Current Affairs 6th October 2017

Current Affairs 6th October 2017 - Important Points

• India's renewable energy capacity to double by 2022: Reported by IEA
•  India, Ethiopia sign agreements on trade, communication on - 5th October 2017

Current Affairs 6th October 2017 - Details

India's renewable energy capacity to double by 2022: Reported by IEA

India’s renewable energy capacity will be more than double by 2022, according to the latest renewables market analysis and forecast report given by the International Energy Agency (IEA). According to the report, the increase would be enough for India to overtake renewable expansion in the European Union for the first time ever.
As per the recent data received from the government , India’s renewable energy installed capacity is 58.30 GW. The government has an ambitious target to raise it to 175 GW by 2022 including 100 GW of solar and 60 GW of wind energy too. IEA stated in its report that the solar PV and wind represent 90 percent of India’s capacity growth together as auctions yielded some of the world’s lowest prices for both technologies.
Important Highlights

• Earlier in 2017, the solar and wind power tariffs dropped to the all-time low of Rs 2.44 per unit and Rs 3.46 per unit in the tariff-based competitive bidding conducted by SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India).
• IEA stated India’s move to address the financial health of its utilities and tackle grid-integration issues drive as a more optimistic forecast.

 India, Ethiopia sign agreements on trade, communication on - 5th October 2017

India and Ethiopia signed agreements on trade, communication and media to boost bilateral ties on 5th October 2017. The agreements were signed in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind and his Ethiopian counterpart Mulatu Teshome following detailed discussions on economic relations at the National Palace in Ethiopian capital  Addis Ababa .
The Indian President graced and addressed the India-Ethiopia Business Dialogue, organised to commemorate the 12th Anniversary of the India Business Forum in Addis Ababa on 5th October 2017. It is the first partner-country forum of its kind in Ethiopia and represents more than 100 Indian companies.
While speaking on the occasion, President Kovind stated that India wanted to strengthen bilateral ties with Ethiopia."We will be working closely to develop trade, investment and people-to-people relations between both the countries," he said.

He added that India will be providing a credit line to the tune of USD 95 million to Ethiopia for an electric transmission line and a grant of USD  2 million to purchase of food grains and referred to India as among the top three sources of foreign direct investment for Ethiopia.
Other than this, India also thanked Ethiopia for its participation in the International Solar Alliance (ISA) which was established in 2015. The main objective behind ISA is to provide a dedicated platform to cooperate among solar resource rich countries and promote the use of solar energy.
In addition to that, both the Presidents also witnessed the launch of a book titled 'India- Ethiopia: 70 Years of Diplomatic Relations'.
This is the first time in last 40 years that an Indian presidential delegation has visited Ethiopia ever since former President V V Giri's trip back in 1972.