Amid a spike in Covid-19 cases, the Centre on Monday reviewed with states and Union territories the preparedness for pandemic management and the progress of vaccination.

US nominee for World Bank president, Ajay Banga, has tested positive for COVID-19 following which the meetings scheduled during his two-day visit to India have been cancelled. According to a Finance Ministry statement, Banga's meeting with Nirmala Sitharaman would not happen as he is in quarantine. "During routine testing, Ajay Banga tested positive for COVID-19 but remains asymptomatic.

Amid a gradual rise in daily Covid-19 cases, the Union health ministry said on Thursday that the XBB.1.16 subvariant of Omicron might be the dominant virus strain in the country but there has been no reported increase in the rate of hospitalisation or death so far.

The filing of offer documents with the capital markets regulator - Securities and Exchange Board of India - has more than halved this financial year (2022-23, or FY23) as the outlook for new share sales has worsened, following correction in the secondary market. So far in FY23, 66 companies filed their draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), as opposed to 144 in the preceding financial year (2021-22, or FY22).

As India witnessed the highest number of Covid cases in over four months, former All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) director Dr Randeep Guleria on Wednesday said the new XBB.1.16 variant could be driving the recent rise but emphasised there was no need for panic as long it does not cause severe illness and deaths.

The US provided crucial intelligence to the Indian military last year that helped it successfully tackle the Chinese "incursions".

Claims of a spike in poverty and inequality in India during the Covid-19 pandemic are patently false as such claims are based on uncomparable different surveys, according to a paper co-authored by eminent economist Arvind Panagariya. The paper also noted that inequality fell in the country during Covid years, both in rural and urban areas as well as nationally. Panagariya, Columbia University Professor and former vice chairman of NITI Aayog and Vishal More of Intelink Advisors, New Delhi have co-authored a detailed paper 'Poverty and Inequality in India: Before and After Covid-19'.

'The fortunate part is that the severity is less. New strains are continuously forming and the virus is getting less severe.'

There has been a nearly 150 per cent rise in patients coming to outpatient departments with such complaints, they said.

Whether this remains under control in the coming months will depend on the future intensity and spread of the Russia-Ukraine war, and the effectiveness of the Indian government's response, points out A K Bhattacharya.

The states were requested to take a stock of hospital preparedness such as availability of drugs and medical oxygen, vaccination coverage against COVID-19 and influenza.

As concerns mounted and some people wondered whether this could possibly turn out to be another Covid, pulmonologist Anurag Agrawal said he doesn't expect to see a massive wave.

Demand for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) went up last month across India, as kirana stores stocked up their shelves in anticipation of a sizzling summer, according to data by retail intelligence firm Bizom. There was a spike in beverages sales across the country despite inflation inching up in February after moderating downward previously, Bizom noted.

Many life insurance companies are yet to see a sharp spike in the sale of high-value policies as was widely expected in the aftermath of the government's decision to tax income from insurance policies having an aggregate premium above Rs 5 lakh in a year.

The reopening of China has led to an ongoing readjustment of the global metals and commodities markets. China has a massive production capacity surplus to its own domestic demand. At the same time, it also has high domestic demand. China is also becoming carbon sensitive.

Petroleum and oil marketing companies raised the price of commercial liquid petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders by Rs 350.50 per unit and domestic LPG cylinders by Rs 50 per unit with immediate effect from Wednesday.

As banks' chase for customers to collect cheap deposits is not fructifying, they are forced to offer inflation-beating real interest rates on fixed deposits now, and state-run banks led by Punjab & Sind Bank tops the chart offering 8-8.50 per cent per annum deposit rate. Banks are forced to offer inflation-beating deposit rates for a tenor ranging from 200 to 800 days as credit growth has been far outpacing deposit mobilization throughout this fiscal, leading to a funding crunch.

The 'sudden volatility' in Adani stocks is entirely due to a series of events that was extreme and unique, and played out in too short a period. Investors and regulators pretended that it wasn't so. But then, along came Hindenburg, which forced some eyes to open, points out Debashis Basu.

India has put curbs on wheat exports through the government route, starting November last year. This comes amid a surge in domestic prices of the cereal. In December, India exported 391 tonnes of wheat to Bangladesh and Bhutan. In November 2022, it had exported 375 tonnes of wheat only to Bhutan.

Ashima Goyal, a member of the RBI's MPC who voted against the panel's latest rate hike, spoke to Business Standard's Bhaskar Dutta. She spoke about how further tightening could affect the interest-elastic components of aggregate demand, potentially pushing down GDP growth towards 5 per cent.

Northwest, central and east India are predicted to record maximum temperatures three to five degrees above normal over the next five days, the India meteorological department (IMD) said on Thursday.

Those who worry that the Adani saga will turn the world off India are not looking at the entire picture, asserts Mihir S Sharma.

Sixteen people in five Jharkhand districts have been killed by a tusker in the past 12 days, with four in a single block of Ranchi district on Tuesday, forest officials said.

While the filmmaker didn't vouch for the authenticity of the dish, he did vouch for the taste.

The rout in Adani Group stocks after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research released a report on January 24 has sparked a rebound in trading activity this month. The average daily trading volume (ADTV) for the cash segment (both NSE and BSE combined) so far in February stands at Rs 59,346 crore, and is around 15 per cent more than the previous month's tally of Rs 51,844 crore, which was the lowest in six months. The ADTV for the futures and options (F&O) segment rose to a record Rs 204 trillion (notional turnover) against Rs 202 trillion in January.

'From what evidence has come up, General Bajwa somehow managed to tell the Americans that I was anti-American.' 'And so, it [the plan to oust me] wasn't imported from there. It was exported from here to there.'

Gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) witnessed a net outflow of Rs 199 crore in January, making it the third monthly withdrawal in a row, with investors preferring equities over other segments on buoyant record SIP flow. This was in comparison to a net outflow of Rs 273 crore registered in the segment in December and Rs 195 crore in November. Prior to that, Gold ETFs attracted Rs 147 crore in October, data with Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) showed.

Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after New Delhi abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019. India's decision evoked strong reactions from Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian envoy.

You need exactly four ingredients to make this pickle.

Jet fuel (ATF) price on Wednesday was hiked by 4 per cent in line with firming international oil prices but petrol and diesel rates remained on freeze for a record 10th month in running. Aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price was increased by Rs 4,218 per kilolitre, or 3.9 per cent, to Rs 1,12,356.77 per kl in the national capital, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers. The increase follows three rounds of reduction since November.

Lt Gen Kalita also stated that the Army is constantly monitoring the activities across the border and is well prepared to meet any emerging challenges.

A day after Adani Group's shares took a beating as Hindenburg Research made damaging allegations against it, the group on Thursday said it is examining legal options to take "punitive action" against the US activist investor for its "reckless" attempt to sabotage a share-sale at the conglomerate's flagship firm. "The maliciously mischievous, unresearched report published by Hindenburg Research on January 24, 2023 has adversely affected the Adani Group, our shareholders and investors. "The volatility in Indian stock markets created by the report is of great concern and has led to unwanted anguish for Indian citizens," the group's lead head Jatin Jalundhwala said in a statement.

Well-known US activist investor Hindenburg Research has alleged that Adani Group was "engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud", a charge the conglomerate described as malicious, unsubstantiated, one-sided, and having done with malafide intention to ruin its share-sale. Hindenburg, a US-based investment research firm that specialises in activist short-selling, said its two-year investigation reveals that "the Rs 17.8 trillion ($218 billion) Indian conglomerate Adani Group has engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades." The report comes ahead of a Rs 20,000 crore follow-on share sale of Adani Group's flagship Adani Enterprises.

'We seem to be in a situation where we can do little, and nothing needs to be done anyway.'

Chief of Army Staff Gen Manoj Pande has carried out a comprehensive review of India's military preparedness along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh in his first visit to the border state after last month's clash between Indian and Chinese forces in the Tawang sector.

The Indian Air Force will carry out a mega exercise covering the Northeastern region early next month to check its combat readiness, amid a fresh spike in tension with China along the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh.

Government's focus on infrastructure is the biggest positive for the Indian economy, followed by the improvement in tax collections and good consumption recovery.

Demonetisation and Agniveer reveal the two mindsets India has become. In both these government schemes, one sees a desire to play the country like an orchestra anchored by conductor/conductors, argues Shyam G Menon.

'If private capex has to kick in, there should at least be 2-3 years of visibility.'

How they brought in their tomorrows.