Cabinet clears Dholera greenfield airport plan
The headline WPI number rose in May due to a rise in cost of primary articles (15.45% in April to 19.71% in May), fuel and power (38.66% to 40.62%) and food items (8.88% to 10.89%), although inflation in prices of manufactured goods declined from 10.85% to 10.11%.
While price rise in the mineral oils subcategory was the biggest driver of fuel inflation, with an annual growth of 61.9% in May, that of electricity increased from 10% in April to 16.2% in May.
The Reserve Bank has increased the policy rate by 0.9 percentage points over the past month, in two instalments, to 4.9%. The central government in May reduced levies on auto fuel to provide a cushion to galloping pump prices.
To be sure, the government’s efforts towards containing inflation in food items seems to have had some success.
Wholesale prices for wheat grew at 10.7% and 10.55% in April and May, a reduction from 14% in March.
India banned wheat exports on May 13 in wake of rising domestic prices and lower procurement. However, a sharp rise in vegetable and fruit inflation, from 16.9% in April to 32.3% in May, meant that the headline food inflation number actually went up in May.
The government’s steps to contain food prices are in tandem with monetary policy making the final pivot to contain inflation. The central bank has increased policy rates by 0.9 percentage points since May and hiked the cash reserve ratio by 0.5 percentage point in May to suck out excess liquidity from the system.
The May factory gate inflation is in contrast with the trend in Consumer Price Index (CPI), which moderated to 7% in May from 7.8% in April. While the composition of the WPI and CPI baskets is different since the former is a proxy for producer prices and the latter measures the prices of items in an average household’s consumption basket, it remains to be seen whether the divergent trend continues.
If it does, it would mean producers are reluctant to fully pass on the burden of input price hikes to consumers, fearing a weakening in demand.
“In select manufacturing segments like textiles, paper and chemicals, inflation firmed up to 14.86%, 15.99% and 13.94%, respectively, in May 2022, each a five-month high,” Sunil Kumar Sinha, senior director and principal economist at India Ratings and Research, said in a note. “Textiles segment, which witnessed a contraction in output during March-april 2022, is facing a double whammy, whereby input costs are rising and domestic demand is weakening.”
The latest WPI number is a sign of persistence of the inflation problem, experts said.
“We expect supply shortages and price increases in a number of input goods to keep domestic inflation high, setting the stage for further policy tightening by the RBI. While government has unveiled a series of supply side measures, we do not think these will materially alter the inflation path,” Rahul Bajoria, managing director and chief India economist at Barclays, a lender, said in a note.
MMRDA looks after arterial roads and the roads where its infrastructure work is in progress, while the BMC maintains the rest of the roads. The flyovers on the eastern and western express highway are maintained by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.
The official said the BMC had permitted the MMRDA to carry out Metro works on certain terms and conditions which included regular maintenance of roads and keeping them free of potholes. “However, these guidelines have not been properly followed over the years. Therefore, we have decided to upload their contact details for efficient management and transparency. Besides, most of the road-digging and construction works in Mumbai are being executed by the MMRDA.”
SVR Srinivas, commissioner of MMRDA, said both the agencies would coordinate this monsoon to ensure there was swift action and response. “A number of complaints about potholes and bad patches received by the BMC are related to the Western Express Highway and the locations where Metro works are in progress. The civic body forwards these complaints to the MMRDA but it leaves them unattended. The BMC takes the blame whereas all the non-attended potholes are on the roads and bridges looked after by the MMRDA,” a circular issued by additional municipal commissioner P Velarasu on June 10 said.
Meanwhile, in a press statement, the MMRDA said it had set up round-the-clock control rooms to address monsoon-related woes like tree collapse, waterlogging, and potholes. These control rooms will function like the BMC’S disaster management control rooms. “The MMRDA control rooms have been set up to minimise the inconvenience caused to the vehicular and pedestrian traffic at its various project sites,” the statement said.
Rahul Kardile, joint metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, said, “The contractors have been asked to strictly adhere to the safety measures. They have been instructed to put up barricades, repair damaged roads, and clear the muck. The contractors will also maintain dewatering pumps at the waterlogging spots and where there is no connectivity to storm water drains.”
rural Maharashtra, especially among the farmers. Speaking at the function, he also invoked Hindutva ideologue, V D Savarkar. “While in jail, Veer Savarkar used his handcuffs like the chipli (a musical instrument) of Sant Tukaram and sang his abhangs (devotional songs in praise of Lord Vitthal),” he said.
But a discordant note was struck as deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar was not among the list of dignitaries who were to give a speech (See full story on Page 4). Nationalist Congress Party leader Supriya Sule said that it was an insult to Maharashtra that the deputy chief minister and guardian minister of Pune was not allowed to speak.
From Pune, he travelled to Mumbai where he was received at the Indian Navy base INS Shikra by CM Uddhav Thackeray and his son, environment and protocol minister Aaditya Thackeray. From there, Modi went to Raj Bhavan where he inaugurated the Jal Bhushan building and a gallery of revolutionaries. At the event, Modi launched into fulsome praise of Maharashtra, calling it “a cradle of freedom fighters and social reformers”. “Maharashtra led the way as it inspired people. It is the birth place of Sant Tukaram as well as Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar.”
In the evening of a packed schedule, he reached Bandrakurla Complex, at the bicentennial celebrations of Bombay Samachar, a Gujarati newspaper that is being published since 1822. Modi briefly spoke in Gujarati saying, “Mumbai and Maharashtra was the maternal home (maika) of the Gujarati language.”
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray also invoked the deep ties between Gujaratis and Marathis. “I have love for Gujaratis. I can understand the language but can’t speak it. Since you are applauding, it means that you understand Marathi. Gujarati and Marathis have deep ties; both have mixed in Maharashtra like sugar in milk,” he said.
The prime minister’s tour of Maharashtra assumes significance ahead of the elections for civic bodies and district councils across the state. The outcome of the result would be seen as the people’s mandate on the MVA government’s functioning.
The BJP is also making a strong bid to win the Mumbai civic body which has been a Sena citadel for almost three decades. Both parties are reaching out to Maharashtrians as well as Gujarati communities.
NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved the development of Phase 1 of new greenfield airport at Dholera in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad district at a cost of ₹1,305 crore.
Located 80km from Ahmedabad, the airport is expected to be ready for passenger as well as cargo operations by 2026, the Union government said in a press release.
The decision was taken by the cabinet committee on economic affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
“Union cabinet approves development of phase I of new greenfield airport at Dholera. The Dholera International Airport Company Ltd will construct it and 1,501 hectares of land made available for this,” the office of Anurag Thakur, Union minister of information and
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broadcasting, said in a tweet.
Dholera airport, which will serve as the second airport in Ahmedabad and other nearby regions, will be connected by broad gauge railways, dedicated freight corridor as well as sixlane expressways. Runway of 3km will be constructed and is expected to handle 300,000 passengers in the first year which is expected to go up to 2.4 million passengers in the next 20 years.