India’s new COVID-19 cases per million population in last 7 days among lowest in the world: Health ministry

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India recorded 87 new COVID-19 cases per million population in the last seven days which is one of the lowest in the world when compared with countries like the US, the UK, Russia, Germany, Brazil, France and Italy, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. It further said that only one new death per million population was reported in India in this period.

”With a case fatality rate of 1.44 percent, COVID-19 deaths per million population in India are one of the lowest in the world,” the ministry underscored. India’s total COVID-19 active caseload continues to manifest a sustained downward movement and has dropped to 2.13 lakh comprising just 2.03 percent of the country’s total infections, it said.

The daily new cases added to the country’s COVID-19 numbers have been below 20K in the recent days, it said. The number of daily new cases registered in a span of 24 hours is 15,590 while 15,975 cases have recovered and discharged during the same period.

”New cases per million population in India in the last seven days are 87. It is one of the lowest in the world. The number is significantly low when compared with countries like Russia, Germany, Brazil, France, Italy, USA and UK,” the ministry highlighted. The total recovered cases stand at 10,162,738.

”The gap between COVID-19 recoveries and active cases is steadily increasing and has crossed 99 lakh and currently stands at 99,49,711,” the ministry underlined. It said that 81.15 percent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 states and union territories.

Kerala has reported the maximum number of single-day recoveries with 4,337 newly recovered cases. 3,309 people recovered in Maharashtra in a span of 24 hours followed by 970 in Chhattisgarh. At least, 77.56 percent of the new cases are from seven states and union territories.

Kerala continues to report the highest daily new cases at 5,490. It is followed by Maharashtra with 3,579, while West Bengal reported 680 new cases. One hundred and ninety-one case fatalities have been reported in a span of 24 hours.

Six states and union territories account for 73.30 percent of new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (70). Kerala and West Bengal follow with 19 and 17 daily deaths, respectively.

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Delhi geared up for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out tomorrow at 81 sites

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The national capital is all set for the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccination exercise on Saturday at 81 centres with healthcare workers who have been in the forefront of the fight against the pandemic to be given the shots first. The inoculation drive will be kicked off from the state-run LNJP Hospital with a simple ceremony in the presence of Chief Minister Kejriwal and Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain.

The 81 sites include six central government facilities — AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, RML Hospital, Kalawati Saran Children Hospital and two ESI hospitals. The rest 75 centres, spanning all 11 districts of Delhi, include Delhi government-run facilities such as LNJP Hospital, GTB Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, DDU Hospital, BSA Hospital, Delhi State Cancer Institute, ILBS Hospital, and private facilities such as Max Hospital, Fortis Hospital, Apollo Hospital and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

A senior official on Thursday had said Oxford COVID-19 vaccine Covishield will be administered at 75 centres while Bharat Biotech-made Covaxin doses will be given at the remaining six facilities. However, he did not clarify which of these hospitals will be the six centres where the vaccine made by Bharat Biotech will be used.

Kejriwal has said the Delhi government is fully prepared for the vaccination roll-out starting January 16, with over 8,000 healthcare workers to be given the shots every scheduled day in the national capital. The city government has received in total 2.74 lakh doses of the vaccine so far from the Centre, which would be sufficient to cater to 1.2 lakh healthcare workers, he said.

”Every person will receive two doses, and the Centre has given 10 per cent extra in stock, in case of any mishappening, like damage of vials. There are a total of 2.4 lakh healthcare workers in Delhi who have registered for vaccination, and more doses are expected to arrive soon,” he said. The vaccine will be administered on four days of the week — Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. It will not be given on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays when other regular vaccination work will be carried out.

Each day 100 persons will be administered the vaccine at a site, he said and hoped the people of Delhi and the rest of the country will finally get rid of the virus after facing hardships for past several months. Delhi has recorded over 6.31 lakh COVID-19 cases and 10,722 coronavirus deaths till Thursday, out of which6,17,930 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated.

The city government has announced that the vaccine will be provided to people in Delhi for free-of-cost. The immunisation exercise is voluntary. Various hospitals, both government-run and private facilities, are also geared up for the roll-out. From Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in North Delhi to Apollo Hospital in south Delhi, hospital authorities said they were all set for the exercise, with two dry-run already done in the past several days.

”Vaccination will commence after the nationwide inauguration of COVID-19 vaccination programme by the prime minister, and it will include 100 healthcare workers, including a mix of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff,” said Dr D S Rana, Chairman (Board of Management), SGRH. The first batch of Oxford Covishield vaccine containing 2.64 lakh doses had reached the Delhi’s central storage facility at Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital on Tuesday.

Also, 20,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin made by Bharat Biotech had arrived at the RGSSH on Wednesday, officials said on Thursday, adding that the vaccine had been sent to various centres, but did not specify on the quantum of doses transported there. India’s drugs regulator has approved Oxford COVID-19 vaccine Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute, and indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country.

Dr Suneela Garg, public health expert and professor of excellence at Maulana Azad Medical College here, said the roll-out system will work akin to an electoral exercise. ”Those who have registered themselves will get an SMS message, ahead of the actual day of vaccination, telling about the location of the centre and the date of vaccination,” she said.

”At every site, one officer will check details and match it with those shown on CoWIN app for people, following which the necessary documents will be checked and then they will be taken one by one for vaccination,” she said. There will be a nodal officer at each vaccination centre, which will have a waiting room, a vaccination room and an observation room, and social distancing norms will be in place.

COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network or CoWIN app and its ecosystem will be used to manage and scale up the massive vaccination drive. Everything will be fed to the database in real-time. Also, the person after being vaccinated will be kept under observation for any AEFI (adverse events following immunisation), Garg said.

The Delhi government is fully prepared to receive, store and administer COVID-19 vaccine to 51 lakh priority category persons in the city in the first phase of vaccination, Kejriwal had earlier said. These include healthcare workers, who will be first to receive, followed by frontline workers, people aged above 50 and those below 50 years but with co-morbidities, he added.

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Embassy REIT raises Rs 2,600 cr via debentures to refinance existing debt

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Embassy Office Parks REIT on Friday said it has raised Rs 2,600 crore through issue of non-convertible debentures to refinance an existing debt of its IT park ’Embassy TechVillage’ in Bengaluru. In a regulatory filing at BSE, the company said it has ”successfully priced and allotted by way of a private placement, Rs 2,600 crore or USD 351 million of rupee-denominated, listed, rated, secured, redeemable, transferable non-convertible debentures (NCDs) at a 6.40 percent quarterly coupon.” The NCDs will be listed on the wholesale debt market of BSE.

”We will use the funds raised to refinance a portion of the in-place Embassy TechVillage debt. Post this bond raise, we continue to maintain conservative leverage ratios and retain our flexibility to finance future growth,” said Mike Holland, Chief Executive Officer of Embassy REIT. On January 12, the debenture committee of the board of directors of the manager to Embassy REIT approved the issue of NCDs.

Embassy REIT had on December 24, 2020, completed the acquisition of Embassy TechVillage for Rs 9,780 crore. It recently raised Rs 3,680 crore as equity through an institutional placement to fund this acquisition. Embassy REIT is India’s first publicly listed Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), sponsored by global investment firm Blackstone and realty firm Embassy group.

It owns and operates a 42.4 million square feet portfolio of eight infrastructure-like office parks and four city-centre office buildings in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, and the National Capital Region.

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Goa govt bows to public pressure, decides to shift IIT project out of Sattari

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Bowing to public pressure, the Goa government on Friday announced that the proposed IIT campus at Shel Melauli village in Sattari taluka will be shifted to another part of the state. The project has met with severe opposition from locals, who staged a large-scale protest at the village, insisting that they will not part with their land for the campus.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant held a meeting with the sarpanches and Zilla Panchayat members from Sattari taluka at his official residence on Thursday evening in presence of the state Health Minister and Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane. Speaking to reporters, the chief minister said the state government has decided to shift the project out of Sattari due to the constant opposition from locals.

“We respect the sentiments of people, which is why we have decided to shift the project out of Sattari,” he said, adding that the government is yet to decide on an alternative site. The project was planned from the perspective of development, but the state government could not convince locals, he said.

Earlier this week, Rane had appealed to the chief minister to shift the project considering the opposition to it and had urged him to withdraw cases registered against protestors. At least 12 policemen and several villagers were injured when both groups clashed in the forest area near Shel-Melaulim village last week.

Sawant said that the police will review the cases filed against protestors. “There are requests to withdraw the cases filed against protestors. There is a process that needs to be followed. We are reviewing the cases,” he said.

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GAIL announces Rs 1,046.35 crore share buyback

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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GAIL (India) Ltd, the nation’s largest gas distribution firm, on Friday announced a Rs 1,046.35 crore share buyback programme as it looked to return surplus cash to shareholders, the biggest being the government of India. In a stock exchange filing, the company said its board has approved the buyback of 6.97 crore shares at a price of Rs 150 per share.

The shares being bought represent 1.55 percent of the total number of fully paid-up equity shares. The company board also declared an interim dividend of 25 percent (Rs 2.50 per share) for financial year 2020-21.

GAIL stock was down 2.2 percent on the BSE and was trading at Rs 140.75 at 14.15 Hrs. The government owns 51.76 percent of GAIL and is expected to participate in the share buyback.

It stands to get Rs 583.6 crore from the dividend payout and another Rs 541.5 crore if it participates in the buyback by tendering a proportionate number of shares. The buyback plan of Rs 1,046.35 crore represents ”2.5 percent and 2.26 percent of the aggregate of the fully paid-up equity share capital and free reserves of the company,” GAIL said in the filing.

The plan was within the statutory limits of 10 percent, it said. The record date for buyback of equity shares as well as payment of the interim dividend will be January 28, GAIL said.

The government has asked at least eight state-run companies to consider share buybacks as it scours for ways of raising funds to rein in its fiscal deficit. The firms asked to consider share buybacks include miner Coal India, power utility NTPC, and minerals producer NMDC.

A buyback, also known as a share repurchase, is when a company buys its own outstanding shares to reduce the number of shares available in the open market. Companies buy back shares for a number of reasons, such as to increase the value of remaining shares available by reducing the supply or to return surplus cash to shareholders.

The government wants public sector undertakings to either meet their targets for capital expenditure or ”reward the shareholder in the form of a dividend” or share buyback. The government, which holds 51.76 percent of GAIL, is likely to participate in the GAIL buyback just as it did in the case of NTPC, Engineers India Ltd, RITES and KIOCL.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in her budget for 2020-21 set a target of raising Rs 2.1 lakh crore from privatisations and the sale of minority stakes in state-owned companies. The share buyback, as well as the dividend, is counted as part of this target.

According to the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM), the government has so far raised Rs 28,298.26 crore from disinvestment proceeds. This includes Rs 14,453.77 crore received as dividend from state-owned firms.

The remaining Rs 13,844.49 crore proceeds include Rs 1,065.37 crore from selling shares in NTPC share buyback. The government is likely to miss its disinvestment target by a wide margin and the fiscal deficit is not likely to be anywhere near the target of 3.5 percent of the GDP in 2020-21 (April 2020 to March 2021).

While privatisation of firms such as Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Air India Ltd has been pushed into next fiscal due to COVID-19-related delays, tax collections have been hit hard as restrictions imposed to curb coronavirus dented incomes all around.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

President Kovind donates Rs 5.01 lakh for Ram Mandir construction

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday donated Rs 5.01 lakh for the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Work on the foundation for the Ram temple would begin this month and construction of the temple complex is expected to conclude in about three-and-a-half years.

“He is the first citizen of the country so we went to him to initiate this drive. He donated a sum of Rs 5,01,000,” Vishwa Hindu Parishad Alok Kumar told ANI.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan donated Rs 1 lakh for the temple construction, ANI reported.

Swami Govinda Dev Giriji Maharaj, Treasurer of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust, had “guessed” the cost of the main temple within the boundary to be between Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore. The total cost could be over Rs 1,100 crore, which includes Rs 300 crore to Rs 400 crore for the main temple and the development of 67 acres (at the complex), he had said.

Giriji Maharaj had said more than Rs 100 crore of donations have been collected as per accounts in Ayodhya.

With inputs from PTI

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Here are key stocks that moved the most on January 15

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian indices ended over a percent lower on Friday as major selling was seen in all sectors during the day. The IT sector fell the most, over 2 percent followed by the pharma index, which was down 1.5 percent. Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Metals also lost between 0.5 percent and 1 percent for the day. The Sensex ended 549 points lower at 49,034 while the Nifty lost 162 points to settle at 14,434.

Here are key stocks that moved the most today:

Bharti Airtel: The share price of Bharti Airtel rose 4 percent after MSCI Global Standard Indexes said it will raise the weightage of the telco in the February 2021 quarterly review. Earlier this week, the company had announced that it has received required regulatory approvals for 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in its downstream companies. The company said it is initiating the process to revise its foreign investment limit to 100 percent, with immediate effect.

Tata Motors: Tata Motors’ stock which has been rallying in the last couple of weeks, rallied 6.5 percent from an unverified account hinted at a tie-up with Elon Musk’s Tesla. The auto major has quickly denied this. “Tata Motors has not taken any decision regarding a strategic partner for PV business,” the company spokesperson told CNBC-TV18.

The tweet from Tata Motors Electric Mobility (@TatamotorsEV) read, “Aajkal tere mere pyaar ke charche har akhbaar mein. Sab ko malum hai aur sab ko khabar ho gayi! #WelcomeTesla #TeslaIndia @Tesla@elonmusk”. This account is not a verified account but is followed by the official handle of Tata Motors and has since then has been deleted.

GAIL: The stock fell over 3 percent after the company’s board approved share buyback at price of Rs 150 per share via tender offer. The board also declared an interim dividend of Rs 2.50 per share or 25 per cent for the financial year 2020-21 (FY21). The company said it has fixed January 28, 2021 as the record date for the purpose of determining the eligibility of shareholders for buyback of equity shares well as for payment of interim dividend.

Den Networks: The stock jumped nearly 7 percent in intraday deals after the firm announced robust earnings for the December quarter. The firm posted a whopping 237 percent rise in net profit at Rs 65.5 crore versus Rs 19.3 crore in the year-ago period. Its revenue rose 8 percent to Rs 342 crore in Q3FY21 against Rs 318 crore in Q3FY20 and EBITDA was up 12 percent YoY at Rs 65 crore. EBITDA margin slightly improved to 19 percent in Q3 from 18 percent in the previous year. The stock settles over 2 percent higher.

Vodafone Idea: The stock rose over 10 percent in an otherwise weak market on the back of heavy volumes. The telecom services provider’s stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 13, touched on September 4, 2020.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Closing bell: Sensex, Nifty end over 1% lower; IT stocks drag

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Indian indices ended over a percent lower on Friday as major selling was seen in all sectors during the day. The Sensex ended 549 points lower at 49,034 while the Nifty lost 162 points to settle at 14,434.

The IT sector fell the most, over 2 percent followed by the pharma index, which was down 1.5 percent. Nifty Bank, Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Metals also lost between 0.5 percent and 1 percent for the day.

On the Nifty50 index, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, UPL, ITC, and Grasim were the top gainers while Tech Mahindra, Wipro, HCL Tech, GAIL and ONGC led the losses.

Broader markets were also in line with the benchmark with the Nifty midcap and Nifty smallcap indices down over a percent each.

According to Binod Modi, Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities, domestic equities witnessed sharp pullback with increased volatility.

”However, we are not surprised with the day’s fall as this was broadly expected as benchmark indices had been marking fresh highs for last couple of days, which made valuations quite stretched,” he was quoted as saying in a PTI report.

He also noted that any meaningful correction is likely to be bought out in the subsequent period as the underlying strength of the market remains intact.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai and Hong Kong ended on a positive note, while Seoul and Tokyo were in the red.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow