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Projects being shelved at unprecedented pace, stalled projects at record high, says CMIE report

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Projects being shelved at unprecedented pace, stalled projects at record high, says CMIE report

The claims of Modi government and the calls for more projects and investments and promotion of ‘self-employment’ instead of providing jobs, seem to have come a cropper, the much touted ‘unprecedented’ rise in India’s Ease of Doing Business (EOB) rank notwithstanding: The number of stalled projects in the country has reached a record level, according to a new report.

Citing a report by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Quartz India said, “India Inc is mothballing projects at a record pace.”

In the 12 months ending March 2018, India saw an unprecedented number of projects being shelved by companies, said the report.

In financial year 2017-2018, investments worth Rs7.63 lakh crore ($117.35 billion) were scrapped.

Over 40% (worth Rs3.3 lakh crore) of which were dropped from January-March, the last three months alone, the report said.

Projects being shelved at unprecedented pace, stalled projects at record high, says CMIE reportWhereas earlier the projects usually got delayed due to hurdles in getting regulatory approvals, now the reason was subdued economic growth leading to lack of demand, said the Quartz report quoting, chief economist at India Ratings & Research Devendra Kumar Pant.

Most companies were using only 71.8% of their existing capacities, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) survey conducted towards the end of the July-September 2017 quarter. In such a scenario, adding more factories and manufacturing units may not be viable.

“In the power sector, for instance, there is surplus supply. This has affected the distribution companies’ financial position. Similarly, rising input costs and falling demand have taken the wind out of the steel sector. Therefore, companies in the power and steel sector are unlikely to take up any new projects in the coming months,” the report said.

It said that overall, with output and new orders declining, manufacturing activity in March grew at the slowest pace in the last five months, the Nikkei India manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), compiled by IHS Markit, showed.

Mounting debt and languid demand have also resulted in subdued growth in corporate earnings in the last few years. Things worsened in financial year 2018 due to the lingering effect of demonetisation and the introduction of the goods and services tax.

There was more bad news. Quarterly profit growth for listed Indian firms fell from 16.4% in the January to March quarter last year to a negative 13.9% in the October to December quarter, according to the CMIE data.

Tepid demand and slow sales have, in turn, added to the massive debt pile. At the end of March 2017, India’s corporate debt inched up to a seven-year high, underlining their stress levels.

With investments on hold, there is little generation of employment and demand. The economy is already staring at a job crisis with unemployment rising steadily.

The problem is not new. Exactly a year ago, it was reported that the number of stalled projects had reached the highest level since Narendra Modi assumed office as the prime minister in May 2014.

How was the government taking it? ‘Change the label’ was the recommendation of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), to ‘shelved’ or ‘dropped’ or ‘abandoned’ if the promoters have no further intention to start implementation instead of calling it ‘stalled’, said a report in The Indian Express in February this year. The IE report quoted the communique to ministries from the PMO’s Project Monitoring Group (PMG): “Wherever the project proponents have decided not to pursue the projects, the same should be explicitly stated on the (e-suvidha) portal to help Private Economic Databases (PEDs) to appropriately reclassify the project.”

“Continued classification of mere project ideas as ‘implementation stalled’ projects in public domain has been reflecting the investment scenario in poor light even though the promoters themselves have not taken any concrete/firm step towards the project implementation for a variety of reasons,” the report said, quoting the note.

The PMG believed that these projects in reports released by PEDs were “negatively impacting the sentiments about the ongoing investments in the economy and portraying an unduly gloomy scenario of increase in ‘implementation stalled’ projects”.

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Happy Birthday Mark Zuckerberg: Social media users wish Facebook co-founder on his 40th birthday

Born on May 14, 1984, Zuckerberg has grown from a Harvard dropout into a billionaire philanthropist, owning many tech ventures over the years. He started Facebook in 2004 and took it public in 2012.

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Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and CEO of Facebook (Meta), is celebrating his 40th birthday on May 14. Zuckerberg, one of the most influential figures in the tech industry, has had a major impact on how people connect and communicate with each other all over the world.

At 40, Zuckierberg continues to lead Facebook and its parent company, Meta, towards new technological frontiers. Born on May 14, 1984, Zuckerberg has grown from a Harvard dropout into a billionaire philanthropist, owning many tech ventures over the years. He started Facebook in 2004 and took it public in 2012.

In 2021 the social media platform changed its name to Meta to shift the company’s focus to the metaverse. Under his leadership, Facebook has grown into a global platform with over 2.8 billion active users. Apart from this, he has also expanded his influence through the Chan Zuckerberg initiative, which is run by Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan and focuses on philanthropy in health, education, and scientific research with an investment of 99% of the couple’s wealth over their lifetime.

There has been a rise in the net worth of Mark Zuckerberg over the last few years. According to Forbes, his net worth stands at $177 billion, which makes him the 4th richest man in the world. Since Facebook (now Meta) acquired WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion, Mark Zuckerberg’s net worth has grown significantly.

In 2014 his net worth was approximately $26.1billion, which now stands at around $177 billion, which reflects a substantial increase in the net worth due to Meta’s expanding business and strategic acquisitions over the year.

Before Zuckerberg turned 40, he gifted himself a brand-new superyacht, Launchpad in March 2024. According to reports, Zuckerberg purchased $59 million worth of waterfront property on Lake Tahoe in California in 2019. He spends his money on luxury vehicles and owns a Acura TSX, a Honda Fit, and a black Volkswagon Golf GTI.

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Google restores delisted Indian apps after government intervention

Google on Saturday restored all Indian apps it had removed.

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Google has started to restore all the delisted Indian mobile apps on Play Store agian, which they had removed due to a disagreement over service fees. After a discussion between company representatives and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the decision was made, according to sources.

The step was taken in response to Vaishnaw’s strong statement in which he said that it is not allowed for apps to be removed from the Google Play Store. The minister had said, India is very clear, our policy is very clear…our startups will get the protection that they need.

Vaishnaw  continued saying that he has already given Google a call. They will be speaking with the app developers who were delisted this week. This is not acceptable. The minister said this kind of delisting cannot be permitted.

Ten Indian companies’ apps were banned by Google on Friday, causing outrage in one of its fastest-growing markets. With 94% of phones running on its Android platform, Google holds a large portion of the Indian market. Popular names like Naukri and Bharatmatrimony were on the list.

The main point of contention is Google’s in-app purchase fees, which range from 11% to 26%. Indian startups have long opposed the US tech giant’s actions, believing them to be unfair.

The founder of Bharat Matrimony, Christian Matrimony, Muslim Matrimony, and Jodii, Matrimony.com, expressed shock at the matchmaking apps’ removal from the Google Play Store.

Shaadi. Com CEO Anupam Mittal described it as a dark day for India’s internet, highlighting the possible broad effects on matchmaking services. He also called Google an evil.

While, Kuku FM Co-founder Vinod Kumar Meena in a statement had said that Google was behaving like a monopoly.

Meanwhile, Google temporarily withdrew the famous Indian payments app Paytm from the Play Store in 2020, claiming a few policy infractions. Due to this decision, the founder of the company as well as the larger startup community came together to build their own app stores and file lawsuits against Google.

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Anant Ambani says he is 100% lucky to get Radhika Merchant in his life

Anant Ambani said he was grateful to get Radhika as his life partner. He said he is 100% lucky to get Radhika Merchant in his life. He said every day he is falling more and more in love with her. He added although he had known Radhika for the last 7 years, it felt he had met her only yesterday. He thanked Radhika for everything.

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Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s grand three-day wedding celebrations began with a glamorous cocktail night on Friday in Jamnagar. During the celebrations, Anant Ambani also gave a speech wherein he thanked his late grandfather Dhirubhai Ambani and grandmother Kokilaben Ambani for inspiring him. Anant Ambani said he was grateful to get Radhika as his life partner. He said he is 100% lucky to get Radhika Merchant in his life. He said every day he is falling more and more in love with her.

He expressed his gratitude to his mother for pulling together the lavish three-day wedding celebrations in Jamnagar. Anant thanked his mother for all she had done. He said all the arrangements had been done by his mother and nobody else. He added his mother had gone all out and she had worked 18-19 hours a day and he was extremely grateful to her.

He also thanked all the guests who were present there at the pre-wedding celebrations. He said everyone had made it to Jamnagar to make him and Radhika feel special. He said both of them were honored and humbled to have all of them present there. Anant said he was sorry if they had caused an inconvenience to anyone. He asked for forgiveness. He hoped everyone is going to enjoy the coming three days. He also thanked his mother, father, sister, brother, his sister-law and his brother in-law for making this event memorable.

Anant said everyone has been sleeping for less than 3 hours a day for the last 2-3 months and he was very happy to share this joy with everyone. The youngest Ambani talked about his personal struggles and how his parents had always supported him. He further added his life had not been entirely a bed of roses. He said he had also experienced the pain of thorns. He said he had faced many health crises.

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