Heena Sharma Blog

  India's rising output of Covid-19 vaccines and the inoculation of more than half its adult population with at least one dose are raising hopes the country will return as an exporter within months, ramping up from early next year. After donating or selling 66 million doses to nearly 100 countries, India barred exports in the middle of April to focus on domestic immunisation as infections exploded, upsetting the inoculation plans of many African and South Asian countries. India's daily vaccinations surpassed 10 million doses on Friday, with national vaccine production more than doubling since April and set to rise again in the coming weeks. New production lines have been set up, a vaccine developed by Cadila Healthcare won recent approval, and commercial production of Russia's Sputnik V is starting in India. The Serum Institute of India (SII), the world's biggest vaccine maker, is now producing about 150 million doses a month of its version of the AstraZeneca sho

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) across the country are keeping a wary eye on the government's decision to allow select manufacturing units to reopen on April 20. While MSMEs in most sectors have welcomed the latest move, they argue that lack of financial support from the government might result in these firms not running even if they manage to reopen. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has recommended focus primarily on increasing the financing available to MSMEs with relaxed collateral norms, an extension of the RBI moratorium and wage support. It also suggested expediting fund of funds for MSMEs which has been under the government's consideration and augmenting the assets of MUDRA Bank. Read More