• Presently there are 9 undertakings under the administrative control of the Ministry of Railways.
• The first Indian  Rail was run on April 16, 1853 from Bombay   to Thane (34 km long route).
• Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd. was incorporated on September  27,  1999  as  a   government company with the objective of upgrading and managing rail catering and hospitality.
• Indian Railways is divided into 17 Zones out of which Northern Railway (New Delhi) Zone has the highest km route.
• During 1996-97, 6 New Railway Zones were established at Hazipur, Jabalpur, Allahabad, Jaipur, Bhubaneshwar and Bengaluru.
• Indian Railways has three types of gauge—Broad  Gauge  (1676 mm),  Meter  Gauge (1000 mm) and Narrow Gauge (762 mm and 610 mm).
• Indian Railways is the second largest rail network in the world under  a  single  management. Better resource management through   increased wagon  load, faster   turnaround   time   and   a \more rational pricing policy led to a perceptible improvement in the performance of the Railways. Out   of   freight   and  passenger traffic,    the    freight     segment accounts for about 70 per cent of revenue. Within the freight seg-ment,   bulk   traffic accounts for nearly 84 per cent of revenue-earning freight traffic (in physical terms), of which about 44 per cent is coal.
• Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal     Pradesh is now being accessible  by  train. Itanagar  has become    the   Itanagar,   the   capital  of Arunachal Pradesh is now being accessible by train. Itanagar has become the second capital in the eight north eastern states, after Guwahati, to appear on the rail-way map of the country. The passenger train will travel bet-ween Naharlagun and Dekargaon in Assam, a journey of 181 kilo-meters.

The construction of the 22-km long broad gauge line from  Harmuti in Assam to Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh cost  406 crore. There are 46 minor bridges and 11 major bridges on the line.

• Fully  air  conditioned  double decker trains are being introduced   between   Delhi    (Sarai-Rohilla)—Jaipur;   Ahmedabad-Mumbai;   Chennai   Central- Bengaluru; Bhopal (Habibganj)–Indore.

• Rail Link Between Udhampur and Katra

Indian Railways has created a 26 kms long Katra-Udhampur rail line  with  an  estimated  cost  of  1,132.75 crores. It comprises 15.5 km long Katra-Chak Rakhwal and 9.4 km long Chak Rakhwal-Udhampur sections and connects two districts of Reasi and Udhampur in the State.

• Railways   launched   Royal Rajasthan on Wheels

After having a success story of ‘Palace on Wheels’—the first tourist   super   luxury   train,  the Railway    Ministry,    in     close coordination with the Rajasthan  government, has decided to launch a second super luxury train in December 2008.

The new tourist train named as ‘Royal Rajasthan on Wheels’ will be operated jointly by Indian Railways and Rajasthan Tourism  Development Corporation (RTDC).

As per official declaration, the new super delux luxury train will be more luxurious than Palace on Wheels and it will go to Bikaner instead of Sawai Madhopur.

• Following the opening of railway lines from Anantnag to Mazhom (66 km) and Mazhom to Baramulla (35 km), the newly constructed 18 km-long rail line between Anantnag and Quazigund, the last stretch of railway line in the Kashmir Valley, was commissioned in October 2009, making the entire 119 km-long rail   line   from   Baramulla   to Quazigund operational.

• Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. was set up in January 2003, as an effort to  create new institutional mechanisms  for  implementing railway projects through a blend of budgetary support and non-budgetary  initiatives.  It  is implementing a part  of  National  Rail  Vikas Yojana.
• New Rail Coach manufacturing unit at Kolar in Karnataka. The unit will be established with an estimated cost of  1461 crore (Excluding the cost of Land). The annual production capacity will be 500 coaches per year. The ministry of railway will finance 50% cost of the while the State  government  will provide the required land free of cost  as  well  as  meet  the remainingg 50 % of the project completion cost with escalation. Over 1100 acres land will be provided by the State Govern-ment.
• Indian railways is the world’s Second   largest   rail    network under a single management.
• Year 2007 was declared as the ‘Year of Cleanliness’.
• The    Railway    Ministry   has granted permission to the Travel Agents    Association    of   India (TAAI), the largest travel agent’s body to sell railways tickets     for long distance journeys. The ministry is also evaluating the possibility of permitting other travel agents associations to sell the tickets.
• Aadarsh Station Scheme was introduced in 2009. Aadarsh Stations are provided with basic facilities such as drinking water, functioning toilets, catering ser-vices, waiting rooms and dormi-tories especially for lady passen-gers and better signage.
• Railways  has  introduced  Bio-Toilets  in  passenger  coaches. Eight trains are running with 436 Bio-toilets.
• Indian Railways has targeted eliminations of direct discharge passenger coach toilet systems by the end of the 13th Five Year Plan (2021-22).
• Railway     Ticket     upgradation scheme has been launched by Indian Railways for optimum utilisation of passenger capacity from January 26, 2006.
• The government has decided to have the fourth rail coach manu-facturing factory, the first to be built on a Public-Private Partner-ship (PPP) model, in a little over three years from now. To be located in Palakkad, Kerala, it would use Japanese technology for the first time in India to roll out lighter coaches, consuming less fuel.

• Bio-toilets in all Trains in 6 years

By  2019,  all  the  passenger coaches of Indian Trains will be fitted  with  ecofriendly  bio-toilets.  The  Railway  Board hopes to complete installation of bio-toilets in all 40,000-plus coaches of the Indian Railways.

• The longest train route in India is set to begin on November 26, 2011. Vivek Express will cover 4278 km (2658 miles), linking North-East India with South India, taking 82 hours, 40 minutes (3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes).
• Gatiman, the fastest train in India runs between Hazrat Nizamuddin to Agra Cantt. at a speed of 160 kms/hour. It covers 188 kms in just 100 minutes. The train started on April 5, 2016.

• Three special trains were announ-ced  in  Rail  Budget  2016-17. Fully airconditioned AC III ex-press train—“Hamsafar”; ‘Tejas’  with a speed of 130 km per hour and “Uday” overnight excellent double Decker. Besides Then   Antyoday expressfully unreser-ved express train on busy routes will also started.
• India has one of the largest road networks in the world, aggregat-ing to 4·87 million kilometres. The country’s road network con-sists  of  Expressways,  National Highways,     State    Highways, Major District Roads, Other Dis-trict Roads and Village Roads.
• The  road  network  comprises 103,933  km  of  National  High-ways, 161487 km of State High-ways and other 5207044 lakh km roads.
• 19,330   km   (24%)   of National Highways are still of single lane/ Intermediate lane; 40,658 km (52%) are of double lane and 19,128 km (24%) are of four lane/six lane/eight lane.
• About 22 per cent of the total length    of    National  Highways (NHs) is single lane/intermediate lane, about 53 per cent is two lane standard, and the balance 25 per cent is four lane standard or more.
• The govt. has embarked upon a massive National Highway Deve-lopment  Project  (NHDP)  in the

country.  NHDP is the largest highway project ever taken in the country. The NHDP is being implemented mainly the NHAI in phases I to VII.

• National   Highways   comprise only about 2 per cent of the total length of roads and carry about 40 per cent of the total traffic across the length and breadth of the country.
• Out of the total length of National Highways, 24 per cent is single lane/intermediate lane, 52 per cent is 2-lane standard and the balance of 24 per cent is 4-lane standard or more.
• Road Transport has about 87 per cent share in passenger transport of the country.
• Maharashtra  ranks  first   in  the length of roadways among various states of the country.
• The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is a major airport operator managing 125 airports across the country and also entrusted with the sovereign function of providing  air  traffic  services  in India. To enhance airport infra-structure in India, modernization of existing airport infrastructure in  metro  and  non-metro  cities and construction of greenfield airports  were  contemplated. The   Twelfth   Five   Year   Plan  (2012–17) envisages an invest-ment of   65,000 crore at Indian airports, of which a contribution of about  50,000 crore is expec-ted from the private sector.
• ‘Pawan Hans’ is  a  Helicopter Service which was constituted in 1985 with the name ‘Helicopter Corporation of India’.
• Private sector provides air taxi service which was introduced in 1990.
• The government of India decided on March 1, 2007 to merge the two national carriers,  i.e., Indian Airlines Limited and Air India Ltd. into a new 100% Govern-ment of India-owned company, named   as   National    Aviation Company of India Ltd. (NACIL).
• With   effect   from   November 2010, the name of the company has been changed from National Aviation Company of India Ltd. to Air India Ltd.
• India’s Tata group and Singa-pore Airlines jointly have cons-tituted a public limited company on November 5, 2013 with the name “Tata SIA Airlines Limi-ted” with the aim of promoting air services on domestic as well as on international routes.
• Air traffic in India continues to register significantly higher rates of growth averaging 18·5 per cent in the last seven years.
• There are 15 scheduled operator’s permit   holders   including   two regional    ones   and  two  in  the  cargo category, with 419 aircraft endorsed on their permit.
• The number of non-scheduled operator’s    permit    holders   in differ­ent categories, namely pass-engers, cargo and charter, has  gone upto 118 with 332 aircraft endorsed on their permit.
• The development of airports at Delhi and Mumbai has been taken up under PPP mode.
• Development of Kolkata and Chennai international airports has been taken up by the Airports    Authority of India (AAI)  at  the  approved cost of  1942 crore and  1808 crore respectively. The work is in progress.
• Bengaluru and Hyderabad inter-national airports have been deve-loped on PPP mode as greenfield airports. These two airports have been put in operation.
• Pawan  Hans  Helicopters  Ltd. proposes to construct a  heliport in New Delhi to provide connec­tivity to tourists and the business community.

• A New Ennore Sea-Port near Chennai  has  been  established with  the  assistance  of  Asian Deve­lopment Bank.
• Ennor Port, officially, renamed ‘Kamarajar Port’ Ltd. after free-dom fighter and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Kamaraj.

This is the second port to be renamed  by  the  Shipping Ministry headed by G.K. Vasan after freedom fighters in recent times, the first one being V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust in Tuticorin, in February 2011.

• Shipping plays an important role in the transport sector of India’s economy. 95 per cent of the country’s trade volume (68 per cent in terms of value) is moved by sea.

• Gopalpur  set  to  be  an  all-Weather Port

Gopalpur port off Ganjam coast in Odisha is now all set to start operation as an all-weather port. Gopalpur Port Ltd. (GPL) has already notified the opening of the port for commercial traffic after experts from Indian Insti-tute  of  Technology  (IIT), Chennai, nodal agency appointed by Odisha government to clarify its operational readiness, gave a go ahead signal.

• Two new major ports will be established in Sagar, West Ben-gal and in Andhra Pradesh to add 100 million tonnes capacity.
• A new outer harbour will be developed in V.O. Chidambaranar Port at Thoothukkudi (T.N.) through PPP as an estimated cost of  7,500 crore.
• India has 13 major ports and 200 non-major ones. Of the non-major ports, about 66 are hand-ling traffic. Mundra Port is the largest private port of India, located in the Gulf of Kutch (Guj-arat). Besides this Krishnapa-tnam (Andhra Pradesh), Ganga-varm (Andhra Pradesh), Karikal (Tamil Nadu), Pipavav (Gujarat) are other private sector ports of India.
• India has one of the largest merchant shipping fleet among the developing countries and ranks 16th amongst the countries with the largest cargo carrying fleet  with  10·11  million   Gross  Tonn age (GT) as on August 31, 2010 and average age of the fleet being 18·03 years.
• Odisha government has signed a concenssion  agreement  with Navyuga Engg. Company to set up a port with a capacity of 25 mtpa, at an investment of  6500 crore in Puri district.
• Shipping plays an important role in the transport sector of India’s economy. Approximately, 95 per cent  of   the  country’s  trade  by volume (70 per cent in terms of value) in moved by sea. India has the largest merchant shipp-ing fleet  among  the  developing  countries and ranks 17th amongst the countries with the largest cargo carrying fleet with 7·07 million GT and the average of the fleet being 17 years.

• Over the last ten years, India’s merchandise trade (on customs basis) increased manifold from US $ 195·1 billion in 2004-05 to US $ 655·013 billion in 2016-17 helping India’s share in global exports and imports improve from 0·8 per cent and 1·0 per cent respectively in 2004 to 1·62 per cent and 2·34 per cent in 2015.
• India’s ranking amongst the leading exporters  and importers improved from 30 and 23 in 2004 to 19 and 13 respectively in 2015.
• During 2016-17, India’s foreign trade scenario was :

        Exports              $ 274·645 billion

        Imports              $ 380·368 billion

        Trade Deficit     $ 105·723 billion

• Value of imports declined from US$ 448 billion in 2014-15 to US$ 380·368 billion in 2015-16, mainly on account of decline in crude oil prices resulting in lower levels of POL imports. During 2016-17 imports declined by 0·17 per cent to US $ 380·368 billion compared  to  the  corresponding period  of  previous  year.   POL imports increased  by 4·24 per cent.
• India’s imports from Europe, Africa, America, Asia and CIS & Baltics regions declined in 2015-16.  However,  in 2016-17

(April – November),     imports from CIS & Baltics region increased by 10·3 per cent while other four regions witnessed decline. Top three import destinations   of  India  were   China followed by UAE and USA in 2016-17 (April-November).

• In 2015-16, India’s trade deficit declined by 13·8 per cent (vis-à-vis 2014-15) to US$ 118·7 billion. Furthermore, it declined by 10·94 per cent to US$ 105·723 billion in 2016-17 as compared to US$ 118·716 billion in previous year.

• India’s major imports which are re-exported after processing are capital goods, fertilizers, coal, chemicals, minerals, edible oils, food grains, pulses, paper etc.
• The major exportable items from India are agriculture and allied products,  minerals,  manufacturing goods.
• With a share of 23% of India’s merchandise exports, engineering sector is the largest contributor to such exports well ahead of gems and jewellery.
• India  had  a  share  of  2·3%  of world exports of marine products.
• Textiles Industry contributes the maximum net foreign exchange in India’s exports because its exports are least dependent on imports.
• In 1994-95, Indian rupee was declared fully convertible on cur-rent account.

• Finance Ministry has introduced Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill 2008 on October 17, 2008 in the Parliament for making amendments in existing Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
• As per WTO data, India’s commercial services exports increased from US $ 51·9 billion in 2005 to US $ 155·3 billion in 2015. The share of India’s commercial services to global services to global services exports increased to 3·3 per cent in 2015 from 3·1 per cent in 2014 despite negative growth of 0·2 per cent in 2015 as compared to 5·0 per cent growth in 2014. This was due to the relatively greater fall in world services exports by 6·1 per cent in 2015.
• As per RBI’s BoP data, India’s services exports declined by 2·4 per cent in 2015-16 as a result of slowdown in global output and trade. However, in H1 of 2016-17, services exports increased by 4·0 per cent compared to 0·3 per cent growth in the same period of previous year. Growth of net services, which has been a major source of financing India’s trade deficit in recent years, was (–) 9·0 per cent in 2015-16 and (–) 10·0 per cent in H1 of 2016-17 due to relatively higher growth in imports of services. Growth of software exports which accoun-ted for 48·1 per cent share in ser-vices exports was 1·4 per cent in 2015-16 and 0·1 per cent in H1 of 2016-17.
• Nominal   Effective    Exchange Rate (NEER) and Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) indices are used as indicators of external competitiveness of the country over a period of time. NEER is the weighted average of bilateral nominal exchange rates of the home  currency  in  terms  of foreign currencies, while REER is defined as a weighted average of nominal exchange rates, adjusted for home and foreign country relative price differentials.
• Anti-dumping  duty  imposed on Chinese equipment—India   has imposed anti-dumping duty of upto 266 per cent on import of an  IT  equipment—also  used  in the telecom sector—to guard the domestic industry against cheap Chinese  and  Israeli  shipments. According to the official declaration, the restrictive duty on import of the ‘synchronous digital hierarchy transmission equipment’ would range from three to 266 per cent on the CIF (cost, insurance  and   freight) value of imports.
• NAFED disallowed for white sugar imports—The government has  excluded  National  Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NafEd) from the list of four nominated agencies for white sugar imports, restricting  the  job  to  the  three public sector trading firms—MMTC, PEC and STC. As per NAFED’s      official      sources, NAFED itself requested the government to exclude it from the list as the sale of white sugar to domestic  mills  has  become  a little difficult.
• Regionwise,  Asia  and  ASEAN countries have emerged as major export destinations for India.
• India has implemented an FTA (Free  Trade  Agreement)  with Indonesia, a member of 10-nation ASEAN block. Implementation of this FTA slashes import duties on thousands of products like seafood, chemicals and apparel. On the reciprocal side, Indonesia will also slash import duties on Indian goods simultaneously.
• India 19th biggest exporter in merchandise trade—According to the recent classification done by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Secretariat. India is the world’s 19th biggest exporter  in  merchandise  trade surpassing  countries   like   Australia, Brazil, Switzerland and Sweden. On import front India is the 13th largest importer of the world.
• The USA, the European Union, China and Japan are the major importers of services in the world.
• The China has replaced the USA as  the  topmost  destination  of India’s exports in 2015-16.
• Export-Import Ratios in top 15 trading partners show that India had bilateral trade surplus with five countries, namely the UAE, USA,  Singapore,  the  UK  and Hong  Kong  in  2009-10  and 2010-11.
• Export-import  ratios show that among its top 15 trading partners, India had bilateral trade surplus with  five countries, namely the UAE, USA, Singapore,  UK and Hong kong.
• Foreign exchange reserves are an important component of the BoP and an essential element in the analysis of an economy’s exter­nal position. India’s foreign ex-change reserves comprise Fore­ign    Currency    Assets   (FCA),  gold,  Special  Drawing  Rights (SDRs)   and    Reserve  Tranche  Position (RTP) in the Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF).
• In  terms  of  the  destination  of FDI flows Delhi, parts of U. P. and Haryana, Maharashtra, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu accounted for almost 50% of the total inflows.
• Amid dwindling interest in SEZs, the  government  announced  a ‘package of reforms’ on April 18, 2013, including easing of land requirement norms and an exit policy, to rekindle investor interest in Special Economic Zones.
• The Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Policy supported by the SEZ Act 2005 and SEZ Rules 2006  intends  to  make SEZs  an engine  for  economic  growth supported   by   quality   infra-structure, complemented by an attractive fiscal package, both at the Central and State levels and with the single-window clearance mechanism.SEZ Norms Liberalised
  1. The Minimum Land Area Requirement for SEZ has been reduced by half for different categories of SEZs,
  2. For  multi-product   SEZ, minimum land requirement has been brought down from 1000 hectare to 500 hectare and   for   Sector-Specific SEZs, it has been brought down to 50 hectare.
  3. Also, there would be no minimum land requirement for  setting   up   IT/ITES    SEZs,  besides  easing  of minimum  built  up  area criteria.
  4. The Government has decided to allow transfer of owner-ship of SEZ units including sale.

Among sectors attracting high cumulative FDIs, Services Sector retained  the  first spot, followed by construction development for the period April 2000 to March 2016.

• The World Bank’s concessionary lending arm, the International Development Association (IDA), which helps the world’s poorest countries,  committed  17·7  per cent of its total aid, amounting to $ 2·6 billion, to India in 2009-10.
• Asian Development Bank (ADB) has  approved  $  132  million        ( 585 crore) loan for upgrading electricity system in Bihar and also a loan package of $ 120 million ( 532 crore) to Assam towards efforts to combat flood-ing and erosion.
• All  the  8  Export  Processing Zones (EPZs) located at Kandla and Surat (Gujarat), Santa Cruz (Maharashtra), Cochin (Kerala), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Falta (West Bengal) and Noida (U.P.) have been converted into Special Economic Zones.
• India’s  external  debt  stock increased to $ 456·1 billion at end-December 2016.

At end-December 2016

        *   External Debt                                                    —$ 456·1 billion

        *   Total External Debt to GDP (2015-16)                      —23·5%

        *   Debt Service Ratio (2015-16)                                     —8·8%

        *   Concessional Debt to Total external debt                 —9·2%

        *   Foreign Exchange Reserves to total external debt          —78·7%

        *   Short term External Debt to total Debt                        —18·4%

        *   Short  term  External  Debt to Foreign Exchange Reserves —23·4%

• India’s tourism sector witnessed a growth of 4·5 per cent in terms of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) with 8·2 million arrivals in 2015, and a growth of 4·1 per cent in foreign exchange earnings (FEEs) of US$ 21·1 billion.
• During 2016, 88·90 lakh foreign tourist visited India. This number is 10·27% more than that of 2015 figure.
• During 2016, foreign exchange earning stood at $ 23·146 billion while in 2015 it was $ 21·071 billion. Thus during 2016, 9·9% growth in foreign exchange earning is registered.
• To revive international tourist arrivals    in   the   country   after Mumbai terror attacks, India has launched a new tourism promotion campaign to attract foreign visitors.
• For the development of Indian Tourism, Tourism Development Corporation was established in the Public Sector on 1st October, 1966.
• The 12th plan (2012–17) document highlights the need to adopt ‘pro-poor tourism’ for increasing net   benefits   to   the   poor  and ensuring that tourism growth contributes to poverty reduction.
• The scheme of ‘Visa-on Arrival (VoA)’ had been introduced for five countries w.e.f. January 2010 which again extended to six more countries in January 2011 and further to 29 countries. Thus, it is now available to the visitors from 40 countries.

• Tourism contributes about 6% in country’s GDP.
• On  lines of  ‘Palace on Wheels’ and Oriental Express, Railway Budget   2004-05   proposed   to start ‘Village on Wheels’ for poor people.
• Tourism Department classifies hotels  under  Star  System  in six  categories  which are from I to V Star Hotels and Heritage Hotels.
• A new classified category has been started for the  hotels which have been working  since prior to 1950 in the old palaces, forts and mansions.
• The double-digit growth in both number of foreign tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings there from continued for the third consecutive year in 2005-06.
• Indian Tourism Financial Corpo­ra­tion has been set up to provide finances for  the  development of services and facilities relating to tourism.
• Central Government has a scheme  named  ‘Golden   Triangle’ under consideration to encourage tourism at Chennai, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram on the lines of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.
• Deccan Odyssey is a luxury train  which  travels  through  Maharashtra  and  Goa  in  its journey.
• Fisheries sector in India has been one of the major contributors of foreign    exchange    earnings through exports.
• Seven new tourist circuits are being developed across the India to facilitate travel to and stay at religious places. These circuits will be Sufi, Buddhist & Jain, Christian, Sikh, Hinduism and Sarva Dharma circuits.
• Sufi Circuit will include Delhi, Agra, Fatehpur Sikari, Bijapur, Shirdi,  Aurangabad,  and  the Awadh  region,  besides  the dargahs in J&K, Punjab, Haryana and Uttarakhand.
• The Christian Circuit will have the churches of Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• The Sarva Dharma Circuit, to promote national integration, will be aligned along Tirupathi–Chennai – Velankanni – Nagoor and      Vaishnodevi – Golden Temple–Sacred  Heart  Church (Delhi)–Nizamuddin.

• Planwise    Industrial    Growth rates :

        Ninth Plan (1997-2002)           4·3%

        Tenth Plan (2002–07)              9·4%

        Eleventh Plan (2007–12)          7·2%

        Twelfth Plan (2012–17)

        (Target)                                     7·6%

• Planwise Manufacturing Sector Growth Rates :

        Ninth Plan (1997–2002)          3·3%

        Tenth Plan (2002–07)              9·3%

        Eleventh Plan (2007–12)          7·7%

        Twelfth Plan (2012–17)

        (Target)                                  7·1%

• During 2014-15, industrial sector registered growth of 5·9% which as per advanced estimates of 2015-16, became 7·4%. For 2016-17, it is estimated at 5·2%.
• India’s services sector remains the major driver of economic growth   contributing   72.4  per cent of GDP growth in 2014-15. Services-sector      growth has increased from 7·8 per cent in 2012-13 to 8·0 per cent in 2013-14 and further to 10.3 per cent in 2015-16. For 2016-17, it is estimated at 9 per cent.
• The services sector is also the dominant sector in most of the states of India with a more than 40 per cent share in the gross state domestic product (GSDP) for almost all states.
• Service sector has made substantial    contribution     to     FDI inflows,  exports,   and   employment.

• As per the first revised estimates of real gross value added (GVA) released by CSO for the year 2014-15 i.e., GVA at constant (2011-12) basic prices, service sector growth accelerated to 10·3% from 7·8% in the previous year, but it declined to 9·0% in 2016-17.
• The rate of growth of gross capital formation in dustry has registered a sharp rise from (–) 3·7%   in   2013-14  to 3·6% in 2014-15, showing upward momentum of investment in the industry.
• Growth in credit flow to industrial  sector,  including   mining  and manufacturing has slowed down in 2015-16 as compared to 2014-15.
• During 2015-16, credit to micro and small industries and large industries grew at 2·5% and 6·6% respectively but credit flow to medium scale industries declined by 7·6% during the same period.
• As per the first advance estimates of the CSO, growth rate of the industrial   sector     comprising mining & quarrying, manufacturing, electricity and construction is projected to decline from 7.4 per cent in 2015-16 to 5.2 per cent in 2016-17 .
• During April-November 2016-17, a modest growth of 0.4 per cent has been observed in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) which is a volume index with base year of 2004-05.
• In terms of use-based classification, basic goods, intermediate goods and consumer durable goods attained moderate growth. Conversely, the production of capital goods declined steeply and consumer non-durable goods sectors suffered a modest con-traction     during April November 2016-17.
• The eight core infrastructure supportive industries, viz. coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity that have a total weight of nearly 38 per cent in the IIP registered a cumulative growth   of  4.9  per  cent  during April-November     2016-17     as compared to 2.5 per cent during April-November 2015-16.
• The production of refinery pro-ducts, fertilizers, steel, electricity and cement increased substantially, while the production of crude oil and natural gas fell during April-November 2016-17.
• Coal production attained lower growth during the same period.
• Most indicators of infrastructure-related activities showed expansion during H1 2016-17. Thermal power with a growth of 6.9 per cent boosted overall power gene-ration while hydro and nuclear power generation contracted marginally during April-September 2016 .
• The Government has liberalized and simplified the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy in sec-tors like defence, railway infra-structure,    construction   and pharmaceuticals, etc. During April-December 2016-17, FDI equity inflows were US$ 35.844 billion as compared to total FDI inflows of US$ 40 billion during April-March 2015-16.
• Sectors like services sector, construction development, computer software & hardware and telecommunications have attracted highest FDI equity inflows.
• Total FDI inflow into India during 2015-16 was US $ 55·457 bn which was a record. During 2014-15 FDI inflow was US $ 45·148 bn. Investment by FIIs during 2015-16 went negative with an outflow of US $ 3·516 bn. as compared to inflow of US $ 40·923 bn. in 2014-15.
• Foreign Investment Promotion Board abolished since April 1, 2017. FDI proposals beyond automatic route had to be approved by FIPB.
• With 3·6 crore units spread across the country, that employ 8·05 crore people, MSME sector has contributed 37·5% to the country’s GDP.
• Among MSME sector, 94·94% enterprises are micro enterprises, 4·89% small enterprises and 0·17% medium enterprises.
• Among MSME sector, 45% enterprises are in rural sector and 55% are in urban sector. 67·17% enterprises belong to manufacturing sector and 16·78% to service sector.
• MSME sector contributes 45% in manufacturing sector production and 40% in exports of the country.
• The performance of the coal sec-tor in the first two years of the Twelfth  Plan  has  been subdued with domestic production at 556 MT in 2012-13 and 639·23 MT in
• India accounts for 1·8% of the worlds manufacturing output.
• New industrial policy 1991 was declared on July 24, 1991. It was a first major policy document under  the  policy  framework  of Liberalisation,  Privatisation and Globalisation.
• A separate Industrial Policy for small scale industries sector was declared on 6th August, 1991 for the first time.
• SSI investment limit (in plant and machinery) of hosiery, hand  tools, stationery and drugs and pharmaceuticals has been enhan-ced from  1 crore to  5 crore to enable technology upgradation modernisation and to meet the present day global requirements.
• The small units having invest­ment upto  25 lakh in plants and machinery are called tiny units.­
• Under  the  provisions  of new Industrial Policy, export-oriented industrial units will get automatic sanction of Foreign Equity Investment up to 51%.
• For making Foreign Capital Investment more easier, Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973-FERA—was liberalized on 8th January, 1993 by an ordinance issued by President of India. Now in December 1999 FERA has been replaced by FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act).
• India imports about 75% of its requirements of crude petroleum.
• Textile Industry is the largest industry in the country. The share of Textile Industry in  total industrial production is about 20%. It also contributes 38% in total exports of the country. This industry provides employment to about 200 lakh people in the country. It is the second  largest  employment provider in the country.

Following new initiatives have been taken up by the Government to facilitate investment and ease of doing business in the country.

*  Make-in-India,

*  Invest India,

*  Start Up India and

*   e-biz Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan.

• Online application for Industrial Licence and Industrial Entrepreneur Memorandum through the e Biz  website  24  ¥  7  for entrepreneurs;
• Simplication of application forms for Industrial Licence and Indus-trial Entrepreneur Memoramdum.
• Textile sector is an export intensive sub sector and contributes  about  40–45%  to  total textiles exports.
• Cotton Industry depends upon the supply of cotton. (i.e.,  white gold). India holds fourth place in the world  in  cotton  production.
• As far as cotton producing area is  concerned,  India  holds   first place in the world. 40% of total cotton production is consumed by mills in the public sector. Maharashtra is the largest cotton producing area in the country.
• The leather Industry occupies a prominent   place  in   the  Indian economy  in  view  of  its  sub­stantial export earnings, employment potential and growth. The small-scale,  cottage  and  artisan sector   account  for  over  75 per cent   of  the  leather  production.

The leather  sector provides employment mainly to people from the disadvantaged sections of society. More than 30 per cent of the work force employed in this sector constitute women.

• India has emerged as one of the key  players  in  the  gems  and jewellery sector on account of its traditional  strength  in  craftsmanship and its reasonable share in global business.
• There   were  298  central  Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) as on March 31, 2015. Of these, 235 were operational and 63 under construction.
• The financial investment (Paid-up capital + long term loans) in all the CPSEs stood at  10,96,057 crore as on March 31, 2015, showing an increase of 10·5% over 2013-14.

The net profit of 157 profit making  CPSEs  stood  at  1,30,363 crore in 2014-15 while the net loss of loss-making 77 CPSEs stood at  27,360 crore.

India ranked at the fourth largest producer of crude steel in the world during 2013 after China, Japan and the USA.

SIDBI setup the India Micro finance Equity Fund in 2011-12 with budgetary support of  100 crore.

The    Technology    up gradation Fund      Scheme    (TUFS)    and  Schemes  for  Integrated  Textile Parks   (SITP)  are  two  flagship schemes    of    the   Ministry   of Textiles. Government of India’s investment target in Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme for the textile sector in the 12th plan is  1,51,000 crore.  2,400 crore has been allotted into this fund in the Union Budget 2013-14.

• sfurti   (Scheme  of  Fund for Regeneration      of    Traditional Industries)  was   started   during the Eleventh Plan  for  the  development of Khadi, Village industries and coir. The 12th plan has provided an outlay of  850 crore to SFURTI.

• Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) was established  under  Sick  Indus-trial  Companies Act, 1985.  The Board started its functioning w.e.f. May 15, 1987.
• The process of disinvestment in the Public Sector Undertakings was started since 1991-92.
• To minimize the financial burden on  the Public Sector Enterprises the   Government   has   started Voluntary Retirement Scheme for the employees by giving  full compensation to employees. This   is   called  ‘Golden Hand Shake Scheme’.
• To evaluate the problems of fina­nce and sickness of small indus­tries, the Govt. had consti­tuted Nayak Committee which submit­ted its report in September 1992.
• At present only 2 industries have been  reserved  for  the  Public Sector—

        (i)      Atomic Energy.

        (ii)     Rail Transport.

[Recently a decision has been taken to open defence industry sector to private sector with foreign direct  investment permissible upto 49%]

• At present only 4 industries are required  to  obtain  compulsory license—

(i)    Cigars, cigarettes and other substitutes  of  prepared tobacco.

(ii)   Electric, Aerospace and  all types of defence equipment.

(iii) Industrial explosives including detonating fuses, safety fuses, gunpowder, nitrocellulose, and matches;

(iv)   Specified hazardous chemicals—

(a)   Hydocyanic  acid  and  its derivatives;

(b)   Phosgene and its derivatives;

(c)   Isocyanates and dissociates of hydrocarbon not elsewhere   specified   are   still under compulsory licensing.

• Petroleum   and    Natural    Gas Regulatory Act, 2006 has been notified on April 3, 2006 to regulate specific activities relat­ing  to  petroleum,  petroleum products and natural gas conse­quent   to   deregulation   of   the petroleum sector.
• The government had completely delicensed the  paper  industry from  July  17,  1997.  Foreign direct    investment   (FDI)  upto 100% is permitted on automatic route in paper industry.
• Sugar industry has been partially deregulated on April 4, 2013. The   cabinet  committee   on Economic Affairs abolished the sugar levy an sugar mills and deregulated sale of sugar in the open market.

RBI Notifies Hike in FDI Cap in  Insurance  Sector—The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has notified the government’s decision to raise Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector to 40 per cent from 26 per cent.

• According to World Investment Report 2016, USA stood top in FDI inflow during 2015 with     $ 380 billion followed by Hong Kong and China. USA also remained at the top in FDI outflow during 2015 with $ 300 billion.
• According to World Investment Report 2016, FDI inflow in India during 2015 stood at $ 44·2 billion which is 27·7% more as compared with $ 34·6 billion level of 2014.
• In the world list of top countries having maximum FDI inflow, India’s rank was 9th in 2014 which slipped down to 10th rank in 2015.
• 49% FDI in credit information companies has been allowed.
• FDI upto 100% under the automatic route has been allowed both in setting up and in established industrial parks.
• GoI allowed 51% FDI in multi-brand retail sector with the fol-lowing two riders—

(i)     Foreign retailing company will  have  to  compulsorily source  one  third  of  the products  they   sell   from small and medium enter-prises whose investments do not exceed $ 1 million in total.

(ii)    Foreign retailing company will have to invest at least  $ 100 million, half of which has to go into backed infra-structure over three years.

• FDI policy in the petroleum and natural  gas  sector  has  been rationalised.
• As on March 31, 2017 there are 7  ‘Maharatna’ public sector enterpris SAIL, ONGC, IOC, NTPC, CIL, BHEL and GAIL.
• GOI has granted Navratna status to container corporation of India, increasing their number to 17.
• Government has granted ‘Mini Ratna’  status to three  PSUs. These units are—IRCTC (Indian Railways Cattering and Tourism Corporation),  Satluz  Hydro Power Corporation and National Hydro Power Corporation.
• Small industries account for 45% of   total   industrial   production and 40% of total exports of the country.
• Small Industries Development Organization (SIDO) was established in 1954.
• As far as licensing is concerned, the  sector  of  Small  Industries has been completely deregulated.
• First ever factory to build Diesel Engine   was   established   in Satara-Maharashtra in 1932.
• The first cycle making factory of India was established in Calcutta in 1932. India holds second place  in  the  field  of  cycles production in the world. About 90 lakh cycles are produced annually in India.
• National Awards for scheduled commercial banks were consti­tuted by the Ministry of SSI for best performance in terms of lending to SSIs.
• Petrol and diesel prices were deregulated from April 1, 2002. But administered pricing regime made a backdoor entry in 2004 with UPA government pushed for control on diesel, LPG and kerosene price.
• Union Cabinet deregulated diesel prices. Now the diesel price moves as per market conditions since October 19, 2014.
• LPG and Kerosene prices are still   under   Administered  Price Mechanism.

• The  government  has  already deregulated  the  import  and pricing of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) from April 1, 2001.
• Handicraft   sector   provides employment to 65 lakhs artisans.
• India  is  the  world  leader  in carpet exports with 36% of the global market share.
• The woollen textiles industry is  a rural based, export-oriented industry in which the organised sector,  the  decentralised  sector,  and the rural sector complement each  other.  This  industry provides employment to 27 lakh workers in a wide spectrum of activities. The country is the seventh largest producer of wool in the world.

Digital India Land Records Modernization Programme (DILRMP) with the aims to modernize management of updated land records and to usher in a system of automated and automatic mutation, inter-connectivity between revenue and registration, to replace the present deeds registration and presumptive title system and facilitate moving eventually towards guaranteed conclusive titles to immovable properties in the Country so as to minimize scope of land/property disputes, enhance transparency in the land records maintenance system; was launched by Government of India on 21 August, 2008 by merger of the then being implemented since 1988, two Centrally Sponsored Schemes of the Land Reforms (LR) Division: (1) Computerization of Land Records (CLR) & (2) Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA&ULR). The District has been taken as the unit of implementation, where all programme activities are to converge. It was hoped that all 620 districts in the country would be covered by 2017 at the end of the 12th Plan period except where cadastral surveys were being done for the first time. The scheme did not see much headway as it proved to be a challenging one from the cost perspective.

DILRMP has the main objective to develop a modern, comprehensive and transparent land records management system in the country with the aim to implement the conclusive land-titling system with title guarantee, to be based on four basic principles:

1. Single Window to handle land records including the maintenance and updating of textual records, maps, survey and settlement operations and registration of immovable property,
2. Mirror principle, which refers to the fact that cadastral records mirror the ground reality,
3. Curtain principle which indicates that the record of title is a true depiction of the ownership status, mutation is automated and automatic following registration and the reference to past records is not necessary, and
4. Title Insurance, which guarantees the title for its correctness and indemnifies the title holder against loss arising on account of any defect therein.

DILRMP has 3 major components:

1. Computerization of all land records including mutations, digitization of maps and integration of textual and spatial data,
2. Survey/re-survey and updating of all survey and settlement records including creation of original cadastral records wherever necessary,
3. Computerization of Registration and its integration with the land records maintenance system, development of core Geospatial Information System (GIS) and capacity building.

Modi government in the year 2016-17 took an important step and supported The Land Transformation Management System to tackle the nuisance of illegal land acquisition cases, in the light of the land scam case that had surfaced against retired IAS officer GS Sandhu, who allegedly transferred a society deed of a land measuring 40,000 square yards to a builder against norms in 2011 when he was additional chief secretary, urban development and housing. This will put an end to age old malpractices of fraud in land transactions. Land being the costliest asset in realty has often been the focus of land fights, property crimes and frauds.

Digitization of land records has been re-launched & implemented from 1 April, 2016 under the National Land Records Modernization Programme with a view to minimise the scope of land disputes, and enhance transparency in the land records maintenance system. In the Budget 2016, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allocated Rs 150 crore for the purpose. In past the absence of any effective land records maintenance system was one of the biggest challenges that gripped India in land ownership issue. Here, one was only presumed to be an owner and not a conclusive owner of land unless proved otherwise. Apart from this, inaccurate physical records and security issues of sharing land records publicly were some areas of concern.

The government too, faced difficulties. Many a times, land acquisition for development projects were done but the 7/12 land extract (an extract from the land register maintained by the revenue department) did not reflect these changes. Thus, the land acquired was fraudulently sold to another person by taking advantage of this loophole. In some cases, people had mortgaged acquired properties for obtaining bank loans, stated a revenue official.

In the digitization process, Tehsildars would first compile land data. Complete details of a parcel of land, from the original owner, period of ownership, year of purchase to number of transactions to the current status of land, the revenue officials need to collect all these details and take an image of the land (property). For records on land availability, a fresh survey of lands would be conducted and every parcel of land counted and details noted. After this, digitization process begins. Online data would be compared with the manual data to rule out any errors. Digitization of land records would ensure requisite details – map of the land, mutation, photo ID, etc., a step towards conclusive ownership.

At the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all land records now will be integrated with Aadhaar, a step taken to monitor the successful implementation of crop insurance scheme. A bill recently passed in Parliament has made Aadhaar mandatory for residents to avail themselves of any public service. Clarity on land ownership would also reveal the quantum of land possessed by a person. Most importantly, people would be able to purchase land, give deeds, and do mutation entry and all kinds of land transactions fearlessly at the press of a button. Online registration will delete any confusion about which land has been earmarked as government land. The government and revenue officials would have the exact details of land available at hand post digitization. The government land would be safe from encroachers.

In order to further push digitization and fight against black money, the Centre has asked all state governments’ revenue departments to record all land records online and link Aadhaar numbers to each of these transactions, including existing land records. Once the state authorities are able to link all PAN with Aadhaar numbers to the land record databases, the investigation officials and tax department can make searches to match property values with annual income declared and tax return files.

Under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Act, 2016, that came into force in November 2016, the government can now confiscate property without paying any compensation to the buyer if they find any discrepancies.

Real estate is the most popular means to park unaccounted money, and is considered the hub for generation of black money where a large number of benami transactions take place. Experts believe the Amendment Act will further reduce black money transactions, thereby adjusting prices as per the set land value, making it accessible for buyers to buy a property without hassles.

States like Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are among the states whose land revenue departments are in the process of linking Aadhaar with land records and making it complete digitized. The Maharashtra government is already in discussions with the National Informatics Centre to link the land records, property ownership with the Aadhaar number of the owner. For instance in Uttar Pradesh, the NOIDA administration has already converted the physical records in to digital records of over 16,000 institutional, industrial and commercial properties. Now both Noida and Greater Noida administrations are undertaking a project to provide all land/property related certificates /documents /papers etc., which will be digitally readable and verifiable.

Once complete, this will be a valuable step in catching those with benami properties across the country. Having a clear picture of people’s properties mapped, registered and valued will lead to good planning. It will eliminate conflicting land right claims to the land or over compensation for the land in question being acquired.

The digitization of land records, apart from providing conclusive titles to land owners and speeding up the process of land acquisition, also could lead to a buildup of local revenues through improved property tax billing and collection.