Prime Minister Narendra Modi would virtually inaugurate the Kochi-Mangaluru GAIL pipeline on January 5, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday. Vijayan told reporters here that it was a matter of happiness that the Prime Minister had agreed to launch the natural gas pipeline project. "Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan called yesterday.

Amid fears of a mutated coronavirus strain in the UK, Karnataka has joined Maharashtra in imposing a night curfew — between 10 pm to 6 am — from December 24, 2020, to January 2, 2021. However, cab unions in the state have opposed the imposition of night curfew, claiming that the time between Christmas and New Year could have seen their daily earnings rise substantially. 

India’s steelmakers are on course to leading the country’s metal index to its biggest quarterly gain in more than a decade, as consumption recovers and prices surge globally. The S&P BSE Metal Index has surged by around a third so far in the three months through December, jumping the most since the quarter ended June 2009. Metal companies are in earnings upcycle after two years of downgrades.

In the latest update by Telegram, the company is bringing an array of features including a new group voice chat feature and SD card storage on Android. The update with group voice chat will allow Telegram users to set up a conference call as well. This option is somewhat similar to its existing group voice calling option. However, the new feature has brought enhancement in animations as well.

Moving on from rating criteria for grant of loans, banks are likely to focus on cash flow-based lending in times to come, a top executive of UCO Bank has said. "Banks will focus on cash flow-based lending in times to come and this has already been started by SBI," Ajay Vyas, Executive Director, UCO Bank said at a virtual panel discussion on Redefining Corporate Financing in New Normal.

Bar owners in Maharashtra have welcomed the Maharashtra Government’s decision to give concession in the liquor license fees for the lockdown period and on the rollback on the proposed annual hike. The Maharashtra cabinet on Dec 23 gave a 50% concession on license fees for the lockdown period and withdrew a 15% increase in license fee for FY21 given the losses caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) has proposed to issue secured notes and for which the company schedule a meeting at Hong Kong on January 13, 2021. DHFL in its regulatory filing said, "this is to inform you that a meeting of the holders of the INR denominated USD settled 10,000,000,000, 8.50 per cent. The stock has touched an intraday high of Rs32.25 per piece.

Global professional services organisation EY on Thursday announced that it would be hiring about 9,000 professionals in various technological roles in 2021. These would be in various roles across all firms including the global delivery centres, to expand its digital capabilities and help organisations solve their "complex end-to-end business transformation challenges", it said in a statement.

After months of struggle that culminated in the failure to repay bank loans in time, South Korean SUV specialist SsangYong Motor Company filed for court receivership earlier this week. Acquired in 2010, SsangYong has been the troubled unit for Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) almost every year despite several attempts by the Anand Mahindra-led company to turnaround operations. 

Tata Motors reassures that Jaguar Land Rover remains unaffected by issues at UK ports as new Covid19 strain spreads. A large part of the company's sales volume growth depends on Jaguar Land Rover, UK revenues. However, with the detection of the mutant strain, it was anticipated that JLR, owned by Tata Motors, would take a hit for the worse, and take the Indian motor company's stocks down with it.

NCLT Chandigarh approved amalgamation scheme from Greaves Cotton Limited promoters’ DBH International Private Limited (DBHI), Bharat Starch Products Private Limited (BSPL), DBH Investments Private Limited (Transferor Companies) and Karun Carpets Private Limited (KCPL, Transferee Company). The approved scheme has been filed today with the Registrar of Companies, Punjab to make the scheme effective.

Speciality chemicals company Anupam Rasayan has filed its draft red herring prospectus with the capital market regulator for a Rs 760-crore initial public offering (IPO). The company intends to use the proceeds mainly for debt repayment. Anupam Rasayan has decided to reserve a portion for its employees and may consider a discount for eligible staff.

Moderna said that it expects its COVID-19 vaccine to be protective against the new mutated coronavirus reported in Britain. "Moderna expects that the immunity induced by its COVID-19 vaccine would be protective against coronavirus variants reported in the United Kingdom (UK)," sources said. The company will perform additional tests of its vaccine in the coming weeks to check its effectiveness.

Biscuits and bakery products maker Mrs Bectors Food Specialities shares listed at a massive 74% premium over its issue price on December 23, after stellar subscription to its IPO last week. The share price opened at Rs 501 on the BSE, higher by Rs 213 compared to the issue price of Rs 288, while on the National Stock Exchange, it listed at Rs 500, a 73.61% premium.

Serum Institute of India, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer by volume and Nasdaq-listed biopharma company Dynavax Technologies Corporation said they began dosing the first participants as part of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial. Serum Institute has tied up with Dynavax to use the latter's adjuvant CpG 1018 in its experimental vaccine.