Rs 1,492 crore worth equalisation levy collected by the govt between April 1, 2020 and January 30, 2021, Parliament was informed on Friday. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Hardeep Singh Puri said the equalisation levy collection stood at Rs 338.6 crore in 2016-17, Rs 589.4 crore in 2017-18 and Rs 938.9 crore in 2018-19.

The UK chairman of KPMG has stepped down pending an internal investigation. During a virtual meeting on Monday, members of KPMG's financial services consulting team told Bill Michael about their concerns over potential cuts to pay and the ranking of individuals' performance. Following which Michael told staff to "stop moaning" and to stop "playing the victim card".

Morepen Laboratories on Friday announced that the company is eyeing an all-new multi-billion dollar global API (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) market with the addition of new molecules in its bulk drugs portfolio. Sushil Suri, CMD, Morepen Laboratories revealed this news after the Q3’FY 2020-21 results’ board meeting on Friday. The company's API Business saw a 25% rise at Rs165.03cr in Q3FY21.

The Civil Aviation Ministry hiked the lower and upper limits on domestic airfares by 10% to 30%. It will continue to be in effect till Mar 31, 2021. For flight duration less than 40 mins, the airfares are hiked to Rs2,200-Rs7,800 from earlier Rs2,000-Rs6,000. Meanwhile, for travel duration which is 180-210 mins, the airfare has been raised to Rs7,200-Rs24,200, from the previous Rs6,500-Rs18,600.

NHPC board of directors approved the buying of 2% equity share of PTC India in Chenab Valley Power Projects which is a joint venture between the company and Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corp and PTC. 49% stake each is held by NHPC and Jammu and Kashmir State Power in the JV. While PTC India holds about 2% stake.

Lufthansa terminated services of 103 Indian cabin crew members based in Delhi citing COVID-19 pandemic's negative impact. The German Carrier's severance package was “only a month’s salary” a fired employee reported, adding that some of the terminated staff were employed with the airline for close to 15 years. However, similar layoffs have not happened in Germany or other countries yet.

Voltas Ltd on Friday announced a 46.26% increase in consolidated net profit at Rs 128.64 crore for Q3FY21. It posted a net profit of Rs 87.95 crore in the Q3FY20. Total income during the period under review stood at Rs 2,046.26 crore, up 32.29%, as against Rs 1,546.76 crore in the year-ago quarter. The company is a leading air-conditioner manufacturer, which made good recovery post lockdown.

State Bank of India (SBI) is offering its Jan Dhan account holders accident insurance cover up to Rs 2 lakh if they apply for 'SBI RuPay Jan Dhan Card'. The largest lender from its official Twitter handle stated, "It's time to put yourself on the road to success. Apply for SBI RuPay Jandhan card today". Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) is a national mission for financial inclusion.

Infosys plans to make an additional investment of $1 million in ideaForge Technology, a leading Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAV) systems manufacturer reputed for rugged and high-precision UAV systems. Earlier to this, in 2016, the IT giant had already invested about $1.5M in the latter. Infosys stated, "ideaForge’s UAV systems are increasingly being used across a wide spectrum of organizations".

Puravankara Limited has announced its financial results for the Q3FY21. Consolidated Financial Performance for the Q3 FY21. Consolidated Revenues stood at Rs304cr, EBITDA stood at Rs116cr with margins of 38%, whereas Profit before Tax (PBT) stood at Rs21cr and Profit After Tax (PAT) stood at Rs13cr. Continuous improvement in economic activities, demand conditions improved real estate sales.

Meesho is planning to raise $250 Mn in a funding round led by Japan’s Softbank Vision Fund, which would see the company enter the unicorn club.  The six-year-old Bengaluru-based startup will be valued at around $2 Bn for the funding round and thus, will likely become a unicorn soon. It registered an encouraging 4x growth in its revenue in FY20, from INR 84.8 Cr in FY19 to INR 341.6 Cr.

Even as SpiceJet’s losses have been narrowing, it is difficult to say how soon the airline will return to the black, stated Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh. He further added that the company was working towards reducing costs and increasing revenues, but many factors were beyond its control. Though leisure travel is picking up, the same is not true for corporate travel.

HDFC Ltd. hit Rs5 trillion in market capitalisation on Friday, after its shares surged to touch a record high of Rs2,808 apiece on the BSE. The stock has jumped nearly 90% from its March lows. The mortgage lender is the sixth Indian company to have achieved this milestone, after Reliance Industries Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd, Hindustan Unilever Ltd, and Infosys Ltd.

The Supreme Court on February 12 issued a notice to Twitter and the Centre, in response to a petition to check fake news and incendiary messages on social media. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinit Goenka filed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in May 2020. It is seeking a direction to the Centre to devise a mechanism to check fake news and instigative messages on social media.

Former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar appeared before a special PMLA court on Friday in connection with the ICICI Bank-Videocon money laundering case. She appeared before the special Judge A A Nandgoankarand filed a bail application through her lawyer Vijay Agarwal. The court asked the ED to file its reply on her bail application.