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Eco/Invest/Demography

After dropping below one, Covid R-value rises sharply to 1.17 in second half of August

When the second wave swept through the country between March to May, the R-value was 1.37 (between March 9 to April 21). From May 15-June 26, the R-value stood at 0.78. However, it slowly started increasing — it was 0.88 from June 20-July 7, 0.95 from July 3-22, 0.96 from July 24-27. It breached the value of 1.03 for the first time after the second wave during July 27-31. However, since then it has slowly started to decline.

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ICICI Lombard gets final IRDAI nod for acquiring Bharti Axa, to be 2nd largest Indian general insurer

The merger of Bharti Axa General Insurance with ICICI Lombard General Insurance, had earlier got formalised in an all-stock deal, valued at €521 million(approximately Rs 4,200 crore).
The shareholders of Bharti AXA will receive two  shares of ICICI Lombard for every 115 shares of Bharti AXA held by them as on the date as the scheme of arrangement is approved by the board of directors of ICICI Lombard and Bharti AXA.
he consolidated entity will have a market share of about 8.7 per cent on a pro forma basis in the non-life business, 

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Govt revamps incentives for autos to boost EVs, hydrogen fuel cells: Report

Auto parts makers, however, will get incentives to produce components for clean cars as well as for investing in safety-related parts and other advanced technologies like sensors and radars used in connected cars, automatic transmission, cruise control and other electronics, the sources said.

“The idea is to promote the development of technology that is currently not manufactured in India but is imported either because regulation demands it or customers want those features in their cars,” said the second source.

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Singapore rolls out SPAC rules as global scrutiny rises

A spokesperson from the Monetary Authority of Singapore said the local rules position SGX “as a regional first-mover in serving Asia’s fast-growing new tech and new economy companies’ financing needs,” while providing safeguards for investors.
In other markets, Hong Kong and Indonesia are taking tentative steps for potential SPAC listings, while Britain has eased rules. But such investment vehicles are peaking in popularity in the United States as regulators there clamp down on SPACs after a listing frenzy.

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WhatsApp fined $266 mn by Irish regulator over data transparency breaches

Under the three-year-old GDPR law, authorities have powers to fine companies as much as 4% of their annual sales. The rules put watchdogs based in a company’s chosen EU hub in charge of supervising them. But the Irish regulator, which has at least 28 privacy probes open targeting tech giants such as Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, has faced mounting criticism for taking too long to wrap up its cases.

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India aims to open finance to millions with user-data system

Regulators agreed to allow banks, pension funds, tax authorities, insurers and other finance firms to pool together customer information — once the user consents — to make transactions smoother. If the system works, firms will be able access large amounts of data within seconds to assess the creditworthiness of a small business, recommend a wealth management product for an individual, or tailor an insurance policy for a family.

The Account Aggregator system, years in the planning, was formally introduced on Thursday. It’s an ambitious approach that combines privacy protection with credit reporting.

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India records 47,092 new COVID-19 cases, biggest daily rise in 2 months

“With cases rising in Kerala, adequate steps should be taken to contain the inter-state spread of COVID-19,” Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in a statement after speaking with his state counterparts in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, which border Kerala.

He asked them to increase vaccination in the districts close to Kerala. India has so far administered 662 million doses, with at least one dose in 54% of its 944 million adults and the required two doses in 16%.

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German companies not allowed to check on employees’ vaccine status

But Germany has strict data privacy laws because of its history of Nazi and Communist state surveillance of citizens, meaning that companies have no right to find out about health issues relating to their staff.

German businesses have been pushing to be able to ask staff about vaccination and the government is trying to get more people to get the shots as infections rise again. Almost 61% of the population has had both shots and 65% at least one.

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