(29th March 2015 – The Hindu) Price Stabilization Scheme, RBI to trim Bank loan to corporate, Metro Rail

by Abhishek Baghele · March 30, 2015

Price Stabilization Fund

Union Agriculture Ministry – approved – PSF as announced in budget July 2014.
Corpus = 500 cr {(Centre : State :: 50:50 ) /For NE states (Cente : state :: 75: 25)}.
To support market interventions for managing prics of perishable agri – horticultural commodities.
Commodities will be procured directly from farmers or farmer’s organisations right at the farm gate or mandi level and be made available at reasonable prices to consumers.

Art. Ref. : Price stabilisation fund : Centre’s nod for Rs. 500 crore corpus – http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/price-stabilisation-fund-centres-nod-for-rs-500-crore-corpus/article7044189.ece

RBI to trim bank loans to corporate

TO \/ NPA(Non Performing Assets), RBI proposed to lower the ceiling on how much a bank can lend to a single corporate group (Current (upto 55%) —–> 1st Jan 2019 (25%))
RBI proposes to encourage large borrowers to raise a certain portion of their financing needs through the market mechanism.

Art. Ref : RBI to trim bank exposure – http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/rbi-to-trim-bank-exposure/article7044164.ece

METRO RAIL

Urban planners have concluded that 64 cities in india have potential for some form of efficient rail transport today.
(22/64) – Readily qualify for full fledged metro rail system.
(42/64) – Less expensive alternate public transport system e.g. bus rapid transit system, light railways.

How to make metro projects viable ?

Centre should set up financial corporation only for such projects with seed money of 10000 cr/ 20000 cr with responsibility to raise money on behalf of GOI.
Introduce disincentives to the use of personal vehicles.

e.g. In Singapore & London

Laws to keep personal vehicles low in no.
Congestion surcharge
Artificially high fuel rate
Revenue (from 1 & 2) collected to invest in improvement at public transport system.

Land acquisition for tracks : – new laws can make it fast
Intelligent Transportation system relying on Information Technology is absent & city managers have no accountability.

GOVT.

Reduce duties & taxes on projects , machinery
For various metro projects across the country, standardized technology & manufacturing –> 20% cut in cost.
Offer common smart card for metros , bus , feeder, boat e.g. done in Kochi, Kerala.

Art. Ref : Ticket to the future – http://www.thehindu.com/sunday-anchor/ticket-to-the-future/article7043667.ece

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