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GAIL India shares soared more than 5 per cent on the BSE in a subdued market on the news that the country’s largest gas distribution company will on Friday consider buyback of shares. The shares touched an intra-day high of ₹ 143.50, up 5.7 per cent in early trading on the back of the announcement and at 10:20 am, the shares were trading at ₹ 141.50, up 3.94 per cent, on the BSE. The board will meet on January 15 to consider share buyback as also payment of interim dividend for the fiscal year ending March 2021, Gail India said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges, but did not give any details.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fallibility of the health infrastructure in the country and has served as a reminder that currently, India’s healthcare spending is at 1.29 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). This is much lower as compared to peer nations in the OECD and BRICS countries. According to the industry body, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the government must increase its investment in health, to at least 2.5-3 per cent of GDP by the year 2025 to ensure affordable healthcare.  Healthcare needs to be accompanied by digital infrastructural support such as data storage, management, processing, and security systems. In order to build a robust technology framework for healthcare, the government must consider creating the ‘Medical Innovation Fund’ for supporting companies with the capital to promote digital healthcare infrastructure. Similarly, firms should be incentivized to undertake research and development in healthcare technology and local manufacturing

Awide array of sleek and stylish room heaters equipped with the best-in-class technology and features to help you stay cosy this season 12 th January, 2021, New Delhi: It’s that time of the year again when the biting cold seems to breach every layer of clothing you may have on, and the only thing that will come to your rescue is the warmth that the room heater emanates cocooning you in its cozy comfort.Thanks to product advancements, today there is a wide range of room heaters that keep us shielded from the freezing cold and make us comfortable at our homes andoffices. Given the wide variety of choice, buying a room heater can be confusing, so here a lowdown on some of Usha International’s best-selling room heaters. The room heating solutions from Usha International, one of India’s most trusted brands, are handyappliances that can be moved from one place to another without making much effort and ensure an even spread of warmth. Well known to heat up the room quickly and quietly, Usha

China’s search engine giant Baidu Inc said on Monday it will set up a company to partner with car maker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group to make smart electric vehicles (EV), the latest move by a tech company in the fast-evolving sector. Baidu, which has been developing autonomous driving technology and Internet connectivity infrastructure, said the new EV company will count on Baidu’s intelligent driving capabilities and Geely’s car manufacturing expertise. Geely will also be a strategic investor in the new company, which will be an independent subsidiary of Baidu, Baidu said in the statement. Reuters reported Baidu’s plan to form a smart EV company with the help of Geely last week. Sources told Reuters Baidu would hold a majority stake and absolute voting power in the new firm and that Geely would have a minority stake. Geely said in a separate statement on Monday the collaboration will be based on Geely’s EV-focused platform, Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA). Baidu’s move comes

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes opened lower in trade on Tuesday on the back of weakness in banking and financial services shares after the Reserve Bank of India warned that the banks may see bad loans double despite signs of an improvement in the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, weakness in other Asian markets also added to somber investor sentiment on Dalal Street. The Sensex fell as much as 187 points to hit an intraday low of 49,082.04 and Nifty declined as much as 52 points to hit low of 14,484.75. As of 9:23 am, the Sensex was down 105 points at 49,164.22 and Nifty declined 24 points to 14,460. Six of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange were trading lower led by the Nifty Private Bank index’s 0.6 per cent decline after RBI’s warning on rising bad loans. The gross non-performing assets of banks may increase from 7.5 per cent in September 2020 to 14.8 per cent under a severe stress scenario. Even under a baseline scenario it

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open lower in trade on Tuesday as indicated by the Nifty futures traded on the Singapore Exchange. The Nifty futures on Singapore Exchange also known as the SGX Nifty was down 16 points at 14,480. Meanwhile, Asian stocks were mostly lower on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street declines as political turmoil in Washington and rising coronavirus cases worldwide weighed on sentiment. Political uncertainty dominated trading as House Democrats introduced a resolution to impeach U.S. President Donald Trump, accusing him of inciting insurrection following a violent attack on the Capitol last week. Several big tech giants, including Twitter Inc, Amazon.com Inc , Alphabet Inc, Facebook Inc and Apple Inc, have taken actions against Trump and his network of supporters, as concerns mounted over the risk of continued violence. Investors also kept an eye on the continued spread of the coronavirus globally as cases surpassed 90 million on Monday, according to a Reuter

Tata Motors shares raced ahead more than 4 per cent on the BSE after the auto major reported a recovery in Jaguar Land Rover sales in the December quarter. The shares touched an intra-day high of ₹ 229.50, up 4.2 per cent on the BSE on the back of the news development. At 9:30 am, the shares of Tata Motors were trading off their intra-day highs at ₹ 225.70, up 2.5 per cent, on the BSE. Jaguar Land Rover’s retail sales for the quarter ended December 31, 2020 stood at 128,469 vehicles, 13.1 per cent higher than 113,569 vehicles sold in the preceding quarter, Tata Motors said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges. The sales were, however, down 9.0 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The first batch of Covishield, the Serum Institute of India’s coronavirus vaccine, left Pune early this morning, four days ahead of the nationwide inoculation drive against COVID-19. Amid tight security, three temperature-controlled trucks rolled out of the Serum Institute gates with their precious cargo shortly before 5 am. The trucks carried 478 boxes of the vaccines, each box weighing 32 kg, news agency PTI reported quoting an unnamed official. A ”puja” was performed before the vehicles left the facility for the Pune airport. From the airport, the vaccines are being dispatched to 13 cities. “Ready get set go! Stand by India! The vaccine to kill the disease is being loaded into the aircraft for distribution all over the country now,” Pune airport tweeted. The vaccines will be flown from Pune in nine commercial flights, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. “Today, Air India, SpiceJet and IndiGo Airlines will operate nine flights from Pune

A two-word app recommendation from Elon Musk has turned into a massive rally in the shares of a tiny medical device company in another case of mistaken identity. “Use Signal,” the Tesla Inc. chief executive officer wrote on Twitter on Jan. 7, apparently referring to the encrypted messaging service. By the end of the day, Signal Advance Inc. shares had surged more than sixfold. That was enough to push Signal Advance’s rally more than 5,100% in three trading days giving it a market valuation of $390 million. Despite reports about the confusion on Friday, the stock has continued to rally. Shares of the Rosharon, Texas-based company surged as much as 885% on Monday before paring the gains. “We strongly recommend people do their due diligence and always invest with care,” the company’s chief executive officer, Dr. Chris Hymel, said when reached by phone on Monday. Signal Advance doesn’t have an association with Musk or the Signal app, he said. Signal Advance hasn’t filed an annual report wi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the valedictory function of the second National Youth Parliament Festival on January 12 via video conferencing. The selected candidates in the youth parliaments held at state and district levels will take part in the national event. The first three winners will get the opportunity to express their views before the Prime Minister. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ”Nishank”, among others, will also be present on the occasion. The objective of the National Youth Parliament Festival (NYPF) is to hear the voice of youth between 18 and 25 years of age, who are allowed to vote and will join various careers in coming years, including public services. The National Youth Parliament Festival is based on the idea given by the Prime Minister in his ”Mann Ki Baat” address on December 31, 2017. Taking inspiration from the idea, the first NYPF was organised from January 12 to February 27, 2019, with the theme “Be the Voi

National Youth Day is celebrated every year on January 12 to recognise and honour the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. This year, the higher education regulatory body, University Grants Commission, has also asked the universities and colleges to celebrate the National Youth Day and take inspiration from his ideals and commemorate his works. Swami Vivekananda was born on January 12, 1863 at Kolkata. National Youth Day is celebrated across the nation at schools and colleges, with several programmes including speeches, music, youth conventions, seminars, Yoga Asanas, presentations, competitions in essay-writing, recitations and sports every year. However, this year, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and most educational institutions being shut, the celebrations will be different. In a letter addressed to the Vice Chancellors and principals, UGC has asked institutes to organize different events, adhering to the COVID-19 restrictions. UGC has asked colleges, universities to organize onlin

Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ held a high-level meeting with top officials of the Education Ministry at his residence here on Monday to review the progress made regarding the implementation of New Education Policy 2020. Officials said that during the hour-long meeting, the Education Minister reviewed the progress made regarding the implementation of NEP 2020. An official told ANI that the meeting discussed the goal in NEP 2020 to universalize education from pre-school to secondary level. “The minister reviewed the progress made in the implementation of NEP in the situation created by COVID -19. Due to the pandemic, the NEP could not progress as expected. With the situation starting to get normal and the possibility of educational institutions opening gradually, the ministry is making all efforts to speed up the implementation of the policy,” the official added. The Union Cabinet in July last year approved the new Education Policy which has several goals including

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon youngsters to attend ‘Prarambh’, the Startup India international summit on January 15 and 16, saying it seeks to bring together top minds from industry, academia, investment, banking and finance besides young start up leaders. He also shared his LinkedIn post in which he noted that virtual interactions have become the new normal during the COVID-19 pandemic and said a big advantage of this is that people can be a part of programmes sitting at home. “With most events being held virtually, it has given a great opportunity for youngsters to be a part of many interesting domestic & global forums. One such opportunity is coming up in the form of Prarambh on 15-16 Jan. I urge our youth to be a part of it,” Modi tweeted on Monday. Being indoors for the most of 2020 meant everyone had to alter their work styles, the prime minister noted and said work from home is in, so is greater adapting to technology. “For me, it meant more programmes online,

Air India’s longest direct flight from San Francisco to Bengaluru with an all-woman cockpit crew successfully landed in the southern city on Monday. The national carrier had said on Saturday that this flight would be the longest commercial flight in the world to be operated by any Indian airline and the total flight time on this route would be of more than 17 hours depending on the wind speed on that day. The direct distance between the two cities at opposite ends of the world is 13,993 km with a time zone change of around 13.5 hours. “In a moment to cherish and celebrate, women professionals of Indian civil aviation create history,” Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri said on Twitter. “Heartiest Congratulations to Capt Zoya Aggarwal, Capt Papagari Thanmai, Capt Akansha Sonaware & Capt Shivani for flying over North Pole to land in Bengaluru from San Francisco, he stated. Flight AI176 departed from San Francisco in the USA at around 8.30 pm (local time) on Saturday and landed

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday that Indian banks’ total gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) may rise to 14.8 per cent under a severe stress scenario by September 2021 compared with 7.5 per cent in the year-ago period. This highlights the need for proactive building up of adequate capital to withstand possible asset quality deterioration, RBI said in its Financial Stability Report (FSR). “Macro stress tests incorporating the first advance estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2020-21 released on January 7, 2021 indicate that the GNPA ratio of all SCBs may increase from 7.5 per cent in September 2020 to 13.5 per cent by September 2021 under the baseline scenario; the ratio may escalate to 14.8 per cent under a severe stress scenario,” the financial report said. The central bank further stated that in the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, policy actions were geared towards restoring normal functioning and mitigating stress. The focus is now being oriented tow

India’s central bank warned that an expected doubling of bad loans and soaring financial markets in the nation’s weakened economy threaten financial stability. The non-performing asset ratio is forecast to rise to 13.5% by the end of September from 7.5% a year ago, the Reserve Bank of India said in its semiannual Financial Stability Report published Monday. If the number holds through the fiscal year ending March 2022, it would be the worst since 1999. “Domestically, corporate funding has been cushioned by policy measures and the loan moratorium announced in the face of the pandemic, but stresses would be visible with a lag,” the Reserve Bank said. “This has implications for the banking sector as corporate and banking sector vulnerabilities are interlinked.” Like their global peers, Indian lenders have been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, which triggered an unprecedented economic slump hurting borrowers’ ability to repay debts. Banks came into the year already weakened by a two-y

The Supreme Court Monday pulled up the Centre for its handling of the farmers protest against the new farm laws saying it is ?extremely disappointed? with the way negotiations between them were going and it will constitute a committee headed by a former Chief Justice of India to resolve the impasse Indicating amply that it may go to the extent of staying the implementation of the contentious farm laws, the apex court refused to grant extra time to the Centre to explore the possibility of amicable solution saying it has already granted the government a ?long rope? ?We have given you long rope, Mr Attorney General, please don’t lecture us on patience,? a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, that the top court has made ?harsh observations? regarding handling of the situation by the government. ?That was the most innocuous factual thing for us to say,? the bench said The apex

Britain said on Sunday it has helped raise $1 billion (818 million euros) from global donors towards the drive to help “vulnerable countries” access coronavirus vaccines, by match-funding contributions. The UK said, in addition, it has committed 548 million pounds to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), after matching with 1 pound every $4 pledged by other donors. Canada, Japan and Germany are among the countries to make contributions that it matched, helping the AMC raise more than $1.7 billion in total so far. The fund will allow for the distribution of one billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to 92 developing countries this year, according to Britain’s Foreign Office. “We’ll only be safe from this virus, when we’re all safe — which is why we’re focused on a global solution to a global problem,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement. The announcement came as Britain marks the 75th anniversary of the first meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in London, hosting

A former US defense secretary has called on President-elect Joe Biden to reform the system that gives sole control of the nation’s nuclear arsenal to the president, calling it “outdated, unnecessary and extremely dangerous.” The call from William Perry came the same day US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke with the nation’s top military leader about ensuring that an “unhinged” President Donald Trump not be able to launch a nuclear attack in his final days in office. “Once in office, Biden should announce he would share authority to use nuclear weapons with a select group in Congress,” said Perry, who served under President Bill Clinton. He was writing in Politico magazine with Tom Collina of the Ploughshares Fund, which advocates for stronger nuclear controls. They said Biden, who takes office January 20, should also declare that the United States will never start a nuclear war and would use the bomb only in retaliation. The piece argues that the current system gives the president — any

Qatar Airways and Saudi Airlines will resume flights between Doha and Riyadh from Monday in a reopening of airspace as part of a political rapprochement in a three-year-old dispute. Qatar Airways said via Twitter on Saturday it will resume flights to Riyadh on Monday, Jeddah from January 14, and Dammam from January 16. It said the flights would be with wide-body planes including the Boeing 777-300, Boeing 787-8 and Airbus A350. “We also look forward to resuming a strong relationship with our trade and cargo partners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as the major airports in the country,” the airline added on Twitter. Saudi Airlines (Saudia) also tweeted that it too would resume flights from Riyadh and Jeddah to Doha from Monday. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a diplomatic, trade and travel embargo on Qatar in mid-2017 accusing it of supporting terrorism. Qatar denied that and said the embargo was meant to undermine its sovereignty.

Apple Inc has suspended Parler from the App Store, saying the social networking service has not taken adequate measures to prevent the spread of posts inciting violence. “We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues,” the iPhone maker said in a statement Saturday. Apple had given the service 24 hours to submit a detailed moderation plan, pointing to participants’ using the service to coordinate Wednesday’s siege of the US Capitol. Parler Chief Executive John Matze said Apple was banning the service until it gives up free speech and institutes “broad and invasive policies like Twitter and Facebook.” “They claim it is due to violence on the platform. The community disagrees as we hit number 1 on their store today,” Matze said in a post on Parler. Right-leaning social media users in the United States have flocked to Parler, messaging app Telegram and hands-off social site Gab, citing the more aggressive policing of political comments on mainstream platforms

Donald Trump faced quite a lot of backlash following violent protest at the US Capitol by Trump supporters. The event, that disrupted the Electoral College debate and lead to the death of five people, was said to have been instigated by Trump’s social media messages ever since the November presidential election. As a result, Trump’s social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat have been removed, right-leaning social media app Parler has been suspended from Google Play, and pro-Trump subreddit ‘r/DonaldTrump’ has been blocked by Reddit. Donald Trump’s digital presence has been cut down significantly after protests at Capitol Hill by his supporters. On January 7, during the Electoral College Debate, a large group of Trump supporters stormed the building and entered the Senate chamber where election results were being certified. The protests have been blamed on Trump’s tweets and posts on various social media platforms where he claimed that the November 3 election was rigged a

Cryptocurrency bitcoin jumped more than five per cent on Friday, January 8, to fresh record highs of $41,530, reversing losses from its earlier performance during the session. The world’s most popular virtual currency slid to as low as $36,618.36 on Bitstamp exchange before bouncing back. The rival cryptocurrency – ethereum rose 3 per cent after plunging more than 10 per cent. Bitcoin has rallied nearly 1,000 per cent since a low in March. Bitcoin has had a broader bull run since October 2020, ever since US-based online payments firm PayPal allowed its customers to use the cryptocurrency on its network. It topped $30,000 for the first time on January 2, after breaching the $20,000 mark on December 16. A higher demand from corporate, institutional, and even retail investors has influenced bitcoin’s surge in prices, amid its inflation-hedging qualities and potential for quick gains. “We are seeing a continued demand spike driven largely by sustained and unprecedented institutional intere

The Uttar Pradesh government has given its approval to the Excise Policy 2021-22, expecting revenue to jump by ₹ 6,000 crore during the fiscal. The approval was granted by the state cabinet headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. The cabinet meeting took place on Saturday night. “To provide good quality liquor at economic prices, UP Made Liquor (in Tetra-pack and of 42.8 per cent strength only) made from Grain ENA, shall be sold at an MRP of ₹ 85 through country liquor shops. Integrated Supply Chain Management System (IESCMS) shall be implemented by computerizing the various processes of the department. The system of sale of liquor in retail shops using PoS machines shall be implemented in 2021-22,” the state government said in a statement on Saturday. The Excise Policy got clearance of the UP Cabinet hours after five people died and 16 others hospitalised after allegedly consuming spurious liquor in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district on Friday. The authorities have suspended four

MG Motor India had received 80,000 cumulative bookings for the Hector SUVs, Gloster and ZS EV in 2020. According to a report from ETAuto, the British marquee is now ramping up the capacity for its SUVs to meet the rising demand. The Chinese carmaker managed to achieve these numbers despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic situation and disrupted supply chain. The Gloster flagship SUV has recorded around 3,500 bookings in less than three months since its launch in the Indian market. The report also mentioned that the carmaker manufactured around 30,000 to 31,000 vehicles in 2020 at its Halol plant. However, the facility is capable of producing 80,000 units annually. Last year, MG Motor sold 28,162 units compared to 15,930 units in 2019 recording a growth of 77 per cent. The growth was majorly driven by the Hector SUV contributing over 92 per cent growth at 25,935 units. Notably, the Hector was the only SUV in the segment to record 63 per cent growth when the overall space saw a d

US President-elect Joe Biden has said he will introduce an immigration legislation “immediately” after taking office, reversing the Trump administration’s policies. Biden will taken the oath of office on January 20. “I will introduce an immigration bill immediately and have it sent to the appropriate committees to begin movement,” he told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware on Friday. Biden was responding to a question on what his administration would do first after his inauguration on January 20. He had also previously promised an immigration overhaul within 100 days of taking office. Reversing the Trump administration’s “cruel” immigration policies was Biden”s one of the key election promises. Restricting immigration has been a focus of the Trump administration since its first days when it issued the travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries, and it has continued into Trump”s final year in office as the White House uses the coronavirus pandemic as cover. The Trump government harden

India’s coronavirus vaccination drive will begin January 16, the government said Saturday evening, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting with senior officials to review the Covid situation in the country and finalise vaccine roll-out details. The Prime Minister called the news a “landmark step forward in fighting COVID-19”. Priority will be given to around one crore healthcare workers and two crore frontline staff, like doctors, community health workers and police, who are directly involved in fighting the pandemic. The vaccine will be free of cost for this group , Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said last week. The next group will be people over 50, followed by those under 50 but with co-morbidities. Around 30 crore people will be vaccinated in the first phase. Minutes after the announcement, Prime Minister Modi tweeted: “On 16th January, India takes a landmark step forward in fighting COVID-19. Starting that day, India’s nationwide vaccination drive b

An Indonesian Sriwijaya Air plane is feared to have crashed into the sea after the Boeing 737 lost contact with air traffic control in the capital Jakarta, with flight tracking data showing the jet plunged into a steep dive just four minutes after take-off. It was unclear how many passengers and crew were aboard the Boeing 737-500, which has a capacity of about 130, when it left Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta international airport Saturday afternoon. The usual flight time is about 90 minutes over the Java Sea between Java island and Kalimantan, Indonesia’s section of Borneo island. Data from FlightRadar24 said the plane reached an altitude of nearly 11,000 feet (3,350 metres) before dropping to 250 feet. It then lost contact with air traffic control. “Sriwijaya Air flight #SJ182 lost more than 10,000 feet of altitude in less than one minute, about 4 minutes after departure from Jakarta,” the tracking agency said on its official Twitter account. Broadcaster Kompas TV quoted local fishermen as

Mercedes-Benz is accelerating its journey towards CO2 neutrality. Significant progress was made in 2020, with a steep increase in electrified vehicle deliveries. More than 1,60,000 plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles were sold by Mercedes-Benz Cars worldwide which is a growth of more than 200 per cent, including about 87,000 units in the fourth quarter of 2020. The electrified car’s share increased from 2 per cent in 2019 to 7.4 per cent last year. Sales of plug-in hybrids almost quadrupled to more than 1,15,000 units. Approximately 20,000 EQC were handed over to customers worldwide.

Tata Motors recently announced that it will be resurrecting the legendary ‘Safari’ nameplate for its upcoming 7-seater flagship SUV. The Indian carmaker will be initiating pre-launch bookings for the SUV very soon. Ahead of its debut, the company has officially teased the all-new Tata Safari on its social media account, confirming that it will be arriving in the domestic this month itself. The teaser image reveals the new front grille on the SUV is slightly different from the 5-seater Harrier , while the projector headlights remain the same.

Ninety people in India have so far contracted the new strain of coronavirus, which was first detected in the United Kingdom in September, the Health Ministry said this today. Eight of these cases of the mutant strain – believed to be more infectious – are new, the data shows.  Across the country, 18,222 fresh Covid cases in the last 24 hours took the tally to 1,04,31,639; 228 deaths took the total number of deaths linked to the disease to 1,50,798. The active caseload, however, is 2,24,190; more than 1 crore people have already recovered.  The surge in the number of patients with the new strain comes as India waits for the vaccine rollout after Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin and Pune-based Serum Institute of India’s Covishield were cleared for emergency use by the drug regulator DCGI last Sunday. The government carried out the third vaccine dry run across the country yesterday to check the preparedness. “The third massive countrywide mock drill conducted yesterday for ensuring the readiness

The S&P BSE Sensex rallied over 750 points and Nifty 50 index climbed above 14,350 as markets broke record highs for tenth session on Friday on the back of a broad-based buying interest. The Sensex surged as much as 761 points to hit an all-time high of 48,854.34 and Nifty 50 index surpassed 14,350 for the first time. Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Larsen & Toubro and Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies were among the top movers in the Sensex. The Sensex climbed 689 points or 1.43 per cent to close at record high of 48,782 and Nifty 50 index surged 210 points to settle at record 14,347. Sustained buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) is helping benchmarks surge to new highs. The FIIs bought shares worth ₹ 382 crore on Thursday (January 7) after they bought shares worth $23 billion in calendar year 2020. Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Larsen & Toubro and Tech Mah

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Friday reported a 7.2 per cent jump in its profit for the final quarter of 2020, as India’s top software services firm benefitted from greater demand for its cloud services during the Covid-19 pandemic. The results kick off India’s corporate earnings season for the December quarter, a seasonally weak period for the software industry, but one which analysts reckon has been good for IT firms in 2020 because in part due to the Covid-19 crisis. TCS and rivals, Infosys and Wipro, have been winning more large contracts from businesses that are investing in services such as cloud-computing and cybersecurity to support their shift to remote work. “Growing demand for core transformation services … have driven a powerful momentum that helped us overcome seasonal headwinds,” TCS Chief Executive Officer Rajesh Gopinathan said in a statement to the stock exchanges.

The rupee gained seven paise against the US dollar on Friday, January 8, to settle at 73.24 tracking an intense rally in domestic equities, while also reflecting a sharp recovery from the day’s lowest level. The domestic unit started on a sluggish note and declined to an intraday low of 73.45 against the American currency during the day’s session. It swung between 73.20 to 73.50 during the day’s session. However, for a greater part of the trading session, the local unit remained under pressure due to stronger American currency against the key rivals and surging prices of oil. The rupee declined 20 paise lower at 73.31 against the dollar on Thursday, January 7. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.12 per cent to 89.93. The domestic unit recorded a volatile trading session throughout the week. The rupee suffered losses on Thursday due to muted domestic equities and tumbled 20 paise to 73.31 against the dollar. On We

The used car market has better prospects after the pandemic hit our economy for a simple reason, it has products to offer at more affordable rates. The same also goes for luxury car market and it’s probably the best time for luxury carmakers to focus on their used car business. Audi India that’s been on a roll since last year with multiple product launches is now gearing up to rack up its used car Approved Plus business as well by improving its reach in our country as well as by upping its inventory level. The Audi Approved: Plus business will not only help existing customers to sell their Audis and go for a new one, but will also bring in new customers in the business who may end up buying new Audis at some point of time. Speaking to carandbike, Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head – Audi India said, “Audi Approved: Plus is also one of our focus areas that we have and from many perspectives. One is from dealer perspective and the most important one is for our customers. If you own an Audi, yo

The EU has struck a deal to double its supply of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19 to a total of 600 million doses, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday. “We have right now, access to 300 million doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine… With the new agreement we could purchase a total of up to an additional 300 million doses of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine,” she told a press conference. She said that, along with the Moderna vaccine also authorised for use in the EU, “we have already secured an amount of doses that we need to vaccinate 380 million Europeans, and this is more than 80 percent of the European population”. Von der Leyen said that other vaccine authorisations were expected “in the coming weeks and months” so “Europe will have more than enough vaccine within a reliable timeframe”. The European Commission has been hit with rising criticism that the vaccine roll-out that started December 27 has been too slow compared to countries such as the Unit

Off late, there has been quite a bit of chatter around Apple’s self-driving car project. Now, perhaps the most credible piece of information is coming out of Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who is considered to be one of the foremost Apple watchers on the planet. According to a story filed by Gurman, Apple is indeed pursuing a full-fledged self-driving car, and not just a self-driving car platform and it could be 5 years away which is slightly longer than what Reuters reported a couple of weeks ago as it indicated a 2024 launch for the Apple Car. Gurman states that Apple has launched numerous ex-Tesla employees for the product which is dubbed project titan internally. The self-driving car project is led by Apple’s senior vice president of AI strategy and machine learning John Giannandrea. “The Cupertino, California-based technology giant has a small team of hardware engineers developing drive systems, vehicle interior and external car body designs with the goal of eventually shipping a vehicl

Mumbai, January 8, 2021: Raising the bar with newer offerings for the customers in the New Year, India’s largest fuel retailer, IndianOil, has now teamed up with State Bank of India (SBI) India’s largest bank, to launch the IndianOil – SBI co-branded RuPay Debit Card. The IndianOil – SBI co-branded RuPay Debit Card was launched by Mr. Shrikant Madhav Vaidya, Chairman, IndianOil; and Mr. Dinesh Kumar Khara, Chairman, SBI, in a virtual ceremony held today. The features of the card are: ·         6X Reward Points for every Rs. 200/- spent at IndianOil fuel stations ·         Fuel benefits – Cardholder earns loyalty points worth 0.75% against purchase of fuel at IndianOil fuel stations ·         Pay with a tap (contactless card) for a single transaction of upto Rs. 5000/- ·         Earn Reward Points on spends on dining, movies, grocery, and utility bills ·         Redeem Reward Points for dining, movies, grocery and paying utility bills ·         No monthly limit for purchasing fuel ·   

• Regular exercise, balanced diet key to good heart health • Binge eating/drinking can aggravate heart problems New Delhi, 08 th January 2021: People with cardiovascular problems need to be extra cautious when temperatures start to fall, as risk of a heart attack begins to climb during cold weather, said cardiology experts sharing their experiences during 16 th edition of ASSOCHAM webinar series on Illness to Wellness. Supported by the hygiene brand SAVLON, the program which promotes healthy living with a quality life focusing on wellness and preventive health through healthy lifestyle habits, balanced diet, regular exercises, and holistic health saw the speakers engage on the preventive measures for healthy Heart especially in winter season. It was also discussed that influenza vaccine for all individuals above 65 years and in addition to that Pneumococcal vaccine is key to stay fit for everyone with heart diseases. “The supply of oxygen-rich blood to heart muscles gets reduced dur

Nowadays, Data Science is the most trendy expression in the innovation world. It is a significant advance toward how PCs can learn. Everyday advancement in innovation and the age of gigantic measures of information have prompted the appeal for Data Scientists across the globe. The significance of social affairs and gathering information is vital as it empowers associations to decide and hence impact the patterns in a specific industry. Data  Science encases numerous advancement advances like Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and Deep Learning to give some examples. The advancement and mechanical improvements in information science have expanded their effect across each industry. The article underneath talks about the extension and openings for work in the field of Data Science. Here are some significant enterprises with an appeal for data researchers. Online business Online business and retail are probably the most applicable ventures that require information

  New Delhi, January 2021: Nippon Paints- India’s leading Paint company, signs an MOU with Seekho India-a startup for an online Skill development and training arrangement to empower the youth of India and Collaborate for “Virtual eWarrior Program” to provide them suitable opportunities in the Auto refinish and wood coating industry.  In the view of Skill India and Startup India – Nippon paint Supports and incubates start-ups Like Seekho India (skill-tech start-up) that focuses on training and certifying students with a willingness to create self-reliance and entrepreneurship spirit.   “Virtual eWarrior Program” is an initiative by Nippon paint to bring talent to Auto refinish and Wood coating Industry. In this course Seekho India aims to provide training to 5000 youth to become a certified sales professional and become a part of Nippon paint’s Self rewarding Program.   Mr. Sharad Malhotra, President (Automotive Refinishes and Wood coating), Nippon Paint India said, “We provide growth

Popular gaming platform Twitch has banned indefinitely Donald Trump’s official channel on its platform, following the storming of Capitol Hill by supporters of the outgoing US President. “In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel,” the company said in a statement according to CNN. “Given the current extraordinary circumstances and the President’s incendiary rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence,” the live-streaming platform said. The San Francisco-based company is the latest among social media and tech platforms that have launched a crackdown on Trump after the president’s supporters breached the Capitol Hill building bringing to a halt the congressional debate to certify Electoral College votes of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris” win in the November 3 presidential elections. The chaos forced a lockdown and confrontations with police

WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger collect a vast amount of user information and data compared to other popular messaging apps including Signal and Telegram, Apple’s privacy labels update revealed. Both apps owned by Facebook collect usage data and location details which are the cases with other apps. In contrast, Signal comes as the most private messaging app that doesn’t collect any user data, as per the privacy details highlighted on the App Store. Facebook has earlier criticised Apple’s move to display privacy labels. The details available on the App Store shows that Facebook Messenger leads when it comes to user data collection, followed by WhatsApp . The list of data both apps collect includes users’ purchase history, financial information, location details, contacts, phone number, email address, and usage data, among others. At a time when people are expressing concerns about WhatsApp’s new privacy policy changes , which you have to accept or your account will be deleted, it’s in

US prosecutors hit Boeing with a $2.5 billion fine to settle charges the company defrauded regulators over the 737 MAX, the Justice Department announced Thursday. Boeing reached a deferred prosecution agreement related to the company’s pronouncements to regulators about the issues with the MAX, which was grounded for 20 months after two deadly crashes and only recently was cleared to return to the skies. Prosecutors described Boeing’s failings in withering terms, accusing the company of putting “profit over candor” and of engaging in a “half-truths” and a “cover up.” The DOJ charged Boeing with concealing information about the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), an anti-stall system that was a prime factor in crashes of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines flights that together claimed 346 lives. Boeing, through two MAX pilots, concealed key information about MCAS to the Federal Aviation Administration, DOJ said. This omission meant the FAA did not mention MCAS in its fi

Donald Trump condemns “in the strongest possible terms” violence by supporters who entered the US Capitol after being whipped up in a speech by the president, his spokeswoman said Thursday. “Let me be clear: The violence we saw yesterday at our nation’s Capitol was appalling, reprehensible and antithetical to the American way,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters. “We condemn it — the president and this administration — in the strongest possible terms.” Calls for Trump’s removal have been building a day after his supporters entered the seat of US government in Washington in a violent attempt to prevent the certification by Congress of Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory.

The Union government lowered the tax deducted at source (TDS) and tax collected at source (TCS) rates by 25 per cent on non-salaried payments effective from May 14, 2020, until March 31, 2021. The government undertook the decision to provide additional liquidity to people by lowering tax rates. To increase liquidity in the hands of people and help them fight the coronavirus-induced recession, the government announced various relief measures on May 13, 2020. Non-salaried payments include interest earned on fixed deposits (FDs), dividend income, among other income sources. TDS kicks in at different levels for various payments. The relief measures were announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. TDS on FD interest paid by a bank will now be deducted at 7.5 per cent instead of 10 per cent earlier. Similarly, a tenant will be required to deduct the TDS on rent exceeding ₹ 50,000 per month at 3.75 per cent instead of 5 per cent earlier. Now with the 2021-22 budget scheduled to be prese

Banks have provided $1.7 trillion of finance to 40 companies in the plastics supply chain without imposing any requirements to tackle plastic pollution pouring into the world’s rivers and oceans, according to a report published on Thursday. With European and U.S. banks increasingly spurning the most polluting fossil fuel projects to help slow climate change, campaigners want lenders to take a similar approach to plastics by making loans conditional on measures to boost recycling. “What the financial sector needs now is someone to step forward and say ‘okay, we’re going to take a look at plastics,’ and then others will follow,” said Robin Smale, director of Vivid Economics, a consultancy, which audited the report. Compiled by https://portfolio.earth, a research network, the report ranked Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co as the three biggest financiers of plastics between January 2015 and September 2019. Each bank provided from $144 billion to $172 billion

Shares of the Bangalore-based real estate developer Sobha rose as much as 7 per cent to hit an intra-day high of ₹ 439.70 on the BSE after the company, post market hours on Thursday, said that it achieved best ever quarterly sales volume in December quarter. “Sales volume achieved during Q3-21 is the best ever quarterly sales volume reported by the company without any major launch during the quarter,” Sobha said in a press release. During the quarter, Sobha achieved total sales volume of 1,133,574 square feet of super built-up area valued at ₹ 888 crore, with a total average realization of ₹ 7,830 per square feet. Sales volume, total sales value are up by 27 per cent and 29 per cent respectively as compared to Q2-21. “Residential housing demand has gained traction as reflected in increase in mortgage loans given by home loan financing banks/ Fls/HFCs. As a result, large developers are outperforming their own previous sales volumes on a Q-o-Q basis. Healthy sales numbers are encouraging

Shares of electronic goods maker – Dixon Technologies – rose as much as 5.2 per cent to hit another record high of ₹ 15,214.20 on the BSE after the company, post market hours on Wednesday, said that it signed an agreement with Imagine Marketing, the maker of popular boAt wearable gadgets for manufacturing of twin wireless speakers. On the National Stock Exchange, Dixon Technologies shares rose as much as 5.35 per cent to hit a record high of 15,218.95. “Dixon Technologies (India) Limited and boAt have entered into agreement for manufacturing of twin wireless speakers. Dixon shall be manufacturing the said products from its manufacturing facility located at Noida, Uttar Pradesh,” the Noida-based company said in a press release. “boAt is the leader in the earwear segment. Their high quality audio devices are known for their style and efficiency. We are delighted and encouraged by the trust they have bestowed on Dixon for this collaboration. Dixon Group is committed to have pivotal impact

The Trump administration is considering adding tech giants Alibaba and Tencent to a blacklist of firms allegedly owned or controlled by the Chinese military, two people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Targeting Asia’s two most valuable companies, worth a combined $1.3 trillion, would be U.S. President Donald Trump’s most dramatic step yet in a recent raft of measures unleashed against Chinese companies as he seeks to cement his hardline policy against Beijing during his final days in office. Defense Department officials, who oversee the blacklist designations, have not yet finalized plans and are also discussing adding other Chinese firms to the list, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deliberations are private. Both companies declined to comment. The discussions were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Shares in Alibaba, China’s biggest e-commerce firm, and Tencent, a gaming and social media behemoth, were down roughly 4 per cent in aft

The rupee slipped 20 paise against the US dollar on Thursday, January 7, to settle at 73.31 (provisional), tracking muted domestic equities and a rebound in the American currency. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened flat at 73.10 against the dollar. It registered an intra-day high of 73.08 during the session and dived to a low of 73.31. The domestic unit settled at 73.31, down 20 paise against its previous close. On Wednesday, January 6, the rupee had settled at 73.11 against the greenback. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.26 per cent to 89.75. ”After the Democratic win in Senate Run-Offs and a near-certain confirmation of Biden as president dollar weakness should continue as more stimulus of around $ 600 billion is expected along with stimulus checks of $ 2000. The Democratic priority should be vaccination, revival of economy and jobs. Rupee should open around 73.10 and is expected

Indian Railways has extended the time limit beyond six months and up to nine months from the date of the journey for cancellation of passenger reservation system (PRS) counter tickets and for claiming refund of fare across reservation counters. According to a statement released by the Railway Ministry, the time limit is extended for the tickets between the journey period – March 21, 2020 to July 31, 2020. The relaxation has been given for the submission of PRS counter tickets up to six months from the date of the journey. This relaxation is applicable only for the regular timetabled trains cancelled by Indian Railways. In case of those train tickets cancelled through 139 or through the official e-ticketing IRCTC website, the time limit for surrendering of such tickets for the above-mentioned journey period, across reservation counter, is upto nine months from the date of journey. After the lapse of six months from the date of the journey, many railway passengers may have deposited the

Indian economy is estimated to contract 7.7 per cent in financial year 2020-21 compared to 4.2 per cent growth in the previous financial year, mainly on account of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. As per the first advanced estimates of the national income released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday, there was contraction in almost all sectors with the exception of agriculture. “Real GDP or GDP at Constant Prices (2011-12) in the year 2020-21 is likely to attain a level of ₹ 134.40 lakh crore, as against the Provisional Estimate of GDP for the year 2019-20 of ₹ 145.66 lakh crore… The growth in real GDP during 2020-21 is estimated at -7.7 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 4.2 per cent in 2019-20,” it said. In the current fiscal, manufacturing sector is likely to see a contraction 9.4 per cent whereas growth was almost flat at 0.03 per cent in the year-ago period.

India added 18,088 coronavirus cases on Wednesday , placing its overall number at 1.03 crore cases, the Health Ministry’s data showed. The number of fresh infections reported on Wednesday were 10 per cent higher than on Tuesday. In this period, India reported 264 deaths linked to the virus, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,50,114.The total number of people who have tested positive for the new UK strain of the coronavirus in the country now stands at 73, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

Kriti Sanon kick-started filming Bachchan Pandey , which will also star Akshay Kumar in the lead role, in Jaisalmer on Wednesday. The film, directed by Farhad Samji and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, will also feature Pankaj Tripathi, Jacqueline Fernandez, Prateik Babbar and Arshad Warsi . Sharing a couple of photos of herself from the sets of the film, Kriti Sanon wrote: “1st day of 1st film shoot in 2021! With the production that gave me my very 1st film! #BachchanPandey here we go.” For those who don’t know, Kriti Sanon made her debut in Bollywood with Sajid Nadiadwala-produced 2014 film Heropanti . The photos also feature Farhad Samji, who directed Akshay Kumar and Kriti Sanon in Housefull 4 , and Sajid Nadiadwala’s wife Warda. In Bachchan Pandey , Akshay Kumar will play the role of a gangster, who aspires to be an actor . Kriti Sanon will feature as a journalist, who wishes to be a director while Arshad Warsi will play the role of a struggling actor. Bachchan Pandey is loosely bas