Diesel prices hiked by 87 paise in India while Petrol becomes dearer by 36 paise

As a part of fortnightly review of retail prices of petrol and diesel by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) in India, Petrol becomes dearer by 36 paise while Diesel is costlier by 87 paise from Sunday midnight. The rise in prices driven by increased oil prices in international market and impact of USD to INR exchange rate in FOREX markets.

 

 

As retail prices of Petrol and Diesel in India are de-regularized by the government, revision takes prices on 1^st and 16^th day each month. All three major state owned OMCs – Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) fixed prices based on average fortnightly impact of global oil price movement and foreign exchange rate.

As a result of recent price hike, Petrol would cost at ₹61.06 per litre in Delhi while Diesel price will be ₹46.80 per litre. 

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Jet Airways to expand its fleet with new 75 fuel efficient aircrafts from Boeing

India’s second largest airline, Jet Airways buying 75 new fuel-efficient Boeing 737 MAX aircrafts to expand its fleet. As a part of its ambitious growth plans coupled with focus on replacing aging fleet, Jet Airways opted for highly efficient 737 MAX from US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing (NYSE: BA). At a list price, order size is estimated at $8 billion which is largest single order till date by Jet Airways (NSE: JETAIRWAYS). Deliveries of new aircrafts would begin by mid-2018.

Aviation fuel in India is costlier compared many countries in the world. Currently, jet fuel costs 60% more in India than Singapore. As a result, focus on acquiring fuel efficient aircrafts to achieve better cost structure is increasing among Indian airline companies. Newer aircraft improves at least 15%-20% fuel efficiency for airline. While cost of aviation fuel is about 50% of revenue of airline company in India.

 

Jet Airways is facing stiff competition from Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) such as Indigo, Spicejet, GoAir and many more. As a result, improving profitability through rationalization of cost structure is primary focus for the company. Moreover, efficient and modern fleet would help Jet Airways to take advantage of expanding domestic market coupled with serve international routes effectively.  

You may also like to read Market leader Indigo orders 250 A320s, biggest in the history of Airbus

 

General Electric (GE) bagged $2.6 billion deal from Indian Railways

General Electric (GE), US-based diversified infrastructure and financial services company (NYSE: GE) won $2.6bn worth of contract to supply 1,000 diesel locomotives to Indian Railways. State-owned rail network which is one of the largest in the world is looking for infusing foreign capital modernization.

As a part of deal, GE would invest $200 million to set up state-of-art local manufacturing and service facilities in India. As a part of 11-year period to service locomotives, the manufacturing facility would come up in eastern state of India, Bihar. While two maintenance sheds would be set up at other locations in the country.  

 

The Government of India is targeting to invest about $137 billion by 2020 to modernize and upgrade Indian Railways. It would help more than 23 million daily rail passengers as well as boost cargo movement via rail network.

GE won this prestigious and important contract beating Canada's Bombardier and Germany's Siemens. Soon, winner of multi billion contract to supply Electric Locomotives would be announced by Indian Railways.

Meghalaya to have first railway station soon

“Faltupana.In”-Leading Marathi Info-Entertainment site crossed 3 million mark

“Marathi” language has gained prominent place in the web world with increasing number of visitors over last few years. To address need for interesting and informative content in Marathi, Nashik based creative young man ‘Kaustubh Shukla’ started Info Entertainment portal called www.faltupana.in

Due to its interesting, intriguing and informative content; portal became rally popular and one of the most visited one among Marathi net users. Especially, light hearted humorous content on the site is highly popular among youth.

 

The journey of www.faltupana.in started in June 2012 and within 3 years it crossed 3 million visitors mark. On 8^th November 2015, website received its 3 millionth hit. Notably apart from Maharashtra, portal has viewers from other parts of India as well. While Marathi population residing in the US, UAE and Europe also look at www.faltupana.in as their favourite Marathi portal.

काहीतरी मजेशीर, कुठेतरी छानसे वाचलेले, मराठी विनोद Jokes, ऐतिहासिक, मराठी कविता, अष्टविनायक (Ashtavinayak), पुणेरी पाटी - पुणेरी पाट्या (Puneri Pati - Puneri Patya), मराठी ग्राफिटी - Marathi Graffiti, दिनविशेष, कुसुमाग्रज, रिकामटेकडेपणा 

 

Nitish-Lalu celebrates thumping victory in Bihar as BJP in a state of shock

Bihar Assembly Election Results - 2015 brought back duo of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav strongly on political map of Bihar and India. Counting of votes for election which was held in 5 phases during October and November resulted in thumping win for Mahagathbandhan. Out of 243 seats in Bihar Assembly, RJD-JDU-Congress bagged 178 seats crossing 2/3^rd majority mark. While BJP led NDA who’s campaigned was centered on Modi-Amit Shah duo managed only 58 seats. Most surprised package of these results was RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav who made historic comeback on National political scene with 80 seats becoming single largest Party.

 

Bihar voters decisively voted to bring back Vikas Purush Nitish Kumar who made hat-trick to continue as Chief Minister for next 5 years. JDU won 71 seats out 101 which they contested while party got 64.2 lakh votes (16.8%). RJD with 80 out 100 seats got 69.95 lakh votes (18.4%). Bihar results came as big relief for Congress party which won 27 out of 42 seats getting 25.4 lakh votes (6.7%). The combination of Yadav and Muslim was intact with RJD-JDU coupled with considerable support from young and female voters who supported Nitish Kumar’s Bihar development model.

 

For BJP, Bihar is second consecutive huge defeat after crushing in Delhi in the hands of Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). The party could win just 53 seats out of 157 fought getting 93.1 lakh votes (24.4%). The dismal performance of its allies added woes of NDA as LJP (2/42), RLSP (2/23) and HAM (1/21) seats fared poorly in election. The wave for Nitish Kumar was such that BJP lost almost 5% vote share compared with Lok Sabha 2014 election. The RJD-JDU-Congress got 41.9% votes while NDA 34.1% resulting in landslide victory for Mahagathbandhan.

Surprisingly, Shiv Sena which is ally of BJP in Maharashtra contested on more than 100 seats and got 2.1 lakh votes. They also managed to become catalyst for defeat of 3 BJP candidates showing their nuisance value. Bihar election results would have long lasting impact political scenario of India as non BJP politics would be centered around it in future.

It would be interesting to see how BJP reacts to these results in coming days and make changes at both organizational as well as inside government. One is thing is for sure that in India, nobody should take common voter for granted and continuous performance evaluation goes on.

Prime Minister Modi declared special package for poll bound Bihar worth ₹1.25 Lakh Crore

India Beats South Africa to Win First Test at Mohali

Indian cricket team led by young captain Virat Kohli made impressive start to 4 match series against South Africa at Mohali. India beats South Africa by 108 runs to take 1-0 lead in the series. India made 201 and 200 while South Africa replied with 184 and 109 runs in their respective innings.

Murali Vijay (75 and 47) batted well in both innings while Pujara made gusty 77 in second innings to help India to post winning total. From South African side, Captain AB de Villiers made 63 runs in 1^st innings as all his teammates faltered against Indian spinners.

Ashwin took 5-24 and 3-39 while left arm spinner Jadeja bowled to get 3-55 and 5-21. Ravindra Jadeja was also adjudged as Man of the Match for his all-round performance in his comeback match.

Indian team would be happy to start very important test series on winning note as South Africa got better off them in ODI and T20 series recently. Second test match of the series would be played at Bengaluru between 14^th to 18^th November.  

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India’s jumped by 12 places on Ease of Doing Business Ranking

In the recent ranking by World Bank Group about ‘Ease of Doing Business’; India ranked 130 out of 189 countries. On a positive side, India’s rank jumped by 12 places compared with 142th place last year. Singapore maintains at the top while mostly Western European and North American countries dominate the list.

Improvement in India’s rank is mainly driven by improvements in areas such as ease of starting a business and getting electricity connection. India’s ranking improved from 137^th to 70^th in just one year for getting electricity connection. In last year, Narendra Modi led Indian government is taking many steps to improve business friendliness of the country.

However, areas such as Dealing with construction permits where India ranked 183 out of 189 and Taxation system (157^th) are major areas of concern of the industry.

Among other major developing economies, China is at 84^th place, Brazil (116^th), Russia (51^st).

Prime Minster Modi declared special package for poll bound Bihar worth ₹1.25 Lakh Crore

Within 24 hours of returning from UAE visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended function in Bihar where assembly elections would take place in next couple of months. In line with his government policy of “Develop East”, special package was announced worth ₹1.25 Lakh Crore.

This is additional to already pledged funds by Central Government of ₹40,657cr for ongoing works of highways and power projects. Additionally, unused amount ₹8,500cr by Bihar state government from Centre’s last package is not included.

In Bihar, BJP led NDA is fighting with JDU-RJD alliance of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav while other parities such as Congress are minor partners. Traditionally, caste based politics plays vital role in Bihar election. However, with such massive financial package declared by Narendra Modi the “Development” issue could become central point during polls. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, NDA won 31 out of 40 seats while JDU could manage only 2 while RJS won 6.

  

#ModiInUAE: India receives about half of UAE’s remittances making India-UAE relations important

Two day visit by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to UAE holds lot of significance for India-UAE relations. First visit in last 34 years by an Indian Prime Minister, helped to strengthen both political and economic bonds between both nations.

 

For India with population of 1.25 billion, countries like UAE becomes vital as large number of jobseekers migrates to these nations. These expats help Indian economy by sending remittances back home. In 2014, India received $70.4bn remittance from non-resident population living across foreign countries in the world. India is the largest recipient of remittances globally ahead of China ($64.1bn).

During 2014, inward remittances stood at 3.7% of India’s GDP indicating their importance for the economy. Remittances not only provide much needed “Foreign Exchange” but they provide “Liquidity” due to consistent and periodic receipts.

For India’s remittance market, UAE is the most important country as it the largest remitter to India with $12.64bn in 2014 more than the US with $11.18bn. During 2014, UAE’s outward remittances stood at $29.25bn which is 3^rd largest in the world behind the US ($131bn) and Saudi Arabia ($45bn). Out of UAE’s total outward remittances, India contributes 43% share making India-UAE relations even more significant.

Currently, about 2.65 million Indian expats are living in UAE which is approximately 27% of country’s total population (about 9.6 million). Out of about 28 million India’s population living abroad across globe, UAE with 2.65 million (9.5%) holds significant place.   

Stronger India-UAE relations are beneficial for both nations in long run as India provides skilled and semi-skilled workforce across industries to UAE. While UAE being one of largest employer of Indian labor, provide considerable boost for the economy. The partnership between India’s workforce, creativity and skills with UAE’s vision, infrastructure and resources posed ideal example for the world.  

 

 

#India #UAE #Remittance #Migrant #GDP #NarendraModi #NaMo #Dubai

Market leader Indigo orders 250 A320s, biggest in the history of Airbus

India’s largest airline with domestic market share of 38% has given order for 250 Airbus A320neo single-aisle jets for about $26.6bn at list price. Although typically, customer gets discounts on such bulk size orders. This is biggest order in the history of European company Airbus till date, deliveries are expected to begin in 2018. For Airbus, backlog for A320neo planes now stands at 4,100.

 

 

Indigo which is looking at fast growing aviation market by offering affordable fares and efficient service. Since its inception in 2006, Indigo has overtaken bigger names such as Jet, Kingfisher and Air India in last few years to establish command over Indian market. During 2005 Indigo ordered 100 A320s, all of them delivered. While in 2011, Indigo placed ordered for 180 planes worth $15bn to be delivered in phases till.  With recent order of 250 A320neo, Indigo’s Airbus fleet size would reach 530 aircrafts. With newer aircrafts fitted with more efficient engines and large Sharklet wing-tip devices, Indigo expects fuel savings of 20% by 2020.   

 

 

European giant Airbus gets big boost with this order and its long term relationship with market leader. Indian aviation market is expected to post robust growth in coming years and expected to order at least 1,290 new aircrafts by 2032 valued at $190bn. While India’s market leader, Indigo, looking at strengthening its presence in low cost carrier (LCC) market and preparing itself for competition from new entrants like AirAsia and Singapore Airlines. The company is planning an IPO in near future to raise $500mn which could value Indigo at $4bn. The only profitable airline in Indian market is expected to improve its market share beyond 40% in the current fiscal as competition is facing losses and mounting debts.   

#Indigo #Airbus #A320 #Airline #India

 

“Taj Mahal” makes wonderful entry on Social Media with debut on ‘Twitter’

One of 7 wonders in the world, symbol of love and architectural marvel “Taj Mahal” made a grand entry on Social Media on 15^th August 2015, India’s Independence Day. Historical monument in Agra is most visited place in India and attracts lakhs of visitors domestically as well as internationally. Interestingly, Taj Mahal becomes first monument in the history to make presence on social media.

 

 

The UP Government unveiled “@TajMahal” Twitter handle at Lucknow to promote tourism in the state. Interestingly first tweet by “Taj Mahal” is

“There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who have visited me and follow me here and those who haven’t seen me and yet follow me here”   

In quick time, thousands of tweeples started tweeting with hashtag #MyTajMemory to welcome “Taj Mahal” in the exciting world of Social Media.

 

Taj Mahal, World Heritage site attracts about 3 million tourists annually making it most popular tourist destination in India. The monument is open for visitors from 6am to 7pm (except Fridays).

Highest ever in 80-year history, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) paid ₹65,896cr Dividend to Government

The Reserve Bank of India which follows July-June accounting year, approved dividend of ₹658.96bn for the Government of India for year ended June 30, 2015. This highest amount ever in 80-year history of RBI since inception.

 

RBI paid 25% higher dividend compared with last year’s figure of ₹526.79bn as dividend to the Government. Moreover, the amount of dividend paid is more than ₹64,500cr budgeted under 'Dividend/Surplus of RBI, nationalized banks & financial institutions' by the Finance Minister of India. As a result, additional amount help the government to tackle fiscal deficit effectively.  

RBI’s main sources of income are

 

Solar powered Cochin Airport to become World’s first ‘Green Airport’

Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) installed 12MW solar plant costing ₹62cr at ₹5.17 per MW. CIAL installed more than 46,000 solar panels across 45 acres to generate 50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity per day. As a result, Cochin Airport would become completely energy neutral to become first Green Airport in the world.

The plant to be inaugurated on 18^th August is equivalent to reduction of 3 lakh metric CO2 emission from coal powered power generation plants over next 25 years. The generation capacity of 12MW solar power plant is 18 million units per year. Bosch was awarded the contract and it did commendable job by setting up plant in less than 6 months.

For fast growing Indian economy, need for energy is rising rapidly. The welcomed initiative by CIAL to adopt Renewable Power to become 100% solar powered organization would boost adoption of Green Energy in coming days.

Onion prices reaches record high crossing Rs.4,000 per quintal

Onion prices are breaking newer record day by day creating panic among consumers. On Wednesday at Lasalgaon Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) market in Nashik, it crossed Rs.4,000 per quintal making seasonal high. Onion production this year suffered due to damaged crop driven by unseasonal rains.  As a result, supply pressure are pushing onion prices higher.

Governments all over nation are facing ire of common man as Onion has become one of the basic need item. As a result, import of about 10,000 tonnes of onion from countries like China, Egypt and Pakistan has already under consideration while Delhi Government is providing subsidy for onion.

As next crop of onion will hit the market not earlier than December; prices of onion are likely to remain high. Supply from imports may help to ease prices to some extent in coming days if customer accepts quality of imported onion.

JDU-RJD sealed seat sharing deal for upcoming Bihar Assembly Elections

Nitish Kumar led Janta Dal United (JDU) and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) decided to fight 100 seats each to form grand alliance for Bihar Assembly Elections. Congress Party would contest 40 seats while 3 seats are offer for Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) it they join the alliance.

Total number of seats in Bihar Assembly are 243 and RJD-JDU combine is fighting fierce battle with BJP led NDA to regain power. During 2010 polls, JDU and BJP fought as an alliance where JDU won 115 seats while RJD was demolished to just 22 seats. Congress is trying its luck although with just 4 MLAs in outgoing assembly, party is looking at double digits at best.

 

During Lok Sabha 2014, BJP won 22 seats out of 40 while its ally Ramvilas Paswan’s LJP bagged 6 seats and smaller party BLSP won 3 taking total tally of NDA at 31 seats. Fighting alone, JDU got badly beaten winning just 2 seats while RJD fared better compared with Nitish Kumar with 4 seats.

For upcoming assembly polls, NItish Kumar is a candidate for JDU-RJD alliance while NDA has not announced its prospective CM’s name.

Bihar elections are always dominated by caste combination. Although, off late issue of development has gained importance for voters. With increasing dominance of Narendra Modi as a leader, more like minded parties such as Samajwadi Party (SP) and left parties may join RJD-JDU alliance to avoid vote division. Interestingly, Aam Aadmi Party is not contesting Bihar polls and would oppose NDA during campaign.        

 

BJP launched 2014 Lok Sabha Election campaign by announcing Team NaMo

Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) announced campaign committee headed by Gujarat CM Narendra Modi includes senior leaders such as Murli Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari as well as Chief Ministers of BJP ruled states such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh) and Manohar Parrikar (Goa).

The party also formed 20 campaign panels for efficient management of upcoming Lok Sabha elections by focusing on aspects such as rallies, manifesto, vision document, social media, publicity, youth and many more.

Entire process reiterates growing importance of NaMo factor in BJP. The team would work under the guidance of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L. K. Advani and party president Rajnath Singh.

Karnataka Assembly polls to be held on May 5, results on 8th May

The only state in South India where Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) got to the power will go for votes on 5^th May 2013. Election Commission of India announced that voting for all 224 assembly seats will be carried out on one phase while counting of votes will be on 8^th May 2013. There are about 4.18cr registered voters in Karnataka.

After the exit of Yeddyurappa from BJP, contest would be highly competitive among Congress, BJP, JDS and KJP. Moreover, Karnataka could set tone for upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

60th National Film Awards: Maharashtra establishes its supremacy

Recently announced 60^th National Film Awards created wave of celebrations especially across Marathi film industry. The legendary actor Vikram Gokhale received best actor award for his magical performance in Anumati. He shared his award with Irrfan Khan – Paan Singh Tomar. While charming girl from Kolhapur, Usha Jadhav bagged best actress award for the film “Dhag”. Shivaji Lotan Patil was adjudged best director for “Dhag”. 

As Marathi film community dominated the show, other notable winners are:

Non-feature film category: Best Director – Vikram Pawar for “Kataal”

Best playback singer (Female): Aarti Anklekar Tikekar for Samhita

Best Music Director: Shailender Barve for Samhita (Marathi)

Congratulations to all winners from our team.

 

Narendra Modi's motivating speech at New Delhi

Narendra Modi

Indian Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh: “If provoked, we will retaliate”