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Monday, 30 Jun 2014
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NDA govt's first month signals projex revival

Proactive decisions and some positive signals sent out by the BJP-led NDA government in the first 30 days, have succeeded in evincing positive response from India Inc. which had put their big capex plans on hold for various reasons.

 

The first major announcement from the Union Government came in the form of clearing seven mega projects worth Rs 21,000 crore which were stuck for decades due to environment and financial issues. These include the 1,440 MW coal-based power project of RKM Powergen.

 

NDA govt's first month signals projex revival

 

Similarly, to kick-start the investment activities in the roadways sector, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways approved highway projects worth over Rs 40,000 crore in the states of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the north eastern region. Nearly half of the projex cleared are two laning and four laning of national highways in Jammu & Kashmir. Another slew of roadway projects worth Rs 15,000 crore was announced for the north eastern region of the country.

 

To increase the pace of clearance of project proposals, the new government has proposed setting up a single-window clearance system for capital-intensive projects in the steel, coal and power sector. The new system will accelerate the execution of several greenfield and brownfield projects which have been held up due to lack of environmental and forest clearances. To expedite the process, the Ministry of Environment and Forests is also paving the way for a major structural change in its project clearing mechanism. From 1 July 2014, all applications for environment clearances and ToR will be accepted online only and the expert appraisal committee will have to complete their appraisals within five to 15 working days.

 

Another notable announcement of the Union Government was scrapping of the UPA's Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme. The New urban development and housing minister Venkaiah Naidu announced that JNNURM would soon be replaced by a new mission which would focus on a modern concept for developing cities enabled with the latest technology and better connectivity. BJP, in its election manifesto 2014, had proposed building 100 new smart cities .

 

In a bid to promote India as an electronics manufacturing hub, the Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has identified eight cities - Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Gandhinagar, Ghaziabad, Nagpur, Nasik, Thane and Vadodara, where companies setting up greenfield facilities will be eligible for incentives. The Ministry also announced setting up electronic manufacturing clusters in eight cities including Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad and Hosur.

 

Projex revival

 

Showing faith in the government’s initiatives, India Inc responded by announcing major projex plans within days after the government took office. Along with conglomerates like Reliance Industries and Tata group, several other promoters have announced their investment plans.

 

Reliance Industries will invest Rs 1,80,000 crore across its businesses, including telecom and oil and gas over the next three years. RIL's focus in FY15 and FY16 will be on retail, petrochemical and telecom investments. Reliance's telecom subsidiary, Reliance Jio, will launch its commercial 4G telecom service in a phased manner in 2015, with an investment of Rs 70,000 crore.

 

Tata group has announced capital expenditure of over Rs 65,000 crore for the ongoing fiscal. The bulk of the investments will be by Tata Steel and Tata Motors which have lined up projex of Rs 16,500 crore and Rs 38,500 crore respectively.

 

Essel Group has signed a memorandum of understanding to invest Rs 20,000 crore in areas like urban development and distribution of power in Uttar Pradesh. Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) of Japan, the parent company of Maruti Suzuki, announced plans to invest Rs 18,500 crore in setting up a new car manufacturing plant in Gujarat.

 

Apart from the above big ticket projects, major hotel groups and retail companies have announced their intentions to expand their presence across the country over the next three to four years.

 

While the surge in projex announcements bodes well for the country starved of project investments in the last couple of years, the key to the revival in projex activities is faster execution of the above mentioned projects. Here, the new government’s stand on FDI, taxation matters, pricing of oil and gas, and auction of coal mines will set the pace of growth of project investment in India in the next five years. The upcoming union budget is expected to set the ball rolling in this direction.

 

Manufacturing Sector Developments

 

 
  • India Cements is planning to invest in its Shankar Nagar facility in Tamil Nadu
  • Trident Group has unveiled a terry towel plant at Budhni, Madhya Pradesh
  • SRL to invest Rs 450 crore to add more laboratories
  • Honda Motor to set up a Rs 4,000 crore plant at Vithalapur, Gujarat
  • GAIL India has invited EoIs for its fertilizer plant at Talcher, Odisha
  • Foundation stone laid for Nivea’s first manufacturing facility in India
  • Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion has cleared 52 projects worth Rs 5,180 crore

 

Infrastructure Sector Developments

 

 
  • Approval granted to nine power transmission projects worth Rs 12,500 crore
  • JICA to commence survey work on the Gurgaon-Manesar-Bawal Metro rail project
  • Ministry of Shipping has announced several projects under the Mumbai Port Trust
  • In-principal approval granted for an MoU between India and China for setting up industrial parks
  • Ginger looking forward to add more hotels to its portfolio
  • Light rail transport project in Pune gets approval

 

Power Sector Developments

 

 
  • NTPC has invited bids its Darlipali power plant in Odisha
  • West Bengal Govt. is planning to set up a 250 MW solar power project
  • Maharashtra Energy Development Agency has invited EoIs for wave energy project
  • Daystar Power intends to set a 14 MW solar photovoltaic in Solapur, Maharashtra
  • Government to invite bids for 1,500 MW Solar power projects under JNNSM
  • Simbhaoli Sugars is developing a 28 MW bagasse-based power unit at Simbhaoli, Uttar Pradesh
  • GAIL’s gas-based power plant in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh receives environment clearance
  • Odisha govt. is all set to develop a solar power plant near Chhatrapur, Ganjam

 

Quote of the week:

 

Rahul-bajaj  
"There is a sense of optimism in the air and, like many in the corporate world, I hope the new national government of Mr Modi and his Cabinet colleagues will focus on removing all impediments to growth and thus allow the corporate sector to regain its entrepreneurial animal spirits."

-Rahul Bajaj, Chairman, Bajaj Auto
 
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