While there has been no commitment from the government on the procurement of vaccines, initial volumes, or distribution plans, there is a likelihood that the low interest loans may be made available to these players only when the time to scale up manufacturing arises.
Though growth in China is unlikely to slow down soon, India should prepare to take advantage of a shifting of gears there.
When was the last time we heard this government speaking of the disaster in primary education, rather than Ganga cruises and cheetahs? Less money -- Rs 88,000 crore -- was spent by the Union government on education in its last Budget than has been allocated to the Bullet train, notes Aakar Patel.
'The Indian economy and the Indian financial sector today remain resilient and much better placed.'
'Our great Indian nationalists are rousing passions against their own people, not against another nation. Our fraud nationalists go after their own citizens for their religion, or for their views. Their concern and their passion is the enemy within. That is not love of nation or love of anything else. It is hatred and it is bitterness,' says Aakar Patel.
Govt must take few steps to improve business environment.
Backed by the China-plus-one policy, India's textile and apparel exports have seen a 53 per cent growth during the April-November period of the current fiscal year at around $26 billion. This compares to the figure of $17 billion during the same period in FY21. According to Wazir Textile Index, all major companies including Welspun, Vardhman, Trident, KPR Mills, Indo Count, RSWM, Filatex, Nahar Spg and Indorama have posted higher sales during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the pre-pandemic year.
'We are only amplifying the voice of scientists and experts. We are gathering information by talking to experts and are sharing it. If the government chooses to ignore that, what can we do?'
The famous Arya Vaidya Sala Kottakkal (AVS), started essentially as a village clinic a century ago at Kottakkal in Malappuram district, flourished under him as a multi-unit, multi-disciplinary, multi-functional and multi-crore organisation.
The group has called for a retaliatory tariff action against India, if New Delhi does not roll back the 'unilateral and discriminatory' equalisation levy or Google Tax.
A year's print run has been shortened to 5 months.
'India's future: To manufacture so efficiently that we do not need protection,' says Naushad Forbes.
Whistle-blower Dinesh Thakur will speak on Made-in-India drugs at an event in Washington.
IMF's Chief Economist Gita Gopinath will leave her job in January next year and return to the prestigious Harvard University, according to the global financial institution.
The CBI today registered three FIRs and a preliminary enquiry to probe alleged irregularities in Indian Airlines-Air India merger and purchase of 111 aircraft, leasing of planes and giving up of profit-making routes by Air India, causing a loss of thousands of crore of rupees.
But it is less adventurous. It seems, at last, that in its eighth decade, Pakistan has settled into being a parliamentary democracy just like Bangladesh has and like we have always been, observes Aakar Patel.
The agrarian crisis must be met with similarly speedy responses.
IT, FMCG and manufacturing sectors are less attractive to foreign portfolio investors
What is foreign policy worth if it stands disconnected from domestic realities? Make no mistake, the horrifying visuals of the human suffering in metropolitan India is only the tip of the iceberg. The vast swathes of the hinterland are heaving with untold sorrows, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Whoever owns the best chip industry will be the Saudi Arabia of the era of data,' predicts Rajeev Srinivasan.
'An armed helicopter equipped with counter-drone systems will provide the airborne counter-drone capability and flexibility needed to protect India's critical assets.'
Five years after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar imposed total prohibition in Bihar, the liquor mafia continues to thrive, reports MI Khan.
The former McKinsey India head is presently on board of many big Indian conglomerates.
Few people know Ratan Tata as well as R K Krishna Kumar does. Widely perceived to be among the managers closest to Tata, Krishna Kumar assesses Ratan Tata, the man and business leader, in this exclusive interview to Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
'Science and technology keep moving ahead and so you can keep making investment.'
The need for the body bags and the caskets was felt for the first time during the Kargil conflict.
'Instead of doing reforms and restructuring, the present government is busy with the perception that everything is fine and the economy is hunky-dory.' 'Such hollow perceptions are very dangerous for the Indian economy in the long run.' 'The real risk to India is the lack of decent employment opportunities for youth in general and educated youth in particular.'
'EV-charging is the next big opportunity after fuelling'
SEZs account for just about a third of India's merchandise exports (and roughly the same proportion of services exports). Yet, the notion of creating global manufacturing centres of the kind that propelled China to superpowerdom retains a durable appeal within the Indian policy-making establishment, notes Kanika Datta.
Recent defaults have made a section of traders contemplate moving towards promissory notes.
The poll watchdog faces two Heruclean tasks -- to produce over a million VVPATs in time for the 2019 elections and also iron out manufacturing tweaks in the machines which are already in use.
Weeks after the second wave peaked in many parts of the country, we are rapidly forgetting what happened to our hospitals, cautions Mihir S Sharma.
Besides low interest rates, a reduction in active Covid cases and strong high-frequency macro data have lifted the sentiment of both corporate India and the stock markets.
To address the supply crunch, CII has suggested leveraging the existing excess capacity in the Indian industry; rolling back import duty hike to look for alternative sources of imports; expanding credit to manufacturing units with quick loan sanctions, and one-time emergency waiver of non-performing asset regulations for three months.
Till date, 107 elections to states and three parliamentary polls have been smoothly conducted using the EVMs.
While there is a shortage of testing kits, manpower and capacities, India does not have other scalable testing options.
'The prioritisation of groups for COVID-19 vaccine shall be based on two key considerations -- occupational hazard and risk of exposure to infection, and the risk of developing severe disease and increased mortality'
India's new policy commission has received a makeover and a dream team has been formed to head the Think Tank, NITI Aayog.
Energy's exit is a cautionary tale for several foreign investors in India as close to 16 Gw of solar and wind power projects languish without any power purchase agreement, 24 Gw without transmission connectivity and around 2 Gw unilaterally cancelled by project developers.
A year marked by more lows than highs for Hindi cinema, here's a recap of the best and worst in 2021.
