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Germany’s Merkel pledges 1 billion euros investment in India on eco-friendly urban mobility

Loknath Das

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday pledged to invest 1 billion euros over the next five years on environmentally-friendly urban mobility in India. Merkel, whose visit to the country coincided with one of the worst spells of air pollution in Delhi/NCR, also emphasised on the need to replace diesel-run public transport with electric vehicles. “We have agreed to co-operate on climate protection and green urban mobility and have earmarked 1 billion euros towards this,” Merkel said at an event here. Germany would also put in 200 million euros to reform…

Understanding the investment slowdown

Loknath Das, ,

The public sector had a secondary role to play, which, however, had increased in scope during this period. The investment rate in the country has been declining quite significantly over the last six years or so. The gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) rate had peaked at 34.3% in FY12 and then came down to 28.6% in FY18, before registering a marginal recovery to 29.3% in FY19. The story is still an enigma because in the last few years various states have held investment extravaganzas where several MoUs have been signed—for…

Kashmir on edge: Most tourists cancel travel plans, airlines cap flight ticket prices

Loknath Das, , , , , , , , , , ,

The turmoil in Kashmir has not only cut short the travel plans of pilgrims and tourists currently visiting the state, but also thrown a spanner into upcoming travel plans for the long Independence Day weekend. According to Tourism Kashmir Director Nissar Wani, about 20,000-22,000 tourists were in Kashmir on Friday when the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration issued an advisory asking Amarnath Yatris to cut short their pilgrimage and all tourists to leave Kashmir Valley at the earliest, citing terror threats. As per reports, only a little over 1600 tourists…

These South African jobs will disappear as technology takes over

Loknath Das, , , , , , , , ,

The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) has released a new report looking at how the fourth industrial revolution is set to hit jobs in the country. Overall, respondents were of the opinion that automation, globalisation and demographic change could have a significant impact on their industries, causing some jobs and activities to disappear, while creating opportunities for new jobs and activities to emerge. “The speed and depth of technology adoption drives business growth, new job creation and the need for augmentation of existing jobs, provided it can fully leverage the…

Private investment in infrastructure must go up

Loknath Das, , , , , ,

In addition to financial sector reforms, funding infrastructure through private sector participation needs reforms in the contracting mechanism.(AFP) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) manifesto promises to spend Rs 100 lakh crore on infrastructure in the next five years. This can only happen if there is an increase in private participation, for which India needs to undertake financial sector reforms that encourage the creation of a pool of domestic long-term savings to be invested in infrastructure projects. The scale of investment targeted is more than what can be done through government…

Investment in 17 entities under shipping ministry hiked to Rs 5,778 crore for FY’20

Loknath Das, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The government has increased the proposed investment in 17 enterprises under the shipping ministry to Rs 5,778 crore for 2019-20 in order to boost the ‘blue economy’. The estimated investment in these enterprises that include 12 major ports is Rs 5,548.12 crore in 2018-19, according to the revised numbers in the recent budget document. The government had proposed an investment of Rs 5,079.80 crore in the Budget for 2018-19. Aspiring to be a $10 trillion economy in the next eight years, the government plans to harness India’s long 7,500-km coastline…