The government on Wednesday approved a scheme for the amalgamation of 10 state-owned banks into four, putting to rest any doubts about a possible delay in the process.

Effective from April 1, 2020, the balance sheets as well as stocks of these banks will be integrated, according to the scheme of amalgamation approved by the Union Cabinet.

The trade impact of the coronavirus epidemic for India is estimated to be about $348 million and the country figures among the top 15 economies most affected as slowdown of manufacturing in China disrupts world trade, according to a UN report.

Estimates published by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Wednesday said that the slowdown of manufacturing in China due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is disrupting world trade and could result in a 50 billion dollar decrease in exports across global value chains.

South Korea's total number of novel coronavirus cases— the largest outside China, where the disease first emerged — approached 6,000 on Thursday as authorities reported 145 new infections.

The total stood at 5,766, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, with 35 deaths.

India's largest poultry enterprise Suguna is to invest around $67.2 million in India, Bangladesh and Kenya. The proposed investment will be backed by International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Coimbatore-based Suguna is one of the leading poultry integrators in India with operations covering all areas of the poultry sector.

A positive case of H1N1 (swine flu) has been detected at the Bengaluru office of e-commerce giant Amazon. The employee did

not show any signs of flu while at work and had stopped coming to office five days ago, said a source.

Mindspace IT Park, Hyderabad’s largest office hub spread over several acres, was a centre of panic on Wednesday as a techie tested positive for coronavirus. The complex, housing many marquee brands, caught on to the news in no time, prompting employers to send their staff home.

An employee of Dutch company DSM Shared Services, the software professional had recently returned from an assignment in Italy. Hers was the second confirmed case of the virus in Telangana.

Construction and engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is set to reduce its debt by Rs 30,000 crore in the next financial year by selling its entire stake in L&T Infrastructure Development Projects (IDPL) and Nabha Power, and transferring its stake in Hyderabad Metro to an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT).

S N Subrahmanyan, chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD) of L&T, said the plan for the next financial year was to become asset light and reduce debt wherever possible.

Authorities on Wedndesday removed ban on social media in Jammu and Kashmir, six months after restrictions were placed in the erstwhile state in the view of abrogation of Article 370.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Wednesday allowed access to all web sites on 2G mobile data services and fixed line internet in the Union Territory till March 17 and also removed the ban on social media platforms.

Paytm employee in Gurgaon who recently returned from a vacation in Italy has tested positive for novel coronavirus, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

The company has advised all its employees to work from home for the next couple of days while the Gurgaon unit gets sanitised.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has raided the residence of former chairman of the now grounded Jet Airways, Naresh Goyal in a case of money laundering. On Wednesday, he was summoned by ED for interrogation at its office in Mumbai and later look him to his home at around 9 PM for searching.

A fresh case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) has also been registered.

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