AAPI: September 2021

DELHI, 20th SEPTEMBER 2021

Index of this Newsletter

INDIA

INDIA & THE WORLD

21.1. Indian startups raise US$ 16.9 billion VC funding in 2021, next only to China
21.2. India links with Maldives with uber connectivity project
22. India emerges as second most attractive manufacturing hub globally, says report
23. India, ADB sign $500 million loan to expand Bengaluru metro rail network
24.1. Samsung to invest $206 billion by 2023 for post-pandemic growth
24.2. UAE rolls out new plans to boost economy, attract foreign workers
25.1. Cabinet approves signing of pact with Portugal on recruitment of Indian citizens to work there

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DELHI, 20th SEPTEMBER 2021

NEWSLETTER, 20-XI-2021

INDIA

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

1.1. Stalin's healthcare scheme to be implemented throughout Tamil Nadu

ET Gov. Sep. 08, 2021

The scheme is currently in service at Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem, Thanjavur, Tiruchy, Tirunelveli, and Chennai districts.

The government release clarified that there was no change in its earlier decision to open schools for Class nine to 12 and colleges from September 1 which was based on the views put forth by medical experts and academicians.The Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam scheme launched by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on August 5 at Krishnagiri district will be extended to the whole of the state by the end of the year. The office of the Chief Minister said in a statement on Tuesday that the scheme is currently in service at Madurai, Coimbatore, Salem, Thanjavur, Tiruchy, Tirunelveli, and Chennai districts. The scheme, which is a flagship programme of the DMK government to deliver healthcare at the doorsteps of people in the state, was launched by the Chief Minister at the Samanapalli village in Krishnagiri district.

The Chief Minister had said that the scheme was part of the 7 point programme of the DMK government that envisioned "an enhanced quality of life for all". The Healthcare professionals, including doctors and nurses would screen people for diabetes and hypertension that are generally not properly noticed in the villages of the state. It also involves screening of kidney ailments and other congenital diseases in children and will be followed up through routine hospital treatment. When Sujatha 48, a domestic help at Coimbatore was diagnosed with cancer in her colon, she had to travel 45 km every month from her village to Coimbatore town for availing medical treatment. With the advent of Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam scheme, much of her woes are over as the medical professionals reach her doorstep and provide her with quality treatment. Sujatha not only gets the treatment and medicines for free but also the required colostomy bag that collects stool through an opening in the stomach.

Mohini, a nurse at Krishnagiri district, told IANS, "During door to door checkup, we could find that most of the people have not checked their blood as well as the blood pressure and these are now being properly monitored and the system is already in place in the one month of operation."

According to the health department data from August 5 to September 5, available with IANS, more than three lakh people were beneficiaries of the scheme that included receiving medicine and treatment. (With IANS inputs)

1.2. Convergence of health schemes: National Health Authority hosts CGHSs on its IT 2.0 platform

ET Gov. Aug. 30, 2021, T. Radhakrishna

The key objectives of using the IT platform by these CGHSs are to ensure an efficient and accurate treatment of beneficiaries, capture their data for policy formulation and avoid duplication of benefits and curb possible misuse

In a significant move towards the convergence of government health schemes (CGHSs) on a single digital platform, three Union ministries — labour and employment, social justice and empowerment, and home affairs — have embraced the IT platform of the National Health Authority (NHA) for their ongoing schemes to introduce paperless and cashless process from registration to hospitalisation, on the lines of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY). The other ministries and departments are also expected to join the platform for their respective health schemes. Towards this end, the nodal agency for PM-JAY, the NHA, has collaborated with these three ministries, enabling the deployment of these health plans on the digital platform. For instance, the labour and employment ministry runs a health scheme for Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) especially for building and construction workers; the social justice and empowerment ministry has a health scheme for manual scavengers, and the home affairs ministry offers a health scheme for central police personnel. The key objectives of using the IT platform by these CGHSs are to ensure an efficient and accurate treatment of beneficiaries, capture their data for policy formulation and avoid duplication of benefits and curb possible misuse.

"The government of India's effort is to achieve the goals of universal healthcare as mentioned in the National Health Policy. Towards it, the first step is to align the efforts of all the ministries to have a single IT platform taking care of the beneficiary-related schemes for health insurance," Dr Vipul Aggarwal, deputy CEO, NHA, told ETGovernment. The PM-JAY, a technology-enabled nationwide programme executed by the Central and state governments, envisions a healthy and robust India where medical care is available and accessible for free to society's least privileged. The nodal agency is constantly upgrading the software as it is mission-critical for its management and monitoring scheme. Makeover: Offline-to-online approach for CGHSs

The CGHS provides medical facilities to government employees and pensioners enrolled under the scheme. At present, lakhs of people benefit from CGHSs and their facilities in 74 cities across India. CGHS facilitates healthcare through various medical systems such as allopathy, homeopathy and Indian systems Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Yoga. Presently, several ministries and departments are running health schemes for their employees, which can be reimbursed under CGHSs, but without capturing adequate data or foolproof evidence. As a result, duplication may take place in some cases. For instance, one beneficiary is availing the benefits of two different health plans. As the authorities cannot check the details each time, it's difficult to curb such abuses.

Healthcare in India has challenges such as lack of accountability, a poor funnelling of resources, and non-optimal use of infrastructure due to limited technology intervention. "Convergence of government health schemes is the solution to avoid duplication and similar abuses. We are working on multiple fronts. We will try to ensure that as early as possible, we will convert the schemes into a single digital platform," stated the official. IT 2.0: Data-driven, cashless, paperless

The software, known as IT 2.0, has enabled the processes of PM-JAY cashless and paperless. The scheme guarantees free-and-cashless services up to Rs 5 lakh a year for secondary and tertiary care to over 10.74 crore poor families, which translates to around 53 crore beneficiaries. Currently, over 23,000 healthcare service providers (HSPs) have empanelled with the scheme, and 50 percent of participating hospitals are in the private sector. So far, 33 states except West Bengal, Odisha and New Delhi, and all Union Territories have implemented the scheme. There are now 100,000 or more daily enrolments, and treatment of cases has crossed the 20-million mark since the programme's launch in 2018. Beneficiaries deserve better healthcare service under the scheme. With a network of many HSPs, the PM-JAY demands state-of-the-art technology digital platforms to run, manage, and deliver efficient processes and systems for the benefit of all its stakeholders. As a result, nearly two crore hospital admissions worth Rs 24,683 crore got authorised quickly. In addition, as many as 2.4 lakh hospital admissions worth Rs 516.3 crore got authorisation under the national portability of the scheme. "The PM-JAY is 100 percent data-driven and is supported by a strong IT backbone. The entire process of the scheme has been made paperless and cashless. This is possible only because the scheme has the finest IT frameworks," said the official. On average, approximately 28 beneficiaries' KYC get verified per minute, and 20 pre-authorisations take place in a minute under the scheme. The advantages of three core modules, e-Voucher

The digital platform has three core modules: the first module, beneficiary identification, is meant for eKYC. The second is hospital empanelment, and the third is a transaction management system that takes care of the beneficiaries' admission to discharge and the claim processing. In addition, a vital monitoring and evaluation backbone is available, which also is IT-enabled. Moreover, a reliable three-tier grievance redressal mechanism supports it. For example, its technology backbone takes care of the entire call center operations. The scheme also has a central grievance management redressal system and a robust fraud and abuse control framework, said Dr Vipul Aggarwal. Typically, this connectivity would require reams of documentation, a slew of sub-processes, and multiple physical interventions at every stage. Now, this reimagined digital healthcare solution brings together central and state medical facilities to enrol citizens, empanel hospitals, process medical claims, generate auto approvals, and detect fraud. E-voucher, introduced by the Department of Finance under the Ministry of Finance, will be used by all ministries and departments in the government and the private sector. The NHA would be using it for its purpose in the health ecosystem as it is implementing two national programmes, PM-JAY and National Digital Health Mission (NDHM). E-voucher has multiple applications and runs on NPCI and DFS frameworks. For example, the NHA can provide e-voucher to beneficiaries to get a diagnostic facility service taken without spending from their pocket on diagnostics. At the same time, patients can avail themselves of medication post-discharge through an e-voucher. These are all possible scenarios. API-based dashboards for government health schemes The NHA will provide API-based dashboard access to all the ministries for real-time updates. "When we incorporate their schemes on our platform, their beneficiaries will be added as a separate set of recipients. They (ministries) will be making payment for that. We would be doing accounting separately. At the same time, patients will get health service on either PM-JAY or CGHSs basis," clarified Dr Vipul Aggarwal. "An end-to-end transaction would be captured on our digital platform. We will provide access to the concerned authorities summarizing the total transactions done and the total amount they have spent. All these transactions will be recorded and they are available for the authorities on the dashboards," added the official. Next Steps: Future roadmap

This digitalisation of healthcare via the platform helped beneficiaries and streamlined the chain of medical activity -- from diagnosis to surgical intervention to post-operative recovery. Plans are also afoot to introduce an e-voucher or paperless transaction system wherein the government can add a person-specific and purpose-specific transaction. "The idea of e-voucher was initiated by the CEO of NHA. We are going to introduce e-voucher soon," Aggarwal said.

2.1. Driving Organisational Efficiency through Continuous Learning Culture

ET HR World, Sep. 11, 2021, R AnandaKrishnan

Developing a culture of continuous learning has now become a numero uno priority for businesses.

If necessity is the mother of invention, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown us that crisis is the mother of adoption and adaptation. Organisations are now keen to absorb the learnings from this environment and use the opportunity to drive operational excellence. Business leaders are going one step further and are demonstrating proactivity towards continuously bettering the skilling ecosystem and transforming their human capital into human potential. Developing a culture of continuous learning has now become a numero uno priority for businesses. According to a Deloitte survey conducted earlier this year, 50 percent of organisations globally plan to prioritise learning strategies to keep up with the changing environment and preferences of modern learners. Furthermore, about 60 percent of organisations also believe that it is imperative for Learning and Development (L&D) teams to redefine how to create a knowledge-sharing ecosystem to help maximise human potential at work, enabling people to share and transfer knowledge and ensure continuous learning.

As a result, there is now a premium on intellectual curiosity, desire and ability to quickly grow and adapt one’s skill set. Now is the age of relentlessly harnessing new skill sets, relearning and reskilling. This paradigm transition is a ground reality in myriad domains, including and especially in automotive.

Nurturing a Continuous Learning Culture – Virtually

With technological innovations making their mark in different business functions, HR and L&D transformation has been leveraging technology to expand and train the dispersed workforce more efficiently and effectively. Digital technology makes it possible for people to access learning content faster, more efficiently, and cost-effectively than ever.

That said, creating a continuous flow of meaningful and compelling learning experiences is by no means an easy task. Additionally, today, employees desire an environment where they can contribute their knowledge and participate in activities as per their convenience and work schedule. To enable this, media-rich repositories which promote self-directed learning are becoming the new type of digital learning solutions that companies are opting for. Companies can also look at leveraging microlearning in the form of bite-sized, easy-to-digest videos for the effective learning experience. Immersive digital learning solutions such as personalised learning paths, gamification, scenario-based learning also help to keep learners engaged. Embarking on a digital path is a way forward to a more flexible and personalised approach to working, which complements the hybrid working model.

Partnership-Based Infrastructure for Sustainable Learning

A 2020 BCG report details a rapidly growing skill mismatch globally and estimates that 1.3 billion people have competencies misaligned with the work they perform. A robust infrastructure in the form of partnerships has a tremendous potential to step up and help reduce the persisting mismatch. This can be achieved by initiating deep collaborations with academic institutions, experts in the concerned fields, relevant learning platforms etc, to equip the workforce with up-to-date, in-demand competencies. Businesses, in turn, should support this collaboration by investing in their people and working with higher-ed institutions/experts to offer skilling opportunities along a lifelong learning path.

The Institute of Quality and Leadership (IQL) at TVS Motor Company, for example, continuously evaluates the skill requirements for the workforce and accordingly designs relevant and engaging training sessions by experts for essential and continual professional development. The Integrated Internship Programme provides the college interns with an opportunity to observe the real-time connect between core engineering and business as a whole. Under this programme, interns get a chance to learn from practising technologists and business leaders to learn the latest trends in the Industry.

Long-Term Professional Goals: An Extension of Personal Growth

Setting achievable individual and team goals that align with the company’s key objectives is one of the best ways to maximise performance – while optimally engaging employees and fostering continuous learning. When teams and individuals feel like they are making a meaningful contribution to the organisation and their customers, they have a greater sense of purpose in their role. They are more likely to increase their intent to perform at a higher level. On the other hand, when employees and teams clearly understand how they can contribute to the organisation's strategy, they are exponentially more engaged and passionate about their work.

In Conclusion

An organisation’s culture comprises an interlocked set of goals, roles, processes, values, communications practices, attitudes and assumptions. This makes changing an organisation’s culture one of the most difficult leadership challenges. For businesses to remain competitive, they must learn how to create a continuous learning culture. And lastly, the organisations must support such efforts at every level of the organisation. Chief Human Resource Officers, L&D teams, and Managers realise that continuous reskilling and out-skilling are key. Just “learning”, as we know it, will not suffice. A learning transformation is needed—one that focuses on the connection between continuous skilling and actual work. The author, R AnandaKrishnan, is President – Human Resources and Information Technology at TVS Motor Company.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and ETHRWorld does not necessarily subscribe to it. ETHRWorld will not be responsible for any damage caused to any person or organisation directly or indirectly.

2.2. India's economic growth will remain strong in coming quarters: S&P

PTI, Sep. 08, 2021

The economy is expected to clock 9.5 per cent growth in the current fiscal year, followed by 7 per cent expansion in the next year, S&P Global Ratings said, adding high nominal GDP growth would be important for ensuring fiscal consolidation going forward.

The Indian economy grew at 20.1 per cent in April-June helped by a lower base, vis-a-vis 1.6 per cent in March quarter. India is expected to post strong economic growth in the coming quarters, even as inflation, led by food prices, is likely to remain elevated, S&P Global Ratings said on Wednesday. The economy is expected to clock 9.5 per cent growth in the current fiscal year, followed by 7 per cent expansion in the next year, it said, adding high nominal GDP growth would be important for ensuring fiscal consolidation going forward.

"Given India's weak fiscal settings and high stock of debt around 90 per cent of GDP, the nominal GDP growth is going to be very important to prevent any further erosion of fiscal settings in the country and to enable some degree of fiscal consolidation going forward," S&P Global Ratings Director (Sovereign) Andrew Wood said.

He said the fiscal deficit would remain elevated over the next two years but debt/GDP ratio is expected to stabilise or flatten out. Wood further said India's external position has strengthened in the context of the pandemic and India has been generating forex reserves at record pace. "India's external position is very strong and this is quite supportive of India's sovereign rating despite the fact that we have had this deterioration in fiscal position concurrently," he said.

- India's external position is very strong and this is quite supportive of India's sovereign rating despite the fact that we have had this deterioration in fiscal position concurrently Andrew Wood, Global Ratings Director, S&P

Speaking at the 'India Credit Spotlight 2021', S&P Economist (Asia Pacific) Vishrut Rana said: "Looking ahead we continue to expect fairly strong economic growth going into calendar Q3 and Q4. "The second wave of the pandemic has been pretty costly to economic activity. Households have been affected .... households are going to be repairing their balance sheets and withholding from spending which means activity will remain below trend once the recovery gets underway". The Indian economy grew at 20.1 per cent in April-June helped by a lower base, vis-a-vis 1.6 per cent in March quarter. He said inflation has been on the upper end of the tolerance range which means the central bank will be watching inflation very closely.

"The outlook is mixed and energy prices are likely to remain elevated... but the real influential element in the inflation basket is going to be food. We have monsoon rains below normal so far which could lead to rise in food inflation. Overall inflation is likely to remain elevated and prevent the central bank from taking too much easing measures," Rana said. S&P has the lowest investment grade 'BBB-' rating on India, with a stable outlook.

3. Mukesh Ambani is going green but still getting rich off oil

Mint, Aug. 26, 2021

- In fiscal 2021, Reliance generated about 45 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions from its own operations, which puts the company among the top such emitters in India, according to data on other companies tracked by Bloomberg. (REUTERS)

- Mukesh Ambani is joining the clean energy business, building solar and hydrogen plants right next door to the sprawling fossil fuels complex that’s helped deliver his vast wealth.

Along the Arabian Sea, the Indian city of Jamnagar is a money-making machine for Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, processing crude oil into fuel, plastics and chemicals. It’s also where the billionaire is making his newest bet: a $10 billion investment in green energy.

In a swath of arid land, to the city’s southwest, Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd., owns the world’s biggest oil refining complex. It’s a sprawling network of plants and pipelines that can process 1.4 million barrels of petroleum a day in an operation covering half the area of Manhattan. In fiscal 2021, Reliance generated about 45 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions from its own operations, which puts the company among the top such emitters in India, according to data on other companies tracked by Bloomberg. Much of that came from its Jamnagar refineries.

Next door, in a nod to a changing — and warming — world Ambani is now building factories that make more environmentally friendly products like solar panels, electrolyzers, fuel cells and batteries.

On the face of it, the new investment is a sharp pivot for a giant conglomerate whose fortunes have been linked to oil refining for decades. Yet even as Ambani, 64, touts the shift to less polluting options, crude’s byproducts will remain one of the biggest drivers of the $80 billion fortune that’s made him the world’s 12th richest man.

Reliance gets nearly 60% of its $73 billion in annual revenue from its oil-related business, which is so lucrative that it’s attracting other investors. The Middle Eastern energy firm Saudi Aramco is in discussions for the purchase of a roughly 20% stake in Reliance’s refining and chemicals business.

Ambani’s conglomerate is also investing in global expansion projects for the petrochemicals business that’ll last for decades. Even if its new energy operations take off, they will contribute only 10% of Reliance’s total earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by fiscal 2026, while oil-to-chemicals will stay at about 33%, Sanford C. Bernstein analysts estimated in July.

That’s making Jamnagar a location that highlights a broader tension in the energy transition: While the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies are rushing to placate investors — and chase profits — by adding clean power sources, that doesn’t signal a quick retreat from polluting fuels. It’s a contrast playing out even as climate scientists escalate warnings about the fallouts of human-caused global warming.

M.V. Ramana, an energy policy scholar and professor at University of British Columbia, said it would be hard for Reliance to dissociate from fossil fuel businesses that create emissions.

“If you look at what Reliance’s trajectory has been, it is one of expansion of its fossil fuels business," Ramana said. Shifting dramatically away from the more polluting oil-to-chemicals business is difficult “because it is going to affect their bottomline," he said.

Reliance didn't respond to requests for comment. At its annual shareholders' meeting in June, Ambani acknowledged the need for change. “The age of fossil fuels, which powered economic growth globally for nearly three centuries, cannot continue much longer. The huge quantities of carbon it has emitted into the environment have endangered life on earth,'' he said. Reliance has said it will make its operations carbon neutral by 2035 with the help of projects that offset emissions.

There are also plans to arm the 7,500-acre Jamnagar refinery-and-petrochemicals complex with solar power, green hydrogen and carbon dioxide capture and usage technologies. To curb pollution, about 2,200 acres of land within the facility have been converted into a green pasture, growing mangoes, guavas and medicinal plants.

The site’s scope is so vast that it’s rubbed off on the city’s economy. The facility stands near miles of salt pans, its stacks towering over the low-rise houses in surrounding villages. Reliance’s logo is seen at the airport, on the numerous gas stations it operates, malls and the banners of its telephone service Jio. Jamnagar now has multi-storeyed apartments and luxury cars running on its roads.

The Ambani firm has over the last 10 years invested about $15 billion to boost profits from its legacy oil refining and petrochemicals businesses, including $4 billion to convert petroleum coke — one of the dirtiest refinery by-products — into gas needed to power the massive Jamnagar complex.

It’s also said it will spend $6 billion ramping up natural gas production from the depths of the sea along with joint venture partner BP Plc. In addition, the Reliance-BP joint venture is adding more fuel stations. BP didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Reliance’s Scope 1 carbon dioxide emissions — those caused directly by a company’s operations — surged 60% in the year ended March 2020 to 47.5 million tons, mainly because it started using petcoke produced from the refineries internally, instead of selling it to customers outside, according to the company’s latest annual report. A year later, emissions came down to 45 million tons.

India is one of the world’s biggest consumers of oil, and demand is only rising as its middle class buys more vehicles, and consumes more products like plastic bottles and paint that are made from petrochemicals. Many Indian cities, including capital New Delhi, are among the world’s most polluted. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched a national clean air program.

The new Reliance green venture will be spread over 5,000 acres of land. Ambani has said a key focus will be to create products for producing solar power, an area where India has long lagged China.

“When companies of this size announce such ambitious plans, it gives a great fillip to the decarbonization goals of the nations and the world at large," said Shantanu Jaiswal, head of India at BloombergNEF.

Still, moving away from polluting fossil fuels for economic reasons is hard not just for Reliance, but for the nation as a whole. India has insisted that developed nations take larger initial steps to cut emissions so that poorer nations don’t feel the economic strain.

The Jamnagar refinery has spawned a whole generation of entrepreneurs. “The billions of dollars Reliance has invested has significantly boosted the local economy," said Chandrsinh Ramsinh Jadeja, 52, who developed a business doing construction work for Reliance in Jamnagar. “Farmers earned money, sent their kids to school and purchased land elsewhere, tens of thousands of jobs were created."

Reliance earned a net profit of 537.4 billion rupees ($7.2 billion) in the year ended March, the most by any Indian company.

Ambani has in recent years expanded into retail and built his digital business with investments from big names like Facebook Inc. The mammoth Aramco deal under discussion showed how important the oil-to-chemicals enterprise remains to his future. In 2019, Ambani estimated that such a deal would lock in about half-a-million barrels a day of Saudi crude for processing at Reliance’s refineries.

The latest news about the deal boosted the company’s shares by as much as 2.7% and Ambani’s net worth by more than $1 billion.

“Reliance’s diversification into green energy is a starting point, it’s a welcome shift. But the business is evolving," said Kanika Chawla, program manager for UN-Energy, which leads inter-agency collaboration on sustainable energy. “It’s not a change in regime."

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

4. As India Inc shines brighter, CEOs and CXOs dump MNCs for local firms

ET Bureau, Sep. 09, 2021, Rica Bhattacharyya

Extensive capex plans, rise in M&A deals and increased decision-making power are some of the reasons attracting the top talent to Indian companies.

With the coming of private equity and some forward-thinking promoters, wealth sharing has become a contributing factor for CXOs to move to Indian companiesThere seems to be an exodus of top talent from multinational corporations to domestic companies amid the pandemic with dozens of high calibre CEOs and CXOs making the move since 2020. Extensive capital expenditure plans, rise in private equity and merger and acquisition (M&A) deals, a booming stock market, newness of many of the expansion projects, and increased decision-making power are some of the reasons attracting the top talent to Indian companies, according to company promoters, board members and executive search consultants. “There is much more action and growth happening in Indian companies, fuelling this movement,” said Harsh Goenka, chairman of RPG Group. “In MNCs, a lot of major decision-making is left with the corporate headquarters whereas in Indian companies senior leaders get a chance to be the foot and arm of the organisations. Indian companies give much more freedom to think.”

Those who have left MNCs for Indian firms in recent times include Sudhir Sitapati, managing director and CEO of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd who was earlier with Hindustan Unilever, Pradipt Kapoor, chief information officer of Airtel (earlier Maersk), Hemant Badri, senior vice president and head of supply chain at Flipkart (Unilever and Colgate Palmolive), Narendra Agrawal, global CIO of Dabur (Unilever and Capgemini), Shalini Raghavan, group chief marketing officer of Nykaa (L’Oréal and HUL), Ashish Bhandari, MD and CEO of Thermax (Baker Hughes, GE, McKinsey and Schlumberger), and Gopal Mishra, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of FabIndia Overseas (Reckitt Benckiser). “As MNCs moved into matrix structures and diffused reporting with a large amount of decision making happening outside local units, well-managed domestic companies provided equivalent environments and culture,” said Bharat Puri, MD of Pidilite Industries. With the coming of private equity and some forward-thinking promoters, wealth sharing has become a contributing factor for CXOs to move to Indian companies, he said. Kamal Karanth, co-founder at specialist staffing firm Xpheno, said several Indian companies are offering attractive wealth creation opportunities. “The philosophy about compensation has changed in Indian companies that are coming up with innovative pay packages, including cash and stock compensation.”

Many traditional Indian firms are foraying into new-generation investments, which are major attractions for senior global talent, Karanth said. A recent top hire at a leading Indian consumer company said there is a level of fatigue in terms of diversity of roles and empowerment at many MNCs. “While MNCs are amazing training grounds in terms of rigour, discipline and processes, Indian companies are offering more challenging growth opportunities,” the CXO said. According to Goenka of RPG Group, one of the factors attracting top talent is that many Indian “family-controlled organisations have professionalised their processes and cleansed their governance”. Also, many Indian companies are MNCs, with businesses across global markets. “Leading Indian corporations have global expansion plans through M&A, strategic partnerships and organic growth,” said R Suresh, founder of executive search firm Insist. Pradip Shah, an independent director on several company boards, said businesses of companies such as Reliance and Bharti Airtel are global in scale and size, offering wide growth opportunities for senior management. “Many Indian companies have businesses in emerging markets such as Bangladesh and even mature markets in the US, UK and Europe,” he said. “It is not surprising that Indian companies attract top talent today.”

5. Global 5G standard to push global companies to set up manufacturing operations in India: International trade bodies

ET Telecom, Aug. 28, 2021, Danish Khan

The adoption and use of 3GPP’s 5G standards will enable Indian manufacturers to compete in markets around the world, supporting the government’s goal to strengthen the Indian economy, they added.

NEW DELHI: Top trade and technology bodies from the US and UK have told the Indian government that adoption of globally harmonised standard, the 3GPP 5G standard, will give a much needed push to electronic manufacturing in India as companies will be encouraged to set up their operations in India. They urged the government to allow Indian telcos to independently choose to deploy technologies conforming to the 5G standard of their choice. Indian telcos, multinational vendors chipset and smartphone makers have already made their submission to both TEC and the DoT urging the government to avoid making the TSDSI 5G standard, 5Gi, mandatory as the technology is not proven and may impact the 5G rollout and disrupt the entire ecosystem by delaying the roll out and jack up prices. “By using globally harmonized standards such as those from 3GPP, companies can set up manufacturing operations in India with the confidence that they can easily serve both the Indian market and export to global markets,” the bodies said in a joint submission letter to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecommunications Engineering Centre (TEC).

These organisations include Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), UK India Business Council (UKIBC), U.S. Chamber of Commerce US-India Business Council (USIBC) US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), TechNet and TechUK. The adoption and use of 3GPP’s 5G standards will enable Indian manufacturers to compete in markets around the world, supporting the government’s goal to strengthen the Indian economy, they added. Notably, India has already announced sops under production-linked incentives or PLI scheme for domestic and multinational vendors to develop a local manufacturing ecosystem to serve both local and global markets. Thirty-seven global, local telecom gear vendors and contract manufacturers, including Nokia, Cisco, Flex, Foxconn and Jabil have applied under the Rs 12,195 crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for telecom and networking equipment manufacturing. Local telecom standards body, Telecom Standards Development Society, India (TSDSI), has suggested that the 5Gi be made the national standard for deploying 5G networks in India. The bodies, however, said that 3GPP is continuously releasing updated specifications which “may diverge from and make country-specific standards obsolete.”

5G is becoming fundamental to the fabric of connectivity across industries. “...the economic advantages of leveraging globally harmonized technology standards to India’s manufacturing ecosystem will only become more apparent,” they added in the submission. In line with Indian telcos and multinational vendors’ submission, the trade bodies said that adopting 3GPP standards into Indian national standards will advance the pace of 5G network rollout, helping Indians connect to high-speed internet and address the digital divide. “By using 3GPP standards, India’s telecommunications operators will be able to leverage the economies of scale provided by globally harmonized standards to efficiently iterate on existing networks,” they added. In the letter, they added that 3GPP standards will also enable Indian consumers, companies, and network providers to leverage proven and up-to-date technology solutions from global providers to access the internet, enhancing security and supporting India’s continued economic growth. The adoption of a globally harmonised 5G standard will allow the Indian government to work closely with global partners and allies on issues related to emerging technology, they said. “Whether in the context of the Quad Emerging Technology Working Group between India, the U.S., Japan, and Australia; or in other bilateral and multilateral partnerships, global standards are foundational to cooperation on next-generation technologies. Not adopting global standards could set back vital shared work on supply chain security and vendor diversification, which also rely on common standards,” the letter read.

The trade bodies said that India’s participation is vital to the development of an “innovative and secure global technology ecosystem” “...we encourage India to faithfully adopt 3GPP Release 15 as a National Standard, avoiding efforts that may lead to the fragmentation of globally harmonized standards.”

- AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

6.1. The assured prices behind India's agricultural boom

Mint, 8 Jul. 2021, Arjun Srinivas

Amid a bumper wheat crop, India’s farmers sold more wheat to the government than ever before. Government procurement has only grown in recent years, making farmers wary of any attempt to dial back the role of the state in the farm sector

This rabi marketing season has seen the highest procurement of wheat by government agencies in history. At 43 million tonnes, this is 33% higher than the average for the past five rabi seasons. It underscores the prime role played by the government in procurement of farm produce. This becomes important in the context of the three farm laws that were introduced last year but whose implementation was put on hold amid ongoing farmer unrest.

These new laws seek to offer farmers more avenues to sell their produce beyond those designated by the government. The concern is it could mean the government, which offers a price guarantee for 23 main crops, reduces its presence as a buyer. Further, without a price floor coded into law, private players with greater pricing power could end up dictating terms to farmers.

A price floor was a key demand of the ongoing farmer agitation, which started in mid-November 2020, almost coinciding with the start of the rabi sowing season. The protests, while national in scope, are spearheaded by farmer collectives from Punjab and Haryana. These are agrarian states where farmers have historically benefited the most from government procurement.

The rabi sowing season in 2020 was sandwiched between two deadly waves of the covid-19 pandemic. Agriculture being less affected by the pandemic, and two successive years of good monsoons, drove the record sowing of wheat: 34.6 million hectares, or 14% more than the average of the previous five years. Seven of the top eight wheat-producing states, led by Madhya Pradesh, sowed more land for wheat. This led to India recording its highest-ever wheat produce in a full season.

Procurement Boom

The rabi wheat crop is typically harvested in April and May. On the back of increased sowing in the 2020 rabi sowing season, wheat production for the full 2020-21 season jumped to a record high of 109.2 million tonnes.

This trickled down to procurement. The Rabi marketing season lasts from April to June, which turned out to be the exact period in 2021 when the devastating second wave of covid-19 peaked in India. Yet, the procurement of wheat, led by state agencies, has been robust across several states. Of the 109.2 million tonnes produced, 43.3 million tonnes, or 40%, was procured by government agencies. The proportion of wheat procured by government agencies has increased steadily over the past five years, from 31% in 2016-17, pointing to the rising importance of wheat procurement over time.

Regional Skew

Just seven states accounted for about 95% of India’s wheat production in 2020-21. Uttar Pradesh saw the highest production of wheat at 33.4 million tonnes, followed by Madhya Pradesh (20.7 million tonnes) and Punjab (17.9 million tonnes). However, in terms of procurement, Punjab is the leader at 13.2 million tonnes (73.5% of production), followed by Madhya Pradesh at 12.8 million tonnes (62% of production).

Among these seven states, the share of wheat production procured by the government varies widely. It ranges from 4.5% (Gujarat) to 73.5% (Punjab). Uttar Pradesh is a key state at the lower end, where the government procured just 5.6 million tonnes (17% of production). Reports had emerged last year of farmers in Uttar Pradesh being compelled to sell wheat to traders in mandis at below the government-determined minimum support price (MSP). But the procurement in the state last year was a significant improvement over the 3.7 million tonnes in the year-ago period.

Farmer Count

Overall, more farmers are using the government procurement facility to sell wheat than before. This rabi marketing season (2021-22), as of 1 June, 4.9 million farmers sold wheat to the government at MSP. This is a 13% increase over 2020-21 and is more than twice the number that used this facility in 2016-17. Additionally, 12.5 million farmers sold paddy to the government during the full kharif season in 2019-20. While the overwhelming majority of the estimated 100 million agricultural households still don't sell to government agencies, the ranks of those who do are growing.

The record procurement of wheat this year points to the fact that government procurement of foodgrains remains pivotal to the agrarian economy in several states, especially in a year of surplus production. In wheat, some states are on the verge of a wheat-production boom. Madhya Pradesh, which has recently committed large tracts of land to sowing of wheat, currently has very low productivity. On its current trajectory, it has the potential to become India’s largest wheat-producing state. Assured offtake at assured prices, as the current MSP regime promises, remains a key driver of this boom.

(howindialives.com is a database and search engine for public data)

6.2. DMK govt presents exclusive farm budget, first in TN

PTI, AUG 14, 2021

Chennai, Aug 14 (PTI) In sync with its poll promise, the DMK government on Saturday presented a budget in the Tamil Nadu Assembly exclusively for agriculture featuring schemes for the overall development of the farm sector, including one for self-sufficiency and farm growth in villages. Presenting the budget, Minister for agriculture and farmer's welfare, M R K Panneerselvam said the views of farmers and experts were sought and the budget was prepared based on their views. "The agriculture budget is the aspiration of farmers. It is a dream of nature lovers." This is the first time a separate budget for agriculture is presented in Tamil Nadu. During 2021-2022, Rs.34,220.65 crore is provided for agriculture and related departments like animal husbandry, fisheries, dairy development, irrigation, rural development, sericulture and forest, he said. A sum of Rs 4,508.23 crore has been allocated to the state-run electricity entity, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation for providing free of cost electricity to farm pump sets, he said. To bring prosperity to farmers and farm labourers in the Cauvery delta region, "it is proposed to declare this area as agro industrial corridor," to promote agro based industries, he said.

The previous AIADMK government had declared the Cauvery delta region, a protected agricultural zone. The Minister said in regions such as Thanjavur, rice, pulses, banana, coconut are produced throughout the year. If rice and oil mills, coir units and pulse processing units (that use agricultural products of this region to produce value added products) are promoted, it would greatly contribute to the welfare of farmers and farm workers of delta region, he said. Panneerselvam said a scheme with a total outlay of Rs 1,245.45 crore to ensure overall agricultural development and self sufficiency in all villages of Tamil Nadu would be implemented. This plan, named after former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi (Kalaignarin Anaithu Grama Orunginaintha Velaan Valarchi Thittam) would be implemented in 2,500 village panchayats in the current year (2021-22), he said. Out of the 12,524 village panchayats in Tamil Nadu, each year, one-fifth of them would be be identified and the scheme shall be implemented in all of the panchayats areas in five years.

Bringing fallow lands into cultivation, augmenting water resources, installation of solar powered pump sets, marketing of value-added farm produce, adoption of micro-irrigation and increasing milk production are among the objectives of the scheme. Aimed at increasing the income of farmers (depending on rainfed farming), the Chief Minister's Dry land Development Mission would be implemented in three lakh hectares, he said. To promote organic farming, "Organic farming development scheme" would be implemented at a cost of Rs 33.03 crore. Inputs for organic farming would be made available in Agricultural Extension Centres and among the several measures proposed under the scheme, farms would be certified as organic, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Insider and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed we subscribe to.)

7.1. Agri exports may grow 15% in FY22: Government

ET Bureau, Aug. 21, 2021

Export of agricultural and allied products in 2020-21 grew by 17.34% to $41.25 billion

The government on Friday said that the country’s agri-exports are estimated to grow by 15 percent in FY22, adding that export of products like rice, meat, cereals and dairy items rose 44.3 percent year-on-year to $4.81 billion during April-June 2021. Their exports were $3.33 billion in the year ago period. Export of agricultural and allied products in 2020-21 grew by 17.34% to $41.25 billion. The commerce and industry ministry said that the initiatives taken by Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has helped the country achieve this milestone at a time when the outbreak of pandemic was at its peak. “The exports of fresh fruits & vegetables registered a 9.1% growth, while shipment of processed food products like cereals preparations and miscellaneous processed items reported a growth of 69.6%," the ministry said in a statement.

In April-June FY21, fresh fruits and vegetables exports were $584.5 million which rose to $637.7 million in the June quarter of FY22. As per the statement, India reported a “huge” 415.5% jump in export of other cereals while the export of meat, dairy & poultry products witnessed a 111.5% rise in the first three months of the current fiscal. The export of other cereals increased to $231.4 million in the quarter from $44.9 million a year ago while those of meat, dairy and poultry products rose to $1.02 billion from $483.5 million in the same period. The export of rice, which recorded a growth of 25.3%, increased to $2.39 billion from $1.91 billion April-June of 2020-21.

7.2. India can export 6 million tonnes of sugar next season, says ISMA

IBEF: September 10, 2021

On Thursday, Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) stated that India, the global second largest manufacturer of sugar, has the potential to export 6 million tonnes of sugar in the 2021-22 season, which is starting next month.

In the first 11 months of the 2020-21 season (October-September), the sugar exports from India stood at ~ 6.67 million tonnes, registering an increase from 5.57 million tonnes of sugar exports a year ago.

As per the industry body, total sugar exports from India is estimated to exceed 7 million tonnes in the ongoing season.

At present, global prices are estimated at ~20 cents per pound, a four-year high, primarily due to a potential global sugar deficit expected in the next season, as a result of expected production fall from Brazil.

ISMA stated that, “This represents Indian sugar mills an upright opportunity to export surplus sugar until January 2022, and afterward until April 2022 before Brazilian sugar arises into the marketplace.”

It added, “For the upcoming season, several sugar mills have initiated forward contracts for export.”

It said, "It is thus expected that Indian sugar mills would leverage this opportunity and would be able to export ~6 million tonnes of sugar in the next season also.”

ISMA said, “Several global associations including International Sugar Organisation (ISO) have estimated a higher sugar deficit at ~4-5 million tonnes in the 2021-22 season, due to drought in Brazil which is expected to impact the sugar production.”

As per ISMA, sugar from Thailand is expected to arise in the marketplace from January 2022 onwards. Also, the Thailand’s sugar production is expected to be 33.5 million tonnes lesser as compared to normal production of 14-14.5 million tonnes.

According to ISMA, 2020-21 season (until August), the country exported 6.67 million tonnes of sugar. Of the total, 6.22 million tonnes of sugar were exported under the Food Ministry’s allocation and some quantity under open general licence scheme.

As of September 6, an estimated additional 2,29,000 tonne of sugar is expected to be exported.

ISMA said, “This means that having next 20 days left for the ongoing season to end, India’s sugar export could exceed 7 million tonnes.”

Of the total India’s exports, raw sugar stood at 3.42 million tonnes, white sugar stood at 2.56 million tonnes and refined sugar stood at 1,88,000 tonnes.

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

8. Amazon invests in Indian produce

Asiafruit Magazine, Sep. 07, 2021, Lian O’Callaghan

Tech giant works to improve production and supply chain for fresh produce Amazon India launched a new suite of agronomy services to improve fresh produce production and build a robust supply chain.

Services include a mobile app that can deliver reactive and proactive crop plans to address queries from growers anytime, anywhere and machine learning-based algorithms to detect defects in fresh produce.

Sameer Khetarpal, director, grocery, food and health of Amazon India, said state-of-the-art technology will also be used to build robust supply chain infrastructure.

“We are excited by the role we can play in empowering Indian farmers and the agricultural community through pioneering technology that improves farm yield and quality of fruits and vegetables,” said Khetarpal.

“This is a holistic program that enables farmers to use scientific crop planning based on soil and weather conditions, and provides inputs on crop and disease management. We are humbled with the acceptance from farmers to adapt and learn tech-led simplified solutions that help them in fast decision making and see improved results from the farm.

“We plan to continuously improve efficiency of the program and create new modules that will benefit Indian farmers and provide freshest produce to the customers”

As part of the agronomy service launch, Amazon has developed an ecosystem using a combination of agronomist-driven field interventions, and a farm management tool to track the impact of interventions.

Each enrolled grower partner is onboarded on the farm management tool and a team of qualified agronomists offer agri-tech expertise to registered partners for better farm yield and improved product quality.

The second Amazon agronomy service is an application-interface that uses machine learning and computer-vision based algorithms to simplify supply chain processes. It helps growers to identify defects (rotting, spots, cuts, mold) in fruits and vegetables, which in turn, reduces wastage, improves the for end-consumers.

Amazon said it is also investing in robust, temperature-controlled supply chain infrastructure. Amazon associates use technology to inspect and monitor quality at multiple stages once the produce is sourced from farmers and dispatched to processing centres.

The fresh produce is then sorted, graded, and packed in different sizes at the processing centres and dispatched to Amazon Fresh fulfilment centres located closer to customers.

The fulfilment centres operate with four separate temperature zones (ambient, tropical, chilled and frozen) to maintain the quality and freshness of produce.

9.1. Flipkart adds new warehouse centres in Haryana; to create 12,000 job opportunities

PTI, Sep. 09, 2021

The new fulfilment centres (warehouses) will help create deeper capabilities to support thousands of sellers, MSMEs, small farmers from the state to cater to the growing customer demand, create more employment opportunities while enabling faster deliveries for consumers, a statement said.

"More than 13,000 sellers from the state will get augmented support to reach lakhs of new customers nationally and create additional 12,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state, thereby strengthening the state economy," it said, adding that these facilities will help serve customers from Haryana and nearby regions. Walmart-owned Flipkart on Thursday said it has strengthened its supply chain network in Haryana with the addition of four new facilities ahead of the upcoming festive season, a move expected to help create 12,000 job opportunities.

Fulfilment centres are specialised facilities where products are received from sellers across the region, processed and packed, and then sent to sortation centres and delivery hubs for delivery to customers.

The new facilities will serve sellers of large appliances, furniture, mobiles, apparel and electronics and are located in Sankpa, Yakubpur, Kulana, and Rewari with a total area of more than 12 lakh sq ft and a storage capacity of over 30 lakh cubic feet, Flipkart said. "More than 13,000 sellers from the state will get augmented support to reach lakhs of new customers nationally and create additional 12,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state, thereby strengthening the state economy," it said, adding that these facilities will help serve customers from Haryana and nearby regions. "Haryana has been at the forefront of promoting the digital way of commerce and has introduced numerous initiatives, including a single-window system to provide for speedy implementation of industrial and other projects. “Digital commerce is providing new avenues and opportunities for lakhs of MSMEs, which forms a base of India's economic growth in a big way," Vikas Gupta, Director General Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in Haryana government, said. With this expansion in the state, Flipkart now has a total of 17 Fulfilment centres (FCs) in regions such as Binola, Bilaspur, Luhari, Ballabgarh and Farrukhnagar, and spread across an area of 44 lakh sq ft, creating around 22,000 thousand direct and indirect job opportunities.

“As a home grown e-commerce marketplace platform, we are proud to be at the forefront of creating value for all our stakeholders, including sellers, Kiranas, customers, partners and communities," Flipkart Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Rajneesh Kumar said. Haryana has one of Flipkart's deepest investments with specialised facilities for large appliances, non-large (including mobiles and apparel), grocery and furniture and has played a pivotal role in connecting thousands of sellers from the state to a national market, he added. In a separate statement, Flipkart said it has expanded its hyperlocal service - Flipkart Quick - to three new metro cities of Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. This will provide consumers safe and seamless access to order daily essentials through quick doorstep delivery, it added.

Flipkart Quick - which was launched in Bengaluru last year - will now be available across 10 cities, including Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad, Noida, and Pune. By the end of the month, Flipkart Quick will also service consumers in Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula, taking the total city count to 14 cities. Flipkart plans to introduce this hyperlocal service to other cities in a phased manner this year and aims to be present in over 200 cities by the end of 2022. “We have made strategic investments and partnerships to expand the value of Flipkart Quick in multiple micro-markets across the country. With a successful stint of our hyperlocal service last year, we are now ready to introduce Flipkart Quick in 10 cities ahead of the festive season, for consumers to not just avail fresh fruits and vegetables, snacks and beverages, but also household essentials and baby care products - all under 90 minutes," Flipkart Vice-President (Flipkart Quick) Sandeep Karwa said. Flipkart Quick also leverages the company's investment in Ninjacart and strategic partnerships with other local vendors to build an end-to-end ecosystem.

9.2. Flipkart adds new warehouses in Karnataka, to create over 14,000 job opportunities

PTI, Aug. 27, 2021

Flipkart has nine supply chain facilities, including fulfilment and sortation hubs in Karnataka spread across nearly 23 lakh square feet area and has created more than 26,000 direct and indirect job opportunities.

New Delhi: Walmart-owned Flipkart on Thursday said it has strengthened its supply chain network in Karnataka with the addition of three new facilities ahead of the upcoming festive season, a move that is expected to help create over 14,000 job opportunities. The new fulfilment centres (warehouses) will help create deeper capabilities to support thousands of sellers, MSMEs, small farmers from the state to cater to the growing customer demand, create more employment opportunities while enabling faster deliveries for consumers, a statement said. These new facilities will serve sellers of large appliances, furniture, mobile phones, apparel and electronics and are located in Kolar, Hubli and Anekal, it added. Flipkart has nine supply chain facilities, including fulfilment and sortation hubs in Karnataka spread across nearly 23 lakh square feet area and has created more than 26,000 direct and indirect job opportunities. Fulfilment centres are specialised facilities where products are received from sellers across the region, processed and packed and then sent to sortation centres and delivery hubs for delivery to customers. The new facilities, collectively spread across nearly 7 lakh sq ft, have a storage capacity of 15.6 lakh cubic feet and will help more than 10,500 sellers. The expansion will further contribute to the state economy and create additional 14,000 direct and indirect job opportunities, as the sellers get national market access for their products, the statement said. "The supply chain infrastructure expansion in the state including North Karnataka, will spur economic activity and create large scale entrepreneurship and employment opportunities in the state and we assure Flipkart of the full support of the government in its endeavour," Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister Parliamentary Affairs, said while inaugurating the facilities virtually. Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Flipkart Group, said the company's endeavour is to create value for all its stakeholders as it onboards lakhs of MSMEs and small sellers. "In this journey, we have invested in a tech-enabled supply chain network that is helping create thousands of direct job opportunities across the country, and also aiding indirect job opportunities in ancillary industries," he added.

10. Indian Railways' Chandigarh Railway Station awarded 5-Star 'Eat Right Station' certification by FSSAI

Press Information Bureau, Sep. 03, 2021

Indian Railways’ Chandigarh Railway Station has been awarded a 5- star 'Eat Right Station' certification for providing high-quality, nutritious food to passengers. This certification is granted by FSSAI to railway stations adhering to standard food storage and hygiene practices. The 'Eat Right Station' certification is awarded by FSSAI to railway stations that set benchmarks in providing safe and wholesome food to passengers. The station is awarded a certificate upon a conclusion of an FSSAI-empanelled third-party audit agency with ratings from 1 to 5. The 5-star rating indicates exemplary efforts by stations to ensure safe and hygienic food is available to passengers.

The certification is part of the 'Eat Right India' movement- a large-scale effort by FSSAI to transform the country's food system to ensure safe, healthy and sustainable food for all Indians. Eat Right India adopts a judicious mix of regulatory, capacity building, collaborative, and empowerment approaches to ensure that our food is suitable both for the people and the planet.

Chandigarh Railway Station becomes the fifth station in India to get this recognition. The other railway stations with this certification include Anand Vihar Terminal Railway Station; (Delhi), Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus; (Mumbai), Mumbai Central Railway Station; (Mumbai) and Vadodara Railway Station.

Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd. (IRSDC) has been entrusted with the mandate to undertake Facility Management at five railway stations, namely, KSR Bengaluru, Pune, Anand Vihar, Chandigarh and Secunderabad, to enhance customer experience and make travel a safe and hassle-free experience. IRSDC is committed to redefine passenger experience and set a benchmark in the development, redevelopment, operation and maintenance of railway stations in India. IRSDC has many firsts to its credit in the facility management, including ‘Water from Air’ Water Vending Machine, Fit India Squat Kiosk, Eat Right Station with the highest rating, digital locker, generic medicine shop, mobile charging kiosk, a retail store by a start-up and a food truck.

Shortly, IRSDC will be undertaking Facility Management of 90 more stations in a phased manner.

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

- INDUSTRY & MANUFACTURE

11.1. Government has approved Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Textiles. With this, India is poised to regain its dominance in Global Textiles Trade

Press Information Bureau, Sep. 09, 2021

Taking steps forward towards the vision of an ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, Government led by Hon’ble Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, has approved the PLI Scheme for Textiles for MMF Apparel, MMF Fabrics and 10 segments/ products of Technical Textiles with a budgetary outlay of Rs. 10,683 crore. PLI for Textiles along with RoSCTL, RoDTEP and other measures of Government in sector e.g., providing raw material at competitive prices, skill development etc will herald a new age in textiles manufacturing.

PLI scheme for Textiles is part of the overall announcement of PLI Schemes for 13 sectors made earlier during the Union Budget 2021-22, with an outlay of Rs. 1.97 lakh crore. With the announcement of PLI Schemes for 13 sectors, minimum production in India is expected to be around Rs. 37.5 lakh crore over 5 years and minimum expected employment over 5 years is nearly 1 crore.

PLI scheme for Textiles will promote production of high value MMF Fabric, Garments and Technical Textiles in country. The incentive structure has been so formulated that industry will be encouraged to invest in fresh capacities in these segments. This will give a major push to growing high value MMF segment which will complement the efforts of cotton and other natural fibre-based textiles industry in generating new opportunities for employment and trade, resultantly helping India regain its historical dominant status in global textiles trade.

The Technical Textiles segment is a new age textile, whose application in several sectors of economy, including infrastructure, water, health and hygiene, defense, security, automobiles, aviation, etc. will improve the efficiencies in those sectors of economy. Government has also launched a National Technical Textiles Mission in the past for promoting R&D efforts in that sector. PLI will help further, in attracting investment in this segment.

There are two types of investment possible with different set of incentive structure. Any person, (which includes firm / company) willing to invest minimum Rs. 300 Crore in Plant, Machinery, Equipment and Civil Works (excluding land and administrative building cost) to produce products of Notified lines (MMF Fabrics, Garment) and products of Technical Textiles, shall be eligible to apply for participation in first part of the scheme. In the second part any person, (which includes firm / company) willing to invest minimum Rs. 100 Crore shall be eligible to apply for participation in this part of the scheme. In addition, priority will be given for investment in Aspirational Districts, Tier 3, Tier 4 towns, and rural areas and due to this priority Industry will be incentivized to move to backward area. This scheme will positively impact especially States like Gujarat, UP, Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Punjab, AP, Telangana, Odisha etc.

It is estimated that over the period of five years, the PLI Scheme for Textiles will lead to fresh investment of more than Rs.19,000 crore, cumulative turnover of over Rs.3 lakh crore will be achieved under this scheme and, will create additional employment opportunities of more than 7.5 lakh jobs in this sector and several lakhs more for supporting activities. The textiles industry predominantly employs women; therefore, the scheme will empower women and increase their participation in formal economy.

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

11.2. Lenovo expands manufacturing capabilities for PCs, notebooks, smartphones in India

IBEF, Aug. 27, 2021

To satisfy rising consumer demand, Lenovo said on Thursday that it is considerably expanding its local manufacturing capabilities in India across product categories such as PCs, laptops, and smartphones.

Lenovo said it is expanding in India across all business lines, including PC and smart devices, smart phones, infrastructure solutions, and especially in the newly created services and solutions group, but without disclosing the amount of money it is investing.

Lenovo has added a third manufacturing line to its in-house PC manufacturing factory in Puducherry, and it has begun local manufacture of its tablet PCs in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, in cooperation with Wingtech Technology.

In addition, Motorola (a Lenovo group business) cellphones are now produced domestically in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, in collaboration with Dixon Technologies, according to a release.

“Lenovo's commitment to the government's goal of “AtmaNirbhar Bharat” is strengthened by these activities. They're also part of Lenovo's worldwide production and supply chain strategy, which sees the company service consumers in 180 markets from 30 manufacturing locations across the world, including Argentina, Brazil, China, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Mexico, and the United States” it was also added.

According to IDC, India's overall PC market is anticipated to grow to over 15 million units by 2022, up from 10 million units in 2020.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2021, total revenue for all Lenovo Group companies in India was over US$ 462 million, increasing 31.3% year over year.

According to the statement, the Tirupati plant currently manufactures a wide range of Lenovo tablets to satisfy the demands of consumers, educators, and students, as well as those for specialised functions like retail, manufacturing, and healthcare.

The Lenovo Puducherry facility, which has been in operating since 1999, has earlier been extended to include Lenovo's popular IdeaPad laptop computers.

The factory has now began manufacturing products across Lenovo's complete consumer and commercial range, including desktops, laptops, and workstations, thanks to the installation of a third production line, according to the announcement.

This is a 100% increase in capacity over the previous year, it added.

“Lenovo has made substantial investments in the facility's automation and digitization in order to ensure a smooth and efficient production process. There is also a shared testing room and common packing lines for all items. Every product will now have its own setup and testing process as a result of this expansion” It was said.

Motorola, a Lenovo group business, was one of the first to sign up to the government of India's PLI (Production Linked Incentive) programme. It has collaborated with Dixon to manufacture virtually all of its smartphones for Indian clients and has begun exporting to a few neighbouring regions.

Lenovo has invested in employment and skill development to support these local manufacturing activities, and there are presently over 1,500 direct and indirect workers working across these three production sites.

“In keeping with our true commitment to manufacture locally, the development of our manufacturing capabilities in India will enable us to provide innovative products of the best quality, manufactured locally and quickly brought to market,” said Mr. Shailendra Katyal, Managing Director of Lenovo India.

He went on to say that the company's efforts are aimed at creating jobs and skill development opportunities, as well as bringing sophisticated, sustainable manufacturing technology to India.

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

12.1. Samsung partners NSDC to train 50,000 youth for electronics retail sector

IBEF, Aug. 18, 2021

Samsung India has collaborated with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) as part of a CSR project to train 50,000 young people for jobs in the electronics retail sector over the next few years. According to a release, Samsung DOST (Digital and Offline Skills Training), the world's largest smartphone and consumer electronics company, will carry out the training programme using NSDC's national skills training centres.

The initiative, for which Samsung has inked a memorandum of understanding with NSDC, would train school graduates at 120 locations throughout India with paid on-the-job training at Samsung retail shops.

It stated that "Samsung DOST would be the largest skills training programme in the electronics business."

It will begin a pilot programme with 2,500 participants in the first phase of the programme.

"The Samsung DOST programme is linked with the Government of India's Skill India mission and is an expression of our goal of #PoweringDigitalIndia that strives to empower the next generation of young India," stated Mr. Ken Kang, President and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia.

Mr. Kang went on to say that the new initiative aims to bridge the skills and employability gap among the country's young by assisting them in finding jobs in the fast-growing electronics retail industry.

The Samsung DOST curriculum would include a mix of classroom and online instruction totaling 200 hours. Following that, employees will get five months of on-the-job training at Samsung retail locations, as well as a monthly stipend that meets industry norms.

"This will assist the young in acquiring new competences and abilities required for jobs in India's rapidly developing electronics retail sector," the statement continued.

The participants will be trained at NSDC-accredited and recognised training centres.

The training will follow the National Skill Qualification Framework, which is tailored to the demands of the sector.

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

12.2. Greater Noida emerging hub of Chinese, Korean electronics firms: UP minister

PTI, Aug. 25, 2021

"Major Chinese firms like Oppo, Vivo and Formi are setting up their units in Greater Noida."

Noida: Greater Noida is fast-emerging as a hub of multinational companies from China and South Korea because of the investor-friendly policies of the Yogi Adityanath government, Uttar Pradesh's Infrastructure and Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana said on Tuesday. Mahana said that besides US and German firms, several Chinese and Korean companies have been investing in the electronics sector in Greater Noida, near Delhi, in the last four-and-a-half years. "Major Chinese firms like Oppo, Vivo and Formi are setting up their units in Greater Noida." "Similarly, five Korean companies have acquired land in Greater Noida to establish their factories at the cost of Rs 1,154 crore in the electronics sector. The companies will provide employment to 8,706 youths," Mahana said, according to a statement.

He added that five big companies that have bought 3.51 lakh square metres of land so far to set up their factories in Greater Noida are Samkwang India Electronics, KH Vatech India, Cenetech India, Dreamtech, and Stereon. "These are the most-reputed mobile parts manufacturing companies globally," Mahana said. According to officials of the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA), Samkwang India Electronics is setting up its unit at an estimated cost of Rs 440 crore, which will employ 4,000 persons. KH Vatech India is investing Rs 247 crore and Sentech India Rs 34 crore to establish their own units here that will provide employment to 786 and 350 people, respectively, the officials added. Dream Tech and Stereon have acquired land in Sector Ecotech 10 to establish their plants at a cost of Rs 433 crore. The two units will employ 3,570 persons, the officials said. Some other Korean companies are also willing to buy land in Greater Noida to set up their plants whose names the state government is likely to reveal soon, the officials added. GNIDA's officials said one of the main reasons for these investments by Korean companies is the recent investment of Rs 7,429 crore and Rs 2,000 crore by Chinese majors Vivo and Oppo, respectively, in Greater Noida.

The entry of Chinese electronics companies into Greater Noida to manufacture laptops, mobile phones and other gadgets has paved the way for Korean companies to establish their own plants in order to compete with their Chinese rivals, they added.

13. Motorola expects India business to grow at least in triple digits

PTI, Aug. 17, 2021

"Last quarter, we finished at 64 per cent revenue growth in Motorola globally and this has not just happened in one region or two, we have seen very high double-digit or triple-digit growth in all the geos across Motorola," he Motorola Executive Director (Asia-Pacific) Prashanth Mani said.

Motorola on Tuesday said its focus on bringing innovative smartphones at different price points has helped the company log "profitable, hyper growth", and it aims to grow "at least in triple digits" in the Indian market over the coming quarters. Speaking with PTI, Motorola Executive Director (Asia-Pacific) Prashanth Mani said the pandemic has had varying impact on different industries. "For the whole (smartphone) industry and specifically for Motorola and Lenovo, I think we have seen a lot of hyper growth to our business overall. "Last quarter, we finished at 64 per cent revenue growth in Motorola globally and this has not just happened in one region or two, we have seen very high double-digit or triple-digit growth in all the geos across Motorola," he said.

In Latin America, Motorola had about 21.2 per cent market share - its highest ever. Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific have registered five consecutive quarters of profitable growth. EMEA revenue grew 42 per cent year-on-year, while that from APAC was up 161 per cent y-o-y. "In India, we've had three consecutive quarters of more than 300 per cent y-o-y growth. Last quarter, we had a 349 per cent growth in revenue, profitable growth. "We've grown 235 per cent faster than the market, we call it premium to market that is a key metric for us," Mani said. In volumes terms, the company saw 351 per cent y-o-y growth in the June 2021 quarter. "We are seeing very strong performance across regions, across markets, specifically in India. "Our aim is to grow at least in triple digits, and obviously, I think we are saying that the market is not going to grow at triple digits. So, we will be gaining shares every month, every quarter," Mani said. He added that the company is focussed on growing much faster than the market and growing profitably. Asked about factors that have helped Motorola register such strong growth, Mani said the company is focussed on "bringing in innovations which are at different price points", which is the fundamental core belief of Motorola.

Demand for smartphones and PCs have soared across the globe amid the pandemic as people embraced work and study from home. The April-June quarter saw the Indian smartphone market clocking 86 per cent year-on-year growth to reach about 34 million units. Xiaomi led the market with a 29.2 per cent market share, followed by Samsung (16.3 per cent), Vivo (14.8 per cent), Realme (14.5 per cent) and Oppo (11.6 per cent) in the June 2021 quarter, as per data from research firm IDC. Motorola, on Tuesday, also launched two new devices -- to strengthen its position in the mid-premium segment. These Made-in-India additions to the 'edge' franchise feature sleek and premium designs, powerful processors, 108 MP cameras, 10-bit AMOLED displays, up-to 135G band support and innovation through the 'Ready for' software platform.

The 'edge 20 fusion' is priced Rs 21,499 onwards, while 'edge20' will be available for Rs 29,999. Both smartphones will be available in India later this month.

14. ASDC, Hero MotoCorp join hands to bridge digital skill gap at auto dealerships

PTI, Aug. 28, 2021

As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the partners would train the dealership staff in an apprenticeship model.

Hero MotoCorp Head of Sales and After Sales Naveen Chauhan noted that through this strategic partnership, the company would work with ASDC to upskill and reskill the workforce in the automotive industry.The Automotive Skills Development Council (ASDC) and Hero MotoCorp have joined hands to bridge the digital skill gap at the country's auto dealerships and build their capacity in this critical growth driver. As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the partners would train the dealership staff in an apprenticeship model. "We are extremely happy to partner with Hero MotoCorp, as it will allow us to reach a large number of youth, who can be skilled and subsequently gainfully employed in the industry. It is also important that the younger generation in the country put in their hearts to the jobs that they are performing in addition to their hands and minds," ASDC President Nikunj Sanghi said in a statement.

Hero MotoCorp Head of Sales and After Sales Naveen Chauhan noted that through this strategic partnership, the company would work with ASDC to upskill and reskill the workforce in the automotive industry. "The industry has witnessed the advent of new technologies in the recent past and this trend will continue in the future as well. As the automotive industry is a large employer, there will be an increased demand of skilled manpower in the industry. To meet this demand, the gap between the skill available and skill required will have to be bridged," he added. ASDC is an industry-led initiative promoted by ACMA, SIAM and FADA jointly with NSDC and the Government of India to enhance the skill of the automotive industry to compete with international standards.

15. Mahindra Aerostructures to manufacture B737 plane's inlet outer barrel components

IBEF, Aug. 24, 2021

According to a statement released by Boeing on Monday, Mahindra Aerostructures has been granted a contract to produce intake outer barrel components and sub-assemblies for the B737 aircraft and ship them to Boeing's facilities in the United States. The inlet duct of an aircraft engine regulates the flow of air before it enters the compressor.

According to a statement from Mahindra Aerostructures, manufacture of the components and subassemblies will begin in 2023, and they will be delivered directly to Boeing facilities in the United States under the new contract.

It indicated that deliveries would scale up in tandem with Boeing's planned increase in B737 manufacturing.

“Boeing expects the best, and this contract win is a tribute to our on-time delivery and high-quality performance, which we maintained even during the pandemic,” said Mr. Arvind Mehra, Mahindra Aerostructures' managing director and CEO.

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

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

16.1. Govt wants to make India a data centre hub, plans Rs 12,000 crore sops

ET Bureau, Aug. 24, 2021 Surabhi Agarwal

The government is targeting an investment of Rs 3 lakh crore in the next five years as part of the hyperscale data centre scheme and is planning to provide between 3% and 4% of capital investment as incentive to companies, along with real estate support and faster clearances.

An ambitious incentive scheme worth up to Rs 12,000 crore is in the works to encourage companies to set up data centres in the country. The government is targeting an investment of Rs 3 lakh crore in the next five years as part of the hyperscale data centre scheme and is planning to provide between 3% and 4% of capital investment as incentive to companies, along with real estate support and faster clearances. Government officials said the vision is to “make India a global data centre hub” and termed the scheme’s target as the largest so far in terms of expected investment in the country over a period of just five years.

The policy is currently being circulated for inter-ministerial consultations and is expected to be sent for Cabinet approval after it is finalised. The quantum of the incentive is still being discussed and could be in the range of Rs. 10,000 crore to Rs. 12,000 crore. “Our vision is to make India a global data centre hub. We have proposed that ease of doing business has to be improved and the bottlenecks have to be addressed,” a senior government official told ET. In the recent past, several multinational technology companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google have set up data centre regions in the country. Domestic firms such as Adani Enterprises and Hiranandani Group have also announced aggressive plans to set up data centres in Noida in the National Capital Region. “No other scheme has such ambition in such a short time, so this will be a major game changer for the high-tech industry in India. We want to invite Rs 3 lakh crore worth of investment in data centres in India in next five years,” the official added. The scheme, which is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Electronics and IT, will also look to promote domestic manufacturing of high-end servers. “Our focus has been on mobile manufacturing so far; this will change in a very significant way. There will be an incentive of specified percentage on the purchase of servers from domestic manufactured sources which can be deployed in the data centres,” the official said.

India is fast emerging as a location of choice for data centre majors. According to the latest data from Cushman & Wakefield, investment worth a total $11.4 billion has been planned and committed for the development of data centres in the country and the contribution of global firms in this is more than 65%. The spate of activity has been attributed to the government’s data localisation norms, with regulators such as the Reserve Bank of India mandating that all financial services data belonging to Indians has to be processed and stored locally. The new data centre policy, which is also being finalized by the government, will also play a big part in setting up a national framework aimed at attracting more investment through simplified rules and improved ease of doing business. Last month, the Noida Authority allotted land to Adani Enterprises and MAQ India to set up data centres, leading to investments of about Rs 2,650 crore.

Earlier, Hiranandani Group was also allotted land for setting up the country’s largest data centre of 200 MW, with investments worth Rs 6,700 crore in Greater Noida. Adani Group, Mantra Data Centers, NTT Netmagic and Web Werks have also proposed to invest about Rs 8,000 crore in data centres in Karnataka, which is also finalizing its data centre policy. Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad have already emerged as large data centre hubs due to the forward policies of their state governments which offer land to players, other concessions and faster approvals. “Our policy will make the attractiveness national; and the sops will be available to companies for setting up in any part of the country, so this regional imbalance can be addressed,” the official said. The policy is expected to receive Cabinet approval within the next 2-3 months.

16.2. Oyo, Microsoft in tie-up for ‘next-gen’ travel and hospitality products

ET Bureau, Sep. 09, 2021, Anumeha Chaturvedi

Oyo will adopt Microsoft Azure as a “key enabler” to drive cloud-based innovations and the solutions will be geared to benefit patrons who operate small and medium hotel and home storefronts.

New Delhi: Microsoft Corp. and Oyo Hotels & Homes have entered into a multi-year strategic alliance to co-develop “next-generation” travel and hospitality products and technologies. Oyo will adopt Microsoft Azure as a “key enabler” to drive cloud-based innovations and the solutions will be geared to benefit patrons who operate small and medium hotel and home storefronts. Small and independent hotels and homeowners will have access to Oyo’s latest technology to manage their guests’ experience, increase revenue, and run operations with the “security” and “scalability” of Microsoft Azure. Microsoft has also made a strategic equity investment in Oyo, the Ritesh Agarwal-led startup said, but did not divulge the size of the stake. The deal was reported by ET on July 30.

According to Abhinav Sinha, global chief operating officer and chief product officer at Oyo Hotels & Homes, the alliance with Microsoft will accelerate the deployment of its products, allowing it to create more impact through an integrated technology ecosystem available on the cloud for businesses in the remotest corners of the world.

"For our guests, this alliance will mean more personalisation, better choices, differentiated experiences and an improved guest experience in the future. Microsoft’s commitment is further strengthened by the equity investment in the company," Sinha said. Oyo said it will develop 'Smart Room' experiences for travellers on the Oyo platform, such as premium and customized in-room experiences for its guests. Using Microsoft’s Azure IoT, the experience will include self-check-in supported by a digital register of arrivals and departures and self-Know Your Customer (KYC) along with IoT-managed smart locks and virtual assistance. “Combining the power of Azure with the tech and product stack developed by Oyo, we are looking forward to accelerating innovation in travel and hospitality,” said Anant Maheshwari, president, Microsoft India. “It is inspiring to see how the Microsoft cloud is empowering digital natives like Oyo to accelerate industry transformation and innovations, turning the challenges of a post-pandemic era into opportunities for the future,” he added.

Oyo said besides co-innovating, it will also begin to share existing workloads to Microsoft Azure, and adopt the Microsoft 365 suite for better collaboration and productivity besides switching to Github Enterprise for accelerating tech development in a 'secure' manner.

17.1. IBM and IIT Madras collaborate to build industry relevant skills

ET Bureau, Aug. 26, 2021

IBM experts will be co-offering a Quantum Computing course on the NPTEL platform

IBM on Thursday announced that it is collaborating with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras to support their online BSc Degree and augment select courses on the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) platform. IBM experts will be co-offering a Quantum Computing course on the NPTEL platform and augment select NPTEL courses such as data science and AI with technical inputs that will help provide students with a current industry perspective. “Technology has emerged as a key business enabler and Indian enterprises have been accelerating adoption of new-age technologies like Hybrid Cloud, AI, Analytics, Quantum Computing & IoT. At the same time, the skills gap of India’s student community continues to widen. IBM has been working with various government and academic institutions to improve the technical education avenues and the engagement with IIT Madras and NPTEL is a significant milestone in this journey," Mona Bharadwaj, Global University programmes Leader at IBM India, said in a statement.

IBM will also conduct technical sessions for NPTEL partner colleges through their local chapters and for the IIT M’s Online BSc Degree programme. These sessions will be free of cost and made available on the NPTEL & IIT M’s online platforms. The engagement will further strengthen IBM’s & NPTEL’s commitment on various initiatives to bring top-tier courses & new-collar employability skills to any student from a rural or non-urban area in India. “Online technical sessions from the IBM experts will provide industry insights to our students in the Online BSc Degree programme. Online mode of learning is making it very convenient for industry-academia partnerships,” Prof. Prathap Haridoss, Dean, Academic Courses, IIT Madras, said. IITs and IISc can reach out to a large number of learners through the NPTEL platform, Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, Coordinator, NPTEL, IIT Madras, said. NPTEL currently works with more than 4,000 colleges in engineering, arts, commerce, science, and management disciplines across the country.

"Many students are taking NPTEL certification exams as it helps them in improving their employability. NPTEL has been working towards bringing in an industry perspective to its technically rich courses and is partnering with companies to co-offer the courses. Experts and senior leaders from companies are contributing through their live sessions on various technologies and are giving career guidance to the NPTEL learners," he said.

In May 2021, IBM had announced a collaboration with IIT Madras to provide faculty, researchers, and students with access to IBM’s quantum systems, accelerate joint research in quantum computing, and develop curricula to help prepare students. IBM has also collaborated with NPTEL to offer a 12-week online course focused on blockchain architecture, design and use cases.

18.1. Now, an AI-based app helps detect cataracts in Tamil Nadu

ET HealthWorld, 18 Aug. 2021

The Artificial Intelligence-based app E-Paarvai allows healthcare workers (HCWs) to identify cataracts on the spot with 91% accuracy

An award-winning mobile app, developed by Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA), is helping government hospitals identify people with cataracts. The Artificial Intelligence-based app named E-Paarvai allows healthcare workers (HCWs) to identify cataracts on the spot with 91% accuracy. Untreated cataracts are one of the primary reasons for blindness in Tamil Nadu, which currently has 22,700 registered cataract patients, according to National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment (NPCBVI) data. Usually, eye hospitals conduct screening camps during weekends to identify cataract patients and later bring them to hospitals for surgeries. But this practice came to halt for almost a year due to Covid-induced lockdown.

V Thangavelu, President of Tamil Nadu Ophthalmologists Association (TNOA), said that his hospital was screening at least 200 people in rural Coimbatore every week, but it dropped to 20 now. "So, there is a significant backlog of patients, waiting for cataract surgeries" he said. Against this backdrop, TNeGA's E-Paarvai app, launched earlier this year, is making screening easier for state-run hospitals. Low doctor-patient ratio is one the main reasons why hospitals are unable to send doctors for field visits or screening camps in remote areas. "So, we have designed the app in such a way that government HCWs can screen patients for cataract with minimal training," Priyanjit Ghosh of TNeGA. The app, which is available in Google Play Store, is installed in healthcare workers' smartphones.

On opening the app, HCWs enter the patient details, click photos or both the eyes and submit it. The AI-system will process images and confirm whether a person has mature, immature or no cataract, Ghosh added. Depending on the progression rate, the Tamil Nadu State Blindness Control Society (TNSBCS) staff take patients to respective district headquarter hospitals for surgeries in government vans. They are dropped back home after recovery. "This app is definitely going to revolutionise the cataract screening scenario," said Dr Thangavelu from TNOA. TNSBCS has so far screened up to 1,400 people in 14 districts including Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Dharmapuri using E-Paarvai during the pilot phase. It will soon be expanded to other districts.

18. IIT Madras crosses 1000-mark in patents generated by researchers and faculty in India and abroad

PTI, Aug. 18, 2021

A dedicated IP Cell has been established at the Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (ICSR), which conducts intellectual property (IP) awareness programme regularly to sensitise students or faculty on the importance of IP protection and monetisation

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras has crossed the 1,000-mark in patents generated by it in India and abroad, officials said. The number of patents filed by the institute has also doubled in the last five years with the US accounting for the highest number of patents filed outside India. As on March 31 this year, the total number of patents filed in India was 1,204 and the total number of international patents filed was 529. Of these, 155 patent applications were filed in the US. IIT-Madras bears 70 percent of the cost of filing foreign patents with the inventor bearing the rest. "Another significant factor was the large number of international patents (218) filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

The PCT assists applicants in seeking patent protection internationally for their inventions. By filing one international patent application under the PCT, applicants can subsequently seek protection for an invention in all the countries that are party to the PCT (153 countries, as on date)," said Ravindra Gettu, Dean, Centre for ICSR.

Gettu said the Centre has undertaken many initiatives in recent years to drive this increase in patents being filed in India and abroad. "A dedicated IP Cell has been established at the Centre for Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research (ICSR), which conducts intellectual property (IP) awareness programme regularly to sensitise students or faculty on the importance of IP protection and monetisation," he said. Gettu said the institute has enabled patent filing through awareness campaigns among faculty members and students. "The processes have also been made easier and faster, without interfering in publications and thesis completion, which are often the primary focus of our researchers. Monetisation of IP is also a recent focus area to promote patenting and fund more developments," he said.

19. SpiceJet settles with Boeing MAX aircraft lessor CDB Aviation

Livemint, 13 Sep. 2021

The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after two fatal crashes in five months killed 346 people

Budget airline SpiceJet said on Monday it has settled with another lessor of Boeing Co's MAX aircraft, CDB Aviation, as it looks to start operating the aircraft by the end of September after India cleared the 737 MAX to fly last month.

The 737 MAX was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after two fatal crashes in five months killed 346 people, plunging Boeing into a financial crisis, which has since been compounded by the pandemic.

In August, India's air safety regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, said it cleared 737 MAX aircraft to fly with immediate effect, after nearly two-and-a-half years of regulatory grounding.

SpiceJet said in August it expected the grounded 737 MAX jets in its fleet to return to service at the end of September after a settlement with lessor Avolon on leases of the aircraft.

The lifting of the ban in India came months after the aircraft returned to service in the United States and Europe. More recently grounding orders were lifted in other countries, including Australia, Fiji, Japan and Malaysia.

The resumption of MAX aircraft services would be subject to regulatory approvals, SpiceJet, India's second-largest airline by market share and the only one in the country to fly the aircraft, said.

China is the biggest market in the region that has yet to approve the return of the 737 MAX, though Boeing last month conducted test flights in the country.

SpiceJet's shares were up 0.3% on Monday, while rival Indigo's owner InterGlobe Aviation was down nearly 2%.

20. Railways to lease out coaches and trains to private operators to promote theme tourism

ET Gov. Sep, 11, 2021

Private operators can run them as theme based cultural, religious and other tourist circuit trains under their own branding

Railway PSU IRCTC already runs 5 luxury trains, but now private players will be allowed in the railway tourism spaceTo tap the potential of tourism sector and to leverage the core strengths of the professionals of tourism sector in tourism activities like marketing, hospitality, integration of services, reach with customer base, expertise in development /identification of tourist circuits, etc, Indian Railways is planning to spread rail based tourism among masses through leasing of coaching stock to interested parties to run them as theme based cultural, religious and other tourist circuit trains. Broad features of the proposed model include leasing of coaches as per desired configuration of private operators. Bare shells may also be taken on lease. Outright purchase of coaches can also be done.

Minor refurbishment of coaches is permitted. Leasing to be done for a minimum period of 5 years and extendable till codal life of coaches. Minimum train composition for leasing purpose will be as per policy guidelines. Private operators can develop/decide business model (routes, itinerary, tariff, etc), the Ministry of Railways said. The process of registration for interested parties will be based on eligibility criteria.

Indian Railways will levy haulage charges, nominal stabling charges and lease charges. There will no lease charges for outright purchase. The Railways also offers priority in punctuality, timely approvals for coach refurbishment and itineraries, and there will be no haulage for maintenance runs. Third party advertising is also allowed inside train and branding of entire train will be permitted, the ministry said. An Executive Director level committee has been constituted by the Ministry of Railways to formulate the policy and terms and conditions. The Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC), a PSU under the Ministry of Railways, already runs a fleet of luxury trains that include Maharajas’ Express; Palace on Wheels; Deccan Odyssey; Golden Chariot; and Royal Rajasthan on Wheels. However, the new policy is intended to allow private players in railway tourism.

INDIA AND THE WORLD

21.1. Indian startups raise US$ 16.9 billion VC funding in 2021, next only to China

IBEF, Aug. 23, 2021

According to GlobalData, Indian entrepreneurs received US$ 16.9 billion in venture capital investment in 2021, second only to Chinese peers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. “Despite the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic looming large and a sluggish economic recovery, venture capitalists (VCs) appear to be placing their trust in India's startup ecosystem. During the period January to July 2021, Indian companies were second only to Chinese counterparts in terms of VC financing worth across APAC nations.” the prominent data and analytics firm said.

According to GlobalData's financial transactions database, 828 venture capital financing agreements were reported in India between January and July 2021, with a total declared funding value of US$ 16.9 billion.

Flipkart raised US$ 3.6 billion, Mohalla Tech (ShareChat) raised US$ 502 million, Zomato raised about US$ 500 million, and Think and Learn (Byju's) raised US$ 460 million in India between January and July 2021.

“While several of the top major countries globally saw a drop in VC financing value in July compared to the previous month, India managed to display growth despite a decline in VC funding transaction volume,” stated Mr. Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData.

India has becoming a digital-first economy as smartphone usage has increased and mobile Internet has become cheaper. As a result, IT firms have benefited the most from this trend.

“According to GlobalData, India has the world's third-largest tech unicorn ecosystem, after only the United States and China. VC investors are showing interest in companies in e-commerce, social media and social networking, food delivery, edtech, and digital payments at the COVID-19 pandemic” According to Mr. Bose.

According to Mr. Bose, India remains one of the most important APAC regions for VC investing, and it is the region's second-largest VC market after China. “With the country's advances in immunization, VC investors are seen investing large-ticket investments.”

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

21.2. India links with Maldives with uber connectivity project

IBEF, Aug. 27, 2021

On Thursday, India signed the Maldives' largest-ever infrastructure deal. The Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) will be constructed by Afcons, a Maharashtra-based construction and engineering firm that signed a contract with the Maldives government.

Foreign Secretary Mr. Harsh Shringla, Indian Ambassador Mr. Sunjay Sudhir, and four Maldivian officials attended the signing event.

The GMCP project is seen as the Maldives' economic lifeblood, since it will improve connection between the four islands that account for about half of the country's population. During the visit of External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar to the Maldives in September 2019, President Mr. Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Foreign Minister Mr. Abdulla Shahid requested that it be erected.

The 6.74-kilometer bridge and causeway will connect Male, the Maldives' capital, with the neighbouring islands of Villingli, Gulhifalhu, and Thilafushi. The project was supported by a US$ 100 million Indian grant and a US$ 400 million line of credit.

The GMCP project will be larger than the 1.4-kilometer Sinamalé Bridge, which was completed with Chinese help. It was finished in 2018 and links Malé with Hulhule' and Hulhumalé.

It consists of three navigation bridges with a primary span of 140 metres that span the deep channel between each island, 1.41 kilometres of deep-water marine viaduct, 2.32 kilometres of shallow water or land marine viaduct, and 2.96 kilometres of at-grade roadways. The project will employ solar electricity for illumination in an effort to promote the usage of renewable energy.

India and the Maldives have had strong bilateral ties since President Mr. Solih took office in November 2018. India has aided the Maldives on several occasions, including during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, when it sent vaccinations and financial help to the island country.

In December 2018, during Mr. Solih's maiden visit to India, a US$ 1.4 billion economic package was unveiled. This includes a US$ 800 million line of credit for airport development, road construction, water and sanitation plant construction, a state-of-the-art cricket stadium, and a police academy. In the Maldives, India has also undertaken 30 community-oriented projects, 13 of which have already been launched and the rest of which are anticipated to be finished by December this year.

During Covid-19, India began an air travel bubble with the Maldives, the first country in South Asia. Malé now has around 60 weekly flights linking it to five Indian cities. India's aid has been tailored to the Maldives' goals, including regional development and decentralisation.

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

22. India emerges as second most attractive manufacturing hub globally, says report

IBEF, Aug. 24, 2021

According to Cushman & Wakefield's 2021 World Manufacturing Danger Index, India has surpassed the United States as the world's second most desired manufacturing destination, indicating the growing interest shown by manufacturers in India as a preferred manufacturing hub over other nations, including the United States and those in the Asia-Pacific region.

The rising deal with India can be ascribed to India's working conditions and competitiveness in terms of value. In addition, the country's demonstrated performance in meeting outsourcing requirements has resulted in an annual increase in the ranking.

This year, India and the United States traded places, placing second and third, respectively, putting India one rank higher than last year's rankings, when India was ranked third.

India had risen to third place from fourth place last year and has now risen one more spot to second place after China.

“In the course of its development, India evolved from an agrarian to a service-based economy. The country was on the verge of skipping the manufacturing phase of the transition. However, on the basis of cost and skill, India has a favorable place in the international rankings. Indian manufacturing has also shown remarkable resiliency during and after the second wave of COVID-19. However, in order to boost investor confidence and accelerate the Make in India strategy, we must address land and labor reforms, as well as strengthen infrastructure across industries,” according to Mr. Anshul Jain, Managing Director - India and Southeast Asia.

As economies throughout the world reopened and drove demand for vital commodities, Asia Pacific's largest industrial plants have rebounded strongly.

“Different markets also profited from increased demand for important products such as microprocessors, laptop chips, and prescription medications. With Data and Communication Technology (ICT) manufacturing up 16.8% year over year in January 2021, South Korea has benefited from the hovering value of semiconductors, owing to strong demand and a global scarcity of product,” said Mr. Dominic Brown, Head of Perception & Evaluation, Asia Pacific at Cushman & Wakefield.

Nonetheless, according to Mr. Brown, apparel manufacturers throughout the world are still grappling with poor demand, which is affecting economies like India and Indonesia, which have also been dealing with the virus's second and third waves.

The index ranks the most favourable locations for international manufacturing in 47 countries across Europe, the Americas, and Asia Pacific. The rankings are determined by four important parameters: the country's ability to restart manufacturing, the business environment, which includes the availability of expertise and manpower, market access, labour costs, and political, financial, and environmental risks.

The baseline rating for high manufacturing locations is based on the working conditions and value effectiveness of a rustic. The change in the US and India's ratings is ascribed to plant relocations from China to other parts of Asia due to an already existing basis in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and engineering industries, which continue to be at the center of US-China trade disputes.

Despite being among the top three nations in terms of baseline and value state of affairs rankings, India still has a long way to go in areas like managing the geopolitical risks that come with doing business and its ability to restart its manufacturing sector after a devastating second wave of the COVID-19 virus.

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

23. India, ADB sign $500 million loan to expand Bengaluru metro rail network

IANS, Aug. 25, 2021

"The new metro lines will further strengthen safe, affordable and green mobility in Bangaluru, having positive impact on enhancing quality of life, sustainable growth in urban habitat and livelihood opportunities," Mishra said.

NEW DELHI: India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Monday signed a $500 million loan to expand the metro rail network in Bengaluru with construction of two new metro lines totalling 56 km in length. The signatories to the agreement were Additional Secretary, Economic Affairs, Rajat Kumar Mishra, for India, and Country Director of ADB's India Resident Mission Takeo Konishi, for the lender. "The new metro lines will further strengthen safe, affordable and green mobility in Bangaluru, having positive impact on enhancing quality of life, sustainable growth in urban habitat and livelihood opportunities," Mishra said.

"The project supports urban transformation of Bengaluru into a more liveble and sustainable city through support to urban public transport and urban development with concepts of transit-oriented development (TOD) and multi-modal integration (MMI)," Konishi said. "The project will bring various benefits including road de-congestion, better urban livebility and environmental improvement." The TOD-based urban development model will target realigning growth and increase the city's economic productivity by creating higher density, compact, mixed use, mixed income, safe, resource-efficient, and inclusive neighbourhoods. TOD also aims to raise land values along these corridors, generating capital revenues for the state government to meet the city's long-term investment needs. The MMI will aim to provide people-oriented, environment-friendly solutions and a safe, total mobility.

solution for all city residents through the seamless integration of different modes of public transport. The project will construct two new metro lines, mostly elevated, along Outer Ring Road and National Highway 44 between Central Silk Board and Kempegowda International Airport with 30 stations. An additional $2 million technical assistance grant from the ADB will help the state government formulate urban development plans and their implementing frameworks, focusing on TOD and MMI. The grant will also be used to strengthen capacity of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd and other state agencies to implement these initiatives.

24.1. Samsung to invest $206 billion by 2023 for post-pandemic growth

Reuters, Aug. 24, 2021, Heekyong Yang

Samsung Group will invest 240 trillion won ($205.64 billion) in the next three years to expand footprint in biopharmaceutical, artificial intelligence, semiconductor and robotics industries in the post-pandemic era.

SEOUL: Samsung Group will invest 240 trillion won ($206 billion) in the next three years to expand its footprint in biopharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence, semiconductors and robotics in the post-pandemic era, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said. The jewel of South Korea's biggest conglomerate on Tuesday said the investment through 2023 will help strengthen the group's global standing in key industries such as chip-making, while allowing it to seek growth opportunities in new areas such as robotics and next-generation telecommunications. Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip maker, said the group plans to solidify technology and market leadership through mergers and acquisitions. It did not provide a breakdown of the investment figures.

The firm did not say whether the latest investment figure includes the $17 billion it was reportedly spending on a new U.S. chip contract chip factory. The plan is 30% larger than Samsung's previous three-year strategy floated in 2018. The group decided to increase investment to retain technological leadership, especially during "emergency situations" at home and abroad. "The chip industry is the safety plate of the Korean economy... Our aggressive investment is a survival strategy in a sense that once we lose our competitiveness, it is almost impossible to make a comeback," Samsung Electronics said in a statement. Chip rivals including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd and Intel Corp are making large investments amid a global chip shortage and intensifying competition in the advanced chip segment. Samsung Group has 59 affiliates with assets totalling 457 trillion won, according to South Korea's Fair Trade Commission. The investment plan comes just over a week since Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee was released from jail on parole following convictions for bribery and embezzlement.

24.2. UAE rolls out new plans to boost economy, attract foreign workers

Reuters, Sep. 06, 2021

The Gulf state has launched several measures over the past year to attract investment and foreigners to help the economy recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United Arab Emirates plans to launch 50 new economic initiatives to boost the country's competitiveness, including putting 5 billion dirhams ($1.36 billion) into industrial development. The United Arab Emirates plans to launch 50 new economic initiatives to boost the country's competitiveness, including putting 5 billion dirhams ($1.36 billion) into industrial development, government officials said on Sunday. The projects, a few of which were unveiled on Sunday, include investing in technology, attracting foreign investment and creating new visas to attract residents and skilled workers. The Gulf state has launched several measures over the past year to attract investment and foreigners to help the economy recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the projects, the UAE and the Emirates Development Bank will invest 5 billion dirhams in industrial technology and technology-heavy sectors, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan al Jaber said during a media briefing. "The UAE's drive for the next 50 years is to become a global player across different industries," Minister of State for Advanced Technology Sarah al-Amiri told Reuters. "The region is what we have been targeting for the past five decades. Now we are moving on to ensure that a lot of our sectors are competitive at a global level."

Two new visa categories - one for freelancers and one for entrepreneurs and skilled workers - will be created to attract and retain foreigners with desirable skills, officials said on Sunday. Foreigners in the UAE usually have renewable visas valid for only a few years tied to employment. The new "green visa" for skilled workers will have more flexibility for sponsoring family members and will allow more time to find a new job after one employment ends, officials said. Last year the UAE extended to more categories a “golden” visa system which grants 10-year residency, a move that Dubai said could boost economic growth in the emirate by up to 1%.

25. Cabinet approves signing of pact with Portugal on recruitment of Indian citizens to work there

PTI, Sep. 09, 2021

The agreement would set an institutional mechanism for partnership and cooperation between India and Portugal on sending and accepting Indian workers.

With the conclusion of this agreement, Portugal and India will have a formal arrangement for recruitment of Indian workers.The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the signing of an agreement between India and Portugal on the recruitment of Indian citizens to work in that European country. The agreement would set an institutional mechanism for partnership and cooperation between India and Portugal on sending and accepting Indian workers, an official statement said. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the signing of an agreement on the recruitment of Indian citizens to work in the Portuguese Republic between the government of India and the government of Portugal, it said.

Under this agreement, a joint committee will be set up to follow up the implementation of the same. Signing this agreement with Portugal will add a new destination for Indian migrant workers in an EU member nation, especially in the context of many Indian workers who have returned to India following the COVID-19 pandemic, the statement said, adding that it will provide new opportunities for skilled Indian workers and professionals. With the conclusion of this agreement, Portugal and India will have a formal arrangement for recruitment of Indian workers, the statement said. It said Indian workers would have enhanced job opportunities to work in Portugal and the government-to-government mechanism proposed in the agreement will ensure that the movement of workers happens smoothly with the maximum support from both sides.

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Monday 13 September 2021

NEWSLETTER, 20-IX-2021

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

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NEWSLETTER, 20-XI-2021

– GENERAL POLICY, INFRASTRUCTURES, COUNTRY FINANCES, ETC.

- AGRICULTURE, FISHING & RURAL DEVELOPMENT

- INDUSTRY & MANUFACTURE

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