How India’s policymakers saved India from this global crisis

An interesting compilation of write-ups on the topic by Amol Agrawal.

Profile of banks in India: 2009-10

RBI has released a comprehensive & insightful publication on profile of banks in India. click

Gold Milestones: The Precious Facts

Gold has been one investment which is closest to the hearts of many, especially if you are from the Gulf or from south-east Asia.

I came across an article by Reuters which reveals glaring facts about gold prices and milestones. Seems interesting, of course one would require to study in-depth the reasons behind the sharp movement in prices.

India’s Solar Power Mission

India’s ambitious mission to ramp up its solar power hundredfold in the next 13 years and reduce dependence on fossil fuels was unveiled in New Delhi in 2009. The mission anticipates achieving parity with cost of electricity on the grid by 2022 and parity with coal-based thermal power by 2030.

The plan is to produce 20,000 MW through solar power by 2022, up from just 200 MW.

Government hopeful of reducing power deficit to half… Really??

Like I have mentioned in my previous posts on the power sector, I re-iterate — the Indian sub-continent is plagued by power shortages and is likely to continue in the medium term. Capacity addition during the current year (2010-11) as well as the current five-year plan period (2007-12) is way below target.

The head of CEA claims that “the deficit could fall to 6.5 percent in the fiscal year ending March 2012 from the current 13.8 percent”. However, there is a big question mark (?)

India’s T&D Sector at a Glance

Transmission of electricity is defined as the bulk transfer of power over a long distance at a relatively high voltage, generally 132 kilovolt (kv) and above. Electricity distribution involves receipt of bulk power from transmission facilities and supply to end-consumers within a predetermined geographical area at lower voltage levels. The transmission and distribution (T&D) system mainly comprises transmission lines, sub-stations, switching stations, transformers and distribution lines.

New Regulatory Framework for Inter-State Power Transmission in India

The goal in the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) is to achieve a national power grid with inter-regional power transfer capacity of more than 37,000 MW. This would almost triple India’s inter-regional transmission capacity within five years.

Thus, to enable smooth transmission among states, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has unveiled a new regulatory framework for inter-state transmission. For the PIB release, click here

The Concept of Distributed Power

Power shortage has been haunting our nation for the last several decades. While the economy has been growing at a rapid pace, power availability has not matched pace. In spite of setting up huge power capacities, timely availability of power has been an area of concern. 

Thus, a concept called ‘Distributed Power’ was introduced in to our system (way back though).

WPI Inflation base change shows lower inflation

The government has finally revised the base year for computing WPI from 1993-94 earlier to 2004-05.

Amol Agrawal analyses the changes in his article. Worth a read.

Price of Cotton surges to highest levels in 15 yrs

Cotton futures extended their rally to the highest price in more than 15 years on rising demand from textile mills. Delayed harvests and booming demand in Asia are cutting into supplies.