A COVID-19 outbreak hit the Indian cricket team on Wednesday as three main players -- senior opener Shikhar Dhawan, reserve opener Ruturaj Gaikwad and middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer -- tested positive for the virus during their mandatory isolation period before the start of West Indies series.

Four other persons, including net bowler Navdeep Saini, have also tested positive for COVID-19. Saini is also on standby list.

Shares of Bharat Dynamics (BDL) hit a new high of Rs 535.70, on rallying 10 per cent on the BSE in Thursday’s intra-day trade after the company signed a contract worth Rs 3,131.82 crore with the Indian Army. The contract is for manufacture and supply of Konkurs - M AntiTank Guided Missiles to the Indian Army, and will be executed in three years.

With this contract, the company’s order book position stands at Rs 11,400 crore (net), BDL said in an exchange filing.

Rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) said Tata Steel can acquire Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) without sacrificing rating headroom due to deleveraging over the past 18 months and strong cash flow from high steel prices.

Tata Steel's (BBB-/Stable/--) debt is expected to continue to decline over the next two years, despite the Rs 12,100 crore deployed for the acquisition of state run NINL. However, the pace of deleveraging will be slow in the year ending March 2023.

Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal is considering a potential merger of his commodity empire’s indebted holding company with cash-rich listed unit Vedanta Ltd., people familiar with the matter said.

The tycoon has held preliminary discussions with prospective advisers about the idea of combining his closely-held Vedanta Resources Ltd. with Mumbai-traded Vedanta Ltd., the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Digital maps company CE Infosystem, which operates under the MapmyIndia brand, on Wednesday said it will acquire 9.9 per cent stake in geospatial company Pupilmesh Private Limited for about Rs 49 lakh.

MapmyIndia expects the acquisition to support its business opportunity in the area of navigation, it said in a regulatory filing.

JetSynthesys-owned Indian mobile game development studio Nautilus Mobile has secured a funding of $5.4 million from South Korean gaming company Krafton.

The gaming studio aims to deepen its penetration in more markets across the world and broaden its scope to include a multitude of different sports games in addition to cricket. Krafton’s expertise and experience will enable Nautilus to accelerate their growth in India and improvise the overall gaming infrastructure.

The rupee appreciated 20 paise to 74.45 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday, supported by positive domestic equities.

However, the surge in the rupee was restricted amid elevated crude oil prices.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget 2022-23 in Parliament soon.

India is likely to step up spending on infrastructure, health services and social programmes in its annual budget on Tuesday, to try to set the economy on a firmer footing as it fights a spike in COVID-19 cases and rising inflationary pressure.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to announce more spending on roads, railways, besides higher subsidies for affordable housing amid growing public criticism over inadequate relief following the economic disruption after the outbreak of pandemic in 2020.

The price of 10 gram of 24-carat gold decreased by Rs 100 on Tuesday with the precious metal trading at Rs 48,990.

The price of 22-carat gold also declined by the same amount to Rs 44,900.

One kg of silver is selling at Rs 61,300, up Rs 100 from yesterday.

With 1,67,059 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India's total tally of cases increased to over 4.14 crore, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The death toll has climbed to 4,96,242 with 1,192 fatalities reported during the 24-hour period, the data updated at 8 am showed.

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