Power Booster

01 Dec 2015 Editorial Team

¨A Diwali gift for investors,¨ in the words of Amitabh Kant, Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry-Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion. The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reforms recently announced by the Centre ¨is the biggest bang reform of the government,¨ according to Kant, as reported. The FDI reforms are expected to ease norms across 15 sectors including defence, banking, construction, single brand retail, broadcasting and civil aviation. Kant is on the edge to facilitate faster approvals on most of the proposals, and for this, the government has raised the threshold limit of approval by Foreign Investment Promotion Board from the earlier Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 5,000 crore. Happy news is that the struggling construction sector will be a major beneficiary. This is because radical changes in FDI norms have been brought in, to boost the demand for steel, cement and spur economic activity, by helping to build 50 million affordable houses for the poor. Kant is a man with a mission.

Infrastructure Urban

09 Apr 2026

Mineral Auction Rules Amended To Speed Mine Operationalisation

The Ministry of Mines notified the Mineral (Auction) Second Amendment Rules, 2026 on 30 March 2026 to accelerate operationalisation of mines and improve ease of doing business in the mining sector. The amendment follows a prior change to the Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015 effected on 17 October 2025 that introduced intermediary timelines between issuance of a letter of intent (LoI) and execution of the mining lease. The 2025 change provided that one per cent of performance security would be appropriated for each month of delay by the preferred bidder and introduced incentives for early operatio..

Indian Railways Strengthens Telecom And AI Safety Systems

Indian Railways strengthened its telecom and digital infrastructure during 2025-26 with the aim of improving safety, operational efficiency and the passenger experience. The programme promoted modernisation through advanced technologies, robust communication systems and passenger-centric solutions. These measures were presented as part of a drive to build a digitally integrated rail ecosystem. A key development was the enhancement of the Internet Protocol Multi-Protocol Label Switching (IP MPLS) backbone, commissioned at 1,396 stations to meet bandwidth needs of mission-critical applications. ..

NHAI Holds Workshop on Litigation Management and Coordination

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) organised a day-long workshop in New Delhi to strengthen capacity and interdepartmental synergy for faster execution of national highway projects. The event was held under Mission Karmayogi – Sadhana Saptah, an initiative of the Government of India to enhance governance through capacity building and improved processes. The workshop focused on structured and solution oriented deliberations to address implementation constraints. The session was chaired by the NHAI chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav and brought together senior officials from NHAI, the M..