document.writeln("

Rs.100,000 crore investment mooted for the maritime sector
Chennai: A Rs1,00,000-crore maritime development programme, to be executed over the next ten years, is now under consideration of an inter-ministerial committee and will soon go before the Cabinet for approval, Union shipping minister T R Baalu said on Sunday.

Addressing a press conference here, Baalu said under the programme, while the port sector would get Rs60,000 crore, the shipping sector would receive the balance investment.

The allocation for the shipping sector include acquisition of ships (Rs20,000 crore), provision for inland water transport (Rs10,000 crore), ship building (Rs5,000 crore), development of coastal vessels (Rs4,000 crore), navigational aids and ship design.

For the port sector, 88 projects for development of berths at a cost of Rs33,000 crore, 25 projects for deepening of approach channels (Rs8310 crore), 32 projects for acquiring port equipment (Rs1,700 crore), 31 projects for providing rail and road connectivity (Rs12,950 crore) and 47 projects for development of special economic zones (Rs5,100 crore) have been envisaged.

Of this, the private sector would invest around Rs39,000 crore.

With regard to the Sethu Samudram project, he said that a 89 km stretch, out of the total canal length of 167 km, was to be dredged to a depth of over 10 metres to enable ships of up to 40,000 tonne dwt to pass through.

The dredging portion had been divided into four stretches and the stretch around Point Calimere (Kodiakarai) had been awarded to the public sector Dredging Corporation of India which had already started work. Global tenders for the other three stretches, including two in the Adam's Bridge, had been called for. The tender process would be completed by September 15 and work would hopefully begin in October, he said.
Back to News Review index page  

US$9bn World Bank loan for rural infrastructure
New Delhi: The World Bank will extend US$3bn a year to the country, for the next three years, in order to improve the infrastructure of its rural areas.

The announcement was made by Paul Wolfowitz, World Bank president, in New Delhi on Saturday at the conclusion of a four-day visit to the country, during which he met Manmohan Singh, prime minister, and finance minister P. Chidambaram.

A third of this amount has been slated for the Indian government's "Bharat Nirman" project, which is aimed at improving rural infrastructure in six areas: irrigation, drinking water and sanitation, roads, access to electricity, telecommunications and housing.

Speaking at a press conference, Wolfowitz said that despite its phenomenal growth in the last 15 years, India still had an unfinished agenda. According to World Bank data, 390mn of India's 1.1bn people live on less than US$1 a day.

Wolfowitz also said that the global financing institution was considering setting up a gap-financing fund with the Indian government.
Back to News Review index page  

CII survey: SME units in expansion mode
New Delhi: Ninety three per cent of the 1,000 small and medium enterprises, surveyed by the Confederation of Indian Industry in its 19th Business Outlook Survey on business prospects, plan to go in for additional capital investments, as compared to the previous year.

While profit margins of as many as 69 per cent of the respondents registered an increase in the last six months, four per cent of the respondents registered no change and 27 per cent of the respondents registered a decline in their profit margins.

The survey has revealed a positive outlook for the future, with 79 per cent of the respondents expecting an increase in their profit margins and only 16 per cent of the respondents expecting the profit margins to further decline in the next six months. The remaining 5 per cent respondents expect their profit margins to remain the same.

The survey has brought to light that 62 per cent of the respondents are optimistic about the general business scenario, 28 per cent expect the business situation to remain the same with a continued trend for low to moderate demand, while only 10 per cent of the respondents feel that the business prospects have declined in comparison with the previous year.
Back to News Review index page