The Election Commission is expected to announce schedule for the Lok Sabha elections today, several media reports said. The elections are likely to be spread over 7-8 phases in April-May. The term of the 16th Lok Sabha ends on June 3.

According to a report in The Indian Express, the poll body is in the final stages of completing its logistical preparations for holding elections. It added that schedule could be announced as early this weekend or by early next week.

Amid claims by Pakistan government that it has seized the headquarters of Hafiz Saeed led Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) in Lahore, India on Saturday said Islamabad should show 'nayi soch' with 'naya action' against terrorist groups and cross border terrorism.

Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed was barred by Pakistan's Punjab provincial government from delivering the Friday sermon at JuD headquarters in Lahore, where a government-appointed cleric led prayers and delivered the weekly sermon. The government of Pakistan's Punjab province had taken over the mosque as part of a crackdown on the terror group.

An influential Indian-American Congressman has warned that Pakistan will continue to slide into international isolation if it does not take actions against terrorist groups operating from its soil.

Ami Bera, the Chairman of the House Foreign affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, also urged China to play a constructive role by lifting its veto over UN Security Council resolution to designate Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

Fugitive billionaire diamantaire Nirav Modi, accused in the USD 2 billion PNB fraud case, is living openly in a swanky 8-million pound apartment in London’s West End and is now involved in a new diamond business, a British daily reported on Saturday.

Nirav Modi (48), is currently living in a three-bedroom flat occupying half of a floor of the landmark Centre Point tower block, where rent is estimated to cost 17,000 pounds a month, The Telegraph reported.

In a clarification that settles the dust over the payment of goods and services tax (GST) on income tax collected at source (TCS) on purchases of select items, the government has said that GST does not apply on the TCS amount.

In an earlier circular dated December 31, 2018, the central board of indirect taxes and customs (CBIC) said GST should be levied on the entire amount of purchase including the amount added due to tax collected at source.

Reliance Industries Ltd plans to grow the number of low-cost Reliance Trends fashion stores across India to 2,500 from 557 over the next five years and integrate them with its online business, two people briefed on the plans said.

The expansion is the latest move by the conglomerate's billionaire owner Mukesh Ambani to grab a dominant share of Indian consumer spending in a struggle with rivals, particularly e-commerce giants Amazon.com Inc and Walmart Inc's Flipkart.

A Delhi court Friday extended till March 25 the interim protection from arrest granted to former Union minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti in the Aircel-Maxis scam cases filed by the CBI and the ED. Special Judge O P Saini adjourned the matter after senior advocate Sonia Mathur, appearing for the CBI, sought time to argue on their anticipatory bail applications.

Similar request was also made by ED’s Special Public Prosecutors Nitesh Rana and N K Matta which was allowed by the court.

Shares of Ipca Laboratories hit an all-time high of Rs 914, up 5 per cent on the BSE in an otherwise weak market on expectation of strong earnings and margin improvement by going forward. The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 907 touched on February 28, 2014 in intra-day trade. At 01:11 pm; the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was trading 0.25 per cent or 93 points lower at 36,632 on the BSE.

Ipca Laboratories had posted healthy operational performance in December 2018 quarter (Q3FY19). The company’s Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and ammortisation) margin before forex gain was expanded by 385 basis points (bps) at 22.48 per cent in Q3FY19 from 18.63 per cent in Q3FY18.

Shares of Wipro fell 5 per cent to Rs 256 in intra-day trade on the BSE in after huge block deals were executed on the counter.

Till 11:22 am, a combined 57.86 million equity shares, representing 1.3 per cent equity, of Wipro had changed hands on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and BSE.

The name of the buyer and sellers could not be ascertained immediately.

Air India is incurring a loss of around Rs 3 crore daily on its Europe, US flights due to the closure of Pakistan airspace, a senior airline official said on Thursday. Last Wednesday, Pakistan closed its airspace to all overflying flights forcing airlines from India and other nations to take a detour. This has led to increase in flight duration and has put a strain on Mumbai’s air traffic controllers, who are working extra shifts to handle the increase in traffic.

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