The Indian rupee depreciated 4 paise to 74.44 against the US dollar in opening trade on Monday, as investors are awaiting cues from the US Fed's policy decision, due this week.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 74.43 against the dollar, then fell further to 74.44, registering a fall of 4 paise over its previous close.

The death toll from floods in Maharashtra and other rain-related incidents in the state has risen to 149 as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday announced that various NDRF-style mechanisms will be set up in all affected districts. The toll increased after 36 bodies were found in Satara and Raigad districts.

Considering the repeated occurrence of these disasters, a system on the lines of the NDRF will be created in all the affected districts.

Since 1999, July 26 is celebrated as the Kargil Vijay Diwas to commemorate the victory of Operation Vijay. The operation was launched by the Indian Army to recapture the Indian territories from Pakistani intruders in the Kargil-Drass sector in 1999.

The anniversary is observed each year across the nation to show respect and gratitude to the brave servicemen of the armed forces who laid down their lives to re-capture all positions that had been seized by the Pakistan Army.

In view of the improved coronavirus situation, Delhi Metro services began running with full seating capacity from Monday, but there is still no provision for standing travel for commuters, officials said.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) till Sunday was running trains with 50 per cent seating capacity, after the services had resumed after a long hiatus on June 7.

Shares of ICICI Bank hit a frsh record high of Rs 681.40, up 1 per cent on the BSE in Monday's intra-day trade, after the private sector lender reported a strong set of numbers for the quarter ended June 2021 (Q1FY22). The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 679, touched on February 16, 2021.

The stock, however, slipped nearly 3 per cent from its intra-day high on profit booking. At 09:21 am, it traded 1.4 per cent lower at Rs 667.20 on the BSE. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 143 points at 52,833 levels. Prior to Q1 results, in the past three trading days, the stock of ICICI Bank had rallied 5.5 per cent till July 23.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have called for the reinforcement of enhanced efforts to prevent the transmission of the Delta Covid-19 variant as it has become the most dominant strain across much of the continent.

The Delta variant is moving fast across Europe based on surveillance data collected between June 28 and July 11, the two world bodies said in a joint statement released on Friday.

The Supreme Court has declined to entertain a PIL seeking to declare that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) cannot act as an appellate authority to the decisions of the top court and find flaws so as to circumvent the rule of law laid down.

A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah said the petition is clearly not maintainable and there is no reason to entertain the petition under Article 32.

The Railways is set to deliver a consignment of 200 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen on an Oxygen Express train to neighbouring Bangladesh on Sunday.

This will be the first time that the life-saving gas is destined for delievery outside the country.

India has administered over 42.78 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine in its ongoing inoculation drive so far, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday.

As the new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from 21 June, 42,78,82,261 vaccine doses have been administered through 52,34,188 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today out of which 42,67,799 vaccines were administered in the last 24 hours.

India's tally of COVID-19 infections rose by 39,097 in a day to reach 3,13,32,159, while 546 more people succumbed to the viral disease during the same period taking the death toll to 4,20,016 on Saturday, according to Union Health Ministry data.

The number of active cases in the country has increased to 4,08,977, accounting for 1.34 per cent of the total caseload while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stood at 97.35 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

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