The government feels that the Congress is isolated on the GST, but its support is crucial for passing the constitution amendment bill by a two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha, report Suman K Jha & Suchetana RayThe Modi government’s efforts to bring the Congress on board for the GST Constitution amendment Bill have so far yielded no results. The NDA government managers have been holding talks with Congress leader in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, and deputy leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma. But the Congress has shown no signs of softening. The party is also insisting on its own amendments. “A special session on GST will not be productive. It’s not going to be viable,” deputy leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Anand Sharma told BW|Businessworld. Asked if he didn’t agree with the April 1, 2016 deadline set by the Modi government for the rollout of GST, Sharma shot back: “Why this hurry? Who has set these deadlines?” The Congress is bent on paying back the BJP in its coin. The party claims, “the BJP had stalled Congress bids to introduce GST all these years”. Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das told Businessworld, “We are ready for rolling out GST Amendment Bill on 1st April 2016. Let’s see what happens with the Bill.” Congress wants certain changes in the Bill. Sources in finance ministry say that the main Opposition wants changes in the GST rate, insisting that it be fixed at 18 per cent. “We have to remember that fixing the GST rate is the prerogative of the GST council. And cannot be mandated in the GST Constitution Amendment Bill,” explains a source in finance ministry. A panel led by the chief economic advisor to the Finance Minister, Arvind Subramanian, is working on a revenue neutral rate for GST. Congress’ other demands include changes in the goods basket wherein tobacco and electricity should be within GST. Sources in the revenue department of the finance ministry point out that if the Amendment Bill is not passed at the earliest, GST will miss its deadline, yet again. The GST Amendment Bill after being passed by the Parliament will need to be passed by 50 per cent of the state Assemblies. And after that three more Bills will have to be passed before this landmark indirect tax reform becomes a reality. The CGST would be a Central law, the states would have to pass their own legislation which will based on the model legislation being prepared by the Centre, this will be the SGST. And then states would also have to approve iGST, which will deal with the inter-state movement of goods and services. As reported by BW| Businessworld on August 27, the Modi government has sounded out regional groupings, expected to support GST, on possible dates and agenda of the GST special session. The government wants a special session after the first week of September, and wants to get passed other legislations on which there is a by and large consensus. The government also feels that the Congress is isolated on the GST, but its support is crucial for passing the constitution amendment bill by a two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha.
Read More
Sutanu Guru Looks at some challenges before the Modi regime as it gets ready to reform and revamp outdated labour laws To borrow dialectically from Marx, a specter is haunting the Modi regime; the specter of a nationwide strike planned by all major trade unions on September 2. The strike has been called to protest against proposed changes in labour laws to make them more investor friendly. The Modi regime has adopted a classic divide and rule approach to ward off the specter. It has couched labour law reforms in a language that should warm the cockles of any worker or even labour activist. During a meeting of a Group of Ministers tasked to handle this politically sensitive issue, some major “pro labor” decisions were taken and announced. The most significant decision is the proposal to make a national minimum wage mandatory across all categories. Till July 2015, the central government had the minimum wage fixed at Rs 137 per day. In July, that was raised to Rs 160 per day which works out to Rs 4,160 per month. This wage level is not mandatory; it is merely a government advisory. Even a school kid knows that this is a ridiculously low amount. But all that will change now. The Group of Ministers have decided that labor laws will be amended so that the minimum wage for a skilled worker in a “developed” state will be Rs 20,000 per month. All states in India have been divided into three categories: developed, developing and underdeveloped. For developing states, the minimum wage will be fixed at Rs 17,000 per month for skilled workers while the same will be Rs 14,200 per month for under developed states. Generous floor levels have been fixed for even semi-skilled and unskilled workers. For example, the minimum wage for an unskilled worker in an under developed state will be fixed at Rs 7100 per month. What’s more, the proposed new law while making it mandatory for states to implement this will allow them to fix even higher minimum wages if they wish to do so. There is little doubt that this will have a lasting and transformational impact. When the NREGA Scheme started being implemented in 2006, there were many skeptics. But a few years down the road, it became clear that the floor set by the minimum wages fixed f0r NREGA schemes became the norm for landless labor in rural areas. This has played a big role in reducing poverty levels in rural areas. Similarly, f these changes are passed into law, there is little doubt that there will be a huge impact on urban wage levels across the board. What’s more significant is that the new law will apply even to all categories of “contract” workers. Anyone familiar with India Inc. and the factories run by them knows this: over the last decade and half, companies have stopped hiring workers and have hived off the task to “private contractors”. These contractors pay their workers far less than what the companies directly pay their workers. This has been the root cause of persistent industrial unrest in industrial clusters ranging from Gurgaon to Pune to Coimbatore. A minimum wage for such contract workers will indeed stop this unethical and often inhuman practice adopted by many companies. Many more decisions have been taken, including provident fund benefits for people employed in flagship schemes like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan and National Rural Health Mission. Soon after the decisions were announced, it looked as if the divide and rule approach of the Modi regime seem to be working. The Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, the largest trade union in India and an affiliate of the welcomed the new steps and provided sufficient hints that it may not join the September 2 strike as planned earlier. Of course, left leaning unions like the Center of Indian Trade Unions are still not mollified and seem hell bent on the strike. But the strike will lose its potency if the BMS doesn’t participate. That is the politics for the moment. In the longer run, the Modi government will face two challenges. The first is to pass the law. Going by the track record of the monsoon session, the Congress and some other parties will make all possible attempts to scuttle the Parliament. Even if the Modi government does manage to pass a law, the bigger challenge will be implementation. In India, it has always been easier to pass laws than to implement or enforce them. But of course, over the long term, this new law could be genuinely transformational.
Read More
Sutanu Guru argues how Modi is using federalism to try and transform the language of governance and policy making Very soon, you could be reading a headline like this: Who will win the race to be the 20 Smartest Cities of India? By the end of this month, get ready to see another headline: Maharashtra (or Gujarat, or Tamil Nadu or even Madhya Pradesh) tops the rankings for ease of doing business. The first headline because Urban Development Minister M. Venkaih Naidu has just released a list of 98 Smart Cities. Two more Smart Cities will be added when Jammu & Kashmir sends its recommendations. The second headline because the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) will release a new ranking of states on ease of doing business on August 31. A lot is being written, and will be written about Smart Cities and Ease of Doing Business. The cynics and Modi critics will continue to say that these are more examples of symbolism rather than substance of the Modi regime. But they miss a point. Arguably for the first time, Narendra Modi is introducing a system of organized competition between states for resources. To be sure, states have been competing with each other to attract investments for more than a decade now. It has become a ritual for chief ministers of states to organize annual investment meets, Some states have succeeded in leveraging these meets to actually attract new investments that have translated into new factories, new offices and new jobs. For most other states, these meets have remained a ritual. At another level, states have been competing fiercely with each other through innovative marketing and advertising campaigns to attract tourists. But Smart Cities and Ease of Doing Business promise to instutionalise this competition. And that can only mean good news for the economy as well as citizens. Take Smart Cities. Out of the 98 cities announced, the center will initially select just 20 cities who will get an Rs 100 crore corpus from the central government. All 98 cities (which means their state governments) will have to compete with each other and demonstrate through measurable parameters why they deserve to be in the Top 20. M. Ps, MLAs and other stakeholders of these 98 cities will make strenuous efforts to ensure “their” cities make the cut. In fact, we already hear stories of how MPs have started lobbying for this. But while politics will definitely play a part, the measurable criteria will ensure it will not be purely political. State governments have to give physical evidence of plans to improve infrastructure, sanitation, public transport, digital connectivity, low cost housing, public education and health, among other things. Surely this will lead to better governance; and in a manner that will directly impact the quality of life of citizens? This will be federalism at its best. The center is not going to suggest solutions. It is the local municipal bodies and state governments that will do the heavy hitting. Ditto for ease of doing business. Currently, India ranks a lowly 142 in the ease of doing business rankings released periodically by the World Bank. Modi has an ambitious target of taking India to the top 30 in rankings in the next five years. But Modi-having being a chief minister himself-knows that it is state governments that matter when it comes to creating a business and investor friendly environment. Modi demonstrated this successfully in Gujarat. Despite a hostile government at the center, the Modi government in Gujarat took many bold steps to make Gujarat (already business friendly) to an even more investment and business friendly destination. The results are clear. Gujarat is the one state where manufacturing jobs actually grew on a sustained basis for almost a decade while organized manufacturing jobs actually declined in the last decade. It is only if states and state governments become more proactive and compete with each other to become more investor friendly that India has a chance of improving its position in the World Bank rankings. States like Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have already taken concrete steps to reform local land and labor laws to attract more investments. Why, even the chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Bannerjee, not known to be really business friendly made a trip to London and sought investor support! This is one issue when the adage The More the Merrier actually applies! Of course, hide bound, obstructionist and corrupt officials, corrupt politicians and contractors and other vested interests are not going to become angels of good governance overnight. But as any student of economics knows, healthy competition always delivers excellent outcomes. This is one of the least talked about achievements as the Prime Minister.
Read More
Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday (27 August) said the central bank will continue its focus on taming inflation, speeding up resolution of distressed projects and ensuring enough capital for banks through balance sheet clean-up.“Focus on bringing down inflation in line with the proposed glide path, work with the government and banks on speeding up the resolution of distressed projects and cleaning up bank balance sheets and ensure banks have capital to make provisions, support new lending, and thus pass on future possible rate cuts,” Rajan said in the Annual Report for 2014-15 while listing out short-term macroeconomic priorities. He said that despite efforts both by the government and RBI to restore macroeconomic stability, three areas are still “work in progress” from RBI’s perspective. “First, economic growth is still below levels the country is capable of. Second, inflation projections for January 2016 are still at the upper limits of RBI’s inflation objective,” Rajan noted in the Governor’s overview to the annual report. “Third, the willingness of banks to cut base rates — whereby they forgo income on existing borrowers to attract more new business — is muted. Not only does weak corporate investment reduce the volume of new profitable loans, some bank capital positions weakened by NPAs may prevent them from lending freely.” On delays in resolving stressed projects, Rajan said RBI has been working on getting the projects back on track, but there a number of constraints, especially on the legal side. He added that despite a bunch of creditor-friendly legislations like the Sarfaesi Act, the judicial process tends to hamper the ability of creditors to collect their just dues from influential promoters. The Governor reiterated his stance against regulatory forbearance, saying “this is not a solution”. On the monetary policy committee, the Governor said RBI has signed an agreement with the government wherein its mandate is clearly spelt out in terms of a flexible inflation objective.(PTI)
Read More
Fliers may have to shell out more with the government mulling to impose a two per cent cess on air tickets as part of the new civil aviation policy, which is in the advanced stage of finalisation. The money raised through the cess would be utilised for viability gap funding of domestic carriers operating flights to regional and remote areas. Sources said the Civil Aviation ministry is looking at levying two per cent cess on air tickets and the proposal is being considered as part of the new aviation policy. Such a move could push the ticket prices higher, making air travel more expensive. Under the new policy, the government is looking at enhancing air connectivity to regional and remote areas such as the North East, apart from measures to boost the domestic aviation sector. According to sources, the money garnered through cess would be utilised to provide airlines, that fly to remote areas, with viability gap funding. Sources also said that as part of the policy, the government is weighing various options to tweak the international flying norm for domestic airlines. At present, Indian carriers who have completed five years of domestic operations and have at least a fleet of 20 planes are eligible to fly on international routes. Now, one of the options being looked at is the possibility of reducing the mandatory requirement of five years operational experience, sources said. Established players like Jet Airways and IndiGo are opposed to any change in the current norm, popularly known as 5/20 on the grounds that any such move would “vitiate” the existing level-playing field and only favour new entrants. On Tuesday, the ministry made a presentation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the draft aviation policy. With the Prime Minister suggesting certain changes, a group of secretaries is expected to go through the revised draft before it is put up for stakeholder consultations.(PTI)
Read More
Barring Jammu and Kashmir, all states have finalised the names of proposed Smart Cities through competition. Ashish Sinha reportsMaking cities smart will make them engines of economic growth besides giving decent life to the citizens, said Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister of Urban Development releasing the list of 98 cities that will be part of NDA government’s ambitious Smart Cities project. The list is lead by Uttar Pradesh with 13 cities followed by Tamil Nadu with 12 cities. Other cities include 10 from Maharashtra, seven from Madhya Pradesh, three each from Bihar & Andhra Pradesh. Each smart city would get a Central assistance of Rs 100 crore per year for five years. Of those chosen for the project, 24 are capital cities, 24 are business hubs and 18 are cultural centres. Cities like Patna, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Thiruvananthapuram and Shimla have failed to make the cut in round one. During the selection process, each state was assigned a specific number of Smart City slots based on urban population among other factors. Earning a Smart City tag requires the city to be in the forefront of service levels, existing infrastructure and track record for coping up with changes. Later in the year, a list of top 20 cities will be short-listed which will then be financed this year. As for the rest of the cities, they will be asked to improve upon their respective deficiencies and gear up for the next round of the competition, experts said. Continuous supply of water and electricity, advanced health facilities, hassle-free transportation system, wi-fi enabled zones, effective garbage collection and treatment of garbage and sewage are some of the essential components of the Smart City project. Uttar Pradesh, the most populous and politically vital state, will get the most number of Smart Cities - 13. The state government has also recommended Congress president Sonia Gandhi's constituency Rae Bareli. The Smart Cities project will impact 13 crore population, or 35 per cent of urban population, across 98 cities. Central government proposes to give financial support to Mission to the extent of Rs 48,000 crore over 5 years. As per the mission directives, the State/UTs and urban local bodies have an important role to play in the implementation of SmartCity Mission. Devendra Kumar Pant, the chief economist of India Ratings & Research said, “Selection of smart cities is first step. Major challenge is to provide quality urban services such as 24X7 water supply, sanitation, drainage, solid waste management, sewage treatment. Looking at finances of urban local bodies, which are far from healthy, provision of these services will be challenging.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the criteria and guidelines for 100 Smart Cities to be selected through city challenge competition in June 25. Barring Jammu and Kashmir, all states have finalised the names of proposed Smart Cities through competition. According to Pradip Bhattacharya, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, Cyber security crime will be a major challenge for the 100 smart cities project. He recently said that it will require replacement of traditional laws with modern ones focusing on crimes related to digital information. "Traditional laws will need to be replaced by modern police laws that will recognise newer crimes and ensure appropriate focus on crimes related to cyber security like information and identity thefts, breach of data privacy and, hacking of websites and networks", Bhattacharya had said at a recent FICCI event. According to another expert, a smart city needs to have an integration of concepts like urban planning, energy conservation, smart traffic management and human management. This means cleaner water supply, 24x7 power supply, better health care, waste management among a whole host of systems and processes. “Smarter cities need to be able to generate employment options. There should be an ease of doing business. It should not be a chaotic city to say the least. But if such a city develops, what systems will be put in place to check the migration of rural poor from neighbouring or far-off states. I don’t think that aspect has been taken into consideration as there may be legal issues too,” said a senior executive of a tech company. Here is a look in detail on which state has which cities in line to become a smart city. Uttar Pradesh leads the pack with 13 cities (Moradabad, Aligarh, Saharanpur, Bareilly, Jhansi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Agra, Rampur) Tamil Nadu has 12 cities figuring in the list - (Tiruchirapalli, Chennai, Tiruppur, Coimbatore, Vellore, Salem, Erode, Thanjavur, Tirunelveli, Dindigul, Madurai, Thoothukudi). Next comes Maharashtra with 10 cities (Navi Mumbai, Nashik, Thane, Greater Mumbai, Amravati, Solapur, Nagpur, Kalyan-Dombivali, Aurangabad, Pune). North East had eight cities in Agartala, Namchi, Pasighat, Guwahati, Imphal, Shillong, Aizawl, and Kohima. Madhya Pradesh has seven cities in the list (Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Gwalior, Sagar, Satna, Ujjain). Six city states include Gujarat - Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Dahod and Karnataka (Mangaluru, Belagavi, Shivamogga, Hubballi-Dharwad, Tumakuru, Davanegere). Rajasthan has four cities (Jaipur, Udaipur, Kota, Ajmer) so has West Bengal (New Town Kolkata, Bidhannagar, Durgapur, Haldia). Three cities states are Andhra Pradesh (Vishakhapatnam, Tirupati, Kakinada), Bihar (Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur and Biharsharif), and Punjab (Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar). States with two cities each include Chhattisgarh (Raipur, Bilaspur), Haryana (Karnal, Faridabad), Odisha (Bhubaneshwar, Raurkela) and Telangana (Greater Hyderabad, Greater Warangal). Lone cities include Delhi, Chandigarh, Diu, Port Blair, Kochi, Ranchi, Kavarrati (Lakshadweep), Silvassa (Dadra and Nagar Haveli), Panaji, Dharamshala, Oulgaret and Dehradun.
Read More
Expressing concern over problems being faced by domestic steelmakers due to large-scale dumping from abroad, Steel Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday (27 August) said the government is looking into the issues related to import duties and Free Trade Agreements(FTA). The minister also said the government is seized of the issues impacting the steel sector and will take a decision in appropriate time, including on import duties. The industry has been demanding further hike in import duty on steel products. "We are closely monitoring the situation and are in consultation with the Ministries of Finance and Commerce and the Prime Minister to decide and reconsider on these FTAs and further increase in anti dumping duties very soon to safeguard the suffering rubber and steel industry domestically," a CII statement quoted Tomar as saying. Indian steel industry has been hit hard due to cheap imports of the metal from China as well as from South Korea, which has a FTA with India that the industry says is leading to the country exporting cheaper products to India. While addressing at an event organised by CII, Tomar assured the rubber industry that the government is seized of the matter and is concerned about the situation. "We are concerned about the situation your industry is facing related to power and dumping by China. We are working on it to sort this out. The government is looking at the issue of FTAs and their impact on the industry," he added. India, world's third largest steel producer, saw a surge in import stainless steel surge by 49 per cent to 5.5 lakh tonnes (LT) in 2014-15 against 3.7 LT in 2013-14. In value terms, imports of the metal rose by 23 per cent to Rs 5,918.9 crore in 2014-15, as against Rs 4,801.9 crore in 2013-14. Earlier this month, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das had said that a decision regarding imposition of safeguard duty on import of steel will not be delayed if the Directorate General of Safeguards recommends restrictive duty.(PTI)
Read More
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) remains focused on bringing down consumer inflation to its target of 4 per cent by March 2018, supporting an economy growing below potential, and ensuring banks pass on rate cuts, according to its annual report out on Thursday. After cutting its repo rate by 75 basis points this year, the RBI kept its repo rate on hold at its policy review this month, saying it wanted to monitor inflation and wait for lenders to further lower their lending rates. In the short-term, the RBI will "focus on bringing down inflation in line with the proposed glide path," as well as working with the government and banks "on speeding up the resolution of distressed projects and cleaning up bank balance sheets," Governor Raghuram Rajan wrote in the report. The RBI has projected consumer inflation will hit 6 per cent by January 2016 before gradually easing to 4 per cent two years later. To speed up monetary policy transmission by banks the RBI also said it would consider new ways for lenders to price loans, including by measuring marginal costs. The RBI also said it was considering ways to deepen financial markets, including introducing an electronic platform for corporate bond repos and unveiling a variety of swaps and cross currency futures and options.(Reuters)
Read More
The Narendra Modi government may hold a short session of Parliament after the first week of September to get passed the GST bill and other legislations on which there is a consensus. The government has sounded out the parties which are expected to back the GST Bill on the probable session date. Most of the regional parties, with the exception of the AIADMK, want the new legislation, often described as the most significant economic reforms measure since the 1991 opening of the Indian economy. Reliable sources told BW|Businessworld that the NDA government managers had sounded out regional parties on the probable dates and the possible agenda of the session. The government is also keen to get passed crucial legislations which enjoy broad support among various parties. The real estate (regulation and development) bill is such a piece of legislation. When the special session gets convened, it will be Part Two of the monsoon session. Businessworld.com had broken the story on the NDA government’s plan to convene a two-day session to pass the GST bill, crucial to meet the April 1, 2016 rollout deadline. Government managers including the parliamentary affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu are speaking to Congress leaders to bring them on board on the GST bill. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently said that GST was originally a Congress bill. The government, on the other hand, appears to have given up on the land bill. Senior Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, when asked recently whether the land acquisition, rehabilitation and resettlement ordinance, 2015 would be allowed to lapse on Aug 31 (when the executive measure expires), said that “the government would wait for the report of the joint committee in Parliament, due in the winter session of Parliament”. M Venkaiah Naidu, however, indicated that the government may go for a fourth-time promulgation of the ordinance to maintain its continuity.
Read More
In a key step in Modi government's infrastructure push, Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday (27 August) announced the list of ninety eight cities chosen for its Smart Cities project after a nationwide "competition" between states. While Uttar Pradesh has bagged as many as 13 smart cities projects, Tamil Nadu got 12 and Maharashtra 10. Madhya Pradesh will have seven smart cities and Gujarat and Karnataka will have six each. The winners include Lucknow and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Baroda in Gujarat, Greater Mumbai, Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai in Tamil Nadu, and Bhagalpur and Muzaffarpur in Bihar. Cities like Patna, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and Shimla have failed to make the cut in round one. Each state will get at least one Smart City, which, in PM Modi's words, translates to "very high quality of life comparable with any developed European city". The NDA government plans to spend over Rs 3 lakh crore over the next 5-6 years to recast urban cities. Of the 98 smart cities, 24 are business and industry centres, 18 are cultural and tourist centres and 3 are education and health care hubs, Naidu said. According to Naidu, "13 crore population across 98 cities which is 35 per cent of urban population will be covered under smart city mission." "Making them (cities) smart will make them engines of economic growth besid .. To earn a Smart City tag, the city has to check all the boxes that include service levels, existing infrastructure and track record. Proposals from states were also judged on how realistic is its execution. The top 20 cities will be financed this year. The rest of the cities will be asked to get their act together, focus on deficiencies and prepare for Round 2 of the competition. During the selection process, each state was assigned a specific number of Smart City slots based on urban population among other factors. There is no universally accepted definition of a Smart City and varies from city to city and country to country, depending on the level of development, willingness to change and reform, resources and aspirations of the city residents. In the approach to the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions. The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act like a light house to other aspiring cities. The Smart Cities Mission of the Government is a bold, new initiative. It is meant to set examples that can be replicated both within and outside the Smart City, catalysing the creation of similar Smart Cities in various regions and parts of the country. The core infrastructure elements in a Smart City would include- i. adequate water supply, ii. assured electricity supply, iii. sanitation, including solid waste management, iv. efficient urban mobility and public transport, v. affordable housing, especially for the poor, vi. robust IT connectivity and digitalization, vii. good governance, especially e-Governance and citizen participation, viii. sustainable environment, ix. safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, and x. health and education.Dr Devendra Kumar Pant, Chief Economist, India Ratings & Research, says "selection of smart cities is the first step. Major challenge is to provide quality urban services such as 24X7 water supply, sanitation, drainage, solid waste management, sewage treatment. Looking at finances of urban local bodies, which are far from healthy, provision of these services will be challenging. Levying of user charges to recover cost of provision of these services will be crucial to maintain quality of these services. In the process of smart cities focus should not divert from providing urban services in other cities and make them more liveable.Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & MD, CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd, said, “The successful development of these Smart Cities will now hinge on their effective implementation and monitoring at a central as well as state level. Huge fund mobilisation, government capacity building at the state and city level and public private partnerships will be required for development of these cities. This can be a game changer for India as it can stimulate economic growth, besides improve the quality of life for millions of people.”Getamber Anand, President, Credai National, said: “It is a very positive initiative and we trust there will be a concrete action plan to make this ambition possible. The private sector is already well versed in making smart real estate developments which boast of all the ingredients a smart city must have, and must certainly be coaxed into partnership with respective state governments to contribute in every way possible towards this initiative."
Read More
