Development Watch – Week #3 May ’23

Development News

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Increasing outlay for 2-wheelers under FAME-II Scheme

FAME-II scheme commenced on April1, 2019, stands for Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles (FAME). It has been extended up to March 31, 2024. Now the heavy industries Ministry is planning to increase the outlay from Rs, 2,000 Crores. Total outlay for FAME scheme phase 2 is Rs. 10,000 Crores to provide incentives to buyers (end users/consumers) of electric vehicles. This is to enable wider adoption, which may be encouraged as a purchase price. 24 electric 2-wheeler OEMs are registered under FAME-II. A proposal has been placed before Programme Implementation and Steering Committee (PISC) which is an empowered panel to bring about changes in the FAME-2 scheme.

Carbon-credit Trading Scheme for Decarbonisation

India is set to develop a carbon trading scheme for decarbonization. It is designed to enhance the country’s energy transition by pricing GHG emissions. The Indian Carbon Market (ICM) will create a national framework aimed at decarbonizing Indian economy through GHG trading. It is being initiated by Union ministries of Power, and Environment, Forests, & Climate Change. A stakeholder consultation on accredited carbon verifiers under ICM was organized in Delhi. Here it was stated that a voluntary mechanism would be developed currently to encourage GHG reduction from non-obligated sectors. The scheme will provide guidelines for verification and institutional and governance structures.

Task force for Land-governance in NE states

As per the Union Rural Development Ministry, a task force will be set up for land governance in NE states. The decision was made at the National Conference on “Land Governance in North Eastern States”. It was held in Guwahati, Assam, on May 3-4. The territorial and autonomous district councils in Assam, Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya have emphasized that digitization and modernization of land records is essential for development in the region. The conference included sessions on current state practices and modernization of land records, land governance assessment framework, and a session on customary and indigenous laws. Current practices, new initiatives and role of survey of India in land records monetization were also included in the in the conference agenda.

GoFirst crisis to not affect aviation industry growth

As per Boeing, the US based aircraft manufacturer, insolvency crisis of GoFirst will not affect the growth and macro trends of Indian civil aviation industry. India is the 3rd largest and fastest growing aviation markets in the world. Airlines in India are expected to require more than 2,200 aircrafts in the next 20 years. At the same time, aircraft lessors have raised concerned about the insolvency proceedings against GoFirst. This is because the resultant moratorium prevents them from taking back the places alreeady leased to the crisis-hit airlines. In India, domestic airlines mostly operate aircraft on the sale and lease-back model.

Delhi-Meerut RAPIDX Corridor to be operational next month

The first corridor of Delhi-Meerut RAPIDX is set to be operational next month (June 2023). The entire 82 km Rapid Rail Transit (RRTS) corridor would likely be ready by 2025. But the 17 km stretch of from Sahibabad to Duhai will be commissioned by June 2023. The RPIDX services on the first Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS will bring down the travel time between Delhi to Meerut significantly. A 14 km Delhi stretch includes 3 stations of Sarai Kale Khan, New Ashok Nagar, and Anand Vihar. A 4th station would come up in Jangpura. It will also house an operational control center, a stabling yard and a warehosue. Trains in the RRTS corridor will be able to attain a top speed of 180 km ph. Expected daily ridership is around 8 lakh passengers.

ONDC e-commerce platform expands to 236 cities

Indian government’s non-profit open e-commerce network (ONDC) has now grown to include 236 cities. More than 36,000 merchants have been onboarded to its platform in the past 1 year. ONDC enhances the digital commerce process for small business and retail shops in India. There has been an uptick in transactions on ONDC which was launched to drive competition and startup innovation. ONDC also aims to raise e-commerce to 25% of India’s consumer purchases in next 2 years. This would be up from 8% currently.

India space startup ecosystem gaining traction

As part of the government’s push to space startups, founders say that new approach is enabling them to get easier approvals and stakeholders are aligned with each other. It is also allowing more private industry veterans in government helping the sector. India also wants private space companies to increase their share of global launch market up to 5 times in the next decade. After opening up the way for private launches in 2020, the number of space startups in India has doubled from 21 to 47. End of 2022, Skyroot Aerospace launched India’s first privately built rocket into space. So far investors have contributed $119 million into Indian space startups. This amount was $38 million cumulatively till 2017. Indian startups are seen as less-costly alternatives to European launchers that are grounded or under development.

New government scheme for distributed renewable energy application

The union Ministry of Power is set to bring a new scheme for promoting distributed renewable energy applications. It will focus on solar and wind energy. Distributed solar or wind energy is not connected to the grid, and provides power supply generated through clean sources in a particular area. Grid-scale solar and wind energy are connected with inter-state power transmission system. New scheme will benefit lakhs of families across India.

Various stakeholders in the government are also urging to put greater focus on green-energy powered construction equipment. The use of diesel machinery should be discouraged. Construction equipment powered by electricity, methanol and ethanol should be deployed for saving costs.

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