The Tata group's tryst with mobile services, with either CDMA or GSM technology, did not really fly, forcing it to close operations and write off losses. Now the group is back in the big game, this time straddling the telecom equipment, network and technology space in India as well as the global market. To this end, it is leveraging the opportunities that flow from 5G technology through open radio access network, or O-RAN. Recently, the Tata Sons' subsidiary Panatone Finvest acquired 43.3 per cent in Bengaluru-based telecom equipment manufacturer Tejas Network for Rs 1,850 crore and announced it would buy another 26 per cent of the voting capital through an open offer.
While Covishield supplies would meet the target of 500 mn doses between August and December, it looks like Covaxin would miss the target of 400 mn unless the partner sites of Bharat Biotech ramp up very rapidly, reports Sohini Das.
Discussion has started between blank check companies in the US and Indian PEs on possible deals in certain key sectors.
But no extra risk after second dose, shows study led and funded by drug maker, reports Sohini Das.
The government may look at areas around Thonnakkal, in Thiruvananthapuram district, for the facility. If successful, this would be one of the few sites of Sputnik V owned by Russian firms outside that country. Shine Jacob and Sohini Das report.
'The Centre is planning to procure five million vials of Remdesivir ahead of the third wave. What's better is that this time, the government is paying us in advance,' said a senior executive of a Mumbai-based pharma player which makes Remdesivir. Sohini Das reports.
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance group has struck acquisition deals worth $4.2 billion with a dozen companies in just two years to expand its retail business. The latest purchase was of a majority stake in Justdial for Rs 3,497 crore. Elaborating on his acquisition strategy a few weeks ago during the AGM, Ambani stated that one of the key planks would be to acquire businesses that enhanced Reliance's offerings and experiences to customers and that they would be both physical and digital.
So far, no other vaccine has been approved globally for children below 12 years. Sohini Das reports.
Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) CEO Ravinder Takkar did some plain speaking. In an analyst call after its quarterly results recently, Takkar said that the main stumbling block to raising fresh capital from investors is "pricing" - telecom tariffs, in other words. Nine months ago, the telecom company's board had cleared a proposal for raising Rs 25,000 crore from investors, after the promoters made it clear that they were not ready to pump in more money. But potential investors are concerned that without clarity on tariff hikes (there have been none for more than 18 months) they might just lose their money. The lack of visibility on raising tariffs has also impelled VIL to request the Department of Telecom (DoT) for a fresh reprieve by extending the two-year moratorium on paying its spectrum instalment of Rs 8,200 crore for another year till FY23.
The medical devices, which have been in high demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, will now see a drop in prices, as the earlier margins were up to 709 per cent for some of these products.
SII would be scaling up its AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine manufacturing capacity to 200 million doses a month from 100 million a month now, reports Sohini Das.
Vodafone-Idea (Vi) has said the key hurdle it faces in raising fresh funding, despite interest from investors, is the 'pricing situation' which is also the reason why it has asked the Department of Telecommunica-tions (DoT) for another extension of the moratorium on payment of spectrum instalment by one more year. Responding to a question during an analysts' call on Friday after its quarterly results on the reason for the delay in fund-raising nine months after it was announced, CEO & MD Ravinder Takkar said: "We are in discussions with investors. There is continued interest in investing in the telecom sector in the country. "The biggest hurdle is that the overall industry is under stress because of the pricing situation." He said that once tariffs go up, it will create a significant amount of confidence.
Apple Inc's leading contract manufacturer, Taiwanese giant Wistron, has exceeded its investment obligation in India in just eight months, although the government's production-linked investment (PLI) scheme allowed it to complete the investment in four years. Between August 2020 and end March 2021, Wistron made an investment of Rs 1255 crore - 25 per cent more than the total investment it had committed to the government. Under the PLI scheme for mobile devices, the government had stipulated that each of the five participating global companies needed to invest Rs 250 crore every year for the first four years, totalling Rs 1,000 crore.
Three entities are at the centre of this controversy: The Brazilian government, Bharat Biotech and a Singapore-based company called Madison Biotech.
However, before the Moderna and Pfizer messenger ribonucleic acid (or mRNA) vaccines come to India via this route, the legalities around the indemnity clause will have to be settled, reports Sohini Das.
A June 11 survey by cLocalCircles across 299 districts puts overall vaccine hesitancy levels at 18 per cent, with 11 per cent of the respondents saying they were not convinced if the currently available vaccines would protect them against the new strains; and 5 per cent said they do not plan to take the vaccine at all.
'I have done enough work for many years.' 'This is a decision that many people at my age need to review.' 'I may become an exit example for people to study.'
By 2022, there is a plan to make an mRNA-technology vaccine, for which it has tied up with Canadian firm Providence Therapeutics.
'The key purpose of vaccination is to prevent hospitalisation, severe disease, and death.' 'All vaccines work equally, although mild disease cannot be prevented.'
We have applied for marketing authorisation to the EMA through AstraZeneca. We will not sell the vaccine in the EU, said a company source.
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