In Tamil Nadu, a new district is going to be formed after bifurcating the Nagappattinam district. The new district will be headquartered at Mayiladuthurai. CM Edappadi Palaniswamy made the announcement saying, it would be the 38th district in the state.
Its main water source comes from the Kollidam River.
First Made in India Test Kit to diagnose COVID-19 got the commercial approval by the CDSCO. It would cost 1/4th of the current procurement cost and is faster as it screens and detects the infection within 2.5 hours as compared with over 7 hours by others.
CDSCO- Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation.
World Health Organization has initiated a global mega trial of the 4 most promising drugs that may cure the novel coronavirus. The mega trial is called Solidarity, under which the study, testing & development of antidote against coronavirus will be made.
Drugs: Remdesivir, HIV drug, interferon-beta & malaria medicine.
Reliance Industries in collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has set up India's first COVID-19 dedicated hospital in Mumbai that includes a negative pressure room that helps in preventing cross-contamination and helps control infection.
It is a 100-bedded hospital.
US regulators have lifted import restrictions on Ipca Laboratories in an effort to increase supplies of a malaria drug touted by Trump as a potential coronavirus treatment. Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were 1st approved in the U.S. decades ago.
Ipca: International pharmaceutical company based in Mumbai.
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation issued a circular granting one-time dispensation for utilizing funds under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) to address the challenges in the fight against Coronavirus.
It will be used for purchase of equipment’s for govt hospitals.
FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced that last date for filing of income tax return for the financial year 2018-19 has been extended till 30th June of this year. She said, interest on delayed payment of income tax reduced to 9 per cent from the 12 per cent.
PAN-Aadhar linking have also been extended till 30th June.
Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami said that, to attract new investments into the state, an EV park will be set up at Manalur SIPCOT Industrial Estate near Chennai at an expected cost of Rs 148 Cr. A NABARD-assisted Rs 2,934 Cr plan is also announced.
This fund will create modern infrastructure in the parks.
Invest India- India’s national Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency- under the Commerce ministry has launched the Invest India Business Immunity Platform to help businesses and investors get real-time updates on India’s active response to COVID-19.
Invest India has also announced a partnership with SIDBI.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced the creation of a WhatsApp chatbox-912026127394- to enable citizens to get coronavirus-related information. Maharashtra has reported the highest number of COVID- 19 cases (107) among states so far.
Maharshtra Governor- Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
The Reserve Bank, which has been snapping up greenbacks in the past two years, has also been lapping up US treasury bills and the holdings touched a record high in January. The holdings rose by more than $2 billion between December 2019 and January 2020.
RBI follow Safety, Liquidity & Return (SLR) principle.
Fitch Solutions revised down its forecast for the Indian rupee, saying the currency will average 77 per US dollar in 2020 & 80 in 2021 amid ongoing global risk-off sentiment and likely steep monetary easing. It saw real GDP growth at 5.4% in 2020-21 fiscal
It forecasted GDP growth of 5.8% in the following FY.
The government may consider suspending section 7, 9 and 10 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code for 6 months if the present situation doesn't improve beyond April 30. Threshold for default under IBC was being raised to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh earlier.
IBC gives time-bound process to resolve insolvency among firms.
Cognizant Technology Solutions has entered into an agreement to acquire Lev. Lev helps businesses simplify & modernise their marketing campaigns using Salesforce Marketing Cloud to provide data-driven insight & personalisation across the customer journey.
Lev is a privately held, digital marketing consultancy in US.
Hindustan Unilever signed an agreement with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd to acquire its intimate hygiene brand VWash. With this acquisition, HUL will be foraying into the niche intimate hygiene category. HUL will be buying only the brand and the business.
Chairman & Managing Director of HUL- Sanjiv Mehta.
Adani Transmission Ltd said that it has bought back non-convertible debentures (NCDs) worth Rs 125 Cr. Adani Transmission- an Adani group company- is the country's largest private transmission firm with a cumulative network of more than 14,800 circuit km.
Moody's assigned Baa2 to Adani's $400 mn senior secured bonds.
PM Modi announced allocation of Rs 15000 crore to strengthen healthcare infrastructure to fight coronavirus in India. This includes testing facilities, personal protection, isolation beds, ICU beds, ventilators and training medical and paramedical staff.
He also announced complete lock down of the country for 21 days.
World economy is facing severe economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic that could be even more costly than in 2009 & will require an unprecedented response, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva said. IMF is ready to deploy all $1 trillion lending capacity.
Global economy contracted by 0.6% in 2009 due to 2008 crisis.
A man in Yunnan Province of China died shortly after he was tested positive for Hanta virus. The symptoms of Hanta Virus are similar to that of COVID-19. The Hanta Virus, also called the Orthohanta virus spreads through rats. It causes haemorrhagic fever.
Hanta also causes renal syndrome.
In a first major step for the unorganised sector to tide over the COVID-19 during lockdown period, the central government directed states to transfer cash into the bank accounts of construction workers from the unutilised welfare funds earmarked for them.
Labour Ministry directed the states to transfer Rs 52,000 Cr.
The Japan leg of the Tokyo Olympic torch relay has been cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak, Yoshiro Mori said. The move comes after PM Shinzo Abe & International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach agreed to postpone the games by roughly 1 year.
Yoshiro Mori: President of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.
The central government banned export of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine, with immediate effect to ensure sufficient availability of the medicine in the domestic market. Over the last few weeks, India has banned exports of host of medical devices.
ICMR Director General- Balram Bhargava.
The Trump administration is slashing $1 billion in assistance to Afghanistan and threatening further reductions in all forms of cooperation after the country’s rival leaders failed to agree on forming a new government. Mike Pompeo visited Afghanistan.
Ashraf Ghani & Abdullah Abdullah stated themselves as President.
RBI said bank credit to registered NBFCs towards agriculture, MSEs & housing sector up to prescribed limits will be treated as priority sector loans during the next FY starting April. The move will help boost credit disbursement in the targeted segments.
PSL for bank loans to NBFCs for on-lending for 2020-21 extended.
Kotak Mahindra Group has launched Kotak Silk Loans -with attractive rates and special offers across a range of loan categories especially for women borrowers. Kotak Silk Savings Programme is to empower women in their journey towards financial independence.
Uday Kotak- Managing Director & CEO, Kotak Mahindra.
International Day of Solidarity with Detained & Missing Staff Members is observed on 25 March remember the fallen personnel who served for the cause of peace in the world. In 2018, 16 UN staff members were kidnapped or abducted, and one thus far in 2019.
United Nations was formed on 1945.
Every year on 25 March, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade honours and remember those who suffered & died at the hands of the brutal slavery system & raise awareness about of racism & prejudice.
A memorial has been erected at UN Headquarters in New York.
