01 May 2025 Current Affairs

Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) Survey by MOSPI

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), through its National Statistics Office (NSO), conducted India’s inaugural forward-looking survey assessing investment intentions within the private sector. This CAPEX survey was carried out under the authority of the Collection of Statistics Act, 2008.

Major Insights from the Survey

• Private sector capital investment expanded by 66% from FY2022 to FY2025, totaling approximately ₹6.5 lakh crore.
• Manufacturing companies led the way, contributing nearly 48% of the capital investment during FY2024-25.
• Investment priorities were primarily directed toward core infrastructure, with additional focus on value enhancement, strategic assets, and opportunity-based ventures.

Why CAPEX Matters

• Long-Term Value Creation: Capital expenditure funds the acquisition of physical and intangible assets-such as buildings, machinery, or new technologies-that deliver sustained business value.
• Strategic Alignment: It reflects how a company chooses to allocate resources to fuel future growth.
• Operational Edge: Timely CAPEX enables firms to upgrade their facilities, improve efficiency, and stay competitive through innovation.
• Asset Upkeep: It ensures the maintenance and modernization of existing infrastructure, preventing obsolescence.
• Investor Trust: A robust capital investment plan is often seen as a signal of a company's confidence in its future prospects.

Barriers to Private Sector Investment

• Funding Challenges: Difficulty in securing large-scale equity or low-cost loans hampers expansion plans.
• Project Complexity: Poorly structured projects and misjudged risk profiles deter investor interest.
• Regulatory Hurdles: Delays in obtaining land or required clearances often stall project execution.

India’s First Certified Green Municipal Bond: Ghaziabad Leads the Way

In a landmark move, Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam has issued the country’s first certified Green Municipal Bond, raising ₹150 crore to fund a state-of-the-art Tertiary Sewage Treatment Plant (TSTP). This initiative was part of the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban and sets a precedent in sustainable urban financing.

The TSTP, designed to meet the highest treatment standards, enables the reuse of wastewater in industrial sectors. It was executed under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), blending public-private partnership mechanisms with 40% funding from municipal sources.

Understanding Green Municipal Bonds (GMBs)

• Definition: Municipal bonds are fixed-income securities issued by urban local bodies or similar institutions empowered under Article 243W of the Indian Constitution.
• Green Bonds: These are tailored to finance environmentally sustainable initiatives-like climate adaptation projects or low-carbon infrastructure—as recognized by international standards such as those set by the World Bank.

Why GMBs Matter

• Promote ESG Investment: As environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria become central to investment decisions, GMBs offer a targeted and credible instrument for sustainable financing.
• Affordable Long-Term Capital: These bonds often provide funding at more favorable terms than traditional bank loans, making them cost-effective.
• Diversify Funding Sources: With increasing limitations in conventional credit avenues, GMBs help municipal bodies access a broader and more diverse investor base.

India Placed on U.S. 'Priority Watch List' for Intellectual Property Concerns

In its Special 301 Report, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) flagged eight countries, including India, for inadequacies in protecting and enforcing Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). This designation highlights persistent challenges in the legal and enforcement frameworks around IP in India.

What is Intellectual Property (IP)?

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), intellectual property includes creations of the human intellect-such as inventions, literary and artistic works, product designs, and distinctive branding elements like logos and symbols.

Challenges in India’s IP Framework

• Patent Standards: India's patent regime-especially Section 3(d) of the Patents Act, 1970-is often criticized for its restrictive stance. It denies patents for incremental innovations unless they demonstrate a significant improvement in efficacy.
• Weak Enforcement: Enforcement mechanisms are often ineffective due to poor coordination among central and state authorities. Penalties for IP violations are minimal, and piracy and counterfeiting continue to flourish.

- India was included in the 2024 “Notorious Markets” list for such issues.

• Trademark Oversight: High rates of counterfeit goods and concerns about the quality of trademark examination persist. India has also not adopted the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks, which streamlines and modernizes trademark processes.
• Barriers for Foreign Stakeholders: New Biodiversity Rules (2024) mandate foreign entities to obtain special approvals to seek IP protection for innovations involving Indian biological resources-adding procedural complexity.
• Systemic Shortcomings: The IP system is burdened by application backlogs, slow granting processes, limited public awareness, and rising digital piracy due to gaps in cyber governance.

India Introduces Green Hydrogen Certification Scheme (GHCI)

The Government of India, under the umbrella of the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM), has launched a dedicated certification mechanism to ensure that green hydrogen (GH) production in the country adheres to international standards of transparency, accuracy, and credibility.

Key Details of the GHCI

• Implemented by: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)
• Nodal Body: Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)
• Objective: To establish a well-defined process for the monitoring, verification, and certification of green hydrogen and its associated derivatives across production facilities.

Certification Framework Highlights

• Project-Level Focus: Certification applies to all activities within the hydrogen production site, up to the stages of compression and purification for transport.
• Out of Scope: Downstream operations like transportation, off-site storage, and conversion into hydrogen carriers are excluded from this framework.
• Types of Certificates:

- Concept Certificate (Voluntary): Issued at the proposal or design stage.

- Facility-Level Certificate (Mandatory): Required for operational GH production units.

• Emission Standards:

- Certified hydrogen must have a carbon intensity of 2 kg CO₂ equivalent per kg of hydrogen or less, as defined by MNRE’s calculation methodology.

• Non-Transferable: Certificates cannot be traded, nor used to claim emission reduction credits in other carbon markets.

India’s Push for Innovation: New R&D Performance Report Released

The Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India has unveiled a comprehensive report titled “Evaluation of Innovation Excellence Indicators of Public Funded R&D Organizations”. This initiative seeks to assess and strengthen the innovation capacity of institutions receiving public research funding across the country.

Key Findings from the Report

• R&D Spending Growth: India’s Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) more than doubled from ₹60,200 crore in 2010–11 to ₹1,27,400 crore in 2020–21.
• Funding Breakdown: The Central Government accounted for the largest share (43.7%), followed by the private sector, universities, and state governments.
• Socio-Economic Impact: Government research labs are leveraging emerging technologies such as IoT, drones, and big data analytics to develop real-world solutions—like improving crop yields through genetically optimized varieties.
• Startup Engagement: Collaboration with the startup ecosystem remains modest. Only 25% of public R&D institutions offer support for startups, and just one in six engage with deep-tech startups.
• Global and Institutional Collaboration: International partnerships are limited, with just 15% of labs working with foreign industry, and only half permitting external researchers to use their facilities.

Recommendations to Enhance Innovation

• Align research mandates with ‘Viksit Bharat’ vision, emphasizing critical technology areas.
• Encourage deeper industry-academia collaboration to accelerate innovation.
• Make public research infrastructure accessible to external scholars and institutions.
• Expand support for innovation-driven startups, particularly through mechanisms like Section 8 (non-profit) companies.

India’s Broader R&D Landscape

• R&D Investment: In 2020–21, India spent 0.64% of its GDP on research-well below the 2%+ norm in most advanced economies.
• Global Standing: According to the WIPO 2022 report, India ranked 7th globally in terms of resident patent filings.
• Government Initiatives:

- IMPRINT: Focuses on practical, engineering-based solutions to national challenges.

- Research Parks: Designed to promote entrepreneurship and industrial R&D linkages by providing co-working and innovation-friendly environments.

Amazon’s Project Kuiper: Expanding Internet Access from Space

Amazon has initiated the deployment of its ambitious satellite-based internet initiative-Project Kuiper-by launching its first batch of 27 satellites. This move marks a significant step toward providing space-based broadband services worldwide.

What is Project Kuiper?

• Concept: Project Kuiper is Amazon’s effort to establish a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite network aimed at delivering high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity.
• Altitude Range: The satellites operate in LEO, which extends up to 2,000 kilometers above Earth's surface.
• Network Composition:

- A planned constellation of approximately 3,232 satellites

- Supporting ground stations and user terminals

• Mission Objective: To offer affordable, reliable internet to regions with little or no access to traditional broadband services, especially in remote and underserved areas.
• Name Origin: The project takes its name from the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy celestial bodies beyond Neptune in our solar system.