(Reuters) - Facebook Inc said on Thursday it would cancel its annual developer conference due to fears over the coronavirus outbreak and Microsoft Corp followed suit by withdrawing from a gaming conference scheduled for next month.

In place of the in-person F8 event, we're planning other ways for our community to get together through a combo of locally hosted events, videos and live streamed content, said Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, Facebook's director of platform partnership.

Bullish on its growth in India, Apple is set to open its first branded retail store in the country in 2021, company CEO Tim Cook has told shareholders.

Speaking to investors at the annual shareholder meeting at Apple Park in Cupertino, California on Wednesday, Cook confirmed the company will open its first offline retail outlet in the world's second biggest smartphone market next year, reports Apple Insider.

Axis Bank on Thursday said its board has approved appointment of Puneet Sharma as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

His appointment will be effective from March 6, the private sector lender said in a regulatory filing.

Sharma replaces Jairam Sridharan, who has resigned as the group executive and CFO of the bank, with effect from the close of business hours on March 5, it said.

Financially stressed telecom operator Vodafone Idea, in a letter to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), has sought the adjustment of goods and services tax (GST) refund to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore against its dues linked to adjusted gross revenue (AGR), an official told Business Standard on Wednesday. Even as the letter listed a number of demands, including a moratorium of three years and a 15-year staggered payment of the AGR-linked dues besides asking the government to set off its GST credit, the company’s chief executive officer, Ravinder Takkar, called on DoT Secretary Anshu Prakash again — making it his third visit in a week.

Shares of Cipla were trading lower for the fifth straight day, down 3 per cent at Rs 409 on the BSE on Thursday. The company on Wednesday said it received a warning letter from United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) for its Goa manufacturing facility.

The stock of the pharmaceutical company was trading close to its 52-week low of Rs 390 touched on October 11, 2019. In the past five trading days, Cipla slipped 8.5 per cent, as compared to a 4 per cent decline in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex and 3 per cent fall in the S&P BSE Healthcare index.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday attacked the government over the transfer of Delhi High Court Judge S Muralidhar, saying the Centre's attempts to muzzle justice and break people's faith in an upright judiciary are deplorable.

Delhi HC Judge S Muralidhar was transferred to the Punjab and Haryana High Court, days after the Supreme Court collegium made the recommendation.

Shares of Aarti Drugs rallied 9 per cent to near five-year high of Rs 813 on the BSE on Thursday in an otherwise weak market on expectation of strong volume growth to continue and reflect in revenue and earnings.

The pharmaceutical firm's stock was trading at its highest level since April 15, 2015. In the past five days, the stock has surged 26 per cent, as compared to 4.4 per cent decline in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex. The stock hit an all-time high of Rs 874 in April 2015.

Shares of Mahindra CIE Automotive, the automotive components supplier, declined 8.5 per cent to Rs 129 apiece on the BSE on Thursday after the company reported 91 per cent year-on-year (YoY) fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 12.6 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2019 (Q3FY19). The company had posted profit of Rs 142 crore in the year-ago period.

Profit before tax (PBT) for the quarter under review stood at Rs 121.5 crore, down 33 per cent against Rs 182 crore logged in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

TVS Motor Company has strengthened its operations in Central America by forming a partnership with Motomundo SA, one of the largest business groups in Honduras.

As a part of this association, Motomundo SA will facilitate the sales and service of TVS products across all Motomundo stores in the country in a phased manner. Motomundo stores will start with an exclusive outlet for TVS Motor Company and will expand it to three stores in the country within a year.

The death toll in Delhi’s worst-ever communal violence since 1984 rose to 27, with 14 more persons succumbing to injuries sustained in clashes that began over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on Sunday evening.

After four days, both the Centre and the Delhi government swung into action, with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal going to the disturbed parts of the city on Wednesday to rebuild confidence among people.

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