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First post May 07,2020 New Delhi:  The government needs to give a direct push to MSMEs to ramp up the export of consumer goods to reap the benefits of its comparative advantage over products made in China in the post-pandemic world, a report said. India can look in the range of incremental exports growing by $20 billion (in the least favourable outcome) to a significant $193 billion jump in the five-year horizon, only if it builds its capabilities and captures share from China, according to SBI's Ecowrap report released on Thursday. “Although, the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) for India is lower than China as far as capital goods exports are concerned, India can still capitalise on this opportunity to push its capital goods exports. “However, the bigger opportunity right now is in the consumer goods sector, in which India has an RCA greater than China,” said the report. Looking at the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) profile of the country in terms o...

First Post May 07,2020 Mumbai:  The domestic aviation industry, which has been severely hit by the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent lockdown, is expected to crash-land this fiscal with a massive revenue loss of Rs 24,000-25,000 crore, a CRISIL report said on Thursday. Airlines will be the worst-affected segment, contributing more than 70 percent to the losses (around Rs 17,000 crore), said Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, Director and Practice Leader, Transport and Logistics, CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory, during a webinar. Airport operators are likely to suffer losses worth Rs 5,000-5,500 crore and airport retailers will see a hit of Rs 1,700-1,800 crore, he noted. CRISIL estimates indicate that the Indian aviation industry will “crash-land this fiscal”, witnessing a revenue losses worth Rs 24,000-25,000 crore. That would reverse the growth trend of around 11 percent per annum, which the industry has logged over the past ten years, making it one of the most ...

India Today May 07,2020 Industrialist and Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has bought 50 per cent stake in a unique pharmacy chain promoted by a Mumbai teen. Tata has picked up the stake in ‘Generic Aadhar’, which is promoted by 18-year-old Arjun Deshpande, reported Business Today. Generic Aadhar is known to sell medicines at much cheaper rates than the market price. While Deshpande confirmed the deal, he denied disclosing the amount involved in the deal. Deshpande added that Tata had earlier heard the proposal three to four months ago and agreed to invest and mentor him in running the business. "Sir Ratan Tata has invested in Generic Aadhar two days ago for 50 per cent stake and a formal announcement will be made soon," he told the publication. Sources who spoke to BT said Ratan Tata had made the investment at a “personal level” and that it has no links with the Tata Group. It is worth mentioning that Tata has been known for investing in many startups ...

Livemint May 07,2020 Jayshree P. Upadhyay Mumbai:  Franklin Templeton global president Jennifer M. Johnson’s statement on regulatory reasons behind shutting down its six debt schemes in India has not gone down well with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). In a statement late evening on Thursday Sebi said that it has advised Franklin Templeton India to focus on refunding investors' money at the earliest following closure of its six schemes with over  ₹ 25,000 cr in assets It also said that despite being given ample time to bring down investments in unlisted bonds to 10% some fund schemes have chosen to have high concentration risk. "Despite the regulations being clear, some mutual fund schemes seem to have chosen to have high concentrations of high risk, unlisted, opaque, bespoke, structured debt securities with low credit ratings and seem to have chosen not to rebalance their portfolios even during the almost 12 months available to them so far,...

Financial Express  May 08,2020 Tanmay Thomas Recently, India lifted the export ban on 24 pharma ingredients and drugs in a move to alleviate shortages in the countries severely affected by Covid-19. It had imposed an export ban on 26 pharma products and medical devices in March. Despite being a $50 bn industry in 2020, the corona-crisis has highlighted fragilities.  A key reason for the ban was the anticipated supply disruption in API, or bulk drugs. With the non-availability of the critical input and the lack of domestic capability to fill in the demand, the expectation was a fall in production of drug formulations. This underlines the need to examine the issue, and propose a post Covid-19 action plan. Maintaining the high growth trajectory of the pharma industry is a challenge due to the discontinuity in growth drivers. The consumer market is no longer captive, with rising healthcare spending and patient awareness, expanding insurance coverage, and the emer...

India Today May 08,2020 Abhishek Bhalla A phone intercept of one the terrorists trapped during the encounter in which Hizbul Mujahideen chief Riyaz Naikoo was killed on Wednesday hints at a rift between the Hizbul and the newly formed The Resistance Front (TRF) dubbed as a front for Laskar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the Kashmir valley. The trapped terrorist was heard speaking to a person he addresses as Wahid Bhai that they have been cornered and the TRF is responsible for this. “We are stuck in Beighpora, Pulwama... I am injured but Riyaz Bhai is fighting. This the doing of our own people. This new tanzeem (TRF) they are the ones behind this. Stay away from them, they will ruin our Kashmir,” the terrorist is heard in the intercept. Sources say this is a clear indicator that TRF and Hizbul Mujahideen are divided. The terrorist was also heard blaming the new group TRF for hatching a conspiracy that led to them being trapped. Security forces had specific information about Naiko...

The Indian Express Anju Gupta, IPS Officer May 08,2020 Following a coordinated suicide attack on a gurdwara in Kabul on March 25, in which several Sikhs were killed, Daesh (ISIS) claimed its second ever attack on Indian interests in Afghanistan. Identifying the lone attacker as Abu Khalid al Hindi (Muhammad Muhsin from Kerala, who had gone to the Gulf in 2018), ISIS termed it “revenge for Muslims of Kashmir”. Subsequently, Afghan security forces arrested the Amir of Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP, the ISIS branch in Af-Pak) —a Pakistani national, Aslam Farooqui Akhunzada — and others, including Kashmiri militant Aijaz Ahangar, wanted for two decades. ISKP posted a picture and a video of an Afghan officer in their custody, and pictures of his “beheading” on May 4. The Afghan Taliban called Aslam a “stooge” of Afghan forces, but his organic links in the region have been known even before ISIS was born. The chain of events does necessitate closer scrutiny of th...

The Indian Express May 04,2020  Dileep V Kumar| THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In the fight against Covid-19 pandemic, the state is set to take a significant step as it might soon ask people to practise social distancing and wear face masks while inside the home also. A suggestion in this regard has transpired between the state expert committee for Covid-19 and the state government. It is learnt the health department is pondering over the practicality of the suggestion. At present, the state government stipulates social distancing and facemask while venturing out, including at workplaces and social gatherings.  As per sources, it was during a state-level assessment meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that expert committee chairman Dr B Ekbal presented the proposal. It is learnt that the proposal was formulated after considering three possibilities- households becoming a larger transmission unit, some relaxations that came after extending lockdown and ...

Hindustan Times May 07,2020 Three countries and their relations in a post-Coronavirus world will determine which way global trading systems will sway in the future. China is one of them and is fighting with its back to the wall to keep its image untarnished as the other two -- Japan and United States - up the ante. The virus has definitely launched a be-wary-of-China campaign in most countries in Asia, Europe and certainly the United States. President Donald Trump has been succinct in provoking American industry to snap out of the Chinese production chains for American products. Other countries too joined the chorus. Several African countries protested the Chinese cover-up of the virus even as China aggressively pursued its global expansionist programs to Africa. Countries like Turkey cocked a snook by announcing that the antigen test kits imported from China were of inferior quality. It refused to distribute them among its citizens. Spain followed suit followed by the Net...