Canadian Businesses Welcome Tax Breaks by Trudeau Government with Open Arms

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently spent C$14 Billion on tax relief for the country’s businesses. The fiscal update that was revealed showed capital investment write-offs that are implemented on a temporary basis, alongside a promise to push export markets, create direct cash sources for businesses, and cut down on red tape.

Businesses Claim They are Pleased But Not Fully Satisfied

The tax breaks were announced as a move to counter the increasing competitiveness in comparison to the United States, after President Trump cut corporate taxes in the USA earlier this year. Businesses across Canada showed their support towards this mini-budget development, while maintaining that the government still had a lot of work to do.

The business sector sent out calls to the Trudeau government to work more extensively on tax reforms, reduce the country’s fiscal deficit, streamline business rules and regulations, and resolve the oil price crisis currently plaguing the province of Alberta.

Alberta’s oil price crisis is gaining importance owing to its impact on the entire country, as Alberta loses millions of dollars in the form of royalty arising from extremely large discounts on locally produced heavy crude, in comparison to benchmark prices of the United States.

Tax Breaks to Be Beneficial for All States Including Alberta Claims Government

Perrin Beatty, President of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce said that while the Canadian government has done quite a bit for accelerated write-offs for capital investments, there is room for more to be done. The measures will result in investments in the manufacturing sector that can be completely written off, and the marginal tax rates will be reduced to strongly compete with that of the United States, thereby helping businesses in all sectors including oil and gas in Alberta.

On the other hand, the national fiscal deficit has now grown to C$83.5 in the past five years, and is estimated to grow to a massive C$765 Billion by 2024.

The tax breaks are largely considered as a good step to strengthen businesses in Canada at least on a temporary basis, along with the tentative agreement of continental trade that has been made with Mexico and the United States. Senior economist Brian De Pratto has cautioned that while the government’s response to market competitiveness will be a useful funding initiative, it is a little worrying that the government has decided to spend most or all of its fiscal gains

Tata Capital Hopes to Secure 200 Million Dollars with the Tata Capital Healthcare Fund II

Fund aims to raise capital from the overseas and domestic market

Tata Capital has unveiled the Tata Capital Healthcare Fund II, its second healthcare fund, with which the company hopes to raise a massive funding of $200 Million from overseas and domestic investors. According to reports, Tata company officials stated that the fund theme revolves around the healthcare and life sciences sector in India and aims at domestic competency and consumption.

According to one of the fund partners at Tata Capital Healthcare Fund, the company’s primary focus will center on growth fund investment with a ticket size of nearly 12 to 15 million dollars. The fund potentially targets 10 to 12 investments in segments that include diagnostics, medical devices API, and pharmaceuticals.

Fund partners express faith in the fund’s potential

Visalakshi Chandramouli, a fund partner at Tata Capital Healthcare Fund expressed her confidence over the potential of the fund in making a gross Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of not less than 20 to 25 percent. The Tata Capital Healthcare Fund I, the first healthcare fund by the company introduced in the year 2010 and closed in 2012, had Assets Under Management (AUM) valuing $70 Million. The average ticket size of the first healthcare fund valued at $8 Million. With this initial healthcare fund, the company invested in a total of nine companies. Four out of these nine companies made profitable exits, where Tata Capital now aims at exiting the fifth along with the sixth in the coming six months. Chandramouli said that Tata Capital was able to offer greater returns on the capital invested by investors, and yet still hold the other five investments that they target closing in a few years. She further illustrated that the first healthcare fund is continually tracking a gross IRR of 33 percent on the realized investment.

The investment strategy of the first healthcare fund aimed at two themes including domestic competency and consumption. The fund focused on firms generating a significant cash flow from the domestic market, under the domestic consumption theme and the domestic competency theme; tracking the key benefits of firms in terms of technology or manufacturing.

Healthcare funds creating opportunities for greater returns

Such healthcare funds are changing the face of the healthcare sector and are bringing in more capital for business and product offering improvements. With such funds, companies will not just be able to invest in new domains for business growth but also gain increasing profits

Cutting-edge PoCEID Technology to Benefit Newborn Babies in Africa

Margaret Kenyatta, the First Lady of Kenya was recently accompanied by Isaura Nyus, her Mozambican counterpart for commissioning the PoCEID (Point of Care Early Infant Diagnosis) technology at JOOTRH (Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital) in Kisumu. Soon after commissioning the new facility, the Kenyan First Lady introduced the National Point of Care Technologies Roadmap. Under this mission, millions of newly born babies throughout the region would be able to obtain access to the new HIV testing technology named PoCEID.

According to sources, immense efforts have been taken by the NASCOP (National Aids and STI control Programme) and Ministry of Health as they have adopted the new PoCEID technology for HIV testing purposes. PoCEID is expected to offer immediate results that will help healthcare professionals administer life-saving antiretroviral treatment to newborn babies exposed to HIV virus.

Demand for PoCEID Technology over PCR Method

PoCEID technology is basically replacing PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) testing utilized for detecting antigens in blood and the results under PCR testing technique come out only after 4-10 days. According to Dr. Peter Okoth, Chief Executive Officer of JOOTRH, PCR technology irregularly falsifies results for newborn babies soon after picking antigens of the mother. Yet, till date, HIV testing has been done for newborn babies under PCR technology at KEMRI laboratories, located at Kisian, 15kms away from JOOTRH.

Launch of Second Medical Safari of Beyond Zero

The Kenyan First Lady and her Mozambican counterpart were in Kisumu for launching the second Medical Safari of Beyond Zero, which is a new model for healthcare delivery. In this model, medical service providers gather together for offering specified services to the public at their designated locations. Medical Safari is a three-day camp, which is held at Jomo Kenyatta Sports Ground. Unveiling of Kisumu County eMTCT (Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission) and the National POCEID roadmap was done at the venue. The eMTCT framework helps fast track collective action for addressing challenges of AIDS and HIV in the region, where disease prevalence has been indicated as nearing 8.7%.

Development of such medical camps and innovative technologies would benefit in bringing healthcare services and providers closer to women as well as their families, in order to cater to the crucial health challenges that they experience. These free-of-charge medical camps also help in guaranteeing safe delivery along with immunization of babies and registration of kids experiencing disabilities. These efforts are expected to gear up towards significant contribution in Universal Health Care in the long run.

Guidelines on the Use of Instant Messaging Apps in Healthcare Issued by UK’s National Health Service

The United Kingdom’s state run National Health Service has issued updates on the guidelines for their staff on the usage of instant messaging apps and programs by certified clinicians that are to be followed in settings for acute care, to maintain established privacy policies in regards to patient data.

With the NHS recognizing the need for instant messaging software, especially in emergency situations which require quick response, making them an essential aspect of the NHS tools, matching compliance with confidentiality regulations is seeing increasing importance.

Controversial Findings in CommonTime Report Set Off NHS Move

The guidelines were put forth by the NHS following the release of findings in a CommonTime healthcare report on the subject, which found that a vast number NHS staff rely greatly on apps including iMessage, WhatsApp, and Facebook Messenger. Also, a number of trusts associated to the National Health Service did not have any policies about the use of messaging apps including WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. The report also stated that more than 95% of practicing clinicians used these messaging apps to receive and transmit potentially confidential patient data without any security measures in place.

In response to the findings of the CommonTime report, the NHS has set up guidelines to help healthcare practitioners within the UK to determine whether an instant messaging app is appropriate to use for healthcare purposes. These steps aim to protect healthcare practitioners from regulatory investigations regarding the safeguards on patient confidentiality.

Andrew Miles, who is a consultant general surgeon and a Royal College of Surgeons Council Member, stated that: “Patient safety is enhanced when NHS staff can quickly communicate confidential patient information between teams, such as by instant messaging.”

Patient Data Confidentiality Policies to Structure Guidelines

Some of the things that clinicians need to check in an app are end-user verification, pre-set standards of encryption, and password protection among others. In addition, the app needs to have capabilities for remote data wipes and auto deletion of messages after pre-set times, in cases of theft or loss of device.

The guidelines also include a number of specific standards for the use of apps, including the transmission to information to the right person or group and the regular review of group membership, to eliminate chances of miscommunication from similar names in address books.

NHS staff also has to keep notifications from popping up on a locked screen, not share access of the mobile device, while keeping clinical records separately, and deleted messages after the transcription process is complete. Staff must remember that conversations held on instant messaging platforms can be subject to requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

In addition to this, the guidelines state that instant messaging apps being used by healthcare practitioners cannot be permitted to connect with social media or photo libraries of the user’s device. Two-factor authentication is also pushed to be mandatory for such apps. The use of third party instant messaging apps is to be permitted only if the healthcare organization does not provide an appropriate alternative for use. At present, more than 50% do not offer any suitable alternative.

The guidelines are strong on emphasizing that they are not endorsing any particular instant messaging app service, but that the focus is on what clinicians must keep in mind when looking to use instant messaging apps on mobiles.

These measures are anticipated to protect healthcare organizations associated with the NHS from threats such as the WannaCry attack of 2017, which resulted in the loss of 10,000 records of patients registered in the NHS at the time.

China Creates Artificial Sun, Sets New Temperature Record – A New Milestone for Nuclear Fusion

An announcement made by a team of China’s nuclear scientists from the Institute of Plasma Physics stated that their Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak, also known as EAST has reached a new record-setting temperature of 100 million degree Celsius, to maintain a nuclear fusion process which produces more energy than what it consumes.

Feat to Set Stage for Efficient and Super Clean Energy Sources for the World

The original Sun of our solar system in comparison reaches only around 5,500 degree Celsius. The achievement by the Chinese scientists is widely considered to be an important step in forwarding the science of nuclear fusion, for not just China, but also the rest of the world. Nuclear fusion reactors are thought to be a feasible solution to the global energy scarcity issues.

If done right, the process will be able to generate extremely high amounts of energy, without any greenhouse gas emission or long-lasting waste of a radioactive nature. In addition to this, nuclear fusion also eliminates the risks usually associated with nuclear fission processes such as catastrophic meltdowns and the weaponization of nuclear fission materials. The news of the successful nuclear fusion reaction vent viral rapidly on Chinese social media.

Major Ramifications for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

The results achieved during the EAST experiment is considered to be very important for the implementation of the next international nuclear fusion science experiment, which will be conducted at the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ITER in Southern France. The project is built in collaboration of 35 countries including China, and it is anticipated to produce 10 times the amount of power that is required to run the system. The ITER is expected to create its first plasma and begin operating by 2025.

How China Made the Nuclear Process a Success

While on one hand most conventional nuclear reactors rely on a fission process, where uranium atoms are pushed into a chain reaction to split and produce energy, on the other, nuclear fusion turns the process on its head, producing energy by forcing atoms to fuse or merge.

The method used by the scientists from the Institute of Plasma Physics utilizes the EAST device known as a tokamak, which replicates the process nuclear fusion as it occurs naturally in the sun and stars. The device has a diameter of 8 meters and is 11 meters high, along with a weight of 360 tons.

The machine makes use of super-heavy and house-heavy atomic variations of hydrogen, namely deuterium and tritium, which are heated to extremely high temperatures by utilizing high energy electric currents that forcibly separate electrons from their atoms, which results in a plasma state of hydrogen ions.

High powered magnets that line the walls of the tokamak further push the hydrogen ion plasma into a tiny area in the structure, so that the ions are in high concentration and have a much higher chance of fusing together, and in the process generating a tremendous amount of energy. This energy can be harnessed at a power plant and be used to produce clean and pollution free electricity.

The team of Chinese nuclear scientists stated that although they were able to achieve the record breaking temperature through the use of some innovative techniques of plasma heating and control, the state was kept sustained for only 10 seconds, providing enough evidence that the milestone of 100 million degree Celsius was truly possible.

The news comes barely a month following the shocking announcement by China on their intention to launch an artificial moon in to space by 2020 that would be bright enough to replace streetlights.

AHEL to Diversify Its Pharmacy Business

AHEL (Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd) has planned to restructure its business exercise by divesting its pharmacy business by forming it as a separate entity and naming it as APL (Apollo Pharmacies Ltd). The newly formed company will turn out to be a completely owned subsidiary of AMPL (Apollo Medicals Pvt Ltd). Apollo management has mentioned that the new entity is just front-end division of the pharmacy business, which is valued at nearly Rs.5.27Bn.

New investors have taken up on nearly 75% stake for approximately 1.06Bn in Apollo Medicals Pvt Ltd, while parent company, the Apollo Hospitals has been planning to pull up nearly 25% stake in AMPL. The new investors are inclusive of Enam Securities, Jhelum Investment Fund, DSP BlackRock’s chairman and investment banker Hemendra Kothari and these investors will be owning the remaining 75%.

Proposed Reorganization to Beef up Pharmacy Retail Business

Apollo has been taking immense efforts in unlocking the potential of its pharmacy business by sharply focusing on retail sector as well. The company further is planning to enter into e-commerce zone that is basically its omni-network strategy for providing consumers with an option for picking up on physical or online stores. In the forthcoming years, according to Shobana Kamineni, AHEL’s executive vice-chairperson, the company will be looking for new or strategic equity investors, while IPO remains a choice to be explored.

The company had clearly stated that the proposed reorganization will not be holding back any material impact on AHEL’s financials as backend business that is related with the pharmacy business inhibits nearly 85% of business economics, which will be help by AHEL in future as well. The propose move will be highly beneficial for Apollo as it will comply with prescribed FDI (foreign direct investment) limits, which in turn helps in further expanding pharmacy retail business. Apollo is expecting the new organization to be operative by April 2019. Apollo had mentioned that this spin-off will enable the company in maximizing stakeholder value as well as set platform for the ‘value discovery’ pharmacy retail business.

Pharmacy Division Sales Growth: Consolidated Information

The pharmacy business consisted of nearly 38% of Apollo’s Rs.8, 243.5Cr revenues in the FY18. Pharmacy business has increased by 17% on Y-o-Y basis with 4.5% EBITDA margin, which is comparatively lesser than company’s EBITDA of 9.6%. Organized pharmacy retail holds less than 5% of $15Bn domestic pharmaceutical market of India, which is likely to increase by 12% CAGR by over the next 10year time-span that would be predominantly driven by volume growth.

The company has been currently experiencing nearly 27% growth in business with improved operational performance of flagship hospital business. The merged EBITDA rose at 11.3%, while the hospital business EBITDA rose at 18.2%. New hospitals revenue growth increased by 23% with majority revenue share from Tamil Nadu, which consisted of Rs.979.8Cr. Shares of Apollo has increased by 1.82% for closing at Rs.11, 66.15 on BSE.

Forward Looking Plans

Shobana Kamineni has been focusing on creating a multi-year development platform with the expansion of pharmacy outlets to be nearly 5,000 from current 3,167 in the next 5years and is also anticipating a turnover of Rs.100Bn revenue. She further stated that approximately 20% revenue growth would be from the online segment. In addition, Apollo is planning to enhance its private label business to over 12%. Apollo will be entering into brand licensing contract with the APL for licensing Apollo Pharmacy to online pharmacy operations and frontend stores.

Spin-offs have outperformed broadly in the business world with increasing unique investment opportunities expected to take place. By spinning-off pharmacy business, AMPL can remove debt from balance sheet, thereby improving its total margin levels, which in turn becomes valuable for investors.

Satellite Sensor Technology to Tie Air Pollution to Businesses and Brands

Almost every business is responsible for at least some part of global air pollution, be it through their regular operations or through their supply chains. The heavy consumption of fossil fuels for temperature control, food and beverage production, and goods and passenger transport are increasingly releasing greenhouse gases and pollutants that affect people around the world constantly. This is estimated to cost the global economy more than $5 Trillion through expenses on welfare programs.

Until now, businesses could easily deflect responsibility, and put the blame on other parties. However, with the advent of new technology involving satellites and sensors, the real sources of pollution can now be easily and accurately tracked, putting actionable insights back into the hands of brands and businesses involved.

With this new technology, modern businesses will have to make a choice: On one hand, they can choose to tackle the sources of pollution head on and reap the benefits of being a pro-environment organization. Alternatively, they will have to risk eventual exposure regarding their polluting activities, which can adversely affect their business’s profitability.

Pilot Satellite and Sensors Programs Launched in the UK and US

The technology to detect air pollution sources will be made available to not just companies and governments but also to the citizens of the cities involved.  Pilot programs for this ambitious project have already been launched in London in the United Kingdom, and Houston and Oakland in the United States. New innovations to improve the systems are being constantly included, with data analytics creating an open source knowledge base for the world.

This means that very soon information on the amount of pollutants being released by individual locations and operating fleets, will be tied to the corresponding economic and health impacts they have on their surroundings. This will allow companies to accurately gauge their pollution footprint, and take action against it to improve their standing with investors, communities and consumers.

Pro-Environment Measures to Boost Initiative

Leading businesses across the world have already started to take initiative by increasingly investing in alternative energy sources and pollution free transport solutions, to eliminate the presence of emissions from their operations and supply chains. Steps including energy audits, electrification of heat sources, contracts with clean energy providers, best practices are increasingly gaining popularity. With efficient pro-environment frameworks in place the satellite and sensors program is anticipated to show great potential for the future.

£3.5Bn Boost of Annual Funding Expected for Community Healthcare in the UK

The Government of England has announced that community and primary healthcare in England is going to benefit from a real-terms increase of £3.5 Billion per year by 2023/24.

Theresa May Reveals Plans for Boost to Reduce Pressure on Hospitals

Prime Minister Theresa May announced that the plan for the NHS, for long-term improvement, which is supported by £20.5 Bn for the coming five years is anticipated to greatly improve patient care at homes, with the objective of reducing unnecessary hospital stays by patients across the country.

The funding is expected to help in the foundation of rapid response teams comprising nurses, doctors, and physiotherapists, who will be capable to provide immediate care to patients who can be better treated at home that at hospitals.

Moreover, the additional funds will also be used to assign homes with dedicated professionals such as general practitioners and pharmacists, who know individual healthcare needs to provide customized support and treatments, even out of hours.

Theresa May stated that through the plans patients would be able to avail much better care within the community. In addition, unnecessary hospital stays cost the NHS and its staff in pressure on time, effort and money, which would be significantly reduced through the new plan.

Patients to Expect Big Benefits in Health and Money

Research has shown that when older people who spend approximately 10 days in a hospital bed, leads to the muscular ageing worth 10 years. This is especially important as more than a quarter of admission of patients to care homes are considered to be avoidable. The new funding will help ease the work pressure on NHS staff, significantly reduce waiting times and make more hospital beds free for patients who really need them.

The government expects that the plan will greatly aid the healthcare sector, especially in the cancer and mental health sectors that are planned to receive at least £2 Bn more during the same period.

Questions Raised On Implementation

The Nuffield Trust has stated that the increased funds is in line with the 3.4% overall that the NHS has been receiving over the last 5 years, and that it was not really a big shift from the current situation, but it would simply allow community services to keep up with the growing demand of the coming years.

A representative of the King’s Fund cautioned that a shortage of general practitioners and community nurses is going to be a major challenge, and that the added £20.5 Bn had its limitations. The question of whether the government can implement their plan and how fast they can implement it is of utmost importance to gauge the degree of success.

InCred to Raise INR 300 Crore from its Private Equity Investors and Founder with a Focus on Business Diversification

A digital lending start-up based in Mumbai, InCred has successfully raised a funding round of INR 300 crore ($41.9 million) from the company’s private equity investors including Siddharth Parekh’s Paragon Partners and the private founder, Mr. Bhupinder Singh. The company’s major focus is on the four lending verticals including small and medium enterprises, affordable housing, consumer and education finance.

Founder in the year 2016, InCred is backed by Manipal Group’s managing director and CEO, Mr. Ranjan Pai, co-chief executive officer, Deutsche Bank, Anshu Jain, and the founder and chairman of Landmark Holdings-Dalmia Group, Gaurab Dalmia. The lending start-up is recognized for offering several type of loans including home, educations, personal, two-wheeler loans, and SMEs along with a simplified lending platform.

Mr. Singh has contributed around INR 40 crore ($5.59 million) share while nearly INR 40 crore ($6.99 million) were provided by Paragon Partners. The remaining investment was raised from the high net-worth individuals. This raised investment of INR 300 crore would help the lending firm in diversifying its business successfully and move ahead of the present mainstay business of SME lending and retail.

These investments would further strengthen the business offerings of InCred and create a robust business strategy in dealing with its competitors in the market which include Qbera, OptaCredit, Lendingkart, IndiaLends, LoanTap, among many others.

Investments in the startup company showcase the increasing financial support that private equity investors offer for the profitable business. Private equity investor, Paragon Partners have been an investor in InCred earlier, where the company invested a fund of INR 25 crore in March, a year earlier. InCred has been raising funds from private equity firms for a while now where a private equity firm, IDFC Alternatives, in October 2016, brought nearly 10 percent stake for INR 80 crore that valued about 800 crore for the company.

The Indian financial services industry has witnessed exceeding interest by the private equities irrespective of issues such as financial frauds, and non-performing assets noticed in the banking sector of India. The continual faith and investments by these private equity investors would possibly transform the current scenario and reflect major opportunities in the forthcoming future. The continual interest of the private equity investors would also strengthen the financial position of the Indian business sector

Loss of Customer Base with Flouted Mission of Technology Giants

Amazon had recently announced about its new headquarters, however the company wasn’t expecting a negative response out from public. The technology graveyard has been riddled with unsuccessful products and developments such as Amazon’s Fire Phone and Apple Newton. The technology giants in the long run are expected to focus on high-tech marketing organization, which needs an understanding of market-adoption process. The most common misunderstanding that most of the companies consider is that customers are early-adopters or hold similar characteristics or personalities.

Multi-Billion-Dollar Tech Firms to Witness Downfall in Revenue Sales

In the chosen territories of Amazon, which is Virginia and New York, the local politicians recoiled at the taxpayer-funded incentives promised to Amazon. Journalists throughout the political spectrum had panned deals and the social media has been flooded with Virginians and New Yorkers’ voices pledging resistance.

There were revelations that Facebook had exploited the anti-Semitic conspiracy ideas for undermining the legitimacy of critics, which in turn led to a negative impact on public view regarding the same. Even Apple and Amazon have been witnessing their share market values heading nearly US$1 trillion. All of the above factors has resulted in loss of the public trust in technology companies that have been promising to remake the planet politically, environmentally and socially. With each new scandal as well as failed response, companies are witnessed as turning out to be a serious danger for the society.

Warning Alarm for Tech Giants to Ramp up from What’s Left

The technological firms are definitely wealthy and powerful, however, their days of hiding scrutiny are about to end. American public have begun suspecting that technology giants are unprepared or perhaps unwilling for taking up the responsibility of tools that they introduce to the world. Future of the corporate offices of Amazon is shaping up as multi-sided brawl amongst the elected officials as well as people who they are planning to represent. The response of each technology firm to every new revelation draws up a standard pattern.

It’s high time that the tech giants should be changing themselves dramatically by either breaking themselves up or taking hold of responsibility for the damage caused to consumers because of their products and platforms. Using any technology holds related risks but increasing technological systems in complexity and size stimulates the probability of damage. In addition, the tech giants are also likely to focus on developing models that would help them in differentiating between discontinuous and continuous innovations.