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Not worried about budget deficit as spending up to support economy: FM

“As regards the coming year, we need to do an assessment,” she said ahead of the next fiscal year’s budget due Feb. 1. “I’m not sure that I can immediately curtail expenditure. It will have to be a careful balance because the momentum that the economy gains should be sustained.”
India last month expanded stimulus measures to 15% of the economy to rescue companies and save jobs in an economy clobbered by a sudden lockdown in March to stem the coronavirus pandemic. That could widen the budget gap to 8% of gross domestic product in the year to March, more the double the budgeted 3.5%.

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Ambani hints at 5G rollout in second half of 2021

5G is the 5th generation mobile network that enables connecting virtually everyone and everything together including machines, objects, and devices.

“We are creating compelling home-grown solutions in education, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, financial services and new commerce,” Mukesh Ambani said. “Each of these solutions, once proven in India, will be offered to the rest of the world to address global challenges.”

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French insurers to freeze premiums for sectors hardest hit by virus

Under pressure from  French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire,insurers faced the prospect of being hit by a 1.2 billion euro ($1.45 billion) tax if they did not offer to keep premiums steady next year.

Le Maire, who had been concerned some insurers were preparing to hike premiums, said the freeze would benefit hotels, restaurants and bars as well as firms in the tourism, sports, culture and events industries.

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Munich Re to no longer cover events cancelled for pandemics

The world’s largest resinsurer is making the change after it faced large losses this year in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

Torsten Jeworrek, who oversees the reinsurance segment, said that Munich Re would remain in the business but that the tweak in its strategy was a result of the pandemic. The resinsurer will also adjust prices for event cancellation coverage, he said.

The cancellation and postponement of sports events like the Olympics in Tokyo as well as concerts have been a major burden for Munich Re, which expects a total of 4 billion euros ($4.85 billion) in COVID-related losses.

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ADB’s $300 mn funding to strengthen India’s primary health care in urban areas

The ADB’s Strengthening Comprehensive Primary Health Care in Urban Areas Programme will support the Ayushman Bharat (the Healthy India Initiative) Health and Wellness Centres (AB-HWC) and PM-ASBY to ensure equitable access to quality comprehensive primary health care services in urban areas in 13 states.

The programme will benefit an estimated 256 million urban residents, including 51 million from the slum areas of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal.

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Officer unions demand to include bankers as frontline Covid warriors for vaccination

In a letter written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, unions said the government is expecting at least two vaccines against Covid-19, Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Oxford’s Covishield, to be available possibly in January 2021; and there is a plan to inoculate the frontline Covid warriors including those working in healthcare, police, sanitary workers, etc.
Bankers have been providing yeoman service ever since the announcement of lockdown and have continued to provide required banking services, it said, adding bankers have been instrumental in keeping the wheels of the economy moving despite hazards and constraints.

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