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Political leaders hailed India's doctors on the occasion of National Doctors' Day today. Politicians across the spectrum sent their greetings to all members of the medical fraternity for rendering a great service to the nation.The National Doctors' Day is observed on July 1 every year to commemorate the life and times of legendary doctor and former West Bengal CM Bidhan Chandra Roy, whose birth and death anniversaries both fall on this day. Dr Roy was born on July 1, 1882, and died on July 1, 1962.The day is celebrated all over the country to honour the contributions of the doctors. The first National Doctor's day was observed in 1991.On the occasion, PM Modi also sent his greetings to the medical fraternity.India has made big strides in the field of medicine and has contributed to making the planet healthier, Modi said."We are all grateful for the contribution of doctors in the Corona period. Our doctors have served us without caring about their lives. Therefore, ...

Barring the probability of a Third Covid Wave, as the economy unlocks, markets will trend upwards, says Chakri Lokapriya, CIO & MD, TCG AMC. June was all about reopening trade. Do you think July could be all about reality check?Other than the routine profit-booking type of corrections, this market is headed upwards supported by strong economic activity including opening up of the export markets. It is not just the stock markets. If you look at the employment generation in the US, there is a phenomenal rise in salaries and employers are competing for jobseekers. Secondly, look at their infrastructure plan and the demand for all kinds of commodities including metals. Therefore job creation will work well for India for all the metals, chemicals and export-oriented companies. Thirdly, there is the India centric story. Barring the probability of a Third Covid Wave, as the economy unlocks, markets will trend upwards. Why are HDFC group companies underperforming? HDFC Bank is underperform...

Today, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) celebrates its official centenary. Official because there is some evidence to indicate that July 1 was “picked” as the date of the Party’s founding in 1941, 20 years after the fact.Internal party documents indicate that the handful of men who gathered in Shanghai in 1921 to establish the CCP met instead from July 23 to 31. We also know that other gatherings had taken place in several cities during the second half of 1920.From such muddled beginnings, the CCP has grown to become the second largest party in the world. Its nearly 92 million members are only dwarfed by the BJP’s claimed figure of 180 million. But unlike in the case of the BJP, recruitment into the CCP is an extremely competitive process. In 2014, only 2 million out of 22 million hopefuls were accepted (by contrast, the BJP’s massive recruitment drive in 2019 netted 70 million new members – so we are told).And since 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was founded, the CCP and t...

The Delta variant may have been responsible for nearly all Covid infections in Madhya Pradesh in June. That's the indication from a genome sequencing report where every sample sent from MP last month was found to have been Delta - the mutation causing worldwide concern now.Delta's share in tested samples from MP rose from 57% in April to 69% in May and a whopping 100% in June, shows the report from National Centre of Disease Control (NCDC).The Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) was predominant in MP till March. But since then, Delta has been the biggest factor behind the spike in Covid infections in Madhya Pradesh. Of the 1,332 reports MP has received from NCDC, 458 (34%) were found to be Delta, the report said."Delta is the predominant variant in the state for the last three months and Delta-plus has been detected in only eight cases in MP," health commissioner Akash Tripathi said."We have sent around 2,000 samples to NCDC from the state so far for genome sequencing, based...

As Goods & Services Tax completes four years of its implementation, the words of our former Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, in the Parliament’s Central Hall on the midnight of 30 June 2017 still reverberates afresh in our ears “The goods and service tax may be a destination tax, but for India it will begin an altogether new journey…”. Indeed, for India, a completely new journey commenced on July 1, 2017 with goods and services tax, being touted as one of the biggest economic reforms of independent India, which set sail in the country after a decade of deliberations. The voyage of four years has been a roller-coaster ride for all stakeholders with equitable share of hits, misses and expectations.Besides removing the cascading effect of taxation, one of the biggest hits in the journey of GST has been the pursuit towards achieving an automated indirect tax ecosystem. From electronic compliances, generation of e-invoices to tracking movement of goods through e-waybill, everything is so...

Whether it is currency markets, bond markets or equities, it is very rangy at the moment. There is a lot of money out there but opposing forces are neutralising each other and nothing is really going anywhere, says Robert Carnell, Regional Head of Research, Asia-Pacific, ING. How are you looking at the global liquidity situation? Some surveys seem to suggest that money managers globally are reducing their positions as far as emerging markets are concerned. How is the liquidity moving in your view?There are different definitions of liquidity. It is important to spell those out clearly. The main market liquidity measures are sort of a benchmark of what is happening to risk sentiment, but in terms of financial liquidity there are pots of money floating around looking for a home. The overnight balance with the Fed on its reverse repos is getting close to $800 billion and therefore practically no money at all every single day. There is a lot of cash floating around but there is also a lot o...

It won't be wrong to say that low-cost index funds are slowly making their place in the Indian mutual fund space. In the last two years, passive investing has gained ground in India and many big mutual fund houses have launched various types of index funds and ETFs. The newest entrant to the space is Flipkart Owner, Sachin Bansal's Navi Mutual Fund. Navi MF has launched India's lowest costing index fund with an expense ratio of 0.06%. This has started a debate of sorts in the mutual fund market. Should investors be lured towards such low costs? Navi MF's lowest costing index fund comes at a time when many other mutual fund houses have increased the expense ratios in passive funds to double in some cases. The lowest in terms of cost after Navi MF are the Nifty funds operated by ICICI Prudential MF and Motilal Oswal MF. Both these funds charge 0.1% as the expense ratio. "Cost considerations are important in investing, but shouldn’t be the only or primary driver of in...

Acquiring land to set up data centres near the upcoming international airport at Jewar has become cheaper with the local authorities adopting the Uttar Pradesh government’s data centre policy.Noida, Greater Noida and the Yamuna ExpresswayAuthority hold land banks near the upcoming airport.. According to the policy, any company investing over Rs 200 crore in data centres will be eligible for relaxation in stamp duty, electricity charges and building by-laws. “UP has emerged as a data centre hub not only of NCR but of India,” said Vibhor Jain, managing director-north India at Cushman & Wakefield. “We have recently seen 4-5 transactions and many others are in talks. Favourable policy by the UP government has helped companies to consider Noida as a preferred destination for data centres and with airport and many infrastructure projects in the pipeline, we will see more companies signing deals.” The state government aims to attract Rs 20,000 crore of investment and establish three data ...

If a Hindu male dies without a will then his assets are passed on to his Class I heirs like his mother, wife, son, daughter and so on (father is not an immediate Class I legal heir). However, this is not the case if a Hindu woman dies intestate. If a Hindu woman dies without a will then, who her class-I heirs are, depends on whether she has children. And just like the father is not an immediate legal heir of a Hindu male, there is a scenario where the husband of a Hindu woman who has died intestate will not be the legal heir to certain properties of the deceased woman.Here is how the property of a deceased Hindu woman will be divided in the absence of a will. If a married Hindu woman has no childrenIf a married Hindu woman does not have children, then the devolution of her property after her death will depend on how the properties and other assets were acquired by her. Usually, a woman can acquire property by these routes: Acquire it herself (also known as self-acquired property) Acqui...

Credit risk funds are currently sitting on top of the performance chart of debt funds. Yes, the same ill-behaved bunch that was floundering at the bottom of the chart a year ago. These have clocked a healthy 9% average returns over past one year in sharp contrast to the miserable –3.7% yielded back then. Does this stellar show mark a turnaround in the much-derided category?The travails of credit risk funds in recent years are well known. A string of issuer defaults and downgrades sunk several funds that consciously took higher exposure to lower quality issuers. The hunt for higher yields backfired badly as credit events surfaced one after the other. The funds took sharp NAV hits, wiping out multiple years’ worth of returns in many cases. These funds were largely responsible for giving birth to the concept of segregated portfolios—also known as side-pocketing—in India. This refers to the carving out of bad assets from the cleaner portfolio into a separate fund in order to ring-fence the...

The Rs 3.03-lakh-crore scheme is equally important for all the stakeholders across the power sector and not just the distribution segment. It is positive for stakeholders in the generation as well as the transmission space, says Sandeep Upadhyay, MD & CEO, Centrum Infrastructure Advisory. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on June 30, approved a reform-based result-linked power distribution scheme worth Rs 3.03 lakh crore that has been in the works for five years. This was pretty much on expected lines. What is your view?Yes this particular scheme was long awaited and from a timing perspective could have come earlier but is certainly a welcome move. It is equally important for all the stakeholders across the power sector and not just the distribution segment. It is positive for stakeholders in the generation as well as the transmission space. The other point that the government has made is that they are not shying off from taking some of these decisions which in spite...

Among power stocks, we like NTPC and Tata Power. Both these companies are focussing on renewable energy which does give them a leg up, going forward. In auto, we like M&M and Ashok Leyland among tractor stocks and Motherson Sumi and Bharat Forge among the ancillaries, says Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Group Chairman, Inditrade Capital. The two stories in the market are power and speciality chemicals. What do you sense is happening in the power sector?A couple of things. One, a lot of expectation is building around some policy announcement by the government focussed on the distribution. This is one sector which the government has been trying to handle for quite some time. Remember the UDAY Scheme? I do not think it was a complete success but the distribution related problems need to be resolved for healthy growth of the power sector. Some measures are eagerly awaited and we will have to see how that would streamline the distribution business which has been a major problem area for the power...

Mumbai: Option traders have baked in an over 2% movement eitherside in the Bank Nifty over the next few sessions, going by the provisional value of a 35,000 strike straddle — call and put option — expiring on July 8. With weekly expiry slated for Thursday, traders have purchased a July 8 expiry call and put option at the 35,000 strike for a provisional Rs 775 a share (25 shares make one Bank Nifty contract) . The value implies that Bank Nifty has to break out of a 34,225-35,775 range by the end of July 8 for them to make money. The strategy also indicates that while the traders are neutral on the direction, they expect an increase in choppiness or volatility and larger moves eitherside. 84000331The Bank Nifty has lagged the Nifty, which has surpassed its February 16 high of 15,431.75. The Bank Nifty trades below its February 16 record high of 37,708.75, having closed at 34,772.2 on June 30. "Low implied volatility has made option prices cheap and this is being exploited by traders...

Mumbai: July is shaping up to be one of the busiest months for initial public offerings (IPOs) as the winning run in the primary market continues with investors making quick gains on recent listings. After five in June, eleven more companies, including Zomato, Clean Science & Technology, Glenmark Life Sciences, Krsnaa Diagnostics, GR Infra and Shriram Properties, are planning to launch IPOs in July to raise nearly ₹18,000 crore, according to investment bankers with knowledge of the matter.The ₹8,250 crore IPO by Zomato, the biggest offer since SBI Cards & Payments Services in March 2010, is expected to hit the primary market this month, according to the people cited above. The online food delivery and restaurant discovery platform is looking to raise ₹7,500 crore through a fresh issue of equity shares, they said. An offer for sale by Info Edge will raise ₹750 crore. 84007050Roadshows OnThe parent company of Naukri.com owns about 18.5% of Zomato and will sell shares worth $100 m...

After the deadly Covid-19 second wave, vaccine availability, socio-economic fallout, impact on railways and medium and small industries, unemployment in unorganised sector and overall impact of the pandemic have come under parliamentary scrutiny. Parliamentary standing committees, led by Opposition MPs, have added new subjects for examination by the panels which would bring under scrutiny various aspects of the second wave, which had overwhelmed India in April and May. As parliamentary standing committees resume meetings after a gap of two months, various aspects of government’s Covid-19 management during the second wave and overall impact would be minutely examined. Almost all parliamentary committees, headed by Opposition members, have added these politically potent subjects.Parliamentary committee on home affairs, headed by Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma, would examine the socio-economic fallout of the second wave. According to sources, the panel would study job loss, migrati...

The Centre has notified the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) as another laboratory to approve Covid-19 vaccine batches. So far, only Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL), Kasauli, had been approving the vaccine batches.The Centre has notified the Pune-based laboratory as another facility to approve Covid-19 vaccines to ensure its smooth availability for the on-going public immunisation drive. As per norms, every batch of vaccine manufactured by a company has to be tested by CDL and passed. This quality testing is compulsory to ensure that all vaccine batches adhere to the composition passed by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). 84000166With the government adding more vaccines, there is an unprecedented pressure on CDL, which has traditionally received 7,000 batches of immunobiologicals per year for testing or pre-release certification. CDL has already crossed this limit since the rollout of the Covid-19 immunisation drive on January 16. So far, it has already pas...

CJI NV Ramana on Wednesday suggested a debate on the impact of the social media noise on institutions such as the judiciary as such noise may not necessarily be reflective of what is right but may put the institution under a lot of stress and pressure.The CJI said the judiciary must be completely free of all pressures if it was to act as a check on governmental power. The judiciary cannot be controlled directly or indirectly by the legislature or the executive or else the rule of law would become illusory, he said.Judges, he said, cannot be swayed by the emotional pitch of public opinion which gets amplified by social media platforms. “Judges have to be mindful of the fact that the noise thus amplified is not necessarily reflective of what is right or what the majority believes in,” he said.“The new media tools that have enormous amplifying ability are incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong, good and bad, and the real and fake. Therefore, media trials cannot be a guiding f...

The US Federal Reserve may just have pulled the exuberance of global financial markets down a notch in its monetary policy statement on June 16. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) shed a hefty 3% of its value between June 16 and 18. The rupee moved a good 80 paise down against the dollar and analysts point to more depreciation. (There has been a subsequent pullback in the markets. But whether this is merely a ‘correction’ or a resumption of the financial markets’ northward march remains to be seen.)What spooked the markets? The powerful Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) that decides things like interest rate levels and the amount of cash that the Fed prints did not do anything dramatic. The policy interest rate was kept at zero, and the massive cash infusion programme ($120 billion a month) was left untrimmed. The financial markets took their cues, instead, from the change in the projections that the 18 members of the committee pencilled in.Growth Good, at This Rate Thirteen of...

Senior advocate K K Venugopal was on Wednesday reappointed as the Attorney General of India for one year, a law ministry notification said. The attorney general usually has a tenure of three years. When Venugopal's first term as AG was to end last year, he had requested the government to give him a one-year tenure keeping in mind his advanced age. He is 90. This time, too, Venugopal has been reappointed for one year. "The President is pleased to reappoint Shri K K Venugopal, Senior Advocate as Attorney General for India for a period of one year with effect from July 1, 2021," the notification issued by the Department of Legal Affairs under the law ministry read. Keeping in mind the high-profile cases Venugopal is handling in the Supreme Court and his experience at the Bar, the government decided to extend his tenure for one more year, sources had said on Monday. Venugopal's current tenure ended on Wednesday. He first took over as the attorney general, the top law offi...

Twenty years ago, on a trip to Shanghai, we visited the Xintiandi area of Shanghai. Amid chic boutiques and trendy restaurants stood the grey building where, in July 1921, 13 members met to start the Communist Party of China (CPC). It has come a long way since then. CPC now boasts 91.9 million members, making it the second-largest political party in the world, behind BJP. Xintiandi is a vivid reflection of a rising China — modernity rooted in tradition.As China begins the centenary celebrations of the CPC tomorrow, the world is ambivalent towards China, the new geopolitical gorilla, an exciting business destination and a human rights nightmare. The predominant lesson one learns from China as a businessman is scale. In the old days, the large unified market of the US gave its companies an edge over fragmented Europe. The same is happening with China today.Among the world’s 500 largest companies, 124 are Chinese, excluding Taiwan. Notably, last year, there were more Chinese companies tha...

In the US, a war appears to have commenced in earnest against big tech. Concerned that opaque processes and unconstrained financial muscle will lead to absolute dominance in ecommerce, entertainment and information dissemination, lawmakers are trying to overhaul old antitrust laws to curb the power of these corporations.Rather than enact privacy regulation that will allow them to redesign and recalibrate their technologies to achieve a new modus operandi, US Congress is attempting to break them up and diminish their power. Facebook, Google and Twitter are justifiably concerned.India is a different story. The antics of Twitter — two of whose recent acts have included denying an Indian minister access to his account for an hour because of a US copyright violation, and redrawing the map of India to deny Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, for which the hapless Indian head of Twitter has been charged in a court of law — seem like direct provocations.And, by appointing a non-resident American, Jerem...

What is the context?Included in proposed amendments of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, is the provision that on the complaint of any member of the public, the government can recall an already certified film to re-examine it and if it, unfortunately, agrees with the member of the public, a new process of certification shall start.Why is this not necessary?A few months back, the tribunal court in the film certification process was abolished. The reason given was that if a filmmaker is not satisfied with the certification board or a revision committee’s decision, they can challenge the verdict in courts. Why can’t the same reason be applied to the supposedly aggrieved member of the public who has problems with a film? Why is the autonomy of the board of film certification being diluted? What’s the purpose or motive behind? Why is the certification board enough?Let’s understand the formation of the film certification board. The board’s members are eminent people from various sections of socie...

With ADNOC as a partner, Reliance is well placed among the giants in the global market where feedstock and marketing both can be synergised. It is not only for the Middle East and West African market; Reliance may tap into other Asian or European markets as well, says Sushil Choksey, MD, Indus Equity Advisors. Reliance Industries has announced a mega petchem JV with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). We understand that Reliance Industries is likely to pump in close to $1.5 billion in the JV to start with. How are you looking at this overall bolstering of petchem plans?This is very positive news from Reliance’s perspective. The company is energising itself from a domestic front to an international location which is very strategic in terms of the power cost, the fuel cost, and the fuel mix and with a right partner at the right location. Investment of $1.5 billion is one part of it but they are setting up a capacity which would provide chlor-alkali, ethylene dichloride and PVC at a c...

Actress and TV presenter Mandira Bedi's film-maker Raj Kaushal passed away early on Wednesday morning following a heart attack. He was in his 50s.Actor Rohit Roy confirmed the news to news agency PTI saying, "He passed away today morning, at around 4.30 am at his home. He had a heart attack." Kaushal had directed films like 'Shaadi Ka Laddoo' and 'Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi'. He also produced film-maker Onir's 2005 acclaimed drama 'My Brother… Nikhil', starring Sanjay Suri and Juhi Chawla.Onir paid tribute to the film-maker on Twitter, saying, "Gone too soon. We lost film maker and producer @rajkaushal1 this morning. Very Sad. He was one of the producers of my first film #MyBrotherNikhil."One of those few who believed in our vision and supported us. Prayers for his soul," he tweeted.Gone too soon. We lost Film maker and Producer @rajkaushal1 this morning. Very Sad. He was one of the producers of… https://t.co/5O4k4wcAoT— অনির Onir او...

In 1957, the Hindustan Ambassador rolled off the lines, making it the first car to be manufactured in India. It was based on the Morris Oxford from the UK, and carried with it a strong, muscular presence. Sixty-five years later, the Indian automobile industry after several evolutions is at the threshold of the future of mobility - electric vehicles.Almost all car manufacturing companies in India have announced their plans for electric vehicle foray. Some have launched electric versions of some of their popular brands with fairly good market acceptance. I believe that India is currently at the gateway of an EV revolution.Recent reports highlight that the global sales of EVs in 2020 increased by 39% year on year to 3.1 million units, but the total passenger car market declined by 14%. A Centre for Energy and Finance report says that India’s 2030 vision of e-mobility translates into 102 million EVs. The market is witnessing a robust growth, expected to touch over 63 lakh units annually by...

The novel coronavirus pandemic has taught us the importance of having funds at one's disposal to tackle a medical emergency. With Covid-19 we have seen that costs can shoot up sharply not just during the treatment of the infection, but medical expenses can be high for treating post-Covid complications as well. Many think that having a health insurance policy can come to their rescue during such medical emergencies. However, with medical costs being sky-high, in many cases health insurance will not be enough and such people will be left running pillar to post trying to arrange for funds. To prevent this sort of a situation, here is a look at emergency funding options over and above a health insurance cover. Health insurance not a silver bulletWhile a health insurance cover can help to a large extent in many cases, however there are various scenarios when you would need to spend a good amount of money from your own pocket."The final claim amount settled by a health insurance com...

One of the ugliest fallouts of a divorce is the trauma that the children are forced to go through. Child custody often proves to be a major bone of contention between the sparring couple. In case of a minor child, both the parents have an equal right over the child after divorce. If there is no mutual consent, the family courts decide who gets to keep the child and take major life decisions for him or her. How does the court take this decision and who, if at all, gets the preference in keeping the child?1. Factors considered by courtThe family court takes a decision on child custody as per the Guardians and Wards Act 1890, but these can often be in conflict with the personal laws. Hence, to maintain a balance, the court always puts the best interests and welfare of the child above those of the parents. This implies that the child should be with the parent who can guarantee safe and ethical upbringing, provide good education and ensure his financial interests.The Hindu laws regarding th...