Development Watch – Week #3 Mar’25
Development News
Revised national program for dairy development
The union cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the Revised National Program for Dairy Development. NPDD, a central sector scheme, has an increased budget of Rs. 2,790 Crores for the 15th Finance Commission cycle (2021-2026). It is aimed at modernizing and expanding dairy infrastructure. The program targets better market access and higher income for farmers, along side generating employment. Revised NPDD will impetus the dairy sector by creating infrastructure for milk procurement, processing capacity and better quality control. It will improve the efficiency of the supply chain. Essential dairy infrastructure includes milk chilling plants, advanced milk testing laboratories, and certification systems. There will be cooperation with JICA and the Japanese government. NPDD has already benefited
Decline in solar cell and module imports
India is advancing towards self-reliance in solar cell and module manufacturing. There is a reduction in imports and expansion in domestic capacity by companies like TP Solar and Reliance Industries. Despite dependencies on imports for photovoltaic cells and wafers, Indian manufacturers are increasingly exporting solar modules. Government initiatives like PLI Scheme are boosting local production. Imports from China have decreased significantly. It has dropped from over 90% to 56% for solar cells, and 65% for modules in 2023-24. Other companies who are planning capacity expansion include Waaree Energies, Vikram Solar, Gautam Solar, AdSolar, and Rene. At COP26 in 2021, India committed to an ambitious 5-part Panchamrit pledge. This includes reaching 500 GW of non-fossil electricity capacity, generating half of all energy requirements from renewables, and reducing emissions by 1 billion tonnes by 2030.
Tata and Tesla partnership for EV supply chain
Tata AutoComp, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Technologies and Tata Electronics have quietly become global suppliers to Tesla. This makes up nearly half of the global automotive industry. Tata companies are bracing themselves for a bigger role if the EV manufacturer expands to India. Tesla in a way is readying the supplier base in India. It is seeking to source components locally while negotiating incentives and tax benefits. Discussions with Indian states aim to strengthen Tesla’s local manufacturing base, and create opportunities for Indian suppliers.
Railways & DAE to set up small nuclear power plants
Indian Railways has initiated discussions with Department of Atomic Energy and Power Ministry to set up small nuclear power plants for its energy requirements. This will help the national transporter to achieve net zero goal by 2030. The Indian Railways will offer land and offtake assurance. DAE and Power Ministry will facilitate establishment of plants with a fuel supply agreement. There is a traction requirement of 10 GW and achieving net zero emissions. Public sector financing arms are to provide funding support.
Property developers favor Sustainable Design
Property Developers are increasingly focusing on green building initiatives as investors prioritize sustainable assets and green leases. Brigade Group, a real estate developer, and Gruhas, the investment arm of Zerodha, have launched India’s first real estate tech and sustainability-focused investment fund known as the Earth Fund. The Rs. 300 Crore fund set up under Zoiros Projects includes Rs. 200 Crore SEBI-registered Category 2 AIF, and a Rs. 100 Crore Green Shoe option. Bengaluru leads in green asset adoption, followed by Delhi-NCR and Hyderabad. Solutions like water efficient fixtures are preferred by both the builders and occupants/users. In such “green” buildings, there is 100% use of ecologically acceptable cleaning agents. Accreditation under LEED/WELL or equivalent certification system is also on the rise. In commercial real estate, top 5 green leases of 2024 are Walmart Global, Bosch Global software, BNY Mellon, Salesforce and L&T Technology. When it comes to overall portfolio, Bengaluru has 64% share, followed by 63% in Delhi NCR, 58% in Hyderabad, 43% in Mumbai and 43% in Chennai. Top investors in Green Assets include Blackstone, Brookfield CapitaLand and CPPIB.
Telangana Budget 2025 focuses on Infra & Housing
Telangana’s budget 2025-26 budget is set to boost Hyderabad’s real estate sector. This will drive both residential and commercial space absorption. The focus areas are infrastructure development, affordable housing and sustainable urban initiatives. This budget positions the city for robust growth. Key projects announced include the Future City Initiative, covering 765 locations. It will transform the city into a global hub for high value industries.
120 additional airports under UDAN scheme
The Indian government plans to add 120 new locations through the UDAN scheme over the next decade. This aims to connect 4 crore more people. The scheme has previously connected 1.5 crore individuals in the last 10 years, successfully promoting regional air connectivity and reducing congestion at major airports. The government bids the routes and the airlines come in through a transparent bidding process. The subsidy will exist for only 3 years, after which viability gap funding will be provided to all these routes. Congestion happens when the connectivity flows to one airport. There is a tariff monitoring unit under the DGCA and it considers the pervious year’s data.
Delhi border traffic to be streamlined
Commuters face a daily ordeal of paying Rs. 100 entry fee for cabs or wait in endless queues at border crossings. The MCD collects a ‘green tax’ at multiple points that cause waste of fuel and time. To solve the issue, NHAI and legal intervention by the central government aims to tackle the root cause of the congestion. As a solution, all toll collection points will be shifted away from the highways’ Right of Way (RoW). Commercial goods vehicles like medium and heavy vehicles are also liable to pay extra charge of ECC (Environmental Compensation Charge). It is distinct from entry tax. The physical collection of ECC at 5 major entry points: Sirhaul (Gurgaon), Ghazipur (NH-9), Badarpur (NH-19), Tikri (NH-10) and Kundli (N44) is another bottleneck. NHAI is also working on an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR)-based gantry tolling mechanism. It will automatically deduct the entry fees from FASTag wallets. MCD’s toll collection system has to be integrated with NHAI’s FASTag infrastructure. Currently MCD uses a separate system where toll collectors manually scan number plates with mobile devices.
Local Feedback
LocalFeedback.org aims to track and document actionable parameters that help improve urban and rural infrastructure. The founder, Susmita, has juggled diverse roles in real estate, project budgeting, valuation and execution on construction sites. Having traveled to more than 20 countries, she has worked across 4 regions in India. Her areas of interest include sustainable buildings, electric mobility and urban development. She visited top-ranking cities on livability indices and has presented published papers at international conferences.