India moves ahead in WEF's competitiveness index
New Delhi: The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) has ranked India at 43rd place ahead of Brazil at (66), China (54) and Russia (62).

Last year India was at 45th place again ahead of the other three countries.

Each of the other three countries has slipped this year. China slipped from 48th place to 54th, Brazil from the 57th to 66th and Russia from the 53rd to 62nd.

Switzerland, Finland and Sweden are the world's most competitive economies according to the report. Denmark, Singapore, the United States, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom complete the top 10 list. The United States showed the most pronounced drop, falling from the first place to the sixth.
Goldman Sachs much publicized report released some time ago said four countries Brazil, Russia, India and China would dominate the world's economy by 2040.

While India continues to score well in indicators related to innovation and sophistication of firm operations, as well as in the adoption of technologies from abroad, weaknesses such as a high budget deficit and lack of appropriate infrastructure are impediments to growth.
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WB govt hands out cheques for land for Tata Motors plant
Kolkata: Road and rail traffic in the metropolis and its surroundings areas were thrown out of gear this morning following an hour-long blockade by the Trinamool Congress to protest the "forcible" acquistion of agricultural land for the Tata Motors car project at Singur.

Banerjee went on a strike here this morning after being forcibly removed from the Singur BDO's office in Hooghly district where she had staged a sit in last night demanding the immediate stoppage of paying compensation cheques to land losers. She was later escorted back to Kolkata by the police.

The government officials said ten percent or 150 land owners have received compensation cheques from the West Bengal government for parting with their land.

On the first day of disbursement the government handed over cheques to 250 beneficiaries yesterday.

Cheques are to be disbursed to 5,000 recipients - 4,000 of them land owners and 1,000 share croppers.
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Bank norms may be eased for big power projects
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may ease the exposure norms of banks to power projects, in order to facilitate financing of the ultra mega power projects.

Under RBI norms, a bank can extend loans up to 15 per cent of its net worth to a single entity and 40 per cent to a group.

However, for infrastructure projects, single entity exposure can go up to 20 per cent and group exposure, 50 per cent.

This may be further relaxed for the 4000 MW power projects, each of which require an investment of about Rs20,000 crore.

The power ministry had in March this year approached the finance ministry for relaxation in the cap on commercial banks' exposure to a single entity to 55 per cent of their net worth, to help fund the ultra mega power projects.

The ministry's proposal also included increasing the eligibility for external commercial borrowings (ECBs) and floating special bonds for the projects. The Reserve Bank is said looking into these proposals and would announce a relaxation in terms of exposure as well as ECBs soon.
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DoT advocates suspension of Press Note 5
New Delhi: The Government may put on hold the guidelines for allowing up to 74 per cent FDI in telecom sector, proposed in this regard through 'Press Note 5'.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) is understood to have suggested a suspension of Press Note 5, which was issued last year, saying this seems to be the most feasible option at present till a broad consensus emerges, highly placed sources said.

Bharti Airtel announced on Tuesday a suo-moto that their FDI in Bharti Airtel stood at 47.92 per cent and consolidated foreign holdings at little over 73 per cent, in compliance with the existing FDI policy in the telecom sector.

Similarly, Hutchison Essar said its FDI was well within the prescribed limit of below 49 per cent for direct foreign holding.

Sources in the Department of Telecom (DoT), said some decision has to be taken before October 2 as the Union Cabinet had extended the time till then to implement guidelines with respect to Press Note 5 dealing with norms to effect enhanced FDI.
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Maharashtra to ease up on land takeover for SEZs
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government has decided to ease up its efforts in acquiring agriculture land for setting up SEZs in the State. Officials said the State Government has promised to strike a balance between farmers' interest and industrial development.

The state has set up a sub-committee to decide on the compensation to be paid for purchase of land and to ensure economic rehabilitation of displaced farmers.

Out of the 220 SEZs approved by the Union Government, 48 are located in Maharashtra.

Sources said that the Government favours the idea of converting local landowners into equity stakeholders in the project. They could also be allotted industrial or commercial space in the SEZ by way of compensation, which would be over and above the monetary sums paid.
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Railways may phase out non-AC train coaches
New Delhi: The Railway Ministry may phase out non-AC sleeper class coaches starting with the long distance trains. This would be done by gradually replacing the sleeper class coaches by the air-conditioned (AC) coaches designed for Garib Rath trains.

The newly designed AC coaches can accommodate higher number of passengers as compared to the standard AC-III tier coaches. Moreover, to bring down the cost per passenger, the Railways is also looking at increasing the length of trains.

For instance, each coach in standard AC III-tier can accommodate 64 sleeping berths while coaches designed for Garib Rath can accommodate 74 sleeping berths. In the chair car berth of standard AC train, 70 chairs can be accommodated, whereas Garib Rath would have 102 sitting berths. Thus, by moving more passengers per coach, the cost per unit can be brought down. A standard AC train can accommodate 1,228 passengers instead of 799 passengers. And if Garib Rath coaches are used, then a 17-coach train can accommodate 1,254 passengers, while a 24-coach train can accommodate 1,828 passengers.
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