India's dominant services sector expanded at the fastest pace in 11 years in May on strong demand, although inflationary pressures touched new highs, restricting optimism and weighing on consumers' pocketbooks, a private survey showed.

The S&P Global India Services Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 58.9 in May from 57.9 in April, its highest since April 2011 and comfortably beating the Reuters poll expectation of 57.5.

Seven ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government, who are not yet members of the state legislature, will now take the Vidhan Parishad route to get elected.

Thirteen seats to the Vidhan Parishad are falling vacant and elections are to be held on June 20.

The BJP, on its strength in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, can safely send nine members while the Samajwadi pary (SP) can send four members.

With rising cases of Covid in Maharashtra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has called a meeting of the state task force on Thursday. Thackeray also said people should use face masks, vaccinate themselves and follow discipline if they don't wish to experience Covid-19 restrictions again.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai civic body has also asked the jumbo Covid centres to be fully staffed and be on a standby.

A few people held a protest against the Punjab Police in Mansa on Friday for allegedly stopping them from entering the Moosa village by deploying heavy security ahead of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's visit.

However, the police stated that no one was being stopped from entering the village.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Uttar Pradesh on Friday where he will inaugurate several projects.

In a tweet on Friday morning, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath wrote, "Under the guidance of respected PM Narendra Modi ji, 'New India of New Uttar Pradesh' has become the best destination in the country for investment. The enthusiasm of investors towards Ground Breaking Ceremony 3.0 is a direct proof of this.

Shares of cement companies were under pressure as it fell up to 6 per cent on the BSE on Friday in an otherwise firm market. The fall comes after the sector major approved a new capital expenditure (capex) plan of Rs 12,886 crore to tide increased competition in the sector.

The capex is aimed to increase capacity by 22.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) through brownfield and greenfield projects.

The Biden administration said Thursday that children under 5 may be able to get their first COVID-19 vaccination doses as soon as June 21, if federal regulators authorise shots for the age group, as expected.

White House COVID-19 coordinator Aashish Jha outlined the administration's planning for the last remaining ineligible age group to get shots.

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries and US-based Apollo Global Management are teaming to bid for Boots — the international chemist and drugstore unit of Walsgreen Boots Alliance Inc — according to a report in the Economic Times. The combined bid from Reliance and Apollo for Boots could come in as early as Friday, June 3.

With Tata Motors subsidiary taking over Ford’s passenger vehicle (PV) manufacturing unit at Sanand in Gujarat, uncertainty over the future of Ford’s Maraimalai Nagar unit in Tamil Nadu continues, with workers protesting on Thursday demanding a better severance package.

There are over 2,000 employees working at the unit. On Thursday, there was a meeting between agitating employees and the state labour department.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has directed the new board of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) to pay lenders on a pro-rata basis first as opposed to the normal course of payment prescribed under Section 53 (distribution of assets) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). This will be done as part of the interim distribution.

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