Finance minister unveils Rs.10,000-crore window for affordable housing

The government announced a Rs.10,000 crore special window to provide last-mile funding for completion of ongoing housing projects which are not NPAs or facing bankruptcy proceedings under NCLT.

Announcing the measure, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will contribute Rs.10,000 crore for the special window and roughly the same amount is expected from outside investors.

This window will help in completion of affordable and middle income housing projects. The fund will be managed by professionals, the minister added.

Sitharaman also said the interest rate on housing building advance will be lowered and linked to the 10-year G-sec yields. “Government servants contribute to a major component of demand for houses. This will encourage more government servants to buy new houses,” she said.

External commercial borrowing guidelines will also be relaxed to help housing developers obtain overseas funds.ECB guidelines will be relaxed to facilitate financing of homebuyers who are eligible under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna, in consultation with the central bank.

The fresh set of measures to boost the economy has come in the wake of sinking business sentiment across the industry.

With most engines of growth stuttering, the Reserve Bank of India recently lowered its GDP forecast and pegged it at 6.9 per cent in 2019-20. Several rating agencies and research firms expect the growth to be in the range of 6.5-7 per cent.

Besides domestic consumption slowdown, the external factors remain adverse threatening to pull down the economy. A lingering US-China trade war and fears of a global recession could make things worse.

MMR: Key metro projects in a nutshell

Mumbai Metro Line 1 (Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro Project)

Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor is 11.40 km elevated corridor.

It provided connectivity of Eastern and Western suburbs to Western and Central Railway.

Facilitates smooth and efficient interchange between suburban rail system and MRT System at Andheri and Ghatkopar Stations.

Reduced the Journey time from 71 minutes to 21 minutes, between Versova and Ghatkopar.

Provide rail based access to the MIDC, SEEPZ and commercial developments.

Mumbai Metro Line 2A (DAHISAR - D.N. NAGAR)

Metro Line 2A from Dahisar to D N Nagar is 18.589 km. long elevated corridor with 17 stations.

It shall provide inter-connectivity among the existing Western Express Highway, Western Railway, Metro Line 1 (Ghatkopar to Versova), the ongoing Metro Lines 2B (D N Nagar to Mandale) and 7 (Andheri (E) to Dahisar (E)) and the proposed Metro Line 6 (Swami Samarth Nagar to Vikhroli).

It shall facilitate smooth and efficient interchange with the suburban rail system and MRT system at Dahisar and D N Nagar.

It shall provide connectivity between the Western, Central Mumbai and the Northern suburban Mumbai.

It shall provide rail based access to the commercial and geographical landmarks in Mumbai.

Mumbai Metro Line 2B (D.N. NAGAR - MANDALE)

Metro Line 2B from D N Nagar to Mandale is 23.643 km. long elevated corridor with 22 stations.

It shall provide inter-connectivity among the existing Western Express Highway, Eastern Express Highway, Western Railway, Central Railway, Mono Rail, Metro Line 1 (Ghatkopar to Versova) and Metro Line 2A (Dahisar to D N Nagar), Metro Line 4 (Wadala to Kasarvadavali) and Metro Line 3 (Colaba to SEEPZ) under implementation.

It shall provide connectivity between the Eastern and Western Suburban Mumbai.

It shall provide rail based access to the commercial, Govt. bodies and geographical landmarks in Mumbai.

Dedicated Depot is planned at Mandale in up to an extent of 22 Ha. land area.

Mumbai Metro Line 4 (WADALA - KASARVADAVALI)

Metro Line 4 from Wadala to Kasarvadavali is 32.32 km. long elevated corridor with 32 stations.

It shall provide inter-connectivity among the existing Eastern Express Roadway, Central Railway, Mono Rail, the ongoing Metro Line 2B (D N Nagar to Mandale), and the proposed Metro Line 5 (Thane to Kalyan), Metro Line 6 (Swami Samarth Nagar to Vikhroli) and Metro Line 8 (Wadala to General Post Office).

It shall provide rail based access to the commercial, Govt. bodies and geographical landmarks in Mumbai.

Dedicated Depots are planned in Owale land in up to an extent of 20 Ha. and in Godrej Land in up to 15.50 Ha. Area.

Metro Line - 5 (Thane - Bhiwandi - Kalyan)

Considering the rapid growth in Thane - Bhiwandi - Kalyan area and to connect the unconnected Bhiwandi city to Kalyan and Thane city through appropriate efficient mass transport system, the consultant was appointed for preparation of DPR for said corridor. Consultant has submitted final Detailed Project Report to MMRDA.

Mumbai Metro Line 7 (ANDHERI EAST - DAHISAR EAST)

Metro Line 7 from Andheri (E) to Dahisar (E) is 16.475 km. long elevated corridor with 13 stations.

It shall provide inter-connectivity among the existing Western Express Highway, Western Railway, Metro Line 1 (Ghatkopar to Versova), the ongoing Metro Line 2A (Dahisar to D N Nagar) and the proposed Metro Line 6 (Swami Samarth Nagar to Vikhroli).

It shall facilitate smooth and efficient interchange with the suburban rail system and MRT system at Andheri, JVLR and Dahisar.

It shall provide connectivity between the Central Mumbai and the Northern suburban Mumbai.

It shall provide rail based access to the Mumbai International Airport, SEEPZ, National Park and other commercial and geographical landmarks.

Dedicated Depot is planned at Dahisar in an extent of 15 Ha.

Mumbai Metro Line 9 (Line 7 Extension)

Metro Line 9 is extension of Line 7 form Andheri to CSIA and Dahisar to Mira Bhayander and is 13.581 km long (11.386 km elevated and 2.195 km underground) with 11 stations.

It shall provide inter-connectivity among the existing Western Express Highway, Western Railway, ongoing Metro Line 2A (Dahisar to D N Nagar) and Metro Line 7(Andheri (E) to Dahisar (E)).

It shall provide rail based access to the commercial, Govt. bodies and geographical landmarks in Mumbai.

Maintenance Depot has been proposed at Mira-Bhayander (main depot for entire line-7). Total land area proposed for maintenance facilities is 20.0 Ha.

Mumbai Trans Harbor Link  — Metro Link

With the view to connect the mainland to Mumbai through rail based mass transport MMRDA has planned a metro corridor from Prabhadevi to Sewri and further to the Mainland through Navi Mumbai to a suitable Location on the Panvel-Pen section having interchange stations and facilities with the existing and proposed rail system. Following are the advantages of the proposed MTHL-Metro Link.

MTHL Metro Corridor will induce and accelerate the development on the main land.

MTHL Metro will encourage mass transport and cater to the future travel demand of main land area.

MTHL Metro will facilitate decongestion on other passenger time transport systems and fuel consumption saving.

Chennai: Techie run over by tanker after hoarding falls on her

A 23-year old woman techie riding a two-wheeler lost balance and fell down after an illegal hoarding put up by an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam functionary crashed on her. She was then run over by a water tanker that came just behind her, police said.

The hoarding was put up without obtaining permission from corporation authorities by a local AIADMK functionary for his son’s wedding at a hall near Pallikaranai in Chennai.

“There is zero respect for lives in this country. It is a bureaucratic apathy. Sorry, we have lost faith in the government,” Justice Seshasayee was quoted as saying. The court added that it was tired of passing multiple orders against illegal flex boards, as it asked officials to report to it after lunch.

The ruling AIADMK and main opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, meanwhile, asked their respective party cadres to not erect hoardings inconveniencing the public.

When she was proceeding on the arterial Pallavaram Thoraipakkam radial road after completing her shift at a software firm at Kandanchavadi on Thursday, the woman identified later as R Subashri fell on the road after the hoarding put up on the median crashed on her.

A water tanker, which came behind the woman’s vehicle ran over her and she was pronounced brought dead at a local hospital. The tanker driver was arrested for rash and negligent driving and a case has been registered against him.

The young woman’s death has led to an outrage on illegal hoardings being put by political parties despite them causing inconvenience and posing a threat to people’s safety.

Following its complaint, police have filed an FIR against the AIADMK functionary and action will be taken as per law, the Chennai corporation said, adding the printing unit which printed the hoarding that fell on Subashri has been sealed.

According to the TN Urban Local Bodies (Permission for Erection of Digital Banners and Placards) Rules of 2011, the printer’s licence will be cancelled and unit sealed if permission was not taken for erecting hoardings or banners.

“The tanker driver was over speeding and he could not slow down and stop. No one should meet a fate similar to that of my daughter who was my only child,” her father told reporters. Subashri completed her B Tech last year and had a proposal to go to Canada next month and was working for a technology firm, he told reporters. 

August 2019: Trade deficit narrows to $13.45 b

India’s imports shrank by 36-month low of 13.4% on year in August, led by non-oil and non-gold sectors, indicating weak domestic demand in a slowing economy. Exports, too, declined for the second time in three months as global trade tensions and sluggish demand brought down shipments by 6.05%.

Exports slipped to $26.13 billion last month, pulled down by a decline in shipment of traditional, labour intensive sectors including cotton yarn, gems & jewellery, petroleum products, carpets, and handicrafts.

A sharper decline of imports to $39.58 helped the country lower the trade deficit to $13.45 billion in August from $17.92 billion a year ago. However, the trade gap widened marginally from $13.43 billion in July.

This was the worst decline in imports since August 2016 when imports fell 13.8% on year.

India’s economic growth had plunged to a 25-quarter low of 5% in the June quarter. Private consumption growth plunged to 3.1% in the quarter from 7.2% in the trailing quarter.

Non-oil and non-gold imports fell 9.33% to $27.3 billion in August. Oil imports declined 8.9% to $10.9 billion while gold imports fell 62.5% to $1.37 billion from the year earlier.

The increase in customs duty on gold and the recent spike in prices dampened imports.

Imports of electronics goods, a major import item, declined 4.12% in August.

According to official data, 22 out of the 30 export sectors registered a decline year on year in August.

Experts partly attributed the decline in exports to the US terminating preferential tariffs to India under the Generalised System of Preferences effective June 5.

US-China trade war, Brexit and developments in Iran further aggravated the problem of the world economy, the organisation said.

The World Trade Organisation had in April cut the global trade growth forecast for 2019 to 2.6% from 3% in 2018 on account of rising trade tensions and increased economic uncertainty.

In first five months of the fiscal, India’s exports fell 1.53% to $133.54 billion while imports declined 5.68% to $206.39 billion.

However, electronics exports increased 46% to $1.01 billion in August. FIEO said the uncertainty attached has also affected the flow of investment and added to currency volatility.

CM flags off test run of Navi Mumbai Metro

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis flagged off the test run of Navi Mumbai Metro Line-1.

The first phase of the Metro project has an elevated corridor of over 11 km between Belapur and Pendhar with 11 stations, besides a depot-cum-workshop at Taloja-Pachnand. Fadnavis also released e-allotment letters of winners of Cidco’s mass housing scheme-2018 on its website. Cidco will construct 95,000 houses.

The e-allotment letters of a total of 9,475 winners were declared in the presence of Cidco authorities, state minister Ravindra Chavan, MLAs Prashant Thakur, Manda Mhatre, Mayors Jaywant Sutar and Dr Kavita Choutmal and other dignitaries.

Funding for Metro Rail Line-1 (Belapur to Pendhar), which costs around Rs.3,064 crore, is being incurred by Cidco through surplus internal accruals. The three-car Metro train with a stainless steel coach body has a capacity to ferry 1,125 passengers and will have 150 seats and 975 standing passengers. While, the maximum operating speed shall be 85 kmph, the scheduled speed is 32 kmph.

According to Cidco, the Navi Mumbai Metro will enhance the commercial potential of the region and bolster economic progress. The Metro Line-1 is expected to be operational by mid-2020.

Indian universities out of top 300 in global rankings

The new world university rankings came as a mixed bag for India with no university featuring in the top 300 for the first time since 2012, though the total number of entries from the country went up from 49 in 2018 to 56 this year.

The high point for India was Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar making it to the top 350 on debut in the list. It now is the joint Indian topper with Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. In total, there are six Indian universities in the top 500 in this year’s Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020 as against five in the 2019 rankings. Overall, University of Oxford continues to lead the pack for the fourth consecutive year.

With the increase in the number of Indian universities in the overall 1,300-university list from 92 countries, India is the fifth most-represented nation in the rankings, with 56 institutions. In all, 10 Indian universities which participated for the first time, made it to the global ranking list of 1,300 universities.

The fall of IISc from the 251-300 to 301-350 cohort this year is attributed to a significant dip in its citation impact score offsetting improvements in research environment, teaching environment and industry income. With IISc’s slide, it is for the first time India has failed to make the top 300 in the last seven years. However, the Bengaluru-based institute still ranks highest among all others in India and shares its position with IIT Ropar in the THE list.

THE rankings editor Ellie Bothwell said: “India has a huge amount of potential in global higher education, given its rapidly growing youth population and economy and use of English-language instruction. However, it is disappointing to see the country fall out of the top 300 of the rankings this year, with only a small number of institutions registering progress. The Indian government has strong ambitions to boost the global standing of its top universities and attract foreign students, academics and research collaboration. It now needs to back up these aspirations with high levels of investment or risk declining further amid increasing global competition, especially from other parts of Asia.”

According to THE, the best Indian institutions are generally characterised by relatively strong scores for teaching environment and industry income, but perform poorly when it comes to international outlook in comparison to both regional and international counterparts.

Globally, the United States once again has 60 universities in the top 200.

PMO gets new principal secy & principal adviser

The new Prime Minister’s Office hierarchy was formalised with P K Mishra, additional principal secretary to PM, appointed principal secretary in place of Nripendra Misra, who recently resigned from the post. Along with Mishra, former cabinet secretary P K Sinha was appointed principal adviser to PM.

The changes were expected since Misra’s resignation was made available and it was stated that he will continue for two weeks pending formalisation of arrangements. Misra’s resignation had come as a surprise as he had been recently re-appointed along with an elevation to minister of state rank.

Sinha’s designation is at variance to expectations that he will replace P K Mishra as additional principal secretary. Mishra has been overseeing senior appointments and is expected to continue to do so. Sinha could look after some of the policy briefs given his familiarity with Modi government’s initiatives as cabinet secretary.

P K Mishra has worked with Prime Minister Modi when he was the chief minister of Gujarat. He has varied work experience in performance management relating to agriculture, disaster management, power sector, infrastructure financing and regulatory issues.

“He has an outstanding career profile comprising research, publications, policy formulations and project management,” said a backgrounder.

P K Mishra has been agriculture secretary and worked in the area of disaster management. He was actively involved in initiatives like national agriculture development programme and the national food security mission along with “innovative and transformative” changes in human resource management, particularly appointments to senior positions.

He has worked with Institute of Development Studies, UK, negotiation and execution of ADB and World Bank projects and the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics. In the previous Modi government, he paid particular attention to disaster response and preparedness. He is a PhD in economic-development studies from the University of Sussex, where he also did an MA. He also has an MA from the Delhi School of Economics.