Chemists to take e-pharmacies to court

NEW DELHI: The fight between brick-andmortar chemists and online pharmacies is set to reach courts now. The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) will approach ten High Courts in India against the central and state drug regulators for lack of action against the "illegal" operation of online pharmacies, which could compromise patient safety. On their part, online pharmacies are gearing up for the fight in the hopes that it would clarify misconceptions about

Cipla to invest Rs 590 crore for a biosimilars plant in South Africa

NEW DELHI: Drug firm CiplaBSE 1.27 % will invest around Rand 1.3 billion (over Rs 590 crore) to launch a manufacturing facility in South Africa for the production of biosimilars. The company's "proposed biotech subsidiary in South Africa will invest just over R 1.3 billion into the country's first state-of-the-art biotech manufacturing facility, for the production of biosimilars," Cipla said in a statement. For this a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Cipla BioTec prt ltd he facility will manufacture biosimilar drugs made from living organisms that would be used in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Construction is scheduled to start in early 2017, with full operations expected to commence in the third quarter of 2018, Cipla said. 

Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd unlikely to cut rates this year

KOLKATA: Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd, earlier known as SKS MicrofinanceBSE -0.90 %, said it might not lower rates in the next two-three quarters, to protect margin and profitability. Its lending rate at 19.75% is the lowest among Microfinance companies while most of its rivals lend at 22-24% rate. Company president Dilli Raj said it is operating at 9.6% margin, lower the permissible 10% limit stipulated by Reserve Bank of India. "There is no need to cut  lending rate as we are operating below the 10% margin cap. A rate cut in the next two-three quarters is unlikely," Raj told ET, backtracking his earlier stance in April when he had said that a 15 bps rate cut was a certainty and was to happen soon.The company reported a net profit of Rs 303 crore for the fiscal 2015-16 compared with Rs 188 crore in the preceding one, despite a 380 bps reduction in lending rates. A lower operational and borrowing cost improved its profitability. The .. 

Panasonic expects to double sales of electric car batteries in 3 years

OSAKA: Japan's Panasonic Corp said it expects strong demand for its lithium-ion batteries from Tesla Motors Inc to help more than double its annual sales of automobile-related batteries in three years. Kenji Tamura, an executive officer in charge of Panasonic's automotive and industrial systems business, said he expects the firm's annual automobile battery sales to grow to 400 billion yen ($3.98 billion) in the business year through March 2019 from 180 billion yen in the year ended march 2016.

Striking Wal-Mart workers in China return to work - for now

SHANGHAI/CHICAGO: Workers striking at Wal-Mart Stores Inc outlets in China have returned to work after the firm agreed to consider their protests against a new work scheduling system that some fear could be used to cut overtime pay, workers and labor activists say. The strikes started at the beginning of the month in the southern city of Nanchang and spread with the help of social media to Wal-Mart hypermarkets in two other cities, the activists and workers said. 

MoS for agriculture S S Ahluwalia says will focus on farmers' welfare

NEW DELHI: The government will work towards farmers' welfare and make Indian agriculture globally competitive, new Minister of State for Agriculture, S S Ahluwalia today said.The 65-year old Ahluwalia, an MP from Darjeeling in West Bengal, today took charge of the office in the presence of Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and secretaries."The challenges that our agriculture sector faced in the past and now are different. I have been given an opportunity to work in this sector. The emphasis will be on farmers' welfare and making our agriculture globally competitive," Ahluwalia told reporters.There was a time when India had a "ship-to-mouth" existence, but the country has now become a net exporter because of farmers' effort.

Manoj Sinha can look forward to spectrum auction, BharatNet and Digital India plan

NEW DELHI: Manoj Sinha took charge as the new telecom minister on Wednesday, coming in as the department of telecom gears up for the largest auction of bandwidth later this year and as consumers continue to grapple with call drops.The appointment of Sinha, 57, brings with it a major challenge in the way of speeding up implementation of the much-delayed BharatNet initiative, which envisages delivering broadband connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats and is critical to the government's ambitious Digital India programme.Sinha's new portfolio brings with it the responsibility of the postal department. India Post is among entities that are preparing to start payments banks, through which the Narendra Modi-led government expects to bring large swathes of the rural population under the formal banking system.

Graphic India brings in Narendra Deshpande as Senior V-P

BENGALURU: Character entertainment company Graphic India today announced hiring of veteran animation executive Narendra Deshpande as its Senior Vice-President, Production and Animation.
Deshpande will work closely with Graphic India's Co-Founder and CEO, Sharad Devarajan, and its EVP, Creative, Jeevan J Kang, to scale up original animation production across television and digital platforms, the company said in a release here.

L&T Construction wins Rs 3,598 crore job orders

NEW DELHI: Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) today said its construction arm has won orders worth Rs 3,598 crore across various business segments."The construction arm of L&T has won orders worth Rs 3,598 crore across various business segments," L&T said in a BSE filing.L&T said its Heavy Civil Infrastructure Business, along with its partner, PES Engineers Pvt Ltd, has won a major order worth Rs 1,849 crore from the Irrigation and Command  ..

India Inc 'enthused' by Cabinet reshuffle: Assocham

NEW DELHI: Assocham today said Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Cabinet reshuffle has conveyed a strong resolve to put a premium on performance of his colleagues to improve quality of governance.The industry body said India Inc is "quite enthused" by the strong leadership quality of Prime Minister at a time when the country is grappling with global headwinds and geo-political risks from terrorism, political upheavals in Britain and the European Union and mood swings in the US  ..