Tweet: 3 year Range Plan to replace the 5 Year Plan format. NITI Aayog says the last 2 remaining years of the 12th Plan (2012-17) for transition.
FY17 the last year of the five-year planning system
The government is mulling over replacing the five-year plan with a medium-term fiscal framework of planning. According to NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya, FY2016-17 will be the last year of the five-year planning system.
Tweet: Govt renames Dept of Disinvestment as ‘Dep of Investment & Public Assset Management.’ NITI Aayog to now identify PSU strategic sale options.
Paving the way for PSU strategic sales
A core group of secretaries has been put in place to oversee the strategic sale of PSUs. The government is hoping to raise R20,500 crore through such sale options. Further, Independent External Monitors will be appointed for the smooth implementation of the divestment process and settlement of grievances.
Tweet: More project pipeline: Nat Perspective Plan for ‘Sagarmala’ port projects ready. Identifies 150 associated projects worth R4 lac crores.
Sagarmala projects take shape
The 150 Sagarmala port projects, worth an estimated R4 lakh crore, will cover areas of port modernisation and new port development, port connectivity enhancement, port-led industrial development and coastal community development.
Tweet: Govt confirms disenchantment with SEZs by Budget ending income-tax holiday. Handled well, could have been turbochargers for MakeInIndia.
End of the road for SEZs?
The Budget announcement that units commencing production on or after April 1, 2020, will not get any deduction has come as a major blow to Special Economic Zones (SEZs). It was expected that the Make-in-India push in a scenario of falling exports would see major incentives in the Budget to revitalise SEZs as well as crafting of a fresh package for the proposed coastal economic zones.
Tweet: Certainly motivational. New category in PM’s award for outstanding bureaucrats: “Excellence in Implementation of Priority Programmes.”
Incentivising the bureaucracy
In a bid to motivate bureaucrats, the government will reward those who achieve outstanding results in administration of priority programmes such as Jan-Dhan Yojana, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, etc. The main criteria for the awards will be efficient and corruption-free implementation.
Tweet: Doubling of coal cess in Budget to R400 per tonne for “clean environment” likely to raise electricity tariffs by an average of 3%.
Mixed signals over coal cess
The increase in the clean environment cess to R400 per tonne of coal, lignite and peat is aimed at raising revenues to fund solar energy projects. The minister for power, Piyush Goyal, claims that it will not lead to a hike in power tariff as discoms will benefit from the UDAY (Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana) scheme.
Tweet: For coal-thermal plants complying with new pollution mitigating requirements could cost upto R1 crore/MW. Large investment for entire capacity.
Coal plants face prospects of large investment
After the Paris climate talks, India has committed to substantively reduce gaseous emissions from coal thermal plants. The government has directed all such plants to immediately install expensive pollution control equipment. As this is a major investment, it is also expected to increase power rates.
Tweet: Govt sets up Expert Committee under Water Res Min to search for mythical Saraswati River believed to have coursed thru Haryana & Rajastn.
In search of a lost river
Prof KS Valdiya, a former vice-chancellor of the Kumaon University, Nainital, will head the expert committee to review the available information from studies already conducted in Haryana and Rajasthan. The National Remote Sensing Centre has indicated the presence of a river in the area, though it is not known whether it is the Saraswati River.
—Vinayak Chatterjee is Chairman of Feedback Infra
His Twitter handle: @Infra_VinayakCh
A weekly selection of the author’s tweets—
with a brief backgrounder—in the infra space, by Adite Banerjie