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Bharat Biotech said on Thursday its Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, had demonstrated an excellent track record during several studies that had been conducted on its safety and published in peer-reviewed journals.The statement of the company that developed India’s first indigenous Covid vaccine comes a day after The Economic Times reported, citing a study, that a third of the participants of an observational study on Covaxin reported adverse events of special interest (AESI).In its statement, the company said for such a study in safety to be effective, informative and to avoid investigator bias, some data points are also required. including the "AESI safety profile of the subjects prior to participation in the study, comparison of safety profile of non-vaccinated subjects during the course of the study (and) comparison of safety profile of subjects who received other vaccines during the course of the study."As per Bharat Biotech, all study participants should be followed up during the course of the study, instead of only a subset.Vouching for the safety of the vaccine, the company said, "Several studies have been executed on its safety and published in peer-reviewed journals, demonstrating an excellent safety track record."A study published in Drug Safety (Springer), an international journal of pharmacovigilance, found that female adolescents and those with a history of allergy are at a higher risk of AESI after receiving Covaxin.A majority of the AESI persisted at the one-year follow-up, said the study conducted by Sankha Shubhra Chakrabarti and his team at Banaras Hindu University.Out of 1,024 individuals enrolled for the study, 635 adolescents and 291 adults could be contacted during the 1-year follow-up. The study was conducted from January 2022 to August 2023.According to the study, viral upper respiratory tract infections were reported by 304 (47.9%) adolescents and 124 (42.6%) adults. New-onset skin and subcutaneous disorders (10.5%), general disorders (10.2%), and nervous system disorders (4.7%) were the common AESIs in adolescents. General disorders (8.9%), musculoskeletal disorders (5.8%), and nervous system disorders (5.5%) were the common AESIs in adults. Menstrual abnormalities were noticed in 4.6% of female participants. Ocular abnormalities and hypothyroidism were observed in 2.7% and 0.6% of participants, respectively.Among serious AESIs (1%), stroke and Guillain–Barre Syndrome were identified in 0.3% and 0.1% of participants, respectively. Among the participants, adolescents, female individuals and those with a history of allergy and post-vaccination typhoid were at 1.6, 2.8 and 2.8 times higher risk of facing AESIs, respectively, it said.

Indian contract manufacturer Dixon Technologies has roped in Chinese smartphone brand Realme as a new customer, and plans to start producing display modules for mobile phones, tablets, and notebooks with a planned capex of $30 million, excluding land and building.Atul B. Lall, managing director at Dixon, added that it will manufacture 4.5 lakh smartphones in May for Oppo-owned brand Realme, with volumes expected to ramp up going forward.The company's annual smartphone manufacturing capacity is at 45 million units across three plants, while it's 40 million for feature phones.“We expect a strong growth in volumes of Motorola smartphones including a growth in export orders, a ramp up in Xiaomi smartphones business is shaping up well, and will clock around 3 lakh per month from May onwards. They’re expecting a significant ramp-up in the current month ahead of the festive season,” the executive said.He added that Dixon is in talks with another global brand to rope in as a customer in September.India’s top local contract manufacturer is also looking to manufacture display modules for smartphones, tablets, and notebooks with a planned capex of $30 million, excluding land and building. The order volume in the first phase of manufacturing will range around 25 million units.“Once we acquire a large scale, the next phase is the deepening of manufacturing. So we are looking to manufacture display modules and we have already finalised the technology partner,” Lall said.“We are almost at a closure of a technology partnership and a possibly deeper partnership with a technology provider, so we are putting the resources in place, the capex in this is going to be almost $30 million without land and building. And it’s going to be relatively a higher margin business,” he added.The executive added that the EMS player is planning to enter manufacturing of precision components and mechanics. “The same is currently under deep study,” he said.Around 62% of the company’s revenue currently come from its mobile phone business which grew 119% on-year in Q4 FY24. The segment, though, has low margins, which Dixon will look to increase through operating leverages, backward integrations, and designing, wherever possible, Lall said.Dixon recently acquired a majority stake in Ismartu India in April, the manufacturing arm of Transsion Holdings, which assembles smartphones for its brands namely Tecno, Infinix, and Itel for Rs 238.6 crore in an all-cash deal.On the Ismartu deal, “the approval of the CCI is awaited and both parties are working on the deliverables for the consummation of the transaction. We feel fairly confident that we should start consolidating the financials from Q2 of the current fiscal,” Lall said. He added that Dixon is open to pursuing similar deals with other brands.Lall said that Dixon is now in business with the top six smartphone brands, except for one large global brand, which he did not name.The company has been meeting the investment and revenue thresholds for the five production-linked incentive schemes it is part of, including mobile phone, lighting, air conditioner, telecom and networking products, and IT hardware.“PLI income for the full year was around Rs 71 odd crores, across four PLIs, excluding IT hardware. Last year, it was around Rs10-11 odd crores,” Lall said. Production for Lenovo under the IT hardware PLI scheme is set to start from September.

In the year 2019-20, an election year, India received $83.2 billion remittances, but it slowed to $80.2 billion in 2020-21 that could be due to COVID. In 2014-15 it received $65.6 billion and $61.3bn in the subsequent year. An analysis of data over the last 25 years shows that in four out of five elections remittances peaked till the election year and then slowed down.India has been on top of the charts of remittances from its diaspora. In 2022-23 it crossed the $100billion mark to $112 billion and a record $29 billion in the December quarter alone. But will the uptrend continue? An explainer on what drives inward remittances. What are inward remittances? They are money sent by an Indian who is residing overseas to their families back home for their daily maintenance. In India, in terms of data, it is reflected in “ private transfers” in the balance of payments and is a major source of foreign currency resources for any economy.What are the factors that drive remittances? It largely depends on a country’s overseas migration and the job opportunities that arise in different overseas markets that a country’s resident chooses to make use of besides the compensation package they offered. For Indians, opportunities first started pouring in a big way during the seventies when the oil boom in the Persian gulf countries created opportunities for Indian semiskilled workers . This led to some initial pick up in remittances. Later in the nineties the IT boom created a huge market for Indian skilled IT professionals in advanced economies in North America and Europe. This led to a surge in remittances to India leading India to emerge as one of the top recipients of remittances. How does a country benefit from remittances in an open economy where foreign currency flows from a variety of sources?Since the liberalisation of the Indian economy in the nineties, a number of avenues for reign currency flows like through foreign portfolio flows, foreign direct investment, NRI deposits and external commercial borrowings among others have emerged. But all these avenues are from the capital account in the balance of payments and are reversible. But the remittances are a permanent source of foreign currency inflows and is also handy to fund the country’s current account deficit. Is there a link between elections and the inward remittances? Unlike with respect to cash in circulation where studies show that cash tends to surge during elections, there is no proven study or any analysis by the regulators that confirms the link between surge in remittances and elections. But the long-term data shows spikes in inward remittances around the general election time. Will the uptrend continue? Going by the numbers for FY’2022-23 when India received a record $112 billion it could be that the diaspora sent the money early this time round or probably even made good for a lower growth in remittances for the previous years. But a long=term shows that it is likely that growth of remittances may slow down.

Nifty ended the Thursday expiry higher by 203 points to close above the 50 and 20-day SMA (Simple Moving Average) and form a small Hanging Man pattern on the daily charts.The formation of long lower shadows on two occasions in the last four sessions signals the emergence of sharp buying on dips. This is a positive indication and suggests more upside ahead. Immediate resistance of 22,300 (mid part of long bear weekly candle of last week) has been taken out on the upside on Thursday and the Nifty is expected to reach another resistance of around 22,600 levels (upper part of the last weekly candle) in the near term. Immediate support is at 22,280 levels, said Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.Analysis of Nifty put options shows a significant concentration of Open Interest (OI) at the 22,200 level, indicating robust support at this point. On the call side, there are notable OI concentrations at the 22,500 and 22,900 levels, suggesting these as resistance levels to watch, with the 22,900 level approaching all-time highs.What should traders do? Here’s what analysts said:Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP SecuritiesFinally, the index has moved back up into the rising channel after a few days of failed attempts. Over the next few days, the bulls might have the upper hand in the market as the index moved above the critical moving average after several days. On the higher side, the Nifty might move towards 22,600 in the short term. Support on the lower end remains at 22,250, the sentiment is expected to remain strong as long as it holds above this level.Jatin Gedia, SharekhanOn the daily charts, we can observe that Nifty has been in a pullback mode and now reached the 61.82% Fibonacci retracement level of 22,430. Nifty managed to close above the key daily moving averages which shall act as a support (22,330 – 22,270) in the case of a dip. Daily and hourly momentum indicators triggered a positive crossover, a buy signal. Thus, both price and momentum indicators are suggesting continuation of the up-move. on the upside, 22,586 – 22,600 is the next crucial resistance to watch out for. On the downside, 22200 should be kept as a trailing stop-loss for the long positions.Osho Krishan, Angel OneOn the technical front, the 22,300 zone is likely to cushion upcoming blips, while 22,200-22,100 is likely to act as the next support zone for Nifty. On the higher end, 22,500-22,600 is very much in the vicinity of the bulls, especially with the kind of momentum seen in the weekly settlement session. The only caveat here is we are in the midst of major general elections and hence, the volatility is likely to remain on the higher side. It's advisable not to get gung ho on today's development. Also, global development needs to be tracked closely and hence, the prudent strategy would be to take one step at a time for a while.Shrikant Chouhan, Head Equity Research, Kotak SecuritiesWe are of the view that a 50-day SMA or 22,310/73,500 would act as a sacrosanct support zone for the bulls. As long as the index is trading above the same, the bullish momentum is likely to continue. On the higher side, immediate resistance for the index could be 22,500-22,600/74,000-74,200. On the flip side, below 50 day SMA or 22,310/73,500 uptrend would be vulnerable. Below the same, traders may prefer to exit out from the trading long positions.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)