Goldman Sachs upgrades India to 'market weight'!

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August 8, 2011 / Reuters, Mumbai / DC.

Goldman Sachs on Monday upgraded India to 'market weight' from 'underweight', given a likely turn in the macro cycle, lower oil prices, lower valuation, and policy reform.

"The latest move by the RBI to raise the repo rate by 50 basis points was a clear sign in our view that the central bank is vigilant in bringing down inflation expectations," Goldman said in a note.

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http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/business/news/goldman-sachs-upgrades-india-market-weight-266

INDO-CHINESE TRADE: Airport upgrade stalled by security ‘paranoia’!

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Vinay Kumar, The Hindu / NEW DELHI, July 31, 2011.

A file photo of an aerobridge at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.

Home Ministry sees threat in Chinese aerobridges, yet to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to imports

The installation of aerobridges at modern airports is a routine affair, not normally associated with security threats. Except in India, that is. With the government taking up modernisation of metro airports like Chennai and Kolkata, and non-metro airports, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) wants to install aerobridges to allow passengers a smooth entry and exit from their aircraft. Unfortunately, the ones it has zeroed in on are made by Chinese firms and the absence of security clearance means its plans have hit a roadblock.

Even after one-and-a-half years, AAI has not yet received the green signal from the Union Home Ministry to place an order for nearly 40 aerobridges which it needs, causing considerable delay in the modernisation projects of airports.

“Clarifications from the Home Ministry have not come for one-and-a-half-years now. There has been considerable delay. The Ministry has not communicated either ‘yes' or ‘no' to us,” official sources said.

The difference in prices between aerobridges produced by Chinese firms and those from the West was said to be substantial. While the cost of an aerobridge produced in Europe or the U.S. is about Rs. 6 crore, it was Rs. 2 crore for those from China, sources said.

“This issue of clearance from the Home Ministry has to be sorted out soon as this will impact the deadline of the ongoing modernisation projects at Chennai and Kolkata airports,” the sources said.

While Kolkata airport should be ready by March next year, Chennai's modernisation is expected to be completed by December-end.

Due to the absence of clearance, aerobridges have also not been installed at airports in Bhopal and Indore, even though provisions for erecting them have been made, the sources said. While the new terminal at Indore airport is to be made operational in the first week of August, the one at Lucknow would be operationalised in September, with Raipur following closely, the sources said.

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http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2311211.ece

INDIAN RAILWAYS: High-speed trains on fast track!

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August 1, 2011 / By PARUL CHANDRA, Correspondent, New Delhi / DC.

Chugging ahead with its plans to build high-speed rail corridors along certain important routes, the Indian railways now plans to carry out pre-feasibility studies for these chosen routes. As the railways Vision 2020 document says, this could make train journeys between Delhi and Mumbai or Delhi and Kolkata just overnight journeys.

Also as a part of the ambitious project, which will aim at reducing the travel for passengers by as much as three to four hours, the railways is busy readying a Cabinet note for setting up a national high-speed rail authority, according to sources.

The authority will be tasked with job of overseeing the planning and implementation of this project. The proposal to set up such an authority was mentioned in the last rail budget speech. The then rail minister, Mamata Banerjee, had also said that the proposed high-speed corridors, which would allow trains to run at speeds ranging from 250 to 300 kilometres per hour, would be a “transformational initiative”.

As for funding for this project, the railways will be looking for private investment through the PPP mode.

The six corridors identified by the railways are: Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar (450 km), Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad (650 km), Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijaywada-Chennai (664 km), Chennai-Bengaluru-Coimbatore-Ernakulam (649 km), Howrah-Haldia (135 km) and Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna (991 km).

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http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/nation/north/high-speed-trains-fast-track-412

India's Nuclear Time-bomb: PM reviews safety of N-plants, directs upgradation!

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PTI | Jun 1, 2011, 07.35pm IST / Times of India.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday directed upgradation of safety measures at the country's nuclear facilities to match the global standards as he reviewed the disaster preparedness in the wake of recent radiation scare in Japan.

At a special meeting here, he asked the authorities concerned to look 'beyond design basis accident' while putting in place the safety measures at the nuclear installations.

Singh took stock of the safety measures being undertaken by Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). 

Like any other Developed Economy, India's power augmentation requirement is solely because of power wastages, right from supply side, transmission & distribution side and consumption side.

If we bring down that wastage to realistic levels, actually, we need not go for any expansion in our power sector, for another 30 years.

While Nuclear power is clean the dangerous that go with it is daunting that we would rather go for the saving rout and int the meanwhile find a better alternative to the conventional fuel based power.

Full story at,

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/PM-reviews-safety-of-N-plants-directs-upgradation/articleshow/8682062.cms