Top Headlines: WPI makeover on cards, number of air travellers doubles

The wholesale price index (WPI) is set for an overhaul with the base year being revised to 2017-18 from 2011-12 and the possibility of bringing within its tent fresh items. Indian health care workers who were administered Covishield have shown better antibody response than the Covaxin recipients, revealed a recent study. Our top headlines on Monday track the latest developments.

WPI makeover on the cards, base year to be 2017-18

The wholesale price index (WPI), the widely tracked inflation indicator, is set for an overhaul with the base year being revised to 2017-18 from 2011-12 and the possibility of bringing within its tent fresh items to capture emerging consumption patterns.

Green tea, solar electricity, sanitisers, corn flakes, brown rice, mushrooms, watermelons, cricket gloves for wicket-keeping, flutes, electric iron, and aloe vera are among those that the revised WPI may rope in.

 
The index will become more inclusive with the item basket expected to nearly double to 1,196 items from 692 items. Read More

Covishield shows better antibody response than Covaxin, says study

Indian health care workers who were administered Covishield have shown better antibody response than the Covaxin recipients, revealed a recent study.

The study, published in an online archive for unpublished manuscripts in medical sciences medRxiv, showed that after two shots of the vaccines, 98 per cent recipients of Covishield showed antibody response, while the same was 80 per cent among Covaxin recipients.

The study was aimed at analysing the antibody response after two complete doses of Covishield and Covaxin in Indians. The researchers have declared no competing interest and that no funding was received for this cross-sectional study. Read More

Air travellers show 2x rise in June first week over May as Covid cases fall

After a dismal month in May this year due to passenger numbers plummeting on the back of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is some good news for the aviation business.

 
According to leading airlines, the total number of air passengers per day across India has doubled from a low of 40,000-42,000 a day in May to an average of over 82,000 a day in the first week of June.

The upsurge in passenger numbers has taken place as states have started easing lockdown measures, buoyed by declining infection numbers and case positivity rates. Read More

Expect Rs 6K-cr loans to be restructured: PNB MD & CEO Mallikarjuna Rao

Public sector lender Punjab National Bank (PNB) expects to restructure loans worth Rs 5,000-Rs 6,000 crore under the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) restructuring 2.0 window.

 
As the impact of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic fades, its Chief Executive S S Mallikarjuna Rao, in conversation with Nikunj Ohri and Abhijit Lele, is looking at demand picking up in the second quarter (starting July). Read More

With borrowers unable to service loans, shadow banks are in for more pain

The bulk of the NBFC business is cornered by the top ten players, and they include several state-run entities.

Of this, NBFCs that are investment and credit companies had 50.3 per cent of the assets at end-December 2020, while infrastructure finance companies — largely owned by state governments — had a share of 45.8 per cent.

 
Microfinance institutions made up for two per cent. How is one to square this stance with that of NBFCs, which are crying out for a second round of forbearance measures? Read More

Covid crisis: Shop, eatery owners in Delhi, Mumbai expect muted unlocking

As Maharashtra and New Delhi start unlocking in phases today, restaurant owners and shop keepers are keeping their expectations resolutely low.

 
In Mumbai, dining in has been permitted in restaurants on weekdays up to 50 per cent capacity from 7 am to 4 pm. On weekends, only take-aways and home deliveries will be allowed.

In Delhi, markets and malls will re-open on an odd-even basis, with shops permitted to operate from 10 am to 8 pm. Read More