Insta
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The Nirmala Sitharaman led Finance Ministry on Monday (19 April) approved a Rs 4,500 crore finance assistance for Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech, CNBC TV-18 has reported.
This supply credit will enable the manufacturers to ramp-up production of Covishield and Covaxin.
Out of the Rs 4,500 crore in approved credit, Rs 3,000 has been sanctioned for SII and the rest Rs 1,500 crore has been sanctioned for Bharat Biotech. This will be sanctioned to nodal ministries which will then pass it on to the manufacturers at the earliest.
In January, the union government had placed orders for 66 million doses to vaccinate 30 million health care and front line workers, who started receiving their first shots from 16 January. The orders were placed with both Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech.
In March, the Centre placed another purchase order with the SII for the supply of 10 crore doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, each costing Rs 157.50, including GST.
The cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in India has crossed 12,38 crore out of which over 12 lakh vaccination doses were administered in the last 24 hours.
Support Swarajya's 50 Ground Reports Project & Sponsor A Story
Every general election Swarajya does a 50 ground reports project.
Aimed only at serious readers and those who appreciate the nuances of political undercurrents, the project provides a sense of India's electoral landscape. As you know, these reports are produced after considerable investment of travel, time and effort on the ground.
This time too we've kicked off the project in style and have covered over 30 constituencies already. If you're someone who appreciates such work and have enjoyed our coverage please consider sponsoring a ground report for just Rs 2999 to Rs 19,999 - it goes a long way in helping us produce more quality reportage.
You can also back this project by becoming a subscriber for as little as Rs 999 - so do click on this links and choose a plan that suits you and back us.
Click below to contribute.
Latest