Berkshire Hathaway Inc shareholders rejected proposals on Saturday requiring Warren Buffett to reveal more about its efforts to address climate change, encourage diversity and involvement in its workforce. Rejections didn't surprise, as Buffett controls nearly one-third of Berkshire's voting power and opposed both proposals. The Support for Climate Change proposal won over just 25% votes.

Breaking six-month buying session, foreign investors turned net sellers in April and withdrew Rs 9,659 Cr from Indian equities amid the intense 2nd wave of COVID-19. The COVID-19 fallout on the economy and Increasing fear in foreign investors indicates further redemptions, which can result in some more inconstancy in the market.

RBI data showed that India Inc's external commercial take increased by 24% to USD 9.23 bn in March this year. Last year Indian firms had lifted USD 7.44 bn from the foreign market. During March 2021, USD 5.35 billion came in through the approval route of the external commercial borrowings (ECB), while the rest of 3.88 bn was collected via the automatic route of raising funds from foreign markets.

India's coal import is likely to be subdued in coming months owing to the factors like rising COVID restrictions, high coal stock in the system and higher international prices. According to mjunction (a joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL), the country's coal import dropped to 12.62% to 215.92 mn tonnes (MT) in FY21 from 247.10 MT in FY20.

The production of Covishield, the AstraZeneca-Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine is “in full swing in Pune”. As per Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said he was “pleased to state” that Covishield production at the SII’s Pune facility “is in full swing”. He spoke about the pressures of producing Covidshield to meet the increasing demand in India's battle with 2nd wave of COVID-19.

Israel barred its citizens from travelling to India and six other countries, quoting high COVID infection there. In a joint press release issued by the Israel Prime Minister's Office and the Health Ministry on Friday, from May 3 citizens are not allowed travelling to Ukraine, Brazil, Ethiopia, South Africa, India, Mexico until May 16. Non-Israelis however, will be able to travel to these countries

India will receive 28 tonnes of medical supplies from France on Sunday, as part of its "solidarity mission" to help India fight against disastrous 2nd wave of the COVID-19. French Ambassador Emmanuel Lenain said that supplies includes 8 large oxygen generation plants that will be able to make eight hospitals "oxygen self-sufficient" for over 10 years.

After B P Kanungo retired on April 2, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has appointed T Rabi Sankar as a Deputy Governor at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Earlier, Rabi Sankar was an Executive Director at the RBI. After succeeding to a new post, he is presently in charge of Fintech, department of information technology, RTI, risk monitoring, department of payment and settlement systems.

Legendary investor Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway is not happy with the success of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. He thinks they are “contradictory to the development of civilisation.” Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are now worth more than $2 trillion within just 12 years of their birth. Bitcoin alone today has a market capitalisation of little less than $1 trillion.

Google reported a temporary suspension of auto-payment service on subscription renewal for users in India. The latest move comes after the recent rule on recurring payments issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The company is also looking to temporarily suspend free trials and introductory pricing for users in India until the ecosystem is addressed.

Hero MotoCorp on Saturday reported it has sold 3,72,285 units in April 2021, down by 35% from 5,76,957 units dispatched in March this year. The company revealed sales in April were subdued due to the temporary closure of plant operations and the retail outlets across several key territories in India on account of the impact of the second wave of COVID-19.

Serum Insitute of India (SII) CEO Adar Poonawalla has moved to London due to threatening phone calls from the nation's "most powerful" people for instant supplies of COVID-19 vaccine Covishield. Poonawalla said, "Threats is an understatement. The level of expectation and aggression is really unprecedented. It's overwhelming. Everyone feels they should get the vaccine."

The NIFTY Metal Index reflects the behaviour and performance of the metal sector (including mining) on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Top 5 players of NIFTY Metal Index (according to F.F. Mkt Cap, as of May 1, 2021) : [1] JSW Steel (Rs 173,520.17 cr), [2] Hindustan Zinc (Rs 128,914.48 cr), [3] Tata steel (Rs 116,479.03 cr), [4] Vedanta (Rs 95,624.88 cr), [5] Coal India (Rs 81,995.10 cr).

Eicher Motors group firm VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd on May 1 reported total sales of 2,145 units in April. The company had sold only 85 units in April 2020 when sales were hit by the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eicher branded trucks and buses clocked 1,555 units in the domestic market in April.

Amazon India announced multiple measures, including waiver in various fees paid by sellers, to help small and medium businesses amid the surging Covid cases. The e-commerce major said it is waiving 50% of the ‘sell-on-Amazon’ or ‘referral fee’ from May 1-31 for a section of sellers and will reimburse storage fees and long-term storage fees charged for keeping sellers’ products at its warehouses.