Friday, September 04
The US and China may have called a truce on trade, but Beijing has other levers to pull should febrile relations deteriorate again. That’s a potential supply-chain chokepoint that Washington has overlooked: its strategic rival’s tight grip on the raw materials needed to make an array of medicines.The urgency of tackling pharmaceutical supplies lies at the heart of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission’s annual report, published last week. It proposed that Congress immediately amend a 2020 law to expand the authority of the Federal Food and Drug Administration to require pharmaceutical firms to report on the volume and origin of the building blocks of modern drugs. It also asked the regulator to encourage the use of supplies from non-China sources.Also Read: Trump deliv
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is all set to assume the Chair of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) for the year 2026, the Election Commission said on Wednesday. Kumar will take over as the chair of IIDEA on December 3 in the meeting of the council of member states of International IDEA to be held in Stockholm. As Chair, he will be presiding over all council meetings during 2026. International IDEA, established in 1995, is an inter-governmental organisation committed to strengthening democratic institutions and processes across the world. With a current membership of 35 countries and the United States and Japan as observers, the organisation promotes inclusive, resilient and accountable democracies. India, a founding member of
Ola Electric Mobility Ltd.’s blockbuster initial stock offering last year had investors clamoring to buy over four times the number of shares publicly available. Now, it’s struggling to find backers despite a new bet on home battery storage.Beset with shrinking market share, relentless cash burn and a nearly 53% plunge in share price this year, the SoftBank Group Corp.-backed electric scooter maker has been turned down by multiple financiers in recent months, said people familiar with the matter who did not want to be identified as the discussions were private. Talks with some investors are ongoing, they added. Investors are balking at joining the company’s new 15-billion-rupee ($168 million) fundraising plan given the Indian EV maker’s deteriorating sales and financial health. Len
“Health makes wealth in the stock market too”, says Equirus Capital as India’s life sciences and healthcare sector has crossed a significant milestone in fundraising, with total inflows surpassing the Covid-era high of Rs 62,432 crore.In its recent report, Equirus notes that the NSE Healthcare Index has outperformed the Nifty 50 over 1, 3, and 5-year periods. The report highlights broad-based outperformance across subsectors such as MedTech, Hospitals, and Pharma.For example, over three years, MedTech returned 221%, Hospitals 183%, and Pharma 73%, compared to 48% by the Nifty 50. 125588406 Equirus attributed the surge in activity to strong market performance, which further enabled record fundraising. The current fiscal year (FY26) has already seen fundraising cross Rs 72,440 crore, l
Markets regulator Sebi has relaxed the educational qualification criteria for Investment Advisers (IAs) and Research Analysts (RAs), allowing graduates from any discipline to apply for registration.However, passing the NISM certification exam will remain mandatory to ensure domain knowledge and professional preparedness, Sebi said in two separate notifications on Tuesday.Currently, applicants are required to hold a graduate or postgraduate degree in finance-related fields such as Finance, Business Management, Commerce, Economics, or Capital Markets to be eligible for registration.Under the new framework, graduates from any discipline, including law and engineering, are eligible to become investment advisers and research analysts.The applicants are required to have "a graduate degree or any
The government on Wednesday approved doubling of the Dwarka-Kanalus rail line in Gujarat and building third and fourth lines between Badlapur and Karjat in Mumbai metropolitan region. A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the two projects with a total cost of Rs 2,781 crore, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters here. The Devbhumi Dwarka (Okha)-Kanalus rail line will improve connectivity to the Dwarkadhish temple, a key pilgrimage site, and transportation of commodities such as coal, salt, container, and cement. "The capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 18 MTPA (million tonnes per annum)," Vaishnaw, who is also the railway minister, said. The Bad
