T E Narasimhan's journal

  Picture source: Samuel Iyadurai, HR manager, Ford At Ford India's manufacturing facility near Chennai, on Wednesday, cross section of employees were emotionally affected, while the other set were angry as the US automajor rolled out the last car from the production line. A human resources manager of Ford took a picture with the final car came out of the Chennai Ford car Plant, while on the other side protesting employees, who lost jobs, were still upset about the closure and compensation. Samuel Iyadurai, Human Resources Manager at Ford, in his social media account uploaded his picture with the last car, which was rolled out from the factory. "I was feeling emotional after the final car came out of the Chennai Ford car Plant. The legacy of 25 years comes to an end at the Chennai Plant. Since I have been associated with the Chennai plant for the past 11 years, I can also understand other employees' feelings as well. Fantastic team, fantastic product, fantastic workp...

 Union Ministry of Power targeting a total of 3263 chargers under Business as Usual (BAU) scenario, 23,524 chargers under moderate scenario and 46,397 under Aggressive scenario are being targeted for installation of PCS in these cities by 2030. R.K Singh Union Minister for Power and MNRE said that action plans have been prepared by Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and sent to the concerned State Governments for 8 cities - with 4 million plus population including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Surat and Pune.  Under the Action Plans, scenario-wise targets have been prepared for Business as Usual (BAU), Moderate and Aggressive Scenarios for installation of Charging Stations in these 8 cities so far.  These targets have been prepared based on the requirements under the Guidelines and Standards issued by the Ministry of Power, Electric Vehicles (EV) growth projections in these cities, Growth in EV charging demand etc.  "As per the initial estimat...

 The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is in the process of developing indigenous capabilities towards space tourism through the demonstration of human space flight capability to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) also seeks to promote active participation of private sector in carrying out end-to-end space activities, which includes space tourism as well. With regards to question on space diplomacy, the Minister said, ISRO pursues international cooperation and relations with 61 countries in varied domains of space activities. It may be recalled that the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre [IN-SPACe] has been crea...

Private Equity (PE)/ Venture Capital (VC) investments in India rose by 28 per cent during the first half of 2022 to $34.1 billion across 714 deals, including 92 large deals worth $23.7 billion, according to IVCA-EY data. But a 32% decline sequentially. Vivek Soni, Partner and National Leader, Private Equity Services, EY India said,  despite recording a sequential decline amid global headwinds of tightening liquidity and rising inflation, the PE/VC investment flow into India has remained robust, maintaining a monthly average run-rate of $6 billion, which is in line with last year. Start-up investments continue to lead recording a 53% y-o-y increase in 1H2022, they have declined by a third compared to the second half of last year when start-up deals were at an all-time high. Buyouts have been the lowest since the first half of 2020, which was impacted by COVID, recording $4.3 billion across 25 deals, a 46% decline y-o-y and 70% decline sequentially. While India’s position as an attra...

India attracted $343.64 million FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) equity inflow in R&D sector during 2021 (calendar year) which is 516% higher as compared to $55.77 million in 2020. Daimler Truck Innovation Center was the top FDI Equity inflow recipient company in R&D during. FDI is permitted under 100% automatic route in R&D sector subject to applicable laws/regulations, security and other conditionalities. According to Government data, Karnataka was the top FDI Equity recipient state in R&D during 2021 followed by Telangana and Haryana. The states showed growth of more than 250% during 2021 compared to 2020 include Telangana, Karnataka, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Daimler Truck Innovation Center was the top FDI Equity inflow recipient company in R&D during C.Y. 2021 with 35% share of total FDI Equity in R&D followed by Aragen Life Sciences Private Limited (34%) and Stelis Biopharma Private Limited (21%). Singapore is the top investing country in R...

 UP leads in EV adoption among Indian states Nearly 13,34,385 Electric Vehicles are running on the Indian roads, while the total non-electric vehicle in use stood at 27,81,69,631 non-Electric Vehicle in use, according to the e-vahan portal (Ministry of Road Transport and Highways), the detailed list of electric vehicles and total vehicles on roads of India. With 3,37,180 units Uttar Pradesh leads the table in the EV adoption, followed by Delhi (1,56,393 EVs), Karnataka (1,20,532), Maharashtra (1,16,646) among the other states. Refer table for other states and for non-EVs numbers. The details given are for the digitized vehicle records as per centralized Vahan4. The complete data of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Lakshadweep is not available in Vahan4 hence they are not included. Govt's EV push To increase EV adoption, the Government came out with the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme in 2015 with an ai...