April 13, 2021
At a time when the Indian government was busy identifying and banning Chinese apps amid border tension between the two countries, Indians, it seems, were busy lapping up cheap smartphones from brands like Xiaomi and Oppo.
Beijing-based Xiaomi held on to its pole position in the world’s second-largest smartphone market throughout 2020, data from Counterpoint Research show. Meanwhile, barring South Korea’s Samsung, all other top-selling brands in India during the year were Chinese, too.
The blip in Xiaomi’s market share during July-September 2020 was mainly due to supply chain constraints, according to the Hong Kong-based market intelligence firm. This means the #BoycottChina sentiment did not hurt the smartphone maker even temporarily.
April 13, 2021
Indians may have to hold off their international holiday plans for now.
Restrictions on commercial international flight operations from India, which were first imposed in March 2020 in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, may last for the most part of 2021, experts believe.
Last month, the Narendra Modi government extended the restrictions until April 30, but given the current strong second wave of the pandemic, the ban will most likely get further extended. “The constantly rising cases in India will make it difficult for normal international flight operations to resume anytime before July. The current Covid situation in the country might push the ban until August,” said Ashish Nainan, an aviation expert from Mumbai.
The pandemic situation in India is becoming increasingly grim.
India recorded nearly 170,000 new Covid-19 infections and 904 deaths yesterday (April 11), the highest single-day jump in infections in over a year. The country is currently the world’s highest contributor to fresh Covid-19 cases, with numbers worsening every day.
In large Indian metropolises, the healthcare facilities are overburdened. In the western state of Maharashtra which currently has nearly 40% of the total cases in the country patients received oxygen support while they sat on chairs because hospitals were all out of beds. The state’s capital Mumbai has consistently seen a high number of daily infections over the past fortnight, touching and sometimes crossing 10,000 a day.
India today (April 12) approved the Russian Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use.
Sputnik V, developed by Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, was granted an emergency use authorisation by India’s subject expert committee on vaccines. It will now be taken up by India’s drugs regulator for a final approval, and will be the third vaccine in India’s armour against the coronavirus pandemic.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the country’s sovereign wealth fund, had in September 2020 tied up with Indian pharmaceutical company Dr Reddy’s Laboratories for clinical trials and production. Since then, several Indian drugmakers like Hetero and Panacea Biotech have made pacts with Dr Reddy’s and RDIF to produce the Sputnik V vaccine locally. Together, these companies can produce up to 850 million doses of vaccine annually.