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Amid concerns over the fate of foreign medical graduates (FMGs), who have returned to India from Ukraine, the National Medical Commission (NMC) on Friday allowed them to complete their internship or practical training in Indian medical colleges.

Allowing FMGs to pursue their internship in India, NMC stated that those foreign medical graduates who did not fall under NMC's Foreign Medical Graduate Licentiate Regulations were governed by provisions under the erstwhile Indian Medical Council Act 1956. The provisions of sub-section (3) of section 13 of IMC Act required such FMGs to complete internship in India if they have not undergone any practical training in the foreign country where they were studying.

However, NMC has now acknowledged the impact of Russian invasion on Ukraine on FMGs' future especially in terms of incomplete internship or practical training in medicine.

"It has further been observed that there are also some FMGs with incomplete internships due to such compelling situations which are beyond their control such as the Covid-19 pandemic and war. Considering the agony and stress faced by these FMGs, their application to complete the remaining part of

internship in India is considered eligible," the NMC circular read.

The commission acknowledged that FMGs were facing hardship in getting themselves registered in some of the state medical councils after publication of Foreign Medical Graduates Licentiate Regulations 2021 and Compulsory Rotatory Medical Internship Regulations 2021 by NMC.

The Friday circular maintained that the provisions were now not applicable for FMGs who had acquired a foreign medical degree or primary qualification before November 18, 2021, candidates who had joined undergraduate medical education in foreign colleges before November 18, 2021 as well as those specifically exempted by the union government.

NMC has now asked state medical councils to process completion of internship of these candidates provided they have cleared the foreign medical graduate examination (FMGE). NMC has also directed the state councils to ensure that no fee was charged by medical colleges from the FMGs for permitting them to do their internship even as the stipend and other facilities to these candidates were to be equivalent to Indian counterparts being trained at government medical colleges.

NMC also issued guidelines for state medical councils for allowing FMGs to undergo internship such as ensuring that the latter's medical qualification or degree was registerable to practice in their respective foreign country in which the degree was awarded. Other guidelines to the state medical councils included restricting the duration of internship to either 12 months or balance period while restricting the maximum quota for allocation of internship to FMGs to additional 7.5 per cent of total permitted seats in a medical college.

Meanwhile, in its representation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of FMGs who returned to India from Ukraine, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has recommended that all evacuated medical students who are Indian citizens to be "adjusted as a one time measure in existing medical schools" in India for the remainder of their MBBS course.

IMA has recommended that such onetime adjustment may not be taken as an increase in annual intake capacity among these Indian medical colleges.

The mega initial public offering of Life Insurance Corporation of India is set to be delayed into the next financial year amid market swings triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Bankers and officials are preparing to shift the listing of the state-run insurer to after the current fiscal year, which ends in March, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public. A formal announcement could be expected this week or next, they added, with one person saying the sale may happen as soon as April if market volatility eases.

LIC’s underwriters have seen muted interest during early meetings with potential anchor investors, according to the people. Many fund managers have been wary of making major commitments amid the market volatility, the people said.

A finance ministry spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a call on his mobile phone. LIC declined to comment.

LIC’s IPO will be the biggest to be impacted by the war, which has wiped out 6% of BP Plc’s market value and over $3 trillion of global market capitalization since tensions started rising from Feb. 18. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sought to raise as much as 654 billion rupees ($8.7 billion) from the deal, Bloomberg reported earlier, cash that is crucial to plug a gap in the budget deficit for the year through March 31.

India Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said this week she “wouldn’t mind” taking another look at the timing of the LIC offering, though ideally she’d like to go ahead with it. Even if it doesn’t pursue the share sale on the original timeline, the government is still hoping to complete the IPO in the next few months, the people said.

The deferment will be another setback for India, which has massively scaled down its asset sale target after the delay in privatization of other state-run companies, including Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd. Modi’s administration had hoped to shrink the shortfall to 6.9% of gross domestic product, with the LIC IPO accounting for some 3% of revenue.

The government had also penciled in a record market borrowing for the financial year starting April 1.

India had offered to sell a 5% stake, or about 316 million shares in the insurer in what was seen as India’s Aramco moment. Just like the Gulf oil giant’s $29.4 billion listing, the world’s largest, LIC’s debut would test the depth of the nation’s capital markets and global appetite for the state-owned entity.

Also Read| Need for effective communication strategy to manage expectations: RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das

Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday underlined the need for an effective communication strategy at the central banks, stressing that "monetary policy is an art of managing expectations”.

The conduct of monetary policy has undergone notable changes in India and across the world as economies and markets evolved and policymakers gained greater insights into how economic agents interact in a complex economic system, he said while delivering a lecture at the National Defence College.

"As monetary policy is an art of managing expectations, central banks have to make continual efforts to shape and anchor market expectations, not just through pronouncements and actions but also through a constant refinement of their communication strategies to ensure the desired societal outcomes,” he said.

The communication works both ways while too much communication can confuse the market, too little may keep it guessing about the central bank’s policy intent, he added.

The Reserve Bank of India has actively used communication through a variety of tools the MPC resolutions and minutes, exhaustive post-policy statements together with a statement on developmental and regulatory measures, press conferences, speeches and other publications, especially the biannual Monetary Policy Report (MPR) – to anchor expectations, Das said.

The governor informed that price stability under the statute has been defined numerically by a target of 4 per cent for headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) with a tolerance band of +/- 2 per cent around it.

The flexibility in the FIT (flexible-inflation targeting) regime comes from provisions to accommodate or see-through transitory supply-side shocks to inflation.

Failure to meet the monetary policy objective is defined in terms of average headline CPI inflation remaining lower or higher than the 2 to 6 per cent band for three consecutive quarters, rather than any instance where inflation exceeds/falls below the target.

"This helps monetary policy to avoid undue volatility in rate-setting behaviour that may adversely impact growth,” he said.

"The clearly defined inflation target and the band, the setting up of the MPC, the explicit accountability mechanisms for defining failure in meeting the target, the detailed resolution and the quick release of individual assessments in the minutes have strengthened transparency and credibility of monetary policy formulation in India,” Das said.

Read Also| Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine on fire after shelling

Data released on March 4 by IHS Markit showed the services sector barely shrugged off the malaise caused by the Omicron variant-led third wave of COVID-19, which had dragged services activity to a six-month low in January.

A PMI reading above 50 shows expansion in activity, and one below 50 indicates contraction.

"Growth in the service sector failed to rebound as meaningfully as many would have hoped given that COVID-19 cases receded considerably from January's new wave and restrictions were lifted," noted Pollyanna De Lima, Economics Associate Director at IHS Markit.

"New business and services activity expanded only modestly, and at the second-slowest rates since last July. Looking at the anecdotal evidence supplied by survey participants, inflationary pressures, input shortages and the local elections dampened growth," De Lima added.

While service providers faced higher costs due to a rise in prices of chemicals, energy, food, labour, metals, plastics, and retail-related components, the increase in input cost inflation was lower than January's 10-year high.

Service providers continued to pass on these higher costs to consumers in February, although the output price inflation cooled down to a five-month low.

Even as prices continued to increase, new business increased at a faster - albeit lower than average - rate last month. On the downside, new business from abroad fell at the fastest rate since October 2021. Consequently, services sector employment fell for the third consecutive month in February. Worryingly, the fall in employment last month was the fastest since July 2021.

The marginal increase in the services PMI in February meant the composite index only edged up to 53.5 from 53.0. Data released on March 2 had shown the manufacturing PMI had risen to 54.9 in February from 54.0 in January.

Also Read| Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine on fire after shelling

Russian forces pressed their attack on a crucial energy-producing Ukrainian city by shelling Europe’s largest nuclear plant early Friday, sparking a fire and raising fears that radiation could leak from the damaged power station.

The assault on the eastern city of Enerhodar and its Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant came as the invasion entered its second week with Russian forces gaining ground in their bid to cut off the country from the sea. Elsewhere, another round of talks between the two sides yielded a tentative agreement to set up safe corridors inside Ukraine to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid.

Nuclear plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells were falling directly on the facility and had set fire to one of its six reactors. That reactor is under renovation and not operating, but there is nuclear fuel inside, he said.

Firefighters cannot get near the flames because they are being shot at, he said, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted a plea to the Russians to stop the assault and allow fire teams inside.

ALSO READ: Russia-Ukraine conflict: Another Indian student shot in Kyiv, hospitalised

“We demand that they stop the heavy weapons fire,” Tuz said in a video statement. “There is a real threat of nuclear danger in the biggest atomic energy station in Europe.”

The attack renewed fears that the invasion could result in damage to one of Ukraine's 15 nuclear reactors and trigger another emergency like the 1986 Chernobyl accident, the world’s worst nuclear disaster, which happened about 110 kilometers (65 miles) north of the capital.

The American Nuclear Society condemned the attack but said the latest radiation levels remained within natural background levels.

“The real threat to Ukrainian lives continues to be the violent invasion and bombing of their country,” the group said in a statement from President Steven Nesbit and Executive Director and CEO Craig Piercy.

The plant’s reactor is a different type than the one used at Chernobyl, and there should be little risk if the containment vessel is not damaged and outside power can be restored, said Jon B. Wolfsthal, a former senior director for arms control and nonproliferation at the National Security Council and former special adviser to then-Vice President Joe Biden.

“Everyone needs to take a step back and not jump to conclusions,” Wolfsthal, now a senior adviser at Global Zero, said on Twitter.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was in contact with authorities in Ukraine. The agency's director general, Mariano Grossi, urged military forces to refrain from violence near the plant.

The mayor of Enerhodar said earlier that Ukrainian forces were battling Russian troops on the city’s outskirts. Video showed flames and black smoke rising above the city of more than 50,000, with people streaming past wrecked cars, just a day after the U.N. atomic watchdog agency expressed grave concern that the fighting could cause accidental damage to Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors.

The Ukrainian state atomic energy company reported that a Russian military column was heading toward the nuclear plant. Loud shots and rocket fire were heard late Thursday.

“Many young men in athletic clothes and armed with Kalashnikovs have come into the city. They are breaking down doors and trying to get into the apartments of local residents,” the statement from Energoatom said.

Later, a live streamed security camera linked from the homepage of the Zaporizhzhia plant showed what appeared to be armored vehicles rolling into the facility’s parking lot and shining spotlights on the building where the camera was mounted.

ALSO READ: Watchdog says Chernobyl staff are exhausted amid Ukraine conflict

There were then what appeared to be bright muzzle flashes from vehicles, followed by nearly simultaneous explosions in the surrounding buildings. Smoke then rose into the frame and drifted away.

While the huge Russian armored column threatening Kyiv appeared bogged down outside the capital, Vladimir Putin's forces have brought their superior firepower to bear over the past few days, launching hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites around the country and making significant gains in the south.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called on the West to close the skies over the country's nuclear plants as fighting intensified. "It is a question of the security of the whole world!” he said in a statement.

The U.S. and NATO allies have ruled out creating a no-fly zone since the move would pit Russian and Western military forces against each other.

The Russians announced the capture of the southern city of Kherson, a vital Black Sea port of 280,000, and local Ukrainian officials confirmed the takeover of the government headquarters there, making it the first major city to fall since the invasion began a week ago.

Heavy fighting continued on the outskirts of another strategic port, Mariupol, on the Azov Sea. The battles have knocked out the city's electricity, heat and water systems, as well as most phone service, officials said. Food deliveries to the city were also cut.

Associated Press video from the port city shows the assault lighting up the darkening sky above largely deserted streets and medical teams treating civilians, including one inside a clinic who appeared to be a child. Doctors were unable to save the person.

Severing Ukraine's access to the Black and Azov seas would deal a crippling blow to its economy and allow Russia to build a land corridor to Crimea, seized by Moscow in 2014.

ALSO READ: A look at how the West is punishing Russia for its invasion on Ukraine

Overall, the outnumbered, outgunned Ukrainians have put up stiff resistance, staving off the swift victory that Russia appeared to have expected. But a senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia’s seizure of Crimea gave it a logistical advantage in that part of the country, with shorter supply lines that smoothed the offensive there.

Ukrainian leaders called on the people to defend their homeland by cutting down trees, erecting barricades in the cities and attacking enemy columns from the rear. In recent days, authorities have issued weapons to civilians and taught them how to make Molotov cocktails.

“Total resistance. ... This is our Ukrainian trump card, and this is what we can do best in the world,” Oleksiy Arestovich, an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in a video message, recalling guerrilla actions in Nazi-occupied Ukraine during World War II.

The second round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations was held in neighboring Belarus. But the two sides appeared far apart going into the meeting, and Putin warned Ukraine that it must quickly accept the Kremlin's demand for its “demilitarization" and declare itself neutral, renouncing its bid to join NATO.

Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron he was determined to press on with his attack "until the end,” according to Macron's office.

The two sides said that they tentatively agreed to allow cease-fires in areas designated safe corridors, and that they would seek to work out the necessary details quickly. A Zelenskyy adviser also said a third round of talks will be held early next week.

Despite a profusion of evidence of civilian casualties and destruction of property by the Russian military, Putin decried what he called an “anti-Russian disinformation campaign” and insisted that Moscow uses “only precision weapons to exclusively destroy military infrastructure.”

Putin claimed that the Russian military had already offered safe corridors for civilians to flee, but he asserted without evidence that Ukrainian “neo-Nazis" were preventing people from leaving and were using them as human shields.

He also hailed Russian soldiers as heroes in a video call with members of Russia's Security Council, and ordered additional payments to families of men killed or wounded.

A top Russian officer, Maj. Gen. Andrei Sukhovetsky, commander of an airborne division, was killed in the fighting earlier this week, an officers organization in Russia reported.

The Pentagon set up a direct communication link to Russia's Ministry of Defense earlier this week to avoid the possibility of a miscalculation sparking conflict between Moscow and Washington, according to a U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the link had not been announced.

The fighting has sent more than 1 million people fleeing Ukraine, according to the U.N., which fears those refugee numbers could skyrocket.

The immense Russian column of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles still appeared to be stalled roughly 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Kyiv and had made no real progress in days, amid fuel and food shortages, according to U.S. authorities

Article Source:-  Business Standard.

The Russia-Ukraine feud has plunged Indian commodity exports to the region into disarray, with port disruptions and payment delays hitting shipments.

Russia is a major export destination for various products from India. Indian exports to Russia came to over $2.5 billion out of a total bilateral trade of $8.1 billion in 2020-21. Ukraine is also a growing market for Indian exports, albeit on a smaller scale.

The movement of food products such as tea, seafood and coffee, which are among the important items exported from India to Russia, has been impacted by the conflict between the two European nations.

Exporters are expecting the government to take steps to redeem the situation as there are goods in transit that have been stuck midway. The recent announcement by major shipping lines Maersk and MSC to suspend operations to Russia may force exporters to stop sending consignments to the country till the tussle is resolved.

Russia is the largest importer of Indian tea, accounting for 17-18 percent of the total volume of the beverage exported from the country. "The rouble has fallen to 100-110 a dollar from 74-75. Russians may not want to buy at this rate,’’ said Anshuman Kanoria, Chairman of the Indian Tea Exporters Association.

He also expressed concern over the revision of policy by the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation putting Russia under the restricted cover category. "The export to Russia will depend on the length of the war, sanctions from the West and the Indian government’s stand on the issue.’’

The conflict has broken out at a time when tea exports are yet to recover from the blow dealt by Covid-19. Indian tea exports have fallen below 200 million kgs after a long time. Tea exports in 2021 stood at 195.50 million kgs, per Tea Board data, about 7 percent below the low of 209.72 million kgs in 2020. In the pre-Covid years, exports hovered around the 250 million kg mark.

Seafood stuck

As for seafood, exporters are in danger of losing a market that was developed over the last few years. The industry expects exports to be worth $180 million in FY22 against $150 million in the previous year. But according to industry sources, the situation does not look promising, with around Rs 500 crore worth of seafood stuck in transit.

"Russia buys a lot of shrimp as well as cephalopods such as squid, cuttlefish and octopus from India. A lot of consignments are in transit. Access to St Petersburg, the main port in Russia, seems to be blocked. We are not sure whether the Black Sea ports are open,’’ said Anwar Hashim, MD of Abad Fisheries.

In recent years the Indian seafood sector has penetrated the market in Russia as well in neighbouring countries such as Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Moldova, through the efforts of the Marine Products Export Development Authority and exporters. Ukraine currently imports $10 million worth of seafood from India.

Shipping woes

Shippers, too, are anticipating payment problems. "The move by the western nations to block Russian banks’ access to the Swift international payment system may cause payment delays. Earlier the trade was in roubles but now it is entirely in dollars,’’ Hashim said.

Russia is the fourth-largest buyer of coffee from India after Italy, Germany and Belgium. In 2021, the country bought 11,241 tonnes, about 5 percent of the total coffee exports from the country. Ukraine is the tenth biggest buyer of Indian coffee.

Russia’s purchases from India are mostly confined to instant coffee. It used to buy raw coffee from India earlier but has now shifted to other cheaper origins. "Russia accounts for 20 percent of our total exports,’’ said Challa Shrishant, MD of CCL Products, the biggest exporter of instant coffee from India. "We are assessing the impact of the war as some of our consignments are on the way. We also need clarity as to where we should transport the consignment, for which we have received payment."

Click Here|  Get Best Share Market Tips For Long Term Investment

India’s Reliance Industries said on Thursday it would invest Rs 1670 cr to create a joint venture (JV) with U.S.-listed Sanmina Corp for making electronic products in Chennai.

The JV aims to make hardware for 5G communications, cloud infrastructure, healthcare systems, and defense and aerospace, Reliance said in a regulatory filing.

Reliance will hold a 50.1 per cent stake in the JV after the investment in Sanmina's existing Indian entity through a Reliance unit. Sanmina will contribute its existing contract manufacturing business to the JV.

All manufacturing will initially take place at Sanmina's campus in Chennai, with an option for expansion in other manufacturing sites within the country.

The day-to-day business will continue to be managed by Sanmina’s existing management team in Chennai, said a statement from the two sides. The JV will create an electronic manufacturing hub, prioritising high technology infrastructure hardware

“We are excited to partner with Reliance to build the premier integrated manufacturing solutions company in India,” stated Jure Sola, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sanmina.

“We are delighted to work with Sanmina to access the significant market opportunity for high-tech manufacturing in India,” said Akash Ambani, Director, Reliance Jio, said.

Sanmina's campus in Chennai is spread over 100 acres and hosts a "centre of excellence" for electronics manufacturing, research and prototyping.

Completion of the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close no later than September 2022.

Also Read | Amazon may file criminal case against Future over store transfers: Report

For more than a year, Amazon and Future Group have been in a legal stand-off that has stalled Future's $3.4 billion sale of assets to Reliance Industries.

Amazon successfully halted Future's asset sale to rival Reliance since 2020 by citing violation of certain contracts.

Future, India's second largest retailer, denies any wrongdoing. Amazon's position has been backed by a Singapore arbitrator and Indian courts.

Reuters reported this week that Reliance had started to take over around 500 of Future's stores, rebranding them as its own outlets.

Reliance had previously transferred leases of some of Future's flagship supermarkets to its name, but allowed Future to continue to operate them. Reliance has now begun to take possession of them after Future failed to make rental payments to it, sources have said.

Amazon plans to initiate criminal proceedings against Future in a New Delhi court, and to urge the court to order an investigation into the matter, one of the sources, who has direct knowledge of the plans, said.

Two other sources said the lawsuit could be filed as early as this week.

Future, Amazon and Reliance did not immediately respond to Reuters' emails seeking comment.

Amazon will allege that Future concealed information during legal proceedings and allegedly transferred leases of its stores to rival Reliance, even though a Singapore arbitrator had halted any transfer or disposal of assets in the ongoing dispute, the first source added.

"This is going to be Amazon's last attempt (to stop the deal)," said this source.

The plan to start criminal court proceedings would mark a significant escalation in the legal battle between Amazon and its Indian retail rivals - Future Retail and Reliance, which is led by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani.

The protracted fight over Future's assets is seen as a battle for retail supremacy between Reliance and Amazon in India's booming retail market.

In blocking the Future-Reliance transaction, Amazon has long argued that Future violated the terms of a 2019 deal in which the U.S. company invested $200 million in part of the Indian company. 

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Moody's Investors Service has placed the ratings of 51 Russian companies on review for downgrade.

The action, announced by the ratings agency on March 2, comes after it placed Russia and Ukraine's ratings on review for downgrade on February 25 after President Vladimir Putin approved an invasion of Ukraine.

Moody's currently has a Baa3 rating on Russia and B3 on Ukraine.

Also read: Russia Ukraine War News LIVE Updates

"Today's rating actions on the affected corporates are a direct consequence of the sovereign rating action and reflect Moody's view that a potential downgrade of Russia's sovereign ratings and lowering of its country ceilings could or would lead to downgrades of the affected corporates' ratings, because of their strong interlinkages with the sovereign rating," Moody's said in a statement on Mach 

The review for downgrade, in particular, will take into account (1) Russia's sovereign ratings and country ceilings following the conclusion of the sovereign review; (2) the affected corporates' individual credit factors, including the effect of sanctions on their credit quality; and (3) the likelihood of potential state support to the corporates in the event of financial distress," it added.

The Russian companies affected by Moody's latest announcement include energy heavyweights Rosneft and Gazprom. The entire list of affected companies can be found here.

The invasion of Ukraine has hurt Russian companies hard, with economic sanctions driving down their share prices. Russian authorities have looked to soften the blow, with the government announcing a plan to purchase shares worth 1 trillion rubles of companies that have been sanctioned.

On February 25, Moody's had said that "serious concerns" around Russia's ability to manage the impact of the economic sanctions on the economy, government finances, and the financial system may result in a ratings downgrade.

"However, in the low likelihood that Moody's concluded that significant new economic and financial sanctions were to have a very limited impact on Russia's economy and financial buffers, one possible outcome of the review will be to confirm Russia's ratings with a negative outlook," the agency had said.

Article Source:- Moneycontrol