Patenting of Innovative Low Cost PPE developed by Indian Navy Paves way for Rapid Mass Production

In a major step towards rapid mass production of the Medical Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) developed by the Indian Navy, a patent has been successfully filed by the Intellectual Property Facilitation Cell (IPFC) of Min of Defence, in association with National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), an enterprise under Min of Science & Technology.

The low-cost PPE has been developed by a Doctor of Indian Navy, posted at the recently created Innovation Cell at Institute of Naval Medicine (INM), Mumbai. A pilot batch of PPEs has already been produced at Naval Dockyard Mumbai.

The PPE developed by the Navy is made of a special fabric which affords high level of protection along with high ‘breathability’ as against other PPEs available in the market and is therefore more suitable for use in hot and humid weather conditions as prevalent in India. The technology has also been tested and validated by ICMR approved Testing Lab.

Concerted efforts are now ongoing by a core team of Navy, IPFC and NRDC to commence mass production of this low-cost PPE. Eligible firms are being identified by NRDC for taking up licensed production of the PPEs on a fast track. A very significant and urgent requirement in the fight against the Corona Virus is the need to equip our front-line health care professionals with comfortable PPEs, which can be produced indigenously at an affordable cost without much capital investment. The firms / start-ups interested to take up licensed production may approach cmdnrdc@nrdcindia.com.

The team of Innovators from Navy is working in close coordination with IPFC which was set up under Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti. Since its launch in Nov 2018, around 1500 IP assets have been created under Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti.

Dr Harsh Vardhan dedicates COBAS 6800 testing machine to the nation; Nearly 20 lakh samples tested for COVID-19 through more than 500 labs: Dr. Harsh Vardhan

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare visited the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and dedicated the COBAS 6800 testing machine to the nation, here today. This is the first such testing machine that has been procured by the Government for testing of COVID-19 cases and is installed at the National Centre for Disease Control.

The Union Health Minister also visited the Control Room and the Testing Laboratories and reviewed the current status of COVID-19 testing with Dr S K Singh, Director (NCDC) and senior officials. Highlighting the achievements in ramping up the testing capability, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “We have now developed a capacity to conduct 1,00,000 tests per day. Today marks an important milestone as we have tested nearly 20 lakh tests for COVID-19 mark at more than 500 laboratories including 359 Government laboratories and 145 private laboratories in the country”. He further added, “NCDC has been now equipped with the COBAS 6800, a fully automated, high end machine for performing real time PCR testing COVID-19 in the service of nation. COBAS 6800 will provide quality, high-volume testing with a high throughput of test around 1200 samples in 24 hours. It will largely increase the testing capacity with reduction in pendency.”

Highlighting its other features, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that COBAS 6800 is a sophisticated machine enabled with robotics that minimizes the chance of contamination as well as the risk of infection to the health care workers since it can be operated remotely with limited human intervention. As the machine requires a minimum BSL2+ containment level for testing, it cannot be placed at just any facility. COBAS 6800 can also detect other pathogens like Viral Hepatitis B & C, HIV, MTb (both rifampicin and isoniazid resistance), Papilloma, CMV, Chlamydia, Neisseria etc.

Expressing his deep gratitude to the selfless services being rendered every day since the beginning of the pandemic, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “I salute the pathologists, lab technicians, scientists and other staff who are our ‘Corona Warriors’ and working under tremendous risky conditions in their line of duty, day and night to save the fellow countrymen.” He added that the nation needs to shun stigma and applaud the contribution of these frontline healthcare providers.

Dr Harsh Vardhan also lauded the dedication, hard work and sincerity of all the surveillance officers and encouraged them to continue the fight with renewed vigour. The Union Health Minister emphasised on the quality and sturdiness of the community surveillance and contact tracing. “It is the need of the hour that all the people who are either in home or facility quarantine, need to maintain strict vigil, and practise the laid down protocols of social distancing, and personal hygiene. Special care needs to be taken of the elderly, pregnant women and small children”, he stated.

Dr Harsh Vardhan added that it is a heartening news that today, the last three days’ doubling time has slowed down to 13.9 days, while the doubling time in the past 14 days was 11.1. He further added that the fatality rate is 3.2 per cent and the recovery rate has further improved and today stands at 33.6 per cent (it was 32.83 per cent yesterday). He also added that (as of yesterday) there are 3.0 per cent active COVID-19 patients in ICU, 0.39 per cent on ventilators and 2.7 per cent on oxygen support. “Today, there are 14 States/UTs that have not reported any cases of COVID-19 in last 24 hrs. i.e. A&N Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Puducherry, Telangana. Also, Daman & Diu, Sikkim, Nagaland and Lakshadweep have not reported any cases till”, he stated.

As on 14th May 2020, a total of 78,003 cases have been reported from the country in which 26,235 persons have been cured and 2,549 deaths had occurred. In the last 24 hours, 3,722 new confirmed cases have been added.

Finance Minister announces short term and long-term measures for supporting the poor, including migrants, farmers, tiny businesses and street vendors

Hon’ble Prime Minister announced a Special economic and comprehensive package of Rs 20 lakh Crore - equivalent to 10 per cent of India’s GDP on 12th May 2020. He gave a clarion call for  or Self-Reliant India Movement. He also outlined five pillars of Aatmanirbhar Bharat – Economy, Infrastructure, System, Vibrant Demography and Demand.

Announcing the second Tranche of measures to ameliorate the hardships faced specifically by migrant labours, street vendors, migrant urban poor, small traders self-employed people, small farmers and housing, Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman today in her press conference detailed the short term and long-term measures for supporting the poor, including migrants, farmers, tiny businesses and street vendors.

Smt Sitharaman stated that Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is always concerned about the difficulties faced by poor, including migrant workers and farmers. Farmers and workers are the backbone of this nation. They serve all of us with their sweat and toil. Migrant workers need affordable and convenient rental housing in urban areas in addition to social security. There is also a need to create employment opportunities for the poor, including migrant and unorganised workers. Farmers need timely and adequate credit support.

Smt. Sitharaman said that the Government is attentive to the needs to all the segments of economy and society. She also mentioned that small business set ups, especially those run by street vendors, support dignified livelihoods through Shishu MUDRA loans. They also need our patronage by way of business as well as caring attention in the form of social security and enhanced credit.

Following short term and long-term measures for supporting the poor, including migrants, farmers, tiny businesses and street vendors were announced today: -

1. Free food grains supply to migrants for 2 months

For the migrant labour, additional food grain to all the States/UTs at the rate of 5 kg per migrant labourer and 1 kg Chana per family per month for two months i.e. May and June 2020 free of cost shall be allocated. Migrant labourers not covered under National Food Security Act or without a ration card in the State/UT in which they are stranded at present will be eligible. States/UTs shall be advised to put a mechanism for targeted distribution as envisaged in the scheme. 8 lakh MT of food-grain and 50,000 MT of Chana shall be allocated. The entire outlay of Rs 3500 crore (US$ 496.52 million) will be borne by Government of India.

 

2. Technology system to be used enabling Migrants to access PDS (Ration) from any Fair Price Shops in India by March,2021-One Nation one Ration Card

Pilot scheme for portability of ration cards will be extended to 23 states. By that, 67 crore beneficiaries covering 83 per cent of PDS population will be covered by National portability of Ration cards by August 2020. 100 per cent National portability will be achieved by March 2021. This is part of PM’s Technology Driven System Reforms This scheme will enable a migrant worker and their family members to access PDS benefits from any Fair Price Shop in the country. This will ensure that the people in transit, especially migrant workers can also get the benefit of PDS benefit across the country.

 

3. Scheme for Affordable Rental Housing Complexes for Migrant Workers and Urban Poor to be launched

Central Government will launch a scheme for migrant workers and urban poor to provide ease of living at affordable rent. Affordable Rental Housing Complexes will provide social security and quality life to migrant labour, urban poor, and students etc. This will be done through converting government funded houses in the cities into Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) under PPP mode through concessionaire; manufacturing units, industries, institutions, associations to develop Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) on their private land and operate; and Incentivizing  State Govt agencies/Central Government Organizations on similar lines to develop Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHC) and operate. The exact details of the scheme will be released by the Ministry/Department.

 

4. Two per cent Interest Subvention for 12 months for Shishu MUDRA loanees- Relief of Rs 1,500 crore (US$ 212.80 million)

Government of India will provide Interest subvention of two per cent for prompt payees for a period of 12 months to MUDRA Shishu loanees, who have loans below Rs 50,000 (US$ 709.32). The current portfolio of MUDRA Shishu loans is around Rs 1.62 Lakh crore. This will provide relief of about Rs 1,500 crore (US$ 212.80 million) to Shishu MUDRA loanee.

 

5. Rs 5,000 crore (US$ 709.32 million) Credit facility for Street Vendors

 A special scheme will be launched within a month to facilitate easy access to credit to Street vendors, who are amongst the most adversely impacted by the present situation for enabling them to restart their businesses. Under this scheme, bank credit facility for initial working capital up to Rs 10,000 (US$ 141.86) for each enterprise will be extended. This scheme will cover urban as well as rural vendors doing business in the adjoining urban areas. Use of digital payments and timely repayments will be incentivized through monetary rewards. It is expected that 50 lakh street vendors will be benefitted under this scheme and credit of Rs 5,000 crore (US$ 709.32 million) would flow to them.

 

6. Rs 70,000 crore (US$ 9.93 billion) boost to housing sector and middle-income group through extension of Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for MIG under PMAY(Urban)

The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for Middle Income Group (annual Income between Rs 6 and 18 lakh [US$ 0.01 and 0.03 million]) will be extended up to March 2021. This will benefit 2.5 lakh middle income families during 2020-21 and will lead to investment of over Rs 70,000 crore (US$ 9.93 billion) in housing sector. This will create significant number of jobs by giving boost to Housing sector and will stimulate demand for steel, cement, transport and other construction materials.

 

7. Rs 6,000 crore (US$ 851.18 million) for Creating employment using CAMPA funds

Approximately Rs 6,000 crore (US$ 851.18 million) of funds under Compensatory Afforestation Management & Planning Authority (CAMPA) will be used for Afforestation and Plantation works, including in urban areas, Artificial regeneration, assisted natural regeneration, Forest management, soil & moisture conservation works, Forest protection, forest and wildlife related infrastructure development, wildlife protection and management etc. Government of India will grant immediate approval to these plans amounting to Rs 6000 crore (US$ 851.18 million). This will create job opportunities in urban, semi-urban and rural areas and also for Tribals (Adivashis).

 

8. Rs 30,000 crore (US$ 4.26 billion) Additional Emergency Working Capital for farmers through NABARD

 NABARD will extend additional re-finance support of Rs 30,000 crore (US$ 4.26 billion) for meeting crop loan requirement of Rural Cooperative Banks and RRBs. This refinance will be front-loaded and available on tap. This is over and above Rs 90,000 crore (US$ 12.77 billion) that will be provided by NABARD to this sector in the normal course. This will benefit around 3 crore farmers, mostly small and marginal and it will meet their post-harvest Rabi and current Kharif requirements.

 

9. Rs 2 lakh crore (US$ 28.37 billion) credit boost to 2.5 crore farmers under Kisan Credit Card Scheme

 A special drive to provide concessional credit to PM-KISAN beneficiaries through Kisan Credit Cards. Fisherman and Animal Husbandy Farmers will also be included in this drive. This will inject additional liquidity of Rs 2 lakh crore (US$ 28.37 billion) in the farm sector. 2.5 crore farmers will be covered.

Indian Railways crosses the milestone of transporting a total of more than one million passengers (10 lakh) to their home states through "Shramik Special" trains in less than 15 days

Subsequent to the Ministry of Home Affairs order regarding movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places by special trains, Indian Railways had decided to operate “Shramik Special” trains.

As on 14th May 2020, a total of 800 “Shramik Special” trains have been operationalized from various states across the country. More than 10 lakh passengers have reached their home State. Trains being run by Railways only after concurrence is given both by the State which is sending the passengers and the State which is receiving them.

These 800 trains were terminated in various states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal.

Proper screening of passengers is ensured before boarding the train. During the journey, passengers are given free meals and water.

NTPC, a CPSU, achieves 100 per cent PLF at three of its power stations

NTPC Ltd, a central PSU under Ministry of Power and India’s largest power generator, has achieved 100 per cent Plant Load Factor (PLF) on 9th May 2020, at three of its thermal power stations. NTPC Vindhyachal (4760 MW) in Madhya Pradesh, NTPC Talcher Kaniha (3000 MW) in Odisha & NTPC Sipat (2980 MW) in Chhattisgarh achieved 100 per cent PLF, demonstrating exceptional operational efficiency and optimum capacity utilisation despite lockdown on account of COVID-19 pandemic.

At the same time, NTPC Koldam in Himachal Pradesh is emerging as one of the best hydropower stations in the country for FY20-21. Earlier, on 13th April 2020, country's largest power station, NTPC Vindhyachal had achieved 100 per cent plus PLF.

Beyond power output, NTPC is making a rich contribution to the social welfare activities for underprivileged section and migrant workers by providing ration and medical aid amidst COVID-19 situation. NTPC is strictly adhering to the guidelines in its fight against COVID-19 by maintaining social distancing at all its establishments and power stations across the country.

With NTPC Group’s total installed 62110 MW capacity, NTPC has 70 Power stations comprising of 24 Coal, 7 combined cycle gas/liquid fuel, 1 Hydro, 13 renewables along with 25 JV Power Stations.

PE firm Carlyle to acquire up to 74 per cent stake in SeQuent Scientific for Rs 1,580 crore

American private equity investor, the Carlyle Group, will acquire up to a 74 per cent stake in animal health focused pharmaceutical company, SeQuent Scientific Ltd.

SeQuent is an animal healthcare company that operates globally and offer active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), formulations, and analytical services in around 100 countries, with more than 1,700 employees and manufacturing operations in India, Spain, Turkey, Germany and Brazil.

Carlyle will acquire a maximum of 183 million shares from the promoters and a mandatory open offer at Rs 86 (US$ 1.22) per share. The total consideration for the 74 per cent stake will make to about Rs 1,580 crore (US$ 224.15 million).

Around 44.92 per cent stake by promoters will be sold for this transaction. Also, under certain conditions, Carlyle has agreed to buy the 5.69 per cent stake held by existing private equity investor Ascent Capital. The deal is supposed to be done by the October quarter.

Carlyle's acquisition of the promoter stake will initiate an open offer to acquire up to 26 per cent equity from public shareholders of the company.

The financial advisor for Carlyle was Nomura for this deal and will also be managing the open offer. Law firm Nishith Desai Associates advised Sequent and its promoters.

"SeQuent is led by an experienced management team and has built strong API and formulation businesses that are poised for continued growth in the evolving animal health industry. We will draw on our global network, industry knowledge and operating expertise in healthcare to advise SeQuent on its business expansion strategy, enhance its operations, and help the company drive sales and product innovation," said Mr Neeraj Bharadwaj, managing director at Carlyle Asia Partners

“We see strong growth potential in the global animal health industry, including the livestock segment where SeQuent is operating, thanks to increasing demand for animal protein, rising awareness of food safety, and growing disposable incomes," he added.

DRDO lab develops automated UV systems to sanitise electronic gadgets, papers and currency notes

Hyderabad based Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) premier lab, Research Centre Imarat (RCI), has developed an automated contactless UVC sanitisation cabinet, called Defence Research Ultraviolet Sanitiser (DRUVS). It has been designed to sanitise mobile phones, iPads, laptops, currency notes, cheque leafs, challans, passbooks, paper, envelopes, etc.

 The DRUVS cabinet is having contactless operation which is very important to contain the spread of virus. The proximity sensor switches, clubbed with drawer opening and closing mechanism, makes its operation automatic and contactless. It provides 360-degree exposure of UVC to the objects placed inside the cabinet. Once the sanitisation is done, the system goes in sleep mode hence the operator need not wait or stand near the device.

DRUVS Cabinet

The RCI has also developed an automated UVC currency sanitising device, called NOTESCLEAN. Bundles of currency notes can be sanitised using DRUVS, however disinfection of each currency notes using it will be a time-consuming process. For that purpose, a sanitising technique has been developed, where one has to just place the loose currency notes at the input slot of the device. It picks the notes one by one and makes them pass through a series of UVC lamps for complete disinfection.

Indian Railway operates 366 "Shramik Special" trains till 10th May 2020 (1500 hrs) across the country

Subsequent to the Ministry of Home Affairs order regarding movement of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places by special trains, Indian Railways had decided to operate “Shramik Special” trains. 

As on 10th May 2020, a total of 366 “Shramik Special” trains have been operationalized from various states across the country, in which 287 trains had reached its destination and 79 trains are in transit. 

These 287 trains were terminated in various states like Andhra Pradesh (1 Train), Bihar (87 Trains), Himachal Pradesh (1 Train), Jharkhand (16 Trains), Madhya Pradesh (24 Trains), Maharashtra (3 Trains), Odisha (20 Trains), Rajasthan(4 Trains), Telangana(2 Trains), Uttar Pradesh (127 Trains), West Bengal(2 Trains). 

These trains have ferried migrants to cities like Tiruchchirappalli, Titlagarh, Barauni, Khandwa, Jagannathpur, Khurda Road, Prayagraj, Chhapra, Balia, Gaya, Purnia, Varanasi, Darbhanga, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Jaunpur, Hatia, Basti, Katihar, Danapur,Muzzaffarpur, Saharsa etc. 

In these Shramik Special Trains, maximum around 1200 passengers can travel observing social distancing. Proper screening of passengers is ensured before boarding the train. During the journey, passengers are given free meals and water. 

The robust indigenous IgG ELISA test for antibody detection developed by ICMR-NIV, Pune will play a critical role in surveillance for COVID-19": Dr Harsh Vardhan

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Pune has developed and validated the indigenous IgG ELISA test “COVID KAVACH ELISA” for antibody detection for COVID-19.

COVID-19 pandemic has spread across 214 countries with a total of 38,55,788 confirmed cases and 2,65,862 deaths. Most countries in the world are struggling to contain the pandemic using possible interventions. There is an augmented demand of various types of diagnostic tests by countries across the globe. Most of the diagnostic material for COVID-19 is imported into India from other countries. Therefore, Indian scientists are tirelessly engaged in developing indigenous diagnostics for SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19.

ICMR-National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune is the apex laboratory of the country with state-of-art infrastructure and expertise for research in virology. NIV’s competent scientific team successfully isolated the SARS-CoV-2 virus from laboratory confirmed patients in India. This in turn has paved the way for development of indigenous diagnostics for SARS-CoV-2. 

While real time RT-PCR is the frontline test for clinical diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2, robust antibody tests are critical for surveillance to understand the proportion of population exposed to infection.

The scientists at ICMR-NIV, Pune have enthusiastically worked to develop and validate the completely indigenous IgG ELISA test for antibody detection for SARS-CoV-2. The test was validated at two sites in Mumbai and has been found to have high sensitivity and specificity. In addition, the test will have the advantage of testing 90 samples together in a single run of 2.5 hours. Moreover, ELISA based testing is easily possible even at district level as the ELISA kit has inactivated virus. There are also minimal biosafety and bio-security requirements as compared to the real-time RT-PCR test. The test has an advantage of having much higher sensitivity and specificity as compared to the several rapid test kits which have recently flooded the Indian market.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “The robust indigenous IgG ELISA test for antibody detection developed by ICMR-NIV, Pune will play a critical role in surveillance of proportion of population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus infection.”

ICMR has partnered with Zydus Cadila for mass scale production of the ELISA test kits. After development at ICMR-NIV, Pune, technology has been transferred for mass scale production to Zydus Cadila, which is an innovation driven global healthcare company. Zydus has proactively taken up the challenge to expedite the approvals and commercial production of the ELISA test kits so that they can be made available for use at the earliest. The test is named as “COVID KAVACH ELISA”. This is a perfect example of “Make in India” in record time.

PE firm Vista Equity to invest Rs 11,367 crore in Jio Platforms

Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners will invest Rs 11,367 crore (US$ 1.61 billion) in Jio Platforms for a 2.32 per cent stake. This is Jio Platforms' third deal after Facebook and Silver Lake’s share acquisition plans over the last two weeks.

“This investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.91 lakh crore (US$ 69.66 billion) and an enterprise value of Rs 5.16 lakh crore (US$ 73.22 billion)," said Reliance Industries.

"We believe in the potential of the Digital Society that Jio is building for India. Mukesh’s vision as a global pioneer, alongside Jio’s world-class leadership team, have built a platform to scale anda advance the data revolution it started. We are thrilled to join Jio Platforms to deliver exponential growth in connectivity across India, providing modern consumer, small business and enterprises softwareto fuel the future of one of the world’s fastest growing digital economies," said Mr Robert F. Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Vista.

The net combined value of Jio Platform reached Rs 60,596 crore (US$ 8.60 billion) for the unit of Reliance Industries after the investment from Vista equity. The business comprises mainly of its telecom under Reliance Jio Infocomm, which is the largest in the country with over 388 million subscribers.

Vista will be the largest investor in Jio Platforms after RIL and Facebook. On April 22, 2020, Facebook announced that it would invest US$ 5.7 billion in Jio Platforms for a 9.99 per cent stake. Then on May 4, US private equity firm Silver Lake announced an investment of Rs 5,655.75 crore (US$ 802.35 million) in Jio Platforms for a 1.15 per cent stake.

Vista has more than US$ 57 billion in cumulative capital commitments and its global network of companies collectively represent the fifth largest enterprise software company in the world. Presently, Vista portfolio companies have a significant presence in India with over 13,000 employees.

The world's largest tech investor, Silver Lake Partners announced an investment of Rs 5,655.75 crore (US$ 802.35 million) to buy a 1.15 per cent stake in billionaire Mr Mukesh Ambani's digital unit that houses India's youngest but biggest telecom firm.

This investment by Silver Lake was at a 12.5 per cent premium to the Facebook's US$ 5.7 billion investment for a 9.99 per cent stake in the firm.

Earlier, 9.99 per cent stake in Jio Platforms were brought by Facebook for US$ 5.7 billion at an enterprise value of Rs 4.62 lakh crore (US$ 65.54 billion).

The financial advisor for the completion of deal was Morgan Stanley.