SPIRIT OF MUMBAI

These can be difficult times for all of us as we hear about spread of COVID-19 from all over the world, through television, social media, newspapers, family and friends and other sources. The most common emotion faced by all is Fear. It makes us anxious, panicky and can even possibly make us think, say or do things that we might not consider appropriate under normal circumstances. Understanding the importance of Lockdown Lockdown is meant to prevent the spread of infection from one person to another, to protect ourselves and others. This means, not stepping out of the house except for buying necessities, reducing the number of trips outside, and ideally only a single, healthy family member making the trips when absolutely necessary. If there is anyone in the house who is very sick and may need to get medical help, you must be aware of the health facility nearest to you. Handling Social isolation Staying at home can be quite nice for some time, but can also be boring and restrict...

With COVID-19 crisis which is impacting the Indian and global economy at large, it has become utmost important to monetize the deficit and ensure cash flow and liquidity in the market. A 75 bps rate cut (bringing down current the repo rate to 4.4%) combined with a reduction of 90 bps in reverse repo rate along with other measures to infuse liquidity into the system are significant moves taken by the governor to ease liquidity. Government of India is taking critical moves under consideration to address this global pandemic by announcing several comprehensive packages. These measures will bring liquidity and relief to the cash flow of organizations giving them financial relief. as part of the overall initiative along with the 3-month moratorium on all term loans by financial institutions will alleviate the concerns of small and medium organizations and individuals alike. These bold moves, along with zero collateral loans, will encourage banks to lend, giving succou...

The novel Coronavirus which originated in Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province in December 2019 has taken away nearly 7000 lives and have infected over 2 lakh people globally. In India, till now there are 3 mortality cases and around 147 people have been affected by COVID 19. Not only this, but with Coronavirus, there has been far reaching impact on various industries including chemical and petrochemical industry.  The petrochemical and chemical industries have been traditionally among Hubei's pillar industries, also contributing much to China's chemical exports. India depends on China for chemicals across the value chain with the latter's share in imports for broad categories ranging between 10 and 40%. The Indian chemical sector needs to be future-ready for situations like these and there is a need to strengthen India's domestic Chemical production base, which is the backbone of India's industrial and agricultural development.  The chemical industr...

- Ties-up with over 5000 local pharmacies for doorstep delivery of medicines round the clock - Facilitates online Doctor consultancy via Video call and Chat to address health-related queries along with a Coronavirus expert on board Medicalwale.com, a futuristic Omni-channel healthcare platform aimed at putting India at the top of the global healthcare chart by making the best of the services accessible and affordable for people, launched several initiatives to help people get through the tough lockdown times that India faces today due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In a bid to contain the spread of Coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-days-long nationwide lockdown. Medicalwale.com has tied-up with over 5000 local pharmacies in Mumbai to enable residents of the vicinity to get access to medicines and health essentials while staying quarantined safely in their homes. Users can now easily order medicines, OTC products and daily essential products as the plat...

PNB has decided to pass on the full benefit of recent RBIs policy rate cut of 75 bps to its borrowers covered under External Benchmark linked product of Repo Linked Lending Rate (RLLR) in respect of Retail/ MSME portfolio w.e.f 01.04.2020. Further, Bank has also reduced its MCLR rates by 30 bps across the tenor for better monetary transmission of policy rate cut benefit to the borrowers. The rates shall be applicable for the amalgamated entity. The bank has also reduced its base rate by 15 bps from 9.05% to 8.90%. Bank has further reduced its term deposit rates in various maturities bucket with maximum rate of 5.80% for deposits maturing in 1 year and above.

  In the wake of the Covid 19 outbreak, entire mankind across the globe is suffering. Enhancing the body’s natural defence system (immunity) plays an important role in maintaining optimum health. We all know that prevention is better than cure. While there is no medicine for COVID-19 as of now, it will be good to take preventive measures which boost our immunity in these times. Ayurveda, being the science of life, propagates the gifts of nature in maintaining healthy and happy living. Ayurveda’s extensive knowledge base on preventive care derives from the concepts of “ Dinacharya ” - daily regimes and “ Ritucharya ” - seasonal regimes to maintain healthy life. It is a plant-based science. The simplicity of awareness about oneself and the harmony each individual can achieve by uplifting and maintaining his or her immunity is emphasized across Ayurveda’s classical scriptures. Ministry of AYUSH recommends the following self-care guidelines for preventive health measures and bo...

LIC of India has contributed Rs.105 Crore to PM CARES Fund for supporting the efforts of the Government of India in fighting COVID -19 caused by Novel Corona Virus, the biggest pandemic the world has witnessed since more than a century. Out of the Rs.105 Crore, Rs.5 Crore has been donated from LIC’s Golden Jubilee Fund. In a statement released to the media, LIC’s Chairman, M R Kumar said, “India is facing a huge challenge in wake of the global pandemic which is unprecedented in its severity. LIC is committed to the welfare of India and her people. Living up to our motto ‘Yogakshemam Vahamyaham’, meaning ‘Your Welfare is My Responsibility’, we promise our solidarity with the efforts of the Government of India and will take every step to ensure safety and security of people and relief for the affected.   “ LIC of India is a public sector life insurance company that was established in the year 1956 in national interest by nationalizing 245 private insurance companies. Headqu...

- Cyient’s Mysore facility to support manufacturing of Covid-19 diagnosis units and X-ray system assemblies Cyient,  a global engineering and technology solutions company, today announced that it has received clearance for its Mysore facility to run its MedTech manufacturing lines to support the production of medical equipment that is critical in the fight against COVID-19.  Cyient is producing assemblies that are used in X-ray generators from GE Healthcare and diagnosis units from Molbio Diagnostics to enable rapid disease testing in India. Mr. Rajendra Velagapudi, Senior Vice President and CEO, Cyient DLM, commented,  “We are proud to support our customers in the healthcare industry at this critical time. We will continue to do everything we can to help reduce the impact of this crisis on our customers’ operations as they focus on delivering the technology needed to fight Covid-19 at a national and global level.”   Cyient’s factory in Mys...

Further to the directives of the Indian Finance Minister to keep banking services operational, PayPoint micro-ATMs installed at its retail partners help citizens withdraw cash, transfer money, and deposit cash at no extra charges. The facility can be availed with other essential services such as grocery, medicine and food. As the country comes to a standstill due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, PayPoint India puts the best effort to keep all its Customer Service Points (CSPs) operational so that the essential Banking Services may be delivered to banks’ customers, as per the directives of the Finance Minister - Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. It may be recalled that even in the complete nationwide lockdown to avoid the spread of the pandemic, Banking Services are required by the Central Government to be operational so that people may withdraw money to purchase essential items of need. For this purpose, the government and banks have mandated that the Business Correspondents (B...

Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited (FGII), the general insurance arm of the joint venture between retail giant Future Group and global insurer Generali, announced to provide a relief fund of INR 50,000 each to their business active agents if they, their spouses or their children are tested positive for COVID-19. FGII has introduced this practice to support their business active agents who continued to work amid the coronavirus outbreak. There are over 8000 agents and Future Generali India Insurance promises to look after each one of them if they face any unforeseen situation. Mr. Anup Rau, MD & CEO, Future Generali India Insurance said,“ While the world is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, our agents have been instrumental in creating awareness and getting so many people insured so that in the time of need, they are taken care off. So it’s our turn now to take care of them. We will be transferring INR 50,000 to their bank accounts in case they, their sp...

The negative ion generator titled Scitech Airon helps to control the virus, bacteria, and fungal infections in a closed environment It can clean up the air and disinfect areas exposed to the infection through Covid 19 positive cases and suspects It could ensure wellbeing of the staff, doctors, and nurses working in the quarantine facilities by enhancing their disease resistance power and ability to fight the virus DST has released Rs 1 crore to manufacture and scale up the product 1,000 of them will soon be ready for installation in various hospitals in Maharashtra A technology has been developed by an incubatee company of Scitech Park, Pune which offers an effective solution for India’s fight against Covid 19 by reducing the viral load of infected areas within a room significantly within an hour.  The technology has been developed under the NIDHI PRAYAS program initiated by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). DST has released Rs 1 crore to manufacture ...

Issues appeal for contributions and donations GiveIndia ( www.GiveIndia.org ), one of the best regarded online giving platforms in the country, has started a mission to support families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in India, which is likely to result in loss of livelihoods for a very large number of people, especially among the daily wage workers. About 80% of those employed in India are in the unorganised sector and will be deeply affected in the coming months. Even as the government is stepping up in several ways, including providing income support, to help such families in the coming months, families living on the margins will require additional support to tide over these difficult times. Towards this, GiveIndia has partnered with the most credible non-profits to help families in need and prevent the spread of the coronavirus in India. Under the mission, GiveIndia has launched two initiatives to help the disadvantaged and support families - to provide a safe...

BharatPe, India’s largest mercha nt payment & lending network has partnered with ICICI Lombard to roll out 'COVID-19 Protection Insurance Cover' for shopkeepers. Amid the contagious pandemic, this policy on a diagnosis of COVID-19 (+ve) will pay 100% of the sum insured, irrespective of hospitalization expenses. The new product is a step forward in BharatPe's endeavour in introducing industry-first initiatives for shopkeepers. It is also a ‘first of its kind’ sachet product by ICICI Lombard that will cover merchants. The health cover is priced affordably at a premium starting at nominal amount of ₹ 199 and provides a sum insured for ₹ 25,000 and value-added benefits such as Health Assistance and CHAT/Virtual assistance, teleconsultation and ambulance assistance, as part of the offering. The unique benefit of the COVID-19 Insurance Protection Cover is the coverage across the age group of 18-65 years. On the introduction of the new COVID-19 insuranc...

Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI), which represents leading research-based medical technology companies that have a large footprint in manufacturing, R&D and healthcare worker training in India, is in constant engagement with the government to tackle the current COVID-19 situation in India. MTaI in a statement released   said, “The central government has expeditiously moved through the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DOP) Secretary as well as through the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) and the Health Ministry to underscore the exemption of Medical Devices and Equipment manufacturing, warehousing and distribution from the lockdown. The centre is a disseminator of directives however, the implementation rests with state governments and local level administrators.   The latter it seems have not understood that this 21-day lockdown is to prepare the hospitals and are clamping down manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, of medical devices an...

HCL Technologies Ltd (HCL) has been monitoring the Covid-19 outbreak since late January and had invoked its Business Continuity Plan and Risk Management Framework quite early to minimize the impact on its employees and clients. The situation arising out of this outbreak and its rapid spread across the world is unprecedented and is extremely dynamic. The economic impact is visible with varying degrees of intensity across multiple countries where we operate. HCL has had a well-defined and structured pandemic policy in place which is resilient, pragmatic and accords paramount importance to employee safety & health and client commitments. We are actively engaged with our clients and have executed the client-specific and HCL internal operations-centric Business Continuity Plan that ensures continuity in delivering to our client and employee commitments. HCL is constantly reviewing the situation at hand with utmost priority and fully complying with all government advisories a...