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IBM CEO discusses software for ‘Smart Cities’, ‘Digital India Initiative’ with PM Modi

October 4, 2014

New York,  (ANI)

The CEO of IBM, Virginia Romnetty, discussed about software for India’s pet projects like ‘Smart Cities’ and ‘Digital India Initiative’ during her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi here on Monday.

MEA official spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said Romnetty made this offer in response to Prime Minister Modi’s call for investments.

“CEO of @IBM Virginia Romnetty meets PM @narendramodi. Discusses software for “Smart Cities” and Digital India Initiative,” Akbaruddin said on twitter shortly after the meeting.

The Prime Minister earlier held meetings with a host of business leaders including Boeing CEO James McNerney; American private equity fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co CEO Henry Kravis; Laurence D. Fink, CEO of the American multinational investment management firm Blackrock; Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and General Electric Jeffrey CEO R. Immelt.

Prime Minister Modi has announced plans of developing 100 smart cities in India. With the government already allocating Rs 7,060 crore allocation in the Union Budget, the smart cities initiative has garnered the maximum attention from the IT sector as this project will rely heavily on technology because smart cities are technology-driven.

Another pet project of Prime Minister Modi, the ‘Digital India’ plan is the first tech-driven project which aims to promote digital inclusion with broadband connectivity down to the village level, thereby enabling improved access to services through IT-enabled platforms.

IBM India Private Limited is the Indian subsidiary of IBM. It has facilities in Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Gurgaon, Noida, Chandigarh, Indore, Bhubaneshwar, Coimbatore, Visakhapatnam and Hyderabad.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi held a breakfast meeting with CEOs of 11 top US companies, during which he is believed to have pushed India’s case as the best investment destination in Asia.

Among the eleven CEOs whom the Prime Minister met were Google’s Larry Page, David M Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group, Citigroup CEO Michael L Corbat, Doug Oberhelman of Caterpillar, Cargill President and CEO David W MacLennan, PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, Kenneth C Frazier of Merck, MasterCard President and CEO Ajaypal Singh Banga, AES Corporation CEO Andres Gluski, Charles R. Kaye of Warburg Pincus and Micheal Ball of Hospira – a US-based global pharmaceutical company.

The Prime Minister departs for Washington later in the day where he is going to have a private dinner with U.S. President Barack Obama at White House tonight. (ANI)

 

Source-in.news.yahoo.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Digital Initiative, Smart City, Software 

PM sets Rs 1.15 lakh cr investment target for PPP projects

July 30, 2013

PTI

NEW DELHI, JUNE 28:

 

In a bid to ramp up investor sentiment, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today set an investment target of Rs 1.15 lakh crore in PPP (public private partnership) projects across infrastructure sectors in rail, port and power in the next six months.

The proposals include Mumbai elevated rail corridor (Rs 30,000 crore), two international airports in Bhubneshwar and Imphal (Rs 20,000 crore) and power and Transmission projects (Rs 40,000 crore).

The decisions were taken at a meeting Prime Minister held here to finalise infrastructure projects for 2013—14 which was attended by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Ministers of Power, Coal, Railways, Roads, Shipping and Civil Aviation.

The meeting decided that the proposal for creating a rail tariff authority will be accelerated and brought before the Cabinet soon.

The Prime Minister highlighted the need for ramping up investment in infrastructure to revive investor sentiment.

“For this purpose, a target of rolling out PPP projects of at least Rs 1 lakh crore in the next six months was set. A steering group is being formed to monitor the award and implementation of projects on priority basis,” said a PMO release.

(This article was published on June 28, 2013)

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Uncategorized 

Road min downs shutters on new projects till Nov

July 30, 2013

TIMSY JAIPURIA : NEW DELHI, JUL 25, 2013,

At a time when the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has stepped up tracking the progress in award and implementation of infrastructure projects, the road ministry and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have decided not to award any new highway projects until November.

The reason: financial stress at potential bidders, non-availability of land and uncertainty over securing environment clearances. The virtual suspension of bidding follows a steep decline in award of new projects. Awards of build-operate-transfer (BOT) highway projects which had peaked in 2011-12 at 6,491 km saw a dramatic decline to 1,116 km in 2012-13. This year, clearly, is going to be worse.

Government sources and officials from developers like Soma Enterprises and Reliance Infrastructure separately confirmed to FE that no new projects were likely to be awarded till close to the end of 2013. “The bull run in the highway sector is over. There are no takers for any new road projects,” said DV Raju, vice-president, National Highway Builders Federation.

A senior NHAI official said: “We are not ready to launch any bid on the engineering procurement and construction (EPC) mode nor the BOT mode as of now. Developers are cash-strapped and the investment climate is not conducive enough. We don’t want to launch bids in a hurry in a bad market.”

Developers feel the government must prepare detailed project reports and traffic studies to attract the right bidders and take steps to prevent long-pending arbitration cases, high interest rates and falling toll collections hindering projects.

“The market scenario  is not good. Highway developers have had several communications with the roads ministry and the NHAI has highlighted the problems faced by developers.

Land acquisition and banks’ reluctance to lend are major concerns. Until these issue are resolved, the highways sector is unlikely to look up,” Sudhir Hoshing, CEO Reliance Infrastructure said. Government sources, however, said the authorities would ensure that developers do not face problems and address their concerns at the earliest. The government is disturbed by rising incidents of developers unable to achieve financial closure and walking away from contracts. NHAI has been encouraging builders not to abandon projects and complete the contracts, these sources said.

“We are working towards organising the back-end work including minimum of 80% of land acquisition and environment and mining clearances. Until we meet all necessary requirements, we won’t be in a position to award any new project either on EPC mode or the BOT mode until October-November,” the a road ministry official quoted earlier said.

Source-http://www.financialexpress.com

 

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under MORTH, Road Transport and Highways (Ministry)