100 Smart Cities, AMRUT, HRIDAY scheme to cover almost every city, town across India

Various Central Government schemes such as 100 Smart Cities, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for 482 cities and towns, and Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), launched to improve infrastructure in urban areas, will cover most of the cities and towns across the country.

Govt to construct 1,000-km expressways

The Government of India has approved a plan for construction of around 1,000 kilometre (km) of expressways including Delhi-Chandigarh (249 km), Bengaluru-Chennai (334 km), Delhi-Jaipur (261 km), Vadodara-Mumbai (400 km) at an estimated cost of Rs 16,680 crore (US$ 2.6 billion) on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer (DBFOT) basis.

India to increase export of rice bran oil by five times to 10,000 tonnes this fiscal year

India is expecting to increase its exports of rice bran oil to 10,000 tonnes or by five times over exports last year, as the government has allowed bulk export of rice bran oil.

Approval to guidelines on spectrum sharing

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, has given its approval to the guidelines on spectrum sharing, aimed to improve spectral efficiency and quality of service, based on the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Govt approves interest subvention scheme for farmers

The Government of India has approved implementation of interest rate subvention schemes as a result of which farmers will be able to take crop loans at 4 per cent rate next financial year, provided they repay the existing loans as per schedule.

India to overtake US as the 2nd largest smartphone market by 2017

International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts India to overtake US as the second-largest smartphone market globally by 2017 and to maintain high growth rate over the next few years as people switch to smartphones and gradually upgrade to 4G.