NATIONWIDE june 11 june 12 Fresh cases 91,702 84,332 Recoveries Deaths 1,34,580 3,403 1,21,311 4,002 June 11 30,32,675 doses June 12 31,67,961 doses Total doses: 25,28,78,702 Jab-o-meter Take your shot tamil nadu june 11 june 12 Fresh cases Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova celebrates after winning the French Open women’s title on Saturday | AFP chennai l Sunday l June 13, 2021 l `12.00 l PAGES 26 l late city EDITION two greats parry in paris, set, match & every point DJOKOVIC ‘climbs mount Everest’ World No 1 Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2 in one of the most exquisite semi-finals at French Open ■ 15,108 29,243 378 27,463 374 18 New czech-in: women’s champ barbora Nadal did lead the first set but by the time it was done, the Serb had got a solid opening into Friday’s match. Forget who you support, the 90-minute third set is reserved for eternity where two of the sport’s greatest pushed each other to their limits. Djokovic’s words aptly describes the match, “You have to kind of climb Mt Everest to win against this guy,” he later said 15,759 Recoveries Deaths ■ ■ Barbora Krejcikova wins maiden Grand Slam title at French Open beating Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 The World No 33 becomes the first woman from Czech Republic to win a Grand Slam title in 40 years MEN’S FINAL: Djokovic vs Tsitsipas at 6.30pm (SUNDAY) | p11 number of grand slam titles djokovic has won CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI No tax on black fungus medicine; levy on several Covid essentials slashed; vaccine to be continued to be taxed at 5%; new rates applicable till Sept 30 GST Council offers Covid relief A n u r a d h a S h u k l a @ New Delhi The GST Council on Saturday decided to maintain status quo on tax on Covid-19 vaccines, which will continue to be taxed at 5%. However, the Council, which met via video-conferencing to discuss the recommendation by the Group of Ministers (GoM) on essential Covid supplies, slashed rates on medical grade oxygen, Covid testing kits, hand sanitiser and other items used in Covid-19 relief and management till September 30. “Five per cent GST on vaccines continues. The Centre will buy 75% of vaccines as announced earlier and will also pay its GST. However, 70% of income from GST will be shared with states,” Finance Minister Nirmala Sith- poll alliance SAD eyes revival, BSP foothold with Punjab pact H a r p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Thursday announced that they would contest the 2022 Punjab Assembly election as allies. The alliance comes at a crucial time for both the parties, with the SAD seeking to regain lost ground amid backlash over sacrilege case and its initial support to the Centre’s agri laws, and the BSP attempting to stay relevant on the national scene at a time it is facing existential crisis in its traditional stronghold, Uttar Pradesh, which also goes to the polls next year. The announcement was made jointly by SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and BSP national general secretary S C Mishra, with the former calling it a ‘historic day’ in Punjab politics. Badal said the BSP will get 20 seats scattered across Malwa, Magha and Doaba regions, while SAD will contest from 97 in a house of 117. While announcing the decision, Mishra called upon the Dalits to support the alliance. At 28.9%, Punjab has the highest proportion of Dalit population, the traditional vote base of BSP in the coun, try. Through this tie-up, the BSP seeks an encore of the 2019 Lok Sabha poll results, when its vote share rose to 3.49% from 1.9% of the 2014 election. After the announcement, Mishra called on former five-time chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, who invited BSP chief Mayawati to contest from Punjab. araman told media after the GST Council meet. The FM explained that the existing 5% GST on vaccines will not be a burden on users as the Centre is paying for 75% of the vaccines which are given to citizens free of cost. However, those who go to private hospitals for vaccination will have to bear the cost of GST. The Council also removed the 5% tax on black fungus medicine Amphotericin B. Also, the rate on Covid drug Remdesivir has been lowered from 12% to 5%. The Council said more medicine will be added if it is recomm e n d e d by t h e h e a l t h department. Sitharaman added that the tax cuts are valid till September 30 this year as against August-end recommended by the GoM. The timeline may RATES CUT From 5% to 0%  Tocilizumab  Amphotericin B From 12% to 5%  Anti-coagulants like Heparin  Remdesivir  Medical grade oxygen  Oxygen concentrator  Ventilator, ventilator mask / helmet  BiPAP machine  High flow nasal canula device  Covid testing kits  Pulse oximeters From 18% to 5%  Hand sanitizer  Temperature check equipment  Gas/ Electric/other furnaces for crematorium From 28% to 12%  Ambulances be extended, if required. However, the Council decided against cutting tax on RT-PCR machines, RNA extraction machines, and genome sequencing machines. These items currently attract 18% GST. In the last GST Council meeting the finance minister announced a GoM headed by Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to examine whether any GST concessions or exemptions should be given on Covid-relief items. The GoM gave its recommendations on Tuesday and after that a single agenda meeting was called. However, finance ministers from states ruled by the Congress party expressed disapproval on not providing zerorate on Covid relief items and they walked out before the meeting concluded. ‘Admissions to polytechnic courses based on Class 9 marks’ E X PRE S S NEW S S ERVI C E @ Chennai For the first time in the history of the State, admission to the first year of 51 polytechnic institutions will be made on the basis of marks secured in Class 9, said Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi on Saturday . A decision on the criteria for admission to engineering and arts colleges will be taken after consulting Chief Minister MK Stalin, said Ponmudi, adding that the dates and procedures for the same will be announced soon. It may be noted that in the recent relaxations announced by the State, schools and colleges have been permitted to open for admissions. The government had recently declared all Class 10 students as having passed, and said admissions to Class 11 can be made using either internal assessments or Class 9 results. The same criteria will be used for polytechnic admissions, too, said the minister. continued on: p4 Banks write off `1.53 lakh crore bad loans in FY21 to look good Sesa Sen @ New Delhi iNDIAN banks wrote off loans worth `1.53 lakh crore in 2020-21 to show low non-performing assets (NPAs) in their books, an analysis of the numbers released by individual banks show. This is the second-highest amount being written off in a single financial year in the past decade. The highest write-off was in 2018-19 at `2.54 lakh crore. What is worrisome is that loans that have remained bad for years have been erased from the balance sheet of banks at the stroke of a pen. Corporate houses are among the biggest defaulters. Write-offs were high during Q4 of FY21 comprising 55.65% of total NPA written off in the year. Banks were sitting on `1.2-1.4 lakh crore worth unrecognised bad loans as of December 2020, which were identified after the Supreme Court lifted the ban on NPA classification. Yes Bank saw the sharpest surge in write-offs at `17,208 crore in FY21, followed by PNB (`15,877 crore), Bank of Baroda (`14,878 crore), Axis Bank (`13,906 crore), ICICI Bank (`9,608 crore), and Central Bank (`5,992 crore). SBI wrote off `34,403 crore worth of bad loans in FY21, though it was lower than the previous year’s `52,387 crore. Meanwhile, Punjab & Sind Bank managed to reduce write-offs by an impres- Write-offs in the past 4 yrs 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21 K1.44 K2.54 K1.45 K1.53 lakh crore lakh crore lakh crore lakh crore PTR reiterates zero tax demand on Covid meds E X PRE S S NEW S S ERVI C E @ Chennai Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan on Saturday reiterated the State government’s stand that zero-rating GST should be levied for Covid medicines and equipment for a certain period. He added that the recommendation of the Group of Ministers, formed on May 29 to consider waiver of GST levied on essential Covidrelief material, including vaccines, was not acceptable to Tamil Nadu. Either zero-rating Participating in the 44th GST or only 0.1 per Council meeting, chaired by Union cent GST should Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharabe levied on Covid man, Thiagarajan said, “Either zemedicines and other related ro-rating or only 0.1 per cent GST equipment should be levied on Covid medicines and equipment.” He also urged the Palanivel Thiagarajan, Council to approach the issue of deTN Finance Minister ciding tax ratio for items relating to Covid treatment with compassion. On May 13, Chief Minister MK Stalin had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to waive GST on Covid vaccines and other medicines. In the previous meeting, Thiagarajan reiterated the demand. “There are certain legal issues in enabling zero rating. But it can be overcome through necessary legislation or by promulgating an ordinance once we reach a consensus,” he had said.  P3 shocking denmark’s Eriksen collapses on field Chennai: After asserting that ‘all-caste archaka’ scheme would be implemented in temples under HR&CE department very soon, the minister for the department, PK Sekar Babu on Saturday hinted that women who wish to take up the job of a temple priest would be given training for that | P3 ICICI Bank Yes Bank Punjab National Bank Axis Bank Bank of Baroda Central Bank of India UCO Bank `34,403 crore `9,608 crore Close Encounters of Many Kinds PLUS 12 PAGES SPECIAL INCENTIVE PACKAGE FOR MEDICAL OXYGEN AND OTHER RELATED MANUFACTURERS Thiru. M. K. Stalin HIGHLIGHTS Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu `17,208 crore `15,877 crore 30% Capital Subsidy Priority Land Allotment by SIPCOT/SIDCO Upto 100% Stamp Duty Concession Land Cost Concession in SIPCOT Parks Fast Track Loans with 6% Interest Subsidy by TIIC `13,906 crore Fast Track Single Window Clearance by Guidance with Zero Fee `14,878 crore `5,992 crore `9,411 crore sive 96% to `70.51 crore in FY21 from `1,781 crore a year ago. Explaining the trend, Care Ratings’ chief economist Madan Sabnavis said gross NPAs shot up 43.7% from `7.1 lakh crore in March 2017 to `10.2 lakh crore in March 2018. After FY18, the NPAs witnessed moderation and reached `8.9 lakh crore by March 2020 driven by write-offs and lower slippages. Over the last couple of years, public sector banks registered substantial contraction in their gross NPAs and they are expected to be around `6 lakh crore by March 2021 compared with `6.8 lakh crore in March 2020. efforts by CCMB scientists, they could not be used. “As per the CCMB protocol, such samples are not considered for diagnosis,” a source said. A formal communication in this regard was sent by the CCMB to the Vandalur Zoo on Friday . When contacted, Dr Karthikeyan Vasudevan, scientist-in-charge of CCMB, neither confirmed nor denied the development. “We have a non-disclosure Chennai: The State government on Saturday modified the G.O. sanctioning incentive package for companies establishing oxygen plants by extending the investment period to December 31, 2022. This after Inox Air Products announced plan to set up a 200 tonnes per day plant in Hosur | P4 WITH THIS ISSUE major Write-offs in FY21 State Bank of India TN extends incentive time for new O2 units MAKING TAMIL NADU SELF-RELIANT IN OXYGEN GEN MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENT OF LARGE LIQUID OXYGEN PLANTS Eligibility • • • • agreement with the users. So, I can’t reveal anything. The report has been sent to Vandalur Zoo.” Express couldn’t verify whether the zoo authorities secured a reserve sample of deceased lioness Neela, to resend it for genome sequencing. If not, a crucial piece of genetic material would be lost forever, considering Neela was the first big cat to have died of Covid-19 in India with no apparent health complications and symptoms.  continued on: p4 Minimum Capacity of 10 MT per Day Minimum Investment of INR 50 crore Commercial Production: Before 31.12.2022 Investment Period: 01.01.2021 to 31.12.2022 Intellectual Property Incentive Samples of zoo lions found contaminated? The three samples that were sent to the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad for genome sequencing of the coronavirus strain that infected Asiatic lions in Arignar Anna Zoological Park, have allegedly been found leaking and contaminated. Sources told Express that all samples were leaking, and despite best Women priests soon in HR&CE temples? Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during Denmark’s Euro 2020 game against Finland on Saturday. UEFA said he is in hospital and stable. Match resumed after a brief suspension | P13 w h at k i l l ed nee l a ? S V K RI S HNA C HAITANYA @ Chennai EXPRES READ 50% Reimbursement upto INR 30 lakh Training Subsidy INR 4,000 to INR 6,000 per Employee per Month for 6 Months 5 Years Electricity Tax Exemption Quality Certification Incentive 50% Reimbursement upto INR 25 lakh MANUFACTURING OF OXYGEN CONCENTRATORS, OXYGEN CYLINDERS & MEDICAL OXYGEN Eligibility • New & Expansion Projects • Commercial Production: Before 15.08.2021 • Investment Period: 01.01.2021 to 31.08.2021 O2 O2 Contact us oxygen@investtn.in www.investingintamilnadu.com