India lacks Infrastructure

India had a road network of over 4.42 million kilometres (2.059 million miles) in 2011, making it one of the three largest road networks in the world. At 0.66 km of roads per square kilometer of land the quantitative density of India’s road network is similar to that in the United States (0.65) and far higher than that of China's (0.16) or Brazil's (0.20). However, qualitatively India's roads are a mix of modern highways and narrow, unpaved roads. As of 2008, 49 percent - about 2.1 million kilometers - of Indian roads were paved.

Adjusted for its larger population, India has less than 4 kilometers of roads per 1000 people, including all its paved and unpaved roads.

In terms of high quality, all season, 4 or more lane highways, India has less than 0.07 kilometers of highways per 1000 people, as of 2010. These are one of the lowest road and highway densities in the world.

For context, United States has 21 kilometers of roads per 1000 people, while France about 15 kilometers per 1000 people - predominantly paved and high quality in both cases. In terms of all season, 4 or more lane highways, developed countries such as United States and France have a highway density per 1000 people that is over 15 times as India.

India, in its past, had not allocated resources to build or maintain its road network. This has changed since 1995, with major efforts currently underway to modernize the country's road infrastructure. India plans to spend approximately US$70 Billion by 2013 to modernize its highway network.

According to 2009 estimates by Goldman Sachs, India will need to invest US$1.7 trillion on infrastructure projects before 2020 to meet its economic needs, a part of which would be in upgrading India's road network.

The main roads in India are under huge pressure and in great need of modernization in order to handle the increased requirements of the Indian economy. In addition to maintenance, the expansion of the network and widening of existing roads is becoming increasingly important. This would then enable the roads to handle increased traffic, and also allow for a corresponding increase in the average movement speed on India's roads.

In 2009, lane capacity was low and only about 16% of India's roads were four lanes or above. A 2007 study found that the congestion on India's highways reduced average truck and bus speeds to 30-40 km/h (19-25 mph); road maintenance was under-funded, and some 40 percent of villages in India lacked access to all-weather roads.

While the PMGSY rural road program mentioned above has, by 2011, connected 90 percent of villages identified in 2005 as without access, many remote villages in India were still without access to a single lane, paved road as of May 2011.

The World Health Organization compilation of road network safety data for major economies found India to have the highest number of road fatalities in the World, with 105,000 road-accident caused deaths in 2006.

In a 2010 report, KPMG - one of the world's largest audit and advisory services company - noted marked improvements in Indian road network and logistics efficiencies in recent years. The report also identified the competitive challenges faced by India. Some findings of this report include:

• The average road speed in India has increased to 30-40 kilometers per hour. The worldwide average road speed, which includes China, ranges between 60-80 kilometers per hour.
• Four lane road network in India has increased to 7,000 kilometers. China, in comparison, has 34,000 kilometers of equivalent quality four lane roads.
• Average surface freight costs have dropped to US$0.07 per kilometer. Japan, in comparison, has average surface freight costs of US$0.037 per kilometer.
  

The KPMG report also notes that India's road network logistics and transportation bottlenecks hinder its GDP growth by one to two percent (US$16 billion - US$32 billion). In India's 2010 per capita income basis, this is equivalent to a loss of about 10 million new jobs every year.

Poor rural roads and traffic congestion inside the cities remains a challenge in India. The planned addition of over 12,000 kilometers of expressways in the next 10 years may help address some of such issues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Road_Network 

Problems with India's power sector

India's electricity sector faces many issues. Some are:^[4][18]

• Government giveaways such as free electricity for farmers, partly to curry political favor, have depleted the cash reserves of state-run electricity-distribution system. This has financially crippled the distribution network, and its ability to pay for power to meet the demand. This situation has been worsened by government departments of India that do not pay their bills.
• Shortages of fuel: despite abundant reserves of coal, India is facing a severe shortage of coal. The country isn't producing enough to feed its power plants. Some plants do not have reserve coal supplies to last a day of operations. India's monopoly coal producer, state-controlled Coal India, is constrained by primitive mining techniques and is rife with theft and corruption; Coal India has consistently missed production targets and growth targets. Poor coal transport infrastructure has worsened these problems. To expand its coal production capacity, Coal India needs to mine new deposits. However, most of India's coal lies under protected forests or designated tribal lands. Any mining activity or land acquisition for infrastructure in these coal-rich areas of India, has been rife with political demonstrations, social activism and public interest litigations.
• The giant new offshore natural gas field has delivered less fuel than projected. India faces a shortage of natural gas.
• Hydroelectric power projects in India's mountainous north and northeast regions have been slowed down by ecological, environmental and rehabilitation controversies, coupled with public interest litigations.
• India's nuclear power generation potential has been stymied by political activism since the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
• Average transmission, distribution and consumer-level losses exceeding 30%.
• Over 300 million people in India have no access to electricity. Of those who do, almost all find electricity supply intermittent and unreliable.
• Lack of clean and reliable energy sources such as electricity is, in part, causing about 800 million people in India to continue using traditional biomass energy sources – namely fuelwood, agricultural waste and livestock dung – for cooking and other domestic needs.
• Traditional fuel combustion is the primary source of indoor air pollution in India, causes between 300,000 to 400,000 deaths per year and other chronic health issues.
• India’s coal-fired, oil-fired and natural gas-fired thermal power plants are inefficient and offer significant potential for greenhouse gas (CO2) emission reduction through better technology. Compared to the average emissions from coal-fired, oil-fired and natural gas-fired thermal power plants in European Union (EU-27) countries, India’s thermal power plants emit 50 to 120 percent more CO2 per kWh produced
  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_India#Problems_with_India.27s_power_sector


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World steel production grew to 377 mt in Jan-March period

New Delhi, April 22: 

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/markets/commodities/article3342167.ece

Global steel production grew by a meagre 1.1 per cent during the January-March period of the year to 376.76 million tonnes compared to the corresponding period last year, World Steel Association (WSA) data said

Global steel production was 372.77 million tonnes in the same period last year. WSA members produce 85 per cent of the world’s steel.

Asia produced 241.7 million tonnes nearly 56 per cent of the total output. The growth in Asia was 1.5 per cent.

Among the Asian countries, China produced 174.21 million tonnes, recording a 2.5 per cent growth. India’s output remained stagnant at 18 million tonnes.

The European Union produced 43.9 million tonnes, down by 3.9 per cent. Production in the US also grew by 8.3 per cent to 23.01 million tonnes.

During March, the world steel production was at 132 million tonnes, an increase of 1.8 per cent compared to March 2011. India’s production grew marginally to 6.2 million tonnes in the month from 6.1 million tonnes in March last year.

“Compared to March 2011, the capacity utilisation ratio in March 2012 decreased by 1.2 percentage points,” it said