Indian Billionaires Hunker Down in Safety Bubbles as Virus Rages

Some of India’s richest people are forming bubbles with their families and staff, while others are leaving for homes outside of major cities as a virus resurgence overwhelms the country’s medical system and spurs other nations to shut out Indian travelers. “I’ve been indoors with my family and our staff, that’s my story,” said Kris Gopalakrishnan, one of the billionaire-cofounders of IT giant Infosys Ltd. who now runs a Bangalore-based venture to support startups. The group are shunning outside contact and only eating home-cooked meals, he said. Another Infosys co-founder,…

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Pakistan to seek debt restructuring of CPEC power projects

Islamabad will seek debt restructuring of $3 billion against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) energy projects in an effort to eliminate the need for increasing the power tariff by Rs1.50 per unit, Special Assistant to the PM on Power and Petroleum Tabish Gohar told The Express Tribune.“The country is scheduled to make Rs435 billion or nearly $3 billion principal repayments to 12 Chinese independent power producers in three years,” he added. “The government will request China to consider restructuring of the $3 billion repayments for 10 to 12 years, which…

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Green energy: Govt switches to 50% hybrid system

Green energy provides a solution for cheaper power generation and the government now switches to a 50% hybrid system. With new advancements in renewable technologies, Pakistan is also focusing on producing low-cost electricity through renewable energy like solar and wind.Green energy solutions may help Pakistan overcome higher electricity rates that have become unaffordable for the consumers. The government has already set the target to increase the share of solar and wind through hybrid systems to cut the prices of energy. Solar and wind are major sources of green energy. However,…

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Pakistan may delay power tariff increase

He said Pakistan could also face problems in meeting oxygen supplies in case of an aggravating situation and the government was looking at ways and means to increasing oxygen production. He said it was unfortunate that whenever Pakistan reached a stage to move towards economic turn around it had been hit by the Covid-19 for the third time and hence the government may have to pause for a while taking tough reform implementation schedule. Secretary Power Division Ali Reza Bhutta while briefing the meeting about the progress on ongoing World…

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Govt to import 6,000 tonnes of oxygen: Umar

National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) chief Asad Umar said on Friday that the federal government is set to import 6,000 tonnes of oxygen, 5,000 cylinders and 20 cryogenic tanks in a bid to build Pakistan’s capacity as a third Covid-19 wave rages on in the country. This was decided during the NCOC meeting the previous day, Umar wrote on his official Twitter account. According to the NCOC chief, it was this kind of “proactive decision making” that helped Pakistan “avoid the kind of scenes being witnessed in some other…

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