India has one of the world's largest education systems, including 1.3 million schools, 30,000 colleges and 542 universities. According to the Education Division at Technopak Advisors, the size of the public education sector is $40 billion and the private sector amounted to $60 billion in 2011. In last year's budget (2011-2012), Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee allocated Rs 52,057 crore for the sector.
This year, members of the sector again expect a big push in expenditure especially related to the effective implementation of The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE Act). "It (RTE Act) is a big challenge for the government. Many issues like setting up of neighbourhood schools and infrastructure require money," says Dhiraj Mathur, Leader of Education at PwC India. Read more
Source : businesstoday.intoday.in
Is the India story over? This, apparently, is a common question that foreign investors ask government officials representing India at international conferences.
Obviously, that's a tough question to answer since it inevitably raises questions about the government's lack of progress on policy reform. Read more
Source : rediff.com
New Delhi: In the upcoming budget to be presented on the March 16, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation may see a hike in allocation that could be anything between 40 to 60 per cent, which means that the allocation could go up from approximately Rs 9500 crore to at least Rs 14,000 crore.
Speaking at the 2nd meeting of National Drinking Water and Sanitation Council, the minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation Jairam Ramesh said, "We must feel that investment in water supply and sanitation is a matter of urgent priority. It is as important as investing in defence. We can invest in missiles, aircrafts and tanks but if we don't have clean drinking water and sanitation, the population is not going to be healthy... We are becoming a wealthy population but not a healthy one." Read more
Source : ibnlive.in.com
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said that though the state’s interest had been ignored by successive central governments since Independence, the spirit of the people had not been dampened and they had set the course for development with social justice under NDA rule.
Speaking at the conclusion of the three-day Global Summit on Changing Bihar, Kumar singled out agriculture as the backbone of the state’s economy. Read more
Source : firstpost.com
New Delhi : Indian Railways’ financial distress is not likely to get over in the near future. Its projected shortfall in internal resource generation for meeting its 12th Plan outlay (2012-17) is Rs 2,00,000 crore.
The ministry of railways has projected a three-time increase in Plan size to Rs 7,19,677 crore for the five-year period. Read more
Source : business-standard.com
India is yet to utilise its solar potential; at present, solar power (photovoltaic and concentrating solar thermal power) contributes a mere 0.4 per cent of the total power generation.
Leaders from across the world gathered in Durban in December last year to find common ground on what is currently the most important challenge facing humanity: climate change. With virtually no headway made since the Kyoto Protocol, there is precious little time left for all nations to act before we reach the point of no return. Governments across the world must give a clear signal that they are committed to a legal deal on climate change that puts the world on track to a low-carbon economy.
While both developed and developing nations put forth their arguments keeping in mind their respective economic interests, it is important to note that businesses can, and must, play a vital role in building a greener world. Today, businesses across the world are committed to green growth and building a 'sustainable' global economy as it will ensure their future growth. There is a unique opportunity for businesses from developed and developing nations to collaborate and develop low-carbon technologies and business models. Read more
Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com
Indian Power sector is in crises. It is not only a sectoral challenge but now has become a national challenge. The Shunglu Committee has said that Discom (distribution companies) losses are over Rs 100,000 crore and largely funded by the banks, so even the banks will have an issue.
Most of us are discussing about generation and coal availability. But even the more serious problem is of under investment in the transmission and distribution (T&D) sector. The transmission lines are loaded 90% as against the world standard of 60-65%. Read more
Source : moneycontrol.com
OneWorld South Asia
In an exclusive opinion piece, Rajesh Tandon, President, Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA) has appealed to the Union Government for improved and better implementation of policies and Centrally-sponsored schemes in its Budget 2012. He focuses on high inflation that is reducing the nutritional intake of the poor; improving the infrastructure of small and medium sized towns and cities; and problems faced by NGOs after amendments were made to Section 2(15) of the IT Act, 1961.
Persistently high inflation during the past year has caused severe hardships to many households which are living below or close to the poverty line. This issue was discussed in consultations last year. The pattern of food production is shifting in a manner that high nutrition, low cost food supply is stagnating or declining. The likely fall of production of pulses will further increase the risk of malnutrition in poor households. During the year, milk prices have increased nearly 50 per cent, further resulting in lower consumption of nutritional foods by poor households. Read more
Source : zeenews.india.com
Project has always been Jharkhand’s problem child. And its latest tantrum rings around a multi-crore peripheral road that promises to decongest the capital city of Ranchi.
A 23 km stretch of the ambitious Ring Road is wobbling in the seventh and final lap of an over Rs 600-crore project for reasons best known to the state road construction department, which is directly under the jurisdiction of chief minister Arjun Munda, and its handpicked contractors — Delhi-based Somdutt Builders and Shrinet & Shandilya Construction Private Limited. Read more
Source : telegraphindia.com
Bangalore: Karnataka has emerged as the fifth most lucrative investment destination attracting investment proposals worth Rs. 9.85 lakh crore at the end of 2011, industry body ASSOCHAM said Monday.
Karnataka has clocked a share of about 8.18 percent in the total live investments worth Rs. 120.34 lakh crore at the end of the year, according to The Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). Read more
Source : zeenews.india.com
The Delhi government plans to bring the Indian countryside to the Capital itself. To present the 'real India' to foreign tourists, the government has selected 14 villages, each with a water body, across the Capital.
Green living: Chhawla tourism complex at Kanganheri
These spots will be redeveloped, restored and offered as a 'rural tourism destination' to the foreigners. The project, worth crores of rupees, has already received the necessary clearances. Read more
Source : dailymail.co.uk
Hyderabad: To protect mobile users' interest in the backdrop of cancellation of 2G licences by the Supreme Court, telecom regulator TRAI is likely to come out with fresh guidelines on the business modalities to be followed by the companies that have lost licences, according to sources.
As the companies, which have invested billions of dollars in infrastructure, are set to lose the existing licences in four months, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is examining the issues such as selling recharge coupons and fresh connections by these service providers, sources close to the development said. Read more
Source : zeenews.india.com
New Delhi : Ministry of corporate affairs is exploring possibilities of amending the Competition Act to exempt deals in the sector from the current turnover and deal size thresholds
The government’s attempt to strike a balance between public health concerns and need for foreign direct investments (FDI) by empowering the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to monitor all foreign takeovers of Indian drug firms may have no impact. Experts feel all domestic takeovers, irrespective of the turnover, deal size or the status of the acquirer, need to be brought under strict scrutiny. Read more
Source : business-standard.com
Delhi : Germany, India pledge funds for environmental urban infrastructure development
The agreement with Germany will help towards a better NCR. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty
To boost the environmental sustainability of fast-growing towns in India's National Capital Region (NCR), the German Government-owned development bank KfW has signed a loan agreement worth 100 million euros (approximately Rs. 700 crore) and a financing agreement for project development and capacity building grant of 1 million euro (approximately Rs. 7 crore) with the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB).
The Agreement was signed in New Delhi by Naini Jayaseelan, Member Secretary, NCRPB and Mr. Uwe Ohls, Director General Europe and Asia of KfW, in the presence of Prabodh Saxena, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs and Cord Meier-Klodt, acting Ambassador of Germany to India. Read more
Source : thehindu.com
The inability of the state to deliver on basic services has nurtured many a business: inverters and bottled water, to name just two.
A third one is beginning to flourish: water purification and waste-water treatment. As the state increasingly relinquishes these functions to the private sector, and even discusses the idea of privatising water supply, companies in this business are seeing a likely suitor: private equity (PE). Read more
Source : articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com
Children understand better when they see than when they read. If technology can be made an enabler to let children study subjects with a visual dimension added to books, learning is faster and consequent dropout rates of students also decline.
“Computers bring about a dramatic change from the mundane process of learning at school and reduce dropout rates, as seen in pilot projects we have conducted in Karnataka. Using networking technology, teachers and students can see each other real-time. While kids from multiple villages can see and hear one another on a screen, they also take the same class together. Every child is audible and visible in the different classrooms,” explains Aravind Sitaraman, president, inclusive growth, Cisco. Read more
Source : educationtimes.com
There are plenty of investment opportunities in the healthcare technology space but most have long gestation cycles and challenging business models
In my interactions with my global investor friends, I notice their faith in the Indian judicial system is renewed and they are slowly back to feeling cautiously optimistic about India. As Raghuram Rajan, professor of finance at Chicago University’s Booth School of Business and economic adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said at Davos last week, we need to aim for at least 8.5-9% GDP this year and only then will we end up with 7-7.5%. Read more
Source : livemint.com
New Delhi : In an initiative that could prompt foreign telecom equipment majors such as Huawei, ZTE and Ericsson to set up base in India, the government is working on a Cabinet note to make it mandatory for all information technology (IT) and telecom public sector units to source 30 per cent of their purchases from domestic equipment makers.
Work on the note has started following a proposal by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the IT department. Read more
Source : business-standard.com
Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee last year asked the UK to cease giving aid to the country’s booming economy, but relented after being begged to take the money for fear of “grave political embarrassment”, reports the UK’s Telegraph newspaper.
“We do not require the aid. It is a peanut in our total development exercises [expenditure],” Mukherjee told the upper house of Indian parliament, during question time, adding that the government wanted to give it up. Read more
Source : minivannews.com
It is good news for established incumbent operators and in the short term there is likely to be some increase in tariffs, said Mr C.S. Benoy, Director, ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia and Middle East. Read more
Source : thehindubusinessline.com
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) recently warned there is an “urgent challenge” to create 600 million jobs over the world in the next decade as one in three workers worldwide are either unemployed or living in poverty.
According to the annual report on global employment by the ILO, the world faces the “urgent challenge” of creating 600 million productive jobs over the next decade in order to generate sustainable growth and maintain social cohesion. Read more
Source : deccanherald.com
New Delhi: Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja Monday said time was appropriate for the banking sector and other financial institutions to play a greater role, along with the government, to provide affordable housing to the poor.
Delivering the keynote address here at an international seminar on "Growth and stability in Affordable Housing Markets", Selja said there has been a steady growth in the housing finance companies in India who are serving as dedicated outlets for the housing credit delivery. Read more
Source : zeenews.india.com
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp will open its first coffee shops in India in August or September, a year later than originally planned, and aims to have 50 outlets by year-end through a tie-up with the Tata group, the country's biggest business house.
Culver, president, Starbucks China and Asia Pacific attends a news conference in Mumbai (DANISH SIDDIQUI, REUTERS / January 30, 2012)
The Seattle-based chain, known as much for the trendy urban lifestyle it represents as its costly cups of coffee, enters a market with a fast-growing middle class and plenty of competition in the small but fast-growing coffee segment. Read more
Source : chicagotribune.com
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