Supreme Court on Wednesday put the sedition law on hold, and urged the Central and state governments to refrain from registering any FIRs invoking Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli said that governments should not use the sedition provision till the review of the sedition provision by the Centre is complete.

Several parts of Odisha and West Bengal are bracing for heavy rain as severe cyclone Asani weakened to a cyclonic storm on Wednesday, as it barrelled towards north coastal Andhra Pradesh, packing wind speed of 85 km per hour, the Met Department said.

The weather system is likely to further lose steam and turn into a depression by Thursday morning, it said.

The country logged 2,897 COVID-19 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Wednesday.

The daily case tally of the virus remained below the 3,000-mark for the second day.

The daily positivity rate is at 0.61 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate of COVID in India is at 0.74 per cent.

Shares of Ajanta Pharma hit a 52-week low of Rs 1,593, down 4 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade due to weak operational performance for the quarter ended March 2022 (Q4FY22). The board of directors has approved a bonus issue in the proportion of 1:2 equity share of Rs 2 each.

The stock was quoting lower for the sixth straight trading day, falling 12 per cent during this period. At 11:58 am; it was trading 2.5 per cent lower at Rs 1,616, as compared to a 0.61 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Insurance behemoth Life Insurance Corporation of India’s (LIC’s) initial public offering (IPO), the biggest ever in the country, saw 2.95 times more demand than the shares on offer on the final day of bidding on Monday, generating bids worth Rs 43,933 crore.

The subscription was primarily driven by domestic investors, mainly retail. The IPO saw 7.33 million applications from retail investors, the highest ever for a domestic issue, topping Reliance Power’s 2008 record of 4.8 million.

Shares of ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Technologies hit a record low of Rs 1,181.55, down 7 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade. The stock was trading lower for the seventh straight day, having slipped 24 per cent during the period.

In the past one month, the market price of Nazara Technologies has tanked 29 per cent, as compared to a 8 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex. It was trading close to its initial public offer (IPO) price of Rs 1,101 per share.

E-commerce enablement platform GoKwik on Wednesday said it has raised $35 million led by Think Investments and RTP Global, and will use the funds to work on tech solutions for large marketplaces.

The Series B round also saw participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital India and Matrix Partners India.

Retailer Marks & Spencer India on Wednesday said Ritesh Mishra has been appointed as Managing Director for Marks & Spencer Reliance India Pvt Ltd.

Mishra, previously Head of Operations and Property, takes over from James Munson who will now assume the role of M&S International Retail Director in the UK, the company said in a statement.

Logistics major Delhivery on Tuesday raised Rs 2,346 crore from 64 anchor investors. The Gurugram-based firm allotted nearly 48.2 million shares at Rs 487 apiece, the upper end of its IPO price band. Sources said the anchor book saw nearly 10 times more demand than the shares on offer.

Amansa, Goldman Sachs, Aberdeen, Tiger Global, Schroder, and Baillie Gifford were among the anchor investors who got an allotment.

Asian Paints’ net profit attributable to its share owners was largely flat at Rs 850.4 crore in the March quarter of financial year 2021-22 (Q4FY22), compared with Rs 852.1 crore in the year-ago period. The paints major saw its revenue increase 18.7 per cent to Rs 7,892.7 crore in the quarter.

“The international business managed to deliver a double-digit revenue growth for the quarter despite severe challenges in key markets.

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