Govtplanscentralised Purchaseforayushman HIMANI KOTHARI
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www.business-standard.com SUNDAY, 15 DECEMBER 2019 WORLD P8 WORLD P9 12 pages in 1 section MUMBAI (CITY) ~10.00 CARRIE LAM HEADS FOR BEIJING AFTER INITIALCHINATRADE VOLUME XIII NUMBER 39 AS PRESSURE MOUNTS AT HOME DEAL, US STILLHAS CONCERNS PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY FROM BENGALURU, KOLKATA, MUMBAI AND NEW DELHI INDIA’S STORYHAS JUST BEGUN: NITI Govt plans centralised Google wants Fed to CEO AMITABH KANT purchase forAyushman replicate UPI model HIMANI KOTHARI Medical devices to be available on GeM for procurement by hospitals New Delhi, 14 December SOHINI DAS The US Federal Reserve, or the Fed, Mumbai, 14 December should replicate India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) model for its he central government may proposed interbank real-time gross set- soon start “collective bargain- tlement (RTGS) service , Google has rec- ing” for medical devices that ommended. The series of reforms undertaken by the Modi T are used by hospitals for pro- Launched in 2016, the UPI is the government in the last few years will make cedures covered under its flagship country’s flagship real-time payments India productively-efficient and a very Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan system, which allows users to transfer competitive economy in the long run, NITI Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY). money directly from their bank Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said. “There is a The idea is to procure essential med- accounts. Since it works across multiple UPI UNIVERSE great positivity about India. India’s story has ical devices such as cardiac stents at a bank accounts, without revealing the just begun,” he said. “You will see huge lower cost and put them on the details of one’s account to the other par- growth in the next three decades on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), from ty, it makes paying someone as simple as foundation of the reforms that have been where the empanelled hospitals can buy. handing over cash. It clocked 1.2 billion carried out, “ Kant added. 12 > At present, PMJAY does not have transactions in November, valued at ~1.89 any system of centralised procurement trillion. Citing the UPI’s phenomenal of medicines or devices. The scheme success in India, Google, in a letter to BACKPAGE P12 has a defined annual benefit cover of FOR CHEAPER TREATMENT the Fed, said FedNow should be an Mandatory roll-out ~5 lakh per family for hospitalisation. It open system, like the UPI. follows an insurance model and aims to | Govt plans to | PMJAY-empanelled working closely “We’ve been pretty vocal that we of FASTag from today cover 10 million families, or roughly negotiate prices hospitals will be able with govt to reduce believe the right model for driving digi- FASTag will be rolled out mandatorily on all 40 per cent of the country’s popula- with medical to buy devices from procurement cost of tal payments is through partnership national highways starting Sunday. To tion based on the socio-economic and devices makers by GeM at lower rates medical devices between banks, governments and tech avoid inconvenience to citizens, up to 25 caste census database. assuring bulk | This will help | PMJAYalso companies through open and standard- per cent of the FASTag lanes at national According to a senior government volumes reduce costs for planning collective based infrastructures like UPI,” tweeted highway toll plazas will be converted into official, the plan is to do “collective bar- Caesar Sengupta, general manager & | Devices like stents procedures, thus procurement of hybrid lanes for a month, the governement gaining” for certain medical devices vice-president, payments and Next Note: As of November 2019, 143 banks were on the UPI said. Hybrid lanes will accept FASTag and and implants by assuring a bulk will be put on the enabling govt to cancer medicines at Billion Users at Google. platform Source: NPCI other modes of payment. requirement to the manufacturers. Government cover more patients rates lower than In August, the Fed announced that it “The requirement for these devices e-Marketplace | Industryassociation those fixed by NPPA would develop a “new interbank 24x7x365 through the Google Pay app, which cur- runs into millions. We assure them that RTGS with integrated clearing function- rently has 67 million monthly active COMPANIES P2 the requirement is going to be in bulk. ality to support faster payments in the users,” Google said in a white paper. Impending price hikes In return, they should offer us better There is no plans to do this for med- hospitals at lower rates,” said the official, United States”. The Fed Board asked for Google Pay has enabled more than 2.5 rates,” he said. icines because it is logistically difficult. who is closely working on the project. comments on FedNow by November. billion transactions, and now has an may drive up auto sales The official added that these However, the government plans to pro- The industry is happy about the In reply to this, Google mentioned its annual run rate of over $110 billion in Automobile manufacturers’ decision to devices could then be put on the GeM cure cancer medicines at prices lower move. “This sounds like a good idea. experience of launching Google Pay - transaction value. increase the price of their cars and and the empanelled hospitals could than those capped by the National This will reduce the cost of the govern- Google’s payments app which uses the This drove not only basic payment two-wheelers from January 2020 is expected procure them from there for PMJAY Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority ment in Ayushman Bharat, which will UPI -in India. services such as peer-to-peer and peer- to push the sales of passenger vehicles by patients. “Hospitals empanelled with (NPPA). “PMJAY rates could be lower give more room to them to treat more “Google partnered with regulators and to-merchant, but it also paved the way to 2-4 per cent in December. Besides, discounts PMJAY can thus procure these stents or than the prevalent rates by the NPPA. patients,” said the CEO of a leading the payments ecosystem to launch Google value-added services such as instant and other schemes being offered should also devices based on these lower rates.” We can provide these medicines to our domestic stent maker. Turn to Page 4 > Pay. This helped drive and scale UPI usage loans, it said. Turn to Page 4 > prod buyers to advance their car purchase, say dealers. T E NARASIMHAN reports Virtual reality tech on CONG TARGETS GOVT AT 'SAVE INDIA' RALLY Citizenship law the road to oblivion PHOTO:DALIP VR, or virtual reality, was supposed to be the stir spills over next big thing. Some even thought it would KUMAR replace mobile phones and TV screens. But cut to 2019, and VR has failed to become into Assam’s mainstream, still dangling around to find its rightful purpose. Outside of gaming, VR has failed to deliver any real economic value to tea industry its makers. YUVRAJ MALIK writes 2 > RAILWAYS TO FLOAT AVISHEK RAKSHIT GLOBAL TENDER Kolkata, 14 December ON The ongoing protests over the Citizenship FOR TRAIN 18 (Amendment) Act have severely hit the tea indus- SUNDAY The ambitious Train 18 project is likely to try in Assam, as nearly half of the tea estates have SPECIAL see a fresh global tendersoon. This remained closed for the past few days owing to a comes amid controversies looming over large number of workers joining the stir. IN DEPTH the decision by the Indian Railways to Although the Indian Tea Association (ITA) or stop production of Train 18 rakes at the the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS), the The digital school Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai largest tea workers’ union in India, could not and initiating probe against the top nine provide any official officials of India’s first semi-high speed estimates, sources in MORE THAN A train, also known as Vande Bharat the know suggested Express. As per sources, the government is that over 60 per cent STORM IN A likely to float a global tender for at least 30 of the tea workforce TEA CUP to 40 trains. A major reason that the in Assam, or railways had cited for the stoppage of ICF 660,000 of the total | An estimated 60% production was the higher weight, 1.1 million, has of the tea workers in resulting in increased energy joined the protest. Assam have joined The Congress launched an all-out attack on the Modi government over its alleged attempts to “divide” the people of consumption. “We are going for fresh This has led to the How an institute in Mumbai is creating the protest the country and its “failure” on the economic front, with party chief Sonia Gandhi claiming that the Citizenship global tenders of Train 18 now,” halting of work in influencers and preparing marketeers for a Amendment Act would “shred” India’s soul, at the party’s Bharat Bachao rally at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi 12 > officials said. SHINE JACOB reports 12 > around 50 per cent | Half of the tea brand new world. ANJULI BHARGAVA writes 7 > of the 800-odd tea estates have been gardens in the state. affected by this The effect on small | Labour shortage is tea growers (STG), leading to Cabfirmsjitteryoverproposedcommissioncaps numbering around overgrown bushes 85,000, is not known. in tea estates Claim that if govt fixes their commission at cost-effective. Assam accounts | Transportation of tea Thecabaggregatormodel,say for nearly 50 per cent also put on hold 10%, they will go out of business executives,ensuresthatdriversmake of the tea supply in 20percentmorethandrivingataxi. the country. | Protests within the SURAJEET DAS GUPTA — much more if they look at global Theycanearn~45,000grosspermonth According to estates have been New Delhi, 14 December margins in the business which are and~20,000-~25,000netafterpaying Paban Singh peaceful around 5 per cent net.