The Omicron variant carries 'concerning' mutations that may make it more transmissible and allow it to evade immunity, scientists said on Monday, stressing that the one certainty in the uncertainty of the many things unknown is this -- COVID is not a short-term crisis and vaccines are still a critical tool.
Liquidity in the banking system has slipped into a deficit for the first time in three weeks, prompting banks to borrow the largest quantum of funds from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in around a month and a half. The key catalyst for the sudden tightening in liquidity was due to outflows on account of advance tax payments, which occur towards the end of a quarter. Analysts also cited other factors such as a currency leakage and possible interventions by the RBI in the foreign exchange market, which contributed to the tighter liquidity conditions.
Twitter "took extraordinary steps to suppress" The New York Post's Hunter Biden laptop story, removing links and posting warnings that it may be "unsafe."
'The Akali government is not responsible for the Punjab power crisis as Mr Sidhu is saying.'
India Inc is gearing up for a slugfest this year and from tech to paints, new battlegrounds are emerging, observes Indrajit Gupta, co-founder, Founding Fuel.
That means a manufacturer looking at a market like India needs to decide whether small, cheap cars or small, expensive cars or both will work better for them, says Pavan Lall.
'Call it by whichever name, but there is transmission happening between people.'
The Maharashtra government has invoked the MESMA barring employees of state-run electricity companies from joining the protest.
Suburbs like Bandra, Santacruz and Chembur, and pockets in central Mumbai such as Dadar reported the outage for over 15 minutes starting at 2130 hrs.
India's economic growth is now 'extremely fragile' and needs all the support that it can get, as private consumption and capital investment are yet to pick up, RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Jayanth R Varma said on Friday. Varma further said out of the four engines of growth for the economy, exports and government spending supported the Indian economy through the pandemic, but other engines need to pick up the baton now. " I like to think in terms of the four engines of growth for the economy: exports, government spending, capital investment and private consumption. "...while exports cannot be the main driver of growth because of the global slowdown, government spending is necessarily limited by fiscal constraints," he told PTI.
The Omicron variant of Covid-19 adds new uncertainties to the global economic outlook but much will depend on its speed of transmission, hospitalisation and death rates, and also the effectiveness of vaccines, Moody's Analytics said on Monday. In its commentary titled 'Much to Learn About Omicronast', Moody's Analytics said although the variant appears to spread "remarkably quickly", it will be at least two more weeks before more will be known about this new variant. "The Omicron variant of COVID-19 adds new measures of uncertainty to the outlook for the global economy, although it is too soon to adequately quantify that risk.
The bodies of four Indians, who were among 22 people killed in the Tara Air plane crash in Nepal's mountainous Mustang district, were cremated on Thursday at the sacred Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu.
The average age of those who died was 80.3, and 90 per cent of the fatalities were aged 65 or over, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
'Delta continues to be the dominant lineage for new cases across all parts of India in recent samples and remains the most rapidly rising lineage globally that is responsible for multiple outbreaks, including across Southeast Asia, which shows the fastest growth in new cases globally,' the INSACOG said.
INSACOG experts are conducting genomic analysis of a coronavirus case reported as that of the highly transmissible XE variant by Mumbai civic officials, though scientific evidence so far does not indicate it to be so, official sources said on Wednesday.
The Delta plus variant of COVID-19 has greater affinity to lung tissues as compared to other strains but it does not mean that it will cause severe disease or is more transmissible, head of coronavirus working group National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) Dr N K Arora said.
Jeep India, a part of automotive group Stellantis, on Tuesday announced the opening of bookings for its upcoming SUV Meridian, the production of which has also commenced from its joint venture manufacturing facility at Ranjangaon, Maharashtra. Customers can book the Meridian either at Jeep India dealership network or through the company's website with a down payment of Rs 50,000. Deliveries of the vehicle will start in June, it said in a statement.
Jeep India, a part of automotive group Stellantis, on Tuesday announced the opening of bookings for its upcoming SUV Meridian, the production of which has also commenced from its joint venture manufacturing facility at Ranjangaon, Maharashtra. Customers can book the Meridian either at Jeep India dealership network or through the company's website with a down payment of Rs 50,000. Deliveries of the vehicle will start in June, it said in a statement.
The unexpected interest rate hike by the RBI on Wednesday will have the banking system on average making a 10-15 bps gains on the yields, with private banks making larger gains as 57 per cent of their loans are linked to external benchmark rate and 40 per cent to the marginal cost of lending rates, as per a report. Stating that lenders and borrowers will face volatile times with the Reserve Bank raising the repo rate by 40 bps to 4.40 per cent and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 bps on May 4 in an off-cycle policy move, India Ratings said the market rates had already been moving higher before the move. The 364-day T-bills have moved up 120 bps and 10-year G-sec by 140 bps since May 2020, when the repo rate was cut to a record 4 per cent, which led to an expectation of a faster and sharper rise in interest rates in the system but the central bank stayed the course to support the fragile economy battered by the pandemic.
Global rating agency Moody's on Monday said the high commodity prices and supply chain disruptions due to further escalation in the Russia-Ukraine crisis could expose about 42 per cent of rated Indian companies to significant risks. They are mainly in the oil and gas and automotive sectors. The impact may be seen under two scenarios: first, revised base line and second being downside economic scenarios incorporating a global recession and a more severe liquidity squeeze, it said. The military conflict between Russia and Ukraine is impacting companies in Asia Pacific, adding to existing challenges from supply chain disruption and the coronavirus pandemic.
'Considering Mumbai's population density, one can expect to see more positive cases in areas like Dharavi in the days to come.' 'That is the challenge before the public health infrastructure and preparation of the city in dealing with such crises.'
The carmaker is set to redefine SUVs with the all-new Scorpio N. Rajesh Karkera offers a peak.
'Antiviral treatment will have no change. Spike protein change may affect the immunity protection.'
US President Joe Biden has tested positive for Covid-19 and is experiencing "very mild symptoms", the White House said on Thursday, becoming the second sitting American president to be hit by the virus.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday raised the personal income tax rebate limit, doled out sops on small savings and announced one of the biggest hikes in capital spending in the past decade as she did a tight rope walk in the Budget between staying fiscally prudent and meeting public expectations in the year before general elections.
Delhi reported 290 fresh Covid cases on Sunday with a positivity rate of 0.55 per cent, while the number of new cases and the positivity rate rose to 331 and 0.68 per cent respectively on Monday.
In a letter to the states and union territories, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan advised implementing strategic interventions for containment like imposition of night curfew, strict regulation of large gatherings, curtailing numbers in marriages and funerals besides increasing testing and surveillance.
The world is witnessing the fourth surge of the COVID-19 pandemic and India has to be on guard and cannot afford to slacken, said Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Friday.
The rapid surge in cases during Delhi's fourth COVID-19 wave was mainly driven by the Delta variant, which likely has immune-evasion properties and counted for 60 per cent of the cases in April, according to a new study.
Tata Motors on Monday said it has bagged an order for supply of 10,000 XPRES-T EV units from BluSmart Electric Mobility. The deployment of 10,000 units makes this the biggest ever EV fleet order in India, the auto major said in a statement. With deliveries starting soon, these vehicles are an addition to the 3,500 XPRES-T EV order, which was signed by both the companies in October last year, and will be used across the country for commuters, in turn helping minimise the carbon footprint.
Six cases of the new COVID-19 Omicron variant have been identified in Scotland on Monday, taking the UK's total to nine following three cases detected in England earlier.
'Kerala is on a par with global standards.'
The B.1.617 variant was first detected in India and was divided in three lineages -- B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3.
'We feel that till the time statehood is not restored power sector should not be touched in J-K.'
'If we are to be a contributor to the economy, we have to reduce carbon and imports.' 'We will achieve both -- that's our target.'
The Great Indian bustard is at the centre of another impending legal tussle. The government is planning to move the Supreme Court seeking a review of its order that asked Gujarat and Rajasthan to lay transmission lines linked to solar power units underground so as to not pose any threat to the endangered bird. The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) has sought a view from the law ministry and will move the court basing its arguments on estimates showing that the bird's population was declining even before solar power plants came to the region, said a senior government official requesting anonymity.
With the next review of the flexible inflation target (FIT) framework coming up soon, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday said the current inflation target of 4 per cent with a +/-2 per cent tolerance band is appropriate for the next five years. The country adopted the FIT framework in 2016, and the next review of the inflation target is due before March 31, 2021. "The current numerical framework for defining price stability, i.e., an inflation target of 4 per cent with a +/-2 per cent tolerance band, is appropriate for the next five years," the RBI said in the Report on Currency and Finance (RCF) for the year 2020-21.
Extending the ongoing COVID-19 guidelines for one more month till September 30, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said the overall pandemic situation now appears to be largely stable at the national level, except for the localised spread observed in a few states.
The Omicron lineages have been named BA.4 and BA.5.
While the stocks met various other inclusion parameters, there were fears they may still get disqualified given the sharp run up in their stock prices.
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