Doubling rate drops in NMMC

AMIT SRIVASTAVA

Navi Mumbai

The doubling rate of COVID19 cases under the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) jurisdiction has come down to 581 days from 735 days due to a sudden rise in active cases in the city. The first two weeks of February saw a jump of around 13 percent active cases in the city. The civic administration has stepped into action and alerted ward offices.

Af ter drop in positive cases during December and Januar y, the doubling rate of Covid-19 cases in the NMMC area has reached 735 days or almost two years.

As per the data shared by the civic health department, as of December 15, the doubling rate of COVID-19 cases was 454 days which reached 634 on Januar y 15. “Af ter a drop in cases, the doubling rate increased up to 735 days on Februar y 2,” said an official. He added that due to the sudden rise in positive cases in the city, the doubling rate has started dropping again and on February 16, it dropped to 581 days.

So far in Februar y, around 70 to 90 positive cases are being reported. In fact, in the first two weeks of February, a 13 percent surge in Covid cases has been noticed under NMMC. The active number of cases that had come down below 800 has once again crossed 900.

NEW D E L HI: Dish TV India and its p romoters -- Dir ect Media Distri bution V entures Pvt Ltd and W orld Crest Advisors LLP -- settled with Sebi ca ses of alle ged disclosure l apses af ter pa ying nearly Rs 45 lakh as settlement charges.

Direct Med ia Distr ibution Ventures Pvt Ltd (DMDVPL) and W orld Cr est Ad visors LLP (WCA) paid settlement amounts of Rs 29.08 lakh and Rs 7.70 la kh, r espectively while Dish TV India Ltd (DTIL) paid an amount of Rs 8.20 lakh, as per thr ee se parate orders.

During t he in vestigation period f rom December 21, 2016 to Se ptember 30, 2019 , Sebi f ound tha t there w ere certain tr ansactions in the nature of invocation of pledge done b y DMD VPL and W CA wi th r espect to DTIL shares. In this r egard, there was a dela y in making necessary disclosures.

DTIL was required to noti - fy the transactions of in vocation of pledg e to the exchanges within tw o tr ading days fr om becoming a ware of the said information as required under PIT (Pr ohibition of Insider Trading) norms but failed to do so.

WCA had also made delayed disc losures wit h r espect to t he in vocation of pledged shar es o n two occasions, the regulator said.

In additi on, DMDVPL had made delayed disclosures on nine occasions out of which two of the disclosures were related to in vocation of pledge and both these t ransactions were reported with a delay of 72 days.

Telecom firm Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said it will acquire 20 per cent stake in its DTH arm Bharti Telemedia from an affiliate of Warburg Pincus for about Rs 3,126 crore.

The Warburg Pincus affiliate, Lion Meadow Investment, had acquired 20 per cent equity stake in Bharti Telemedia for Rs 2,310 crore in 2018 after the announcement of deal in December 2017.

The transaction will be discharged primarily via issuance of about 3.64 crore equity shares of Airtel at a price of Rs 600 per share and up to Rs 1,037.8 crore in cash, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

"The proposed transaction is part of Airtel's strategy to align the shareholding of its customer facing products, services and businesses under the same holding group.

"A full control and ownership over Bharti Telemedia allows Airtel to offer differentiated and converged solutions to customers so as to promote ' One Home' strategy," the statement added.

Airtel said it will issue its shares to the Warburg Pincus affiliate at a premium of about 0.5 per cent to the floor price determined as per ICDR (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) regulations.

"The remaining consideration of Rs 937.8 crore shall be paid in cash on the closing date of the proposed transaction.

There may also be minor customary closing adjustments not exceeding Rs 100 crore," it said.

Bharti Telemedia DTH business had reported 1.7 crore subscribers as of December 31, 2020.

"DTH is an integral part of our homes strategy and this transaction is another step towards simplifying the shareholding of our customer facing businesses providing structural flexibility and ease of implementation," Harjeet Kohli, Group Director, Bharti Enterprises said.

He said Airtel has had a close and strategic partnership with Warburg Pincus, across its business verticals and geographies.

"We are delighted to have them back as part of Airtel's exciting journey ahead, including in digital businesses," Kohli said.