The recent Supreme Court judgment dismissing pharma giant Novartis’ claim for patent protections in India for its award-winning and prohibitively priced anti-leukemia drug Glivec has renewed the focus on accessibly-priced drugs – in particular the failure of the Indian public healthcare system and health policy to ensure affordable drugs for all. Studies show that as much as 70% of health spending in India comes from out-of-pocket payments, with 50-80% of...

-The Hindu Ahmedabad: Going by the Gujarat government's figures, memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) worth $876 billion were signed during its five biannual Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summits from 2003 to 2011 and a whopping 84 per cent of the projects have already been implemented or are under implementation. This would mean Gujarat has overtaken all of China, whose FDI inflows during this period were to the tune...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: India Inc has been conspicuously absent from a four-year-old United Nations-led global initiative against corruption, an unflattering distinction for Indian industry that could also buttress a widespread feeling that doing business in the country is difficult without bribing officials. Not one Indian company has yet joined a global panel of companies steered by the world body to act against corruption in their businesses and pressurise governments...

-The Indian Express The 612 Indians on the list of those who have invested in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands include two MPs, a former royal and top industrialists. RITU SARIN puts together details of 20 among them SONU LALCHAND MIRCHANDANI Mirchandani is the founder of popular consumer electronics firm Onida. Mirchandani and his wife, Soni, opened a BVI company called Strong Wing Overseas Ltd in 2006 with an authorised...

-Reuters WASHINGTON: World Bank President Jim Yong Kim called for a commitment by the international community on Tuesday to end extreme poverty by 2030 and to improve the lives of the most vulnerable people living in developing countries. To reach that goal, Kim said the world need to reduce the number of people living below the poverty line of $1.25 per day to 3 percent globally by 2030, and raise the per...