India will set a target of adding 34.5 GW of hydro-power generation capacity in the next ten years, according to power ministry sources. “The target for the 13th plan has been set at 13.31 GW and that for the 14th plan will be 21.15 GW,” said a power ministry official. This will take India’s total […]
National Thermal Power Corporation said it has achieved, and exceeded, its target for the addition of power generation capacity in the 12th five-year plan by adding 1,070 MW today. Three new units were added today — one of 800 MW at Kudgi in Karnataka , a 250 MW unit at Bongaigaon in Assam and 20 […]
The total number of Aadhaar cards issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India has reached 112.25 cr or 1.122 bln as of the beginning of this month, but enrollments in the border state of Assam trail at 6.5%, according to numbers provided by the UIDAI. The total number suggests that about 86% of India’s estimated […]
Many people who booked railway tickets worth thousands of rupees during demonetization period and cancelled these tickets for refunds are yet to get their money back. According to Indian Railway sources, many of these people could end up waiting for 90 days or more to get their money. DEMONETIZATION RUSH When the government announced that […]
National High Speed Rail Corporation Ltd, which is setting up the Rs 1 lakh cr Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail service, has brought on Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board (GIDB) as key partner for the project. GIDB — which is also involved in the prestigious GIFT City project — will also pump in equity into the corporation and help […]
After keeping the move on hold for three months due to the elections, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization has cut its administrative charges on the funds it manages to 0.65% from 0.85%, according to labor ministry sources. The cut in administrative charges — which was notified on Mar 15 — is to reflect the lower […]
Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion has written to over 250 corporate houses in India, inviting them join it in setting up 70 start-up incubators across the country. Half of the centers will be set up in existing institutions — such as the IITs — while the other half will be set up as independent […]
India has filled a little over one-third of its phase 1 ‘strategic oil reserve’ at a cost of Rs 4,258 cr, about $640 mln. The country is in the process of building five underground reserve facilities for crude oil totaling 110 million barrels (15.3 million tons) of storage capacity. Out of these, two tanks — […]
The government has extended the rewards under its merchandise and services export from India schemes to units located in special economic zones. Special economic zones are areas — usually located close to seaports or airports — where normal custom, labor and tax laws of the country do not apply. In many ways, companies in SEZs […]
The government of India said it has no official records to suggest that Sunil Upadhyay, the Indian Museum official whose mysterious and sudden disappearance in 2014 created a sensation, was a whistleblower. “There are no office records to indicate that Dr. Sunil Upadhyay acted as a whistle blower on any issue relating to theft and […]
The government of India said it cannot seek to slow down imports of solar power generation equipment from China as it has to watch out for the interests of Indian consumers as much as those of Indian industrialists. Responding to questions from the opposition in Lok Sabha on why India was not taking action to help the […]
The government has cleared 98% of income tax refunds below Rs 50,000 in the current financial year, the finance ministry said. 67% of the refunds were issued within one month of filing the return, and 90% were issued within 60 days, the ministry said in a statement. Typically, tax refunds used to take several months […]
The government’s ‘free LPG connection’ scheme, Ujjwala, has seen 60% higher demand than expected, and the objectives of the three-year scheme will be met within two years at the current pace of rollout.As of the end of February, the total number of beneficiaries under the scheme rose to 2 cr (20 mln) from 15 mln […]
After missing its targets by wide margins in the previous two five-year plans, India is all set to comfortably meet or exceed all its power sector targets for the 12th five-year plan that ends this month. Five-year plans, borrowed from the Soviet Union, are a legacy of Nehruvian policy of setting development targets every five […]
Airports Authority of India said it has identified eight airports where it intends to carry out commercial real estate development once the government relaxes the relevant rule. The airports are Lucknow, Kolkata, Amritsar, Varanasi, Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur, Raipur and Tirupati, it said in a statement. Separately, the Airports Authority — which owns and operates most of […]
Production of electricity from solar power is all set to rise 75% this year, while that from wind is on track to rise 51%, according to the latest numbers available with the ministry of new and renewable resources, government of India. Despite this, the two will only account for less than 5% of the total […]
One of Larsen & Toubro’s units in the United Arab Emirates has won a Rs 500-cr order to supply building automation and control systems for 37 stations of the upcoming Doha Metro in Qatar, the company said. The contract involves installation, testing, integration, commissioning and 5 years of maintenance of the system. “The Frame Agreement […]
The average occupancy of reserved berths in trains in India rose to 102% in the ongoing financial year, the railways said, quoting data from April to December 2016. The number indicates the extreme inadequacy of railway service in India. Occupancy level was 101% in the preceding year. An occupancy level of 100% implies that all […]
An analysis of the election filings of the newly elected members of Punjab Legislative Assembly revealed that Navjot Singh Sidhu, the ex-cricketer and television personality who joined the Indian National Congress just before the election, is the highest-earning member of the house. The analysis by the Association for Democratic Reform also revealed that 8 out of […]
Faced with the prospect of lower-than-expected production of sugar in the ongoing season due to drought, the government has imposed stock curbs on dealers to prevent speculation and hoarding, the food and consumer affairs ministry said today. “With the objective of keeping the sugar prices at reasonable level and to ensure smooth supply of sugar […]
