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Term plan premiums explained

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Life Insurance is not about investing your money to earn a return on it, it’s about financial protection for your loved ones. And the most efficient way to do that is through a term insurance policy. This policy does not invest your money which means you pay only for insurance and after the policy term ends you don’t get any money back. But on death during the policy term, it pays a huge corpus to the nominees that can help them tide over any financial crunch and ensure their live are not thrown out of whack. A term plan is the only kind of life policy you need to have because it gives you a large cover for low cost. Read here to know more about term plans. However keep in mind that buying a term plan also needs due diligence at your end when filling up the insurance policy form called as the proposal form. Read here to understand what determines your experience of buying a term insurance policy: Click here for enlarge Further, there are many types of term plan to choose from and y

Medical device margins set to be capped at 65% in India

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New Delhi:  India is set to cap trade margins on medical devices, abandoning the current price control mechanism, as it seeks to curb profiteering as well as allay concerns of device makers, particularly importers of stents and knee implants, who have complained that price caps hurt innovation, two people aware of the matter said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to accept government think tank NITI Aayog’s recommendation to cap trade margin at 65% for medical devices, the people said on condition of anonymity. According to NITI Aayog’s formula, the maximum retail price (MRP) of a device will be decided by adding the trade margin to the price at the first point of sale (stockist). The trade margin is the difference between the price at which the manufacturers/importers sell to stockists and the price charged to consumers. The prime minister on Wednesday held a meeting with senior officials of NITI Aayog, the secretary, ministry of health, the secretary, department of pharmaceuti

Railways may invest Rs 44,000 crore on West Bengal-Andhra Pradesh freight corridor

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In June, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had declared a target of doubling the national transporter’s revenue to Rs 4 lakh crore by 2025. One of the ways he hopes to achieve that is by enhancing freight capacity since it already accounts for 65 per cent of its total revenues. In fact, the buzz is that the Indian Railways wants to increase its share of total freight movement from 33 per cent to 45 per cent. No wonder it is now looking beyond the 3,300-km long eastern and western freight corridors currently being constructed. Railways may invest Rs 44,000 crore on West Bengal-Andhra Pradesh freight corridor According to The Economic Times, the Indian Railways plans to invest Rs 44,000 crore to build a 1,100-km greenfield freight corridor along the country’s east coast to connect Kharagpur in West Bengal with Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh. In other words, this proposed corridor – likely to be announced in the budget proposal for 2019-20 – will link up the mineral-rich areas of the country wi

Harley-Davidson gears up to take on Royal Enfield

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New Delhi:  Harley-Davidson, Inc. plans to launch motorcycles in the small and mid-sized segment as it unveiled a major change in its strategy to target young buyers in emerging markets such as India and China. Harley-Davidson gears up to take on Royal Enfield The US-based company, famed for its big bikes, also plans to forge a strategic alliance with another motorcycle maker to develop and sell these motorcycles in these markets, Harley-Davidson said on Monday. Harley’s planned entry into the market for small and mid-capacity motorcycles is aimed at expanding its customer base and to drive growth in India, one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing markets, as well as other Asian markets. “The bold actions we are announcing today leverage Harley-Davidson’s vast capabilities and competitive firepower—our excellence in product development and manufacturing, the global appeal of the brand and of course, our great dealer network,” said Matt Levatich, president and chief executive off

Regulator wants corporates to raise more funds via bonds. Here’s what it means for you

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Recently, SEBI has come out with a consultation paper titled “Designing a Framework for Enhanced Market Borrowings by large Corporates”. It is a nudge to corporates to access the bond market rather than rely only on bank funding. It says companies with more than Rs 100 crore in long-term borrowing should raise 25 percent or more of their funds through bond issuance. The objective is, the companies will have a wider funding base, there will be scrutiny by more entities than just lending banks and with more instruments on offer, it will deepen the bond market. Advantages from a broad perspective A delay of even a single day in honouring interest servicing means default tag on the bond and downgrade in credit rating. After a downgrade of credit rating, due to any delay in coupon payment, while it is theoretically possible to come back to the earlier credit rating, it is not easy, and it is time consuming as the default tag stays forever. Things are relatively easier in case of bank loans

Old train coaches will soon be converted into theme-based restaurants

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New Delhi:  Old train coaches which were discarded and auctioned as scrap earlier could soon be converted into theme-based restaurants. If everything goes according to plan, then such train-theme restaurants will come up all over the country in the next few years. The Railway Board wants to generate more revenue and provide employment with such stylish food outlets. Railways has been operating rail museums and heritage parks in different parts of the country. Some of them receive substantial footfall. It is in these museums and parks that the Railway Board wants its zonal offices to set up the restaurants. PTI quoted a senior railway official as saying that the Railways might convert and refurbish its overage coaches into rail theme-based restaurants to cater to the general public. The Railways has already tasted success with the popularity of Shan-e-Bhopal, India’s first multi-cuisine rail-coach restaurant which attracts both tourists and locals for its unique ambience and delicacies

SIAM calls for early resolution of transporters’ strike

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Delhi/Bengaluru:  Automobile industry body SIAM on Friday asked all stakeholders to resolve the ongoing transporters’ strike, saying it has severely impacted the sector in the last few days. The ongoing strike by truckers has disrupted production and sales of vehicles in the country, as well as exports, resulting in losses for carmakers, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said today. SIAM calls for early resolution of transporters’ strike The SIAM said its members were facing “unprecedented crisis” as the strike was affecting the movement of vehicles and components supply. “Many of domestic consignments are held up on roads, which has disrupted the supply chain and completely derailed the production at assembly lines of some companies,” SIAM’s Deputy Director General Sugato Sen said in a statement. The All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), an organisation of transporters that has organised the strike, is demanding a cut in federal and state levies on diesel by