India reported 3,205 new coronavirus infections in a day, pushing the number of active cases to 19,509 and the overall tally to 4,30,88,118, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated Wednesday.

The data released at 8 am also showed that 31 fatalities were reported in a 24-hour span, taking the overall death toll to 5,23,920.

The rupee appreciated 8 paise to 76.40 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday in anticipation of foreign fund inflows through LIC IPO.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 76.46 against the American dollar, then gained further ground to quote at 76.40, registering a rise of 8 paise from the last close.

On Monday, the rupee had settled at 76.48 against the US dollar.

Paramount+, the global streaming service from Paramount Global, will launch in India in 2023 in partnership with Viacom18, as part of a recently announced agreement.

Bob Bakish, President & CEO, Paramount, outlined the company's global plans for the streaming service during its first quarter Earnings Report announcement on Tuesday.

India’s coal output soared by 28 per cent to 66.1 million tonnes (mt) in April amid high demand from thermal power plants as several parts of the country grappled with power shortage.

The overall coal production was at 51.6 mt in April 2021. “During the month of April, 2022 India's total coal production stood at 66.1 mt," the coal ministry said in a statement.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said Ukraine has received 4.5 billion euros (about $4.73 billion) in financial international aid since the start of the conflict with Russia, the government press service said.

Over the past week, Ukraine received $500 million in grant funds from the World Bank, Shmyhal added on Tuesday.

Shares of Titan Company hit an over three-month low of Rs 2,309, down 3 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade after the company reported a 7.21 per cent year on year (YoY) decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 527 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2022 (Q4FY22).

The stock of the Tata group firm was trading at its lowest level since January 27, 2022. In the past one week, it has underperformed the market by falling 9 per cent as compared to a 0.87 per cent decline in the S&P BSE Sensex.

Shares of Britannia Industries surged 10 per cent to Rs 3,590.85 on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade, after the packaged foods company reported better-than-expected volume growth in the base business. The company posted volume growth at around 4 per cent in March quarter (Q4FY22), beating analyst estimates of 1 per cent. Meanwhile, the board has recommended a dividend of 5650 per cent i.e. Rs 56.5 per share.

However, at 09:37 AM; the stock erased its partial intra-day gain and was up 4 per cent at Rs 3,412. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.05 per cent at 56,948 points.

LIC public offer, the country's biggest-ever IPO, on Wednesday opened for subscription for retail and institutional investors.

The government aims to generate about Rs 21,000 crore by diluting its 3.5 per cent stake in the insurance behemoth.

The LIC initial public offering (IPO), now open for retail and institutional investors, is set to close on May 9.

India's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp posted weak set of numbers as both bottom and top line took a hit, mainly due to weak rural demand, price hikes and high raw material costs.

“With the economy picking up, we expect the demand for motorcycles and scooters to see a positive turnaround in the coming months. While concerns related to high input costs continue to remain a challenge, we will keep monitoring the situation and take judicious measures as appropriate," said Hero MotoCorp CFO Niranjan Gupta.

Facebook is pulling out of podcasts and plans to remove them altogether from the social-media service starting June 3.

Part of Meta Platforms Inc., Facebook will stop letting people add podcasts to the service starting this week, according to a note sent to partners. It will discontinue both its short-form audio product Soundbites and remove its central audio hub.

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