Category: Business Consultancy

The Toolkits available on www.pppinindia.gov.in  are for use by PPP practitioners across India in both the public and private sectors.

A public-private partnership (PPP) is a funding model for public infrastructure projects and initiatives such as a new telecommunications system, public transportation system, airport or power plant. Government agencies represent the public partner at a local, state and/or national level.

A two day -workshop on Awareness Building and Guidance on using the PPP Toolkits was organized by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, in collaboration with Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, UK with an objective to sensitize and train government officials in using PPP toolkits for decision making in PPP projects. The Training programme was inaugurated by Joint Secretary, DEA, Shri. Baldeo Purushartha. Special addressees included Mr. Shantanu Mitra, Head- Infrastructure and Urban Development, FCDO, Ms. Sangeeta Mehta, Senior Programme officer (FCDO), Mr. Shoubhik Ganguly, Senior Infrastructure Advisor (FCDO). A vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Molishree, Deputy Secretary, DEA.

For reaching out to maximum stakeholders involved in decision making process, the workshop was organized on hybrid mode. The workshop witnessed active participation of 155 participants (35 participants from 16 Central Infrastructure Line Ministries and Departments including NITI Aayog (M/o Housing Affairs, Civil Aviation, Steel, Road Transport and Highways, New and Renewable energy, Power, Railways, Shipping, Food Processing Industries and D/o Telecom, Rural Development, Expenditure, Food and Public Distribution, Water Resources, Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade; and 120 participants from 15 states and 2 UTs (Gujarat, Kerala, Rajasthan, Nagaland, Manipur, Chandigarh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and Pondicherry).

The workshop broadly covered introduction and walkthrough of PPP structuring Toolkit, Value-for Money Toolkit, Framework for recognition, valuation and reporting of contingent liabilities Toolkit, Post Award Contract Management (PACM) toolkit. The sessions were delivered by Industry experts including Ms. Mehali Patel, Director CRISIL, Mr. RNK Prasad, Consultant Price Waterhouse Coopers and Mr. Kushal Kumar Singh, Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP.

PPP structuring Toolkits developed by DEA are a web-based resource that has been designed to help improve decision-making for infrastructure PPPs in India and to improve the quality of the infrastructure PPPs that are implemented in India. The Toolkits available on http://www.pppinindia.gov.in are for use by PPP practitioners across India in both the public and private sectors. The toolkit covers five infrastructure sectors- State highways, Water and sanitation, Ports, Solid waste management, Urban Transport. Other toolkits such as PPP Post-Award Contract Management Toolkit, Value for Money (VfM) toolkit, and Framework for recognition, valuation and reporting of contingent liabilities have also been developed to assist in the PPP decision-making process.

Sources: Press Release 25 May 2022

Department of Pharmaceuticals releases “Common Guidelines on Pharmaceutical Innovation and Entrepreneurship” for academic institutions

Press Release dated May 06, 2022

The Vision of the Department of Pharmaceuticals is to promote Indian pharma sector as the global leader for quality medicines and to ensure availability, accessibility and affordability of drugs and medical devices in the country. One of the measures to achieve the vision is to concentrate on Research & Development and innovation. In order to achieve the same, the Department, amongst various other measures, has set up seven National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPERs) as institutes of national importance all across the country for imparting quality education and conducting high-end research.

NIPERs have recently launched a common Research portal for industry and researchers and have also prepared a Common Research Programme based on the national needs and their own expertise and facilities. The department is also soon coming up with a ‘Policy to catalyze Research & Development and Innovation in the Pharma- MedTech Sector in India’.

In order to encourage innovation and research and to facilitate the entrepreneurship in NIPERs, the Department of Pharmaceuticals, after considering the National Innovation &Startup Policy 2019, National IPR Policy 2016 and similar policies of other institutes/ departments has prepared ‘Common Guidelines on Pharmaceutical Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ for academic institutions under its control. The policy aims to transform the academic research into innovative and commercially applicable technologies/products; build strong ecosystem for nurturing creativity and entrepreneurial activities and contribute to self-reliant India mission (Atmanirbhar Bharat).

The Policy Guidelines aims to:

• Encourages the faculty/staff members and students to pursue entrepreneurship;
• Formulate policies & foster an ecosystem to generate ideas across disciplines that can be transformed into successful technologies, products, and services;
• Establish a mechanism for technology development and technology transfer;
• Create institutional framework for effective implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the policy; and
• Promote pharmaceutical innovation and entrepreneurship to foster the unmet therapeutic, socially impactful technologies delivering benefits to mankind

These Policy Guidelines, finalized with approval of the Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers have been forwarded to all NIPERs for taking up further steps for their speedy and effective implementation.

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways  has published a draft notification dated 5.5.2022 regarding amendments in certain provisions of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989  pertaining to the Trade Certificate.

A Trade Certificate is required only in case of vehicles which are neither registered nor temporarily registered. Such vehicles can only be in the possession of a dealer/ manufacturer/importer of motor vehicles, or a test agency specified in rule 126 or any entity specified by the Central Government.

In an endeavour to promote “Ease of doing business”, it is proposed that such agency  can  apply for a Trade Certificate and Trade Registration Marks electronically for multiple types of vehicles in a single application on the Vahan portal, without the need to visit the RTO. Streamlining of fees  is also proposed, on the basis of the  number of trade registration marks being applied for. Further, as the Trade certificate and registration marks are proposed to be allotted online i.e. electronically on the portal, therefore compliance burden regarding Intimation of loss or destruction of a trade certificate and application for duplicate has been removed. The validity of the Trade Certificate has been increased from 12 months to 5 years.

Click here to see the Gazette Notification

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways Press Release 07 May 2022

India sees the emergence of the 100th unicorn


The 100 unicorns of India valued at USD 332.7 billion.

In the first four months of 2022, India sees the rise of 14 unicorns

The wave of Unicorns in India has soared to new heights as the country witnessed the birth of its 100th Unicorn on 2nd May 2022. Today, 1 out of every 10 unicorns globally have been born in India.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Shri Piyush Goyal highlighted the achievement in a tweet. 

India Hits A Century In Style! 💯

Bengaluru-based startup become country’s 100th Unicorn.🦄

India = Ideas + Innovation + Investmentshttps://t.co/KcNQMIEokA— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) May 2, 2022

The term ‘Unicorn’ refers to the rarest of the rare startups who become Unicorns attaining a valuation of more than USD 1 billion. The Indian Startup Ecosystem, the third-largest in the world in number of Unicorns, as of 5th May 2022, is home to 100 unicorns with a total valuation of USD 332.7 billion. 

2021 experienced a huge surge in the number of unicorns, registering a total of 44 startups entering the Unicorn club through the year with a total valuation of USD 93 billion. 

In the first four months of 2022, India has given birth to 14 unicorns with a total valuation of USD 18.9 billion.

The entrepreneurial spirit exists throughout the length and breadth of the country and is evident by the spread of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) recognized startups across 647 Indian districts encompassing all 36 States and Union Territories. 

Since the launch of the Startup India initiative on 16th January 2016, more than 69,000 startups have been recognized in the country till 2nd May 2022.  Innovation in India is not just limited to certain sectors; we have recognized startups solving problems in 56 diverse sectors with 13% from IT services, 9% healthcare and life sciences, 7% education, 5% professional and commercial services, 5% agriculture, and 5% food & beverages.

While every startup has its unique journey to becoming a unicorn, the minimum and maximum time taken by a startup to become a unicorn in India are 6 months and 26 years, respectively. Till FY 2016-17, approximately one unicorn was being added every year. Over the past four years (since FY 2017-18), this number has been increasing exponentially, with a whopping 66% Year-on-Year growth in the number of additional unicorns being added every year.

As we hit the milestone of a century in Indian unicorns, the homegrown startup ecosystem continues to work effectively towards the mission of self-reliance and self-sustainability as they have been in the past. The vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat is rooted deeply in the Startup Ecosystem and shall continue to prevail in the coming years.

First registration certificate issued for providing services as M2M Service Provider and WLAN/WPAN Connectivity Provider, informs DoT


Registration certificate issued to M/s Cloud7 Technologies Private Limited by AP-LSA Vijayawada

Government of India has identified that M2M/ Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the fastest emerging technologies across the globe, providing enormous beneficial opportunities for society, industry, and consumers. It is being used to create smart infrastructure in various verticals such as Power, Automotive, Safety & Surveillance, Remote Health Management, Agriculture, Smart Homes, Industry 4.0, Smart Cities, etc. using connected devices. Machine to Machine communication is going to play a major role and will contribute significantly towards the government of India initiative of Digital India and Make in India.

In order to strengthen the M2M eco-system and to facilitate wider proliferation and innovation in the sector, DoT has recently issued guidelines for registration of M2M Service Providers and WPAN/WLAN Connectivity Providers and commenced the process of on-boarding the M2M Service Providers through a simple online registration process, at a nominal cost of Rs. 5000, within 15 days timeframe, through the DoT’s existing Saral Sanchar portal, to aid in ease of doing business. It has been envisaged that entities which are offering/providing the M2M services based on SIM/ LAN shall register as M2M Service Provider and entities which use WPANWLAN technologies for providing M2M connectivity, spectrum shall register as WPAN/WLAN Connectivity Providers. This registration shall help in addressing concerns like connectivity with TSPs, KYC, traceability and encryption for the M2M service providers.

In this regard, DoT is delighted to share that the first registration certificate for providing services as M2M Service Provider and WLAN/WPAN Connectivity Provider, has been issued to M/s Cloud7 Technologies Private Limited on 26.04.22 by AP-LSA Vijayawada. The company is engaged in the planning, installation and management of wireless/RF networks in the unlicensed bands in India.

With the rapid acceptability of all sectors to digitalize and automate processes, and the advent of new manufacturing techniques and Industry 4.0, DoT expect a quantum jump in the use of IoT and M2M services all across the country, which would generate massive employment opportunities even in the far-flung areas. It would present a host of opportunities to entrepreneurs and startups to participate and develop innovative applications and solutions for the benefit of the citizens. This will lead to a plethora of citizen centric services across different verticals like Power, Automotive, Safety & Surveillance, Remote Health Management, Agriculture, Smart Cities & Homes, Industry 4.0, etc. The resultant explosion in IoT based services would further cultivate the digital ecosystem in the country.