Business
400 Vande Bharat trains: Rs 40,000 Cr business opportunity and jobs
Rolling out 400 Vande Bharat Express trains is about Rs 40,000 crore of business coupled with jobs and other spin-off benefits, said senior officials –present and past — of Indian Railways
Presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said 400 new energy efficient Vande Bharat trains will be introduced in three years.
The Vande Bharat Express is a semi-high speed train designed, developed and built by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at a frugal outlay of Rs 100 crore.
The Indian Railways officials preferring anonymity told IANS that 400 Vande Bharat trains over the next three years is not just headline catching announcement. It is about Rs 40,000 crore business opportunity that would also create 15,000 jobs and several spin -off benefits.
Presently there are only two Vande Bharat trains that are running — Delhi to Varanasi and Delhi to Katra.
“The trains without a pair are running six days a week without a breakdown till date since they were pressed into service a couple of years back. Perhaps Vande Bharat Express is the first train that is run without a pair,” a senior official at ICF told IANS with pride.
It is one classic example of ‘Make in India’ and far cheaper than similar trains that are rolled out by foreign companies.
The train has only about 15 per cent import content which will further go down if production volumes increase, officials told IANS earlier.
An ICF official said the third prototype is getting delayed due to production bottlenecks and logistical challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, how the government is going to achieve its target of 400 Vande Bharat Express trains over the next three years is the Rs 40,000 crore question.
While it is really an ambitious target, it can be achieved in a staggered manner with the government giving better clarity on its plans, officials said.
Indian Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the upgraded Vande Bharat train is expected to be ready for tests in April and commercial production is expected to start in August/September, 2022.
“I would think that a more realistic target of say 100-150 trains in three years would have been better. This target itself would need very concerted and committed action by railway executives, particularly at ICF,” Sudhanshu Mani, retired General Manager, ICF and the Creator of Vande Bharat Express told IANS.
He said, commercial production and necessary testing of the upgraded train is expected to start only in September 2022 and hence the target should be realistic.
“Rolling out the trains in large numbers may not be an issue. But where are they going to be deployed? The routes also have to be finalised,” Mani added.
Continuing further Mani said ICF should start working on Vande Bharat trainsets, including the sleeper version (code named Train 19) and 300 units of aluminium body trainsets (code named Train 20).
“There can be a foreign partner for rolling out aluminium body trains. In 5/6 year’s time 400 trains can be there,” he remarked.
When pointed out that the train could be rolled out by other coach manufacturing facilities in the country Mani said: “Initially only ICF should roll out as they understand the technology and other aspects. Spreading out the production to other units will result in quality issues.”
Concurring with him, a senior official not wanting to be quoted told IANS: “Only ICF should make it. It needs special skill sets and trained people are not available in other units.”
Officials also said spreading out the manufacturing not only would result in quality issues, but the ultimate death of the train that is successfully running without a hitch six days a week for the past couple of years.
While ICF would initially roll out the trainsets, the other units can take care of the maintenance works and acquire the production knowhow.
The other question is the availability of the vendors. Unless the government gives a clear roadmap, vendors may not ramp up their production capacity, officials said.
“The supply chain will take time to gear up. They can supply only at a steady rate. Out of the 400 trains, during the first year only 20 trains can be rolled out and 380 trains in the remaining two years is not possible,” the official added.
Further vendors and ICF officials are reluctant to touch the Vande Bharat train project after the witch hunt in the form of vigilance enquiry that was conducted and concluded recently without finding any discrepancy.
According to officials, there needs to be long term contracts — say 60 trains for the next 10 years — only then vendors can set up production facilities.
“Tenders and procurement process should be done in such a way that vendors can participate without worry,” they added.
Business
India Set To Lead The World In 6G, Says Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia
In a bold declaration at the inaugural address of the Indian Mobile Congress 2024 (IMC) on Tuesday, Union Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia has said that India will lead the world in the adoption of 6G.
In his address at the event, Scindia emphasized that India is now prepared to lead the world in the development of 6G technology.
India’s Technological Rise: From Following to Leading
“It is our belief and commitment that India, which followed the world in 4G and marched with it in 5G, will lead the world in 6G,” Scindia stated.
The minister highlighted India’s remarkable achievements in the telecommunications sector over the last ten years, the country has become a global leader in innovation and technology.
“It’s a fundamental change in approach towards technology development,” he said, attributing this transformation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
Telecom Sector Growth Under PM Modi’s Leadership
“Prime Minister who has always put people at the heart of progress Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas Sabka Vishvas aur Sabka Prayas combined with his second motto, One Earth, One Family and One Future. It is combination of these two mottos that leads India under PM Narendra Modi leadership one of the leading sectors in the committee of Nations,” Scindia said.
Scindia underscored government’s initiatives to bridge the digital divide, particularly through the BharatNet program, the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity initiative to connect every panchayat of the nation. Over the past three years, the government has invested more than USD 10 billion and laid 7 lakh kilometres of fiber across rural India.
Digital Payments and UPI: Pillars of India’s Digital Economy
He cited staggering growth in mobile and broadband connectivity, with mobile connections rising from 94 million to 1.16 billion, and broadband users growing from 60 million to 924 million in just a decade. India’s optical fibre cable (OFC) networks has expanded from 11 million kilometers to 41 million kilometres over the last ten years, he added.
The minister further said that this growth is accompanied by the success of India’s digital payment systems, the 4G stack, and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which serve as pillars of India’s digital economy are expected to contribute significantly to the global digital infrastructure.
Scindia further noted that the government’s efforts to ensure that policy frameworks keep pace with the rapidly evolving digital landscape. “The recent changes to the Telecommunications act 2023 is a case in point. It has been drawing light upon hither to undressed areas such as a high potential sector of satellite communications, addressing the challenges of the digital leader. The most important being cyber security. The telecom sector much like other growth critical sectors in India is aggressive, is ambitioushe said.
“The telecom sector much like other growth critical sectors in India is aggressive, is ambitious and its outlook in our Journey from Amritkal to Shatabdikal is to lead the world,” Scindia said. By mid-next year, India will have achieved 100 per cent saturation of 4G across the entire country, covering even the most remote villages, the minister said.
He emphasised PM Modi’s vision of India as a first mover in 6G technology, underscoring the nation’s resolve to lead the world in future telecom innovations.
“The attitude put forward by the prime minister of not just embracing, but raising ourselves to becoming the first mover in the 6G technology,” he added.
Business
Indian Markets Gave Better Returns Than China In Last 5 Years, Says Sebi Member
Sebi Whole-time Member Ananth Narayan G on Monday reminded investors that Indian equities have consistently delivered 15 per cent returns over the last 5 years whereas the same has been zero or even negative in China.
Terming the Indian markets “sone pe suhaga” for delivering higher returns for lower risks, Narayan also flagged a few areas of caution for investors and asked them to be conscious of the risks.
“There’s a lot of talk about China markets over the last few days. But over the last five years, while Indian markets have given around 15 per cent compound annual growth rate consistently, Chinese markets are nowhere close to that. It’s almost zero. In fact, in some cases, like in Hong Kong, it’s actually negative,” Narayan said.
Speaking at an event marking the start of the Investor Awareness Week at NSE, Narayan said FY24 was a “remarkable” year for India, with the benchmark indices returning 28 per cent and the volatility just 10 per cent.
“That’s like ‘sone pe suhaga’. It’s like the best of all worlds: low risk and very high return,” Narayan said, underlining that there are side effects of this as well.
Making it clear that it will not be the same going forward and investors should not assume it to be a one-way street, Narayan said such handsome returns can lead to complacency and pointed to a lot of youngsters opening up demat accounts to join the bandwagon.
Educating people about risks is very important, Narayan said, giving the analogy of driving a car. “There has to be a light push on the accelerator to get more investors to provide risk capital for the economic growth, we also need to be aware of risks and use the brakes if need be.” He said that 40 per cent of the small and midcap scrips have shot up by 5 times in the last five years, because of an imbalance between inflow of investor money and supply of new paper.
On its part, the capital markets regulator is trying hard to ensure that fund-raising clearances are done early so that there is a steady stream of quality paper supply in the market.
From a broader, longer-term perspective, Indian markets will only go north from here given the economic growth prospects in the country, Narayan said, issuing specific advice to investors.
Investors need to have the right intermediaries to capitalise on this opportunity presented by India, and not fall for the unregistered and fly-by-night ‘finfluencers’ who might be driven by vested interests, he said.
Using the oft-repeated idiom of “all roads lead to Rome”, Narayan remarked that Rome is not a traveller-friendly place and one may get scammed there as well. Therefore, it is important to seek advice from the right people for the investors, he said.
He also said that it is in investors’ interests to trade less and stay invested for longer for higher returns, and added that studies prove the same.
Sebi, which has flagged certain areas like derivatives recently, is not against speculation or participants taking short-term trades, but it would want investors to understand the risks, Narayan said.
Business
Ratan Tata Rubbishes Rumors Of ‘Critical Health’; Says No Cause For Concern
Tata Group’s Ratan Tata has denied rumours of his critical health that have been reported and have surfaced in the recent hours.
Ratan Tata’s associates took to his official Instagram account to debunk the news of him being ‘Critical’.
In the post, Ratan Tata said, “I am aware of recent rumors circulating regarding my health and want to assure everyone that these claims are unfounded. I am currently undergoing medical check-ups due to my age and related medical conditions.
There is no cause for concern. I remain in good spirits and request that the public and media respect refrain from spreading misinformation.
For more than fifty years, Ratan Tata has led the Indian business community’s entrance hall. The 86-year-old has been suffering from illnesses associated with ageing. Tata has participated in social life to the best of his limited ability despite his health issues.
Recently, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, on October 2, Ratan Tata, expressed his congratulations to the Prime Minister on this occasion. “I congratulate the honourable Prime Minister on the 10-year commemoration of programmes that have benefitted millions in rural India.”
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