World Health Organization (WHO) designated COVID-19 variant BA.2.86 as a 'variant under monitoring' due to the large number of mutations it carries.

The WHO said on Friday that they are tracking 3 variants of interest and 7 variants under monitoring at the moment.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has referred the three proposed laws that will replace the IPC, CrPC and the Evidence Act to the Standing Committee on Home Affairs for examination and asked it to submit its report within three months.

The bills -- the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill -- were introduced in the Lok Sabha by Home Minister Amit Shah on August 11.

Indian farmers have planted 36.1 million hectares (89.2 million acres) with rice, up 4.3 per cent on the same period last year, farm ministry data showed on Friday, as ample monsoon rains in July and higher prices helped boost acreage.

Higher rice planting in India, the world's second biggest producer of the grain, could alleviate concerns about supplies of the staple.

Jio Financial Services (JFS), the financial subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani-controlled conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), is set to be listed on the stock exchanges on August 21, 2023, as stated in a BSE circular on Friday. RIL spun off JFS last month, introducing it to the market with a valuation of around $20 billion.

The notice said: "Trading members of the exchange are hereby informed that effective from Monday, August 21, 2023, the equity shares of Jio Financial Services Ltd (formerly Reliance Strategic Investments Ltd) shall be listed and admitted to dealings on the Exchange in the list of T Group of Securities."

Tomato prices are expected to retail below Rs 100 per kg as the wholesale rates have come down more than 30 per cent at a leading tomato market in Maharashtra, which supports tomato supplies during the August-December period, The Economic Times (ET) has reported.

As vegetables reach the retail part of the sales, the prices are usually double the wholesale rates. The cost of transportation, market handling charges, middleman commissions, and retail margins make rates double or sometimes even higher as vegetable produce reaches the final consumer.

Retail activity in the country is set to increase, with about 20 foreign brands likely to enter India in the next eight months, according to a report in The Financial Express (FE).

This is double the number of foreign brands entering India annually in the pre-pandemic period.

Experts said that growing affluence and consumer taste drive these brands to India.

Shares of South Indian Bank zoomed over 11 per cent to a high of Rs 23.45 on heavy volumes in intra-day deals on Friday in an otherwise weak market after RBI approved the appointment of P R Seshadri as Managing Director & CEO of the bank.

At 11:30 AM, the stock was up 8.2 per cent at Rs 22.80 on trades of around 13.82 million shares as against the 2-week average traded volume of around 7.4 million shares on the BSE. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 0.5 per cent at 64,857.

Indian officials are considering a plan to reallocate as much as 1 trillion rupees ($12 billion) from the budgets of various ministries to contain a surge in food and fuel costs without imperiling the federal deficit target, according to people familiar with the matter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take a decision in the coming weeks, which could include lowering taxes on local gasoline sales and easing import tariffs on cooking oil and wheat, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan transferred Rs 207 crore to the bank accounts of 460,000 students with a single click for purchasing bicycles on Thursday.

CM Chouhan also performed the bhoomi pujan of the CM Rise Government Mahatma Gandhi Higher Secondary School building to be constructed at a cost of Rs 81.12 crore at BHEL (Barkheda) Bhopal.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday launched a centralised web portal UDGAM (Unclaimed Deposits – Gateway to Access inforMation), to make it easier for the public to search for their unclaimed deposits across multiple banks in one place.

The web portal will help users identify and approach their banks for either claiming unclaimed deposits or making their deposit accounts operative at their banks, the central bank said in a release.

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