ANDHRA PRADESH
- UltraTech Cement gets green nod for Rs 2,500 crore project in Andhra Pradesh
- UltraTech Cement has got environment ministry’s nod for a Rs 2,500 crore project in Andhra Pradesh, as per an official document.
- Under the project, the company will set up an integrated cement plant at Petnikote village in Kurnool district with a clinker capacity of 4 million tonne per annum (MTPA), 6 MTPA of cement, 60 mega watt of captive power plant and 15 mega watt of waste heat recovery-based power unit.
- A greenfield project is built from scratch. There is no existing building or infrastructure in a greenfield project.
- The company has already acquired 431.92 hectare land for the project, which is estimated to cost Rs 2,500 crore and generate employment for 900 persons
INTERNATIONAL
- Forex reserve rises by 1.99 billion to 419.99 billion
- India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by 994 billion to 419.992 billion US Dollar in the week ended 24th May 2019.
- RBI released that foreign currency assets rose by 1.991 billion to 392.188 billion US Dollar.
- In the previous week, the reserves had declined by 2.05 billion to end at 417.99 billion US Dollar.
- Gold reserves remained stable at 23.021 billion US Dollar. India’s special drawing rights with the International Monetary Fund went by 0.8 million to 1.445 billion US Dollar, while the country’s reserve position also increased by 2 million to 3.336 billion US Dollar.
- The US formally terminated Indias eligibility for a duty free import scheme
- The United Stateson formally terminated India’s eligibility for a duty-free import scheme for developing countries on 31 May. It cited that India has not given assurances it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its markets to US companies as required under relevant American trade laws. The US President Donald Trump has said the country would end its preferential trade treatment for India on June 5.
- Notably, India is the biggest beneficiary of the US’ Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).It sold an estimated $6.3 billion worth of goods to the United States under this program in 2018.
- The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)is a U.S. trade program designed to promote economic growth in the developing world by providing preferential duty-free entry for up to 4,800 products from 129 designated beneficiary countries and territories. GSP was instituted on January 1, 1976, by the Trade Act of 1974
The GSP program has effective dates which are specified in relevant legislation, thereby requiring periodical reauthorization in order to remain in effect
GSP expired on July 31, 2013, and was most recently reauthorized on June 29, 2015 (effective July 29, 2015) for a period of two and a half years. The relevant legislation permits retroactive extension of GSP benefits. Recently the USA has excluded India from the list of beneficiaries of this program
NATIONAL
- NITI Aayog suggested a National Project Management Policy Framework
- A task force on project management, headed by NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, has suggested the development of aNational Project Management Policy Framework for the effective execution of public sector and public-private partnership infrastructure projects.
- It has also recommended the setting up of a nodal body for the certification of chartered project management professionals to createworld-class infrastructure. The project management, with a view to delivering on time and within budget, is a learnable capability that can be institutionalised as demonstrated by 11.4-132.3s0-89.4-11.4-132.3zm-317.5 213.5V175.2l142.7 81.2-142.7 81.2z"/> Subscribe on YouTube