Business
80% SEPCO Larkana Consumers Default, Rs48bn Unpaid – SUCH TV
A major disclosure has revealed that nearly 80 percent of electricity consumers in the Larkana Circle of Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) are defaulters, with cumulative arrears reaching Rs48 billion, despite continued power supply in the region.
According to officials, out of more than 109,000 registered consumers in the Larkana Circle, approximately 80 percent have failed to clear their electricity dues.
SEPCO Superintendent Engineer Mushtaq Hussain Bardee confirmed that the outstanding amount includes around Rs48 billion in domestic arrears and Rs800 million in commercial liabilities.
Despite the large volume of unpaid bills, the official announced that electricity supply would remain uninterrupted during the holy month of Ramazan, particularly at Sehri and Iftar times.
He assured consumers that load-shedding would remain at zero during these hours, with efforts to maintain consistent supply throughout the month.
Bardee also stated that SEPCO’s 118 toll-free helpline remains fully operational, with a commitment to resolving consumer complaints within 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, the company has launched an extensive anti-power theft and recovery campaign.
The SE expressed confidence that issues related to electricity theft would be significantly addressed before the onset of summer.
He warned that legal action would be taken against unauthorised individuals involved in electricity theft or other violations.
On the day that Trump announced the IEEPA tariffs last April, the tariffs on his products went from zero to 30%, Smeaton told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Afterwards, they went up to 100%, then 145%, and eventually a rate of 30% was paid. This later changed to 20% and, for a few hours on Friday after the ruling, it was zero again, then up to 10%, and on Saturday, 15%.
Business
Eli Lilly launches new form of obesity drug Zepbound with a month’s worth of doses in one pen
An Eli Lilly & Co. Zepbound injection pen arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York on March 28, 2024.
Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Eli Lilly on Monday launched a new form of its blockbuster obesity drug, Zepbound, that offers a month’s worth of doses in a single pen.
Cash-paying patients can get the multi-dose device, called KwikPen, on the company’s direct-to-consumer website, LillyDirect. Prices start at $299 per month for the lowest dose level.
The pen could serve as a more convenient option for some patients, as it reduces the number of devices they have to use in a month to take the drug. Patients can use one pen to take four weekly doses of Zepbound.
Currently, patients on the treatment use a different single-dose autoinjector device each week. Lilly also offers single-dose vials of Zepbound, which requires users to draw the medication into a syringe and inject themselves.
The announcement comes as Lilly works to sustain the early success of Zepbound, which has exploded in demand since it first entered the market in late 2023. LillyDirect has been key to Zepbound’s growth, and rolling out a new form of the drug on the platform could attract even more patients.
The torrid growth of Zepbound has helped Eli Lilly seize a majority share of the weight-loss drug market from rival Novo Nordisk. In the company’s fourth quarter, Zepbound brought in $4.2 billion in U.S. revenue, a 122% spike from the previous year.
In a release, Lilly said the Food and Drug Administration approved a label expansion for Zepbound to include the multi-dose device.
The KwikPen is already used for other drugs, such as Lilly’s popular diabetes medication, Mounjaro.
“As part of our commitment to supporting people living with obesity in their weight management journey, we are introducing a new option with the Zepbound KwikPen, a device trusted by patients globally and in the United States for other Lilly medicines,” said Ilya Yuffa, the president of Lilly USA and Global Customer Capabilities, in the release.
Business
Govt to return unclaimed EPFO deposits, expand scholarships for unorganised workers’ children – The Times of India
The labour ministry has initiated a process to return unclaimed funds lying in inoperative Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) accounts to subscribers, a move expected to benefit over 3.1 million account holders, labour minister Mansukh Mandaviya said.A pilot phase covering about 0.7 million subscribers will be rolled out shortly after the decision was taken during a weekly review meeting chaired by the minister, according to an ET report.EPFO currently has around 31.86 lakh inoperative accounts holding deposits worth Rs 10,903 crore. Nearly 7.11 lakh of these accounts contain unclaimed balances of up to Rs 1,000, totalling Rs 30.52 crore.The ministry said several accounts are as old as 20 years and have recorded no transactions for the past three years, leading to their classification as inoperative.Accounts selected for the pilot phase already have Aadhaar-linked bank details available with EPFO, enabling the retirement fund body to directly credit the pending amounts to subscribers.Under provisions of the EPF & MP Act, beneficiaries must file claims to withdraw their provident fund savings. However, authorities observed that in many cases the balance amount is too small compared with the documentation required, resulting in a buildup of unclaimed deposits over time.
Scholarship scheme to be strengthened
Alongside the payout initiative, the labour ministry said its education assistance programme for children of unorganised workers will now include a merit-based scholarship of up to Rs 25,000 in addition to the existing welfare-based support.“In order to enhance equity, remove unintended exclusions and ensure policy clarity, the ministry is amending the scheme guidelines to allow a student who is availing the ministry’s welfare-based scholarship to also receive a merit-based scholarship from any central or state government agency, wherever eligible,” the labour ministry said in a statement.The ministry said about 0.16 million students have so far received welfare-based financial assistance amounting to Rs 77.9 crore this year, compared with 92,118 beneficiaries who received Rs 31.65 crore in 2024-25.According to the ministry, the initiative aligns with the Code on Social Security, 2020, which seeks to expand social security and welfare measures, including education support, for unorganised workers and their families.
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