1. Global Logistics Summit Held In New Delhi.
The Global Logistics Summit was held in New Delhi.
It was organized by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, along with FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) and the World Bank Group.
The Summit acts as a platform to hold discussions with global experts, academics, government officials and private sector and industry representatives.
According to the Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu, 56 new airports will be ready for operation in the next few years.
2. Coal Ministry Launches UTTAM App For Quality Monitoring.
The Union Minister for Railways and Coal Shri PiyushGoyal today launched UTTAM App for Coal Quality Monitoring. UTTAM stands for – Unlocking Transparency by Third Party Assessment of Mined Coal (uttam.coalindia.in).
The Ministry of Coal and Coal India Limited (CIL) developed UTTAM, aims to provide an App for all citizens and coal consumers to monitor the process of Third Party Sampling of coal across CIL subsidiaries.
UTTAM App ensures accountability, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency in coal ecosystem. It provides a platform for monitoring of sampling and coal dispatches.
The App is designed with an aim to make the citizens a stakeholder in the coal ecosystem. UTTAM is an example of leveraging technology to facilitate a bidirectional channel between Coal India Limited and a common citizen. It ensures transparency and efficiency in the coal quality monitoring process and brings coal governance closer to people.
3. India becomes second largest manufacturer of crude steel.
In a major achievement, India has overtaken Japan to become the world’s second largest producer of crude steel in February, according to the Steel Users Federation of India (SUFI). At present, China is the largest producer of crude steel in the world, accounting for more than 50% of the production.
India’s crude steel production was up 4.4% and stood at 93.11 million tonnes (MT) for the period April 2017 to February 2018, compared with April 2016 to February 2017. This had helped India to overtake Japan and become the second largest producer of crude steel in the world, SUFI said in a statement here.
India overtook the U.S. in 2015 to become the third largest producer of crude steel.
Attributing the growth in steel production to the policies undertaken by the government, Nikunj Turakhia, president, SUFI said, “The government has taken a host of steps to curb imports, push local demand with initiatives like ‘Make in India’, and implement GST and infrastructure projects, to encourage the domestic market.”
According to the World Steel Association, India produced 8.4 MT of crude steel in February 2018, up 3.4% over February 2017.
Mr. Turakhia said the Steel Ministry was working pro-actively to prepare a road map to achieve 300 MT by 2030.
“In addition, quick resolution of various big-ticket steel mills under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the National Company Law Tribunal is expected to further hasten the process of achieving higher capacity utilisation,” he added.
4. Russia Started Building Turkey`s First Nuclear Power Plant.
The leaders of Turkey and Russia marked the official start of work to build Turkey’s first nuclear power station on Tuesday (3 April), launching construction of the $20 billion Akkuyu plant in the southern province of Mersin.
The plant will be built by Russian state nuclear energy agency Rosatom and will be made up of four units each with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan marked the start to construction, watching by video link from Ankara.
“When all four units go online, the plant will meet 10% of Turkey’s energy needs,” Erdogan said, adding that despite delays Turkey still planned to start generating power at the first unit in 2023.
Speaking at a later news conference with Putin, Erdogan said the cost of the project may exceed the planned $20 billion for the 4,800 megawatt (MW) plant, part of Erdogan’s “2023 vision” marking 100 years since the founding of modern Turkey and intended to reduce Turkey’s dependence on energy imports.
5. Flipkart Partners With MakeMyTrip To Offer Travel Services.
Ecommerce market leader Flipkart has entered into a partnership with online travel and ticketing platform MakeMyTrip to launch its entry into the online travel sector. Here on, users can leverage MakeMyTrip’s travel services on Flipkart’s platform. Online ticket booking services offered by Goibibo and Redbus, other travel platforms owned by MakeMyTrip, will also be available on Flipkart.
According to a press release, the new partnership will start with a roll-out of domestic flight bookings in the next few weeks, followed by hotels, bus and holidays bookings. The online shopping platform claims to have 100 million registered users and app downloads, which can now be leveraged by MakeMyTrip.
Though a substantial portion of MakeMyTrip’s revenues comes from its Indian unit MakeMyTrip (India) Private Limited, its other subsidiaries in Singapore and the UAE also contribute a small volume of revenue towards the parent firm’s revenues. Apart from air tickets, hotel packages, rail tickets, bus tickets, car hire and ancillary travel requirements, it also facilitates access to travel insurance.
Commenting on the partnership, Deep Kalra, Founder & Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, said,
6. FIEO and PayPal signed MoU.
PayPal will work with FIEO to educate SMEs on how to leverage global opportunities and help them receive money in a safe and timely manner.
Global technology platform and digital payments leader, PayPal and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), India’s apex international trade promotion organisation, announced a partnership to promote exports while leveraging the technology and experience of each other. PayPal will work with FIEO to educate SMEs on how to leverage global opportunities, help them receive money in a safe and timely manner with PayPal products like invoicing and bring to them global best practices from across 200 markets.
Dr. Ajay Sahai, director general and CEO, said ‘The MoU will help FIEO to reach the cottage industries, artisans, house-wives, youths, MSMEs and clusters, even in far-flung areas to develop their orientation towards exports. The Paypal products like invoicing solutions, safe and trusted payment options for buyers, easy integration with existing business systems will help encourage the entrepreneurs and the startups alike to take to exports without any difficulty, without much technical knowhow. All these are in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of Make in India, Digital India and empowering the youth for start-up encouragement with export orientation.’
Speaking on the same Shri Anupam Pahuja, managing director and country manager, India, PayPal said, ‘With the shift towards an entrepreneurial mindset amongst Indians, the focus will now shift towards enablers that can fuel their success. This MoU will essentially focus on training Indian SMEs in various aspects of exports and familiarize them with global growth opportunities. Certain inherent challenges have deterred the Indian SME sector from performing to its true potential. Our programs and seminars will debunk myths and simplify the entire ecosystem for the SMEs. FIEO’s members contribute to more than 70 percent of India’s exports and we look forward to leveraging our partnership to strike the global chord’.
Most small exporters from India tend to focus on the local market to steer away from the risks associated with operating in a global marketplace. Complicated shipping and exports procedures also serve as deterrents for this sector which has very high potential. The awareness programs will address some commonly faced challenges by SMBs and entail trainings to empower them with PayPal solutions tailored for this segment.
PayPal is the only payment system to have partnered with the FIEO to plan engagement activities from Indian SMEs and freelancers.