Unlike other health insurance policies, which mostly covers hospitalisation expenses alone, the specialised cover is likely to include the cost of treatment during quarantine and payment of cash for incidental expenses.
With vehicular activity picking pace in May, toll collection also saw a huge uptick. Fastags posted an impressive jump of more above 400 per cent in transaction count at 55.17 million, and an over-300 per cent jump in value at Rs 1,142 crore.
For smaller MFIs, resuming operations is more difficult because they haven't got any fresh bank credit sanctioned from their lenders.
Scores of employees took to social media to express disappointment and said they were asked to resign over WhatsApp calls. On Twitter, some said they had been asked to resign by May 31 and that there was no severance package and salary would be paid only for May.
In HDFC Life, the company has to pare 1.43 per cent, and in HDFC Ergo, it has to pare only 0.58 per cent.
The rights issue price has been set at Rs 1,257 a share, a discount of nearly 14 per cent to the last closing price of Rs 1,459. The company had set May 14 as the record date for the rights issue, which meant shareholders as on that day would be eligible to apply. Shareholders will be able to apply for one share for every 15 shares held.
Such cold-shoulder by banks also indicates a credit freeze that is hard to overcome, unless the government comes out with credit guarantee schemes for loans given by banks. Since that is not happening, and there is no indication of that too, banks are not willing to listen to RBI prodding.
Though NCLT has extended window to find a buyer, bankers don't see much hope of a deal.
The rise in premiums could be in the range of 5-25 per cent, depending on the features that each insurance company adds on its products. Insurance firms have been given time till September 30 to include modifications mandated by the regulator.
Cost of the diagnostic test for Covid-19 has been fixed at Rs 4,500 per test by the government. Hospitals, however, do not think this is feasible.
Payments can be made till April 21; for motor the relaxation is only for third-party insurance.
'Unless it becomes really a big epidemic in India where a huge number of people are getting sick and lakhs of people dying, I do not see a major impact on the insurance sector.'
The bulk of the erosion in terms of value took place in India's most-valued firms. For instance, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries alone has lost Rs 3.8 trillion in m-cap, followed by HDFC Bank, which has seen its value erode by Rs 2.45 trillion and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which has lost Rs 1.85 trillion to stand at Rs 6.24 trillion, making it India's most-valued.
'The only thing that is safe right now are government securities.'
This is an exceptional case of extension beyond the 330-day limit under the insolvency and bankruptcy code.
Foreign brokerages said if SBI decide to buy stake in the bank, they should buy it at Rs 1 per share as the net worth is hugely impaired.
Market players said NBFCs and HNIs are recalibrating their plans based on the changing dynamics.
Bank credit growth declined to 8.5 per cent in January from 13.5 per cent in the year-ago period.
Both indices are down nearly 9 per cent from their all-time highs in mid-January. A sharp reversal seems difficult this time as the peak impact of the virus is yet to play out.
The answer to that depends on whether the globe is able to contain the virus spread, says Samie Modak.
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