FAQ

The Union Ministry of Finance on 13 September 2022  has set up a committee to suggest ways to attract venture capital and private equity (VC/PE) investments in India . 

The Committee will be headed by the former  chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) , M Damodaran.

The Finance minister in her Budget speech for the fiscal year 2022-23 had stated that the government was considering forming a committee that will encourage Private Equity and Venture Capital investment in India .

According to the Ministry the  committee will "comprehensively study, using a systems approach, the end-to-end frictions and potential accelerants from regulatory policy and taxation to facilitate ease of investing, as well as to encourage investments in India".

Venture Capital Fund and Private Equity are regulated by SEBI in India .

India has surpassed China to become the second biggest smartwatch  market in the world . According to the United Kingdom based market research company , Counterpoint , at the end of June 2022 quarter , the Indian market grew by 347% as compared to the  same period last year .

During the June 2022 quarter the global market grew at just 13%. 

Main Points of the report 

North America remains the largest smartwatch market in the world with a shipment of 26% of the global market.

India was the second largest market in the world with a shipment of 22% of the global market.

China remained the third largest market with a shipment of 21% of the global market.

Smartwatch Brand in the world 

The world's largest smartwatch company was Apple  accounting for 29.3% of the overall shipments, followed by  Samsung (9.2%),Huawei (6.8%).Fire-Boltt (6.3%) and Noise (5.9%).

The Indian economy grew by 13.5% in the April to June (2022-23) as compared to the same period last year. However it was below the Reserve Bank of India 16.2 % forecast  for the first quarter.

India still remains the fastest growing major economy in the world . The Chinese economy grew by 0.4% during April -June 2022.

The growth rate of the Indian economy in 2021-22 was 8.7%.

The data regarding the performance of the Indian economy in the first quarter of the fiscal year 20222-23 was released by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on 31 st August 2022.

GDP  growth rate  at constant price(2011-12 base year) 

GVA=GDP + subsidies on products – taxes on products.

Nominal GDP

The Nominal GDP at Current Prices in Q1 2022-23 is estimated at Rs 64.95 lakh crore against Rs 51.27 lakh crore in Q1 2021-22, showing a growth of 26.7 per cent compared to 32.4 per cent a year ago.

 While calculating the nominal GDP the market price of goods and services are included. It makes no adjustment for inflation 

GDP at Constant Price or Real GDP

The Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at Constant Price  (2011-12) in Q1 2022-23 is estimated at  Rs 36.85 lakh crore, as against Rs 32.46 lakh crore in Q1 2021-22, showing a growth of 13.5.

While calculating the GDP at constant price the price rise in the goods and services due to inflation is not counted . Prices are fixed to a base year . It measures the actual increase in the production of goods and services . 

GDP at constant price is the best indicator to measure the growth of an economy.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaire Index released on 30 August 2022, Gautam Shantilal Adani, Chairman of the Adani group was ranked the third richest person in the world.

• He was behind the richest person in the world, Tesla chairman Elon Musk, of the United States with a total net worth of $251 billion  ,
• followed by fellow American, Jeff Bezos of Amazon with a net worth of $153 billion.
• Gautam Adani with a net worth of $137 billion  was ahead of the
• 4th placed Bernard Arnault of France. Bernard Arnault is the chairman of the world's largest luxury group LVMH Moet-Louis Vuitton.

Gautam Adani is the first Asian to be ranked as 3rs richest in the world 

• Before Adani, no Asian was ever ranked in the top three richest persons in the world.
• Gautam Aadni who is a college dropout started as a diamond trader and then diversified into coal business.
• The group now owns India’s largest private-sector port and airport operator, city-gas distributor and coal miner.
• Adani's company operates 13 sea terminals in India and controls 24 per cent of India’s maritime commerce.
• He was recently included in the Times magazine's 100 most Influential persons of the world.

Bangladesh and India on 25 August 2022, signed two contracts for the construction of a new broad-gauge line between Khulna- Darsana and conversion of metre gauge line into dual-gauge line between Parbatipur and Kaunia in Bangladesh.

• The contract signing ceremony was held at the Railway Ministry in Dhaka between representatives of the consultancy firm from India and the Bangladesh counterpart for the project. 
• Railway Minister of Bangladesh Md. Nurul Islam Sujan was the Chief Guest on the occasion. 
• The two projects are being implemented with financing under the Indian Line of Credit (LoC). 
• The 126 kilometre long Khulna-Darshana broad gauge rail line will have 147 bridges over it.
• The project cost is Bangladeshi Taka 3506 crore out of which Taka 2689 crore will come from the Indian Line of Credit. The current contract is for undertaking the feasibility study with detailed engineering design for the project.

Ranjit Rath has taken over as new Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Oil India Limited (OIL) on 2 August 2022.

Oil India Limited is a Navratna Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India. It is also the second-largest public sector oil exploration and production company after ONGC.

Before taking over the charge of Oil India Limited, Rath was the chairman cum managing director of Mineral Exploration & Consultancy Limited under the Ministry of Mines.

Oil India Limited 

• It is an oil exploration and production company under the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
• Oil India Private Limited was incorporated on 18th February 1959, to expand and develop the newly discovered oil fields of Naharkatiya and Moran in the North-Eastern region of India.
•  In 1961, it became a joint venture company of the Government of India and Burmah Oil Company Limited, UK.
•  In 1981, OIL became a wholly owned Government of India enterprise.
• Besides having a Pan-India presence, OIL has Participating Interest (PI) in blocks in eight countries overseas in  Russia, USA, Venezuela, Mozambique, Nigeria, Gabon, Bangladesh & Libya.

Union Communication minister Ashwini Vaishnaw expects the roll out of the 5G telecom service in the country by October 2022 as the government received a record bidding amount for the 5G spectrum auction which ended on 1 August 2022. 

5G spectrum allocation 

• India has been divided into 22 telecom circles by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the companies were asked to bid for the offered spectrum. 
• The bidding for the 5G spectrum was held by the government from 26 July to 1 August 2022.
• Government offered 72 GHz of radio waves for auction for a period of 20 years and four telecom companies participated in the auction. 
• The participating companies were Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Gautam Adani’s, Adani Data Network.

Spectrum on offers 

 DoT  offered 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz), mid (3300 MHz), and high (26 GHz) frequency bands for auctions..

Total bidding amount 

According to the telecom minister 71 % of the total spectrum on offer was sold and the bidding amount was Rs 1, 50,173 crore.

This is the highest ever received as a bidding amount by the government for a spectrum auction. 

The previous highest was the 4G auction in 2021 for Rs 77,815 crore. 

Reliance Jio was the highest bidder 

• Reliance Jio emerged as the highest bidder with Rs 88,078 crore bid for 24,740 MHz of airwaves. 
•  Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel made a successful bid of Rs 43,084 crore for19,867.8 MHz of spectrum
• Vodafone Idea Ltd bought 6228 MHz of spectrum for Rs 18,799 crore.
• Gautam Adani company paid Rs 212 crore for 400 MHz

 Impact of the Auction 

On Government revenue 

• The record bid amount received by the government is expected to boost the central government finances. 
• It will help the government bridge its fiscal deficit which is expected to be 6.4 % of the GDP. 
• The Department of Telecom is expected to receive $1.6 billion as license fee from the telecom operator who will operate the network for the next 20 years.

Benefit to the Public 

The introduction of 5G in India is likely to usher in a new era of high-speed internet, allowing video downloads in seconds and enabling the use of advanced connected devices through cloud computing technologies.

 It is likely to give a boost to the economy and enable higher data consumption.

What is 5G 

• It refers to the 5th generation of mobile technology .
• It's the next generation of mobile internet connection and offers much faster data download and upload speeds.
• Through greater use of the radio spectrum it will allow far more devices to access the mobile internet at the same time.
•  Existing spectrum bands are becoming congested, leading to breakdowns in service, particularly when lots of people in the same area are trying to access online mobile services at the same time.
• 5G is much better at handling thousands of devices simultaneously, from mobiles to equipment sensors, video cameras to smart street lights.

What is spectrum and how does it work?

• Airwaves are radio frequencies within the electromagnetic spectrum that can carry information wirelessly for a range of services including telecommunications.
• In India spectrum is owned by the government of India.
•  The government manages and allocates airwaves to companies or sectors for their use.

The Kerala Government will launch its own on line cab service from next month named ‘Kerala Savari’. It is for the first time that any state government will launch its own e-taxi service in India. 

The new service would be launched in a function to be held at Kanakakkunnu Palace, Thiruvananthapuram on the beginning day of the Malayalam month of Chingam, which falls on 17 August 2022.

The Kerala Savari will be an app based taxi service like Ola or Uber. It will be  

Implemented by the Motor Workers Welfare Board with the cooperation of the Planning Board, Legal Metrology, Transport, IT and Police Departments. Indian Telephone Industries, Palakkad will provide technical assistance for the project.

Kerala 

Governor : Arif Mohammad Khan

Chief Minister :Pinarayi Vijayan 

Capital : Thiruvananthapuram 

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a number of proposals  including a package amounting to Rs 1.64 lakh crore to revive the ailing Public sector Telecom giant Bharat Sanchar Nigam ltd(BSNL) on 27 July 2022.

Revival measure approved by the government has three focus elements — to improve services, de-stress the balance sheet and expand the fibre network.

Financial package for de-stressing BSNL balance sheet:  

•  Government has approved a proposal to increase its authorized capital from Rs 40,000 crore to Rs 1, 50,000 crore. This will help the company get more capital.
• The government has also approved a proposal to convert  Rs 33,404 crore statutory dues into equity. BSNL, like other Telecom companies, has to pay Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) to the government as a license fee for using the spectrum (air frequency) owned by the government. Now AGR due of BSNL will be converted into shares and issued to the Government of India.
• To repay the Bank loans, BSNL will issue low interest rate bonds worth Rs 40,399 crore, which will be guaranteed by the government of India. It means that if the BSNL fails to repay the bondholders then the government of India will repay them.
• Government will provide Rs 13,789 crore to BSNL as viability gap funding for commercially unviable rural wire-line operations done during 2014-15 to 2019-20.

Expansion of Fiber service: 

• To facilitate wider utilisation of infrastructure laid under BharatNet, Bharat Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL) will be merged with BSNL. 
• With the BBNL merger, BSNL will get an additional 5.67 lakh kilometres of optical fibre which has been laid across 1.85 lakh village panchayats in the country using the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). 
• Currently, BSNL has an optical fibre cable network of over 6.83 lakh kilometres.

4G service: 

• To improve existing services and provide 4G services, BSNL will be allotted Spectrum in 900/1800 MHz band administratively at the cost of Rs 44,993 crore through equity infusion.
• BSNL is expected to launch 4G service within one or two years.

The Government of India hopes that with the implementation of this revival plan, BSNL will turn-around and earn profit in FY 2026-27.

Strategic Importance of BSNL:  

• BSNL was set up in 2000 by the Government of India under the Department of Telecommunication, Ministry of Telecommunication.
• Its network is used by the government and the defence forces.
• BSNL plays a crucial role in the expansion of telecom services in rural areas, development of indigenous technology and disaster relief.
• It is losing its market share to the Private telecom sector providers like Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone-idea.
• According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India  as  on May 31, 2022, the private telecom service providers held 89.87 percent market share of the wireless subscribers, whereas BSNL and MTNL, the two PSU access service providers, had a market share of only 10.13 percent.

Union Minister of Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology: Ashwini Vaishnaw

To provide some relief to the waterways transportation sector in the country, the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has directed all the major Ports to exempt all berth hiring and vessel related charges being currently levied to the Ro-Pax or passenger ferries for the next six months.

The tax concession will be effective with immediate effect, starting 24 July 2022.

Reason for Tax exemption and its benefit  

• The international price of the ‘Low Sulphur High Flash High-Speed Diesel’ and ‘Very Low Sulphur Fuel Oil’, which is used as a fuel by the sector has almost doubled. This has adversely affected the operation of the waterways transportation sector in India. 
• With the exemption in taxation, the sector is expected to pass the benefit to the consumers. 
• This will make the service cheaper to the users resulting in greater use of the service by the consumer and more revenue generation for the waterways transportation sector.

Promotion of the waterway transportation

• The ministry has been promoting the Ro-Ro/Ro-Pax/ferry waterway transportation which has lower carbon emissions compared to other modes of transport. 
• Also, there is a significant time and cost savings compared to the traditional transportation modes.

The Ro-Pax services implemented by the Deendayal Port Authority(Kandla, Gujarat)between Ghogha and Hazira under Sagarmala Programme have reduced travel time from 12 hrs. to 4 hrs. This Ro-Pax ferry service has carried over 78,000 vehicles and more than 2.6 lakh passengers since inception.

Similarly, Maharashtra Maritime Board initiated Ro-Pax ferry service on Mumbai – Mandwa route. Project resulted in saving around 3 hours of road travel against 45 minutes by sea route. More than 5.5 Lakh passengers have availed this Ro-Pax service and more than 1 lakh vehicles have been transported. 

Ro-Ro means Roll On and Roll Off: These are cargo vessels which are designed to carry vehicles like cars, motorcycles etc.  On waterways.

Ro-Pax means the vessels can carry both vehicles and also passengers. 

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways: Sarbananda Sonowal.