Information Financial News

By James Mackenzie

Israel and Hamas appeared to be back on track Sunday after the release of a second group of militant-held hostages and Palestinians from Israeli prisons, and Egypt said it had received new lists for an expected third release. In a separate development, Hamas announced Sunday that one of its top commanders had been killed, without saying when or how. Israel's military confirmed it.

milk production rose by 4 per cent to 230.58 million tonnes in 2022-23 while egg output increased by 7 per cent to 138.38 billion, the government said on Sunday. Meat production rose by 5 per cent to 9.77 million tonnes during 2022-23 over the previous year. Union Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Minister Parshottam Rupala released the Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics 2023 (milk, egg, meat and wool production 2022-23) at the National Milk Day event in Guwahati.

Mint analysis of 3,559 BSE-listed companies showed that their combined bottomline had soared: aggregate net profit grew nearly 36% year-on-year (y-o-y), as compared with a 32% rise in the June quarter. On the flip side, topline growth has been slowing for five quarters, tapering off to low single digits in the September quarter. That growth, too, was courtesy banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) firms.

By Shibu Paul

Driven by economic stability, policy reforms, and changing consumer dynamics, India’s real estate sector has registered strong growth with a massive uptick in demand in 2023.

Union health ministry has asked the states and Union Territories (UTs) to closely monitor trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI), following reports indicating a surge in respiratory illness among children in northern China. It also reviewed the preparedness against respiratory illnesses across the country. Union health secretary Sudhansh Pant advised the states and UTs to “immediately” review public health and hospital preparedness measures, including availability of hospital beds, drugs and vaccines for influenza, medical oxygen, antibiotics, personal protective equipment, testing kits and reagents, functionality of oxygen plants and ventilators, and infection control practices in health facilities. The health ministry said it is “closely monitoring” the situation and that there is “no need for any alarm”. States and Union Territories have also been advised to implement ‘Operational guidelines for revised surveillance strategy in the context of Covid-19’ shared earlier this year which provides for integrated surveillance of respiratory pathogens, it said. They have also been asked to ensure that the spread of ILI and SARI be closely monitored by the district and state surveillance units of Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP), particularly among children and adolescents.

Insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) is considering the establishment of a fintech unit. LIC has launched a comprehensive digital transformation project named DIVE (Digital Innovation and Value Enhancement) and has enlisted a consultant to lead the initiative, LIC Chairman Siddhartha Mohanty said in an interview with PTI. "Our objective is to get best in class digital initiatives for all our stakeholders, customers, intermediaries, marketing people and everybody through the project DIVE," he said.

China's health ministry on Sunday urged local authorities to increase the number of fever clinics as the country grapples with a surge in respiratory illnesses in its first full winter since easing COVID-19 restrictions. The spike become a global issue last week when the World Health Organization asked China for more information, citing a report on clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases. China and the WHO have faced questions about the transparency of reporting early in the pandemic, which emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. The WHO said on Friday no new or unusual pathogens had been found in the recent illnesses. National Health Commission spokesperson Mi Feng said on Sunday the surge in acute respiratory illnesses was linked to the simultaneous circulation of several kinds of pathogens, most prominently influenza. «Efforts should be made to increase the number of relevant clinics and treatment areas, appropriately extend service hours and strengthen guarantees of drug supplies,» Mi told a news conference. «It is necessary to do a good job in epidemic prevention and control in key crowded places such as schools, childcare institutions and nursing homes, and to reduce the flow of people and visits.» Cases among children are appearing especially high in northern areas like Beijing and Liaoning province, where hospitals are warning of long waits.

Jammu and Kashmir Police on Sunday said they have arrested three terrorist associates linked with the proscribed terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and recovered arms, ammunition and other incriminating materials from their possession in Baramulla district. On November 25, during joint Naka checking and patrolling with 13 SIKHLI, 185 BN BSF and Baramulla Police at Kalgai near Jhula Foot Bridge, they intercepted two suspected persons coming from Kamalkote towards NHW carrying bags who were identified as Zameer Ahmad Khanday, son of Azeem Khanday resident of Madiyan Kamalkote and Mohammad Naseem Khanday, son of Abdul Majeed Khanday resident of Madiyan Kamalkote, said official. During the search, three Chinese grenades and cash worth Rs 2.5 lakh were recovered from them. To this effect, a FIR under relevant sections of the law was registered at Police Station Uri. During sustained questioning, both the accused disclosed that these illegally acquired grenades and cash had been provided to them by one Manzoor Ahmad Bhatti, the son of Karam Din Bhatti, a resident of Madiyan Kamalkote, so that they could execute any terrorist act. Accordingly, Manzoor Ahmad Bhatti was picked up for questioning.

Sam Altman was finally reinstated as the CEO of OpenAI while the board that removed him was all but let go with the exception of Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), OpenAI wrote, “We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo. We are collaborating to figure out the details.

MintGenie, Agarwal said that investors must regularly review their mutual fund holdings. Many investors end up subscribing to IPOs based on the brand value however it is necessary to evaluate the following factors before investing in a company: Overvaluation in IPOs is surely a concern as it can lead to unrealistic expectations and subsequent market corrections which could erode investor wealth, especially retail investors. Investors should be cautious and conduct thorough research to understand the true value of the company against its market price.

Travel insurance is like a safety net, offering invaluable peace of mind when exploring the diverse landscapes of our world. However, many travellers believe they don't need travel insurance, but not having coverage can leave you vulnerable if an emergency arises during your trip. This blog aims to debunk five major myths that prevent people from purchasing travel insurance.

Tata Motors, on Saturday evening, announced that its subsidiary, Tata Technologies, has finalised the offer price, including the anchor investor offer price, for its Initial Public Offering (IPO) at ₹500 per equity share. The IPO, valued at ₹3,042.5 crore, witnessed a subscription of 69.43 times on the last day of subscription on Friday, primarily fueled by significant involvement from institutional buyers. This offering focuses on engineering and product development digital services.

weather bulletin said it expects "likely heavy rains" at isolated places over Cuddalore, Kancheepuram, Ranipet, and Tiruvallur districts in Tamil Nadu today on November 26. A "light to moderate" rainfall warning has also been issued for Puducherry till November 26. "For the next two to three days, as far as Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry are concerned, light to moderate rainfall is expected.

National Capital Region (NCR) has been steadily experiencing a worsening pollution situation for the past nine days. Delhi's air quality fell into the 'very poor' category with an AQI of 389, as reported by the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR-India). PM 10 levels stood at 393 and PM 2.5 stood 236, both of which are much higher than the safe limit.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson is set to travel to India and the UAE beginning Monday for a series of meetings with key government officials. Nelson will also meet with space officials in both countries to deepen bilateral cooperation across a broad range of innovation and research-related areas, especially in human exploration and Earth science, the American space agency NASA said in a release. Nelson's visit to India will fulfil a commitment as part of the US and India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology initiated by President Joe Biden. In the India leg, Nelson will visit several locations, including the Bengaluru-based facilities where the NISAR spacecraft, a joint Earth-observing mission between NASA and its Indian counterpart ISRO, is undergoing testing and integration for launch in 2024.

Dow Chemical be tried for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy that killed more than 3,000 people and caused environmental damage. Dow Chemical, headquartered in Michigan in the US, had bought the Union Carbide Corporation, a gas leak from whose facility in Bhopal on the intervening night of December 2 and 3, 1984 resulted in the tragedy.

earthquake of magnitude 3.0 on the Richter scale struck Sonipat in Haryana on Sunday morning, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) informed, adding that the tremors were felt around 4 am. «An earthquake of Magnitude 3.0 on the Richter scale hit Sonipat, Haryana at 4 am today,» read a post on the official X handle of the NCS. No loss of life or property was reported in the incident. Further details are awaited. Earlier, an earthquake of magnitude 3.5 on the Richter Scale hit Maharashtra's Hingoli on November 20, the NCS informed. According to the NCS, the earthquake struck at a depth of 5 km. «Earthquake of Magnitude: 3.5, Occurred on 20-11-2023, 05:09:29 IST, Lat: 19.41 and Long: 77.34, Depth: 5 Km, Location: Hingoli, Maharashtra,» the NCS posted from its X handle.

Suvendu Adhikari, on Saturday wrote to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), alleging a scam in the purchase of PPE kits and other medical equipment during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Taking to his official handle on social media platform X, Adhikari shared a detailed post informing that he had written to the director, ED, principal director general of the Income Tax Department and secretary, Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, seeking an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the purchase of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits. «A huge financial scam was executed in WB during the Covid Pandemic period, with regard to the purchase of PPE kits and other medical equipment by the WB Health Department.

global market cues with crude oil prices. Markets consolidated in a narrow range and ended marginally higher, taking a breather after the recent surge. After the muted start, the benchmarks tried to regain strength in the following sessions but mixed signals from the global front and divergence among the heavyweights capped the move.