Update on India’s States: December 5, 2018

Jammu and Kashmir to install 23 gigawatts of grid-connected solar projects; New Delhi releases draft Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2018; Nagaland bans all single-use plastic items; Haryana announces $215 subsidy for solar home systems; Tamil Nadu releases Direct Selling Guidelines 2018; West Bengal introduces scheme for settlement of tax disputes for businesses; Telangana freezes power purchase costs from 2017-18 to 2018-19; Tamil Nadu will begin collecting stamp duty on transfers of property as part of mergers, increasing transaction costs for acquisitions; and more.

Center – State relations

Following the 40th meeting of the central sanctioning and monitoring committee, Durga Shankar Mishra, secretary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, announced that the ministry approved the construction of 205,442 more affordable houses for the benefit of urban poor under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban. With this decision, the total number of approved housing units has increased to 6,504,037. Source: The Hindu Business Line In detail: Press Release

Under the ambitious Saubhagya Yojana, the government of India has achieved 100 percent household electrification in 14 states. The government had set the target of 100 percent household electrification by March 2019, however the power ministry has reiterated on several occasions that it will achieve full electrification by the end of this year. According to Saubhagya Yojana real-time dashboard, 9,577,641 households have yet to be electrified. Source: Financial Express In detail: Press Release

NITI Aayog and Singapore Cooperation Enterprise-Temasek Foundation International have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on water reuse. The agreement marks the start of the second phase of India’s urban management program on water recycling and reuse, and will include capacity building workshops for Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Puducherry, and West Bengal. Source: Desalination.biz In detail: Press Release

The Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission has set a tariff rate of $0.042/kilo-watt hour (kWh) for three grid-connected solar photovoltaic projects in the state which aggregate to 82 megawatts (MW). Source: Mercom In detail: Tariff Order

The New & Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd has issued a tender for the supply, installation and commissioning of 1,490 solar lanterns and 235 solar street lights in nine villages of Durgi and Veldurthy mandals located in the state’s in Guntur District. Source: Mercom In detail: Tender details

Nothing critical to report this week.

In a bid to combat air pollution, the New Delhi government has proposed that 25 percent of all vehicles should be electric by 2023, and released the draft of the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2018 for public comments and feedback. Source: India Today In detail: Draft Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy 2018

Nothing critical to report this week.

To promote renewable energy in Haryana, the state government announced that consumers in the state will be provided with a $215 subsidy to install a solar home system under the Manohar Jyoti Yojana. The solar home system would be equipped with a lithium battery which does not require maintenance and has long life. Source: Money Control In detail: Press Release

India signed a $75-million loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide round-the-clock water supply to Karnataka’s four coastal towns of Kundapura, Mangalore, Puttur, and Udupi, as well as to improve sanitation infrastructure in Mangalore town. Source: Business Standard In detail: Project details

The Karnataka government will undertake an elevated corridor project in Bengaluru to decongest city roads. The project will begin from January 2019 at an estimated cost of about $3.6 billion, and is aimed at providing effective modes of transportation, minimizing maintenance cost of vehicles and ensuring road safety along with limiting carbon emission. Source: Money Control

The Netherlands will partner with the Karnataka government to co-develop technology solutions in healthcare, IT, and cybersecurity. The Netherlands government will fund part of the initiative, providing seed funding of between $28,000 and $85,000. Source: The Hindu Business Line

Nothing critical to report this week.

The Maharashtra assembly has unanimously passed a bill providing a 16 percent reservation or quota for members of the Maratha community under the socially and educationally backward category. The bill now requires the approval of the upper house of the legislature. Source: India Today

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved power purchase agreements for grid-connected solar photovoltaic projects totaling 235 MW under a petition filed by Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited. Source: Mercom In detail: Tariff Order

The Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission released a tariff order reducing rates by six to eight percent for residential consumers of the Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) company. Industrial consumers, however, saw an overall increase in tariffs of between two and two-and-a-half percent. Source: The Hindu In detail: Schedule of electricity tariffs

Nothing critical to report this week

The government of Tamil Nadu released the Direct Selling Guidelines 2018 a policy in line with those of various other states as well as the center’s guidelines to regulate direct selling. Source: Business Standard In detail: Tamil Nadu Direct Selling Guidelines 2018

The Tamil Nadu government announced that it will increase the coverage of its insurance scheme from $2,870 to $7,175. As a result, the 15.8 million families registered under the government’s health scheme can now obtain treatment that costs up to $7,175 per year at no cost to them. Source: The Hindu Business Line

The registration department of Tamil Nadu government has issued a circular to clarify that it would collect stamp duty on any transfers of property under the Companies Act, particularly under arrangements for merger or demerger of the companies. The move would increase the transaction cost of acquisitions considerably. Source: Business Standard In detail: Stamp Duty Circular

The Tamil Nadu government has announced new rules under the Lokayukta, or anti-corruption, Act, which state that inquiries will be held in private, and that the proceedings and the identities of the complainant and public functionary will not be disclosed. The measures have drawn criticism from the opposition, which wants the provisions scrapped. Source: The Hindu Business Line In detail: Tamil Nadu Lokayukta Act, 2018 (pages 303-238)

The Telangana government signed an MOU with the British Council to strengthen educational and cultural collaboration between British Council and the state government, as well as support the knowledge ambitions and economic growth of the state. Source: Telangana Today

The Telangana State Electricity Regulatory Commission passed an order stating that the pooled cost of power purchase in FY 2017-18 would be maintained for the FY 2018-19 at $0.058/kWh. Source: Mercom In detail: Cost Order

Chinese consumer durables company Haier India signed an MOU with the Uttar Pradesh government to invest $439.3 million over 4 years to set up an industrial park at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh. Source: Money Control

The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission approved a petition filed by Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd. to begin installation of smart meters for urban high-end customers. Smart meters for the remaining consumers will be installed later in a phased manner. Source: Mercom In detail: Approval of Smart Meter plan

The Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency’s 550 MW grid-connected solar photovoltaic tender has oversubscribed, with eight bidders submitting bids aggregating to 795 MW. Source: Mercom

West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra announced that, following passage of the West Bengal Sales Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill 2018, the government will introduce a scheme for settlement of disputes for all taxation cases that will benefit up to 25,000 businesses. Source: Financial Express In detail: West Bengal Sales Tax Laws (Amendment) Bill 2018

The West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency has tendered 2 MW of grid-connected rooftop solar projects to be developed on customers’ premises in residential, institutional, and social sectors. The grid-connected rooftop solar PV projects will be developed in two categories –  Type A with a size range of 5 kW to 10 kW at a benchmark cost of $0.858/kWh, and Type B with a size range of 10 kW to 100 kW at $0.78/kWh. Source: Mercom In detail: Tender details

Best of the Rest

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh became the first Indian state to launch a single emergency number “112” which will connect to police, fire, health, and other helplines through an Emergency Response Center in the state. Source: NDTV

Jharkhand

Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das launched JFarm Services, a mobile application that allows farmers rent approximately 12,000 tractors pooled from 24 districts in the state. Source: Times of India In detail: Press Release

Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das announced that the state government would offer interest-free agricultural loans for one year if farmers pay back their loan to the banks within a year. Source: Avenue Mail

Jammu and Kashmir

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy outlined plans to install 23 gigawatts (GW) worth of grid-connected solar projects in Jammu and Kashmir. In a notification released, the ministry announced that the first phase of the ‘ultra-mega’ solar project would comprise 2,500 MW capacity in the Kargil region and 5,000 MW in the Leh district. Source: Financial Express

Kerala

The center has approved an additional $358 million to Kerala for the relief and rehabilitation work, three months after the devastating floods hit the state. While the center had approved an advance of $86 million for relief in August, the Kerala government submitted a memorandum to the center seeking $687.8 million for relief work in September. Source: The News Minute

Manipur

The government of Manipur submitted a detailed memorandum to the 15th Finance Commission team, including a proposal for funds requested from the central government. Although the exact amount sought by the state is not disclosed, the chairman of the commission, N.K. Singh, said the Manipur government has submitted proposal involving a large sum of money on account of short revenue deficit grant and state-specific project. Source: Indian Express

Nagaland

U.S. ambassador to India Kenneth Juster visited YouthNet’s ‘Made in Nagaland’ center in Kohima. Ambassador Juster will also attend the Hornbill Festival 2018, where he has been invited as the guest of honor. Source: North East Now In detail: Twitter Announcement from Amb. Juster

The Nagaland government signed a five-year MOU with the e-Governance Academy of Estonia to provide advisory and technical knowledge to establish a similar e-Governance Academy of Nagaland. The objective of the MOU is to exchange knowledge and experiences as well as strengthen bilateral technical cooperation in the fields of information and technology and e-Governance. Source: Nagaland Post

The Nagaland government submitted a memorandum to the 15th Finance Commission, outlining a proposal for funding to the state from the center for the next five years. The memorandum also stated that the development fund received since inception of the state in 1962 is approximately $3.8 billion, and that the state’s fund is barely the cost of a major project in some states. Source: The Sentinel

The Nagaland government’s urban development department notified a new policy restricting the rampant use of plastics in the state. According to the notification, all single-use plastic items less than 50 microns, especially plastic bags, plastic cutlery, and styrofoam and thermocol disposable plates, will be banned from December 1. Source: North East Today

Punjab

The Punjab government announced it will establish a water regulation and development authority for conservation and management of state’s water resources. The proposed authority will be empowered to issue tariff orders for charges to be levied by all entities supplying water for any purpose except agriculture. Source: Indian Express In detail: Press Release

In an attempt to provide better health services to the citizens of Punjab, the state’s health department announced that all primary health care centers in the state will provide electrocardiogram services. Source: Daily Pioneer

The Punjab government’s finance department announced it has released $95.6 million to pay for power subsidies, Goods and Services Tax compensation to local bodies, as well as various development projects of Punjab Infrastructure Development Board and the Ashirwad scheme. Source: Business Today In detail: Press Release

Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat inaugurated the country’s first hyper converged infrastructure state data center. The three-tier state data center has been developed by the Uttarakhand government’s Information Technology Development Agency. It is the first data center in the country with 100 percent software-based hyper converged infrastructure technology. Source: The Hindu Business Line

Uttarakhand is set to become the first state in the country to provide air ambulance for people living in hills and far-flung areas, who face difficulties in accessing health services due to bad roads. The proposal, drafted under the aegis of National Health Mission, has received an ‘in-principle’ approval and will be fully funded by the center. Source: Times of India

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