The Union finance ministry approved the revised debt-fund raising plan for the Rs 64,000-crore semi-high speed rail project connecting Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram with its northern tip Kasaragod. FM Rs 64,000-cr Nirmala Sitharaman asked Kerala Rail Development Corporation (K-Rail) to expedite land acquisition for the most ambitious project of the state.

Edelweiss Wealth Management may raise Rs 1,000cr from domestic investors for its maiden equity-focused alternate investment fund (AIF). The fundraising comes amid a strong rally in the markets that has led to concerns of overvaluation. It will take about 6-9 months, and the company will target high-net-worth individuals (HNIs), family offices and institutional investors for investment commitments.

Around 178 people are reportedly missing at NTPC’s 520 MW Tapovan Vishnugad hydropower project site, after a glacier near Raini village above Rishiganga river in Uttarakhand burst on Sunday. While the flood hit the Rishiganga small hydropower project, the flow and debris from the river merged with that from the Dhauliganga river and damaged the under-construction HP project.

Ministries of defence and railways and central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) are among the largest buyer organisations on the public procurement portal, Government e-Marketplace (GeM). GeM CEO Talleen Kumar said that they are introducing a range of software functionalities to address the unique and diverse procurement needs of these large buyers.

The Indian government may consider enhancing the spend under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) Programme if the need arises in the future, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur has said. The minister emphasised that the Narendra Modi government has taken steps in the past in the interest of the poor and vulnerable rural population.

Twitter’s Public Policy Director for India and South Asia Mahima Kaul resigned from her role citing personal reasons. She has served for more than five years at the microblogging site. The resignation has come amid the government’s direction earlier this week to the company to withhold Twitter accounts including ones related to farmers’ protests.

Octro initiated expanding its business overseas after traction in casino and card games, namely PlayRummy and Teen Patti. The firm's Chief Marketing Officer Manav Sethi said the move of some state govt to ban online gaming is helping gaming firms that are registered outside India. He claimed that the company has seen 100% growth YoY, and its revenue is in three digits of crore on Indian currency.

FM Sitharaman on Sunday opined that the government will work with the RBI for the execution of the bank privatisation plan announced in the budget. The minister further added that the government has no plan to form any bank investment company to house the government stakes in banks. In the union budget, she proposed the privatisation of two banks as part of its disinvestment plan.

Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday opined that his ministry has set a target of operationalising 100 unserved and underserved airports and commence at least 1,000 air routes under the UDAN airports scheme. He also said that privatisation is beneficial in the field of aviation as it is not the government's specialisation to run airports.

Adani Airport Holdings (AAHL) acquired 23.5% stake in Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) from ACSA Global Ltd (ACSA) and Bid Services Division (Mauritius) Ltd, or Bidvest, for Rs 1,685.25 crore, the company informed exchanges on February 7. AAHL, the Adani Group’s holding company for its airports business, bought 28,20,00,000 equity shares in MIAL.

Mutual funds pulled out Rs 12,980cr from equities in Jan as a surge in markets provided an opportunity to book profits. This is the 8th consecutive month when the selling spree is observed in the market. Though investors are preferring to book profits, the growth-focused Budget, improving economy and vaccination drive make equities one of the best asset classes to remain invested at present.

The Business Confidence Index proposed by the Delhi-based economic think tank NCAER rose 29.6% between Q2 and Q3 of the current fiscal on the back of rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in different countries, including India. The proportion of respondents expects that ''overall economic conditions will improve in the next six months'' by increasing 4.8 percentage points.

Prices of LED lighting products, including bulbs, may go up by 5-10% as the government is going to raise customs duty on the imported components used for their manufacturing. Currently, almost all electronic components are imported from abroad due to the lack of a local component ecosystem in India. So, the domestic makers are approaching the government to address the issue urgently.

Union Fisheries Minister Giriraj Singh on Sunday confirmed Rs 400 crore investment in Goa to develop into a fisheries hub in the country with the creation of 30 fish landing jetties. The fund for this development would be jointly raised by the Union government, the state fisheries board and others. Out of this, the Union government has already sanctioned Rs 41.47 crore to the state.

Afghanistan received 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca's vaccine from India on Sunday. It is the first batch to arrive in the country. However, the nation is still waiting for an emergency approval from the WHO before it can use them. Ghulam Dastagir Nazari, head of the immunisation program at the health ministry said the doses would be stored in Kabul until they receive the emergency authorisation.