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Privatization of Railways - Economic Development 1. Of the Rs 50 lakh crores planned to be infused for development of Indian railways, only a part can be financed through the Budget 2020 and the rest to be met by Private players. 2.  So, GoI (Government of India) decided to open some of the busiest passenger train routes to private players. Why are Private players required? 1. During normal times, demand for train seats is more than the supply. This leads to huge wait-lists, overcrowding of trains and loosing of business to other modes like road and air. 2. The Indian Railways (IR) passenger segment is a loss-making business as only 57% of cost is met through sale of tickets and the rest is cross-subsidized through freight operations. 3. There is stiff competition between passenger trains and freight trains on the overcrowded IR network. 4. The opening up of Dedicated Freight Corridor will easen the IR network for passenger train segments and will be an opportunity to engage privat...

1.The pharmaceutical industry in India is third largest in the world, in terms of volume, behind China and Italy, and fourteenth largest in terms of value. 2.It has a strong network of drug companies and manufacturing units with a domestic turnover of Rs 1.4 lakh crore in 2019, with exports to more than 200 countries. 3.Despite a very strong base, due to low-profit margins and non-lucrative industry, domestic pharmaceutical companies have gradually stopped manufacturing APIs and started importing APIs 4.APIs was a cheaper option with increased profit margins on drugs. 5.With the availability of cheaper APIs from China, the pharmaceutical industry relies heavily on imports. The imports from China have been increasing steadily and now stand around 68%. TIFAC Report 1.A report was brought out recently by Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), an autonomous organization under the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India. 2.To addre...