India’s decision to go ahead with a much-reduced target for its vaunted life insurer’s initial public offering, as skittish investors continue to pull money from the South Asian nation, is adding to the risks threatening the nation’s fiscal deficit target.

Life Insurance Corporation of India’s board on Saturday approved selling a 3.5% stake for about 210 billion rupees ($2.8 billion), far lower than the 500 billion rupees estimated before Russia invaded Ukraine. Anchor investors had been reluctant to commit as the war eroded demand for equities, according to people with knowledge of the matter, with foreign funds withdrawing more than $16 billion from Indian stocks this year.

Lenders of debt-ridden Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL) are likely to share the Request For Resolution Plan (RFRP) document with bidders by Wednesday or Thursday and bids with a high upfront cash payment component will get the maximum score as a part of the resolution process, sources said.

The RFRP document sets the guidelines for the submission and evaluation of the resolution plan and is shared with all the companies that have submitted Expression of Interest (EoI) for the submission of financial bids.

With 2,527 coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India's total tally of cases rose to 4,30,54,952, while active cases have increased to 15,079, according to Union health ministry data updated on Saturday.

The death toll has climbed to 5,22,149 with 33 fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

India's smartphone market grew just 2 per cent in the first quarter of 2022 owing to supply constraints, not a great start to the year for a market which has seen double-digit percentage growth even during the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report has said.

The biggest challenge this year will be maintaining device affordability in India, according to global market research firm Canalys.

Covid-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States in 2021, following heart disease and cancer, according to a report released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The report released on Friday showed that the overall age-adjusted death rate increased by nearly 1 per cent in 2021 from 2020.

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 508.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 6.21 million and vaccinations to over 11.22 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 508,675,438 and 6,215,433, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered increased to 11,223,233,693.

Five states -- Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Kerala -- account for 49 per cent of the overall extraction of groundwater in the entire country while the rest of the country accounts for 50 per cent, government data between 2004-2020 has shown.

"However, it was only in 2009, that Andhra Pradesh replaced Madhya Pradesh," said an official associated with Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), the flagship programme of the Jal Shakti Ministry.

The Punjab police has ordered withdrawal of security cover of 184 former ministers and ex-MLAs and other leaders.

Personnel deployed on specific orders of the courts, however, will not be withdrawn, stated a letter by the additional director general of police (security).

The letter dated April 20 was sent to senior police officers, including police commissioners and senior superintendents of police.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said that India is "carving out" opportunities from challenging situations as the world continues to face hikes in fuel prices and shortage of food grains amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

Addressing a press conference in Washington alongside Indian envoy to US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Sitharaman said that India is trying to find a market for its exports and provide meaningful assistance to end hunger.

Enthusiasm among devotees coming for the Char Dham yatra beginning on May 3 is at its peak with more than one lakh pilgrims having registered so far for the pilgrimage.

The Uttarakhand tourism department has made registration of pilgrims for the yatra mandatory this time for their safety and well-being.

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