Six months after top leaders from Jammu and Kashmir were put under preventive custody, the Union Territory administration on Thursday slapped stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) on former chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah and two other politicians from National Conference and PDP.

Their six-month preventive custody was ending on Thursday. They were put under detention following the abrogation of Article 370.

Rice export prices in India edged up to the highest level in more than four months this week, helped by healthy demand from African countries, while markets in Thailand and Vietnam grapple with the new coronavirus outbreak.

India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety was quoted around $370-$375 per tonne this week, the highest since the last week of September.

Realty major DLF on Thursday reported 55 per cent year-on-year growth in profit before tax in the third quarter of FY20 at Rs 368.6 crore, compared to Rs 237.5 crore posted in the corresponding period last year.

Its net profit stood at Rs 335.15 crore in the year-ago period. The total income fell 36 per cent to Rs 1,533.34 crore in the third quarter of 2019-20 from Rs 2,405.89 crore in the corresponding period previous year, DLF said.

Uber continued to lose money as it builds up its food delivery business and develops technology for driverless cars, but revenue for its rides business nearly tripled as the company picked up more passengers around the world.

The ride-hailing giant lost $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2019, about 24 per cent more than the same time last year. The loss amounted to 64 cents per share, which was slightly better than what analysts were expecting.

In a major development, WhatsApp will be able to roll out its digital payment platform, WhatsApp Pay, across India after securing a key regulatory approval on Thursday.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has granted WhatsApp a licence to operate its digital payment service in a phased manner, a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) executive told Business Standard on Friday. The official didn’t want to be quoted.

As the death toll crossed over 500 in the coronavirus outbreak, immigration officials have suspended all visas issued before February 5 to all Chinese passport holders from any part of the world, apart from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

All visas issued to Chinese passport holders coming from anywhere in the world, including regular (sticker) and e-visa issued before February 5, have been suspended with immediate effect, the officials said.

IT major Cognizant on Thursday reported over 39 per cent decline in net profit at USD 395 million for December 2019 quarter on account of factors like restructuring charges, and said it expects its topline to grow by 2-4 per cent in 2020.

The company also appointed Vinita Bali, former managing director and chief executive officer of Britannia Industries, as a new independent director, effective February 24, 2020.

On the penultimate day of campaigning for the Delhi polls on Wednesday, the AAP, the Congress and the BJP slugged it out over issues ranging from citizenship law, appeasement politics and unemployment.

The Congress fielded its leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to attack the AAP and the BJP, even as war of words escalated between the BJP and the AAP which traded barbs over the Shaheen Bagh shooter.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will on Thursday (February 6) announce its sixth and last monetary policy for the current financial year, i.e. FY19-20.

The MPC resolution of the RBI will be placed on the website at 11.45 AM on February 6, 2020. will announce its decision whether it will cut or keep the benchmark lending rates unchanged on Thursday. The RBI committee, which is led by Governor Shaktikanta Das, announces its decision on a bi-monthly basis.

Shares of Avenue Supermarts, which operates supermarket chain DMart, rallied 5 per cent to Rs 2,361, also its new high on the BSE on Thursday, after its board approved the launch of a qualified institutional placement (QIP) by the promoters.

The stock was trading higher for the fourth straight day, thus gaining 14 per cent during the period, against a 4 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

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