Vaccine pricing

The Centre has pegged the prices of Covishield vaccine at ₹150-200 for itself, ₹400 for States and ₹600 for private hospitals. Such differential pricing will embolden black marketing. Though the government is claiming availability of life-saving drug Remdesivir, the reality is in variance. The vaccines earmarked for the Centre and States would go into the hands of private parties who will be sourcing large quantities from government hospitals and not the manufacturer. The fallout of this would be rigging of records and non-availability of vaccine in government hospitals. The Centre ought to revisit its pricing policy.

Deepak Singhal

Noida

Welcome step

Opening up inoculation to all above 18 years of age and allowing the vaccine manufacturers to sell half of their monthly supplies directly to State governments are welcome steps that show the Centre has understood the gravity of the current situation. Public frustration is growing over shortage of vaccines, hospital beds, oxygen, and emergency medicines. So far the government’s vaccination strategy has been flawed and sketchy, lacking in foresight and planning.

Come May 1, India's vaccination drive will undergo a drastic change and it is advisable to have some guidelines on the pricing and allocation of vaccines as confusion still exists on who all would be eligible for the Central pool and who will be covered by State governments.

Yash Pal Ralhan

Jalandar

 

Road ahead

This refers to ‘Failure as a prologue to success’ (April 22). We learn more from our failures than from our successes. Not only EV1 and Nano but a host of other models did not meet expectations.

And since now it is an open secret that EV is going to be the future of the automobile industry, it is more than imperative that all stakeholders work together not only to create seamless infrastructure for EV vehicles but also come out with products that are affordable. Pricing is one of the most crucial factors influencing the purchase decision of Indian consumers.

Bal Govind

Noida

 

Changing market

The VW-Beetle, nicknamed Bug, remains a fashion statement even today. ‘Small’ will remain beautiful, but then affluence would like to chase the ‘Big’.

Tata had come up with the sturdy Indica, which after some time found more favour as a taxi than a family car. The truck mindset perhaps seeped into the car assembly line. Nano was different, as the Tatas focussed on engineering for cost effective production of the ₹1 lakh car. It sadly overlooked that the middle class would be inevitably get more affluent, to be able to upgrade and move up the value chain.

Though the Nano turned out to be a commercial drag for the Tatas, its minimal engineering was a winning concept to the larger benefit of an entire engineering sector.

R Narayanan

Navi Mumbai

Market dip

This refers to ‘Indian stocks decouple from global bull-run’ (April 22). The continuous fall in domestic stock prices is a cause of concern for many small investors, who invested directly and through mutual fund SIP routes. It is surprising that while the country witnessed a surge in IPOs in the primary market, strongly supported by domestic institutional and HNI investors, leading to huge post-listing gains, the same zeal was not visible in the secondary market, even in the best-valued companies.

The stimulus created by the RBI in the bond market through the G-SAP route and the proposal to regulate and regularise the cryptocurrency market have not been able to get foreign investors back into the market. The initial hiccups in procuring vaccines and the unwanted phobia created over possible side-effects delayed the inoculation process, resulting in the present crisis situation. The confidence of global investors can be regained only through an improved vaccination drive.

Sitaram Popuri

Bengaluru

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