The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways and Ayush, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal announced a major investment of more than ₹645 crores to develop 10 waterways projects under the flagship Sagarmala programme of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways.
The projects will be implemented with 100% financial assistance from the central government to enhance terminals and riverine infrastructure along the river Brahmaputra to boost connectivity and foster economic growth. Government has spent ₹1,040 crores on development of waterways which has resulted in operating of 20 Waterways in NER which was only ‘ONE till 2014.
With the initiatives taken in last 9 years the cargo handled via Indo Bangladesh Protocol route (IBPR) has increased to 170%. It is also noteworthy that the first Ship Repair facility, with an investment worth ₹208 crores, in NER is being developed through Hooghly-Cochin Shipyard Limited (HCSL) at Pandu along River Brahmaputra.
In a strategic move to advance innovation in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry, the Technology Development Board (TDB) has entered into an agreement with M/s Quicksand Design Studio Private Limited, New Delhi.
TDB has sanctioned a Conditional Grant of ₹1.22 crores to support the project titled "Digital Financial Solutions for Last Mile FMCG Value Chains in Emerging Markets” under the ‘INDIA-ISRAEL INDUSTRIAL R&D AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION FUND (I4F)’.
This collaboration under I4F shows the enduring partnership between the DST, Government of India, and the IIA, Government of Israel to promote, facilitate and support joint industrial R&D projects, between companies from India and Israel.
The Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India signed a MoU with Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), South Asia at IFMR. J-PAL, SA@ IFMR will act as a knowledge partner on inclusive development to put rural poor women on the path to self-sufficiency.
DAY-NRLM is one of the largest community mobilisation efforts in the world, organising more than 10.04 crore women into over 90.76 lakh self-help groups. The programme promotes financial inclusion, digital lieteracy, sustainable livelihoods and social development interventions. But above all, it empowers them to lead dignified lives.
J-PAL South Asia, together with Bandhan-Konnagar, has been working with the Government of Bihar’s JEEViKA since 2018 to support the expansion of Satat Jeevikoparjan Yojana (SJY), estimated to be the largest government-led scale-up of the Graduation Approach in the world. SJY is on track to reach 200,000 women-headed households by 2024 across Bihar.
Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India has signed a Non-Financial Memorandum of Understanding with the Bharat Financial Inclusion Limited to support the livelihood intervention of DAY-NRLM by syncing their activities in livestock and fisheries development. The PMU will comprise specialists from livestock (as per the need in respective state), Market linkage etc.
As part of the MoU, in initial phase a centralized Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) will be established to support DAY-NRLM at national level and State PMU in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Bihar will be developed.
NHPC Limited, India’s premier hydropower company and a central public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Power, has won the bid to develop a 200 MW capacity Solar Power Project to be set up in the 1,125 MW RE Park of Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Ltd. (GSECL) at Khavda in Kachchh district of Gujarat.
The project will generate about 473 million units of electricity in the first year of commissioning and the cumulative energy generation from the project over a period of 25 years would be about 10,850 million units. NHPC will develop the project on a build-own-and-operate basis at a tentative development cost of Rs. 847 crores.
Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) has released the eleventh edition of monthly report of National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) Way Forward for States/UTs, January and February 2024 which provides a detailed overview of status of e-service delivery across States/UTs.
The key highlights entailed in the report are as follows:
16,517 e-services are provided across States/UTs. Tamil Nadu provides maximum e-services (1128)
Maximum e-services (5,288) lie in the sector – Local Governance & Utility Services
1,528 out of 2,016 mandatory e-services (56*36 States/UTs) are available, making saturation at 76%
Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttarakhand have achieved 100% saturation of 56 mandatory e-services
Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Assam and Odisha provide 100% of their services through their identified Single Unified Service Delivery Portal i.e., tnesevai (1128), e-UNNAT (1119), e-Sevanam (911), Sewa Setu (469) and Odisha One (404), respectively
The Ministry of Defence signed a contract with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) on March 15, 2024 for Mid Life Upgrade (MLU) of 25 Dornier Aircraft along with associated equipment for the Indian Navy at a cost of Rs.2,890 cr. The MLU for Dornier Aircraft includes an upgrade to incorporate state-of-the art Avionics Systems and Primary Role sensors.
Mid Life Upgrade (MLU) of 25 Dornier Aircraft is likely to generate an employment of 1.8 Lakh Man- days during its execution span of 6.5 years. The indigenous upgrade entails supply of major systems and equipments from indigenous sources thus significantly contributing towards "Atmanirbharta" in Defence, in consonance with Make-in-India initiative of Government of India.
Capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved the launch of the beta version of the T+0 settlement on an optional basis from March 28. T+0 settlement means that the funds and securities for a transaction will be settled on the day the trade was entered into.
According to an official release issued by the SEBI, the Board approved the launch of a Beta version of optional T+0 settlement, for a limited set of 25 scrips, and with a limited set of brokers.
SEBI has said it shall continue to do further stakeholder consultation, including with the users of the Beta version.
The SEBI has further said that the market regulator will review the progress at the end of 3 months and 6 months from the date of this implementation and decide on further course of action. T+0 settlement allows both funds and securities transactions to be settled on the same day when the trade is initiated.
At present, the Indian securities markets operate on a T+1 settlement cycle, where the settlement happens on the next day of trade. In 2002, the regulator cut down the settlement period from T+5 to T+3, and in 2003, SEBI further reduced it to T+2. In 2021, the T+1 settlement started and was gradually implemented, with the final phase completed in January 2023.
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) has announced its partnership with the Tea Research Association (TRA), Tocklai, Jorhat, one of the oldest and largest tea research associations globally, to address the challenges posed by climate change to the tea industry. HUL is one of the leading producers of tea with brands such as Brooke Bond Red Label, Taj Mahal and Taaza.
HUL, along with TRA, will conduct a detailed ‘Lifecycle Analysis’ for Indian tea and will devise strategies that can help reduce carbon impact across the value chain. Basis the data, the partnership will work with experts to develop suitable mitigation and adaption strategies that can be implemented across the Tea industry.
Currently, the scope of the project aims to cover 19 tea estates/factories and 19 small tea growers covering all the major tea growing regions of Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. The project aims to benefit around 15,000 hectares of land.
Kotak Mahindra Bank has appointed Kotak Securities MD and CEO Jaideep Hansraj as Group President - One Kotak, with effect from April 1, 2024. ‘One Kotak’ is the term used by the bank for its internal framework for inter-Group synergies and cross-selling opportunities.
The non-life insurance market is expected to grow 13-15 % in the medium term, primarily driven by the health and motor insurance segments, and increasing disposable income levels, according to CareEdge Ratings. The health insurance segment continues to remain on track to breach the ₹1 lakh crore mark whereas the motor segment crossed the ₹80,000 crore threshold in FY24.
Motor was the second biggest segment, accounting for around 50 % of general insurance growth excluding health. In YTD FY24, motor insurance reached ₹82,765 crore, growing 13.6 per cent compared with 15.6 per cent a year ago. Motor OD (Own Damage) grew 18.3 per cent (vs 16.7 per cent for YTD FY23) and motor TP (third party) rose 10.6 per cent (vs 14.8 per cent for YTD FY23).
SANY India, a leading manufacturer of construction equipment, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with J&K Bank, with the goal of stimulating significant growth and development opportunities in the region while providing easier access to its advanced product line and readily available financial solutions.
The Union Government has approved a scheme to promote India as a manufacturing destination so that e-vehicles (EV) with the latest technology can be manufactured in the country. The policy is designed to attract investments in the e-vehicle space by reputed global EV manufacturers.
The policy entails the following: -
Minimum Investment required: Rs 4150 Cr (∼USD 500 Mn)
No limit on maximum Investment
Timeline for manufacturing: 3 years for setting up manufacturing facilities in India, and to start commercial production of e- vehicles, and reach 50% domestic value addition (DVA) within 5 years at the maximum.
The customs duty of 15% (as applicable to CKD units)would be applicable on vehicle of minimum CIF value of $ 35,000 and above for a total period of 5 year subject to the manufacturer setting up manufacturing facilities in India within a 3year period.The Investment commitment made by the company will have to be backed up by a bank guarantee in lieu of the custom duty forgone
The duty foregone on the total number of EV allowed for import would be limited to the investment made or ₹6484 Cr (equal to incentive under PLI scheme) whichever is lower. A maximum of 40,000 EVs at the rate of not more than 8,000 per year would be permissible if the investment is of USD 800 Mn or more. The carryover of unutilized annual import limits would be permitted.
The Bank guarantee will be invoked in case of non-achievement of DVA and minimum investment criteria defined under the scheme guidelines.
All India Institute of Medical Sciences, AIIMS New Delhi in collaboration with the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation has performed the first dual kidney transplant at AIIMS. The surgery was carried out by the Department of Surgical Disciplines and the Department of Nephrology.
NASA will carry ‘message in a bottle’ to Europa, one of Jupiter’s moon in October this year. The mission dubbed as Europa Clipper mission will explore signs of life as Scientists chose predicts a salty lake under its icy crust. Last year, the US space agency had conducted a “Message in a Bottle” campaign, which invited the public to send their names with the spacecraft.
The Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a triangular metal plate with an engraving of US Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” along with a silicon microchip stenciled with more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public.
The other, outward-facing side of metal plate will sport etchings of 103 waveforms, a visual representation of the sound wave produced by saying the word “water” in 103 different languages – including Hindi.
In 1988, the WHO Global Polio Eradication Initiative was begun as the initial step of removing this disease from the planet. In 1995, around the same time, the government of India began the pulse polio Vaccination Program as the first attempt of uprooting this sickness from the country. From that point forward, March 16 has been celebrated as National Vaccination Day.
From observing the worldwide rules of the Expanded Program of Immunization' (EPI) and the 'Universal Immunization Program' under the 'National Rural Health Mission', 2005, to the 'Do Boond Zindagi Ki' polio vaccination campaign, there are more than adequate services that you can use to moderate the risk factors.
The theme for National Vaccination Day 2024 is ‘Vaccines Work For All’.
India's foreign exchange reserves jumped by $10.47 billion to $636.1 billion for the week ending on March 8, latest data by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This is the biggest surge since the week ended July 14, 2023. Previously, forex reserves expanded by $6.55 billion to $625.63 billion for the week ended on March 1, 2024.
According to the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the RBI, Foreign currency assets (FCAs) increased by $8.12 billion to $562.35 billion. Expressed in dollar terms, the FCAs include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves.
Gold reserves expanded by $2.3 billion to $50.72 billion, whereas SDRs were up by $31 million to $18.21 billion. Reserve position in the IMF increased by $19 million to $4.82 billion. It can be noted that in October 2021, the country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of USD 645 billion.
