THURSDAY, 13 FEBRUARY 2020 16 MUMBAI POLICY Private entities may A day after Delhi verdict, OMCs hike LPG prices PRADEEP GAUR/ MINT Utpal Bhaskar development and a pro-poor estimated potential drop in [email protected] campaign, AAP won 62 of the energy demand, as the spread NEW DELHI 70 seats in the Delhi assembly, of the novel coronavirus epi- run 500 trains by 2025 for a third consecutive term. demic continued unabated tate-run oil marketing Interestingly, there has and multiple governments’ companies (OMCs) on been a pattern to energy pric- cautioned people against trav- S Wednesday substantially ing and elections in India. As elling to the affected regions. raised the price of non-subsi- the polling for the 17th Lok Meanwhile, Indian firms are dized domestic cooking gas Sabha came to an end on 19 on a hunt for bargains on Railways is finalizing the bidding document for 150 such trains across the country. May, the state-owned OMCs diverted cargoes of crude oil The hike on Wednesday, started increasing transporta- and liquefied natural gas, with the sixth since September last tion fuel prices. Interestingly, Chinese energy majors declar- Shreya Nandi year, for metropolitan cities diesel and petrol retail prices ing force majeure to avoid tak- [email protected] ranged from ₹144.5 for Delhi in the country remained sub- ing delivery of some cargoes, NEW DELHI for a 14.2kg non-subsidized dued during the general elec- Mint reported on Monday. liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) The price hike on cooking gas tions. “It shows that the central ndian Railways plans to offer as cylinder to 149 for Kolkata. on Wednesday was the sixth India’s three government- government cannot manage many as 500 trains to private Over 50% According to information since September last year. run OMCs, Indian Oil Corp. the economy. All their deci- newly- operators over the next five elected available on Indian Oil Corpo- Ltd (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum sions are related to the vote years, a senior railway ministry Delhi MLAs ration’ website, an LPG cylin- of LPG and the exchange rate Corp. Ltd (BPCL), and Hindu- bank. Now that elections are official said. have serious der was available for ₹858.5 in of US dollar and rupee. The last stan Petroleum Corp. Ltd over, prices have been IThe railways is already in the proc- criminal Delhi. In Kolkata, LPG cylin- price revision took place on 1 (HPCL), had also refrained increased. In the recent Delhi cases: ADR ess of finalizing the bidding docu- analysis der prices were hiked by ₹149 January ahead of the from raising prices while the elections, people not only ment for 150 such trains that will be to ₹896, in Mumbai by ₹145 to announcement of the Delhi Karnataka poll campaign was voted for the work of the Delhi run by private operators in the first bit.ly/31PYG8h ₹829.5 and in Chennai by ₹147 assembly poll schedule on 6 on. OMCs on their part have government but also against phase. This will be followed by 350 to ₹881. January. repeatedly denied any correla- how the central government additional trains which will also be Fuel retailers revise prices of The increase came a day tion between elections and a has been handling the econ- run by private operators, the official LPG cylinders on the first day after the Aam Aadmi Party price freeze on transportation omy. This decision will have a said, requesting anonymity. of every month, but the price is (AAP) won the Delhi assembly fuels. huge blow to residents of other Indian Railways runs around primarily dependent on the elections. Fighting on the Wednesday’s price increase states,” Preeti Sharma Menon, 13,000 passenger trains every day international benchmark rate strongly focused agenda of comes in the backdrop of an AAP spokesperson said. and it estimates an additional requirement of 3,000-4,000 trains to meet growing passenger demand. Private train operators will be able to handle some of the traffic. The step is also expected to boost private invest- Indian Railways runs around 13,000 passenger trains every day and it ment in the sector and ease burden estimates an additional requirement of 3,000-4,000 trains. HT IIP, inflation data pour cold water on green shoots on government finances. In a first, as many as 150 modern fort, entertainment, among others. government’s move attracted two trains will be run by private opera- According to Railway Board chair- dozen firms, including global majors FROM PAGE 1 performance of Coal India Ltd. Double-digit food inflation cipal economist at ICRA Ltd. “The tors across 100 routes, offering man Vinod Kumar Yadav, the private Alstom Transport, Bombardier, Sie- Among use-based items, both (13.6%) in January kept retail timing and magnitude of the next world-class technology and services operators can start operations once mens AG and Macquarie and domes- Fund has projected growth to consumer durables (-6.7%) and inflation above the central bank’s rate cut will depend on how to passengers, along with improving their rakes are ready. “The entire tic companies such as Adani Ports recover to 5.8% in 2020-21. consumer non-durables (-3.7%) tolerance level for the second quickly inflation appears to be punctuality. A and Special Economic The IIP data came as a surprise registered sharp contraction, month in a row. reverting towards 4%.” d i s c u s s i o n NETWORK EXPANSION Zone, Indian Railway as most economists expected that while capital goods (-18.2%), The pick-up in core inflation to RBI last week left policy rates paper issued last Catering and Tourism it would remain positive for the which signifies 4.1%, driven by vari- unchanged for the second time, month by the 150 modern trains IT is estimated that ENTITIES will have to Corp. (IRCTC). second straight month in Decem- investment demand Factory output of ous services, may citing evolving growth-inflation government’s will be run by private an investment of bid for a network of Companies will have to ber, after contracting for three in the economy, also lead to a pro- dynamics. It had cut policy rates operators in first about ₹22,500 crore routes and bids will be printed circuit policy think phase followed by is needed to run the finalized on revenue- bid for a network of routes consecutive months from August shrank for the 12th boards (-69.7%), longed pause from by 135 basis points in 2019. tank NITI Aayog 350 additional trains first 150 trains sharing model and bids will be finalized on to October. Six infrastructure sec- month in a row. and separators the Reserve Bank of The central bank sharply raised and the railway a revenue-sharing model. tors, which constitute 40% of IIP, The items that (-63.3%) shrank India (RBI). projection for retail inflation to ministry has “They (companies) will turned positive in December registered the steep- “Regardless of the 6.5% for the fourth quarter of forecast an investment of about process, including bidding, as well as have to pay the haulage (charges for growing at 1.3% after a gap of four est decline in the most in level of the CPI (Con- FY20 from 4.7-5.1% earlier and ₹22,500 crore to run these trains. procuring rakes is likely to take 18-24 using tracks) charges at ₹686 per km months, data released by the December include December sumer Price Index) pegged it at 5-5.4% for the first With infrastructure, maintenance months,” Yadav told reporters. to the railways. Along with this, they industry department last month printed circuit inflation, the stance half of FY21 compared with and safety handled by the railways, “We have not decided if the rakes will have to have a portion of their showed. boards (-69.7%), sep- of monetary policy is 3.8-4% earlier. these private train operators will be will have to follow the government’s revenue, which will be mentioned in The contraction in IIP was led arators including decanter centri- likely to be retained as accommo- The central bank has projected allowed to procure trains, operate definition of ‘Make in India’. But, it the bidding document,” Yadav said, by manufacturing (-1.2%) and fuge (-63.3%), bars and rods of dative, for as long as the MPC GDP growth for 2020-21 at 6%, in and maintain them, provide better will be a part of the bidding docu- adding that companies will have the electricity (-0.3%) sectors, while alloy and stainless steel (-54%) and (monetary policy committee) line with the projection in the on-board experience and services to ment when we finalize it,” he said. freedom to decide the fare and it will mining (5.4%) registered robust electric and non-electric meters considers the output gap to be Economic Survey, which pegged passengers, in terms of food, com- Mint reported in January that the be market determined. growth on the back of improved (-54%). negative,” said Aditi Nayar, prin- it in the range of 6-6.5%. CORPORATE BUZZ Mint Media Marketing Initiative BHARATDYNAMICS LIMITED(BDL) HANDS OVER VARUNASTRA TO INDIAN NAVY BDL has handed over Varunastra, the Heavy Weight Torpedo manu- factured by it to the Indian Navy. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh handed over VarunastratoC-in-C (West) Vice Admiral PAjit Kumar during the Defence Expo 2020 at Lucknowinthe presence of Ut- tar Pradesh Chief Minister Yo gi Adityanath; Minister of State for Defence,Shripad Naik; Secretary (Defence), Dr AjayKumar;DrG Satheesh Reddy,Secretary, Dept of Defence R&D,Chairman, DRDO and Commodore Siddharth Mishra (Retd), CMD,BDL.