Sustainability Outlook Headlines

TERI Business Council hosts its 11th Leadership Summit for Sustainable Development

The summit witnessed participation from some of the leading corporate enterprises with the vision of mainstreaming sustainability in business planning and practice.

Mumbai: 29th Oct, 2013: TERI-BCSD in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainability Development (WBCSD) today organized the 11th ‘Leadership Summit for Sustainable Development – Mainstreaming Sustainability in Business Planning and Practice’, its annual flagship event.

Commencing the event, Director General TERI, Dr. R K Pachauri said “Business and industry in India are focusing increasingly on... Read more..

India adds 118 MW of PV capacity in September 2013

India added 111 MW of grid-tied solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity and 7 MW of off-grid PV in September 2013, according to figures released by the nation's ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).

This is a slight decline from the previous month but an improvement on prior months, and brings India to 2.08 GW of grid-tied and 139 MW of off-grid PV. This includes 395 MW of grid-tied and 14 MW of off-grid added from April 1st through September 30th, 2013.

Solar thermal collectors reach a cumulative total of 7.27 million square meters

Additionally, India added 100,000... Read more..

Morgan Stanley’s Wind Farms Dump Suzlon Model: Corporate India

Morgan Stanley-backed Continuum Wind Energy Pte, which plans a more than 10-fold surge in its India capacity, is dumping a 20-year model that helped Suzlon Energy Ltd. (SUEL) dominate Asia’s second-biggest turbine market.

Continuum aims to build 1,360 megawatts of wind farms by 2017, almost all of that on its own, abandoning an industry practice of hiring turbine makers to execute projects on a turnkey basis, Chief Executive Officer Arvind Bansal said. The new model will help utilities manage the assets better and boost their profitability, he said.

Developers in India are... Read more..

Sleeping giant awakes as India’s infrastructure builds

Investors in the Indian market quickly realise there are no short-term fixes for the Indian economy. But there are long-term structural and demographic drivers that are shaping the country’s future.

One of the key elements in India’s long-term story is the development of its ‘informal sector’. Every emerging economy and most developed economies have workers without formal employment or social security – those employed outside the regulatory and tax net.

Is the possible long-term gain worth the short-term pain for investors? Perhaps. The potential productivity growth in India’... Read more..

Tata Power developing 160 MW wind projects in India

Augmenting its renewable energy portfolio, Tata PowerBSE 0.88 % is developing wind projects having total generation capacity of over 160 MW in the country.

The private power producer already has an installed wind energy generation capacity of 398 MW with projects across Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

"Tata Power is developing wind power projects of over 160 MW in India," Tata Power Managing Director Anil Sardana said in a statement today.

Besides wind, the company has presence in solar power generation and is also implementing hydro... Read more..

Irrigation department to plan water release, says Pawar

Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar said the irrigation department would plan for the equitable distribution of water and make arrangements for the release of additional water into Jayakwadi's reservoir, during his visit to Aurangabad on Monday where he addressed a gathering at a function to disburse loans to farmers in Phulambri.

Pawar urged them to utilise the loans for businesses related to rural development and repay them so that new and more applicants can benefit from the government's schemes. Cheques worth Rs 1 crore each valuing Rs 50,000 were distributed. The state government... Read more..

Taking waste management solutions to the grassroots

Last week saw some action in the areas of Sao Tome and Fontainhas in Panaji. The Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) along with 100 students from Nirmala Institute of Education, Altinho, Panaji, and TOI's Youth Brigade got a first-hand experience, explaining to people in the locality the method of segregating garbage at source.

The CCP's co-opted councilor Patricia Pinto supervised this grassroots initiative to solve the waste management issue. The two-day campaign covered 250 houses and drew mixed responses from the residents.

Says Earl de Souza, "It's a good initiative... Read more..

India to Issue New Rules for Foreign Banks

Indian regulators are expected to issue new rules governing the operation of foreign banks in coming days, in a step aimed at pressing them to set up local subsidiaries and lend more in poor, rural areas.

More than 40 international banks now do business in India with significant government-imposed restrictions on the number of branches they can open each year and how they can raise funds.

Bankers said they expect the new regulations to ease such limits for banks that decide to incorporate in India, though taking that step could subject them to other obligations, such as... Read more..

Agri Outlook: Weak prospects ahead for cotton, soybean

Soybean production this season is a case of a happy story gone sour. Soybean sowing this season took off like a shot, on early monsoons and favourable soil moisture. Planting for this year is 12.2 million hectares, according to ministry of agriculture, up 14 per cent from 2012. A bumper crop was expected and around early August, there were expectations that soybean could test this year’s government of India announcement on a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2,560 a quintal, a trend unseen for many years.

Then came the twist!

Towards late August and early September, Madhya... Read more..

Government Of India And World Bank Sign $360M Agreement to Modernize Water Sector in UP

The government of India and the World Bank recently signed a $360M credit agreement to help build the institutional capacity needed to increase agricultural productivity in Uttar Pradesh (UP) where agriculture will continue to play an important role in alleviating extreme poverty.

The credit agreement for the Uttar Pradesh Water Sector Restructuring Project Phase 2 was signed by Nilaya Mitash, joint secretary, department of economic affairs, ministry of finance, on behalf of the government of India; Deepak Singhal, principal secretary, Irrigation on behalf of the government of UP;... Read more..

Fuel efficiency: notification to car makers likely only next year

India is yet to notify fuel-efficiency norms for car makers, and is likely to do so only next year, delaying the deadline for implementation to at least 2017—a delay the oil-importing country can ill-afford.

The move to enforce stringent fuel-efficiency norms is also significant in the context of higher oil prices and a weaker rupee.

Planning commission member in-charge of energy B.K. Chaturvedi said the norms, designed by the country’s bureau of energy efficiency (BEE), are likely to be notified in 2014 and will only become mandatory much later.
“In terms of efficiency... Read more..

Energy giant abandons India projects over delays

lobal mining and energy giant BHP Billiton announced yesterday it had given up on nine Indian deep-sea oil and gas projects due to delays in carrying out exploration at the sites.

The Anglo-Australian giant said it had relinquished six blocks in the Bay of Bengal which it partly owned with Indian conglomerate GVK, and another three that it owned fully.

“The decision to relinquish these blocks is the result of an exploration portfolio review and the inability to carry out exploration operations in these blocks,” a BHP spokesman said.

GVK said in its latest annual... Read more..