Drinking water mission (Swajal)

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>> Potential cost of piped water supply to 58% population can be Rs 130,000cr (2017 prices)

Piped drinking water is available to only 42% of households. In deprived districts, the figure is lower at 25%. Water fetching consumes 12% of working hours of rural women. Unsafe drinking water has replaced open defecation as a major threat to children. It accounts for 200,000 deaths of children.

A) Drinking water mission provides safe water, good distribution and reliable source of water:

-- Safe: testing (BIS standard), treating, storage and delivery without re-contamination risk

-- Accessible to every person: plan for 100% piped water, available 24 x 7 and ready to drink

-- Adequate & sustainable: reliable supplies from local sources such as ground water, surface water, rainwater, piped water or processed seawater

B) Choices under Swajal
1. Minimum size of habitation: all habitations chosen
2. Choice of power source: mounted solar is preferred to grid power

3. Design elements: mandatory - pumps, pipes, recharge structure, standposts, soak pit, etc
4. Where water treatment?: at source, optional water treatment plant and/or chlorination

5. Sustainable supply: should factor in population & demand increase, depleting groundwater, reduced rainfall, diversion to other uses : safe blocks will use ground-water

6. Storage eg. new or desilted ponds, ground-water aquifer : man-made structures
7. Equity issues, eg. conflicts due to diversion for agriculture, by dominant communities, dealing with shortages : village community decision ratified by GP
8. Metering water use or charge per household: charge per household
9. Payment of capital cost/ redesigns / restoration: Centre, State & GP, upto Rs 50 lakh

10. Responsibility for water administration
i) installation: contractor
ii) macro-level operations and maintenance: contractor or maintenance firm, for min 3 yrs
ii) local maintenance : certified "bare-footed" engineer
iii) collecting dues, meeting O&M expenses: village community, balance by Gram Panchayat
see https://mdws.gov.in/sites/default/files/Swajal_PPT.pdf

Telecoms Initiatives

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1. Build towers for as many as 40,000 villages without cellular coverage and other under-served places, found in Left-wing affected hinterland and along remote Indo-China and Indo-Myanmar borders.

2. Work with States and BBNL to complete phase 2 of Bharatnet, the national optical fibre network (OFN). Ensure direct fibre connections are made to designated govt institutions, and several Wifis are installed in each Gram Panchayats. Work with tower companies and telcos so that mobile towers and Wifis are directly linked to the OFN.

3. Ensure GP nodes are activated and competent service providers are appointed for offering very affordable access to fast broadband in rural areas. Prepare a blue-print for cost subsidizing operators of such services. Facilitate service providers to take fibre links from OFN to households and businesses.

4. Work with all telcos to improve the quality of cellular and digital communications. Ensure good connectivity in public places such as metro-rail, trains, airplanes, national highways and tourist destinations. 

5. Earn good revenue from spectrum sales yet have good uptake of spectrum for running high quality services. Ensure 5G induction goes off smoothly. 
6. Ensure BSNL and MTNL move towards operational profits, that they provide good customer services and properly execute govt missions. Encourage use of non-fossil fuels and energy-efficient equipment, which is largely sourced from India. 
7. Make full-spectrum govt services and wide-range of private services accessible online, or through Common Service Centres. Ensure private data will be strongly protected at all times, and stored only in India.

Power Initiatives

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1.  Provide 24x7 electricity at affordable rates, for which investment worth Rs 1.6 lakh cr will be undertaken (as of now). A lot of work is being done and equipment like poles and cables are being ordered. 
2. Build 175 GW renewable capacity by 2022. 78 GW was commissioned till April 2019, including 28 GW solar & 36 GW wind. Implement a flexible mechanism to allow a higher share of renewable power in the power mix. Complete Green Energy Corridors phases 1 & 2 by 2021, to support 67 GW of new solar (50) and wind capacities.
3. Ensure best possible outcomes for hydro-electric power generation and rehabilitate gas power plants where possible. Work towards introducing super-critical technologies in new thermal plants.
4. Work with power producers to schedule thermal power stations to reduce emissions, ensuring environment norms for thermal plants (sulphur and nitrogen levels from coal-based power plants) are met by 2024 or else plants will be closed down. 
5. Improve discoms health by use of technology to improving billing and collection efficiency. Work with states to strengthen power distribution network, to ensure reliability and to reduce AT&C losses.
6. Strife to improve energy efficiency and ensure power tariffs are competitive.
7. Manage industry concerns be it the fallout of over-capacity in thermal generation, adequate coal production for higher thermal generation, indigenous supply of solar and wind equipment, timely payment for generators, stopping renewable tariff revisions by states, etc
8. Ensure solar projects like roof top solar, innovative ideas like floating solar panels over water reservoirs or schemes like solar on farm lands are well implemented, etc.

GLOBAL COMPETITIVE INDEX  BRICS++ AND INDIA

Pillar 1: Institutions
India and Indonesia come out as best of the bunch. Both on same upward path.
Between 2017-2018 - India is up 2.4 points to 57.9.

Pillar 2: Infrastructure
India is in the middle between Russia and Indonesia. India is flat in ranking and scores, but others are improving. China is way ahead.
Subsection: Transport infra has India placed second, just behind China (63 vs 68 score)
It is near the top in railways, airways, and waterways efficiency. China is way ahead in waterways liner shipping (1st rank overall), though India is 2nd among BRICS+ and gained points in 2016. India is improving rapidly in road quality (up 2.2 to 57.35) and now close to the top nation (China at 59.7). In Road connectivity India (at 62.0) is middling and trails the top nations China (89.0) &  South Africa (94.0) by a distance! 
-- Road connectivity - a focus area of the Govt - should see big gains in physical infra, but perhaps not in GCI scores
-- Rail efficiency - a focus area of the Govt. State-of-art signalling, digitization, artificial intelligence will have immediate impact on efficiency. Complete electrification and BG conversion (by 2022) will reduce changing-trains bottlenecks, expand services, increase train utilisation, improve speeds, reduce costs, etc. Completion of DFCs (2022) & other doubling projects will separate freight and passenger traffic on highly congested routes, thus increasing speeds & punctuality, raise freight-carrying capacity and lower rates. Repair to bridges, removal of level crossings, fencing of tracks, up-to-date track maintenance, higher powered locos, etc can eliminate speed restrictions and increase efficiency. Other DFCs and various link routes (eg port-rail connectivity) have been approved. 

Subsection: Utilities infrastructure puts India (at 74.3) at the bottom, way below leaders at 88 -89 & others at 80-83. In electrification rate, India has progressed to near 100% coverage, so it will join the top nations. In reliability of water supply, it is middling, not improving but marginally behind China (61.0 vs 65.0). In AT & C losses and unsafe drinking water it is far behind and improving only slowly. 
-- Safe Drinking water -- a key focus area for Modi 2.0
-- AT & C losses: Discom investment (eg. smart meters), reforms and efficiency. Govt started UDAY scheme a few years ago, but it has not been easy as states are reluctant to do the right thing. Conglomeration of state discoms into national or regional PSUs, is a good option.
-- Reliable piped water supply - a key focus area for Modi 2.0. Also, Govt should look at drought proofing including building water networks, maintenance, and desalination plants.
Bonus:
-- Irrigation projects for agriculture: micro-irrigation and ponds will be successful. Large scale dams and river-linking will be less so, due to difficulties of scale, likelihood of delays and corruption.

Pillar 3: ICT adoption
India is placed last - which is a result of starting late & low per capita incomes. India's scores are rising but other nations are also improving, and new technologies are adding new challenges. The disruptive improvement in Indian ICT has given the world's least-cost internet access to India, so subscriber rates will catch up. Rapid uptake of ICT has created capacity constraints and quality issues, whilst lack of telecom profits has meant less spectrum is deployed, and there is little appetite for new investment.  Next-gen infrastructure is taking a little longer to build, but this is normal for a large project. There is enough money in dedicated funds, and enough unsold spectrum, to meet the objective of least-cost, universal access at full 4G performance.
-- Cellular coverage: correct 40,000 unconnected villages and lesser tower density in conflict areas
-- Fibre network and public wifis: Bharatnet and nationwide rural broadband are behind target
-- Fibre from Bharatnet to cellular towers: Private firms are unwilling to add this on their own
-- Quality of 4G & calls: Private investment has dried up, so public sector BSNL must be given spectrum, to increase capacity and improve speeds in less well-served regions. PSUs must rationalise costs to flourish.
-- Fixed broadband or fibre to home: not a starter for operators, though Jio is promoting it
-- 5G: Private sector has little appetite for expensive 5G spectrum and there is not enough clarity on technologies.

Pillar 4: Macroeconomic stability
India is placed joint second, with 90.0 points and rising, against China at 98.0. India scores joint 100.00 (max) in inflation. In Debt dynamics, it is crowded with 3 others at 79.8. This consigns India to a good position but not much change.

Pillar 5: Health
India is placed lowly in 2nd from last position. South Africa is an outlier as it is coming out of a broken social system. India's value of 59 years life expectancy is very low. It should however catch up to Russia and Indonesia levels within 5-7 years, provided its new, free health insurance can save many young people and extend lives of older, poor people.
-- Ayushman Bharat PMJAY - a flagship scheme: Govt has extended cover to lowest 70%. It will assuage most dissenting states. For capacity building, Govt is ramping up medical facilities, medical education and staff training. It will now try to enrol big private hospitals that have not joined the scheme.
-- Primary health and wellness centres - a key focus area of Modi 2.0: Govt will have to implement it correctly. By starting with the most deprived districts, Govt is hoping to maximise the positive impact on health.

Pillar 6: Skills
India is placed bottom and unlikely to rise fast enough to catch up. Its a very mixed bag for India, as it does very poorly in Mean years of schooling, School life expectancy and Pupil-to-teacher ratio in primary schools. But notwithstanding these "structural" issues, skills outcomes are near the top!!
Subsection: Current Workforce puts India at 50.2 up 1.7. Others are ranged between 56.0 to 63.0.
Besides the Mean years to school, India scores very high in Skills of current workforce, increasing 3.4 points to 60.5, and likely to claim 1st rank in BRICS+ from Indonesia. India is rising in all categories, and emerging as top in Quality of vocational training, Skill-set of graduates and Ease of finding skilled employees. It lags a bit in Digital skills but is improving fast. In Extent of staff training, it is second (up 0.9 points to 59.4) to Indonesia (at 61.8).
Subsection: Future Workforce puts India joint last at 58.7. Others are centred around 72.5
It may catch up in School life expectancy, where is placed last, in a few years. In Skills of future workforce, India is under-performing due to Pupil to teacher component. Here its score is falling from the bottom (down 9.3 to 37.0)!!  In the other component Critical thinking in teaching, India scores 1st (up 2.0 to 60.6).
-- Primary and Secondary schooling: India probably has a mix of good and bad, with regional variations. It is time for Govt to drive up standards, for achieving consistently good learning outcomes, by using qualified teachers, proven leadership and third-party inspections. State education systems must be improved and named-and-shamed if they are below average.
-- Syllabus: review the content and take out the nonsense that has been added over the years. It is worth finding out the kind of adults the school content produces, and avoid those that produce intellectuals who despite their education are blasé about propagating hate and fake stories.
-- Physical, social and extra-curricular activities: It is worth spending more money on these.

Pillar 7: Product Market
India is placed near the bottom and declined by 0.55 to 50.9 in 2018. Other nations are at +/- 57.0. Mexico and Turkey were added to the comparison. Subsections show two distinct impressions.
Subsection: Domestic competition has India at 1st rank, up 2.7 to 60.2, and only Indonesia and China are close at 57-59. India tops in Distortions of taxes and subsidies on competition and Extent of market dominance. It overtook China in the latter, and others are far behind. In Competition in services it has improved 2.5 points to 63.9. This puts India above China (61.9) & Brazil and just behind Mexico (66.5). Others are in range of 71.5.
Subsection: Foreign competition is where India is rock bottom and declining
Out of 5 components, India is top in Prevalence of non-trade barriers, along with Mexico & China. But it is rock bottom in Trade tariffs at near zero. China and Brazil are nearby at 20 odd. In complexity of tariffs, it is in the middle at 65, while Brazil, China and Mexico are at 89-94. India is doing well in Efficiency of clearance process albeit a sharp 5.4 point drop in 2018. In Service trade openness, it is flat-lining, very far at the bottom. 
-- Competitive domestic markets (realising ongoing improvements): A competitive marketplace is the hallmark of developed countries like US, UK, Europe, etc. Ongoing efforts will see India's competitiveness at home grow. GST has just started and will make a strong impact in the coming years (greater inter-state volumes, large warehouses & new multi-modal hubs, scaled up production at efficient locations). Improved logistics and higher ICT penetration will help bring greater efficiencies and opportunities for better price realisation. 
-- Cold chains: Govt's efforts in building cold chains will lower food waste, lower the need for local storage and realise better prices (ie. reduce local over-supply). They will also increase domestic competition and increase markets for processed foods.
-- Government e-marketplace: Suppliers will get to know what public sector want and plan cost-efficient production whilst facing tougher domestic competition.
-- Competitive domestic markets (new initiatives): India's large marketplace bestows much bigger economic rewards for improving domestic competition. Commerce ministry is working on reducing domestic, logistic bottlenecks through policy changes, efficient goods processing, better logistics infra, IOT tracking, mechanisation and staff training. For example, a switch to Just-in-time (a more efficient method of ordering/ stocking) works well when there is timetabled freight services, higher capacity throughput, computerised goods processing with remote tracking, and very reliable manpower.
-- Low-cost domestic production and exportable surplus: Commerce ministry has hinted that rewarding larger-scale or lower-cost domestic production, which will automatically translate into cheaper exportable goods. This will reduce the need for high import tariff barriers. 

Pillar 8: Labour Market
India has improved its ranking from 85th to 75th, and is catching up China (69th), Russia (67th), and S Africa (55th). It is up 1.85 points to 58.3, whereas top nations are at 59-61 points. India is leading in Flexibility of Labour subsection, up 1.7 points to 61.74, and middle scoring on Skills matching subsection, up 2.0 to 54.8. 
Subsections Analysis: India is a top 3 nation in 8 out of 12 indicators. It is top in Labour relations, Hiring & firing and Professional management and is a good 2-3rd in Redundancy costs, Active labour policies, Hiring foreign workers, Labour mobility and Pay & productivity. It is increasing points - often strongly - in all indicators except Workers rights. India can improve from middle place in Flexibility of wage determination and Workers rights. It is doing very poorly in Female participation in Labour force (at just 11 points). This places India last by some distance. Social norms, religion and perhaps female safety are factors.
-- Contract work and flexibility in hiring & firing: Govt has already relaxed rules on contract workers. In its place, it will ensure higher workers rights (as required). Many state laws have relaxed hiring & firing rules based on firm size, so helping medium-sized firms. Centre may legislate on it, perhaps after broadening the safety net. We shall see.
-- Consolidated Labour legislation: Govt is set to introduce new legislation, which is touted to improve workers rights and reduce conflicts in interpreting labour laws. It will extend minimum wage rules to informal workers. Subsidised pensions will ensure informal workers are not priced out, yet receive long-term benefits. Other social security benefits are expected in next 5 years (NB. benefits also given to self-employed).
-- Availability of specialist skills: Govt has scrapped many engineering colleges and is opening teacher training, medical and nursing education, railway skills courses and improving training other labour-shortage vocations. Rural placement is emphasised to meet shortages there. Govt is upgrading post-grad medical courses and giving higher research grants in IITs. Industry is given freer hand designing and asking for training courses in Skills institutes. Govt is imparting holistic skills, eg. workers in merchant shipping are given additional course by MEA. Not sure on progress regards designs of new industry specific courses or % uptake of skills courses. Agricultural development boards, all under Centre (eg. silk), are training new workers or retraining others. New fisheries & livestock board will likely do the same. All independent company directors must do a short course to comply. 
-- Female employees: Maternity benefits & lower female employment costs, MUDRA loans, CCTV & women in-public-places protection, women-only employment units (eg railway stations) & women in military are some innovative steps. Triple Talak will enhance social status and may imbibe aspirations for financial independence
-- Female employees (new): Govt plans for a three-fold increase in number of childcare facilities for working women.

Pillar 9: Financial System
India is let down by four indicators, namely Domestic credit to private sector, Soundness of banks, Non-performing loans and Bank regulatory capital ratio. The latter is probably not so important.
Subsection: In Depth subsection, it is up 1.1 at 58.6 points. Only China (65.4) and South Africa (75.7) are ahead. India does well in financing SMEs & Venture capital, but does not do so well in providing domestic credit generally. It is worth improving financing a little more to match Chinese levels.
Subsection: In Stability, India's scores are near the bottom and falling (down 1.5 to 83.2). China (80) is below but making progress. Turkey (88) is falling like India. Major concern is the non-performing loans, where India is down 6.7 to 82.45. This is way below peers, China (97.5) and others (95-97). In Soundness of banks, a wide divergence is seen. India is uninspiring (60.3), just above China (58), but far below S Africa, Mexico & Brazil (69-79).
-- Soundness of banks: PSU banks are turning profitable, as provisioning for bad loans falls away and NPL overhang subsides (higher recovery from new insolvency procedures). Most PSBs are out of RBI scrutiny. Bank ROCE is now positive, and this will improve further as PSBs catch up with private banks. 
-- Business credit: Healthier banks are more willing to pass on recent interest rate cuts, eg. SBI is offering Libor+ loans. Commerce ministry wants higher credit to private sector exporters (at expense of export subsidies, which have WTO issues). RBI is asked to use FX reserves for availing $25-50 billion FX credits to exporters. RBI is also being urged to use its substantial capital reserves to pump equity into PSU banks. If agreeable, this can boost PSU banks' capacity to lend for the expected surge in growth (also, higher credit will lead to growth). It will dovetail with Govt's plans to ramp up infra and social sector spending.
-- Business credit to MSME (new): Commerce ministry wants 50 regional industrial clusters, which will house the entire value chain - aimed at substituting electronic and other imports - and can be fully supported with low-cost finance, etc.
-- Non-bank financing crisis: These previously unregulated by RBI, shadow-banks, were prone to corruption. Better independent directors, accountable auditors and possibly RBI regulations will help. PSU banks will take over vital gaps created in infrastructure & business finance.

Pillar 11: Business dynamism
India tops in entrepreneurship up 1.1 to 61.1, joint equal with Indonesia while China is 3rd with 58.0. India is near the bottom in Regulations, up 3.0 to 61.2. Regulations, meaning Ease of doing business (eg. Insolvency regulations, Insolvency recovery rates, Cost of starting business) was a weak area, but India has risen sharply in WB rankings, from 130th to 77th rank, in the last few years. Specifically, new insolvency regulations are working well and NCLT has doubled recovery rates. This has not shown up in 2018 GCI numbers.
Subsection: In Entrepreneurship India tops in 2 out of 4 indicators and is 2-3rd in other indicators.
In Attitude to risk (up 2.0 to 62) and Adopting disruptive ideas (up 1.5 to 59.5), India is in clear lead. In Willingness to delegate and Growth of innovative companies, India is a little behind Indonesia. Indonesia has built a good number of unicorns. 
-- Ease of doing business: State govts must be highly proactive and cooperate fully with Centre
-- Facilitating entrepreneurship: India has capable & risk-taking people, so it makes sense for Govt to facilitate these efforts by easing regulations, credit, administration, taxation relief, etc.
-- Startups: PSUs and listed companies want to invest in start-ups or support good start-ups in their business. Lets see if this happens.

Pillar 12: Innovation ecosystem
India is in 2nd position, up 0.85 to 53.75, but far below China (64.4).
Subsection: Interaction and diversity has India rising (up 2.8 to 48.55) to join China at top 
India is seen surging into leadership (State of cluster development, up 3.3 to 60.4) or 2nd position close to leader Indonesia: in Diversity of workforce (63.8) where Indonesia is 64.2 & Multi-stakeholder collaborations (59.9) where Indonesia is 60.2. In the last dimension, namely International co-inventions, India (at just 9.8) is well behind leaders China at 21.1 and Russia at 17.2. It is well ahead of Indonesia & others. Perhaps the last indicator is a choice a country makes and may not be meaningful. Overall, a good performance.
Subsection: Research is where India is 2nd (57.1) but far, far behind China (78.2)
India does well in Quality of research institutions (level to China, up 5.2 to 99.1) and Scientific publications (2nd at 91.8, along with Brazil & Russia, and well behind China at 96.5). This shows India has the wherewithal to do well in research (though it should improve and expand its research base into new geographies). India is decided below par in patent applications and doing extremely poorly (ie. falling dramatically from a low base) in Research expenditure.
Subsection: Commercialisation sees India heading group (58.6), well behind Turkey (62.4) & China (68,6)
In Buyers sophistication, India leads but is falling (down 1.8 to 58.6). China is steady at 58.2 while others are far behind. India scores below average in Trademark applications. At 57.1, it is several levels below China & Turkey (79-80), Mexico, Brazil, etc (65-73).
India is not spending enough on research. India has good institutions and many structural strengths, but it fails in the final innovative step, so it does poorly in patent applications and trademark applications. One reason is that not enough attention is paid to commercialisation. This can be addressed as below:
-- 1. Easing patent applications process
-- 2. Boost public research expenditure & effectiveness: There is a realization that indigenous products are essential for strategic and economic welfare. Public efforts in defense, space, agriculture, etc are seen as streamlining (by removing political & administrative interference) and developments of in-house technologies and products are bearing fruit. However, India is not yet close to reaching self-sufficiency.
-- 3. Make in India: If industrial R&D is to take off in a big way, India needs to be product innovators. To do this, they need commercialisation heist which comes from the making products for domestic market or fully exploiting domestic markets. Then those skills can be used to design for, break into and serve global markets.
-- 4. IIT laboratories: Govt is encouraging students to do their research in India, with Central grants and then commercialize their projects in India. Expansion of IITs - which may take some time to mature - will harness talent from different geographies and expand expertise in more fields (eg. minerals and mining).
-- 5. Startup & Angel finance: Ecosystem is being created where risk capital is available and commercialization is incentivised to happen in India. Once this happens, many potential leads will be taken up for development.
-- 6. World-class institutes: Govt will facilitate over 20 institutes for global excellence. A few will be STEM research orientated and help in doing collaborations with industry. Govt is giving greater autonomy, facilities, encouraging private sponsors and industry collaborations, etc but will this really change things in a substantial way? China is showing how to do it and perhaps India can learn from them.

Putting it mildly! Pakistan deserves payback, not diplomatic niceties

Kanchan Gupta @ KanchanGupta  Jun 7 2019

Must be the millionth such letter from that treacherous terror-sponsoring country across the border. Toss it into the wastepaper bin. #ModiSarkar2's time is meant for important things. Let the message be loud and clear: #India has no time for #Pakistan.
Imran writes to PM Modi, says Pakistan wants talks with India to resolve all disputes

Modi 2.0 manifesto and its impact on India's global competitiveness

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Govt's push for roads, railways, airways, ports and waterways infrastructure is expected to accelerate. Bharatmala phase 1 is planned for completion by 2022, as are ongoing DFC rail-freight projects. Ongoing digitisation, electrification, doubling, track maintenance, high-power locos, signalling, etc will lead to higher railway efficiency. Ongoing modernisation of ports, including dredging, should improve liner connectivity and seaport operational efficiency. Govt is committed to providing safe, piped drinking water to all households by 2024, though this looks highly ambitious. Govt will invest heavily to improve farm productivity, increase value added, reduce food waste and double farmers incomes. Manifesto also mentions primary health centres, waste collection & processing, water recycling, air pollution, fuel import substitution, social security, economic reforms and ease of doing business.

Other sectors that deserve attention are:
1. State law and order and judicial reforms
2. Quality of education and skills training
3. Jobs creation by MSME and start-up support and higher public R & D
4. Commerce: foreign trade, internal competition and seamless movement of goods
5. Adoption of technology
6. Public sector enterprises

Improvements in weak areas on Global Competitive Index
Institutions
1.01)  Organised crime: Encounters & crackdown on mafia bosses in some states (eg UP).
1.03)  Terrorism: Proactive elimination of terrorists. Crackdown on terror finance and their promoters. Big reduction in terrorist incidents outside J&K, though Naxalite and NE terrorists remain active.
1.05)  Social Capital: Equal treatment for social schemes under slogan Subka saakh, Subka vikas. Schemes for universal provision that are designed for excellent last-mile delivery, backed with Aadhaar tracking & population surveys. Strict action including deportation of illegal immigrants planned. Very few incidents of communal violence, though underlying problems (eg. law & order) must be tackled.
1.14)  Corruption by black money generation: Aadhaar, Jan Dhan bank a/c, Rupay card, DBT. Digital record of govt services (at Point of Sale) or asset creation. Explosive increase in digital payments, UPI protocol, anti-cash regulations, lower or free digital payments, digital shopping portals. 
1.14)  Corruption by unaccounted assets: Better scrutiny of unaccounted incomes and wealth (eg GST, income matching with GST, data mining and analytics, shell companies, Benami properties, RERA). Anti-bank fraud measures. Foreign assets disclosure and transfer pricing investigations.
1.14)  Corruption by govt officials: Online govt contracting, reduced discretion and time-bound decision-making, reduced number of applications & processes under EODB, non-lapsing permits, computer selection of cases for scrutiny, minimised contact with officials, randomised selection of case officers, govt recruitment without interviews, automation to reduce interaction with officials or police (eg. checkpoints, eway bills, e-tolls), simpler non-human means for initiating receipts and payments (eg. tax refunds), etc.
1.17)  Land administration: Digital records of all land holdings, projected by 2022, will improve land administration (eg. land transfers).

Infrastructure
2.01)  Road Connectivity: Massive road building program for better & fast connectivity, incl. greenfield expressways, ring roads, lane expansions, new highway and freight corridors, feeder routes, rural roads.
2.02)  Road Quality: Higher capacity roads (eg 4-lanes), better interchanges, flyovers & bridges, roadside amenities, better water endurance and in-built maintenance. Safety of roads will be improved, eg elimination of accident hot-spots & level crossings, crash barriers, freight-specific roads connecting ports, tunnels through mountainous passes.
2.09)  Electrification: Electrical connections to all households almost completed.
2.10)  AT & C power losses: Prepayment meters for all small units, smart metering, underground wiring, improved power infra and discom reforms for efficiency.
2.11)  Abundance of safe water: Waste processing of solid and liquid waste. Clean rivers. Completion of safe drinking water projects.
2.12)  Reliable supply of water: Piped drinking water to most / all households. Water storage, water conservation, river linking projects and desalination plants.

Telecommunications  
3-all)  Surge in uptake and heavy usage of mobile voice and data communications is seen from 2017, due to 4G and cut-throat competition. Quality issues and lack of cellular infra in some locations are a hindrance. BharatNet is building nationwide fibre-network and will add speed, reach & capacity for broadband connectivity to all GPs. In last 2 years, fibre-enabled Wifi have been activated in 125,000 or 50% of GPs. Telcos are preparing for 5G launch and Govt is ready with 5G spectrum auction. 
3.01)  Cellular coverage: 40,000 unconnected villages will be given mobile connectivity.
3.02)  Mobile broadband: BSNL is adding to fast broadband. With 10% of total subscriptions, it now has 4G spectrum and 4G will be rolled-out nationwide, wherever cellular infra supports it.
3.04)  Fibre internet: BharatNet will give direct fibre connections to govt units, and enable private sector to provide last-mile connectivity. Jio is expected to heavily promote direct to home fibre connections.
3.05)  Internet access: Very cheap data rates are leading to a huge expansion in internet access via smartphones. Common service centres (CSC) are open in every GP, will give internet access to public.

Health
5-all) State funded health: Free tertiary healthcare has started for lowest 40% income households. Scheme to be extended to lower middle-class, covering 70% of total population. 150,000 local health centres to be opened by 2022 for providing wide-ranging primary healthcare, free or at minimal cost.

Labour markets
8-all) Codification of labour laws will improve ease of dealing with labour issues and disputes
8.01) Redundancy costs: Greater flexibility for hiring-firing is planned but as yet speculative.
8.04) Inflexible wage rates: Greater flexibility for wages is planned but as yet speculative.
8.06) Workers rights: Improvement of workers rights planned (eg minimum wages for unorganised sector).
8.12) Social security wages: Not sure but govt is subsidising pensions for unorganised sector eg farmers, shopkeeper, home workers.

Financial system
9.01) Private sector credit: Govt has launched discounted loan schemes with easy loans for GST registered MSMEs. Export credit to be enhanced. Regime of lower real interest rates.
9.06) Strong banks: Govt will infuse Rs 2.11 lakh cr into PSBs under bank recapitalisation plan.
9.07) Nonperforming loans: Disclosure and provisioning requirements for banks under RBI. Anti-bank fraud measures (seizure of assets of wilful defaulters, stopping accused leaving country to avoid investigations, insolvency legislation) and general anti-corruption measures. PSU bank mergers and privatisation will create more competent lending units.
9.09) Regulatory capital ratios: Already announced tightening of regulatory capital-ratio norms.

Business dynamism
10-all) Ease of doing business has seen results, particularly in resolving insolvencies. Reduced cost of starting business is happening.
June 7th, 2019

Global Competitiveness Index 4.0 : Performance Overview 2018  

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                                                                                 Score ( /100)                            Rank (  /140)
Enabling Environment                                          61.1    ↑                                               75          
Pillars 1 : Institutions                                            57.9    ↑                                               47
1A  Security                                                                58.7    ↑                                             121 
1B  Social Capital                                                     49.5    ↑                                              80 
1C  Checks and balances                                       64.2    ↑                                              28  
1D  Public-sector performance                          68.5    ↑                                               19 
1E  Transparency  (corruption)                         40.0   =                                              69 
1F  Property rights                                                  50.3    ↑                                               77 
   Property rights @ 4.8/7                                                                                      63.6  ↑                45
   Intellectual property protection @ 4.6/7                                          60.1  ↑                45
   Quality of land administration @ 8.2/30                                           27.3  ↑              112
1G Corporate governance                                     74.1    ↑                                               10 
   Strength of auditing and reporting @ 4.7/7                                      62.3  ↑               63 
   Conflict of interest regulation @ 7.3/10                                            73.0  ↑               20 
   Shareholder governance @ 8.7/ 10                                                                87.0  =                  2

Pillars 2 : Infrastructure                                      68.7    ↑                                               63      
2A  Transport Infrastructure                              63.1    ↑                                               31  
   Roads                                                                                                              59.7    ↑             60 
   Road connectivity  @ 62/ 100                                                           62.0  =              76 
   Quality of roads @ 4.4/7                                                                   57.4  ↑                51
   Railways                                                                                                     54.1  ↓               35 
   Railway track density @ 20.1 km/sq km                                            50.2   =            38 
   Efficiency of train operations @ 4.5/ 7                                                           57.9  ↓               26
   Air transport                                                                                                 82.0  ↑               19 
   Airport connectivity @ 1.225 million                                                             100   =                  1=
   Efficiency of air transport services @ 4.8/7                                       64.1  ↑               53
   Water transport                                                                                56.7  ↓               28 
   Liner shipping Connectivity Index  @ 52.9/ 157                               52.9  ↓               28
   Efficiency of seaport  @ 4.6/ 7                                                                         60.4  ↑              40
2B  Utility infrastructure                                      74.3   ↑                                              101 
   Electricity infrastructure                                                                          83.4  ↑             105 
   Electricity connections  @ 82/ 100                                                  82.0  ↑             105 
   Transmission & distribution losses @ 18.6%                                   84.0  ↑              110
   Water infrastructure                                                                              65.1  ↑               99 
   Unsafe drinking water  @ 32/ 100                                                    69.4  ↑             106 
   Reliability of water supply @ 4.7/ 7                                                              60.9   ↓                   74

Pillars 3 : ICT adoption                                         28.0   ↑                                              117 
   Mobile-cellular telephone subs @ 87.3/ 100                                   72.7  ↑                111 
   Mobile-broadband subs @ 25.8/ 100                                                                         116 
   Fixed-broadband Internet subs @ 1.3/ 100                                       2.7  ↓               107 
   Fibre Internet subs                          @ 0.0/ 100                                                                 97 
   Internet users                                    @ 29.5/ 100                                           29.5  ↑               103

Pillars 4 : Macroeconomic stability                 89.8    ↑                                              49

   Inflation annual change @ 4.1%                                                     ~100  ↑                 ~1 
   Debt dynamics (/100)                                                                             79.9  ↑                 53

Human capital component                                  54.0    ↑                                            104          

Pillars 5 : Health (life expectancy)                   59.0    ↑                                             108 

Pillars 6 : Skills                                                        54.5    ↑                                               96
6A  Current workforce                                          50.2    ↑                                              92 
6B  Future workforce                                            48.8    ↑                                              93

Markets component                                               67.9    ↑                                              29          

Pillars 7 : Product Market                                    50.9   ↓                                             110 

7A  Domestic competition                                    60.2   ↑                                               32  
7B  Trade openness                                                 41.6    ↓                                            136

Pillars 8 : Labour Market                                     53.8   ↓                                               75 

8A  Flexibility                                                            61.7    ↑                                               33   
8B  Meritocracy and incentives                         54.8    ↑                                            105 

Pillars 9 : Financial system                                 69.5    ↓                                               35 
9A  Depth @ 58.9/100                                            58.6   ↑                                               32 
   Domestic credit to private sector @ 51.3% GDP                              54.0  ↓               71 
   Financing of SMEs @ 4.8/7                                                                     62.5  ↑               16
   Venture capital availability @ 4.3/7                                                               55.3  ↑               13
   Market capitalisation @ 72.8% GDP                                                            72.8   ↑              26 
   Insurance premium @ 2.9% GDP                                                           48.4  =              42
9B  Stability @82.3/100                                        83.2    ↑                                                92 
   Soundness of banks @ 4.6/7                                                                60.5  ↑               83 

   Non-performing loans @ 9.2% loan portfolio                                82.5  ↓               95

   Credit gap @ -6.1%                                                                                   100   =                 1
   Banks’ regulatory capital ratio @ 12.5                                                 90   =            115

Pillars 10 : Market size                                          92.7    ↑                                                 3 

Innovations ecosystem component                  57.5    ↑                                               35          

Pillars 11 : Business dynamism                          61.2    ↑                                               58     

11A  Administrative requirements                    61.2    ↑                                            100  
11B  Entrepreneurial culture                               61.1    ↑                                               23 
 

Pillars 12 : Innovation capability                      53.8    ↑                                                31 

12A  Interaction and diversity                            48.5    ↑                                               32 
12B  Research and development                            57.0    ↓                                               28                    
12C  Commercialisation                                        57.8    ↓                                               52                                      
   Buyer sophistication @ 4.5/7                                                        58.6  ↓                18 
   Trademark applications @ 200.94 per million                                57.1  ↑               92
June 5th, 2019