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The Himalayan Mail 8 JAMMU Q SATURDAY Q MAY 08, 2021 NEWS NEW DELHI, MAY 07: To ensure smooth supply of remdesivir used in the treat- ment of COVID-19 across the country, the allocation of the antiviral drug to the states and union territories has been made up to May 16, Union Chemicals and Fer- tilisers Minister Sadananda Gowda said on Friday. The production capacity of remdesivir has been in- creased to 1.03 crore vials per month, up from 38 lakh vials per month earlier, the minis- ter had said on Tuesday. "Considering the require- ment of Remdesivir in every state and ensuring its ade- quate availability, allocation of #Remdesivir has been made upto 16th May 2021. This will ensure smooth sup- ply of Remdesivir across country so that no patient face difficulty in this #pan- demic time," Gowda said in a tweet. The minister also enclosed a letter by Department of Pharma Joint Secretary Navdeep Rinwa and Min- istry of Health & Family Wel- fare Director Rajiv Wad- hawan, giving details of the updated allocation plan valid for the period April 21 to May 16 being made for states/UTs. The allotment is being made for the states/UTs and it is the state governments and UTs that have to moni- tor proper distribution, cov- ering government and pri- vate hospitals as appropriate and in line with judicious use, the letter said. "State governments/UTs are advised to place adequate purchase orders with the marketing companies imme- diately, if they have not al- ready done so, for the quan- tity that they want to purchase out of the alloca- tion for the state/UT as per supply plan in close coordi- nation with the liaison offi- cers of the companies," it added. The coordination with pri- vate distribution channels in the state could also be made, the letter said. "The nodal officers of the state governments have to coordinate and follow up with the marketing compa- nies to get delivery of remde- sivir injection in time as per the daily requirements", the letter written to additional chief secretary/ principal secretary and secretary health of all states/UTs said. Demand for remdesivir has gone up manifold in the country amid a massive spike in COVID infections. The government has al- ready waived customs duty on Remdesivir, its raw mate- rials and other components used to make the antiviral drug in order to help aug- ment domestic availability and reduce the cost of the in- jection. On April 11, in view of in- creased demand for remde- sivir, the Centre banned the export of the injection and its APIs till the situation im- proves. Covid-19: Allocation of remdesivir made up to May 16, says Sadananda Gowda NEW DELHI, MAY 07: Amazon.com Inc. is pausing plans for its annual sale Prime Day in Canada and In- dia due to concerns about Covid-19, the company con- firmed on Thursday. The pause won’t affect Prime Day in the U.S., which is sched- uled for an undisclosed day in June, according to an email reviewed by Bloomberg. “Based on the increasing impact of Covid-19 in Canada, and the importance we place on protecting the health and safety of our em- ployees and customers, we will pause plans for Prime Day 2021 in Canada,” said the email, sent to Amazon sellers Thursday. The Seat- tle-based company, in an email, confirmed Prime Day would also be postponed in India, which was reported earlier by CNBC. Covid-19 cases have risen in Canada in recent months amid a slower-than-ex- pected rollout of vaccina- tions. Less than 3% of the population is fully vacci- nated, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, and Ontario, the largest province, has been under an emergency stay-at-home or- der for weeks. India, which is suffering severe shortages of medical equipment, on Thursday re- ported 412,262 new virus cases and 3,980 deaths, both daily records. Amazon had to postpone its annual sale worldwide last year due to the pandemic. The event is a way to drum up sales during the summer and attract and retain new Prime subscribers, who pay monthly or annual fees for delivery discounts and other services like video streaming. Amazon postpones Prime Day sale in Canada, India due to Covid-19 BENGALURU, MAY 07: E-commerce firm Flip- kart has extended various initiatives to hundreds and thousands of MSMEs (mi- cro, small and medium en- terprises), small-scale sell- ers, artisans, weavers and handicraft partners. They are helping them tide through challenges in the current sce- nario. These fresh efforts range from financial benefits, health and safety benefits. They support existing seller policies all the way through working capital and insights provided to sellers on the platform. “Through these testing times it is our con- stant effort to support our seller partners who face im- mense operational chal- lenges as a result of the pan- demic,” said Jagjeet Harode, senior director and head- marketplace, Flipkart. “As a democratic marketplace, we want to ensure that our lakhs of seller partners are able to continue operations and keep the economic engine running. With them and their family’s financial and health safety in mind, we have rolled out these initia- tives that will bring them the much-needed respite to keep their businesses active.” Under fee waivers, Flip- kart has exempted the stor- age fees to curb the impact that any seller may have on their inventory that is ful- filled through Flipkart’s ful- filment centres. The com- pany is also waiving off the cancellation fee till May 31, 2021, for orders that may have been cancelled due to lockdowns in various states. Prioritising the health and safety of all, Flipkart will bear 100 per cent premium of Covid insurance extended to all sellers, which covers their hospitalisation and consul- tation between Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh. In light of the current situa- tion, the company has fur- ther updated its existing poli- cies to safeguard 3,00,000 sellers and their businesses. Flipkart has extended the window for the Seller Protec- tion Fund (SPF) within which sellers have to claim SPF on returned products - from the regular 14 days to now 30 days. The company will further ease the policies and performance metrics for its sellers to ensure that their business growth is not im- pacted by state-led lock- downs. In order to further as- sist sellers with their operational and other capa- bilities, the company is pro- viding easier access to work- ing capital. Under this, all sellers impacted by pan- demic related disruptions will have an option of early settlement (next-day pay- ment) without any incre- mental cost. Transaction fee for the same will be borne by Flipkart. In addition to these efforts, Vriddhi-–Walmart's Sup- plier Development Program in India, in partnership with Flipkart-–has been organis- ing webinars for small busi- nesses. The aim is to dissem- inate knowledge and share best practices to ensure the safety of their workforce and provide relevant demand in- sights to help them stay op- erational through this sec- ond wave. The Vriddhi program is opening e-Insti- tutes across India to help train MSMEs to scale and enter global supply chains. During these challenging times, Vriddhi is providing small businesses with tele- care and counselling support in addition to information modules on insurance awareness and digital mar- keting to ensure business continuity. Flipkart to pay 100 pc premium towards Covid-19 insurance for all its sellers NEW DELHI, MAY 07: Homegrown FMCG major Dabur India Ltd on Friday reported an increase of 33.98 per cent in consolidated net profit at Rs 377.29 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2021. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 281.60 crore in the January-March quar- ter a year ago, Dabur India said in a BSE filing. Its revenue from opera- tions during January-March 2021 jumped 25.27 per cent to Rs 2,336.79 crore, com- pared with Rs 1,865.36 crore in the year-ago period. Dabur India CEO Mohit Malhotra said that in a chal- lenging market environ- ment, Dabur has delivered another consecutive quarter of double-digits and sales growth. "Dabur's financial situa- tion remains strong with a 25.6 per cent growth in our operating profit during the fourth quarter of 2020-21. "Our India FMCG busi- ness led the growth with a 28.3 per cent surge, with an underlying best-ever FMCG volume growth of 25.4 per cent during the fourth quar- ter of 2020-21," said Malho- tra. Dabur's revenue from the consumer care business seg- ment was up 26.36 per cent to Rs 2,009.63 crore as against Rs 1,590.38 crore in the year-ago period. Revenue from food busi- ness was up 24.93 per cent to Rs 274.14 crore as compared with Rs 219.44 crore in the year-ago period. However, its retail busi- ness was down 18.2 per cent to Rs 23.13 crore from Rs 28.27 crore in the corre- sponding period of the pre- vious year. Revenue from other seg- ments was up 17 per cent to Rs 23.95 crore, against Rs 20.47 crore a year ago. Dabur's international business reported a growth of 19.4 per cent in rupee terms and 21 per cent in con- stant currency terms. Dabur India's total ex- penses was at Rs 1,969.54 crore, up 24.62 per cent as against Rs 1,580.49 crore a year ago. For the full fiscal year 2020-21, Dabur's net profit was up 17.06 per cent to Rs 1,694.95 crore. It was Rs 1,447.92 crore in the previ- ous year. Its revenue from operation in the financial year was Rs 9,561.65 crore, up 9.86 per cent. It was Rs 8,703.59 crore in 2019-20. "Dabur continued to gain market share across all key categories like shampoos, toothpaste, hair oils, chyawanprash and packaged juices and nectars, during the quarter and the full year," the company said in a post-earn- ing statement. Over the current status, Dabur said the operating en- vironment remains challeng- ing with the emergence of the second and more devastat- ing wave of COVID-19. "Despite the uncertainty related to the extent and length of the fresh wave, we will respond to the chal- lenges by sharpening focus on our power brands and the ayurvedic healthcare portfo- lio," Malhotra added. He added the company will also build increased flexibility into its planning and go-to- market strategies to drive profitable growth and gain market share. Meanwhile, Dabur in- formed its board in a meet- ing held on Friday that it has recommended a final divi- dend of 300 per cent, which is Rs 3 per equity share having a face value of Re 1 each for the financial year 2019-20. Dabur India Chairman Amit Burman said, "The board has proposed a divi- dend of Rs 3 per share, ag- gregating to Rs 530.23 crore." Dabur's consolidated net profit rises 34 pc to Rs 377 crore in March quarter MUMBAI, MAY 07: Re- serve Bank's Rs 50,000- crore liquidity window can help augment the bed capac- ity at hospitals by up to 20 per cent as credit will be available at cheaper costs, credit ratings agency Crisil said on Friday. The window to banks un- der priority-sector lending to augment COVID-19 health- care infrastructure will help raise treatment capacity, and availability of medicines and medical equipment, it said. It can be noted large parts of the country's healthcare infrastructure have been overwhelmed, exposing the shortfalls in the capacity, as the country battles the sec- ond wave of the pandemic where number of officially reported has breached the 4 lakh mark and deaths hover around 3,500 a day. The RBI created the facility throwing in a lot of incentives for banks on Wednesday. "Hospitals could be among the biggest beneficiaries as the incremental funding can potentially increase bed ca- pacity in the country by 15- 20 per cent," a note from the rating agency said. Banks are expected to lend for healthcare activities be- low the current rates of lend- ing, courtesy the scheme, which entails loans being available to banks at repo rate till March 2022 which are to be utilised for onlend- ing and also earn a priority sector lending classification, Crisil said. Under the RBI guidelines, loans can be extended to makers and suppliers of vac- cines and drugs, hospitals, pathology labs, oxygen sup- pliers, makers of emergency medical equipment, logistics firms, and COVID-19 pa- tients as well, the agency said. The agency said 354 com- panies it rates, with an aggre- gate bank exposure of Rs 40,000 crore, will be eligible for such loans. Pharmaceuti- cal firms account for 68 per cent of the rated bank expo- sure, but hospitals (24 per cent of rated exposure) are likely to avail majority of the funding available, it said. At present, hospitals pay up to 11 per cent in interest on their borrowings, and the new loans under the new schemes will be cheaper by up to 3.50 per cent, it said. "Increased availability of funds at low cost will incen- tivise hospitals to augment beds, oxygen storage, ICUs and critical medical equip- ment," its chief ratings offi- cer Subodh Rai said. If half of the Rs 50,000 crore window is utilised by augmenting hospital beds, the number of beds will go up by 15-20 per cent of the cur- rent capacity, he added. Companies in other health care related sectors such as pharmaceuticals, the capital requirements for enhancing production capacity of criti- cal COVID-19 related drugs is not very high, it said, adding that pharma players borrow money at much lower costs of 8-8.5 per cent and will not be keen to avail credit under this. Additionally, companies manufacturing vaccines have already been supported by the government for their funding requirements of Rs 5,000 crore. However, while incentives under the liquidity window are attractive, hospital firms would carefully evaluate deci- sions considering sustain- ability of demand and avail- ability of critical resources such as manpower and equipment, the agency said. "Augmenting healthcare infrastructure has challenges beyond capital require- ments. Higher lead times for equipment and availability of qualified manpower are crit- ical factors that can create bottlenecks," its senior direc- tor Anuj Sethi said. He cited the case of the in- jection Remdesivir, pointing out that the outlay to in- crease the production capac- ity of 7 crore doses is only Rs 200-250 crore, but lead times for ordering and instal- lation of machines exceed a year. It is still early for health- care players to evaluate their expansion plans. There will be more clarity once banks and lending institutions an- nounce their policies for loans, and eligible firms de- cide on capital spends, the agency observed. RBI's Rs 50K cr liquidity facility can augment hospital bed capacity Crisil MUMBAI, MAY 07: As many as 354 Crisil-rated companies, predominantly pharmaceutical firms and hospitals, with an aggregate bank exposure of Rs 40,000 crore will be eligible for Covid loans from lenders under RBI's liquidity facility. Though pharmaceutical firms account for 68 per cent of rated bank exposure, hospi- tals (about 24 per cent of rated exposure) are likely to avail most of the funding available. The borrowing cost of hos- pitals rated by Crisil are 10.5- 11 per cent. The new loans taken for expansion under this RBI scheme could be 300-350 basis points cheaper, leading to substan- tial interest savings for hospi- tals, Crisil said a statement to- day. Subodh Rai, Chief Ratings Officer, Crisil Ratings, “in- creased availability of funds at low cost will incentivise hospitals to augment beds, oxygen storage, ICUs and critical medical equipment. Even if half of the funding available is used to add hos- pital beds through brown- field expansion, it will mean five lakh incremental beds, or 15-20 per cent of India’s cur- rent capacity.” Reserve Bank of India will open Rs 50,000 liquidity window to banks under pri- ority-sector lending to aug- ment Covid-19 healthcare in- frastructure. In comparison, for entities in other health care related sectors such as pharmaceuti- cals, the capital requirements for enhancing production ca- pacity of critical Covid-19 re- lated drugs is not very high. Further pharmaceutical companies, owing to their strong credit profiles and availability of export credit fa- cilities, have a relatively lower average cost of borrowing (8.0-8.5%). Thus, the major- ity of pharmaceutical compa- nies may not be keen to take on substantial debt under the RBI window to fund expan- sion. While incentives under the liquidity window are at- tractive, hospital firms would carefully evaluate decisions considering sustainability of demand and availability of critical resources such as manpower and equipment. Anuj Sethi, Senior Direc- tor, Crisil Ratings, said aug- menting healthcare infra- structure has challenges beyond capital requirements. Higher lead times for equip- ment and availability of qual- ified manpower are critical factors that can create bottle- necks. This is especially true for enhancing production of critical drugs such as Remde- sivir, where the outlay to in- crease the production capac- ity of seventy million doses is only Rs 200-250 crore. But, the lead times for ordering and installation of machines exceed a year. It is still early for healthcare players to evaluate their ex- pansion plans. There will be more clarity once banks and lending institutions an- nounce their policies for loans, and eligible firms de- cide on capital spends, rating agency added. Over 300 pharma, healthcare companies eligible for new Covid loans: Crisil Gold rises by Rs 474; silver jumps Rs 1,050 on strong global trends NEW DELHI, MAY 07: Gold rose by Rs 474 to Rs 47,185 per 10 gram in the national capital on Friday amid strong buying in global precious metals, according to HDFC Securities. In the previous trade, the precious metal had closed at Rs 46,711 per 10 gram. Silver also jumped Rs 1,050 to Rs 70,791 per kilogram from Rs 69,741 per kilogram in the previous trade. "Spot gold prices for 24 carat in Delhi rose by Rs 474 with strong buying in global gold prices," according to HDFC Securities, Senior Analyst (Commodities), Tapan Patel. In the international market, gold was trading with gains at USD 1,820 per ounce and silver was flat at USD 27.33 per ounce. According to Navneet Damani, VP Commodities Re- search, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, "Gold prices edged higher surpassing its psychological resistance of USD 1,800, aided by a pullback in the dollar and Treasury yields as investors cautiously await US non-farm payrolls data for further cues on the health of the world's biggest economy.
