New Delhi, Jun 2: India on Tuesday reported 8,171 more COVID-19 cases and 204 deaths in the last 24 hours as the country's virus count inches closer to two lakh, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The total number of cases in the country now stands at 1,98,706 including 97,581 active cases, 95,527 cured/discharged/migrated and 5,598 deaths.
Cases in Maharashtra have crossed 70,000 including over 30,000 recovered while Tamil Nadu's COVID-19 tally jumped to 23,495.
New Delhi, May 30: The Congress on Friday described the first year of the Modi government as a "year of disappointment, disastrous management and diabolical pain".
Congress leader K C Venugopal said the six years of the Modi dispensation have seen fraying of bonds of empathy, fraternity and brotherhood with increase in acts of communal and sectarian violence.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that at the end of six years, it appears the Modi government is at war with its people and is inflicting wounds on them, instead of healing them.
"It is inflicting wounds on Mother India," he said.
"This government is trying to fill coffers of the select rich and is inflicting pain on the poor," Surjewala said.
On the BJP's charge of the Congress playing politics over the COVID-19 crisis, Venugopal said the opposition party did not indulge in any politics and gave suggestions instead.
"Being a responsible opposition, it is our duty to raise the problems faced by the common people. As opposition, we highlighted the failures of the government," he said.
Venugopal said the government "is totally insensitive" to the plight of migrant labourers and farmers.
Surjewala also demanded that a virtual session of Parliament be convened immediately to discuss pressing issues and the due process be set in motion for holding of meetings of various parliamentary committees.
Modi and his cabinet had taken oath on this day last year for a second term in office.
New Delhi, Mar 21: Novel coronavirus cases in India rose to 258 on Saturday after 35 fresh cases were reported in various parts of the country, according to the Health Ministry.
Among the 258 are 39 foreign nationals, including 17 from Italy, three from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging to Canada, Indonesia and Singapore.
The total figure also includes four deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra.
"The total number of active COVID-19 cases across India stands at 231 so far," the ministry said, adding that 23 others have been cured/discharged/migrated while four have died.
Delhi has, so far, reported 26 positive cases, which include one foreigner, while Uttar Pradesh has recorded 24 cases, including one foreigner.
Maharashtra has 52 cases, including three foreigners, while Kerala has recorded 40 cases, which include seven foreign nationals.
Karnataka has 15 coronavirus patients. The number of cases in Ladakh rose to 13 and Jammu & Kashmir four. Telangana has reported 19 cases, which include 11 foreigners.
Rajasthan has also reported 17 cases, including two foreigners. Gujarat has reported seven cases so far.
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Uttarakhand have reported three cases each.
West Bengal, Odisha and Punjab each reported two cases while Puducherry, Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh reported one case each.
In Haryana, there are 17 cases, which include 14 foreigners.
Jan 21: Indian policymakers may make it easier for companies to tap foreign funding, as a prolonged cash squeeze makes it tough for firms to borrow at home.
Investors are speculating about potential steps Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman could unveil when she presents the nation’s budget on Feb. 1. These measures may include freeing up firms to borrow at higher rates and offering tax breaks to global funds.
“The government will need to relax local rules to make it easier for Indian companies to raise debt overseas and tide over the funding crunch in the onshore market,” said Raj Kothari, London-based head of trading at Jay Capital Ltd. “At the same time, they need to ensure that the borrowers tapping offshore markets abide with stricter corporate governance so as to avoid further defaults.”
A prolonged crisis in India’s shadow bank sector and a pile of bad loans at traditional lenders is making it expensive for Indian companies, other than the best-rated firms, to access funding. The government has tried a series of measures to spur domestic credit, including providing so-called credit enhancement and allowing tiny firms to restructure debt.
Here are some steps Sitharaman may consider to spur foreign borrowing:
• She could raise the cap of 450 basis points above Libor, which limits overall foreign debt costs for Indian companies
• This could help lower-rated firms sell bonds abroad. Indian companies rated BBB currently borrow at more than 10%, about 3.8 percentage points more than their top-rated peers;
• Sitharaman could waive the withholding tax foreign investors need to pay on holdings of rupee-denominated debt sold by Indian companies abroad
• The waiver was offered between September 2018 to March 2019, but wasn’t extended as the highest global interest rates since the financial crisis deterred Indian borrowers. Since then, the three-month Libor has dropped by about 1 percentage point
• She could permit Indian property developers and housing finance lenders to sell overseas bonds for reasons beyond affordable housing projects
• New funding lines to the real estate sector, arguably ground zero of India’s economic slowdown, could help kickstart consumption and investment as the industry is the nation’s biggest job-creator.
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