28 Feb. 2018, Jayati Ghosh

To stabilize crop prices and make them remunerative, the Swaminathan Commission proposed significant improvements in the implementation of MSPs

Across the country, farmers are furious—and rightfully so. Four years ago, they helped bring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power, believing Narendra Modi’s claims that they would no longer suffer official neglect. But since then, conditions in agriculture have got worse. Earlier problems have

have been squeezed by slower output growth, higher costs and increased vulnerability to a changing climate. And there is a slew of new problems resulting directly from government policies.

In retrospect, it is quite remarkable that the rampant and rising agrarian distress of the mid-1990s to mid- 2000s did not lead to more farmers’ protests. Instead, there was a surge in farmers’ suicides, especially in dryland regions, and a significant rise in short-term distress migration.

But farmers certainly played a role in the loss of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 2004, and the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime sought to meet some of their concerns through an increase in public spending in rural areas, including through agriculture component plans in each state, a focus on agricultural credit and enhanced extension activities, and the rural employment guarantee scheme, which was used extensively by workers from small and marginal farmer households. These were relatively limited measures, but they nonetheless marked a shift in the direction of policies, which was aided by the global recovery in agricultural prices.

Even though the National Commission on Farmers, better known as the Swaminathan Commission, was set up by the UPA regime, there was no real effort to implement its recommendations, and the second UPA tenure did nothing to take these ideas forward. They may have been too politically contentious and economically demanding to be adopted within the neoliberal economic paradigm.

After all, the commission proposed extensive land reforms: including distributing ceiling surplus and waste lands, preventing diversion of prime agricultural land and forest to the corporate sector for non-agricultural purposes, and ensuring grazing rights and access to common property resources. It argued that higher productivity in agriculture could only be achieved with substantial increases in public investment, especially in irrigation, drainage, land development, water conservation, and promotion of conservation farming and biodiversity. It proposed comprehensive groundwater and surface-water management, to give all farmers sustained and equitable access.

The commission emphasized the expansion of formal credit outreach to the poor and needy in rural areas; reduction of interest rates on institutional loans to 4% simple interest (with government support), a moratorium on debt recovery, including loans from non-institutional sources, and the waiver of interest on loans in distress areas and during calamities. On the insurance front, it suggested that an integrated credit-cum-crop-livestock- human health insurance package should cover the entire country and all crops, with reduced premiums, along with an agriculture risk fund to provide relief to farmers after natural calamities.

There were specific recommendations for women farmers, not only for joint landholding pattas, but to recognize women as farmers for kisan credit cards and other programmes of the Central and state governments. To stabilize crop prices and make them remunerative, the commission proposed significant improvements in the implementation of minimum support prices (MSPs), and effective extension to other crops, including millets and other nutritious cereals. The recommendation that the MSP should be at least 50% more than the weighted average cost of production was made in this report.

These recommendations were both comprehensive and detailed—so now no government can claim that it doesn’t know what to do about agriculture. What the UPA government could not or would not do, the BJP in 2014 promised to do, so much so that its electoral manifesto lifted large chunks from the Swaminathan report. The ruling party must now be ruing that decision, because it has been even less able to implement any of the proposals than the previous government.

Take the MSP: This government has actually provided significantly lower margins over costs for most crops than the UPA regime. The promise to provide 50% over costs (announced yet again in this year’s Union budget) seems like a slap in the face when the clarification comes that this refers only to paid out costs plus family labour’s imputed costs. Public investment in agriculture and related areas has fallen as a share of public spending, and the promised increases in crucial areas are nowhere in evidence. The expected improvements in crop insurance have also not materialized, unsurprising since the expenditure on it is pitiful. Farmers reeling under dry spells or sudden hailstorms that destroy standing crops are provided no compensation for losses. The sins of omission have been compounded by sins of commission, as demonetisation destroyed rural markets and demand for farmers for a prolonged period, and the imposition of the goods and services tax added to their cultivation costs. Livestock rearing, which has saved farmers from penury and now accounts for nearly a third of agricultural value added, is under threat from cow vigilantes who are allowed to run riot. No wonder farmers across the country feel betrayed.

Jayati Ghosh is a professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

6.2. Celebrating India’s forests: The lungs of our land

Livemint, 17 Mar. 2018, Neha Dara

With the International Day of Forests coming up on 21 March, Mint Lounge takes a look at India’s diverse landscapes

Google “India forest threats” and dozens of news stories pop up. These are reports on timber smuggling, animal poaching, wildfires and illegal mining. The biannual State Of The Forest 2017 report, released in February by the Forest Survey of India, celebrates a 1% increase in cover.

But the claim has been described as misleading by conservationists, who ascribe the small increase to plantations of a single or few varieties of trees that host very little biodiversity compared to natural forests. Through it all, one fact remains uncontested: At 21.5%, the country is still far short of its target of 33% forest cover.

Other countries seem to be doing better. According to World Bank figures, India’s neighbour, Bhutan, has a forest cover of 72%. In Vietnam, where forest cover had depleted significantly in the 1980s, it is up to 47% now. Costa Rica has successfully stopped and reversed deforestation, upping its cover to over 54%.

With the International Day of Forests coming up on 21 March, there could be no better time to take a pledge to celebrate and protect India’s forests.

To tempt you to take that vow, Lounge asked photographer Dhritiman Mukherjee to put together a photo essay showcasing that diversity—from the pink and red hues of the rhododendron forests of West Bengal and Sikkim, to the muddy red waterfalls of the opulently green Western Ghats in the monsoon, and the rugged landscape of Rajasthan.

Mukherjee has travelled to the far corners of the world to photograph wild animals, birds and other creatures. He has trudged through the rainforests of the Congo, flown over the grasslands and golden dunes of Namibia that meld into the sea, sought out Birds of Paradise on the islands of Indonesia, and shivered in the frozen Arctic.

Travelling to these diverse forest landscapes, he says, he has realized that “India is a mini world”. Every kind of forest ecosystem and habitat is represented within its borders.

Our challenge, he says, is not just to conserve our forests but also their diversity. “Understanding ecosystems is a must. Planting trees everywhere is not the solution, we have to protect the arid forests and grasslands because these harbour unique life forms as well,” he adds.

Here’s a collection of his images from India, shot on long hikes, nights spent in hides, and at forest lodges without electricity, gas, or mobile signals, in the company of forests guards, naturalists, researchers and conservationists.

7.1. MNCs harvest rural management talent with fat pay

BusinessLine, 19 Feb. 2018, Rutam Vora

IRMA students get lucrative offers from 114 companies as corporate interest surges

Rural management is catching the fancy of top corporate recruiters, who are making lucrative, record-setting offers to the newly graduated students from the Institute of Rural Management—Anand (IRMA).

At the recently concluded final placements of the 37th batch of the Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Management (PRM 37), multinational giants with a rural focus and agribusiness operations, such as the Tolaram Group, Cargill, Godrej Agrovet, Kancor, ITC and the Zuari Group joined the conventional recruiters — dairy and farmer cooperatives — as top recruiters, setting a record for the country’s first rural management institute.

As the talent hunt turned fierce, the maximum compensation package was a stunning ₹46.50 lakh per annum. During the three-day placements from February 12, a record 114 companies participated and made 315 offers to a batch of 180 students.

Tapping latent potential

“There has been a resurgence of corporate interest in the rural sector, with the private sector offering record salaries, which averaged ₹12.17 lakh per annum against ₹10.57 lakh last year,” Pratik Modi, Placement Coordinator, told Businessline.

“This shows that corporates have realised the importance and latent potential of the rural sector.

“They have started strengthening rural operations. IRMA’s curriculum is designed to create capabilities to manage rural operations, hence there is a great deal of demand for IRMAns,” he added. Among other top recruiters were diversified conglomerate Afri Ventures Ltd, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Mars International. About 4-5 students had opted out of the placements to pursue entrepreneurship, while 18 students received pre-placement offers from various organisations. In its 39-year history, the institute has maintained a 100 per cent placement record, but only recently has the quantum of compensation offered started to match that of premier B-Schools.

“Earlier, our placement policy was focussed more on the development sector, which suited NGOs, multi-lateral agencies, government development agencies and cooperatives,” Modi noted.

“But after realising the growing needs of the private sector, we expanded our policy horizon and invited corporates and business groups for recruitment, and provided the right fit between the profiles and our curriculum,” he added.

Amul, the top recruiter

While ‘Amul’ marketer, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF), remained the top recruiter, inducting 16 candidates, other cooperatives and producers’ collectives recruited a total of 30 candidates.

Global consulting leader KPMG recruited candidates for consulting roles, while several banks, financial institutions, insurance companies and CSR foundations also made picks.

The median salary offered by NGOs, cooperatives, and government development agencies, too, was up, with the average salary touching ₹9.42 lakh per annum against ₹9.37 lakh last year.

The combined average salary for the current batch stood at ₹11.39 lakh per annum, against ₹10.22 lakh last year).

7.2. Apple’s Bengaluru supplier achieves zero waste in record time

TNN, 8 Mar. 2018, Shilpa Phadnis

BENGALURU: Apple supplier Wistron’s facility in Bengaluru has achieved zero waste to landfill certification in a little over a year, much faster than its assembly units in China, says Apple’s latest progress report on

supplier responsibility. The other assembly units took two years to secure the certification.

Wistron’s unit in the industrial hub of Peenya has been assembling the low-cost iPhone SE since last year. It’s the only iPhone assembling unit outside China and Brazil.

In 2015, Apple launched a zero waste programme that provides onsite support to help suppliers learn how to recycle and reuse materials, and divert waste from landfills. To achieve a zero waste to landfill certification through certification agency Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a factory must divert 100% of its waste from landfills, with a maximum of 10% sent to a waste-to-energy facility. When the programme began, suppliers with the most significant waste impact were selected – final assembly facilities in China. In two years, 100% of its final assembly locations in China had attained zero waste certifications, the report said.

In early 2017, Apple began work with Wistron in Bengaluru and a key part of the programme was to provide waste management training to its employees, to educate them on avoiding sending any waste to the landfills. The programme included assistance in selecting recyclable protective materials and finding service providers to reclaim materials at the end of life.

The Apple supplier responsibility report conducted 756 assessments in 30 countries, covering 95% of its total spend. About 26% were first-time assessments.

In 2017, efforts to empower women through health education also began at several of its supplier facilities in China and India. “Our goal is to enable women in factories to take charge of their personal health and well- being by becoming well-informed of risks specific to women,” the report said.

The programme provides vital information and access to services that women need to maintain their health, including critical topics such as self-examination for early cancer detection, nutrition, personal care, and maternal health. "Extended collaboration among Apple teams, factory management, major medical institutions including the Department of Community Health, St. John's National Academy of Health Sciences in Bangalore, welfare officers, trainers, and the women themselves is essential to achieve the programme's goals. All training is conducted in the participants' local language and tailored to the needs of factory employees," the report said.

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8.1. New grape variety promises medicinal juice & additional revenue for farmers

IndianExpress, 22 Feb. 2018, Partha Sarathi Biswas

The Pune-based National Research Centre for Grapes (NRCG) has developed a variety of hybrid grape that is scheduled to be released for commercial cultivation in the upcoming season. Named Manjri Medika, the brand new variety is likely to be one of the few juice varieties cultivated in India. The pure juice variety has a very high concentration of anthocyanin and rich anti-oxidant properties, said S D Sawant, director of NRCG. The normal yield of this variety is around 10-12 tonnes per acre and Medika is more resistant to diseases than the normal table or wine varieties, said Sawant.

“The juice from this grape has medicinal value and extensive research is going on in this field,” he added. Other than the juice, pomace — the fibrous pulp of grape obtained after extraction of its juice — can be dried and used as a food additive while the seed of the fruit can be used for extraction of oil, said Sawant. The oil is used in the cosmetic industry and can be a source of additional income for farmers. High in medicinal value, the pomace can be used to churn out grape-flavoured confectioneries.

To optimise the commercial cultivation of the fruit, NCRG has tied up with the Nashik-based Sahyadri Farms. Sahyadri Farms has an imported machinery for extraction of juice, which can be preserved for six months without the addition of any preservatives. “They also have facilities for extraction of seed oil and creating a powder from the pomace,” said Sawant.

Vilas Shinde, chairman of Sahyadri Farms, said the firm will work on marketing and brand creation for the grape juice. “It is a new product... this can be another avenue to generate revenues for farmers,” he said. Along with the traditional table and wine grapes, the juice variety can be also be grown by farmers. “Economics of this variety promises to be better than that of wine grapes,” he said.

8.2. Govt pegs sugar output at 27.2 mn tn for 2017-18

PTI, Mar. 14, 2018

New Delhi: The government today pegged the sugar production estimate at 27.2 million tonnes for the ongoing 2017-18 marketing year ending September, lower than the industry's projection of 29.5 million tonnes for the period.

Sugar output of India, the world's second largest producer after Brazil, stood at 20.3 million tonnes in 2016-17 marketing year (October-September).

Industry body ISMA has revised upward sugar production estimates for the current marketing year to 29.5 million tonnes.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Food C R Chaudhary said sugar production is estimated at 27.2 million tonnes for the current marketing year.

"With carry over stock of 4 million tonnes and estimated production of about 27.2 million tonnes, the availability of sugar in the country during 2017-18 is estimated to be about 31.2 million tonnes," he said.

The minister said sugar availability will be more than the estimated annual demand of 25 million tonnes.

Sugar production in top three producing states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka is pegged at 10.1 million tonnes, 9.05 million tonnes and 3.15 million tonnes, respectively, in 2017-18 year, according to the data placed before Parliament.

In a separate reply, the minister said that the country had a stock of 15.8 million tonnes till February of this year.

On exports, he said about 5.5 lakh tonnes of sugar has been exported up to January, out of which 99 per cent has been done under the Advance Authorisation Scheme.

The government will take necessary measures at appropriate time to promote export of sugar, if required, depending upon the domestic production and availability, he added.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

9.1. Record foodgrain production signals a recovery in agriculture

Livemint, 28 Feb. 2018, Sayantan Bera

The record foodgrain production and likely fall in output prices puts the spotlight on the proposed minimum support price policy

New Delhi: Indian farmers, battling adversities on farms and off them, have brought glad tidings for the rest of the nation. Foodgrain production is set to rise to a record 277.5 million tonnes in 2017-18, according to the agriculture ministry.

At this level, food production is about 0.9% higher than the 275.1 million tonnes produced in 2016-17, also a record crop year, the second advance estimates of crop production released by the ministry showed on Tuesday. The crop year is from July to June.

While higher production of foodgrains and non-food crops like cotton and sugarcane suggest a recovery in agriculture is underway, the record foodgrain production and likely fall in output prices puts the spotlight on the proposed minimum support price (MSP) policy.

“The latest estimates are a good news in the sense that it shows farmers haven’t lost hope despite all their problems,” said Siraj Hussain, former agriculture secretary and a fellow at the Delhi-based Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. “We can only hope that farmers will receive a fair price for their bumper harvest... but the challenge is that the reasons for unremunerative prices—be it due to low global prices or market imperfections—is not fully understood yet.”

The new MSP policy, assuring 50% returns over cost to farmers, comes into effect in the next crop year beginning July.

Data from the agriculture ministry projected production of rice, coarse grains and pulses to rise during the year, that of wheat is likely to drop by 1.4% to 97.1 million tonnes in 2017-18 from 98.5 million tonnes in the previous years.

While India’s rice output is estimated to rise to about 111 million tonnes in 2017-18 from 109.7 million tonnes a year earlier, production of pulses is likely at a record 24 million tonnes, up from 23 million tonnes the year before. Among different pulse varieties production of chana (gram) is estimated to rise by a staggering 18% to over 11 million tonnes in 2017-18.

The estimates further showed that India’s oilseed production is likely to decline 4.4% to 29.9 million tonnes in 2017-18 from 31.3 million tonnes in the previous year. The fall in oilseeds output is driven by a sharp 13% drop in production of soybean.

However, the record foodgrain production during the year may not boost India’s farm sector growth rate due to the base effect of 2016-17, which also was a record crop year. The pace of growth is estimated to decline to 2.1% in 2017-18 from 4.9% the year before, the central statistics office said in early January.

9.2. Castor seed production estimates up by 34% in 2017-18: Survey

Business Standard, Feb. 27, 2018

Ahmedabad: An estimated record yield jump of 37 per cent is set to push castor seed production in the country by around 34 per cent to close at 1.43 million tonnes for 2017-18, says a survey commissioned by Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA).

The Indian Agribusiness Systems Ltd, known as Agriwatch, conducted the field crop survey for SEA in castor growing regions such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, of which Gujarat holds the highest share. The survey results also exceeded the first advanced estimate of castor crop by the Centre of 1.39 million tonnes for 2017-18.

Castor production estimates for the new season has seen a significant increase of 30 per cent on account of record yield across the country. Gujarat accounts for 90 per cent of castor production in India. While the revised production estimates now stand at 1.43 million tonnes, Gujarat accounts for over 1.2 million tonnes of this.

As per the survey, castor seed crop yield grew by record 37 per cent to stand at 1,738 kg per hectares as against last year, thereby pushing up production estimates.

Further, the area under castor too grew by a marginal 2.9 per cent from 799,540 hectares in 2016-17 to 822,790 hectares in 2017-18, based on the state governments' estimates for kharif season.

According to Agriwatch, the increase in area was on account of crop rotation, the expectation of higher price as well as lower cost of cultivation.

Among the states, Gujarat registered a 5.3 per cent rise in sowing area at 595,600 hectares, compared to 564,400 hectares last year.

As a result, castor seed production in Gujarat stands at an estimated 1.22 million tonnes, up by 42 per cent rise over last year's estimate of 861,000 tonnes. The largest castor seed producing state also saw the yield grow by 34 per cent higher at 2050.23 kg per hectare.

Unlike Gujarat, however, castor area in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana saw a drop of 8 and 20.5 per cent, respectively. While castor acreage in Rajasthan fell from 142,460 hectares last year to 181,000 hectares this year, that for Andhra Pradesh & Telangana declined to 58,190 hectares, down from 73,180 hectares last year. Agriwatch stated that the drop in castor area for these states was on account of crop shift, falling yield and pest attacks last year.

Meanwhile, commenting on the survey, Atul Chaturvedi, president, SEA stated that based on the government numbers, the association's analysis showed that as on January 2018, there was a carry-in stock of 1.3 million tonnes.

"Considering the first advanced estimate of the government, we expect the total availability would be around 2.7 million tonnes. And considering the total disappearance of 1.9 million tonnes, during 2018, there will be carry-out of 800,000 tonnes," Chaturvedi added.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

10.1. Innovative ways to increase farm income

Livemint, 1 Mar. 2018, P.K. Joshi

India needs professionals who can develop commodity and region-wise clusters of farmer groups for marketing and participation in the futures market

Indian agriculture is at a crossroads, with a number of challenges and enormous opportunities. The key challenges are small and declining landholdings, price volatility and climate risks. Growing demand for food in the domestic and global markets offers huge opportunities. The question is, how can we harness opportunities and overcome constraints to raise farmer incomes, especially small and marginal farmers? As many as 86% of the holdings in India are small and marginal, with less than 2 hectares of land. Several new programmes and schemes have been launched by the government to increase farm income. There are several mega flagship programmes, including the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, Soil Health Card scheme and Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. This year, the Union budget has also fulfilled a long-standing demand of farmers to fix minimum support prices at 50% above production cost. All these programmes will enhance farmer incomes if implemented effectively.

However, it appears that the implementation part is on a business-as-usual basis. As usual, control is with the government rather than focusing on effective engagement of the private sector. To accomplish the expected benefits, especially for small farmers, there is a need to develop innovative institutional arrangements for converging investment, aggregating production and consolidating markets. We are proposing a few “business-

not-as-usual” areas to develop institutional arrangements so that small farmers can participate in these programmes and share the benefits of emerging opportunities.

The foremost requirement is investment in activities which create productive assets. The agriculture sector needs huge investment to transform and become more attractive and remunerative. Research reveals that compared to other sectors, investment in agriculture contributes more to reducing poverty. This is because the majority of the population lives in rural areas and is dependent on agriculture.

The last three Union budgets had various programmes to step up investment in the agriculture sector. However, more is needed to make it efficient, competitive and sustainable. There are three possible options to supplement government investment: (1) Converge various region-wise government schemes into one umbrella programme. This will check duplication of efforts and reduce administrative costs. (2) More incentives may be given to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives for agricultural development schemes. Many corporate houses are already contributing in rural areas but the amount is meagre in the agriculture sector. We may develop a kitty of CSR funds for agriculture by allocating a fraction of overall CSR spending by individual corporate houses for agricultural development. Corporate houses may be incentivised and recognized for their contributions. (3) Pilot public-private partnerships (PPPs) in developing agri-infrastructure. India has an excellent track record of PPPs in developing infrastructure, which benefits rural areas as well as the agriculture sector. However, we have not tried PPPs to create agri-infrastructure, such as agricultural markets, warehouses, cold storage, cold chains, irrigation delivery and extension services. These will supplement the government’s investment in agriculture. The government may also prioritize where more resources are to be allocated. For example, in commercial areas, the private sector is present and, therefore, the government may give low priority to such areas. In areas where agriculture is at a subsistence level, the government needs to accord high priority.

The role of start-ups offers huge potential in the agriculture sector that is yet to be harnessed. The prime minister has said that start-ups can establish laboratories for soil testing and food commodity certification. There are ample lucrative opportunities that may bring farmers and start-ups together to enhance farmer incomes. The government has launched the e-NAM platform in most mandis. However, these are mostly operated by traders, as the small and marginal farmers have a tiny marketable surplus. Also, they cannot participate in the existing available warehouses, cold storage, and futures market. Therefore, there is a need to create institutional arrangements that will aggregate their produce for marketing and storage. We can draw lessons from the stock market, where a small investor purchases mutual funds rather than going directly to the share market. The mutual funds are operated by professionals. We need professionals who can develop commodity and region-wise clusters of farmer groups for marketing, storage and participation in the futures market. These professionals can participate in e-NAM on behalf of farmers. Similarly, there are opportunities for start-ups for agri-packers and movers, door delivery of inputs, services and agro-advisory. A small farmers’ agribusiness consortia (SFAC) can take the lead in developing appropriate institutional arrangements to attract agribusiness start-ups for such initiatives, which will help smallholders to take advantage of government programmes.

It is, therefore, pertinent to develop innovative institutions in a new paradigm to increase farmer incomes. We need to take up some pilots that can be subsequently scaled up—depending on the lessons learnt—to cover the majority of smallholder farmers. Failing that, ongoing efforts will not yield the desired results.

P.K. Joshi is the director-South Asia with the International Food Policy Research Institute, New Delhi

10.2. ITC sets sights higher for foods brand Aashirvaad

Livemint, 7 Mar. 2018, Sounak Mitra

ITC sets goal of generating Rs10,000 crore from the Aashirvaad brand annually over five years

New Delhi: ITC Ltd has set its sights higher for Aashirvaad—the Kolkata-based cigarette-to-shampoo maker’s largest packaged food brand.

The company has set an internal target of generating Rs10,000 crore from Aashirvaad annually in five years.

For perspective, this means that in five years, ITC will generate what the country’s largest pure-play listed food company, Nestle India Ltd, notched up in calendar year 2017 sales (Rs10,135 crore), and more than the financial year 2017 revenue of biscuit maker Britannia Industries Ltd (Rs8,684 crore), by selling food products under Aashirvaad— a brand ITC created in May 2002 to sell atta, and later expanded to include spices, salt, ghee, instant mixes and ready-to-eat meals.

“At the retail level, Brand Aashirvaad’s current sales is around Rs4,200 crore. The brand has been growing at a compounded annual rate of 16-17% for the past few years. We hope to maintain the rate of growth, and the target is to cross the Rs10,000 crore mark,” said Hemant Malik, divisional chief executive (foods), ITC.

To hit the Rs10,000 crore mark, according to Malik, Brand Aashirvaad will see a stream of product launches— backed by a micro-regional strategy for product innovation, distribution and communication targeting to get new sets of consumers.

Besides, the company is constantly working on reducing distance to market (from factory) to ensure freshness. “We are launching ready-to-bake roti (Indian bread), with a five-day shelf life, later this year, hopefully by winter. We have already got the technology, and will soon start test marketing the product,” Malik said. The ready-to-bake roti will require only a few minutes’ heating.

While ready-to-bake rotis are available in some global markets, ITC will be among the first companies to bring the product to India. UK-based East End Food sells a similar product in some parts of that country.

In India, Bengaluru-based iD Fresh Food India Pvt. Ltd and New Delhi-based Ready Roti India Pvt. Ltd, in which Mexican firm Grupo Bimbo acquired a 65% stake in May 2017, also tried selling ready-to-heat rotis but the products are hard to find.

“While we plan to price it for the masses, the product will initially be sold in metro cities that house the maximum number of double-income families, or people with little time for cooking. Also, this is a product that

would compete with the restaurants that deliver to homes. We are trying to bring as much convenience as possible to make cooking easier,” said Mailk.

ITC will also launch 7-8 variants of atta—produced with different blends of wheat—this year.

“These will be produced with different blends of wheat to make atta more suited to the taste buds of people in a particular region or state,” said Malik. At present, the company has 4 variants.

The idea, according to Malik, is to go micro-regional and launch products that are relevant to, say, a particular town, state, community or a socioeconomic class.

“With 29 factories and our back-end of wheat procurement, we can have 29 blends or more,” said Malik, adding that the company will also expand the atta and ready-to-make food portfolios to cater to people with lifestyle diseases such as diabetes or those suffering from malnutrition.

ITC’s focus on Aashirvaad is part of the company’s strategy to generate around Rs65,000 crore from packaged foods by 2030 to reach its target of Rs1 trillion revenue from non-cigarette packaged goods by that time, Mint reported on 21 September 2017.

Meanwhile, the company has been tackling the fallout of a set of videos shared on social media that allege that Aashirvaad atta has plastic in it.

“What is being shown as plastic in these mischievous videos is actually wheat protein which is a mandated component of atta by the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India). Protein is an integral part of any atta or wheat. This protein is what binds the atta. Without this protein, it is not possible to roll chappatis,” said Malik.

- INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURE

11.1. Mahindra Group to invest Rs 900 cr more into EVs

PTI, 19 FEB. 2018

“We are not waiting for any policy to move forward. To be a pioneer, you have to create the road and we have to move forward”

Despite policy the lingering uncertainties, the Mahindra Group today made a fresh Rs 900-crore investment in electric vehicles (EVs) over the next four years, which should ramp up its first installed capacity to 5,000 units a month. “We have already invested Rs 600 crore in EVs over the past five-six years and have announced decided to invest Rs 400 crore in Karnataka and Rs 500 crore in Maharashtra over the next four-five years. This will be used for capacity, technology and products,” managing director Pawan Goenka told reporters here.

“We are not waiting for any policy to move forward. To be a pioneer, you have to create the road and we have to move forward,” he said on the sidelines of the ongoing Maharashtra investor summit. Goenka, however, said there is a need for the prevailing subsidies on EVs to continue for longer to ensure growth of this industry. Once it touches a critical mass of say 2 lakh units a month, which he expects by 2022, it will be on an equal footing with the conventional internal combustion engine-based vehicles, he said.

Increased capacity

At present, Mahindra has a capacity of 400 units a month, which will go up to 1,500, including three-wheelers by this September, he said, adding by next December they should be capable of rolling out 4,000 units. The current investment plan aims to take the capacity to 5,000 units a month and is based on certain assumptions like the subsidies continuing, Goenka said.

He said the company will be doing all parts of the EV play, except batteries, which require greater volumes for local manufacturing and so they will have to be imported. Goenka said at the current demand for EVs is so low at under 300 units a month, but said he is confident of better days and that the additional investments as “leap of faith”. In what has been termed as a volte-face by government, Union roads minister Nitin Gadkari had last

week said there was no need for a separate policy on EVs. The minister had earlier said that such a move was in the works.

Following this an industry lobby is reportedly meeting Union heavy industries minister Anant Geete and Niti Aayog chief executive Amitabh Kant. Goenka, however, said there has not been any “u-turn” by government, as there are already beneficial moves like differentiated GST treatment and EV policies by states like Maharashtra which is “enough to get the industry going”. He was, however, not so supportive of government’s earlier plan of turning 100 per cent electric by 2030, terming it is “too ambitious” and said there is a need to “walk more, before we start running”.

EV infrastucture

The auto industry veteran said we should be satisfied even if we achieve 30 per cent EV share by 2030, and enlisted global adoption experiences to buttress his point. EVs contribute for only 0.04 per cent of the domestic car market now compared to 2 per cent in China and 32 per cent in Norway, he said, adding both these countries had invested massively over the past decade to achieve these numbers.

Pointing out that lack of charging stations is the biggest impediment for EV-makers and said we should be first focusing on the metros having troubles around pollution before taking it nationally. Transport aggregators, including bus transport utilities, radio taxi operators like Uber and Ola, will be the first ones to adopt EVs, Goenka said.

He, however, termed the EV space as a big opportunity and asked everybody to focus on it because of the advantages of zero pollution and zero fuel imports. He also sought to placate the concerns of auto ancillaries, saying the industry will continue to grow at 4-5 per cent even in the decade to the 2030s which will give such companies sufficient business.

Meanwhile, addressing the summit, Tata Power executive director Ashish Khanna said technology has not changed so much on the solar front, which may justify “grid parity” that is seen in new bidding at rates as low as Rs 2.45 per unit.

11.2. Suzuki Motorcycle in talks with AP, Telangana for new plant

BusinessLine, 7 Mar. 2018, Murali Gopalan

Suzuki Motor Corporation is in talks with the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for setting up its second two-wheeler plant in India. At present, its scooters and motorcycles roll out of a facility in Gurugram, Haryana, which has been home for over a decade now.

“We have some proposals which are being examined. These are predominantly from the South with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana proactively leading the way,” said Sajeev Rajasekharan, Executive Vice President, Suzuki Motorcycle India, the local arm of the Japanese parent.

A final decision will be taken in the coming months so that there is enough time to start work on the new plant and have it up and running over the next three years. By that time, Suzuki will have reached peak production capacity of one million units annually at Gurugram.

Advantage AP?

“The South is a large two-wheeler market and it makes sense to have a location there to complement our operations in the North,” added Rajasekharan. It now remains to be seen which State will eventually bag the Suzuki mandate though AP has the upper hand going by its recent track record of attracting a host of automotive brands.

The list includes Kia Motors, Isuzu, Apollo Tyres, Amara Raja Batteries with Hero MotoCorp also tipped to join the parade. Telangana is home to the ZF Technical Centre but still has a lot of catching up to do with AP. Eventually, Suzuki will take the final call and the choice will boil down to fiscal sops, access to a robust ancillary supplier base as well as a port (both of which neighbouring Tamil Nadu can comfortably offer). Exports will become an important part of the Suzuki two-wheeler business plan for India as its role grows to become a critical manufacturing hub for the world. The company hopes to wrap up this fiscal with sales of five lakh units while targeting seven lakh for 2018-19 and going up to a million units by the end of this decade.

Focus on premium bikes

However, it is still way behind Hero and Honda, which account for over 13 million units annually between themselves, as well as TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto. Suzuki will also have to catch up with Royal Enfield and Yamaha and it will be interesting how the next three years pan out in this fierce tug-of-war.

The company has been operating in India since the 1980s when it first entered into a joint venture with TVS before parting ways in 2001. Over the years, it has just not been able to make a dent in this competitive market and has only lately changed its strategy to focus on premium bikes and scooters while steering clear of the commuter segment.

“We have a strong brand in scooters thanks to the Access 125 and need to replicate this in motorcycles,” said Masahiro Nishikawa, Executive General Manager, Suzuki Motor Corporation, on a recent visit to India. He admitted that the company has been “struggling to sell motorcycles” since its inception but things have changed lately with the success of the Gixxer.

“We are now a lot more confident and in a better position to build from here and establish our brand in motorcycles,” said Nishikawa. From Suzuki’s point of view, there are reasons to feel confident thanks to a new generation of young Indian buyers on the lookout for “emerging motorcycle categories”. This is where the company hopes to tap its global expertise in big, powerful bikes which can “offer everything in premium and performance”.

Nishikawa reiterated that beyond production numbers, Suzuki would focus on building a good dealer network with the right products to ensure that customers have nothing to complain about. India accounts for over 30 per cent of Suzuki two-wheeler sales (3.63 lakh of 1.19 million units sold between April-December 2017) and this component will increase in the coming years.

12.1. Ikea India to invest as much as Rs4,000 crore ($625 million) in Maharashtra

Livemint, 23 Feb. 2018, Arushi Kotecha

Ikea India will deploy the investment over 2-3 years to build two large stores in Mumbai, a few experience centres and its first fully owned distribution centre in Pune

Mumbai: Ikea India Pvt. Ltd, the local subsidiary of Swedish furniture retailer Ikea of Sweden AB, plans to invest Rs3,000-4,000 crore in Maharashtra to set up multi-format stores and experience centres, the company said on Thursday.

The investment will be deployed over two-three years to build two large stores in Mumbai, a handful of experience centres and Ikea India’s first fully owned distribution centre in Pune, said Patrik Antoni, deputy country manager at Ikea.

A sum of Rs750 crore, out of the total investment, has been set aside to develop the distribution centre.

“We are making some head-on investments when it comes to building the logistics because if we want to be affordable, we need efficient logistics infrastructure,” Antoni said, adding that the Pune centre will be a large hub connected to smaller distribution centres across India.

The first store in Maharashtra is expected to open in the Turbhe area of Navi Mumbai in 2019 while the first store in India will be functional in mid-2018 in Hyderabad.

These stores are being built on land acquired by Ikea India because it gives the company “greater control over the business environment and is also a commitment for the longer term”, said Per Hornell, head of the Maharashtra market at Ikea India.

The firm has so far bought a land parcel each in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi to build stores, with more land to be acquired in cities such as Pune, Surat, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Kolkata, according to Antoni.

The company will also open more stores, albeit smaller in scale, in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi, he added.

Each large store will typically require about Rs1,000 crore of investment, Antoni said.

Smaller stores, in addition to experience centres, will contribute more to the company’s ‘25 stores by 2025’ goal, a downward revision from the earlier ambition of 25 large stores. The reason for the modification is to

reach more customers by opening smaller stores closer to their residences in India’s space-constrained cities, Antoni said.

Going forward, an omni-channel strategy will be adopted with the launch of an e-commerce portal in 2019, he added.

Ikea India had committed Rs10,500 crore in 2013 but this amount is set to rise “much more because India is more interesting than we thought”, Antoni said, without divulging specifics.

In terms of sourcing from India, the parent company and its various subsidiaries presently buy materials and products from 55 local suppliers, including 11 in Maharashtra.

The company is looking for more suppliers in new categories for its India operations, as well as the broader global business, to further reduce costs and price, Antoni said.

Currently, under 6% of Ikea India’s materials and products are sourced locally with plans to “actively” increase localization to the government-mandated 30% over the next five years, said Hornell. This level will be achieved by increasing the number of products and materials purchased from existing suppliers as well, he added.

The India stores will offer delivery and assembly services in a marked digression from Ikea stores worldwide. A recent survey that the company undertook here said that only one in four Indians would opt to transport and assemble furniture on their own. Therefore, small training centres for assembly are being set up close to the stores, Hornell said.

With 9,500 products, the Navi Mumbai store will be spread across 430,000 sq. ft and is expected to serve 4 million visitors per year, the company said.

12.2. 128,509 Affordable Houses Sanctioned for Urban Poor under PMAY(urban)

Press Information Bureau, Mar. 01, 2018

Rs.9,364 Cr investment approved with Central Assistance of Rs.1,928 Cr Haryana gets 62,451 Houses, Uttar Pradesh-36,056, Chattisgarh-28,029, Puducherry-1,973

New Delhi: Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs has approved the construction of 1,28,509 more affordable houses for the benefit of urban poor under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) with an investment of Rs. 9,364 cr with central assistance of Rs. 1,928 cr. The approval was given in the 31st meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee in its meeting held here yesterday. The projects where sanctioned across 184 cities in the states of Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Puducherry(UT).

Haryana has been sanctioned 62,451 houses in 33 cities and towns with an investment of Rs. 6,844 cr with central assistance of Rs.937 cr. Uttar Pradesh got 36,056 houses in 95 cities and towns with an investment of Rs. 1,287 cr and central assistance of Rs.541 cr. Chattisgarh has been sanctioned 28,029 affordable houses in 54 cities with an investment of Rs. 1,151 cr and central assistance of Rs.420 cr. Puducherry has been sanctioned 1,973 houses in 2 cities and towns with an investment of Rs. 83 cr with central assistance of Rs.30 cr.

The approval accorded was for construction of 51,940 new houses under the Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC) component of PMAY (Urban), 15,033 in Uttar Pradesh, 10,572 in Chattisgarh, 2,049 houses in Haryana, 1,973 in Puducherry, A total 54,560 in Haryana, 4,552 in Uttar Pradesh and 17,457 in Chhattisgarh under Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP) component.

With the above proposed houses, cumulative houses under PMAY(U) would become 39,15,402 after final approval from CSMC. Further after subsuming projects of RAY scheme the total number of houses being funded under PMAY(Urban) would be 40,57,250 houses.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

13. Tata Motors bets on new models, network expansion to sustain double-digit growth

BusinessLine, 6 Mar. 2018

Tata Motors is confident of maintaining double-digit growth in its passenger vehicles sales in the coming quarters.

The company’s passenger vehicle sales have grown by 18 per cent at 167,208 units during the April 2017 and January 2018 period compared with industry growth of eight per cent. In February, Tata’s PV volumes posted a whopping 45 per cent (at 17,771 units).

S N Barman, Vice-President – Sales and Network, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors told BusinessLine on the sidelines of the launch of Zest Premio (priced at ₹746,800, ex-showroom, Chennai), a special edition of its compact sedan Zest, “All our recent launches – Tiago, Tigor, Hexa and Nexon – are doing well. Sales of each model have been increasing gradually.”.

Its compact SUV Nexon is reported to be doing well as per the company’s plans. Its current sales rate is over 4,000 units a month and the company sees an opportunity to increase it to over 6,000 units in the near term and more later.

With Nexon, Tata’s UV sales have zoomed to 38,020 units in the 10-month period of this fiscal against 13,946 units in the year-ago period.

Also, hatchback Tiago’s monthly volumes have grown to 7,000-7,500 units now from 3,500-4,000 units at launch in 2016.

With the new Zest Premio, Tata Motors hopes to increase the monthly sales from the present 2,500-3,000 units. Zest is 4-star rated for safety by the Global NCAP, a UK-based safety and testing organisation. Barman said the expansion of its dealer network and changes at the existing dealerships will also support the growth.

Presently, about 84 per cent of its sales is in the personal transportation segment, while the rest are sold in the fleet segment. The ratio was the reverse before the launch of new models.

14.1. Torrent Pharma readies €2 billion binding offer for Sanofi’s European unit

Livemint, 7 Mar.2018, Deborshi Chaki

Ahmedabad-based Torrent Pharma ties up funds from several domestic and foreign banks for the Zentiva bid

Mumbai: Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd is readying a €2 billion (Rs16,000 crore) bid for Zentiva N.V., the generic drugs unit of France’s Sanofi, two people directly aware of the bidding process said.

If Ahmedabad-based Torrent is successful, it will be the biggest outbound transaction by an Indian drug maker, the previous largest being Lupin Ltd’s acquisition of Gavis Pharmaceuticals Llc. and Novel Laboratories Inc. for $880 million in 2015.

Torrent Pharma has tied up funding from several domestic and foreign banks for the bid, the deadline for which ends on 28 March, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

Sanofi had acquired Zentiva in 2009 by paying close to $2.6 billion for the company. Zentiva is currently the third largest generics company in Europe and sells medicines for cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, anti- inflammatory, pain management, metabolic and blood disorders among others.

Zentiva has earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) of $150 million. Torrent’s €2 billion bid will value the firm at 13 times its Ebitda, said one of the two people cited above, adding Sanofi has hired JP Morgan, Rothschild & Co. and Morgan Stanley as advisers to manage the sale process.

“More Indian pharma companies had submitted non-binding bids when the asset first came up for auction but their bids were not shortlisted,” said the second person cited above. “Apart from Torrent, a few more bidders have been shortlisted, which include a strategic bidder and private equity funds,” the second person said, adding that shortlisted bidders among PE firms are global giants Blackstone and Carlyle.

News agency Reuters reported in February that apart from Torrent, Brazilian drugmaker EMS has been shortlisted by Sanofi for Zentiva.

Responding to a query, a spokesperson for Sanofi said “As announced in our 2020 strategic roadmap, Sanofi has carefully reviewed all options for its generics business in Europe and has decided to initiate a carve-out process in order to divest it by the end of 2018. Sanofi will be looking for a potential acquirer that will leverage the mid and long-term sustainable growth opportunities for this business in Europe.”

“While Sanofi does not disclose the details of the preparation of the divestment, the company can confirm that, as it is common business practice, bankers have been appointed to advise Sanofi on the divestment. Sanofi can also confirm having received different manifestations of interest for the acquisition of its profitable European generics business. The company will not comment further at this stage,” the spokesperson added. Requests for comment sent to Blackstone and Carlyle remained unanswered. JPMorgan, Rothschild and Morgan Stanley did not respond to requests for comment.

In August last year, Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd, one of the largest privately held domestic pharma companies, unsuccessfully bid for the European assets of Israeli generic drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd in a deal that was valued at close to $1 billion.

Torrent has been fairly active in the M&A space in the recent past. In January, Torrent announced the acquisition of US-based generic pharmaceuticals company, Biopharm Inc (BPI) through its US subsidiary. BPI is a maker of oral solutions, suspensions and suppositories. In November last year, it acquired the domestic business of Unichem Laboratories for close to Rs 3,600 crore. In 2014, Torrent acquired the branded domestic formulations business of Elder Pharma for Rs 2,000 crore and acquired select brands of Novartis, and manufacturing plants of Zyg Pharma and Glochem Industries in 2015.

14.2. Aurobindo gets USFDA nod for deep vein thrombosis drug

BusinessLine, 07 Mar. 2018

Aurobindo Pharma Ltd has received final approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) to manufacture and market Fondaparinux Sodium injection, 2.5 mg/0.5 mL, 5 mg/0.4 mL, 7.5 mg/0.6 mL, and 10 mg/0.8 mL single-dose prefilled syringes.

According to a company release, the approved ANDA is a bioequivalent and therapeutically equivalent to the reference listed drug (RLD) product Arixtra® Injection of Mylan Ireland. The product will be launched in January 2018.

Fondaparinux Sodium injection is used to prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The approved product has an estimated market size of $73 million for the 12 months ended October 31, 2017, according to IMS.

This is the 52nd ANDA (including 2 tentative approvals) to be approved out of Unit IV formulation facility in Hyderabad, used for manufacturing general injectable and ophthalmic products. Aurobindo now has 350 ANDA approvals (313 final approvals including 17 from Aurolife Pharma LLC and 37 tentative approvals) from USFDA.

The company shares were trading up by 1.78 per cent at Rs 696.15 on the BSE.

15.1. Flipkart plans country's biggest logistics park

Business Standard, Mar. 08, 2018

Bengaluru: Homegrown e-commerce giant Flipkart is planning to set up an integrated logistics park on the outskirts of Bengaluru. This will be the largest and one-of-its-kind facility in the country. The facility, for which the company is in the process of acquiring 100 acres of land, will house multiple massive warehouses that will rival in size those set up by Amazon and Alibaba in the US and China, respectively.

The unit, which will help Flipkart consolidate all its warehouses in and around Bengaluru, will also act as the nerve centre or the logistics hub across the four southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The company says the unit will house 4.5 million square feet of warehousing space in the next few

years. “This is going to be the largest investment from Flipkart’s side for the next five to 10 years. One is land acquisition and the other big investment is going to be the kind of facilities that we build here,” said Amitesh Jha, vice-president and head of Flipkart’s logistics arm, eKart. “The capex will be in hundreds of millions of dollars, but I will not be able to give you the exact investment figure.”

Flipkart says the integrated logistics park will not only help it deliver products to customers faster, it will also help reduce the cost of logistics by bringing together multiple players in the ecosystem. The park, location of which will be finalised in the next few months, will have 1.5 million square feet of warehousing space by the middle of next year.

By 2020, the company says the unit will employ 5,000 people directly, apart from creating indirect job opportunities for 15,000.

In comparison, the largest e-commerce warehouse in the country today is run by US online retail giant

Amazon in Telangana, which spans 400,000 square feet.

A typical e-commerce warehouse or sortation centre in India today measures around 100,000 square feet, or about a tenth of the size of similar facilities that are present in the US and China.

Flipkart says the scale of the unit is indicative of its ambitions. Jha says that in the next 10 years, the estimated requirement for warehousing space, just to serve Bengaluru, could be 4.5 million square feet. When that happens, the logistics park will solely serve the city, with similar units serving other regions of the country. “The idea was to acquire enough land to serve us for the next 10 to 15 years. We will keep on building fulfilment centres there in an integrated manner as we keep getting extra demand.

This will also help develop the logistics ecosystem there, which will help us do things like get trucks on demand or hire additional manpower on the fly,” added Jha.

Apart from housing massive warehouses, the unit will also have equally large sortation centres and a transportation hub. Despite building the logistics park, Flipkart will continue to expand into more regions with small fulfilment centres. Today, the company has 21 centres spread across nine regions, but in the next 12-18 months, it is planning to move into as many as 25 regions across India.

Another area of investment for Flipkart will be in integrating technology into these warehouses and sortation centres. Jha says the company is already working on developing the technology for this, apart from working with warehousing solution providers and component markers to Indianise their products. “We just do not want to be a consumer, we want to be deeply involved in the technology. If you build a 1 million square foot box and do not have systems and processes to cater to it, it is not going to work,” added Jha.

Logistics is one of the most critical aspects in the e-commerce space and absorbs a major chunk of the investments in the sector globally. In an interview with Business Standard last year, Amit Agarwal, vice- president and country manager at Amazon India, had said that the US firm had diverted over half of its investments in the country to building its logistics capabilities.

Today, the company has 41 fulfilment centres spread across 13 states, with a claimed storage capacity of 13 million cubic feet. Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive officer of Amazon, has so far committed to investing $5 billion in the country.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

15.2. Uber founder Travis Kalanick bets big on India with new venture

Livemint, 9 Mar. 2018, Anirban Sen

Travis Kalanick’s new fund 10100 will look to invest in real estate, e-commerce and emerging technologies in countries such as India and China

Bengaluru: Uber Technologies Inc. founder Travis Kalanick, who was ousted from his role as the ride-hailing giant’s chief executive last year, has started a new venture investment fund called 10100, which will look to invest in emerging technologies in countries such as India and China, among other things.

In a Twitter announcement on Thursday, Kalanick said he had begun to make investments and started working with entrepreneurs over the past few months as part of his efforts to move on from his stint at Uber—a company that he co-founded with Garrett Camp in 2009.

“Over the past few months, I’ve started thinking about what’s next. I’ve begun making investments, joining boards, working with entrepreneurs and non-profits. Today I’m announcing the creation of a fund called 10100 (pronounced ten-one-hundred), home to my passions, investments, ideas and big bets. It will be overseeing my for-profit investments as well as my non-profit work,” said Kalanick in the statement.

In the latest announcement, Kalanick did not specify the size of his new fund nor share details of the number and size of investments the fund would look to make. Kalanick did not immediately respond to an emailed request for more information on the new fund.

Other than emerging technologies in India and China, 10100 will focus on “large-scale job creation”, with investments in real estate, e-commerce and emerging innovation in China and India.

The new fund will also look to undertake non-profit initiatives that will initially focus on education and “the future of cities”, said Kalanick.

The launch of the fund comes less than a year after Kalanick resigned from Uber, following a tumultuous period at the ride-hailing firm, which was hit by several controversies and was accused of fostering a culture of workplace harassment and sexism, among other things. The controversies came to light broadly due to a blog post put out by former employee Susan Fowler and ultimately triggered an internal investigation that was conducted by former US attorney general Eric Holder.

Despite his exit from Uber, Kalanick continues to hold a seat on the board of the ride-hailing giant.

In recent months, Kalanick has also sold off a third of his entire stake in Uber to Japan’s SoftBank Capital, as part of a massive secondary transaction. That deal was estimated to be worth roughly $1.4 billion.

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

16.1. India's IT exports could grow 7- 9% in 2018-19, says Nasscom

Business Standard, Feb. 21, 2018

Hyderabad: The National Association of Software and Services (Nasscom), the industry body of the Indian IT and business process management (BPM) sector, on Tuesday said the country’s IT exports could grow between 7 and 9 per cent in 2018-19.

"We estimate a 7-9 per cent growth rate in IT and IT-enabled services for 2018-19. Domestic revenues may grow slightly higher at 10-12 per cent, while exports, the mainstay, may lag in 2018-19," R Chandrashekhar, Nasscom president, told reporters here at its annual India Leadership Forum.

Terming the industry body’s views cautiously optimistic, Chandrashekhar said he hoped the export performance of the industry would be better.

He said the industry might close the current financial year with a lower-than-projected 7.8 per cent growth rate, and might touch $167 billion in revenues.

Nasscom was able to identify some encouraging trends such as acceleration in revenues from digitisation, which is growing at the rate of 30 per cent. Domestic revenues are growing in double digits and this expected to continue in the next financial year, according to the industry body. Engineering, R&D, and the BPM business are growing at 13 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively.

According to Chandrashekhar, the industry may hire 100,000 people in 2018-19, which is 50 per cent lower than what it had projected for this year.

However, Nasscom Chairman Raman Roy sought to allay fears about jobs shrinking. He said a large number of jobs for IT professionals were being created outside the IT sector in India as firms in other sectors were adopting digitisation in a big way.

The Telangana government signed an MoU with the Nasscom to establish a Center of Excellence for data science and artificial intelligence (CoE-DS and AI) in the state, on Tuesday.

To be set up in public-private partnership model, the facility would be an addition to the IT industry body’s hub- and-spoke network of CoEs across major locations in the country. With an initial investment of Rs 40 million, the CoE will catalyse the growth of the deep tech ecosystem in Telangana, by providing the stimulus for innovation and in-depth research in the areas of data science and artificial intelligence,” Nasscom said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

16.2. 16-year-old UP girl’s app tops charts on Apple App Store

TNN, Feb 24, 2018, Sandeep Raj

Sixteen-year-old Saharanpur girl Harshita Arora's app that updates users about price fluctuations in more than... Read More

MEERUT: Sixteen-year-old Saharanpur girl Harshita Arora's app that updates users about price fluctuations in more than 1,000 cryptocurrencies in 32 countries has become one of the most sought-after paid apps on Apple’s App Store. What’s more, she launched it just on January 28 this year.

Daughter of a local financier and a homemaker mother, Harshita, who dropped out of school at 14 as she was "not cut out for common courses", told TOI on Friday that she had her "fundamentals" very clear from the beginning. “I don’t underestimate school education in India but these common courses are not for me. My computer teacher introduced me to the wonderful world of technology. I have a different goal in life that the current education system may not provide. I am being home schooled. Computer technology must be given its due in school curriculum.”

The first time she heard about cryptocurrencies was in 2016. She soon got into Bitcoin mining, the basic underlying technology and cryptography. Not that the sudden stardom has come easy. When Harshita introduced the iOS app, she was at the receiving end of a lot of cynicism, with some doubting that a girl her age could build an iOS platform like that and others accusing her of plagiarizing the app.

All that is behind her now. “Ever since I was 13 and was introduced to designing concepts, I began reading IT magazines and the latest developments in the field. I learned about cryptocurrency and how it worked. Then I interacted with my internet friends and real investors in the currency to understand what they wanted in an app,” Harshita said.

She attended MIT Launch (a high school entrepreneur programme) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US some time back, which she said helped her a lot. This was a four-week long entrepreneurship programme for people between 15 and 19 years of age. “I met like-minded people who helped me build this app,” Harshita said.

Gericke Potgieper, managing director of Artifex Knowledge, a firm that provides technology based business solutions, who has been mentoring Harshita, said, “She is full of energy that she draws from her passion for solving problems and generating ideas in IT. She has this impeccable propensity to learn very fast. I can predict that she will go places.”

Midhun V Manikkath, her former school teacher who introduced her to computer programming, said, “I had the pleasure of teaching Harshita in class VIII at Pinewood School in Saharanpur. She always impressed me with her thoughts which she brought to the field of computing.”

Harshita now has plans to move to America to broaden her horizons. “In June I will move to the US and eventually establish myself as an entrepreneur launching startups. Currently, I am working on a new app, Snap Food. It will aim at providing exhaustive information on a particular food item,” she said.

The teenager has the full support of her family. “My daughter is my true inspiration. She is a highly focused child full of confidence,” said her father Ravinder Singh Arora.

For the latest news, tech news, breaking news headlines and live updates checkout Gadgetsnow.com

17.1. The incorporation of Artificial Intelligence in Indian IT

Livemint, 13 Mar. 2018, Vivek Wadhwa

A realistic understanding of AI, along with practices to transform industries, is required to capitalize on its benefits

Infosys Ltd says that Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies “are already being broadly deployed, producing real results, and impacting business strategy” in at least 73% of companies across the globe. Along with other Indian IT companies, Infosys fancies itself a leader in AI.

The reality, though, according to MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group, is that hardly one in 20 US companies has extensively incorporated AI into its offerings or processes. Businesses understand neither what AI is nor how to realize its amazing potential. The only significant player in the AI enterprise market is IBM Global Services, with IBM Watson technology, and its take-up has been slow due to these limitations.

If Indian companies want a share of the emerging AI market opportunity, they need to start with a realistic understanding of what AI is and then build practices to educate their customers and transform industries.

To be fair, AI receives a lot of hype—the headlines make it seem like magic. Google’s AlphaGo Zero learned the world’s most difficult board game in just three days and beats champions; Nvidia’s AI generated photorealistic images of good-looking people just by looking at pictures of celebrities.

AlphaGo and Nvidia did so using a technology called generative adversarial networks, which pits two AI systems against each another, enabling them to learn from each other. The trick was that before the networks battled each other, they received a lot of coaching. More importantly, their problems and outcomes were well defined.

These approaches are not applicable to most business systems, which can’t be turned into a game, because they don’t have clearly defined outcomes and they deal with far too many variables.

Take the problem of inventory management, which has the clearest of all objectives: to minimize inventory investment and maximize customer service and sales. Many external factors affect inventory decisions; it is nothing like having just two players, able to see each other’s moves. And the rules keep changing. It takes more than computing capacity and clever algorithms to “win”.

The problems become even more complex when analysing public-health data to predict and prevent the spread of disease; making personalized treatment decisions based on medical data; scheduling preventive maintenance for industrial equipment based on sensor data; and identifying credit fraud in real time. These are some of the many uses for AI in business, but AI is still in its infancy.

Today’s AI systems do their best to reproduce the functioning of the human brain’s neural networks, but their abilities are limited. They use a technique called deep learning, which adjusts the relationships of computer instructions designed to behave like neurons. Put simply, you tell an AI exactly what you want it to learn and provide it with clearly labelled examples, and it detects patterns in the examples and stores them for future application. Its patterns’ accuracy depends on data: the more examples you give it, the more useful it becomes.

And herein lies a problem: an AI is only as good as the data it receives, and is able to interpret them only within the narrow confines of the supplied context. It doesn’t “understand” what it has analysed, and so it is unable to apply its analysis to scenarios in other contexts. And it can’t distinguish causation from correlation. AI is more like an Excel spreadsheet on steroids than a thinker.

The bigger issue with this form of AI is that what it has learnt remains a mystery: a set of indefinable responses to data. Once a neural network is trained, not even its designer knows exactly how it is doing what it is. Speaking about the new developments in AlphaGo, Google/DeepMind’s CEO Demis Hassabis reportedly said, “It doesn’t play like a human, and it doesn’t play like a program. It plays in a third, almost alien, way”. Businesses can’t afford to have their systems making alien decisions. They have regulatory requirements and reputational concerns and must be able to understand, explain, and demonstrate the logic behind every decision that they make.

For AI to function as something more valuable than Excel spreadsheets, it needs to be able to look at the big picture and include many more sources of information than the computer systems it is replacing do. Even when a company has all the necessary data, they usually aren’t labelled, up-to-date, or organized in a usable

manner. There are disjointed data sets in different computer systems. It is also rare that anyone has a grand vision for how to put these data sets together and use them in new ways.

These are all opportunities for Indian IT: everything from data clean-up, to designing new information architectures and integrating data sets, to developing the vision and implementing AI. But breaking into this market will require something more than marketing brochures and press releases. It will entail retraining of hundreds of thousands of engineers and establishment of new consulting practices.

Engineers take time to train, and practices take experience to build. So, the time for India to get started is now.

Vivek Wadhwa is a distinguished fellow at the Carnegie Mellon University at Silicon Valley.

17.2. India is a priority market, will invest: Uber CEO

TNN | Feb. 23, 2018

NEW DELHI: Cab aggregator Uber will continue to pour money into its loss-making India operations, which account for one-tenth of its trips. Its CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the country, identified as a key growth market, will remain in focus and investor SoftBank may not solely drive the strategy.

“We will actively invest in India and Latin America that have huge growth ahead of us,” said Khosrowshahi, adding that growth could be five-10 times over the next decade. The CEO of Iranian-origin, who replaced founder Travis Kalanick five months ago, repeatedly said profit will not necessarily determine Uber’s strategy as it believed in “building liquidity in the marketplace”, which meant expanding the base.

Asked if SoftBank, which is also an investor in rival and India’s market leader Ola, has asked Uber to focus on the profitable market, Khosrowshahi said the company’s strategies are decided by the board. “While SoftBank may have an opinion, their’s is not the only one in the room.” Acknowledging Ola as a good competitor, he said the home-grown rival was driving the global giant to innovate and compete.

“The greatest value that we can create here is to continue to invest and grow our business here, not just for India but the role it is going to play in shaping our product for the rest of the world,” he told reporters during his first trip to the country to participate in the Economic Times Global Business Summit. India is Uber’s largest market outside the US and the company currently operates in 29 cities with 3 lakh drivers.

Sharing the company’s future strategy, the former Expedia CEO said Uber will partner with several companies, including Toyota for autonomous vehicles, which may be plying on a commercial basis in less than a year and indicated that the Japanese auto giant’s concept autonomous vehicle will be based on the cab company’s software.

He also identified Elevate, the proposed air taxi, as a key transport solution to address congestion in the future and said the product could be in the market in five-10 years. Uber was looking at being a “mobility” company, offering multiple solutions with UberEats also identified as a key growth opportunity, he added.

Although he acknowledged that Uber was losing money on UberPool, the cab-sharing product, Khosrowshahi said that it offered a solution to reduce congestion and the company was going to focus on it. “We as a company need to have a balanced profile in terms of growth and investment. There are developed markets...we are going to continue to invest and they are going to be more profitable...and we should actively be investing in markets like India and Latin America that have huge growth ahead of us,” he said as he was asked repeatedly about how the company was going to pare losses.

Khosrowshahi, who took charge after Kalanick was asked to step down by the board, said he was working to change the culture at the company through a new set of norms that were crowdsourced.

He was more candid during a conversation with Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant as part of a discussion on the future of sustainable mobility, held at National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, on Thursday. “US is a nation of immigrants at its core. The American dream is something that everyone understands around the world. They understand that if you work hard, you can make it. I was incredibly lucky to get to America at a time when immigrants were welcome. If you look at the Indians who are leading tech companies, such as Satya Nadella and Sundar, it’s fascinating. I feel lucky to be an American. I hope the country returns to its roots and welcomes people again.”

18.1. Cipla to sell 2 Roche drugs in India

BusinessLine, 27 Feb. 2018

Drugmakers Roche Pharma India and Cipla have entered into a distribution agreement for rheumatoid arthritis drug tocilizumab (Actemra) and Syndyma, the second brand of Roche’s cancer therapy bevacizumab (Avastin), in India.

The two companies have, in the past, locked horns legally. But the latest distribution agreement is aimed at increasing access to innovative medicines in India, a note from the companies said.

Lara Bezerra, Roche (India) Managing Director, said the partnership will help Roche focus on bringing new, transformative medicines to patients in India. “At Roche, we will continue to collaborate with various stakeholders to help transform healthcare in India,” she said in a note from the company.

Umang Vohra, Cipla Managing Director and Global Chief Executive, said: “The prevalence of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis is wide... across India, and Cipla can contribute to provide broader access to innovative medicines like tocilizumab and bevacizumab.”

Both drugs are biologic products or complex drugs made from living organisms.

18.2. Biocon to set up R&D facility in Hyderabad

BUSINESSLINE, 23 FEB. 2018

Biocon, the biopharmaceuticals major, will start an R&D lab of its subsidiary Syngene in Genome Valley, Hyderabad, along with an expansion of its existing API/Intermediates facility.

The Managing Director of the Bengaluru-based company Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw met Telangana IT & Industries Minister KT Rama Rao on the sidelines of BioAsia 2018 HICC today.

She informed the Minister about the decision of Biocon to expand their operations in Telangana, during the meeting.

The investment details were not announced.

While the expansion will lead to creation of 500 new jobs, the R&D facility will generate at least 1,000, according to a press release.

Minister KTR also informed Kiran Mazumdar about the start-up ecosystem and few interesting start-ups in the healthcare and pharma sectors along with the expansion in the Genome Valley.

In another meeting with Terri Bresenham, CEO & President, Sustainable Healthcare Division, GE, the GE team expressed interest to collaborate with Telangana Academy of Skill & Knowledge (TASK) in healthcare skills.

The Minister informed the GE team that another arm of GE - the GE First Build is partnering with the Telangana government’s initiative and the country’s largest prototyping lab, T-Works.

19.1. Isro's new communication satellites to usher in high-speed internet era

TOI, 26 Feb. 2018, Surendra Singh

NEW DELHI: Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is planning to usher in an age of high-speed internet connectivity in the country with the launch of heavy-duty communication satellites.

Giving details about the upcoming launches this year, Isro chairman Dr K Sivan told TOI: "We will launch Gsat-11 in April or May." The 5,725-kg satellite, which will carry 40 transponders in the Ku-band and Ka-band frequencies, is capable of "providing high bandwidth connectivity" with up to 14 gigabit per second (Gbps) data transfer speed.

"We will launch Gsat-11 from the European spaceport as it's a five-tonne satellite. Around the same time in May, Isro will launch Gsat-29 through our GSLV Mk III rocket from Sriharikota. Thereafter, we plan to launch Gsat-20 from India itselfby next year," the Isro chief said. Last year on June 5, the Indian space agency had launched Gsat-19, which too carried Ka/Ku-band high throughput communication transponders.

Dr Sivan said, "Together, all these satellites will provide high bandwidth connectivity of up to 100 gigabit per second. They will provide high-speed internet connectivity in rural areas and help bridge the digital divide."

The satellites are special as they use multiple spot beams (a special kind of transponder that operates on a high frequency) that will not only increase internet speed and connectivity. A spot beam is a satellite signal that is specially concentrated in power so that it covers only a limited geographical area on the earth. The narrower the beam more is the power. These satellites will reuse "beams" (signals) several times in order to cover the entire country. In contrast, traditional satellite uses a broad single beam (not concentrated)to cover wide regions.

Gsat-19 launched last year uses 16 beams and is able to transfer data at the rate of 13 Gbps. GSAT-20 will use 40 beams. Each beam will have two polarisations, which will effectively make them 80 beams. This satellite will have data transfer rate of 60-70 Gbps.

Isro's move to launch these communication satellites is coming at a time when Elon Musk-founded US space company Space X is also busy building the largest satellite-based internet network in the world to bring low- cost high-speed internet to billions of people. To fulfil its mission, Space X last Thursday had launched two experimental internet-based satellites, known as Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b. Space X plans to launch a constellation of 800-1,200 small satellites of 4,425 Ka/Ku band into the low-earth orbit. The constellation, first announced in 2015, will help the Elon Musk company start global internet services in 2020, albeit on a limited basis.

19.2. For Chinese firms, Indian start-ups are the golden goose

BusinessLine, 5 Mar. 2018, Priyanka Pani.

A whopping $5.2 billion: that’s how much Chinese internet companies such as Alibaba, Fosun, Baidu and Tencent invested in 30 Indian start-up companies last year. That number is nearly a five-fold jump from the $930 million that companies from China pumped into 41 Indian firms in 2016.

And it doesn’t end there. Investments in the first two months of 2018 have nearly touched $1 billion, indicating that Chinese firms mean serious business in India.

Players such as Flipkart, Paytm, Ola, Hike, Ibibo, Gaana and Zomato are among the major recipients of the Chinese funding.

The data, obtained from start-up research platform Tracxn, indicates that the investments were mostly late- stage funding or private equity, which means the Chinese are backing companies that are either well established, profitable or are on their way to going public.

These investments show that the ongoing political and economic tension between India and China has had no major impact on business. But experts warn that India should watch the fund inflow from a hostile neighbour. According to Ajeet Khurana, a serial investor and a blockchain expert: “On the one hand, increased Chinese investment into India is a clear indicator of the Indian opportunity; on the other hand, India needs to ensure that we aren’t surrendering our strategic interests in the region.”

One major concern is data security. “Today, internal security issues are not restricted to military installations and high-value targets. Information security and network security issues are vital concerns. Any international participation in India should not have access to critical information that is crucial to national security,” Khurana added.

Sanjay Mehta, an angel investor, said Indian investors and large domestic corporates should step up support to local start-ups. “It seems Chinese investors are more bullish on India than Indian investors. This needs to change,” he said.

The concerns around security come after the Alibaba-owned UCWeb browser was suspected of stealing data from Indian users late last year. Following this, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had also stepped up its scrutiny of China-based smartphone makers, including such as Xiaomi, Oppo, Gionee and Lenovo. However, even the so-called ‘Made in India’ mobile phones are only assembled in India, with parts imported from China.

20.1. Indian airlines to add new jets in booming aviation market

Reuters, 8 Mar. 2018

HYDERABAD: Indian airlines Jet Airways , SpiceJet Ltd and AirAsia India are planning to add new jets to their fleets as they look to expand in the world's fastest-growing aviation market, the carriers said on Thursday. Domestic Indian passenger traffic increased by 17.9 per cent in January from a year earlier, marking the 41st

consecutive month of double-digit growth, the International Air Transport Association said in a monthly update released on Thursday.

Civil aviation secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey said as long as oil prices remained below $80 per barrel, he expected the Indian aviation market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15 per cent for the next 20 years or so.

"We are committed to ensure that new airports are built, better air space management services are provided, so that there is no congestion in the skies," Choubey said at the Wings India airshow.

Indian airlines are scrambling to add more jets to meet demand for more domestic and international flights, making it one of the most targeted sales markets for jet manufacturers Airbus SE and Boeing Co.

"The growth of the domestic Indian (aviation) market is the highest in the world," Boeing senior vice-president Asia Pacific and India Sales Dinesh Keskar said. "Every segment of traffic in and out of India is going to grow for the next 20 years."

Boeing said in July it expected Indian airlines to order up to 2,100 new aircraft worth $290 billion over the next 20 years, calling it the highest-ever forecast for Asia's third-largest economy.

Jet Airways hopes to close a deal to buy another 75 narrow body jets by the end of March, its CEO Vinay Dube told reporters on the sidelines of the airshow.

The airline last year finalised a deal to buy a separate 75 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and said it was in "serious talks" for 75 more.

Dube said it would finalise the deal with one of the plane manufacturers, alluding to Boeing or Airbus.

Top Comment

Yes that is why the Government is desperately trying to sell Air IndiaArunam

AirAsia India is looking to expand its fleet to 60 jets from the current 14 over the next five years, a spokeswoman said. The airline's parent, AirAsia Bhd, said in January it was considering an IPO of the Indian arm.

Indian low-cost carrier SpiceJet said in July it had signed a provisional deal to buy 40 Boeing 737 MAX 10 jets.

20.2. Vistara to fly international routes in second half of this year

BusinessLine, 8 Mar. 2018, Ashwini Phadnis

Vistara, set up jointly by Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons, will be ready to announce its orders for wide-body aircraft by December this year, Leslie Thng, Chief Executive Officer, said on Thursday. He said the airline’s first international flight could be in the region or in South- East Asia to a place which is 3 to 5 hours from India. In an interaction with select media persons, Thng outlined Vistara’s international expansion plans.

Excerpts:

What are Vistara’s plans to go international?

In the second phase of our expansion we plan to go international which will be in the second half of this year. When we go international we are no longer competing with the Indian airlines, we will be taking on the major players who have a very good reputation in terms of product like Singapore Airlines and Emirates.

If you plan to go international you should be prepared to take on a higher level of competition.

We are really re-looking in terms of how we can improve our service excellence. We are trying to do more in terms of digitalisation and providing more digital platforms and information to the customer in a more seamless manner.

When you launch international operations will you do it with the existing narrow body fleet or will you also have wide-body aircraft?

Our 20th aircraft will be delivered at the end of this month. We have leased another two A-320 New Engine Option (NEO) aircraft. The 21st aircraft will arrive in May and the 22nd in June. When I talk about starting international operations in the second half of 2018 these will be the aircraft that we will have. The likely destinations will be within the 3-5 hours range. At the same time, we plan to do a lot more. What I mean by going beyond regional would be 5 hours to 8-9 hours.

We will definitely acquire different aircraft types to be able to support the medium haul mission. Which means we are reviewing the future aircraft type for Vistara.

Any time-frame as to when you will start medium haul operations which would be 5-9 hours from India?

Only after we start international operations. Hopefully within one or two years we will start the medium-haul operations also.

Have you filed for approval with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to start flying to international destinations?

We have started the process of seeking approval.

When you talk medium-haul international operations does that exclude India -US?

When we talk medium haul it is all of Europe, North Asia and the whole of South East. Vistara is interested in going long haul. If you are specifically asking India to US I think it is always a plan for us. Our view is that we would like to do it progressively. When we think it is the right time to go long haul we will. For long haul we do not have a fixed time line at this moment.

What does progressively mean?

Progressively means we will start international operations with flights to regional areas. The next step is medium haul. We will have to ensure that we are successful when we have an expansive network for international that is why even though we are growing international we will continue to expand our domestic network.

Going international does not mean we will neglect the domestic market. We will gear up our domestic market more aggressively.

What about funding for the second phase of growth?

That is something which we are discussing with the promoters.

How is premium economy faring in the domestic skies?

In the past few years we have seen recovery (in premium economy) in terms of pick up for the product. Yield in terms of average fare that we are collecting is more than in the past. Premium economy is similar to business class and it depends on the routes. There are certain routes where premium economy and business class are in high demand like between the metro cities and there are also routes where we need a bit of push creating awareness and demand.

INDIA & THE WORLD

21.1. Engineering exports to touch new high this fiscal: Teaotia

PTI, Mar. 09, 2018

Chennai: Engineering exports, which have been recording a healthy growth, are expected to see a new high in the current financial year, a top central government official said today.

Exports from this sector have grown by about 22 per cent to USD 62 billion during the April-January period of 2017-18.

Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said the exports to developed countries are growing at a rapid pace. Shipments to North America and Europe account for about 40 per cent of the total exports from the sector, she said.

"We are confident that, the exports will see a new high this financial year," she said at the inauguration of India Engineering Sourcing Show here.

The share of engineering exports in the country s total shipments has increased to 23.6 per cent in 2016-17 from 18.2 per cent in 2009-10.

Teaotia said that government initiatives such as 'Make in India', 'Start Up India' and 'Digital India' would further boost the growth of industries in the country.

Emphasising on the importance of the growing services sector, she made a case for recalibrating the traditional model of manufacturing led development.

Teaotia said the services sector matters greatly for enhancing competitiveness of the manufacturing sector and also accounts for a significant portion of the value added in a product.

The boundaries between manufacturing and services are "increasingly blurred, requiring us to recalibrate our traditional model of manufacturing led development," she said here.

Global mega trends such as Industry 4.0, changing dynamics of the global value chain, rise of shared economy are presenting both opportunities and challenges to the country, she added.

Teaotia said that long term enablers that focus on job creation by harnessing these mega trends and business models at the intersection of services in manufacturing will be key to future development.

Speaking at the event, EEPC India Chairman Ravi Sehgal said that the exports may reach USD 100 billion in the coming years.

Czech Republic Industry and Trade Minister said that huge opportunities exists between the two countries to increase economic cooperation.

The bilateral trade between the countries stood at over USD 1 billion.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

21.2. US, EU, Canada see red on India raising pulses tariff

BusinessLine, 22 Feb. 2018,Amiti Sen

India’s decision to raise the import duty on pulses has irked top farm produce exporting countries, including Canada, Australia, the EU and the US. At the World Trade Organisation, they have raised questions over Delhi’s claims of achieving food security objectives.

According to a Geneva-based trade official, India has responded saying the recent increase in tariff was based on the demand-supply equation and that it did not breach WTO rules.

A Commerce Ministry official said that “By linking the decision to increase import duties on pulses with food security some developed countries are trying to create confusion. Since India cites food security concerns to demand that its MSP programmes should not be subjected to caps, some members want to show that the country’s policies are faulty. We will not allow the discussion to be diverted.”

Canada’s concern

India raised the import duty on yellow peas to 50 per cent in November 2017 while imposing a Customs levy of 30 per cent on chana (gram) and masoor (red lentil) in December 2017. Canada has already taken up the issue of raised import duties on yellow peas with Delhi as it is the biggest supplier of the variety to India and fears that its pulses trade will be adversely affected.

Other countries that have raised concerns on the import duty on pulses include Russia and Ukraine. The matter was on top of the agenda of the meeting of the WTO Committee on Agriculture’s earlier this week. Delhi explained that the objective behind the move was to balance the interests of consumers and suppliers. “India said that the increase in applied tariff is within the country’s committed bound rate of tariff,” the Geneva- based official said.

India’s pulses production in 2016-17 increased substantially resulting in a glut and prices falling in the domestic market. The production of chana, for instance, surged about 40 per cent to 23 million tonnes resulting in prices falling below the MSP.

Protecting domestic prices

“The imposition/increase in the import duty on pulses was needed to ensure that domestic prices did not dip further raising the distress levels of farmers,” the Commerce Ministry official said.

22.1. Delhi and Mumbai airports ranked among best in world

Business Standard, Mar. 07, 2018

Mumbai: Former won best award for passenger service and the latter scored the highest for customer experience The top two metro airports in India have emerged as top scorers in the ranking of the world's best. Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) and Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport have both been judged winners. According to the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) ranking by Airports Council International, an association of the world’s airports, Delhi won the best award for the year 2017, for passenger service under the category of those handling over 40 million passengers per annum. Mumbai scored the highest for customer experience in the same category.

ASQ is considered the key to understanding how to raise passenger satisfaction and business performance. The survey, the result of which came on Saturday, covers 34 service areas. These include access, check-in, security, airport facilities, food and beverage, and retail.

Delhi's airport is managed by the GMR group and Mumbai's by the GVK group.

“We are set to undertake expansion works at Delhi in line with IGIA Master Plan-2016. It will not only provide the necessary infrastructure boost to facilitate high air traffic and passenger growth but a delightful passenger experience, with the right fusion of technology and human touch,” said Srinivas Bommidala, chairman, airports, at GMR.

“In 2007, when we had taken over the complete operations, the ASQ score was 3.53. In 10 years, we have got it to hover around 4.99, out of a maximum 5,” said G VK Reddy, chairman, GVK group.

In 2017, Delhi airport handled 63.5 million passengers. This makes it seventh busiest in Asia and among the top 20 busiest airports in the world.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

22.2. India at 81st rank in global corruption perception index

PTI, 22 Feb. 2018

India’s score in the latest ranking remains unchanged at 40. In 2015, the score was 38.

India has been ranked 81st in the global corruption perception index for 2017, released by Transparency International, which named the country among the “worst offenders” in terms of graft and press freedom in the Asia Pacific region.

The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, placed India at the 81st place. In the 2016 India was in the 79th place among 176 countries. The index uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. India’s score in the latest ranking, however, remained unchanged at 40. In 2015, the score was 38.

Transparency International further said, “in some countries across the region (Asia Pacific), journalists, activists, opposition leaders and even staff of law enforcement or watchdog agencies are threatened, and in the worst cases, even murdered. Philippines, India and the Maldives are among the worst regional offenders in this respect. These countries score high for corruption and have fewer press freedoms and higher numbers of journalist deaths,” it added. In the last six years, 15 journalists working on corruption stories in these countries were murdered, as reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

In the latest ranking New Zealand and Denmark were placed the highest, with scores of 89 and 88, respectively. On the other hand Syria, South Sudan and Somalia were ranked lowest with scores of 14, 12

and 9, respectively. Meanwhile, China with a score of 41 was ranked 77th on the list, while Brazil was placed at 96th with a score of 37 and Russia was at the 135th place with a score of 29.

Further analysis of the results indicates that countries with the least protection for press and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) also tend to have the worst rates of corruption. The analysis, which incorporates data from CPJ, showed that in the last six years, 9 out of 10 journalists were killed in countries that score 45 or less

on the index. “No activist or reporter should have to fear for their lives when speaking out against corruption. Given current crackdowns on both civil society and the media worldwide, we need to do more to protect those who speak up,” Transparency International Managing Director Patricia Moreira said.

23. India and Brazil’s role in the bioeconomy

Livemint, 26 Feb. 2018, Tovar da Silva Nunes e Pedro Ivo Ferraz da Silva

They have been at the forefront of technological development in the biofuels sector by providing economically viable, low-carbon solutions

On 26 and 27 February, New Delhi will host the International Conference on Sustainable Biofuels 2018 (ICSB 2018), an event aimed at debating strategies for the large-scale, worldwide adoption of clean fuels as an alternative to carbon-intensive sources such as petrol or diesel. The conference is co-organized by the BioFuture Platform (BP) and Mission Innovation (MI), two coalitions of countries devoted to the advancement of renewable energy.

While the BP focuses on scaling up the deployment of low-emission fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, MI promotes the development of innovative technology in various modalities of renewable energy sources. At the intersection of both efforts, ICSB 2018 will house important debates around state-of-the-art research and development in the biofuels domain, including second- generation ethanol (E2G), bio-hydrogen and algae- based biodiesel. Under discussion is not whether biofuels should be part of our future; it is how it will be adopted in our economy and daily lives.

On this subject, Brazil and India (members of BP and MI) have a lot to say. Both countries are large emerging economies that have to pursue the goal of inclusive growth under environment-friendly development standards—a novel challenge developed countries never had to face. Precisely because of this, the two countries have been at the forefront of technological development in the biofuels sector by providing economically viable, low-carbon solutions with positive social impact.

The Brazilian biofuel programme started in the context of the 1973 oil crisis. At that time, the government decided to launch the “Proálcool” (Pro-alcohol) scheme in order to foster an indigenous ethanol-based transport industry that would reduce the country’s dependence on hydrocarbons. Based both on Brazil’s long- established sugarcane sector and a prospering automotive industry, the government put together an attractive package of incentives that gave rise to a new business. From a yearly production of 600 million litres of ethanol in 1975, the Brazilian market evolved rapidly and reached the milestone of 12.6 billion litres in 1986. By 1991, almost 60% of the Brazilian car fleet was ethanol-powered.

Despite a temporary downturn in the 1990s, the ethanol sector regained momentum years later, spurred by the technological novelty of the flex engine, which allows for the same vehicle to be powered by petrol or ethanol or any mix of the two. The first flex vehicle was sold in Brazil in 2003. In 2016, 88% of all new cars were fitted with dual-fuel engines. Another push came from the regulation on mandatory blending. As of today, stations throughout the country are mandated to sell petrol with a blend of 27% of anhydrous ethanol. And a new policy, RenovaBio, is about to be enacted: through “decarbonization credits”, oil marketing companies will be encouraged to sell more ethanol while naturally holding back the sales of petrol.

To meet this increasing demand, Brazil is set to increase its yearly production of 27 billion litres of ethanol (2016), which makes it the second largest producer in the world. Additional volumes are most likely to come from second-generation ethanol, which recently started to be commercially produced. Following an ascending growth curve, E2G production has the potential to improve the efficiency of sugarcane plantation acreage from 40% up to 250%.

The Brazilian ethanol programme has done a lot for our planet and it is poised to do even more. In an article published last year in Nature Climate Change magazine, an international group of scientists has concluded that Brazilian ethanol would have the potential to substitute up to 13.7% of petroleum consumed worldwide and reduce up to 5.6% of CO2 emissions by 2045.

India too has been developing a strong biofuel sector. Since the National Policy on Biofuels, 2009, the country has been relentlessly working on its ethanol blending programme. A decisive boost was given in December 2014, when the government decided to pursue the E2G track by taking advantage of the yearly surplus of biomass available (e.g. wood chips, cotton stalk, rice straw).

In 2016, India inaugurated its first demonstration bio-refinery in Uttarakhand and that December, the foundation stone of the country’s soon to be inaugural commercial plant was laid in Punjab. In the research and development domain, centres led by the department of biotechnology have been making ground-breaking research in the field of algae-based biodiesel, cellulolytic enzymes and alcohol-producing bacteria. As the Indian government prepares a new comprehensive biofuel policy, recent announcements of bold investment schemes for bio-refineries and additional research funds indicate a bright future for the country’s biofuel sector.

Following ICSB 2018, Indian and Brazilian governmental delegates will meet in a bilateral workshop with the purpose of exchanging success stories and challenges experienced in the context of their respective biofuel programmes. There is a lot the two countries can learn from each other. And there is a lot they can do together in order to further the adoption of biofuels globally. In a context in which the world cannot refrain from clean energy sources, the Indo-Brazilian partnership in biofuels comes in handy to show that low-carbon fuels are one of the most economic and socially optimal alternatives in the decades ahead.

Tovar Da Silva Nunes and Pedro Ivo Ferraz Da Silva are, respectively, ambassador of Brazil to India and head of the energy, environment and science and technology section at the embassy of Brazil in New Delhi.

24.1. Indian Tea Exports Touch Record High in 2017

Press Information Bureau, Mar. 15, 2018

Indian tea exports touched a record high in 36 years at 240.68 million kgs in the year 2017. The previous high of 241.3 million kgs was achieved in the year 1981.

Indian teas were exported at an average price of more than three dollar per kg ,in 2017, to 12 countries :

This was informed by the Minister of State of Commerce and Industry, Shri C.R.Chaudhary, in the Rajya Sabha today.

It has been a continuous endeavour of Tea Board and the tea industry to strategize ways and means to increase export and enhance the share of Indian tea in the international market. Focused and sustained initiatives like arranging buyer-seller meets, effecting exchange of delegations, participating in international trade fairs and undertaking generic promotion of Indian brands in key markets are showing results.

The domestic market of tea has also been growing over the years and has been seen to directly affect the exportable surplus of tea in the country.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

24.2. RCEP: India, ASEAN aim to bridge gap on tariff issues at Singapore meet

BusinessLine, 1 Mar. 2018, Amiti Sen

India and the 10-member ASEAN will attempt to bridge the gap in their ambitions for opening up goods and services under the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement when Trade Ministers from the 16-member countries meet in Singapore on Friday.

“After pressurising India during their India visit in January this year to agree to a pact by the year-end, which would gradually eliminate import duties on most goods, the ASEAN Ministers are expected to continue with their strategy at the Ministerial meeting this week,” a Commerce Ministry official pointed out.

Commerce & Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu, who will represent India at the meeting, is expected to also face demands of higher commitments on tariff elimination from all other members which include Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.

At the 21st round of RCEP meeting in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, in the first week of February, members identified several areas that still need to be ironed out.

While the number of items that will be finally selected for elimination of tariffs is a big problem at hand, there is also no agreement on what should be the size of the lists of items where tariffs will be reduced (and not eliminated) and the exclusion list where items would face no duty reduction.

“All the three lists are obviously related but it is important that agreement should be reached on the other two lists as well,” the official said.

Tariff cuts

Another important aspect of the negotiations on goods is the staging of the tariff cuts which is also a matter of dispute. “If members agree to a 10-year staging process, which means that tariffs will be eliminated or reduced over 10 years, a decision has to be taken on whether the reduction would be linear (spread evenly) or non- linear,” the official explained.

For India, it is not politically possible to agree to ambitious market openings in the area of goods, if the pact does not provide anything substantial in the area of services.

“There is a broad understanding in India now that a regional pact has to deliver in services, especially in terms of improving access for professionals and workers, if the country liberalises markets in goods. A lop-sided pact favouring goods would lead to political protests,” the official explained.

Since the revised offers in services, made by RCEP members, provide no improvement in access for workers, New Delhi is not in a position to accept the pact in the present form.

“The Commerce Minister is expected to explain to all other RCEP members that a pact would work out for India only if there is substantial improvement in the offers for services,” the official said.

The ASEAN is pushing for the conclusion of the RCEP, which is expected to result in the largest free trade bloc, by the end of 2018. “I believe India will stand with the ASEAN to conclude the RCEP this year....and will not disappoint,” said Enggartiasto Lukita, Indonesian Trade Minister, at the ASEAN-India business and investment meet in New Delhi earlier this year.

25. India, Jordan sign pacts on defence, health

Business Standard. Mar. 05, 2018

New Delhi: India and Jordan signed 12 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) to boost cooperation in the defence and health sectors, along with allowing India long-term access to organic fertiliser from the West Asian nation.

Jordanian Monarch Abdullah II met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, as part of his three-day trip to India. Abdullah's visit follows Modi's trip to West Asia earlier this month, when he had transited at Jordan. This was the first time in 30 years an Indian Prime Minister had visted the country.

One of India's interests reportedly lie in deepening security ties with Jordan to leverage the strategic location in the Levant, with access to the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

Thursday.s deal covers the training and commercial aspects in defence, besides counter-terrorism and cyber security. Another deal was on universal health coverage and services.

An MoU was also signed to promote best practices in the administration of contract employment of Indian nationals in Jordan. The government also hopes to secure a steady supply of organic fertiliser through an MoU on mining, with a long-term agreement for 100 per cent off-take to India. Apart from beneficiation of rock phosphate, the agreement aims to set up a production facility in Jordan for phosphoric acid-based fertiliser.

An agreement to establish cooperation between the Indian Institute of Mass Communication and the Jordan Media Institute was also signed.

Bilateral trade with Jordan has reduced consistently for third year. It was $1.35 billion in 2016-17. A customs mutual assistance agreement was signed. This could ensure smoother exchange of information regarding Custom duties, taxes, fees and other charges.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.

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Tuesday 20 March 2018

NEWSLETTER, 20-III-2018

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

– AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

– INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURE

– SERVICES (IT, R&D, Tourism, Healthcare, etc.)

NEWSLETTER, 20-III-2018

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

- AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

- INDUSTRY, MANUFACTURE

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