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.

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday called for increasing India's share in global trade to 10 per cent and taking the country's share of exports in GDP to about 25 per cent.

Goyal was addressing the closing session of the Post-Budget Webinar on "Make in India for the World."

India's largest two-wheeler seller Hero Motocorp has launched a new brand for its electric vehicle segment.

In order to avoid any legal complexity due to the ongoing arbitration with Hero Electric over the Hero brand name, the company has been forced to take a cautious step and launch a separate brand for its EV business.

Bajaj Hindusthan Sugar, India's largest sugar manufacturer, on Thursday received the Board's in-principle nod for exploring options for capital restructuring, resolution plan for debt and other corporate restructuring.

A decision in this regard was taken at the Board's meeting held on Thursday, according to a regulatory filing.

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