Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) on Friday said it has signed a pact with Campervan Factory, an IIT Madras-incubated research-based caravan manufacturing company, to launch campers in India. These well-equipped campers, based on the double-cab Bolero Camper Gold platform, will cater to the self-drive tourism segment that is gaining popularity in the country.

This is the first time that an Indian automotive OEM (original equipment manufacturer) has ventured into the caravan segment in India.

Digital gaming and sports firm Nazara Technologies will acquire a 33 per cent stake in Datawrkz Business Solutions, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

In addition to this, the board of Nazara Technologies has approved investment of up to Rs 30 crore in its subsidiary Next Wave Multimedia.

The Competition Commission has disposed of a complaint alleging unfair business practices by Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd and certain other related entities, saying that the allegations are devoid of requisite evidence. The complaint was filed by All India Online Vendors Association against Amazon Seller Services, Amazon Wholesale India, Amazon Retail India, Cloudtail India and Prione Business Services.

The association comprises more than 2,000 sellers across the country, with its members selling various products on e-commerce marketplaces.

The fast-moving consumer goods category (FMCG) has recovered in just one month after the third wave of the pandemic compared to the full quarter it took to recover after the second wave in 2021 driven by strong off takes of packaged food products and commodity product (wheat flour, edible oil, grains etc…) sales that have surpassed last year sales numbers.

“Rural growth continues to fire FMCG sales on a year-on-year basis while urban sales are slightly down with discretionary product sales being impacted in the recovery from the third wave,” Akshay D’Souza, chief of growth & insights at Bizom told Business Standard.

Only five per cent of the fully vaccinated persons who caught the Omicron variant infection in Mumbai needed hospitalization, as per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) latest sample data.

On the other hand, among those who had not taken a single dose of anti-coronavirus vaccines and who were infected with Omicron, more than 17 per cent had to be hospitalized.

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear on March 11 a plea challenging grant of bail by the Allahabad High Court to Ashish Mishra, son of Union minister Ajay Mishra, in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri violence that left eight people, including four farmers, dead.

A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana took note of the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the other accused in the case are moving courts for grant of bail citing the relief granted to Ashish Mishra.

Continuing the downward trend, India on Friday reported 6,396 fresh COVID-19 cases with a daily positivity rate of 0.69 per cent, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As per government data, India has an active caseload of 69,897 which accounts for 0.16 per cent of the total cases.

Shares of Asian Paints witnessed heavy selling pressure and were down 6 per cent at Rs 2,692.75 on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade, falling as much as 15 per cent in past three trading sessions on margin concerns amid rising crude oil prices. The stock of the India’s largest paint company quoted at its lowest level since March 2021. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 2,343.85 on March 15, 2021.

The steep and unprecedented inflationary trend in raw material prices continued to impact the gross margins, which shrank 833 bps year-on-year (YoY) to 36.8 per cent, across businesses of the company in October-December quarter (Q3FY22) quarter.

Shares of Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GNFC) hit a new high of Rs 604.40, up 3 per cent on the BSE in Friday’s intra-day trade bucking the trend in an otherwise weak market. The S&P BSE Sensex was down 1.4 per cent at 54,320 at 09:58 am.

In the past one month, the stock of the fertilizer and chemical company has zoomed 33 per cent after the company reported a robust set of numbers for the quarter ended December 2021 (Q3FY22).

Shares of mortgage lender Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), banking giant HDFC Bank, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies – Hindustan Unilever (HUL) and Britannia Industries, cement manufacturers – UltraTech Cement and Shree Cement, pharma stock Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorp were among eight stocks from Nifty50 index to hit their respective 52-week low on the back of a sharp sell-off in equities in the past couple of weeks.

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