Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday meet chief ministers on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the country after a weeks-long lockdown to contain the disease was eased.

Modi will hold a video conference with the leaders of 21 states and union territories at 3 pm Tuesday, including Punjab, Assam, Kerala and all northeastern states. On Wednesday, also at 3 pm, he will meet with the 15 worst-affected: including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Delhi.

The benchmark indices fell along with other global bourses as a rising number of Covid-19 infections weakened investor sentiment and dashed hopes of a sharp economic recovery.

Poor factory output data from China also dampened investor sentiment. The Nifty ended the session at 9,814, falling 1.6 per cent, or 159 points. The Sensex, on the other hand, tumbled 552 points, or 1.6 per cent, to end the session at 33,229.

Gold price slipped to Rs 47,200 from Rs 47,460 per 10 gram, while silver fell sharply to Rs 47,100 from Rs 47,710 per kilogram on Tuesday, according to the Good Returns website.

The prices of gold jewellery vary across India — the second-largest consumer of the metal — due to excise duty, state taxes, and making charges.

The Indian banking system is in a Catch-22 situation — balancing between credit growth and bad loans, said Padmaja Chunduru, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of Indian Bank.

Chunduru was speaking at a webinar organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) on quantitative easing and credit risk.

As many as 155 Indian companies have invested $22 billion in the US, thus creating nearly 125,000 jobs in the country, according to a report issued by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) on Monday.

The report, Indian Roots, American Soil 2020, is a state-by-state breakdown of tangible investments made and jobs created by 155 surveyed Indian companies doing business in all 50 states, as well as Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.

Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) plans to cut over 1,000 contract-agency jobs amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic pressures.

The UK's largest automotive manufacturer, which had earlier on Friday reported a 30.9 per cent drop in sales in the aftermath of the pandemic related lockdown, said the cuts were part of its transformation programme to improve operational efficiencies.

A counter-terrorism operation, launched on the tip-off of the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police, once again turned out to be successful as three terrorists were gunned down after a search-and-cordon operation in the orchards of the Turkwangam village in south Kashmir's Shopian district earlier today.

A top police official said, Three terrorists have been killed so far in the encounter. One more militant could be hiding in the area. The operation is still in progress.

Contracting for the third straight month, India's exports shrank 36.47% in May to US $19.05 billion, the data released by the government showed on Monday.

A significant decline was witnessed in shipments by key sectors like engineering, petroleum and textiles on weak global demand due to COVID-19. While the exports in dollar terms were $ 19.05 billion, it was Rs 1,44,166.01 crore in rupee terms, registering a negative growth of 31.11%. In comparison, exports in May 2019 was US $29.99 billion or Rs 2,09,280.62 crore.

The onus of building a positive and conducive environment for talks with India lies with the Nepal government, official sources said on Monday as Kathamandu passed a new political map showing Indian territory as its own.

The release of a new political map was part of a myopic agenda to score political gains by the Nepalese government and was an attempt to politicise the boundary issue with India, sources said.

Amid rising coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu, especially in Chennai, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday announced a 12-day maximised restricted lockdown in the capital city and its adjoining areas.

A full lockdown will be implemeneted in Chennai, Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu and Tiruvallur from June 19-30. The four cities come under the Metropolitan Chennai Police limits.

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