As the number of new Covid-19 cases and deaths continues to decline, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the pandemic remains a public health emergency, advising countries to be prepared to scale up Covid-19 response rapidly.

"On Covid-19, there's good news. Last week, the lowest number of Covid-19 deaths was recorded since the early days of the pandemic," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press briefing in Geneva on Wednesday.

Six persons died in a fire accident in a chemical factory located in Akkireddygudem in the district and 12 others sustained burns, police said on Thursday.

According to Rahul Dev Sharma, Superintendent of Police, Eluru, the injured are being treated in a Government Hospital in Vijayawada.

Bihar has received an investment proposal of Rs 817 crore for setting up data centres across the state.

Data management firm VueNow, which is planning the investment, will develop a four-tier data centre of 100 racks with Patna as the master hub. Four other centers will come up in Dharbhanga, Bhagalpur, Purnea and Buxar in the first phase, said an official statement.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. is weighing a possible bid for Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.’s international drugstore unit, according to people familiar with the matter.

Reliance is in the early stages of exploring the feasibility of an offer for the Boots chain, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Information technology major Infosys on Wednesday projected a revenue growth rate of 13-15 per cent for 2022-23 (FY23) on the back of a “strong demand environment” and “robust deal pipeline", even as its key numbers for the March quarter (Q4) of FY22 missed analyst estimates.

Infosys reported a subdued performance in the quarter but met its guidance for the full year. The company reported a net profit of Rs 5,686 crore in Q4, up 12 per cent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis but down 2.1 per cent sequentially.

India saw a single day rise of 1,088 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,30,38,016, while the active cases dipped to 10,870, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

The death toll climbed to 5,21,736 with 26 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

Big Indian crypto exchanges CoinSwitch Kuber and WazirX have disabled rupee deposits for the purchase of cryptocurrency using a widely-used state-backed transfer system, spurring users to voice concern on social media.

India has spent years on a law to ban or regulate cryptocurrencies, with its central bank backing a ban over their threat to financial stability, but a recent decision to tax income from them suggests acceptance by authorities.

Shares of Poonawalla Fincorp (formerly known as Magma Fincorp) hit 52-week high of Rs 343.75, after rallying 8 per cent on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade on healthy earnings hopes. The stock of Cyrus Poonawalla group promoted non-banking finance company (NBFC) has zoomed 44 per cent in the past one month, as compared to 6 per cent gained in the S&P BSE Sensex.

At 10:24 am; Poonawalla Fincorp traded 6 per cent higher at Rs 335.40 on back of heavy volumes. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.08 per cent at 58,622 points.

Hariom Pipes made a strong market debut with equity shares of the company getting listed at Rs 214, a 40 per cent premium against its issue price of Rs 153 per share, on the BSE on Wednesday. At 11:51 AM, the stock was locked at maximum upper limit of the day at Rs 224.70, up 46 per cent against its issue price.

A combined 4.1 million equity shares had changed hands and there are pending buy orders for 430,000 shares on the NSE and BSE. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.02 per cent at 58,563 points.

Shares of Anand Rathi Wealth zoomed 16 per cent to Rs 711.95 on the BSE in Wednesday’s intra-day trade after the company reported strong results with its profit after tax (PAT) and operating profit more-than-doubling in the March quarter (Q4FY22).

The company’s assets under management (AUM) rose 23 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 32,906 crore during the quarter, which helped it to deliver strong growth in topline and much higher margins.

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