The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on December 16 decided to provide Rs 6,000 per tonne incentive for sugar exports which will result in the resumption of shipments that have come to a standstill since October 1. The incentive, costing Rs 3,500 crore, would help export 60 lakh tonnes of sugar for the current season ending September next year.

Oil giant Aramco dividend remains vital to helping Saudi Arabia contain a huge fiscal deficit. It might have to sell assets and borrow more to fulfil its fiscal role amid uncertainty in oil prices due to the Covid pandemic, market specialists said. While Saudi Arabia has increased non-oil revenues this year, Aramco still accounted for more than half its total income.

Bitcoin smashed through $20,000 for the first time on Wednesday, its highest ever valuation. The cryptocurrency increased by 4.5% to move as high as $20,440. It has gained more than 170% this year, buoyed by demand from larger investors attracted to its potential for quick gains, purported resistance to inflation and expectations it will become a mainstream payment method.

A meeting to review the status of the redevelopment of Dehradun railway station was held between Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Rawat and vice chairman of RLDA, Ved Parkash Dudeja. In the December 15 meeting, Dudeja, apprised the chief minister on the status of development of the project and sought approval for the Detailed Project Report involving a high-rise building of 83.5metre height, sources said.

The income tax department on Wednesday announced that it has refunded over Rs 1.48 lakh crore to over 1.02 crore taxpayers till December 14. Of this, personal income tax refunds worth Rs 45,264 crore and corporate tax refunds of Rs 1.03 lakh crore have been issued. CBDT issues refunds of over Rs 1,48,274 crore to more than 1.02 crore taxpayers between April 1, 2020, to December 14, 2020.

Jubilant FoodWorks Limited (JFL), running the Domino’s Pizza and Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants, announced the launch of Ekdum!-a new restaurant chain selling biryani. The company wants to capitalize on the popularity of the dish. Ekdum! is starting with 3 restaurants in Gurgaon offering delivery, takeaway and dine-in facilities. It will expand the company's portfolio in India’s food services market.

Pornhub is now only accepting cryptocurrency payments for its premium service. This development comes in after both Visa & Mastercard pulled off support for payments from the adult website last week. All the big credit card companies cut off payment ties Pornhub after a New York Times article reported about the website allowing videos of women being assaulted and minors having sex to be uploaded.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, approved MoU between India-USA for exchange of information and experiences in the electricity sectors. It would include identifying energy-related issues and develop topics and possible agendas for the exchange of information and regulatory practices in areas of mutual interest.

Wonderla Holidays has announced that the theme park in Kochi will reopen starting December 24, 2020. On Sensex, the company's stock ended at Rs215.35 per piece up 2.04%. Arun Chittilappilly, Managing Director, Wonderla Holidays Ltd., said, “We are delighted to resume operations after more than 8 months. We also received a positive reception to the reopening of our theme park in Bangalore."

Biocon's fully integrated ‘pure-play’ biosimilars company and a subsidiary, Biocon Biologics signed an MoU with the Christian Social Services Commission (CSSC) in Tanzania for Mission 10cents. Tanzania will be the first African country that will benefit from this collaboration between Biocon Biologics and CSSC. The pharma giant is offering universal access to quality insulins at affordable prices.

Photo and video sharing app Instagram on December 15 stated that it is extending the testing of Instagram Lite to India. The move is aimed at reaching out to masses who are currently not familiar with the app. In India, the Instagram Lite app will be available in Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu languages for a personalised experience.

Markets regulator Sebi on Wednesday decided to give relaxation in Minimum Promoters’ Contribution and the subsequent lock-in requirements towards a FPO. Currently, promoters are mandated to contribute 20% towards FPO. At its Board meeting on Wednesday, Sebi also decided that all assets and liabilities of each MF scheme will be segregated and ring-fenced from other schemes of an MF.

The S&P Global Ratings revised its forecast for India's GD for current financial year FY21. The rating agency expects the Indian economy to contract to 7.7% this fiscal. S&P is optimistic about the Indian economy, as the forecast is better compared to the previous degrowth of 9%. Fitch Ratings also revised India's GDP forecast to (-)9.4% from the previously expected contraction of 10.5%.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) emerged a Leader in the IDC MarketScape for Oracle Implementation Services and Oracle Cloud Implementation Services, Worldwide. “TCS is investing heavily to align its brand and service offerings across the C-suite, with emphasis on customer experience and innovations powered by automation, AI, ML, and analytics,” company sources said.

LeadSquared, a Bengaluru-based sales automation SaaS platform, on Wednesday announced raising of around Rs 240 cr in the series-B funding round led by Gaja Capital. Existing investors Stakeboat Capital and Jyoti Bansal have also participated in the round. Gaja Capital Managing Partner Gopal Jain said the Indian IT industry has matured from providing services to delivering SaaS products globally.