Business

MUMBAI: Bandhan Life Insurance is using the opportunity presented by the new regulatory caps on management expenses and minimum surrender value rules to reposition itself alongside peers as it begins afresh under a new strategy.“The regulations coinciding with the company rolling out with its new strategy provides it the advantage of making processes more efficient,” said Satishwar B, managing director and CEO. He added that the new regulations have put all companies at par, requiring everyone to review their products even as Bandhan Life brings out a slew of new offerings. However, he acknowledged that the company “will need to have economies of scale to meet the cap on expenses.”Following its acquisition by Bandhan Financial Holdings, the insurer has repositioned itself as a full-spectrum player offering participating, non-participating, unit-linked and pension products. The focus is now on expanding into tier-2 and tier-3 cities, using Bandhan Bank’s rural reach.Bandhan Life, formerly Aegon Life, has adopted a fully digital underwriting model. Its system pulls data directly from utilities and service providers, eliminating paperwork and easing access for self-employed customers—historically a segment underserved by the life insurance industry.“Many self-employed individuals find it difficult to buy term insurance because they are not able to meet the financial criteria because they do not have the documentation,” said Satishwar. “Today, 50% of our customers are buyers of term insurance and a large part of them are self-employed.” The company uses around 20 data points to assess an applicant’s financial position without requiring conventional documents.Moving away from its earlier digital-only approach, the insurer is now positioning itself as a multi-channel company. While Bandhan Bank remains a key partner, Bandhan Life is in talks with other banks to expand its distribution network. “We are definitely interested in health insurance if the composite licences,” Satishwar added, indicating plans to diversify once regulations permit.The company plans to grow at 100% annually over the next three years, targeting a fourfold increase in assets under management from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore in five years. On costs, Satishwar noted that life insurance expenses seem high mainly because they are front-loaded. “If the pricing of traditionally sold policies are compared with those sold digitally, the premium is not very different,” he said.Bandhan Life will also restate its balance sheet this year. The full acquisition by Bandhan means accumulated losses can no longer be carried forward for tax purposes, potentially changing its capital structure.Meanwhile, the proposed Bima Sugam platform—a unified digital infrastructure for insurance services—is expected to enhance operational efficiency. According to Balakrishnan, the platform’s one-to-many architecture could make it easier to integrate with a single payment gateways.

Verrilli’s firm Munger Tolles has represented Google in other lawsuits [File]
| Photo Credit: AP

Alphabet’s Google has hired Donald Verrilli Jr, the U.S. solicitor general during the Barack Obama administration, to appeal a judge’s ruling that the tech titan has an unlawful monopoly in online search, Google confirmed on Tuesday.

Verrilli’s hire is a key first step in Google’s legal fight to undo the ruling, which it has said could pose a threat to its business.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta last year ruled Google holds an unlawful monopoly in online search and related advertising, and is considering proposals to make the tech titan sell off its popular Chrome browser, or share data that CEO Sundar Pichai says would allow competitors reverse engineer its search engine.

Google has argued the DOJ failed to prove that competition was harmed by its exclusive agreements with device makers such as Apple to preload Google as the default search engine on new devices. The company has recently begun loosening its agreements to allow partners including Samsung to load rival apps.

Verrilli, who as solicitor general was the Obama White House’s top Supreme Court advocate, is known for his work successfully defending the Democratic president’s signature domestic healthcare law.

He will represent Google in its planned appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where Democratic-appointed judges outnumber Republican ones 9 to 6.

Verrilli is separately the lead lawyer for law firm Susman Godfrey in its lawsuit against the Trump administration over an executive order that restricted its business. A judge in April blocked key provisions of the order.

Verrilli is representing hundreds of other firms that filed a court brief denouncing Republican President Donald Trump’s attacks on prominent law firms. He is also representing U.S. Copyright Office Director Shira Perlmutter in a lawsuit challenging her firing, and the National Endowment for Democracy in a case accusing the Trump administration of illegally withholding funds.

Verrilli’s firm Munger Tolles has represented Google in other lawsuits. The firm, whose founders include the late Charlie Munger, has counted Berkshire Hathaway and Bank of America as some of its other clients.

With an installed capacity of over 17 GW as of April 30, rooftop solar (RTS) is starting to play a significant role in India’s renewable energy transition, especially in urban areas. However, its scalability is constrained by the limited availability of shadow-free rooftop spaces. Boosting solar adoption in densely populated cities therefore requires us to look beyond traditional rooftop-mounted solar systems and towards Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV).

What is BIPV?

BIPV can turn entire buildings into power generators by integrating solar elements directly into architectural elements.

It has two purposes: generating electricity and working as a structural part of a building. Unlike RTS systems, which are added to rooftops, BIPV systems are embedded into the building’s architectural fabric, like in façades (the front exterior of a building), roofs, windows, and railings. They replace conventional construction materials such as glass, tiles, and cladding with solar alternatives.

While the initial costs may be high, by transforming conventional building components into energy-generating surfaces, BIPV can deliver long-term savings that help offset the capital costs.

How can BIPVs be incorporated?

Façades can host semi-transparent BIPV panels that serve as curtain walls or cladding, generating electricity while reducing entry of heat. Traditional roofing materials can be replaced with BIPV panels, allowing power generation without altering the building’s structure.

Windows and skylights can also feature transparent or semi-transparent BIPV panels that allow natural light to enter while producing clean energy. Even balconies, canopies, atriums, and shading devices can be designed to house solar elements, utilising structural features for energy generation without occupying additional space.

Because of their “stay out of sight” design, BIPVs can be used in residential apartments and commercial buildings as well as in public infrastructure such as railway stations, airports, and educational institutions. Their transparency, colours, sizes, and shapes can also be customised to suit particular aesthetic requirements.

BIPVs for India

The need for BIPVs stem from space constraints and the pressing obligation to pursue sustainable urban development. According to the 2016 Handbook of Urban Statistics published by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, India’s urban population is projected to reach approximately 600 million by 2031 and 850 million by 2051.

In the high-rise buildings of India’s populous cities, rooftop space is often insufficient to install RTS systems. Since BIPV can be integrated into various parts of a building’s envelope, it can use available surfaces more efficiently.

For example, a 16-storey building with a 4,000 sq. ft rooftop and 15,000 sq. ft of façade area on each side can support an RTS system of only about 40 kW-peak (kWp) — but BIPV panels on just the south-facing façade could produce around 150 kWp.

Beyond high-rises, BIPVs can also be integrated into independent houses and in the balconies of homes whose residents don’t have rooftop access. The latter is already popular in Germany, where solar panels have been installed on nearly 15 lakh balconies and manufacturers have estimated that a typical participating household could save up to 30% on its electricity bill.

What is the status of BIPVs in India?

The steady decline in solar technology prices and a growing interest in sustainable and energy-efficient architecture is allowing BIPVs to gain momentum.

Today’s India has some impressive BIPV installations. The CtrlS Datacenters building in Navi Mumbai has an 863-kWp system on its four façades. The Renewable Energy Museum in Kolkata, inaugurated in 2024, features a solar-powered dome made from over 2,000 integrated solar panels. The Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. facility in Angul, Odisha, hosts one of the largest BIPV installations in India. They have also been incorporated into the Vijayawada Railway and the Sahibabad Railway Stations.

These examples indicate BIPVs’ ability to scale across public, commercial, and institutional buildings.

How can BIPV uptake be scaled up?

BIPV adoption in India has been limited by high initial costs, policy gaps, inadequate technical capacity, and reliance on imports.

Low awareness, lack of dedicated incentives, and absence of clear standards also push BIPV out of early building-design considerations.

In this milieu, Seoul’s dedicated incentive scheme is instructive: it subsidises up to 80% of installation costs, allowing BIPV into mainstream urban construction. India could look at expanding the existing solar schemes to offer higher incentives for BIPV, especially in space-constrained urban areas. In 2024, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy issued operational guidelines for the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, a scheme to install RTS systems in one crore households. The guidelines included BIPV in the scheme, allowing consumers to opt for it in case of limited rooftop space. BIPV installations in a residential segment qualify for a subsidy akin to that available for RTS systems: up to ₹78,000 for a 3-KW solar system. Similar schemes are required for commercial and industrial segments.

Likewise, Europe’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive mandates the increased use of solar technologies in all new buildings and encourages innovative solutions like BIPV through clear regulatory guidance and minimum performance standards. India too can consider embedding BIPV provisions in its National Building Code, the Energy Conservation Building Code, and the Eco Niwas Samhita.

Demonstrating BIPV through pilot projects in public infrastructure (via public-private partnerships) can improve visibility and catalyse wider acceptance. Boosting indigenous manufacturing through production-linked incentive schemes and targeted R&D alongside awareness programmes for architects, planners, and building developers will further strengthen the ecosystem.

Financial arrangements such as the Renewable Energy Service Company model and long-term power purchase agreements can help enhance project reliability and enable large-scale BIPV deployment.

India can’t rely solely on ground-mounted and rooftop systems to meet its goal to install 300 GW of solar capacity by 2030. Land-neutral solutions like BIPV need to be prioritised. The potential of BIPV for India’s existing building stock is estimated to be 309 GW. According to the World Bank, nearly 70% of urban infrastructure needed for India to become a developed country by 2047 is yet to be built.

While this underscores the immense potential of BIPV to accelerate the nation’s clean energy transition, actualising it demands robust policy support, design innovation, and a strong market push.

Shantanu Roy is Sector Coordinator, Renewables and Energy Conservation, at the Center for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), a research-based think tank.

A rickshaw puller passes the Canara Bank branch in the old quarters of Delhi.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

BENGALURU

Canara Bank has announced the removal of charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance across all types of Savings Bank (SB) accounts, including regular, salary, and NRI accounts.

Effective June 1, 2025, the move makes Canara Bank the first major public sector bank to implement a blanket waiver on minimum balance penalties for all SB account categories.

Previously, account holders were required to maintain a specified Average Monthly Balance (AMB) or face penalties. With this policy change, such fees will no longer apply, offering more flexibility and financial relief to customers.

The bank confirmed the development in an official release.

Women carry fodder for their cattle through a mustard field on the outskirts of Srinagar. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Rapeseed-mustard oil (hereafter ‘mustard oil’) is the third-largest edible oil consumed in India. Two executive and judicial decisions on mustard oil — one from 2021 and another from 2024 — have major public health implications, but have hardly received the public attention and scrutiny they deserve. In the first decision, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) prohibited the manufacturing and sale of blended mustard oil in India, effective from June 8, 2021. As per Indian food safety laws, selling an edible oil mixed with another edible oil is permitted, provided the proportion of an oil blended with another oil is within 20%. Reports suggest that FSSAI’s ban decision was aimed at preventing the adulteration of mustard oil and boosting domestic mustard crop output. In the second, the Supreme Court ruled on July 23, 2024, against approval granted by the Central government for the environmental release of India’s indigenously developed genetically modified (GM) mustard named Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11). A major ground on which one of the two judges pronounced a judgment against DMH-11 was the insufficient assessment of the impact on human health of DMH-11. A common policy goal behind these two decisions was to protect the health of Indian mustard oil consumers. However, a closer look at the facts shows that this goal cannot be fully achieved through these two decisions.

Erucic acid

The mustard oil extracted from the Indian mustard crop contains high levels of a unique fatty acid called erucic acid (40% to 54% of total fatty acid). This is significantly higher than the internationally accepted level of <5%. Mustard oil containing high erucic acid is considered undesirable for human consumption, particularly in advanced countries such as the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Lab experiments demonstrated that animals fed with high erucic acid-containing mustard oil suffered from heart diseases, retarded growth, premature tissue death, and adverse changes to the liver, kidney, skeletal muscle, and adrenal glands. Though there is no conclusive evidence of a similar health impacts on humans, the stigma of the high erucic acid in mustard oil prevails in advanced economies. In those countries, the erucic acid content of mustard oil is strictly controlled by using canola oil for culinary purposes. Canola crop (oil), developed by Canada, contains less than 2% erucic acid content.

Edible oil blending

Due to unfavourable climatic conditions, India has not succeeded in developing a high-yielding canola-quality mustard crop. Hence, the easiest way to reduce the high erucic acid content in mustard oil is to blend it with other edible oils. Several scientific studies have proved the lower presence of erucic acid in blended mustard oil. Also, since blended mustard oil is rich in unsaturated fatty acid, consuming it lowers LDL cholesterol and increases HDL cholesterol. One primary concern with edible oil blending is adulteration with artificial flavours and poisonous substances. A nationwide survey by FSSAI in August 2020 found that 24.21% of the 4,461 edible oil samples collected did not meet the quality parameters criteria. A maximum number of adulteration and contamination was found in mustard oil.

Instead of a ban, the sale of blended mustard oil can be allowed but in packaged/branded form with an explicit declaration regarding the oils that have been blended. The share of branded edible oil consumed in India is less than 30%. Strict implementation of the food safety and standards laws and strengthening of food safety infrastructure are also essential in preventing adulteration. Since health is a State subject, the food safety administration at the State level has to play a vital role in this regard. As per industry sources, the proportion of other oils blended with mustard oil in India ranges from 5% to 50%. Though this does not conform with the law, which allows blending up to 20%, it has the unintended positive consequence of reducing the erucic acid content. Hence, the sale of blended mustard oil should not be banned entirely.

GM mustard

Alternatively, the erucic acid content in Indian mustard oil can be reduced by cultivating the indigenous GM mustard crop DMH-11, which, apart from higher yield, has a lower erucic acid content (30-35%) compared to the traditional Indian mustard crops (40-54%). As a result, the oil extracted from DMH–11 requires a lower quantity of other edible oils for blending to reduce erucic acid content. This, in turn, helps to reduce the imports of other edible oils. India is the world’s largest importer of edible oils. Its edible oil import bill is pegged at $20.56 billion by NITI Aayog.

Therefore, the erucic acid-reducing property of DMH–11 and the associated health and economic benefits (in terms of reduced edible oil imports) need to be factored in by all the stakeholders while deciding on the approval of the GM mustard crop. The development of the indigenous DMH-11 with a lower erucic acid content is by no means a notable achievement by Indian genetic scientists. After years of research, Canada and Europe have successfully introduced low-erucic acid traits into their rapeseed cultivars. Hence, plant breeding programmes aimed at reducing the erucic acid content in the mustard crop to an internationally accepted level of <5% should be given top priority in India’s indigenous GM mustard crop development programmes.

Sthanu R Nair, Professor of Economics, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode. Views are personal