New Delhi, Apr 16 () CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday suggested nine measures, including rapidly increasing testing and procuring PPEs, to the government to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Yechury said while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked the people to follow his 'saptapadi' (seven points), the central government must implement the party's 'navapadi' (nine points) on a war footing. "Procure and provide required PPEs, rapidly increase testing, and transfer Rs 7,500 immediately to all non income tax paying people. Distribute free food grains to the needy, raise the financial stimulus package from the current 0.8 per cent to at least five percent of the GDP and support state governments with liberal funding," he said. Yechury asked the government to procure harvested crops at the declared C2+50 percent support price and pay wages to all registered under MGNREGA, irrespective of work. "Financially assist employers to protect workers from job losses and wage cuts. Arrange for the return of migrant workers to their homes," he said. The CPI(M)'s mouthpiece 'People's Democracy' claimed that all the state governments are handicapped in this battle to fight coronavirus as they face severe shortage of funds. "The niggardly package of Rs1.7 lakh crore announced by the Centre at the start of the lockdown did not actually provide any additional funds to the states," it said. "More than half of this amount was already provided for in the budget such as Rs 2000 installment to farmers under the PM Kisan Yojana. The states have so far got only what was due to them under the National Health Mission and part arrears of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation," the party's mouthpiece said. It also claimed that continuous centralisation of power and resources have taken away whatever fiscal powers and resources the states had. "The country has entered a crucial time in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic. Unless the states are equipped both financially and materially with the wherewithal to organise the fight back, we will have to pay a heavy price both in terms of human and economic losses," it said. "The Modi government should realise that the success it hopes to register in tackling COVID-19 can be realised only if it engages the states in a full and cooperative partnership," the mouthpiece added. ASG SNESNE

Yechury suggests nine measures to govt to contain COVID-19

<ul><li>According to Kanter Worldpane, <keyword id="34523" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="fmcg">FMCG</keyword> sector in India is expected to report a 4-5% volume growth in FY21, driven by rural areas that are expected to grow two percentage points ahead of the urban regions that are hit harder by COVID-19 pandemic. </li><li>This is expected to impact Q1FY21 earnings of FMCG companies, however, it will be better than some of the consumer discretionary sectors like apparel, retail, paints etc.</li><li>The pandemic has also led to resurgence of the good old nearby <keyword id="6425985" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="kirana">Kirana</keyword> store which offered the most convenience (home delivery and credit) to consumers where maintaining social distancing and restriction on out of home trips are the norms in urban centres.</li></ul> As COVID-19 started to spread across the nation, the lockdown announced in the last week of March did have a knee jerk reaction on the overall demand for the FMCG sector. The pain continued to be seen until the first week of April after which relaxations in terms of continuing manufacturing operations for essential products started to get streamlined as situations improved in terms of manufacturing and supply, although issues with labor availability and logistical challenges continued, which now have normalized to a very large extent. According to Kanter Worldpane,l FMCG sector in India is expected to report a 4-5% volume growth in FY21, driven by rural areas that are expected to grow two percentage points ahead of the urban regions that are hit harder by COVID-19 pandemic and which continue to battle with the lockdown flip-flops at the local level. This is expected to impact Q1FY21 earnings of FMCG companies, however, it will be better than some of the consumer discretionary sectors like apparel, retail, paints etc. During the gharbandi period there has been change in consumer buying behavior towards purchasing more of essential products and cut down on discretionary spends due to continued lockdown, job losses and salary cuts in urban areas. The money was largely spent on essential products like food (biscuits, milk, noodles), immunity boosting foods (chywanprash, honey etc), drinks &amp; beverages, health &amp; hygiene (sanitizers, masks) and even on homecare &amp; skin cleansing products (floor, toilet &amp; surface cleaners, anti-bacterial soaps etc). Personal care and grooming products, however, took a hit both in urban and rural India given the discretionary nature. Also, preference has clearly been for value packs and smaller SKUs across product categories especially in rural regions. While, in urban regions it’s a mix of value and premium products depending on the income pyramid. Moreover, owing to the fear of contracting the virus by going out, a notable shift is being observed of doing purchases online resulting in tie ups between FMCG companies and various e-commerce platforms like <keyword id="964794" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="BigBasket">BigBasket</keyword>, Grofers, Amazon, <keyword id="6354742" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flipkart">Flipkart</keyword>, <keyword id="3275685" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="dunzo">Dunzo</keyword> etc. The pandemic has also led to resurgence of the good old nearby Kirana store which offered the most convenience (home delivery and credit) to consumers where maintaining social distancing and restriction on out of home trips are the norms in urban centres. While the frequency of trips to the grocery store has reduced to 30.5 in May from 34.4 in March, there has been a rise in basket value by 4.3% YoY to Rs. 3,734 between March and May 2020 as against previous year. Rural India contributes to ~36% of FMCG spends and is thus an important growth element. Managements across organized FMCG companies thus have their eyes on the rural economy to drive growth in the current trying times that have displayed relative resilience. Driving distribution expansion by increasing stockist network and direct reach could therefore be a tactical growth driver. Besides distribution, the rural economy has been relatively resilient owing to a lower impact of <keyword id="8764262" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="covid">COVID</keyword>. Despite the migrant labour issue, the hinterland has shown relative strength all through the gharbandi supported by government proactive measures of increased allocation to MGNREGA (led to more jobs), higher farm incomes due to aggressive MSP fixation, good monsoon, higher Kharif acreages, lower disruption in retail channel and other social sector schemes (PM-KISAN, PM Garib Kalyan, distribution of free foodgrain through PDS etc). This is also reported in a surge in demand for products like agrochemicals, hybrid seeds, fertilizers, tractors, tillers and even entry level two-wheelers alongside FMCG products. Further, rising aspirations and an improved standard of living in the rural areas could direct a faster than expected recovery in FMCG volumes and also the Indian economy. We believe for a sustained growth in FMCG sector, structural administrative reforms like amendments to Essential Commodities Act, creating a law to allow free inter-state movement of farmer’s goods and strengthening the post harvest agri-infrastructure backed by effective implementation will give the much needed boost to agri sector and rural economy thus doubling farmers income resulting in increased consumption for FMCG and other products. (The article was written by Suvarna Joshi. Suvarna is a Senior Research Analyst at Axis Securities with over a decade of experience in fundamental research. She is an expert in tracking FMCG, Speciality Chemicals, and Mid-cap stocks &amp; sectors.) SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/health/news/coovid-vaccine-from-oxford-serum-institute-and-astrazeneca-shows-promising-immune-response/articleshow/77069321.cms">The COVID-19 vaccine from Oxford and AstraZeneca shows 'promising' results in early human trials</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/dil-bechara-kissing-booth-2-and-other-movies-you-can-watch-on-netflix-amazon-prime-disneyhotstar-this-week/slidelist/77142498.cms">Dil Bechara, Kissing Booth 2 and other movies you can watch on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+Hotstar this week</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/work-from-home-effect-these-companies-are-shelling-out-for-employees-power-bills-internet-cost-and-more/articleshow/77139229.cms">WFH effect – These companies are paying for employees' power bills, internet cost and more</a>

An FMCG analyst shares a picture of what's selling in rural India and what's not

New Delhi, Apr 13 () Twenty-five districts across 15 states which had detected COVID-19 infections earlier have contained the spread and reported no new cases in 14 days, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.The ministry asserted that the government has enough stocks to conduct tests for up to six weeks and over two lakh samples have been tested so far.Addressing a press briefing here, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said 796 new COVID-19 cases and 35 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 9,152 and deaths 308."Twenty-five districts across 15 states which had reported cases earlier have contained the virus and have not detected new ones in 14 days. This is a positive development," he said.The districts are Gondia (Maharashtra), Raj Nand Gaon (Chhattisgarh), Davangiri (Karnataka), South Goa, Wayanad and Kottayam (Kerala), West Imphal (Manipur), Rajouri (J&amp;K), Aizwal West (Mizoram), Mahe in Puducherry, SBS Nagar in Punjab, Patna, Nalanda and Munger in Bihar, Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, Panipat, Rohtak and Sirsa in Haryana, Pauri Garhwal in Uttrakhand and Bhadradari Kothagudem in Telangana.Agarwal also said that the Core Strategy Group on COVID-19 was working on rapid and economical diagnostics as well as new drugs."The group has been formed, based on a detailed review of COVID-19 research, undertaken by Union Health Minister Harshvardhan along with CSIR and its 38 labs. The group is working on digital and molecular surveillance, rapid and economical diagnostics, new drugs, repurposing of drugs and associated production processes," he said.According to ICMR officials, 2,06,212 tests for COVID-19 have been conducted so far."Of these 14,855 tests took place at 156 government labs and 1,913 tests happened at 69 private labs on Sunday. There is no need to worry. We have enough stocks to conduct tests for six weeks," an ICMR official said at the briefing.The Union Health Ministry informed that 78,000 self-help group members of 27 states have produced 1.96 crore masks under the State Rural Livelihood Missions."Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojna package, over 30,000 poor people have been provided financial support of Rs 28,256 crore during the lockdown up to April 10. This includes support of Rs 19.86 crore to Jan Dhan Yojna women account holders who were transferred Rs 9,930 crores. "Under the PM Kisan Yojna, 6.93 crore farmers have been provided support of Rs 13,855 crore. Under social assistance programmes 2.82 crore widows, senior citizens and disabled have been provided support of Rs 1,405 crore," Agarwal said. PLB GJS IJT

Number of coronavirus cases in India rises to 9,152, 308 fatalities recorded: Health Ministry

New Delhi, Apr 13 () Twenty-five districts across 15 states where COVID-19 infections were detected earlier have reported no new cases in the last 14 days and the credit for it goes to the proper implementation of containment strategies by the district administrations, Union Health Ministry said on Monday.Addressing a press briefing here, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said 796 new COVID-19 cases and 35 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 9,152 and deaths to 308. "The implementation of the action plan has started yielding appreciable results in 25 districts across 15 states which reported cases earlier. These districts have no case reported since the last 14 days and constant vigil is being maintained to ensure that no new cases may occur in future," he said.The districts are Gondia (Maharashtra), Raj Nand Gaon (Chhattisgarh), Davangiri (Karnataka), South Goa, Wayanad and Kottayam (Kerala), West Imphal (Manipur), Rajouri (J&amp;K), Aizwal West (Mizoram), Mahe in Puducherry, SBS Nagar in Punjab, Patna, Nalanda and Munger in Bihar, Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, Panipat, Rohtak and Sirsa in Haryana, Pauri Garhwal in Uttrakhand and Bhadradari Kothagudem in Telangana. Commenting over a recently published study which stated that administration of antiviral drug Remdesivir may reduce risk of death in critically ill coronavirus patients, Head of Epidemiology and Communicable diseases at Indian COuncil of Medical Research, Raman R Gangakhedkar said the drug which was used against Ebola virus, may affect the reproduction of the virus. "Recently reported study on use of Remdesivir for COVID-19 treatment is not a clinical trial, but an observational study according to which two out of three patients after treatment with the drug may not need ventilator support or their need for oxygen support may reduce. "We will come to know of further developments through the WHO Solidarity Trial, which has an arm looking into this," he said.He further said Remdesivir, developed by Gilead Sciences Inc, is not presently available in the country and the government is working to see if any pharmaceutical company can manufacture it.Responding to a report of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention which stated that coronavirus can spread through shoe soles, Gangakhedkar said more evidence and research is required to conclude that. "We have to see the strength of the evidence...to say that it has been transmitted via shoe soles will need a solid evidence and I will not accept it based on one report," he said.He further informed that 2,06,212 tests for COVID-19 have been conducted so far, adding that 14,855 tests took place at 156 government labs and 1,913 tests were done at 69 private labs on Sunday. "There is no need to worry. We have enough stocks to conduct tests for upto six weeks," he said.Reacting to reports which said ICMR's nodal testing facility in Kolkata, West Bengal was not sending enough samples for COVID-19 testing, Agarwal said, "Our effort is to ensure that the guidelines and the do's and don'ts of the infectious disease management are followed."The Home Secretary and the ministry of Health communicates regularly through video conferencing with states and we tell them our containment strategies and they are working in coordination." Agarwal also said the Core Strategy Group on COVID-19 set up at CSIR labs was working on rapid and economical diagnostics as well as new drugs."Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan reviewed the research efforts of COVID-19 by CSIR (Council of Scientific &amp; Industrial Research) in the presence of DG, CSIR and 38 CSIR Lab Directors. "The CSIR laboratories are working in close partnership with major private sector industries, PSUs, MSME working on digital and molecular surveillance, rapid and economical diagnostics, new drugs/repurposing of drugs and associated production processes and hospital assistive devices and PPEs among others," he said.Under State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs) across 27 states, 1.96 crore masks have been produced by 78,373 self-help group members, Agarwal said, adding the National Cadet Corps (NCC) volunteer cadets are helping civil administration under 'Exercise NCC Yogdaan'. As on April 10, under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, more than 30 crore poor people have received financial assistance of Rs 28,256 crore to protect them from the impact of lockdown due to COVID-19, he said. As many as 19.86 crore women account holders of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana have received Rs 9,930 crore while under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), 6.93 crore farmers have received Rs 13,855 crore.On instances of medical professionals contracting coronavirus infection, Agarwal said in majority of the cases, doctors who contracted the disease subsequently infected people associated with them during their regular infections, and were not on COVID-19 duty. There have been miniscule percentage of doctors on duty testing COVID-19 positive, he said adding that the healthcare settings should implement infection prevention and control strategies. PLB GJS TDSTDS

25 district in 15 states have not reported new COVID-19 cases in last 14 days: Health Ministry

Around 39 crore beneficiaries have been provided with cash support through direct benefit transfer (DBT) amounting to Rs 34,800 crore under the <keyword id="6368048" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="pradhan">Pradhan</keyword> Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) till May 5, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The Rs 1.7 lakh crore PMGKP package was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26 to protect the weaker and the most vulnerable sections of the society from the impact of the Covid-19 induced lockdown. Under the package, the government announced free food grains and cash payments to women and poor senior citizens and farmers. Its swift implementation is being continuously monitored by the Central and state governments. So far, 67.65 lakh tonnes of food grains have been lifted by 36 states/UTs for April and 30.16 lakh tonnes of free ration of food grains have been distributed by the states/UTs to 60.33 crore beneficiaries covered under the Pradhan Mantri Garib <keyword id="8992672" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="kalyan-ann-yojana">Kalyan Ann Yojana</keyword>. Besides, 6.19 lakh tonnes of food grains have been distributed, covering 12.39 crore beneficiaries, by 22 states/UTs for May 2020. Moreover, 2.42 lakh tonnes of pulses have also been dispatched to various states/UTs. The Finance Ministry statement said that as of May 5, 4.82 crore free Ujjwala cylinders have been delivered, while a total of 5.09 crore cylinders have been booked. Under the package, the government has decided to distribute free cooking gas cylinders to Ujjwala beneficiaries for three months till June 30. The plan to give advance benefit to EPFO subscribers has also been lapped up by 9.6 lakh members of EPFO, taking the benefit of online withdrawal of non-refundable advance to Rs 2,985 crore so far. The government has also released an amount of Rs 1,000 crore for the benefit of 78.74 lakh EPFO account holders where the government has decided to make the contribution of both employers and employees for a period of three months. A total of 44.97 lakh employees have benefitted so far and a total of Rs 698 crore has been transferred. The government has also released the first instalment of PM-KISAN (Rs 16,394 crore) and transferred it to 8.19 crore identified farmers who got Rs 2,000 directly in their accounts. A sum of Rs 10,025 crore has also been disbursed to 20.05 crore women Jan Dhan account holders. Moreover, Rs 2,785 crore credited to 5.57 crore women Jan Dhan account holders as second instalment on May 5. In addition, the government has also released Rs 1,405 crore to about 2.82 crore old age <keyword id="48574" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Persons">persons</keyword>, widows and disabled persons. Each beneficiary received an ex-gratia cash of Rs 500 under the scheme as the first instalment. Another instalment of Rs 500 each will be paid during the month. Also, 2.20 crore building and construction workers have so far received financial support amounting to Rs 3,492.57 crore. With regard to MNREGS, an increased rate has been notified <keyword id="9175446" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="w-e-f">w.e.f</keyword>. April 1. In the current financial year, 5.97 crore persons' man-days of work have been generated. Further, Rs 21,032 crore has been released to the states to liquidate the pending dues of both wage and material. The insurance scheme for health workers has also been operationalised by <keyword id="6369780" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="new-india-assurance">New India Assurance</keyword> covering 22.12 Lakh health workers. --IANS sn/arm

Government provides ₹35,000 crore under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package

<ul><li>Out of the 11 measures announced on May 15, 8 related to strengthening infrastructure, logistics, storage capacity.</li><li>Three of them were related to governance and administrative reforms, the Minister said speaking in New Delhi. </li><li>Sitharaman promised that government will allocate money and to quickly ramp up existing policies in these spaces.</li></ul><keyword id="6355261" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="finance-minister">Finance Minister</keyword> Nirmala Sitharaman's third tranche of the ₹20 lakh crore ($270 billion) economic stimulus promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the government in New Delhi was dedicated to farming and allied activities including fisheries and animal husbandry etc. The first tranche was a clearly quantifiable ₹5.9 lakh crore ($78 billion) push for micro, small and medium (MSME) businesses, non-banking financial companies, among others. The second one was dedicated largely to providing relief to migrant workers and small farmers. One nation, one ration card was one of the highlights of the announcement. ALSO READ: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/for-one-nation-one-ration-card-scheme-narendra-modi-and-nirmala-sitharaman-face-many-risks/slidelist/75752500.cms">For ‘One nation, one ration card’ to work, India has to fix a bunch of issues on war footing</a> Out of the 11 measures announced on May 15, 8 related to strengthening infrastructure, logistics, storage capacity and 3 were related to governance and administrative reforms. Sitharaman promised that government will allocate money and to quickly ramp up existing policies in these spaces. These are the top highlights of the Finance Minister's speech on May 15: 1. ₹1 lakh crore ($13 billion) allocated to strengthen <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/india-sets-up-fund-for-cold-storage-for-farm-products-startups-are-eligible/articleshow/75758088.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">farm-gate infrastructure like cold chains, storage centres</a>etc. The fund created for cooperatives,farmers producer organisations, private entrepreneurs, startups etc. looking to enter this space. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="75758676" title="India proposes to deregulate prices of onions, potatoes, pulses and other essential food — prices won’t be capped and one can store as much as needed" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> 2. For micro food enterprises, the government will provide a fund of ₹10,000 crore. The intention is to help local manufacturers and brands, in the health and wellness space, organic products, nutrition products etc. to go global. The fun will go into modernising, formalising, and bringing these firms up to global standards. This will be cluster-based approach. For instance, makhana makers in Bihar, saffron products makers in Kashmir, tapioca makers in Tamil Nadu, ragi makers in Karnataka etc. can benefit from this. 3. Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (a scheme dedicated to marine fisheries and aquaculture):₹20,000 crore to boost fish production by 7 million tonnes in the next five years. 4. [An existing programme] ₹13,343 crore had been allocated for National Animal Disease Control Programme in January 2020 to ensure 100% vaccination of cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat and pig population (over 53 crore animals). 1.5 crore cows and buffaloes tagged and vaccinated till date. This will continue in green zones. 5. A new fund of ₹15,000 crore is being established to boost animal husbandry infrastructure development. Dairy producers and processors will be eligible for incentives being provided from this fund. Those who want to set up plants for export of niche dairy products will also be supported. 6. ₹4,000 crore for promotion of cultivation of medicinal plants. 1 million hectares to be covered under herbal cultivation in the next two years. This will lead to income generation of ₹5,000 crore for farmers. Development of a corridor of 800 hectare area along the banks of river Ganga. A network of regional markets (mandis) will be created for medicinal plants. 7. ₹500 crore for beekeeping initiatives. Government will implement a scheme for infrastructure development related to Integrated Beekeeping Development Centres, Collection, Marketing and Storage Centres. This will lead to an increase in yield and crop quality, resulting in increase in income for 2 lakh beekeepers. 8. ₹500 crore for subsidy to farmers of green produce (fruits and vegetables). 50% subsidy for transportation of green produce from surplus to deficient markets. 50% subsidy for storage of green produce. This pilot project will initially be for a period of 6 months - the government says it will be expanded and extended in the future. 9. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/policy/news/what-is-essential-commodities-act-that-nirmala-sitharaman-wants-to-amend/articleshow/75759156.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Essential Commodities Act</a>will be amended to deregulate prices of cereals, edible oils, oilseeds, pulses, onions and potato etc. Stock limits to be imposed only under exceptional circumstances like national calamities, famine with a surge in prices. No such stock limit shall apply to processors or value chain participants, or to any exporter subject to export demand. 10. Farmers will be given the choice to sell their produce at attractive prices, instead of selling it to just <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/news/bjp-narendra-modi-nirmala-sitharaman-push-agriculture-apmc-reform/articleshow/75760189.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">APMCs (Agricultural Produce Market Committee)</a>. Framework for e-trading of agricultural produce to be included in the central law proposed to be formulated. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="75760364" title="I have been asking for this for 20 years, says Ashok Gulati, agriculture scientist ⁠— cheering the changes to Essential Commodities Act and APMC" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> 11. Agricultural Produce Price and Quality Assurance. Facilitative legal framework to be created to enable farmers for engaging with food processors, aggregators, large retailers, exporters etc. Risk mitigation for farmers, assured returns and quality standardisation shall form an integral part of the framework Taking stock of the measures taken during the lockdown. ₹74,300 crore worth agricultural produce was purchased at minimum support prices since the lockdown began on March 25. ₹18,700 crore cash has transferred from the Prime Minister's Kisan (farmer) Fund. ₹6,400 crore worth claims under PM Fasal Bimal Yojana (crop protection scheme). Milk cooperatives bought 560 litres of every day against the daily demand of 360 litres. Additional 111 crore litres of milk was purchased and dairy farmers were paid ₹4,100 crore. The excess milk will be converted to milk powder, a Finance Ministry official said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/zomato-lays-off-13-of-its-workforce-announces-pay-cuts-for-all/articleshow/75756087.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Zomato lays off 13% of its workforce, announces pay cuts for all – CEO Deepinder Goyal says 40% of their restaurants could shut down in 12 months</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/hyderabad-startup-vera-healthcare-has-built-a-testing-bus-for-covid-19-with-an-inhouse-quarantine-berth-and-will-cover-upto-10000-houses-in-a-day/articleshow/75755521.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">This Hyderabad-based startup has built a testing bus for Covid-19 – with an inhouse quarantine berth and will cover upto 10,000 houses in a day</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/biocon-share-price-falls-after-earnings-and-mutual-funds-stake-in-the-stock/articleshow/75754048.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Biocon was a hot stock before the latest earnings— from Tata Asset Management to Baroda AMC, at least five mutual fund houses added it to their portfolio</a>

You Searched For "PM Kisan lockdown" and got 6 results

Yechury suggests nine measures to govt to contain COVID-19

PTI

An FMCG analyst shares a picture of what's selling in rural India and what's not

Guest Author

Number of coronavirus cases in India rises to 9,152, 308 fatalities recorded: Health Ministry

PTI

25 district in 15 states have not reported new COVID-19 cases in last 14 days: Health Ministry

PTI

Government provides ₹35,000 crore under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package

IANS

These are the top takeaways from Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's third installment from Modi's ₹20 lakh crore stimulus

BI India Bureau