2-Sep-2021: Union Agriculture Minister addresses the 16th sustainability summit 2021 of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that the government is committed to addressing various challenges faced by the agriculture sector including climate change. Due to severe climate imbalance, some regions are facing droughts while others are struggling to control floods. The Minister said the government is serious about such adverse climatic conditions and our scientists are also working very diligently to develop innovative seed varieties which are compatible with such climatic conditions. Shri Tomar said this while addressing the 16th sustainability summit 2021 of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as the Chief Guest today.

Shri Tomar said that the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav is being celebrated on the call of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to mark the completion of 75 years of independence. During COVID crisis, India on its part has extended all possible support to other countries. He said the vaccination drive against Coronavirus is also going on in full swing in the country and 66 crore doses have been inoculated in the country so far.

The minister added that despite the Covid 19 pandemic, Indian Farmers with their hard work could achieve bumper production. India being an agricultural country, the contribution of the agriculture sector to the GDP has always been significant. Shri Tomar said that under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, so far about 1,57,000 crore rupees have been deposited in the bank accounts of more than 11 crore farmers of the country.

The Minister said that the Prime Minister has launched the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, which will prove beneficial for other industries including food processing. In order to make agriculture profitable for small and medium farmers, infrastructure is being developed near the farms as part of the concrete steps of the government. In this regard, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund of Rs one lakh crore rupees has been created, through which projects are being sanctioned. Projects of more than Rs four thousand Crore have been approved. 10 thousand Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) will be formed in the country under the new scheme of the Center, the work of which has started. The scheme will provide better market to the farmers and enhance their income. It is a matter of pride for the country that we have cracked into the top ten list of agricultural produce exporters and we want to further enhance it. For the benefit of the farmers, the agriculture sector is being connected with state-of-the-art technology. Along with more than seventy Kisan Rail in the country, farmers are also being benefited through Udaan Yojana.

Shri Tomar said that the Central Government, which is committed for the upliftment of the farmers, has brought the Agriculture Reforms Act, which will bring about a radical change in the field of agriculture. With the new farm laws, the whole country will be an open market for the farmers. The private sector can also now invest in modern agri-business platforms, setting up post-harvest facilities like godowns-cold storage. This will pave the way for better facilities for the farmers at lower charges. It is very important for the development of agriculture sector. These reforms have created substantial investment opportunities and have tried to bridge the gaps. Shri Tomar said that India shares cordial relations with Denmark, it has been the constant endeavor of Prime Minister Shri Modi ji that both the countries share knowledge and technology of each other.

The conference was also addressed by Denmark's Environment Minister Ms. Lea Wermelin and CII Director General Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee and Chairman of the Advisory Council (Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development) Mr. Sanjiv Puri. Many entrepreneurs virtually participated in the program.

5-Jun-2019: CII brings out Fiscal Performance Index to assess quality of Budgets

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) unveiled a new assessment of Fiscal Deficit that better measures the Government’s revenue and expenditure balance. The composite Fiscal Performance Index (FPI) developed by CII is an innovative tool using multiple indicators to examine quality of Budgets at the Central and State levels.

It is important to study diverse sources of revenue and expenditure heads to truly assess the fiscal situation of a nation. A single criterion such as the ‘fiscal deficit to GDP ratio’ does not tell us anything about the quality of the Budget. Hence, the Government should use multiple indicators to measure the quality of Budgets at the Central and the State levels rather than a single indicator.

According to CII, such a comprehensive measure of fiscal conditions can better help target Government’s social and capital expenditures keeping in mind fiscal stability. It would also contribute to strategy formulation to manage economic development with macroeconomic prudence.

As per the CII FPI, expenditure on infrastructure, education, healthcare and other social sectors can be considered beneficial for economic growth. At the same time, tax revenues are sustainable sources of revenues for the Government as compared to one-time income sources.

In view of the results obtained from our analysis, we recommend that the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act which sets targets for the governments to reduce fiscal deficits should not solely focus on one component. Instead, a holistic performance of all entities viewed from all angles of expenditure quality, revenue receipts quality, and fiscal prudence should be taken into consideration.

The proposed composite index of fiscal performance evolved by CII comprises of six components for holistic assessment of the quality of Government Budgets. These include:

1. Quality of revenue expenditure: measured by the share of revenue expenditure other than interest payments, subsidies, pensions and defence in GDP,
2. Quality of capital expenditure: measured by share of capital expenditure (other than defence) in GDP,
3. Quality of revenue: ratio of net tax revenue to GDP (own tax revenue in case of States),
4. Degree of fiscal prudence I: fiscal deficit to GDP,
5. Degree of fiscal prudence II: revenue deficit to GDP and
6. Debt index: Change in debt and guarantees to GDP

The index is constructed using UNDP’s Human Development Index methodology. By construction, a higher value of index is indicative of an improved performance and vice versa.

CII has constructed the FPI for the period 2004-05 to 2017-18 for both the Central and State budgets (for States, the end year is 2016-17).

At the Centre, the CII analysis shows that fiscal consolidation was highest in 2007-08 while 2009-10 emerged as the worst year. After staging a recovery in 2010-11, FPI deteriorated from 2011-12 onwards till 2014-15 despite the fiscal deficit index posting an improvement. This was mainly due to poor performance of the tax revenue and expenditure quality indices (both revenue and capital).

The index started to improve from 2015-16 onwards and reached a high in 2016-17, before dipping again in 2017-18. The dip in 2017-18 was underpinned by a sharp moderation in capital expenditure despite recording an improvement in the fiscal deficit index.

At the State level, the CII calculations show that the States which are presumed to be good in fiscal health (based on fiscal deficit to GDP ratio) and fall in the high-income category such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, etc. are not necessarily doing well on the composite fiscal performance index front.

This clearly is indicative of the inadequacy of one single criterion such as the fiscal deficit to GDP ratio in judging the overall quality of Budgets of the State governments. These States have performed poorly on the Expenditure Quality and Revenue Quality Index as compared to the other States.

On the other hand, among the low-income States, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar have shown a consistently good performance on the FPI over the years mainly due to good performance in Expenditure Quality Indices (Revenue and Capital). However, the performance of these States on the Fiscal Deficit Index has remained below average.

29-Mar-2021: Petroleum Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan and the New US Secretary of Energy H.E. Jennifer Granholm agreed to Revamp India-US Strategic Energy Partnership

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas &Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan today held an introductory meeting virtually with US Secretary of Energy H.E. Jennifer Granholm. Minister Pradhan congratulated Secretary Granholm on assuming the high office and reviewed the India-US Strategic Energy Cooperation (SEP). Both leaders agreed to revamp the India-US SEP to reflect the new priorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden with focus on promoting clean energy with low-carbon pathways and accelerating green energy cooperation.

They agreed to prioritise greater collaboration in cleaner energy sector- biofuels, CCUS, hydrogen production and carbon sequestration through technology exchange, joint R&D through Partnership to Advance Clean Energy Research (PACE-R), among other initiatives.

Both sides agreed to convene the third meeting of a revamped India-US Strategic Energy Partnership at an early date. They decided to intensify the efforts to take advantage of the complementarities of both the countries -advanced US technologies and rapidly growing India’s energy market, for a win-win situation through a cleaner energy route with low carbon pathways.

17-Jul-2020: Joint Statement on U.S. - India Strategic Energy Partnership

In the midst of a global pandemic with an enormous human toll that is also affecting energy demand, global energy markets, and sustainable energy growth, the U.S.-India Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership has never been more vital. Today, U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette and Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Steel Dharmendra Pradhan co-chaired a virtual ministerial meeting of the U.S.-India Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP) to review progress, highlight major accomplishments, and prioritize new areas for cooperation.

Established in April 2018 at the direction of President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recognizing the strategic importance of energy to the U.S.-India bilateral relationship, the SEP builds upon our longstanding energy partnership and sets the stage for meaningful engagements through robust government-to-government cooperation and industry engagement.

The United States and India share an all-of-the-above approach to energy security and energy access. The SEP organizes inter-agency engagement on both sides across four primary pillars of cooperation: (1) Power and Energy Efficiency; (2) Oil and Gas; (3) Renewable Energy; and (4) Sustainable Growth. Through these pillars, the United States and India are working to strengthen and modernize the power grid and distribution utilities for clean, affordable, and reliable energy access; improve efficiency, flexibility, and environmental performance in the power sector; promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth through long-term energy development; enhance energy security through oil and gas trade, and infrastructure investment; advance the development, deployment, and integration of renewable energy and expand access to finance for renewable energy projects; and reduce market barriers to energy trade and investment. The SEP also supports USG efforts under the AsiaEDGE initiative, which establishes India as a strong energy partner in the Indo-Pacific region.

The two countries are also leading joint research and development (R&D) through the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy-Research (PACE-R) on smart grids and energy storage to increase resilience and reliability of the electric grid. Today, they announced new areas of research on transformational power generation based on supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power cycles and advanced coal technologies for power generation and hydrogen production, including carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS). The United States briefed about continued bilateral R&D engagement on advanced civil nuclear energy technologies through the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Energy Working Group.

Ministerial Outcomes

The sides announced a number of achievements and priorities for new work under the SEP.

Enhancing Energy Security: The sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to begin cooperation on Strategic Petroleum Reserves operation and maintenance, including exchange of information and best practices. They also discussed the possibility of India storing oil in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve to increase their nation’s strategic oil stockpile.

Harnessing Innovation: The sides launched a public-private Hydrogen Task Force to help scale up technologies to produce hydrogen from renewable energy and fossil fuel sources and to bring down the cost of deployment for enhanced energy security and resiliency. They also signed an MOU to collaborate on India’s first-ever Solar Decathlon® India in 2021, establishing a collegiate competition to prepare the next generation of building professionals to design and build high efficiency buildings powered by renewables. The sides jointly launched collaboration between the U.S. DOE National labs and the Indian National Institutes under the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy as part of the newly launched South Asia Group for Energy (SAGE), supported by USAID, for joint research on development and deployment of advanced clean technologies.

The sides also agreed to explore possible cooperation through joint activities and information exchange on sustainable biofuel production and use, in particular, bioethanol, renewable diesel, other advanced biofuels, and discussion on possible developments in sustainable biofuels for air and sea transport. The sides also discussed information exchange in regard to policies and regulations, and other related areas of interest.  Another potential area of cooperation is the promotion of bilateral investments in the private sector. The sides will also explore cooperation on utilizing the economic value of converting bio-waste into biogas.

Modernizing the Power System: As India pursues its ambitious renewable energy targets and seeks to transform its energy sector, the sides are collaborating on the deployment and integration of renewable energy and new technologies into the grid; modernizing the power distribution sector; supporting state-level planning for renewable energy; deploying distributed energy technologies, electric vehicles, rooftop solar, and battery storage; redesigning markets, and increasing off-grid energy access. The two sides have been collaborating to modernize Distribution Sector through various reform measures for achieving reliable quality 24X7 power supply through increased private participation; enhancing consumer centricity; deployment of Smart Meters across India; and, establishing Smart Grid Knowledge Centre in India as a “Global Centre of Excellence” for Smart Grids. USAID and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation are developing a concept to establish a new $25-million credit guarantee for the Small and Medium Enterprise sector to deploy rooftop solar.

Work is also underway to enhance flexible operations of coal power plants needed to address increased renewable energy penetration and variable power demand to minimize operating costs and failure risks. The sides agreed to collaborate on advanced high-efficiency coal technologies with low-to-zero emissions through carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), focusing on USDOE’s Coal FIRST (Flexible, Innovative, Resilient, Small, Transformative) initiative to develop 21st Century coal energy systems.

New areas of technical cooperation include application of renewable energy in the economic sectors; development of new business models and decision-making tools for renewable energy; skill building and training programs; and adoption of emerging digital technologies and advanced IT management tools to enhance cyber security of renewable energy systems.

Enhancing Energy Efficiency and Conservation: The United States and India have been working to enhance building and appliance efficiency through enhanced building codes, design and operation of smart buildings of the future, smart meters and demand side response, as well as retrofit of buildings to improve building performance, promote energy conservation, and improve indoor air quality. The sides have also been working towards development of behavioral energy efficiency program and technical assistance for a distributed energy resources plan. The sides are also working to enhance energy efficiency in the industrial sector and will work to advance a comprehensive energy management system in accordance with ISO50001.In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, USAID and Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) jointly initiated a new activity, “Retrofit of Air Conditioning to Improve Air Quality for Safety and Efficiency” (RAISE) for healthy and energy efficient buildings. The initiative will be scaled in public sector buildings

Promoting Energy Trade and Investment: The sides noted the significant increase in bilateral hydrocarbon trade since the establishment of SEP, with the bilateral hydrocarbon trade touching US$ 9.2 billion during 2019-20, marking a 93% increase since 2017-18, and affirmed to promote greater hydrocarbon trade between the two countries.

Through the U.S.-India Natural Gas Task Force, U.S. and Indian industry forged new commercial partnerships on innovative projects and developed a series of policy and regulatory recommendations to support the Government of India’s vision to increase the share of natural gas in India’s energy sector. The sides have also held numerous public-private dialogues to provide industry perspectives on challenges and opportunities to trade and investment across the energy sector.

The sides took note of their governments’ strong commitment to advance our civil nuclear cooperation, and welcomed recent progress on the Westinghouse commercial reactor project at Kovvada, which represents an important milestone in our strategic relationship.

The two sides agreed to support each other’s vision of national development in the energy sector and encourage investment, including sharing a list of potential projects in which the companies from both sides can be encouraged to invest.

Promoting Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth: The sides are working to enhance long-term energy development and plans and strategies through adoption of best practices and methodologies in energy data management; capacity building in energy modeling and promotion of low carbon technologies. Think tanks, policy researchers, NGOs and Government agencies from India would be collaborating with DOE National Labs and respective U.S. Government and private agencies to facilitate above exercise. USAID and NITI Aayog jointly launched the India Energy Modeling Forum to build a network of modeling community and its linkage with Government for analytical work and policy making exercise.

Empowering Women in the Energy Sector: Recognizing the need for a more balanced workforce with diverse skill sets to support energy innovation and address critical energy challenges of the future, the Ministers committed to addressing gender diversity, gender mainstreaming, and promoting women’s entrepreneurship across the energy sector through the SEP platform. USAID launched the South Asia Women in Energy (SAWIE) platform focused on the power sector and the sides are working to incorporate gender-focused activities across the technical pillars.

Strategic Energy Partnership teams will convene again in the near future to further develop action plans for the respective pillars of cooperation. The next Ministerial meeting will be held in 2021.

ADDENDUM

The following agreements and partnerships were announced under the U.S.-India Strategic Energy Partnership (SEP) dialogue to advance the strategic and economic interests of both countries:

• MOU between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Indian Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas concerning cooperation on Strategic Petroleum Reserves.
• MOU between the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with Indian Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioners (ISHRAE) for professional skill development for practitioners on energy-efficient design of air conditioning systems.
• MOU between EESL, NTPC, and USAID for retrofit of buildings to improve indoor air quality, safety, and efficiency.
• USAID announced partnership with Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO) to develop India’s National Open Access Registry (NOAR).
• Statement of Intent between the U.S. Department of State and India’s Ministry of Power under the Flexible Resources Initiative of the U.S.-India Clean Energy Finance Task Force to enhance the flexibility and robustness of India's grid to support the country's energy transition and mobilize the private investment to deliver reliable, low-cost power for the people of India.
• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (USA) and the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission in India are working to conclude an agreement to share best practices for regulating electricity and developing electricity markets.
• The U.S. Department of Commerce launched an Energy Industry Working Group for India under the Asia EDGE initiative to facilitate private sector connections and ideas for U.S.-India energy cooperation, including on innovative and disruptive technologies.
• USTDA is supporting energy access and efficiency in India through recently funded projects to implement virtual pipeline infrastructure with Arush Gas Technology Services (AGTS) and carbon capture and utilization technologies in refineries with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).
• Release of a “Strategic Roadmap of Smart Grid Knowledge Centre to become a “Global Centre of Excellence in Smart Grids” at an industry round table held on the sidelines of the Power and Energy Efficiency pillar meeting, sponsored by the Ministry of Power of India and USAID.

Under the U.S.-India Gas Task Force:

• MOU between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Petroleum Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) on information exchange in oil & gas regulatory frameworks.
• MOU between Bloom Energy and Indian Oil on fuel cell technology.
• Letter of Cooperation among ExxonMobil, Chart Industries IOCL on stimulating LNG demand through a virtual pipeline network and manufacturing and use of ISO containers in India.
• MOU between Agility Fuel Solutions LLC and Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) to explore the viability, usefulness, and feasibility of advanced clean fuel systems including Type IV cylinders in India.
• MOU between Gasway USA, Inc. and Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) to explore the feasibility of a pilot virtual gas pipeline project.
• ExxonMobil and GAIL have made significant progress on the MOU they signed in 2019 to enhance India’s natural gas access and are engaged in a commercial dialogue to advance LNG as fuel in heavy commercial vehicles.

15-Jul-2020: India–US Strategic Energy Partnership: Sustainable Growth Pillar India Energy Modeling Forum Launch on July 2, 2020

Sustainable Growth Pillar is an important pillar of India–US Strategic Energy Partnership co-chaired by NITI Aayog and USAID. The SG pillar entails energy data management, energy modelling and collaboration on low carbon technologies as three key activities.

In the joint working group meeting of the Sustainable Growth Pillar on July 2, 2020, an India Energy Modeling Forum was launched.

There exist energy modelling forums in different parts of the World. The Energy Modelling Forum (EMF) in USA was established in 1976 at Stanford University to connect leading modelling experts and decision makers from government, industry, universities, and other research organizations. The forum provides an unbiased platform to discuss the contemporary issues revolving around energy and environment.

In India, there was no formalized and systematic process of having a modeling forum. Even then, various think-tanks/research organizations like TERI, IRADe, CSTEP, CEEW, NCAER, etc., have been consistently developing scenarios and contributing through modelling studies and analyses to provide required inputs to MoEF&CC and other relevant ministries, including NITI Aayog.

The India Energy Modelling Forum will accelerate this effort and aim to:

• Provide a platform to examine important energy and environmental related issues;
• Inform decision-making process to the Indian government;
• Improve cooperation between modelling teams, government, and knowledge partners, funders;
• Facilitate exchange of ideas, ensure production of high-quality studies;
• Identify knowledge gaps at different levels and across different areas;
• Build capacity of Indian institutions.

NITI Aayog will initially coordinate the activities of the forum and finalizing its governing structure. The forum would include knowledge partners, data agencies and concerned government ministries.