Ahead of the presentation of Union Budget 2021-22 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Cabinet will hold a meeting at 10:15 am on Monday.

The Budget will be presented at 11 am in the Parliament on February 1. It will be the first paperless budget.

India's total active caseload has dropped to less than 1.7 lakh (1,69,824) on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

The Ministry said that the present active caseload now consists of less than 1.6 per cent, which is just 1.58 per cent of India's total positive cases.

Union Home Ministry on Saturday has ordered the suspension of internet services at Singhu, Ghazipur, and Tikri border areas, where farmers have been protesting against the new Agri laws. Apart from the three borders of Delhi, internet services will remain suspended in their adjoining areas too effective from 11 pm of January 29 to 11 pm of January 31.

Union Bank of India’s net profit fell 37.27 per cent to Rs 727 crore in the third quarter ended Dece­mber 2020 on a drop in non-interest income.

It had booked net profit of Rs 1,159 crore in Q3FY20. The amalgamation of Andhra Ba­nk and Corporation Bank into Union Bank of India came into effect on April 1, 2020, and the combined financials (Ma­rch 2020 and December 2019) were arrived at by aggregating the audited/ rev­iewed num­bers of the three banks. Its stock closed 5.25 per cent hig­her at Rs 31.05 per share on the BSE.

IT services firm Tech Mahindra on Friday said its profit after tax rose 14.3 per cent to Rs 1,309.8 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2020.

The rise in profit was 23 per cent on a sequential basis.

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) plans to apply for emergency use approval (EUA) for the Russian Sputnik V from the Indian drug regulator in March and launch the vaccine around the same time.

Meanwhile, DRL is in discussions with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to expand the scope of this partnership on Sputnik to other countries where Hyderabad-based pharma major has strong presence.

The vaccine of US-based Novavax, a prime contender for use in India, has shown 89.3 per cent efficacy in phase 3 clinical trials conducted in the UK.

Its Indian partner, Serum Institute of India (SII), has applied to the regulator to conduct bridge trials here, and is planning to start manufacturing soon in the country.

For those interested in cryptocurrencies, the government of India has listed a bill to be introduced in the Parliament during the Budget session of the 17th Lok Sabha. The bill seeks to ban private cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ripple, Ether, and others in India.

The government is likely to table the Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021.

The Centre on Friday directed all states and union territories to start inoculating frontline workers along with healthcare workers against COVID-19 from the first week of February. Vaccination of healthcare providers began on January 16, 2021.

The Health Ministry said on Friday that more than 33 lakh healthcare workers had been administered the vaccine so far. 4,40,681 beneficiaries were vaccinated till 7 pm today, the fourteenth day of nationwide Covid-19 vaccination, it said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has postponed his two-day visit to West Bengal starting Saturday amid the tense situation in the national capital, sources told IANS.

Shah was supposed to leave for Kolkata on Friday night to participate in party programmes on Saturday and Sunday.

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