Category: Business & Economy

** India’s Rickey Kej and Falguni Shah win big at 2022 Grammy Awards

Rickey Kej earned his second coveted gramophone trophy in the best new album category for Divine Tides. Falguni Shah, a New York-based Indian singer known by her stage name Falu, won her first Grammy Award for A Colorful World in the best children’s album category.

A Mumbai-born singer went to the US and made her career in music, while the other, born in the US, moved back to India, the country of his parents’ birth. The ‘crossover’ stars Falguni Shah and Rickey Kej have now won their respective Grammy Awards.

At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards held on Sunday night in Las Vegas, Kej earned his second coveted gramophone trophy in the best new album category for Divine Tides, his collaboration with The Police drummer Stewart Copeland.

Shah, a New York-based Indian singer known by her stage name Falu, won her first Grammy Award for A Colorful World in the best children’s album category.

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** IIT Guwahati develops technology to standardise Electric Vehicles in India

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati has developed a technology that rates the motors and batteries of electric vehicles and suggests the best drivetrain components for the Indian scenario to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

According to IIT Guwahati, this is a unique method of its kind which standardises the electronic vehicles based on Indian drive-cycles.

T. G. Sitharam, director, IIT Guwahati, said, “The development in the field of next-generation energy-efficient EV technology is one of the most important breakthroughs required for the sustainable development of the country and to reduce the carbon footprint. IIT Guwahati is earnestly working in this direction. This development will augment this process and maximize the outcomes.”

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** Diamond jubilee of Helicopter Training School celebrated

Museum showcasing rich heritage of the IAF helicopter units opened
Helicopter Training School (HTS), the biggest helicopter unit and alma mater of IAF helicopter pilots, celebrated its diamond jubilee at the Air Force Station-Hakimpet on Sunday.

Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari and Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-charge), Training Command IAF, along with Air Chief Marshal F.H. Major (retired), Admiral Karambir Singh (retired), veterans and serving officers of the helicopter fleet from all three services attended the event.

A special cover and diamond jubilee book of HTS, commemorating the occasion, was released. An HTS Museum showcasing the rich heritage of the IAF helicopter units was also opened.

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** HAL scales new peak, sees revenue of over Rs 24K crore

Aerospace giant Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has recorded the highest ever revenue of over Rs 24,000 crore (provisional and unaudited) for the financial year ending March 31, 2022, registering a 6 % revenue growth over the previous financial year. The corresponding figure for the previous year stood at Rs 22,755 crore.

“Despite the challenges of the second wave of Covid-19 during the first quarter of the year and the consequent production loss, the Company could meet the targeted revenue growth with improved performance during the balance period of the year”, said R Madhavan, Chairman & Managing Director, HAL.

HAL achieved record revenue with the production of 44 new helicopters/aircraft, 84 new engines, overhauled 203 aircraft/helicopters and 478 engines.

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** Dr. Reddy’s acquiring Novartis cardio drug Cidmus for $61 m

Given the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, this acquisition will allow Dr. Reddy’s to make a trusted portfolio of medicines available to the patients

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories has entered into an agreement with pharma giant Novartis AG to acquire cardiovascular brand Cidmus in India for $61 million.

Under the agreement, it will be assigned and transferred the Cidmus trademark in India from Novartis AG. Cidmus sales in the country was around ₹136.4 crore for the most recent 12 months ending in February 2022, Dr. Reddy’s said on April 1, citing IQVIA MAT numbers.

The Cidmus brand will be affixed on the pharmaceutical composition comprising a combination of Valsartan and Sacubitril (currently under Novartis patent) which is indicated for heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction. The tablets were available in three strengths, the company said.

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** Sri Lanka hands over three wind farm projects to India

Sri Lanka has decided to hand over to India the development of three wind farms that was originally awarded to a Chinese firm. The decision was announced on Tuesday, after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed in the presence MEA S Jaishankar in Colombo.

The USD 12 million project, to be built on three small islands (Nainativu, Analaitivu and Delft) in the Palk Strait between India and Sri Lanka, was awarded to a Chinese firm in 2019, with funding from Asian Development Bank (ADB). India had been protesting against the project citing its proximity to its coast. Due to various reasons the work didn’t commence and the project had to be shelved. 

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** India to lead security pillar of BIMSTEC; PM pitches for focus on regional security

The seven countries in the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) today adopted a charter and connectivity roadmap and entrusted India to be at the helm of its security pillar.

“With the charter, Bimstec now has an international personality, it has an emblem, it has a flag, it has formally listed purpose and principles that it is going to adhere to and an architecture. So that represents a fairly significant evolution of this grouping process which was happening since 2004, but gained traction after 2014,” said additional secretary Bimstec, Rudrendra Tandon. 

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** Axis Bank buys Citibank’s retail business

Axis Bank, the country’s third-largest private bank, has purchased Citibank’s consumer banking business for $1.6 billion or Rs 12,325 crore in an all-cash deal. Axis expects to secure regulatory approvals for the deal in nine months, following which it will integrate Citi’s retail customers with its platform over the next 12-18 months.

Under the deal, Citibank will transfer its credit card, retail banking, wealth management and consumer loans business to Axis Bank. Axis Bank said the deal would give it access to around 3 million unique customers of Citibank, which will enhance its presence in “key identified growth segments.”

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** 65-yr-old breathes free after India’s 1st BTVA procedure

For the first time in India, the procedure of Bronchoscopic Thermal Vapour Ablation (BTVA), which is an endoscopic lung volume reduction (ELVR) treatment was done at the Yashoda Hospital. The procedure is known to help reduce hyperinflation and improve respiratory mechanics in patients with severe emphysema. 

Emphysema is a sub-type of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) wherein the air sacs within the lungs are destroyed. The patient who received the procedure at Yashoda Hospital was a 65-year-old man, previously a chain-smoker, who was nearly bed-ridden due to a lack of oxygen absorption 

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** Doctors at Apollo perform two heart valve procedures simultaneously

Doctors at the Apollo Hospitals have performed procedures to address critical problems in the mitral valve and the aortic valve of the heart at the same time on a 75-year-old patient from Sri Lanka.

While a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) was performed to address the narrowing of the aortic valve, a clip was placed to repair the mitral valve to address mitral valve regurgitation.

Sai Satish, senior interventional cardiologist, who has performed over 450 TAVRs, said it was the experience of performing mitral valve clip procedures and TAVR in the recent years and the infrastructure available at Apollo Hospitals that made the simultaneous procedures possible.

Pointing out that the hospital was the first to perform a mitral valve clip procedure in the country in 2018 and it was among the highest in the number of TAVRs performed, she said the achievement was not about the numbers but about how these procedures helped so many patients lead a quality life.

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