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Hindustan Times By Yashwant Raj Dated April 07, 2020 President Donald Trump on Monday spoke of “retaliation” if India turned down his request to lift the hold on US orders of an antimalarial drug, which he has touted as a “game-changer” in the fight against the coronavirus despite its untested efficacy, resulting from a blanket ban on export of certain medicines. The American leader went on to add to the threat his long-running grievances with India on  trade issues , which have history of eluding resolution, including an ultimately failed rush by the two countries to stitch together a deal in time for Trump’s first state visit to India in February. This was the first time he had publicly brought up trade after the visit. President Trump made the request for  releasing the hold on hydroxychloroquine  in a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday morning (evening in India). “I said we’d appreciate you allowing our supply to come out, If he doesn’...

Hindustan Times By Rezaul H Laskar Dated: April 07, 2020 India has partially eased restrictions on the export of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol, cited by some as key to the fight against Covid-19, to fulfil existing orders and to meet the needs of neighbouring countries. People familiar with developments, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said existing orders from other countries for hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol will be cleared only after meeting all domestic requirements. The external affairs ministry said the  two drugs will also be supplied in “appropriate quantities”  to all neighbouring countries dependent on India’s capabilities. India, the largest producer of hydroxychloroquine, initially banned exports of the drug on March 25 to ensure adequate domestic supplies. Rules were tightened on April 4 by barring exports of hydroxychloroquine and formulations made from it from special economic zones (SEZs) and export-oriented uni...

Hindustan Times April 07, 2020 China donated 170,000 personal protection equipment (PPE) kits to India on Monday to help the neighbouring country fight the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, the health ministry said. Domestic supply of an additional 20,000 PPE will begin soon. Altogether, these 190,000 kits will be distributed to hospitals and health facilities. This will add to the 387,000 PPE already available in the country. The development comes amid a debate over whether India has enough PPE kits to arm its frontline health care workers who are working round the clock to contain the spread of the fast-spreading infection. In addition, 200,000 domestically produced N95 masks are being sent to various hospitals, the health ministry statement said, adding that about 1.6 million such masks are already available. A large part of the fresh supplies will be sent to states with comparatively higher number of cases such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, A...

The Financial Express April 07, 2020 Prime Minister  Narendra Modi  on Monday asked his council of ministers to firm up a business continuity plan and brace for fighting the “economic impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on a war footing” once the lockdown is lifted. In a meeting, via video conference, Modi asked the ministers concerned to ensure that the Rs 1.7-lakh-crore relief package, announced late last month, is implemented swiftly and seamlessly to soften the blow to the poor and the vulnerable. As part of the package, the government has declared a transfer of Rs 500 a month to 20.4 crore women Jan Dhan account holders for three months, and free grains through the PDS. Modi also asked the ministers to convert this adversity into an opportunity and boost Make in India to cut reliance on imports. He also directed the ministers to identify ten priority areas for their respective ministries to focus on once the lockdown is lifted and undertake their unfinished re...

Financial Express April 6, 2020  Indian share markets are almost certain to get billions of dollars in foreign fund inflows, with the regulatory changes allowing for higher foreign portfolio investment limits in various companies. The only thing that remains uncertain, and depends on an X-factor, is whether it will happen with the impending revision in MSCI indices in May, or sometime later in the next revision. Earlier, on Friday last week, depository institutions CDSL and NSDL notified changes to the foreign investment limits in individual companies, raising the same to their respective sectoral caps. The notification followed a finance ministry announcement last October. Higher foreign investment limits in Indian companies would lead to MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital Investment) to raise Indian companies’ weightage on its indices, brokerage and research firm Motilal Oswal said in a report. “Higher limits imply higher Foreign Investability Factor (FIF), and thus, higher...

Financial Express April 6, 2020  India’s petrol sales shrank by 17.6 per cent and diesel demand tanked nearly 26 per cent in March as the economy froze under the nationwide lockdown announced to check the spread of COVID-19. Also, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) sales fell by 31.6 per cent as flights got suspended alongside the shutting of businesses and most vehicular traffic going off-road. Petrol sales dropped to 1.943 million tonnes in March sold in the same month in 2019, according to provisional industry demand numbers. Diesel, the most consumed fuel in the country, saw demand contract by 25.9 per cent to 4.982 million tonnes. Similarly, ATF sales fell to 4,63,000 tonnes. The only fuel that showed growth was LPG as households rushed to book refills for stocking during the three-week lockdown period. LPG sales rose 1.9 per cent to 2.286 million tonnes in March. These are provisional numbers for the three public sector oil marketing companies – Ind...

Financial Express April 7, 2020  Rajesh Ravi  The Covid-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented loss to the global wealth with the top 100 billionaires losing $408 billion or 13% of the total wealth in two months, wiping out all gains made in the past two and a half years, according to a special report by the China-based Hurun Report. This special report follows on from the Hurun Global Rich List 2020, which had a wealth cut-off of January 31, 2020. Stock markets across the world have dropped significantly in the past two months, with the Dow Jones down 21%, India, France, Germany and the UK down a quarter, Japan 18% and HK 10%. The only major stock market to see a gain was China, up 0.2%. Most currencies weakened against the dollar, with the British pound down 6.3%, the  Indian rupee down 5.2%, the Chinese yuan 2.3% and the euro 0.4%. Only 9% of the Hurun Global Top 100 saw their wealth increase, 86% saw their wealth decrease and 5% w...

Financial Express April 6, 2020  The world's second largest economy, China saw a modest recovery in a key manufacturing index in March, and satellite images show increasing concentrations of nitrogen dioxide last month, indicating a pickup in industrial activity and transportation The global recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic will be worse than in 2009, but early signs of a recovery are appearing in China, including renewed pollution, IMF economists said Monday. “The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the world into a recession. For 2020 it will be worse than the global financial crisis,” the authors, including International Monetary Fund chief economist Gita Gopinath, said in a blog post. “The economic damage is mounting across all countries, tracking the sharp rise in new infections and containment measures put in place by governments.” China, where the virus appeared in mid-December, was the first hit by the full force of the economic impact as authorities locked...

Financial Express April 6, 2020 12:20:04 PM Nikita Prasad  This development is the first such breakthrough by a production unit and RCF came out with the prototype within a week of receiving the instructions from the government to explore the possibility of making ventilators. The prototype has an original design and will cost almost a fraction of what the regular ventilators cost. Indian Railways’ Rail Coach Factory becomes first PSU to develop prototype of ventilator! The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) situated in Kapurthala, has developed a prototype of a ventilator to be used in the isolation wards or quarantine facilities which Indian Railways is creating in train coaches across the network. According to an IE report, this development is the first such breakthrough by a production unit and RCF came out with the prototype within a week of receiving the instructions from the government to explore the possibility of making ventilators. The prototype has an original de...

Business Standard Dated: April 7 The  United States  has so far repatriated around 1,300 Americans from India but a considerable number of them are developing cold feet in flying back home, a senior US official has said. "About 1,300 American citizens have been brought back as of last night, and we have five additional flights scheduled this week. It's difficult to say with any certainty how many Americans intend or need assistance in repatriating to the US. We have had over 7,000 register with the US embassy and consulate," Alice G Wells, the Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, said during a teleconference here on Monday. While Wells did not give a clear idea of why the rest of the Americans had developed cold feet to return back home, it can be seen in the context of the US emerging as the hot spot of  coronavirus  in the world. ALSO READ:  Coronavirus LIVE: India cases at 4,778, death toll 136, says Worldomete r ...

The Telegraph  Dated : 8 April 2020 By   G.S. Mudur   The Union health ministry on Monday cautioned that its recommendation of the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine as a preventive medication only for healthcare workers and household contacts of Covid-19 patients was based on “limited evidence” and not for the general public. The ministry had last month restricted retail sales of hydroxychloroquine recommended by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for use only by healthcare workers treating Covid-19 patients and contacts of patients. But anecdotal accounts suggest that members of the public have tried to access the drug without prescription or need. “There is limited evidence with respect to the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine,” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the ministry. “However, for healthcare workers who deal with Covid-19 patients or high-risk contacts of Covid-19 patients, even though there is little evidence, we’ve allowed it as a prop...

The Telegraph Dated: April 08, 2020 The Indian aviation sector is likely to suffer losses of $3-3.6 billion in the June quarter with airlines taking the bulk of the hit because of the curbs on air travel, aviation consultancy Capa India said. Domestic traffic is expected to decline from an estimated 140 million in 2019-20 to around 80-90 million in 2020-21, while international traffic is expected to fall from approximately 70 million in 2019-20 to 35-40 million in 2020-21, Capa India said in the report titled “Covid-19 & the state of the Indian aviation industry”. Capa India estimates that Indian airlines will have 200-250 surplus aircraft during the next 6-12 months because of a decline in travel. “Indian carriers will require a domestic fleet of around 300-325 aircraft from October-2020 onwards, and an international fleet of 100-125 aircraft,” the report said. “The total fleet size of 400-450 aircraft would still mean that the current fleet of 650 represents a surpl...