Arvind's Newsletter

1.India’s top companies in energy consuming sectors are dragging their feet when it comes to decarbonisation.

An analysis of 33 companies across industries like cement, steel, and textiles, by Climate Risk Horizons, revealed that only 5% of their total energy consumption comes from renewable sources. All except one company (Nippon Steel) reported their energy consumption from various sources and almost none of the companies are on track to achieve goals they have set, according to the report.

2.RBI identifies Fairfax Financial, Emirates NBD, Kotak Mahindra Bank as bidders for IDBI Bank’s majority stake in government disinvestment

The Indian government, which owns 45.48% in IDBI Bank, and state-owned Life Insurance Corp of India which holds 49.24%, together plan to sell 60.7% of the lender. The sale process was first announced in 2022.

The government would likely open bids for the lender before the end of the financial year, Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the country's secretary responsible for the stake sale, had said last week.

3.Nitin Gadkari announces another delay in Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project

The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, aimed at reducing travel time between the two metropolitan cities to just 12 hours, has faced another delay. 

Initially expected to be completed by the end of 2024, the project's revised completion date is now set for October 2025. Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, announced this in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on July 31, adding that the work on India's longest expressway will require at least one more year to complete, Hindustan Times reported.

The construction of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is about 80 per cent complete, the Union Minister said. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, spanning 1,386 km, had missed several deadlines for various reasons that caused delays in construction work. “The revised scheduled completion date is October 2025.”

4.The rise and rise of landslides in Kerala and western India

The landslides in Wayanad district of Kerala are all over the headlines. If this loss of life and disaster isn’t enough, there are other such similar disasters claiming lives across other parts of the country, Tabassum Barnagarwala writes in Scroll. With thanks to Founding Fuel blog.

“Since 2021, across Raigad, several villages have emptied out every monsoon. Their residents either sleep in temple compounds, schools, or open pastures. “We live in constant fear,” Sutarwadi resident Pooja Pawar said.

Raigad lies in the Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadris, the hill range that runs parallel to India’s west coast. It is one of the most landslide-prone regions in the country. A study that analysed data sets from around the world listed India as among the top four countries that faced risks of landslides. 

“Something is wrong with the Western Ghats lately,” said Yusuf Kabir, who heads climate, environment, and emergency response for UNICEF in Maharashtra. “They have become unstable and it is not sudden. Several factors are at play here.” Data gathered by ISRO and the Geological Survey confirms Kabir’s observations, and reveals an astronomical rise in recorded landslides in recent years.

Over the last decade, the state has seen 24 major landslides, which have occurred in the districts of Mumbai, Raigad, Pune, Satara, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg — these have resulted in the loss of nearly 600 lives, data from the state’s disaster, relief and rehabilitation department shows.”

5.Mitsubishi Motors to join Honda-Nissan alliance

Mitsubishi will join forces with Honda and Nissan, forming a group of Japanese car manufacturers that sells more than 8 million vehicles a year. 

Japan’s automakers can’t compete with Chinese companies and Tesla, and are reorganising to enhance competitiveness. In 2023, Nissan and Honda sold just 159,000 electric vehicles between them, compared to 1.8 million for Tesla and 1.57 million for BYD, creating a “sense of crisis,” Nikkei reported. 

Toyota, Japan’s largest carmaker, has also been forming alliances with Daihatsu, Suzuki, Subaru, Mazda, and Hino Motors — a group with combined sales of 16 million. Honda and Nissan are expected to jointly develop in-vehicle software and share it with Mitsubishi, bringing development costs down, and possibly reduce direct competition in vehicle lineups.

6.India Records 9% Above Normal July Rainfall Amid Regional Deficits, Says IMD Chief

The country saw 306.6 mm rainfall in July compared to the usual 280.5 mm, with a cumulative precipitation of 453.8 mm against the normal of 445.8 mm since June 1.

This reflects a surplus of 2%, according to India Meteorological Department data. However, the distribution of rainfall in July was uneven, both spatially and temporally. Regions such as east Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gangetic West Bengal, and parts of the northeast have recorded significant rainfall deficits. The deficit in Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir ranges from 35% to 45%.

Rainfall deficit in east and northeast India increased from 13.3% on June 30 to 19% on July 31, with the region recording 610.2 mm of rainfall against the normal of 752.5 mm so far this monsoon season. Northwest India recorded 182.4 mm of rainfall in July, compared to the normal 209.7 mm, a deficit of 13%. The region has received 235 mm of rainfall so far this monsoon season, against the normal of 752.5 mm so far this monsoon season. Northwest India recorded 182.4 mm of rainfall in July, compared to the normal 209.7 mm, a deficit of 13%. The region has received 235 mm of rainfall so far this monsoon season, against the normal of 287.8 mm, a shortfall of 18%.

In contrast, central India received 33% more rainfall than normal in July, with 427.2 mm of precipitation compared to the usual 321.3 mm. Read on.

7.Speed limits on a US freeway are now controlled by artificial intelligence. 

At high traffic volume, braking cars create “shockwaves,” as cars behind brake harder, leading to sudden gridlock or even crashes. Smart motorways which adjust speed limits according to traffic are common in several countries, including the US, but involve human operators.

The new AI tech has run unaided on the I-24 in Tennessee since March, using historical data to inform its speed limit decisions. New Scientist reported that the data was still being analysed, but project managers were positive about the results: “It’s just absolutely transformational how these systems operate.”

8.Google’s tiny AI model ‘Gemma 2 2B’ challenges tech giants in surprising upset

Google has just unveiled Gemma 2 2B, a compact yet powerful artificial intelligence model that rivals industry leaders despite its significantly smaller size. The new language model, containing just 2.6 billion parameters, demonstrates performance on par with or surpassing much larger counterparts, including OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and Mistral AI’s Mixtral 8x7B.

Announced on Google’s Developer Blog, Gemma 2 2B represents a major advancement in creating more accessible and deployable AI systems. Its small footprint makes it particularly suitable for on-device applications, potentially having a major impact on mobile AI and edge computing.