News on Indian Economy
Power infrastructure in the country already follows statutory standards for safety but telecommunications does not. As part of the global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has initiated discussions with the telecom players — Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea — to develop standards for the sector.
Having achieved this double milestone, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates the UPI platform, aims to take the network global by enabling acceptance of UPI in Singapore and the UAE.
Speaking to IANS, Hero Lectro Director Aditya Munjal said that the company is investing on research and development (R&D) and localisation. Currently, the design for the company’s products is done in Manchester, UK, and it has an R&D centre in Greater Noida.
The new machine is loaded with the user friendly and uncomplicated procedure which will greatly ease the load on ticketing system of Mumbai Suburban Network. A total of 92 ATVMs has been installed at 42 suburban stations.
The thrust areas are IT & Technology, Infrastructure, Renewable Energy, Manufacturing, Hospitality, Defence, Skills Education and Tourism sectors. Some of these have sought 15 year tax holidays on investment in militancy-hit areas, which the state is considering.
“We have to connect Sri Lanka because Sri Lanka needs power. The undersea link would be expensive. They are also talking about overhead transmission link,” said a senior NDA government functionary requesting anonymity.
Wabtec’s 6000 hp diesel-electric locomotive – the first of its kind in India – is currently undergoing testing on Indian Railways track. It will shortly enter revenue service.
According to World Bank’s, Doing Business 2020 report, India ranked 63rd in the Ease of Doing Business index, 14 positions up from 77th rank last year
The wealth per adult stood at US$ 14,569 as per the report, or up 3.3 per cent, while the debt grew 11.5 per cent to US$ 120 billion. The financial assets also grew at a lower 1.4 per cent as against 6.9 per cent increase in the non-financial assets, reflecting the volatile markets, the report notes, adding there are 8.27 lakh adults in the top 1 percent of global wealth-holders, who own 1.6 percent of the global wealth.
At present, the draft personal data protection law proposes that companies have to store all payments related information within India, making overseas companies unhappy since it increases the cost of operation in India. However, multinational financial services corporation, Visa claims that they are ready to adhere to the data localisation norms.
