The elusive dreams of connecting the interests of Asian countries through natural gas pipelines have been chased for over 3 decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Turkmenistan in the second week of July as a part of his tour to 5 central Asian countries will be an attempt to seal the deal for the TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India) natural gas pipeline. If Modi manages to close the deal which was envisaged to solve the geo-political issues between the South Asian neighbours, it would be a milestone in the direction of securing India’s energy needs.But was the TAPI deal hanging fire only because India did not have a statesman like prime minister Narendra Modi to foster the decision making among the other three participating nations? More than the politics, it is the economics that has acted as a hurdle in the implementation of the project.The TAPI gas pipeline was envisaged in 1990s by the US as a means of providing economic stability to Afghanistan that has been under Taliban for many decades. Initially it was a three nation (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan) project and India came into the picture only in 2008. However, the risks attached to the pipeline that is supposed to pass through the most disturbed areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan make the project unviable for any private sector company to show interest. Turkmenistan would export 90 million standard cubic meters per day of gas through TAPI, with Afghanistan getting 14 mmscmd and India and Pakistan 38 mmscmd each.In 2008, the cost of the pipeline was pegged at around $7.5 billion, with the completion date of 2014. However, the construction of the pipeline has not even begun and the project stares at a cost-overrun of about $3-$5 billion. The pipeline is viable only till it supplies natural gas at a rate cheaper than imported LNG. The cost of gas for the three countries would be between $7 per mmbtu to $9 per mmbtu. Any further delay may make the cost of importing natural gas via pipeline unviable for countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan who cannot afford to buy expensive gas due to the small size of their economies.Moreover, the price for LNG in the spot market has reached $8 per mmbtu. However, the pipeline has a long terms horizon in terms of prices which are expected to hover above $10 -$15 per mmbtu.India had agreed to pay around $9 per mmbtu in 2012 under a formula that calculates the price of gas on the international price of crude oil. The final cost of gas after adding the transit fee was around $13 per mmbtu. This saved India around $2 per mmbtu of gas as compared to the spot market price in 2012. However since, then the cost of crude oil as well as natural gas has fallen in the international market and this will have an impact on the logic of purchasing gas through a pipeline with an upfront investment cost of above $10 billion with various risks.The final cost of natural gas from the pipeline must save involved parties between $2-$5 per mmbtu.So, the pipeline dream is running against time to manage its costs to be financially viable.Other than this, a major problem is the national policy of Turkmenistan that does not allow any foreign company to take up participating stake in the country’s national projects. None of the companies in the four nations have the financial power to take up a project that covers the international border of 1700 Km.Interestingly, even if Modi convinces Turkmenistan to change its national law to allow a foreign company be chosen as the consortium leader with participating interests in the project, there would be a pressure from the US to chose only a US based company. However, the ADB has been in favour of French upstream company Total to execute the project. Even though the French oil &gas giant has backed out from the project, it is not necessary that the involved parties, especially Turkmenistan would agree to have a US company for the project.The heads of TAPI countries will have to look for a reason why these natural gas pipelines projects have always remained in the pipeline for decades. Other then TAPI, there are other envisaged projects like IPI (Iran Pakistan India) MBI (Myanmar-Banglades- India) that could never take off due to cost factors that were affected by the Geo-political dangers and pressures from the US. Until the governments of the Asian countries understand that they need to envisage projects purely based on economics and not on political rhetoric and obligations, these projects will remain in the pipeline for ever.
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Videocon Industries Ltd plans to invest $2.5 billion in oil and gas ventures in Brazil over the next two to three years, the consumer electronics-to-energy group's chief said, as part of its strategy to boost the business. "Brazil oil finding is four times higher than the largest oil field in India ... It's just (the) beginning," billionaire Venugopal Dhoot told Reuters at the sidelines of an industry event. A consortium that includes Videocon and Brazilian state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) earlier this year discovered new light crude oil in the Sergipe basin off Brazil's northeast coast. Videocon, which gets most of its revenue from its consumer durables business, has expanded its oil and gas business in recent years with investments in countries including Australia and Indonesia. In the next three years, Videocon, which also has interests in telecoms and power, will be known as an oil and gas firm, Dhoot told India's Mint newspaper last month. (Reuters)
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How GPU tech can help public servants serve the community more efficiently and economically, writes Vishal DhuparThe ministry of urban development is in full swing to bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for smart cities to reality in 100 locations across India that will be modernized, equipped and administered using adaptive and intelligent technology.While Rs 48,000 crore have already been allocated for the development of these Smart Cities, IDC has predicted that India's ICT sector will get a minimum infusion of Rs. 2000 crore to back the mega project. Research also shows widespread interest in development of smart urban centers, with almost one-fifth of cities in Asia Pacific having started collaborative operations to deal withinfrastructural, managerial and environmental problems.The concept of Smart Cities means different things to different people. Essentially, a smart city is an urban center with intelligent physical, social, and institutional infrastructure that can be sustained in tandem with economic activity and growth. The infrastructure of such a city will typically be equipped with systems aimed at better management of energy resources, water, transport and traffic, safety and security.A report by McKinsey warned that by 2030, about 600 million people will reside in Indian cities. With inadequate planning, the quality of life in urban areas is bound to decline. To deal with rapid urbanization, the master plan for development of smart cities has to account for growth in population, businesses, and therefore, the spurt in public amenities and infrastructure, traffic, carbon footprint, so and so forth. Today’s urban planners need the computing capability to simulate the impact of these gradual changes over time against the assimilated physical data, so that they can tweak their models to allow for growth.The first challenge encountered by urban planners is sifting through large volumes of data to make intelligent, informed, accurate and swifter decisions.Technology is an enabler for planned urbanisation and the development of all sustainable smart cities.From centralised control systems which provide real-time input on availability of water, electricity, healthcare and education to effective management of traffic, weather prediction, pollution control, disaster management and emergency response – everything in a smart city relies on powerful computing.This is where GPUshave taken the driving seat.Graphics processing units (GPUs) are built from ground up to handle tasks in parallel and are optimised for compute-intensive tasks. From oil exploration to cancer research. From Bollywoood Studios to weather modelling. From diamond cutting to helping farmers:GPUs offer superiorcomputing capabilities everywhere. The popular Shazam music-search application uses a GPU to rapidly search and recognise songs from its 27-million track database, in a matter of seconds!The same power of GPUs will play a critical role in building and sustaining smart cities. Take the example of disaster recovery and emergency response. When cyclone Hudhud hit Indian coasts, authorities had to track the weather conditions to get the correct assessment of the impact on-ground. For this they had to rely on satellite images.However, processing these images could take hours, if not days. GPUs can not only condense the time taken but also help in providing a better synopsis of the exact situation. Speed and accuracy in such situations can save millions of lives.Urban Planning:As India’s urban areas become ever more densely populated, reducing energy consumption and mitigating air pollution will be critical. However, understanding the complex interactions among green assets, projects, the environment and urban microclimates on citywide scales is a complicated challenge.Urban planners are using inexpensive and fast modeling tools that run on GPU technology to create life-size simulations of varied demographic environments. These are interactive and immersive simulations that can be mapped against dynamic changes such as energy consumption or pollutant dispersion within an entire landscape. Armed with visual insight into these changes, planners can anticipate the impact of change to design future-ready models or policies for urbanization that minimize the carbon footprint generated by a city, and locate green infrastructure more strategically. Governance: The services of hundreds of individuals in the local governance and municipal bodies keep a city ticking round the clock. How can GPU tech help these public servants serve the community more efficiently and economically?Many workers in departments such as public works, education, healthcare, or fire brigade are constantly on the move or located in remote areas, and it might be difficult to assemble everyone in one place on short notice. Through GPU-aided delivery of optimized graphics and videos over the Cloud to their workstations or smartphones, local governance bodies can remotely and conveniently train employees. By enabling them to share visual information directly to the workstations or smartphones of employees, public departments can cut down training costs and ramp up their efficiency.Surveillance & Security: Maintaining law & order is a daunting task for many cities that are often ill-equipped to fight the spiraling crime rate. Authorities mostly rely on intelligence gathering and assessment from CCTV systems, satellites, and better surveillance technologies to monitor sensitive locations on a 24x7 basis. The timeliness and accuracy of this is critical. GPUs can help reduce both, the cost and time taken, to convert raw data collected from surveillance and deliver actionable insight in real time.For instance, the video feed from a surveillance camerais grainy and has to be matched against a visual database of known offenders. In large crowds, probably only part of an object or a person’s face would be captured by cameras. GPUs accelerate the image processing and change detection power of surveillance systems, helping them analyze even moving images at breakneck speed.Implementation of GPU tech is most amenable to the sustainability of smart cities, and many governance and infrastructure related projects can benefit from the technology. Premier research and education institutes such as IITs, top universities, and the Dept. of Space are already using them. The ability of GPUs to transform the vision for urban landscapes is being investigated by engineers and scientists in India, and is likely to attract the attention of top decision makers in government too.The author, Vishal Dhupar is Managing Director, South Asia, NVIDIA
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The circular form of Connaught Place with its system of ring and radial roads has from the beginning, been an enigma, says Ranjit SabikhiConnaught Place was designated as the major Central Business District of the Capital in the first Delhi Master Plan 1961. Commercial development had already started around Parliament Street and it was proposed that a major commercial area be developed around Connaught Place extending up to Keeling Road. This was designated as the Connaught Place Extension Area. In the early years following the 1961 Master Plan the demand for commercial space steadily grew, which was to be met by allowing high rise development with an FAR of 400. Within a few years a number of tall buildings were built, that aroused much critical comment and concern for the future. The sudden appearance of multistory structures in the heart of a low garden city caused considerable consternation. Doubts were expressed about the possible congestion and traffic problems that would result.In 1972, at the behest of prime minister Indira Gandhi, a new professional group was assembled and designated the New Delhi Redevelopment Advisory Committee (NDRAC). The group was asked to review the ongoing development in Connaught Place and its Extension, and to prepare a new urban design proposal for the area. NDRAC's basic recommendation was to reduce the density of construction and to lower the FAR to 250, along with detailed guidelines for future development, which were a repeat of the 1961 Master Plan framework.The Master Plan provided for setbacks on each plot on all four sides with maximum 35 per cent coverage on each floor, forcing all buildings upwards. This resulted in creating a series of isolated highrise buildings with no cohesion and no sense of urban character. The NDRAC insisted on the prescribed setbacks, in the mistaken belief that they were necessary to save the abundance of mature trees in the area. As it happens, even with the reduced FAR, the sheer enormity of actual construction, the massive paved areas, and extensive parking both at ground level and in basements below, killed off most of the trees. What we have instead of a green island with multi-story towers, is a series of unrelated tower blocks, set in a concrete wasteland, with no overall urban form or scale. One important recommendation which was not implemented was the provision of a continuous pedestrian walkway at first floor level linking all the multistory buildings together. All developers were asked to contribute to the cost of this walkway, and a charge was levied for the purpose by NDMC, at the time of sanctioning individual building plans. It is not clear why this was not actually built. If this proposal had been implemented it would have been a great boon to office goers today, providing a safe pedestrian movement system connecting all the buildings to the metro stations, and to Connaught Place.If the proposed building regulations had been differently conceived reducing the front setback, eliminating side setbacks, and allowing a coverage of 50% or 60% per floor, an FAR of 400 could have been achieved within seven to eight floors only. This would have provided a larger floor plate at each level, and also resulted in a more coherent urban form, a form more in keeping with the basic garden city character of New Delhi. Integrated with the proposed continuous pedestrian walkway connecting the buildings at first floor level, this would have introduced an innovative forward looking solution effectively separating traffic, parking, and pedestrian movement, along with the possibility of introducing a variety of commercial and community activities at first floor level. It would have introduced a futuristic element to the urban design concept - a more advanced version of the downtown Fort area in Mumbai that had been successfully implemented many years earlier. It is indeed unfortunate that such a unique opportunity was overlooked and ignored.The circular form of Connaught Place with its system of ring and radial roads has from the beginning, been an enigma. It has always been one large traffic roundabout with isolated curved blocks laid around it. With increased traffic and steadily increasing parking needs, the individual blocks have become more and more isolated, and the continuity of pedestrian movement along its arcade has been severely disrupted. The central park is also no longer easily accessible. The location of the Rajiv Gandhi Metro station below the central park has further complicated the issue. There have been several studies suggesting that the entire middle circle be reserved for pedestrians only, and be barred to vehicular traffic. One proposal was to lower the central circular road to basement level, which would allow for continuity of pedestrian movement at ground level, along with linkage of the arcades. Most attempts to change the existing situation were resisted by the shop owners, and no change was actually implemented. In the mean time the volume of traffic steadily increased, and the open space between the arcades and the central park was converted into a huge parking lot, messy, uncontrolled, and chaotic. Now with the metro system below the central park the option of lowering the central circular road to basement level has been closed for the foreseeable future.The location of a central metro station in the heart of the city has however brought about improved accessibility, and introduced another dimension to the use of Connaught Place. Footfall has increased, and the space is now used by much larger numbers of people. On weekends the central circular road is almost completely taken over by pedestrians, and car movement becomes extremely restricted. Most of these visitors are not there for shopping, but on an outing for the entire family. They come by metro from all areas across the city, and during the winter months particularly, the crowd is unbelievable. They walk around the middle circle, sit and relax in the central park, and eat at the large number of mobile food stalls that park around the area. Because of the large area taken over by the car parks, and the limited width of the pedestrian footpaths, the crowd overflows across the road, despite the traffic.A realistic evaluation of this situation suggests, that it is time for a complete overhaul of this major urban space. This could be done by locating a number of multistory car parks on the periphery of Connaught Place and restricting the penetration of cars to the middle circular road, creating a completely pedestrian space beyond. This would bring about a complete transformation of this substantial landscaped area at the heart of the city. Servicing of this area could be done, by providing limited vehicular service access during the late evening and at night.The large area freed by the removal of the car parks along with the area of the central circular road will form a large new pedestrian plaza that can accommodate a variety of different communal activities. No new structures would need to be constructed, but sensitive landscaping along with a series of temporary food outlets, awnings, and platforms for pavement shops, would animate the whole area. Impromptu music and theatre sessions, and different 'raahgir' type activities would create a dynamic new urban centre for the city. A slow moving ring railway could further help to convert this space into a significant destination area for all sections of society.In the cleanup of the Connaught Place area prior to the Commonwealth Games in 2010 the NDMC did not undertake a comprehensive urban design study of the area to come up with a rational solution for traffic, parking, and movement systems. The provision of a safe and continuous pedestrian movement system, was not addressed. Instead an enormous expensive service tunnel running through the middle lane has been proposed. This is to carry all electrical, water supply, and sewerage services, and also a central chilled water system to serve the air conditioning needs of all the Connaught Place buildings. This service tunnel was to have been completed before the Games, but is still in the process of implementation causing extensive disruption. However this tunnel will certainly help to accommodate and update the network of services. As far as renovation is concerned NDMC has merely undertaken a facelift, by repainting the building facades. The fact that this still constitutes a major civic space in the capital certainly justifies total urban redevelopment of the area and its adjoining commercial concentration.
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BP Plc will pay up to $18.7 billion in penalties to the U.S. government and five states to resolve nearly all claims from its deadly Gulf of Mexico oil spill five years ago in the largest corporate settlement in U.S. history. The agreement adds to the $43.8 billion that BP had previously set aside for criminal and civil penalties and cleanup costs. The company said its total pre-tax charge for the spill now stands at $53.8 billion. BP shares jumped more than 5 percent in New York trading as investors said the British company, often mentioned as a potential acquisition target, could now turn the page on one of the darkest chapters in its century-long history. Under the agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice and the states, BP will pay at least $12.8 billion for Clean Water Act fines and natural resource damages, plus $4.9 billion to states. The payouts will be staggered over as many as 18 years. The preliminary settlement, subject to all sorts of variables, avoids a substantial amount of further litigation. The rig explosion on April 20, 2010, the worst offshore oil disaster in U.S. history, killed 11 workers and spewed millions of barrels of oil onto the shorelines of several states for nearly three months. The agreement, which still needs to be approved by courts, covers Clean Water Act fines and natural resources damages, along with claims by Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas as well as 400 local government entities. "This is a realistic outcome which provides clarity and certainty for all parties," BP Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley said in a statement. "For BP, this agreement will resolve the largest liabilities remaining from the tragic accident." The size of the settlement was slightly more than the $17.6 billion that investors had initially feared BP would be fined for gross negligence under the Clean Water Act alone. U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier, who has overseen the case, was expected to rule on that issue later this year. Even then, BP would have faced years of lawsuits to address claims by states and by the federal government under a natural resource damage assessment. The settlement announced Thursday closes off those remaining liabilities. "This agreement will not only restore the damage inflicted on our coastal resources by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, it will also allow Louisiana to continue aggressively fighting coastal erosion," said Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, the hardest hit state. It was not immediately clear how BP will fund the settlement. BP has shed billions in assets to pay for the spill, eroding about one-fifth of the earnings base it had before 2010. BP's smaller size among the bigger oil majors has made it vulnerable to potential takeovers, especially with the sharp drop in oil prices. "Companies have been slightly hesitant to make a bid while this has been hanging over it, so I think it does clear the way for a potential bid," said Joe Rundle, head of trading at U.K.-based ETX Capital. BP said the government and the states could jointly demand an acceleration of payments if the company were acquired. Previous settlements also included an uncapped fund originally set at $7.8 billion to compensate individuals claiming economic harm from the spill. BP also settled with Transocean Ltd, which owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, and Halliburton Co, which worked on the Macondo well. "Now Gulf Coast restoration can begin in earnest. It's time to heal the wounds that BP tore in Gulf Coast ecosystems and communities," said David Yarnold, CEO of the National Audubon Society. (Reuters)
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Solar power in India is well set to come into its own over the next few years from the perspective of both financial viability and availability. There is going to be an exponential growth in distributed solar energy, coupled with new storage techniques, which will bring noticeable changes to India’s energy spectrum. The future of Indian energy segment is here and going forward, by all accounts, it is the sun that will power our economic and energy growth into the next millennium. Solar, thanks to its distributed nature, has the potential to significantly reduce the current energy peak deficit and improve delivery. This is however based on the assumption that solar energy will get its due in terms of adequate financial support from the central and state governments. Ever since, the government announced its ambitious National Solar Mission, there has been intense competition among states for solar power generation. Individual states are launching tailor-made schemes to leverage solar power to its fullest potential. However, when it comes to their solar potential, there is considerable disparity among states, so much so that each state is taking a different route towards solar power generation. States like Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are going all out to set up large-scale solar power projects. On the other hand, agricultural states, like Punjab and Haryana, which rank relatively lower in estimated solar power potential, are finding it difficult to make land available for large solar projects. These states are trying to get a grip on the situation by setting up solar projects on available spaces like rooftops and canals. To understand what trajectory the solar mission is taking, we must first take stock of how much the top solar power producing states across India are contributing to the mission, their potential as well as limitations, and the current extent of support from the central government. Gujarat, the state that contributes 15 percent to India’s renewable energy basket, has the highest installed capacity (of about 900 MW as of June 2014) in the country. But considering that it is already a state with surplus power, the government has relaxed its approach towards solar power generation. In the recent past, there have been no significant additions to solar power generation sources in the state. Because the solar power potential of the state (37.55 GW) is still not fully exploited, there is a need to revisit the solar policy with special emphasis on rooftop projects. There is also a need to develop robust energy transmission infrastructure that will enable power-rich Gujarat to transfer energy to energy-deficient states. Rajasthan is also one of the top states in terms of solar power generation, along with the highest solar potential (142.31 GW). However, the state’s installed power capacity is 839 MW, no more than a fraction of its overall potential. The state is blessed with high solar radiation and enjoys 325 sunny days a year, making it a favourable destination for players in the solar industry. The downside is that dusty weather causes significant production loss due to soiling (that is, accumulation of dust on the surface of the solar unit) while extremely high temperature leads to photovoltaic losses. The state’s new solar policy and Bureau of Investment Promotion Rajasthan have come up with attractive packages for the solar sector. Meanwhile the state government is exploring possible incentives, including exemption on electricity duty and entry requirements, along with customized packages for investors in solar projects. Shekhar DuttMadhya Pradesh has an installed capacity of 353 MW and Maharashtra, 286 MW. Both states have over 60 GW each of potential solar power. These states have significant wastelands and have ambitious plans to turn them into large-scale solar power plants to quench their energy needs. While Andhra Pradesh is power surplus, the state is nowhere close to realizing its solar potential. The state has only 234 MW of installed capacity versus an overall potential of 38.44 GW. One of the main challenges in the way of solar generation is joint demand by solar, wind and new energy sectors for reduction in cross-subsidy surcharge. Sector players argue that single-window clearances for power projects are only on paper and there are still no permissions in sight despite much effort. To overcome this, the state government has now decided to offer 'deemed permission' to entrepreneurs as part of a new industrial policy, but we will have to wait and see if the policy is going to be effective. Tamil Nadu currently stands at a 104MW of installed solar capacity, with a 17.67 GW of solar potential. The state came up with an ambitious policy in 2012, but is facing challenges in terms of grid balancing. The mood around solar is generally upbeat in the country, but there are bottlenecks across states holding back the full impact of solar growth. A major issue is the poor transmission infrastructure between states. This needs to be addressed soon if we are to achieve any breakthrough in the solar space. The solar power industry has great prospects for growth, but is still at a nascent stage, growing in a much disarrayed fashion. India’s current solar power installed capacity is around 3 GW, which is less than 0.5% of the estimated potential (750 GW). This clearly points toward a huge opportunity ahead of us. Perceptive of this, the Indian government has increased fivefold its target for capacity addition in solar power. Instead of the initial target of 22 GW by 2022, the government now plans to add 100 GW capacity. Consistent government initiatives are required at such a formative stage. And many initiatives like the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar Mission, the setting up of the Solar Energy Corporation of India, R&D support for the solar mission, and 100% foreign direct investment are all nudging the solar mission towards a higher destiny. Solar power policies, for their part, should encourage efficient generation, wherein capacity is added only after proper assessment of all resources, including scarce resources like land and funds. This alone will ensure secure and long-term supplies of solar energy which means instead of accelerated depreciation (AD), generation-based incentives (GBI) should be considered as a suitable incentive for both solar and wind.Taking a cue from the global renewal energy circuit, experts here suggest that AD should be withdrawn in favour of an overall cut in the corporate tax rate. It has been documented that such economy-wide tax breaks enable overall macroeconomic benefits. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) must ensure a level-playing field, with no preferential treatment meted out to PSUs. And more clarity in the policies would be a welcome change. Shekhar Dutt is Director General, Solar Power Developers Association (SPDA)
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PAHAL has succeeded in eliminating ghost beneficiaries of LPG subsidies and helping government to save Rs 12,700 crore, says Arshad KhanChief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian said on Thursday (2 July) that since the introduction of the new direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for LPG (PAHAL), sale of subsidised domestic LPG across the nation has fallen by close to 25 per cent. He said, “on an average, the direct benefit transfer (DBT) for LPG has lowered the sale of subsidised domestic sales by around 25 per cent, mainly due to fall in international fuel price and institutional improvement in schemes like Jan Dhan Yojna, Adhaar Card etc.” Talking about the fiscal impact of PAHAL, he said the scheme have been successful in eliminating ghost beneficiaries and helped government to save Rs 12,700 crore. “A major finding of our study reported that DBT led only 6 per cent increase in commercial sales but there was a monolithic increase of 132 per cent in the sale of non- subsidised commercial gas reason mainly because of black market", said the economist on July 2 while speaking at the UNDP Conference hall in Delhi. He said the study findings will be useful for the government to improve the current PDS under the present government’s ambitious JAM (Jan Dhan+Adhaar+ Mobile) vision. Citing JAM vision as game changer he said, “JAM will not only strengthen the state, it will increase economic effectiveness to empower people. Only the government should be cautious while implement the findings of the DBT study on other commodities.” About the challenges to realise the JAM vision, he classifies the challenges into two categories, first being investment in IT infra to identify the target beneficiaries and the second being to implement schemes on Jan Dhan Yojna platform. The PAHAL scheme covers more than 9.75 crore LPG consumers is one of the world’s largest cash transfer programme. Under the scheme, LPG cylinders are sold at existing market prices and the consumers receive the subsidy directly into their bank accounts either through an Adhaar or bank account linkage.
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India's $100 billion push into solar energy over the next decade will be driven by foreign players as uncompetitive local manufacturers fall by the wayside, no longer protected by government restrictions on the sector.The money pouring into India's solar industry is likely to be soaked up by foreign-organised projects such as one run by China's Trina Solar - not the country's own solar panel manufacturers.Last week, Softbank became the latest foreign player to enter India's solar market, leading an investment of up to $20 billion. The Japanese firm said it would consider making solar panels locally, but with Taiwan's Foxconn rather than a local manufacturer.Many Indian solar panel producers have benefited over the past six months from a surge in demand for panels not yet fulfilled by foreign companies. But their small scale and outdated technology will quickly make itself felt when the global players arrive."The smaller manufacturers of India, especially the cell manufacturers, will be adversely hit because they are unable to compete both on technology and even on price structures," said Jasmeet Khurana at solar consultancy Bridge To India.India's solar panel makers can no longer turn to the Indian government for help. The government is more concerned about creating jobs quickly and ensuring plentiful power supply in a country known for its many blackouts.India, in contrast to Chinese and German efforts to protect local producers, has scrapped most restrictions on where equipment that turns sunshine into energy is bought. Last year, it dropped an anti-dumping duty on panel import.Foreign players making panels in India are expected to compete with local manufacturers to fulfil so-called domestic content requirements for government projects.Trina has unveiled plans for a $500 million plant and US-based SunEdison is investing up to $4 billion in a manufacturing facility. Both are tying up with Indian power firms to build the plants.Solar TargetsIndia has said it expects peak power demand to double over the next five years from around 140,000 megawatts today. To help meet that demand, 100,000 MW of new capacity is to come from solar panels, and of that it wants at least 8,000 MW to come from locally-made cells.Foreign players manufacturing in India will probably win the bulk of those orders.Indian rivals like Indosolar and Moser Baer produce panels, but they cost 8 to 10 per cent more than foreign producers, Khurana said.It is not yet clear which foreign firms will emerge as the winners, with most of the facilities years away from being built and the big tenders for huge solar parks touted by the government still to be awarded.But those who can quickly build scale will be the most able to compete on cost."The lowest cost in manufacturing will only come from scale and integrated facilities," said Sujoy Ghosh, India Country Head at US-based First Solar.First Solar is to build 5,000 MW of solar power before 2020, but will rely on imported panels for now because it is cheaper to buy component parts internationally where they are more readily available.As for some of India's small panel makers, they are looking to complement the efforts of foreign players instead of trying to derail them.Maharishi Solar, a small manufacturer based in Delhi, is looking to tie up with a foreign company, the company's head Ajay Prakash Shrivastava told Reuters.It stopped producing solar panels a few years back as it could not compete with foreign manufacturers, primarily Chinese. Shrivastava said import panels are as much as 45 per cent cheaper thanks to subsidies in their home countries and lower borrowing costs."The Indian manufacturers do have a disadvantage," he said. "We are trying to find a partner who can bring in the latest technology."(Reuters)
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