Layout plan for NAINA (Navi Mumbai Airport Influance Notified Area) is in Two Months

Layout plan for first 19 villages in NAINA(Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area) will be out in two months

DIPP pushes for 11-fold hike in FY15 budget for Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor

In what could give a big push to urbanisation and infrastructure creation, two of the BJP’s chief electoral promises, the Narendra Modi government may increase this fiscal’s budget outlay for the prestigious Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) manifold.

Dissatisfied with the 2014-15 interim budget estimate of just R693 crore for DMIC, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has urged the finance ministry to raise the outlay to R7,478 crore in the forthcoming regular Budget to develop trunk infrastructure for the five smart industrial cities and six other projects planned in the initial phase of the mega public-private partnership project.

The DIPP is the nodal body for the DMIC project, principally an India-Japan venture. It is expected to generate investments of up to $90 billion.

The five cities include
Ahmedabad-Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) in Gujarat
Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Park city near Aurangabad in Maharashtra
Global City in Gurgaon in Haryana
Integrated Industrial Township in Greater Noida
Integrated Industrial Township Vikram Udyogpuri near Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh

Official sources told FE. They said the required land for these cities has already been acquired. 
 
Interim budget 2014-15 had allocated R693 crore to the DMIC Project Implementation Trust (the nodal body for the project’s funding). This included R643 crore as grants

to the trust and R50 crore for an exhibition-cum convention centre in New Delhi as part of the project. In 2012-13, the actual plan allocation for the trust was R411.4 crore. The 2013-14 Budget had a plan allocation of R507.8 crore to the trust


The revised plan allocation to the trust in 2013-14 was Rs 303.81 crore.
Of the Rs 7,478 crore now being sought for this fiscal, Rs 3,000 crore each is to be used for development of the first phase of the Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Park and “activation area” in the Ahmedabad-Dholera SIR, the sources said. In the ‘activation area’, the plan is to build state-of-the-art infrastructure to “activate local commerce, enhance foreign investments and attain sustainable development”, they added.

Around Rs 750 crore has been sought for the Global City in Gurgaon, while Rs 617 crore will be needed for the development of Integrated Industrial Township in Greater Noida and Rs 59.5 crore for the Madhya Pradesh Vikramaditya Knowledge City, part of the project planned in Ujjain.
Elaborating on the plans, the sources said leveraging the Rs 617 crore meant for the Greater Noida township alone is estimated to help get funding of up to Rs 33,000 crore, adding that similarly the total outlay sought of Rs 7,478 crore can be leveraged to get huge finances for the townships envisaged, leading to massive employment.


The DMIC Trust, which manages the funds, already has with it Rs 621 crore, the sources said, adding that an additional Rs 7,478 crore is needed to meet the total funding requirement of Rs 8,099 crore to create the trunk infrastructure projects for a total of 11 projects including the five townships being built in the current phase of DMIC.

The six projects additional to the townships to benefit from the proposed budget outlay are:

Integrated Multi-Modal Logistic Hub (IMLH) in Rewari (Haryana) (Rs 450-crore)
Development of DMIC Development Corporation’s Neemrana Solar Power in Rajasthan (Rs 22.3-crore)
Pithampur Jal Prabandhan in Madhya Pradesh (Rs 21-crore)
Logistic Data Bank (Rs 37.2-crore)
Rail line between Bhimnath and Dholera (Rs 24-crore)
Desalination water project at Dahej in Gujarat (Rs 117-crore)


India and Japan had agreed on a $9-billion fund with equal contribution from both sides as initial investment in DMIC. The Indian government’s contribution is in the form of budgetary grant, while Japan is to give a combination of untied loans in the form of official development assistance and tied aid through special terms of economic partnership (STEP) loans.

The Japanese government, in a bid to expedite the DMIC project, is learnt to have agreed to relax the conditions for its STEP loan following the finance ministry’s concerns that the clause specifying that 30% of goods and services for DMIC projects should be from Japanese companies would result in bids being not competitive. To ensure more non-Japanese firms bid for the project, it may be specified that 30% of goods and services could also be sourced from joint ventures in India in which Japanese companies have a shareholding of 10% or more.

The DMIC is to come up on both sides of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. It will pass through six states — Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

The corridor’s development is expected to better the lives of around 180 million people including the creation of skilled workforce and generation of gainful employment to them, besides boosting manufacturing, revenues and growth. The DMIC project is a crucial link to the National Manufacturing Policy that aims to increase the share of manufacturing in the GDP to
help get funding of up to Rs 33,000 crore, adding that similarly the total outlay sought of Rs 7,478 crore can be leveraged to get huge finances for the townships envisaged, leading to massive employment.

India’s foreign policy agenda 2014

As India gears up for the 2014 parliamentary elections, Gateway House recommends a priority economic agenda for the next government – an agenda which puts economics at the heart of our foreign policy
 
Among the many priorities of the new government in Delhi is setting a new Foreign Policy agenda for India – an urgent initiative that can help revive our economy and place us at a geopolitical advantage in a world that has changed almost beyond recognition over the last five years.

Foreign policy as an instrument for benefit has lain almost unused since 2008, when the India-U.S. Civil Nuclear Cooperation was signed, and right through the massive upheavals and peoples’ movements from Brazil to Bahrain and Ukraine. Its management has also been lax, judging from the neglect of our neighbourhood, the Chinese incursions and the Khobragade affair.

How then, can India gain ground most immediately, and in the next five years? By actively pursuing economic diplomacy.

Gateway House recommends a priority economic agenda, comprising external and internal strategic spheres, in which the various tools of our foreign policy – our diplomatic corps, our business, our media and our diaspora – are pressed into optimum service. The Corridors of Development and the Circles of Influence accommodate non-alignment, multi-alignment, mis-alignment, and all that is in between. The key difference from past policy is to use economics to resolve issues, be ambitious and ratchet up activity levels.

Internally, we must attract foreign and domestic investment in the development of corridors of activity – industrial, riverine and coastal. Externally, we must build circles of economic influence – first in our neighbourhood, then in the Indian Ocean and with ASEAN, further out to include the BRICS grouping, and separately, build strong ties with the U.S., Japan and Taiwan by jointly developing new technologies.

There are four Circles of Economic Influence:

1. South Asia: Critical in importance as the U.S. troops withdraw from Afghanistan, and extremist elements in Pakistan activate. We must protect our existing $2 billion of assets in Afghanistan, and press Pakistan to include India in the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement which will open up trade with our western neighbour especially through the respective private sectors. To our east, we must develop the border posts with Myanmar, enhancing trade with that country and our north eastern states.

2. ASEAN: Deepening trade linkages with this prosperous region is critical for Indian business, which already has billions invested in ASEAN nations. In 2014, we must work on simplifying and codifying the web of bilateral FTAs and PTAs already signed with several ASEAN countries, as a precursor to a business take-off.

3. BRICS: Creating a full-fledged alternate financial architecture within the BRICS to counter the western-dominated structures that have the ability to strangle our economies by the imposition of sanctions. Already a BRICS Development Bank is being created. India can also lead the intellectual effort for an alternate framework for pricing commodities, trading in non-dollar currencies and providing insurance for maritime trade.

4. Indian Ocean Region:  The new geo-strategic playground for great and emerging powers is now the Indian Ocean – stretching from the Malacca Straits in the east to the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea in the west. This is where China is executing its string of pearls strategy – critical for its trade routes and access to natural resources. India must strengthen its own ports to accelerate trade, and deepen its cooperation on disaster management planning and patrolling, already in place with the U.S., Japan and Australia. Indian public sector investment in Africa, especially in natural resources, is picking up, but so should popular government programmes like Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC), which are currently quite small.

Within India, we must accelerate and expand the buildout of the Corridors of Economic Development, productively activating existing FDI and attracting new foreign investments.
These are our versions of China’s Special Economic Zones, which accommodate the compulsions of our diverse democracy where major issues like land acquisition and securing of resources like power and minerals are not controlled by the state alone. Local cooperation and consent is essential.
The first corridor was initiated by Japan to create a conducive environment for the small and medium enterprises which support the major Japanese companies. The resultant Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor has now become the template for similar corridors across India.

Gateway House recommends five major corridors, each of which partner with a country with appropriate experience, and investment and financing expertise, through the deadline-driven build-out.

The Corridors are five:

Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (with Japan), Seven Sisters Corridor of the North East, Bangalore-Mumbai Economic Corridor (with the UK), Amritsar-Kolkata Rail and Riverine corridor (Gangetic Corridor) and East Coast Corridor, from Kolkata to Tuticorin
1. The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor: The pioneering, $90 billion, 10-year industrial corridor developed jointly between India and Japan, has run into the usual hurdles of land acquisition and financing. We recommend fasttracking the recently signed Phase I of the Maharashtra section of the corridor (building out Aurangabad and Karnad as part of the Shendra Bidkin Industrial City – the Maharashtra Government signed the relevant agreements for it in early March) for this year, accelerating the rollout and making it the template for foreign investors looking for meaningful projects in India.

2. The Seven Sisters Corridor, connecting the capitals of north east India to Myanmar and Thailand, and developing agri-business and resources along the corridor. The project partner can be Thailand, which has expertise in both construction and the food industry, and has direct access to ASEAN.

3. Bengaluru-Mumbai Economic Corridor: Inspired by DMIC, in 2013 the UK government proposed to link India’s financial centre of Mumbai with its IT capital, Bengaluru. En route, will be new urban centres and new transport links. The new government can activate this by immediately signing the agreement and assigning the feasibility study this year.
4. The Gangetic Corridor (Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata Industrial Corridor): A three-year old, Rs.100 crore government plan is already in place to build a rail freight corridor from Amritsar to Kolkata. The Agreement was signed on January 20 this year. Gateway House recommends adding a riverine freight corridor along the Ganges, helping to develop agri-business along the fertile plain. For the rail corridor, we recommend partnering with China for building a high-speed railway network, and with Germany for a riverine transport. In 2014, the new government can assign and begin the feasibility study and identify foreign partners for the project.

5. The East Coast Corridor: With the Bay of Bengal in strategic play and Myanmar opening up for business, India will do well to develop a coastal corridor of ports along our eastern coast from Kolkata to Tutikorin. Existing ports must first be upgraded, and later, new ones can be built. The ideal partner can be Korea, with its huge ship-building capacity and experience, and its efficient ports like Busan. Gateway House recommends empowering the Port Authority of India to create the blueprint for such a coastal corridor, with inputs from the Indian Navy which is already securing the Bay.

In addition to these, Gateway House recommends two more corridors, to secure two critical bilaterals. An India-U.S. Technology Corridor, will help rebuild the bridges from Bengaluru to Silicon Valley through a robust private-sector engagement. Already, Indian IT firms are plugged into the guts of U.S. corporations – enhancing this will correct the imbalance created by soured government-to-government relations. A second technology corridor to our east will marry the software prowess of India with the hardware manufacturing of Taiwan – an ideal partnership that can create creative, affordable products and services for emerging as also developed markets – and send a signal to China.

Developing these Corridors and Circles will help revive the Indian economy and entrepreneurship. The sinews of this strategy will come from expanding the lending of our Exim Bank from the current $10 billion to $30 billion and augmenting the talent of the  Indian Foreign Service with a commercial corp drawn from the public and private sector, with its vast foreign experience and expertise in challenging conditions.

Turning Navi Mumbai into a Dubai, Singapore

Thane guardian minister Ganesh Naik has stressed that once development works take shape under the one-time planning project, Navi Mumbai will be transformed into Singapore and Dubai.

The guardian minister, who embarked on ward-wise meetings to understand the problems of residents of various nodes, held his first meeting with ward no 51 residents at the Meenatai Thackeray ground on Monday.

Minister Naik underlined how the one-time planning model was set to transform the city and bring it at par with cities like Singapore and Dubai. “We will be completing developmental works under one-time planning model in the next seven years after which the city will see its transformation,” said Naik while addressing the residents.

He also stressed on the need to have a cluster development project for lower income and middle income groups and for old and dilapidated Cidco homes in the city. “Opposition to cluster development is very unfortunate.

People have the right to choose their own developer for redevelopment. We have been batting for extra FSI for the city and hope to get it soon,” said Naik.

He added that to tackle the problem of hawkers, a policy needs to be implemented soon. “Cidco should transfer plots to NMMC, so that marketplaces can be marked,” he said. Naik added that MMRDA will be sharing costs for development of infrastructure in the city and as such burden on civic coffers will be lessened. “MMRDA’s plans for flyovers on TB Road and PB Road will ease traffic,” said Naik.

Prestige ties up with Disney for branded homes

BANGALORE: Southern real estate major Prestige Estates Projects is collaborating with Disney India to develop its largest residential township project spanning 102 acres in Bangalore's IT hub of Whitefield.

The 8 million-sqft development will feature Disney-inspired residences consisting of 3,400 apartments and over 200 villa units. The project will be officially launched next fiscal year

Mumbai-Bangalore corridor: A roadmap to boost India’s economic prosperity

The government's plan to boost the economic corridor from Mumbai to Bangalore is a great opportunity to connect India's two most globally relevant cities for business. It could create a highly-productive economic zone, similar to the Northeastern US or China's Hong Kong-Guangdong corridor. But to achieve the lofty goals it has set for itself, cities and regions of the corridor have to go beyond their traditional thinking around economic development and focus on the burgeoning entrepreneurial ventures and unique opportunities that exist in the region.

The government hopes to create 25 lakh jobs, and drive 12% of the country's GDP from the corridor. The estimated investment is about Rs3 crore by government and private investors.
And the infrastructure will include rail lines, a better national highway system, one million homes and manufacturing facilities.

I believe the government is grossly underestimating the impact of this corridor. It can create up to one crore jobs and have a sustainable, long-term impact on the Indian economy for two reasons. First, Mumbai and Bangalore continue to work with local community groups to implement smart growth strategies to ease their outward expansion and population growth. But we cannot call the corridor a success just because its two end points continue to grow and are better connected by infrastructure. It will come from development of the middle region — south Maharashtra and north/central Karnataka — as an economically vibrant, entrepreneurial region with quality schools, infrastructure and leadership.

Economic development strategies in the US have moved beyond hard infrastructure to focus on soft infrastructure: people, capital and opportunity.

The US built infrastructure in a similar way and it had the intended effect of connecting the country and boosting economic fortunes of the southern and western US. However, while the cities of the East and West Coasts of the US are driving the global economy, the rest of the country struggles to adjust to globalisation. So, now our strategies are focused on building their ability to innovate, become entrepreneurial and compete in a global economy. India faces similar challenges in the Mumbai-Bangalore corridor.

Fortunately, this unique region has some underutilised assets that can be leveraged. Foremost, there has been a deep philanthropic commitment to the region. North Karnataka has been the recipient of philanthropic support for entrepreneurship, education and innovation from the Deshpande Foundation, the Infosys Foundation, Nandan and Rohini Nilekani, the Tata Trusts and the Gates Foundation. Philanthropic leaders as Sudha Murthy hail from the region and are committed to its economic development. They are investing resources to train entrepreneurs, build the capacity of NGOs and local government to provide better services, and educate young people to join the global economy.

Secondly, the region has a large network of colleges and universities that churns out quality graduates, who are currently finding opportunities in Mumbai and Bangalore.

This provides an opportunity for Indian companies looking at tier-II cities to set up facilities, and for entrepreneurs looking for a low-cost alternative to Bangalore and Mumbai.

Thirdly, the region is home to tourist attractions, including the ruins at Hampi and the Western Ghats. Any plan to develop this corridor should have a focus on global tourism.

Finally, cities in the corridor such as Hubli, Dharwad and Belgaum have tremendous connectivity potential. Goa, Pune and Hyderabad are all within proximity.

Important News : Linking India’s financial centre with its IT hub

The Bengaluru-Mumbai Economic Corridor, as an anchor of the U.K.-India partnership, is set to change the economic landscape of the region it passes through

The corridor will start from Bangalore, passing through Tumkur, Chitradurga, Hubli, Dharwad and Belgaum in Karnataka), Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Karad and Pune and end in Mumbai (in Maharashtra). 

If there is a developing centrepiece of the U.K.-India economic engagement, which the coalition government of David Cameron has been active in promoting, it is perhaps the agreement on the joint development of the Bengaluru-Mumbai Economic Corridor. 

The decision to cooperate in developing the projected 1,000-km corridor that will link the two cities — with provision for creating manufacturing hubs along the route, developing the towns and their hinterland, and creating both investment and job opportunities along and around its route — was part of the joint memorandum that was signed between the two countries when Mr. Cameron visited India in February this year. 

The tender for the feasibility report for the project was issued this month, with a December 26 deadline for submissions. Officials from the Indian High Commission involved in the negotiations believe that progress has been remarkably fast for a project of this size and scope — a sign of the importance that the Indian government attaches to the project, as well as of British investment interest in the project. 

An “exciting flagship for wider collaboration on infrastructure” is how Barry Lowen, Director, U.K. Trade Investment (India), which leads on the U.K. side, described the project to The Hindu. “The U.K. has expertise on innovative ways to raise funding and promote green technologies in promoting infrastructure,” he said. 

The 95-page tender for submitting the project’s feasibility study lays out the scope of the project. The funding for the study is to be underwritten by India, and is itself expected to run into millions of Great British Pounds. 

The vision for the BMEC, as set out in the terms of reference of the feasibility study is of a “global exemplar both for commercially viable sustainable development and for attracting investments into manufacturing and clean infrastructure (potable water, clean energy etc).” 

To achieve “comprehensive, accelerated and sustainable economic development with green technology and regional industrial and urban agglomeration, diffusing the regional population along the length of the corridor”, the BMEC will boost “regional industry agglomeration... attracting companies in the value chain of existing companies to the corridor, attracting particular industries where the corridor has geographical advantages or has advanced infrastructure for such industries.”

The project looks to create advantages for industrial development along the corridor, creating linkages that will provide quick access to production units in a way that will reduce transportation time, costs of logistics and inventory. 

The corridor will start from Bangalore, passing through Tumkur, Chitradurga, Hubli, Dharwad and Belgaum in Karnataka), Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Karad and Pune and end in Mumbai (in Maharashtra). 

“It represents a fantastic opportunity to develop the engagement between the two countries,” said Amarjit Singh, Associate Solicitor in Dutton Gregory LLP and Head of India Business Group in the UK, who also accompanied Mr. Cameron on his visit to India in February. 

“Significantly, the corridor will link Mumbai, the financial centre of India and Bangalore, the country's IT hub. The U.K.’s capabilities in both sectors are world-class,” he added.

The model for the corridor is the Delhi Mumbai Infrastructure Corridor that is currently under development with Japanese funding. The nodal agency on the Indian side is the Department of Industrial Promotion under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Once chosen, the company/consortium must meet an eight month deadline to submit a Perspective Plan for overall development of the BMEC region along with a concept report for the greenfield megacities conceived as part of it. Foreign companies can apply. 

Actual work on the project is unlikely to get off the ground before 2015, and even that is an optimistic expectation given the challenges that lie ahead.

Hurdles

The first hurdle relates to the political environment: the new government that will be elected in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections must ratify the agreement. Assuming that the new government does so and allowing for possible changes to the corridor route dictated by political or other reasons, the project must get the critical environmental clearances. Only after this can the thorny issue of land acquisition be taken up. 

It should be recalled here that Posco, the Korean steel giant cancelled its plans for a $ 5.3 billion steel mill development project near Dharwad in Karnataka primarily due to popular opposition to land acquisition for the construction of its plant. 

Secondly, if past experience is a guide, land prices along the route will explode once the plan is announced, creating dispossession on the one hand and speculation by land sharks on the other. Third, the BMEC corridor passes through relatively less industrialised areas when compared to the Delhi Mumbai Industrial corridor. Analysis of the trends in foreign direct investment indicates that DMIC States cater to 52% of total Foreign Direct Investment equity inflows in to the country. Mumbai and Delhi regions together constitute 92% of total FDI equity inflows amongst the project States. 

Even with these advantages, the DMIC, which was conceived between India and Japan in mid-2007 and projected to cost $90 billion (Rs. 4,23,000 crore), is still years from completion. 

Sources close to the project in the U.K. Foreign Office told The Hindu that one of the primary concerns on the British side relates to the multiplicity of Central and State laws that will have to be negotiated, a process they fear could cause delays. The BMEC, when it finally does see the light of day, will undoubtedly change the economic landscape of the region it passes through, a process that Britain will doubtless reap the financial rewards of. What India’s gains will be depends entirely on how the benefits and losses of this game-changing project will be shared.