SC notice to Google, Amazon, FB over data protection on UPI platforms

Apollo Hospitals says ready to administer 10 lakh coronavirus vaccines per day

Apollo Hospitals Group, hospital chain based in Chennai, on Thursday said it is ready to administer 10 lakh COVID-19 vaccines daily to support the government's fight against the pandemic. The Group, in a statement, said it will leverage its pan India web of 19 medicine supply hubs with cold chain facilities and use its 70 hospitals, over 400 clinics, 500 corporate health centers, 4,000 pharmacies alongside omni-channel digital platform to ensure massive administration capacity of coronavirus vaccines.

Supreme Court notice to Google, Amazon, Facebook over data protection on UPI platformsThe Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to Centre, Google, Amazon and Facebook and WhatsApp over a petition by Communist Party of India (CPI) MP Binoy Viswam seeking data protection of transactions made over UPIs. The petitioner's lawyer told the top court that even as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued directions in April 2018 asking the tech giants to store the data of Indian citizens collected on Unified Payments Interface platforms in servers within India, it has still not been complied.

Furniture sells like hot cakes online as lockdown opensConstituting merely 3 per cent of the organised furniture market in India, the online furniture industry has emerged as one of the fastest-growing e-commerce segments in the country. While the segment has been growing at 35-40 per cent for the past five years, the pandemic COVID-19 has resulted in a sudden upsurge.

GST compensation: Centre to borrow Rs 1.1 lakh crore to meet shortfall

The government on Thursday said that it will borrow an estimated shortfall to bridge the goods and services tax (GST) revenue shortfall of Rs 1.1 lakh crore. The borrowed amount  will be passed on to the States as a back-to-back loan in lieu of GST compensation cess releases. "Under the Special Window, the estimated shortfall of Rs 1.1 lakh cr (assuming all States join) will be borrowed by Government of India in appropriate tranches," Finance Ministry said in a statement.

COVID-19 crisis: PM Modi directs health authorities to scale up testing, sero-surveysCalling for continued vigilance and a high state of preparedness against the Covid-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday directed health authorities to scale up Covid-19 testing and sero-surveys. He said the facility to get tested regularly and speedily at a low cost must be available to all at the earliest.

COVID-19 vaccine cooperation, recovery could add $9 trillion to global income by 2025: IMFStrong international cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines could speed up the world economic recovery and add $9 trillion (6.9 trillion pounds) to global income by 2025, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday. Speaking at a news conference after a meeting of the IMF's steering committee, Georgieva also called on the United States and China to keep up strong economic stimulus that could help boost a global recovery.