📰 ‘India’s exports to China growing faster than inbound shipments’
PLI schemes for different sectors will help reduce dependence on imports over time; technical regulations framed for products such as toys, electronics, chemicals and fertilizers will check sub-standard imports, says government official
•India’s trade equation with China has been improving in recent years with outbound shipments rising faster than imports, whose growth is being driven largely by vital raw materials and to meet demand from high-growth sectors such as telecom and power, a senior government official said.
•China is one of India’s large trading partners, with trade flows between the two countries having grown 59% from about $72 billion in 2014-15 (FY15), to $115.4 billion in FY22.
•“Since India-China trade started picking up, the growth in exports to China has been much higher than the import growth,” a Commerce Ministry official told The Hindu. From $11.9 billion in FY15, India’s exports to China had risen 78.1% to $21.25 billion last year, while imports stood at $94.16 billion, 55.8% over the $60.4 billion recorded in FY15. By contrast, imports from China had increased 192% between 2006-07 and 2013-14, when they had crossed $51 billion, he pointed out.
•Intermediate goods account for more than a third of India’s imports from China, while capital goods constitute another 19.3%, with telecom and power sector gear being key drivers, which helped meet domestic demand in these fast-expanding sectors, the official said. The major items of import from China are electronic components, computer hardware and peripherals, telecom instruments, organic chemicals, industrial machinery for dairy, residual chemicals and allied products, electronic instruments, bulk drugs and intermediates.
•The production-linked incentive schemes for different sectors will help reduce the dependence on such imports over time, even as technical regulations framed for products such as toys, electronics, chemicals and fertilizers will check sub-standard imports, he emphasised.
📰 A renewable energy revolution, rooted in agriculture
•The beginnings of a renewable energy revolution rooted in agriculture are taking shape in India with the first bio-energy plant of a private company in Sangrur district of Punjab having commenced commercial operations on October 18. It will produce Compressed Bio Gas (CBG) from paddy straw, thus converting agricultural waste into wealth.
•It has become common practice among farmers in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh to dispose of paddy stubble and the biomass by setting it on fire to prepare fields for the next crop, which has to be sown in a window of three to four weeks. This is spread over millions of hectares. The resultant clouds of smoke engulf the entire National Capital Territory of Delhi and neighbouring States for several weeks between October to December. This plays havoc with the environment and affects human and livestock health.
Some measures
•The Government of India has put in place several measures and spent a lot of money in tackling the problem. The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had developed a framework and action plan for the effective prevention and control of stubble burning. The framework/action plan includes in-situ management, i.e., incorporation of paddy straw and stubble in the soil using heavily subsidised machinery (supported by crop residue management (CRM) Scheme of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare). Ex-situ CRM efforts include the use of paddy straw for biomass power projects and co-firing in thermal power plants, and as feedstock for 2G ethanol plants, feed stock in CBG plants, fuel in industrial boilers, waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, and in packaging materials, etc.
•Additionally, measures are in place to ban stubble burning, to monitor and enforce this, and initiating awareness generation. Despite these efforts, farm fires continued unabated.
•Though paddy stubble burning in northwest India has received a lot of attention because of its severity of pollution, the reality is that crop residue burning is spreading even to rabi crops and the rest of the country. Unless these practices are stopped, the problem will assume catastrophic proportions.
A project in place
•In its search for a workable solution, NITI Aayog approached FAO India in 2019 to explore converting paddy straw and stubble into energy and identify possible ex-situ uses of rice straw to complement the in-situ programme. In technical consultations with the public and private sectors, the FAO published its study on developing a crop residue supply chain in Punjab that can allow the collection, storage and final use of rice straw for other productive services, specifically for the production of renewable energy.
•The results suggest that to mobilise 30% of the rice straw produced in Punjab, an investment of around ₹2,201 crore ($309 million) would be needed to collect, transport and store it within a 20-day period. This would reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by about 9.7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent and around 66,000 tonnes of PM2.5. Further, depending on market conditions, farmers can expect to earn between ₹550 and ₹1,500 per ton of rice straw sold, depending on market conditions.
•A techno-economic assessment of energy technologies suggested that rice straw can be cost-effective for producing CBG and pellets. Pellets can be used in thermal power plants as a substitute of coal and CBG as a transport fuel. With 30% of the rice straw produced in Punjab, a 5% CBG production target set by the Government of India scheme, “Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT)” can be met. It could also increase local entrepreneurship, increase farmers’ income and reduce open burning of rice straw. In Punjab, Sangrur, Ludhiana and Barnala were recommended as the most promising districts for these interventions. Verbio India Private Limited, a 100% subsidiary of the German Verbio AG, got approval from the Punjab government in April 2018 to set up a bio-CNG project that will utilise about 2.1 lakh tonnes of a total of 18.32 million tonnes of paddy straw annually. The plant is in Bhutal Kalan village of Lehragaga tehsil in Sangrur district, Punjab. The plant will use one lakh tonnes of paddy straw produced from approximately 16,000 hectares of paddy fields. Paddy residue will be collected from this year to produce 33 tons of CBG and 600-650 tonnes of fermented organic manure/slurry per day — this will reduce up to 1.5 lakh tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
Many benefits
•Thus, from paddy stubble, CBG valued at ₹46 per kg as per the SATAT scheme will be produced. Paddy straw from one acre of crop can yield energy output (CBG) worth more than ₹17,000 — an addition of more than 30% to the main output of grain. This initiative is an ideal example of a ‘wealth from waste’ approach and circular economy.
•There are several other benefits: the slurry or fermented organic manure from the plant (CBG) will be useful as compost to replenish soils heavily depleted of organic matter, and reduce dependence on chemical fertilizers. The plant will also provide employment opportunities to rural youth in the large value chain, from paddy harvest, collection, baling, transport and handling of biomass and in the CBG plant. This will boost the economy of Punjab. It is pertinent to mention that straw from many other crops contains higher energy than paddy straw.
•This appears to be a first win-win initiative in the form of environmental benefits, renewable energy, value addition to the economy, farmers’ income and sustainability. This initiative is replicable and scaleable across the country and can be a game changer for the rural economy.
Mobile users of digital powerhouses need an environment of real choice
•The recent order of India’s competition regulator against Google for abusing its dominant position in the Android mobile device ecosystem is significant not just for the amount of penalty imposed but also for the drastic changes in business practices that it requires the IT giant to undertake. On Thursday, the Competition Commission of India imposed a penalty of about ₹1,337 crore, said to be a provisional amount, on Google, while coming down heavily on it for having such restrictive clauses in its agreements with original equipment manufacturers (who use its Android platform) that it can keep competition at bay. And because of such agreements, the order said, “Google ensured that users continue to use its search services on mobile devices which facilitated un-interrupted growth of advertisement revenue for Google.” It, therefore, concluded that the whole idea of Google imposing such restrictions on its device partners was to “protect and strengthen its dominant position in general search services and thus, its revenues via search advertisements”. This decision, both the penalty and the regulator’s direction to Google “to modify its conduct”, will be welcomed by anyone who realises the power of the big IT platforms to shut out competition and, therefore, choice for the users.
•Significantly, it will not be business-as-usual for Google, as the regulator has issued a cease and desist order against it, according to which it will have to drastically change the terms of the deals it enters into with original equipment manufacturers. For instance, as per the Competition Commission order, Google should not henceforth force original equipment manufacturers to choose from its bouquet of apps to pre-install on the device. Nor should it, the order says, require device makers to pre-install its apps such as Google search, Chrome, YouTube, Maps, among others, as a precondition for licensing of its Play Store. It also has been directed against restricting users from uninstalling its pre-installed apps. One of the requirements, in fact, targets Google’s primary revenue generator. It says, “Google shall allow the users, during the initial device setup, to choose their default search engine for all search entry points.” These, among a slew of such requirements, could well mean that Google will have to tweak its business model in India. Google has termed the order a “major setback” for Indian businesses and consumers, saying it opens up security risks while also possibly raising the cost of mobile devices. While the option of legal review is open, it is to the regulator’s credit that Google’s anti-competitive practices have been called out. What the mobile users of a potential digital powerhouse such as India need is an environment of real choice.
