The construction industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in India. Here are some of the things that construction companies can do to reduce their carbon footprint: 1. Use sustainable building materials. There are a number of sustainable building materials that can be used to reduce the carbon footprint of a construction project. These […]

Commute in an Eco-friendly Way The commute to and from work can add up quickly in gas expenses. According to Project America, the average passenger car gets roughly 22.4 miles per gallon while the average SUV gets roughly 18 miles per gallon. Despite efforts to improve gas mileage in consumer vehicles with hybrid cars, the […]

Indian Tyre Industry Indian Tyre industry is worth around Rs 300 billion for FY11. The industry was mainly dominated by the 5 players namely: MRF Apollo Birla Ceat JK tyres The 5 account for over 85% of the market share. The 5 companies manufacture tyres for all segments expect for two wheelers. In two wheelers […]

Pakistan has a massive power problem with chronic electricity brownout thanks to its mismanaged and corrupt administration. The industries in the state are mostly idle as they don’t get power for more days on an end. Now a new problem is starting to creep in its transportation sector as well. Pakistan has more than 0% […]

However India’s biggest capital good equipment company BHEL owned by the government is plannning a $500 million investment to build a solar cell factory in at Sakoli which is part Union heavy industries minister Praful Patel’s constituency Bhandara.Talk about how dumb you can get. BHEL hardly has too much expertise in the solar panel industry and with solar cells in massive oversupply,it is almost sure to lose money. However that is how things work with Indian government companies where investment is made at the whims of ministers rather than rationality and business sense.BHEL is currently trading at one of the lowest valuations in its 10 year history and its not a big wonder why. The company has benefited in the past as did other machinery and engineering companies from an infrastructure invesment boom. However those glory days are over for the company as it faces competition from the Chinese companies and decreasing orders flow. Praful Patel the minister has already spent a few years in the airline ministry presiding over the conversion of the state owned carrier Air India ino a basket case. Now its the turn of BHEL to be turned into a basket case as well.

The Indian Solar Power has been one bright spot in the gloomy infrastructure and engineering sectors in 2011. With share prices crashing with growing corruption, land acquisition and financing problems, Solar Energy has surged in India thanks to government support and subsidies . While a number of Green Technology companies have started up to capitalize on the growing renewable energy trend, the established constuction companies in India have not been far behind . While utilities like Tata Power, Adani, Reliance Power, NTPC have already built or are setting up power plants based on solar panels , L&T has become a major solar EPC players . L&T is now raising debt with a $100 million issue to fund its solar expansion plans .