Shares of cement companies were under pressure in trade on Thursday after fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) initiated a probe into possible cartelisation by the firms. Shares of Ramco Cements, Dalmia Bharat, Deccan Cements, UltraTech Cement, India Cements, JK Cement, Ambuja Cement, Shree Cement, ACC, JK Lakshmi Cement, and Heidelbergcement India fell 1.3-4.2%.

The agrochemical company UPL Ltd's stocks fell by as low as 14% on Thursday after ET Prime published a report wherein a whistleblower alleged that the company's promoters siphoned off money. The company denied the allegation. They stated that there is a sustained campaign to malign the image of the Company and it is important that the correct picture is presented to all its stakeholders.

The US Federal Trade Commission took a major step toward the possible breakup of Facebook Inc. by formally filing an antitrust lawsuit against the technology giant, accusing it of abusing its monopoly powers in social networking to stifle competition. The FTC and a coalition of states also suing the company zeroed in on Facebook’s acquisition of photo-sharing app Instagram for $715 million.

Private general insurer ICICI Lombard has launched a comprehensive health plan with additional features. Called ICICI Lombard Complete Health Insurance, it includes four plan variants which customers can choose from. As part of the cover, the newer benefits include donor expenses, domiciliary hospitalisation, emergency assistance, worldwide cover, unlimited reset, and air ambulance among others.

Wipro Infrastructure Engineering''s Industrial AutomationBusiness announced on Thursday it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire PrecisionAutomation and Robotics India (PARI). The combined capabilities of Wipro and PARI, an industrial automation company, will help broaden its offering, expand global footprint, and strengthen its ability to forge deeper customer relationships in India.

Food ordering platform Swiggy on Thursday announced the expansion of its street food vendors program to 125 cities under the Prime Minister Street Vendor''s AtmaNibhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) scheme. In the first phase, the company will onboard 36,000 street food vendors to whom the loan has been disbursed in 125 cities on its platform, Swiggy said in a statement.

Nokia on Thursday said it has partnered with Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) to offer technology solutions to customers. Under the collaboration, Nokia will offer fixed wireless and private wireless technology solutions to VIL's enterprise division customers. Vi Business is delighted to partner with Nokia to provide them with best-in-class IT and telecom infrastructure to grow their business.

Your provident fund (PF) and gratuity pay-out will increase once the new code of wages gets implemented from April 1, 2020. This is because the definition of ‘wages,’ based on which employers deduct provident fund contributions, will now be standardised as per the new Code of Wages, 2019. The Code of Wages is a part of four labour codes that resulted from the merging 29 out of 44 labour laws.

Microfinance institutions, still faced with inadequate fund availability unlike bigger companies, have made a case with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to include small finance bank (SFB) loans to microlenders in the priority sector lending category, so that they will get a share. Presently, only direct lending to economically weaker sections constitutes PSL loans for SFBs.

Bombay Rayon Fashions Limited (BRFL) has paid the dues of its lender Corporation Bank merged with Union Bank of India on December 8, 2020 under One Time Settlement (OTS). “We would like to submit that the outstanding loan dues of Corporation Bank Mumbai was Rs 14.21 cr were closed by payment of at Rs 7.64cr as OTS and entire amount has been paid,” company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.

Snowman Logistics and SpiceJet have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for storage, transportation, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. "Snowman will handle the ground services which includes activities such as transportation to/from manufacturers, warehouses, airports and consumption points, packing, storage & warehousing, in the required temperature zones, " the companies said.

India’s two biggest food-delivery startups Swiggy and Zomato are cleaning up their act, hitching a ride on electric vehicles as companies across the world face the heat over carbon emissions and climate change. The two rivals plan to switch at least 10% of their delivery fleets, mostly two-wheelers, to electric in 2021 and are in talks with electric scooter companies like Zypp, Spinny and eBikeGo.

Maruti Suzuki decided to increase prices of vehicles at the beginning of 2021, due to higher input costs. Maruti in its regulatory filing on Wednesday, said, "Over the past year, the cost of company's vehicles has been impacted adversely due to increase in various input costs." Hence, Maruti adds, "it has become imperative to pass on some impact of the above additional cost to customers."

Kotak Securities on December 9 announced the launch of a global investment platform for Indian and NRI customers. The brokerage firm said it teamed up with Nasdaq-listed Interactive Brokers Group (IBKR) to offer its Indian and NRI customers a platform to invest directly in US equity markets. "Kotak Securities is providing a completely digital and seamless experience from onboarding to trading.

Mining giant Vedanta Resources Ltd. secured much-needed funds by selling $1 billion of notes at one of the highest yields for a dollar bond in Asia this year. The company priced the January 2024 bond on Wednesday at a yield of 13.875%, according to a person familiar with the matter. Vedanta Resources plans to use the money to finance a buyback offer for $670 million of notes maturing in June 2021.