Vinayak Chatterjee: Hitting the infra tweet spot

A bunch of the author's tweets capture the buzz of the infra market in 2012

Your INFRATALK columnist started tweeting on infrastructure issues from July this year. A collection of tweets that elicited enthusiastic responses and discussion on this social media are reproduced below. Many of them also clearly point to the agenda for 2013.

1. US imposes 73% duty on Chinese wind-energy towers to protect domestic producers. India imposed 21% duty on imported power equipment a week ago.

2. Rajnikant was in Delhi. He just started to charge his mobile phone. That’s when the northern grid collapsed.

3. Welcome big-ticket involvement by Japan in Delhi Mum Ind Corridor. 26% stake in SPV + $4.5 bil( Rs 25,000 crores) in loans. Big push indeed.

 

4. No bids for 6 NHAI projects shows ‘boa constrictor’ phase in developers. Large snake that swallows pig and then does not eat for months.

5. Song being hummed across country: “why this Coalaveri, Coalaveri.....”

6. 2 immediate steps need to be taken as positive fallout of Coal mess. 1.Create independent Coal Regulator. 2. Repeal Coal Nationalisation Act

7. In the West they worry about ‘regulatory capture’ by industry. Here, we have ‘regulatory capture’ by political establishment

8. Socialite NRIs asking whether big-ticket auctions in coal and spectrum will be handled by Sotheby’s or Christie’s and if any gala evenings.

9. B.K. Chaturvedi (Member -Infra, Plg Com) informs that major Ports soon to be freed of TAMP and allowed to set own market-based tariffs.

10. Plg Comm current assessment is that Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and Eastern Corridor ( Ludhiana-Kolkata) will be ready by early 2017.

11. Much confusion if Govt has ‘formally’ accepted Chawla Comm reccos on natural resources. Comm talks of transparency-not necessarily Auctions.

12. New Land Bill called:”The Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, and Transparency in Land Acq Bill,2012”. Mouthful !

13. FY12RBI Ann Report says investment in infra plunged 52% & was prime reason for slowdown. Rs 2.2 trill in FY 11 came down to 1 trill in FY12.

14. BS reports that Rajya Sabha MP mistakenly queries SABOTAGE POLICY in lieu of CABOTAGE POLICY of Shipping Ministry. May not be a mistake!

15. NHAI requests Govt to remove ‘mud,earth & soil’ from definition of MINOR MINERALS as highway builders need Environ Clearance for even this.

16. BS: Coal blocks allocation analysis: majority went to price-unregulated sectors like steel, sponge iron,pig iron, cement and merchant power.

17. S&Poor raises uncomfortable question: 2 lakh crore SEB debt restructuring short-term oxygen - where is the REAL solution? Who will answer?

18. 12th Plan Infra target closer to $ 925 billion against earlier expected $ 1 trillion. Pegged at Rs 51.46 lakh crore.Still, double 11th Plan.

19. Metro wave.Kochi 8th city to get Metro. DPRs for 12 more underway. Very good initiatives for an urbanising India. DMRC effect across nation.

20. New TRAI regulations : At least 50% of towers and 20% of urban towers have to be powered by hybrid energy sources ( renew+grid ) by 2015.

21. Amazing: Bus Std - Off-the-shelf solar panel of 75 Watt ( Rs 3,200 ) now standard dowry item in power-starved Bihar. Powers 2 CFLs+table fan

22. FM announces reduction of Withholding Tax from 20% to 5% for infra loans/bonds complying with RBI’s ECB guidelines. July1 2012 - July1 2015.

23. Supreme Court was informed that “dense forest cover” in India is 1.89% most of it in national parks and sanctuaries - down from 20% in 1980.

24. Growing nuclear power in India. 6 plants in operation.8 under construction +planned. Interesting, as others (Japan, Fr) are de-nuclearising.

25. Pvt sector’s share in Infra investment was 37% in 11th Plan. Projected to be 47% in 12th Plan. In spite of hurdles, pvt sector has responded.

26. Final stage of connecting Southern Electric Grid to national network will start on Oct 12 and finish in Q1 of 2014. PowerGrid impementing.

27. Jayanti Natarajan writes letter to PM saying Nat Inv Board proposal to clear projects is “unconstitutional” and “completely unacceptable”.

28. Reality check on Kejriwal’s Delhi power populism: In 10 years, tariffs up 65%. Power purchase cost up 300%. T&D losses down from 50% to 15%.

29. Kafkaesque: First we put politicians in-charge, like Railways, Power. Then we set-up Regulatory Authorities to ‘depoliticise them!’

30. Montek quoted in INDIA TODAY cover story:”Method of clearances of environment and forestry is arbitrary, non-scientific & non-transparent.”

31. Airport Reg recommends Mum Airport raise tariffs by 152% against asked-for 660%. Delhi airport was earlier given 340% against asked for 775%

32. Delhi Metro works with a battery of ‘international’ engineering and project experts. How come all of them allowed technical lapses to occur?

33. BusLine: Oil price of $100/barrel results in gas price of $13/mBtu. RIL seeks price of $12.9 from KG D6. Views presented to Rangarajan Comm.

34. Rlys back with Cong after 17 years! Last Cong Rly Min was Jaffer Sharief from 1991-95.From 95- Paswan, Nitish, Lalu, Mamta, Trivedi, MukRoy.

35. Massive power cuts in TN have given a fillip to candle-makers. Demand has grown from 10,000 pieces/day to 500,000. 21st century India!

36. High profile citizens’ protest against Delhi Jal Board’s privatisation moves not good news for PPP in water sector. Needs careful handling.

37. Last fiscal NHAI awarded 49 projects totalling 7,500 kms, all on BOT basis. In 1st 6 months, only 4 projects awarded totalling 560 km.

38. Economic lesson from Chidambaram: “There is no such thing as a good price or a bad price. This is an auction discovered price.”

39. PMO+Deptt of Pub Ent’s clear message to PSUs: “Invest huge surplus (2.5 lakhcr) or declare special dividend”.(Share buyback option there too)

40. Coal India commits 80% - 65% domestic+15% imported. If buyers do not agree to ‘pooled pricing’, the 15% will be ‘deemed supplied.’ Neat!

41. Bankers are blaming Infra companies for over-leveraging their balance sheets. Really funny. Same bankers lent them the money!

42. Domestic airline passenger traffic dipped by 15% in Oct compared to Oct last year. Reasons: high air fares and slowing economy.

43. Good that state PSUs barred from ‘sweetheart’ mining JVs with pvt cos - need to be transparent. Another ‘crony’ window closed. hopefully.

44. Poor performance of JNNURM should make policymakers introspect about seeking reforms by funding, when political will to change is absent.

45. The Gur Expway tangle has had one beneficial fallout - it is leading to many more practical points getting included in Concession Agreement.

46. Power Ministry drafting”State Electricity Distribution Responsibility Bill”for Discoms financial health. But how to make it bite than bark?

47. Renewables market floundering. Price of RECs(Ren Energy Certs)fell to Rs1,500 in Nov on Indian Energy Exchange compared to Rs 3,900 in March.

48. PMO instructs Rlys to call for 800 Madhepura Elec +1000 Marhowra Diesel Loco bids by Dec 31. Announced 5 years ago and postponed many times.

49. The Govt. does admit (privately !) that it is the rapid and efficient growth of private ports that have saved the day for India.

50. Now that the dust has settled,& the midnight handover of Male airport has happened,it is a setback for Indian infra’s globalisation efforts.

51. Major amendment by IRDA - Insurance cos can have 20% exposure of their total funds in INFRA as against 10% earlier. Equity also allowed now.

52. Humour in House!Rajya Sabha informed yday by Min of State forCoal :”Coal production planning closely follows the projected demand for coal.”

53. Back-door entry to pooled pricing. CEA asks Coal India to raise domestic coal prices & supply imported coal to coastal power plants. Smart!

54. Bus Std reports that the IDFC-led consortium of lenders may possibly take over the Gurgaon Expressway project from the promoters shortly.

55. Cab Comm on Inv (CCI) is old wine in old bottle pulled out of the refrigerator and served to public. Very disappointing after hype on NIB.

56. Commend Land Bill on 2 counts (1) landmark legislation embodying economics, sociology, politics, business (2) huge effort In consensus building.

57. Funny, how the (now-disbanded) CC on Infra was a non-impactful entity all these years whilst (new) CC on Inv practically has same powers!

Happy 2013. May Indian infra get sizzling again!

---

The writer is the Chairman of Feedback Infrastructure vinayak.chatterjee@feedbackinfra.com ; Twitter: @Infra_VinayakCh