UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said that 11 billion doses are needed to vaccinate 70 per cent of the world to end the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pledges of doses and funds are welcome -- but they are not enough. We need at least 11 billion doses to vaccinate 70 per cent of the world and end this pandemic, the UN chief told the opening of the ministerial segment of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which is the top platform for reviewing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, Xinhua reported.

Carmaker Maruti Suzuki plans to invest up to Rs 18,000 crore for a new factory in Haryana to make a peak million units annually, R C Bhargava, the company’s chairman, has told 'Times of India', adding the company had sort out concerns about the state’s policy to reserve jobs in the private sector.

The proposed unit may be spread over 700-1,000 acres and would replace the company’s first factory in Gurugram. The coronavirus pandemic had delayed plans for the new factory.

Eleven cases of the Kappa variant of COVID-19 have been detected in Rajasthan, said State Health Minister Raghu Sharma on Tuesday (July 13).

Addressing a press briefing last week, Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, NITI Aayog had said that the Kappa variant of COVID-19 is a "variant of interest" and it is not a new variant as cases have been reported in the country before.

India's 1983 World Cup winner Yashpal Sharma dies of massive cardiac arrest on Tuesday. The former India cricket, who was also a member of the Kapil Dev-led World Cup-winning team was 66 years old.

The cricketer had a glittering career that spanned over the late '70s and the '80s. The former Punjab cricketer was regarded as a gifted middle-order batsman.

India's COVID-19 death toll climbed to 4,10,784 with 2,020 new deaths recorded after Madhya Pradesh reconciled its fatality data, while 31,443 new coronavirus cases were reported, the lowest in 118 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

India's total tally of COVID-19 cases mounted to 3,09,05,819.

Canada announced its decision to donate 17.7 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to low- and middle-income countries.

While addressing a press conference on Monday, Procurement Minister Anita Anand said that the vaccine doses are a part of the Canadian government's advance purchase agreement with the company and would be distributed through COVAX, reports Xinhua news agency.

Dr Reddys Laboratories Ltd, which soft-launched Russia's COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V here on May 14 has expanded the pilot project to over 50 other cities and towns in the country.

In a tweet on Monday night, the city-based drug maker said it will strengthen the commercial rollout of Sputnik V in the coming weeks.

The Indian rupee strengthened by 14 paise to 74.44 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, tracking a firm trend in the domestic equity market.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 74.49 against the dollar, then inched higher to 74.44, registering a gain of 14 paise over its previous close.

ASK Property Investment Advisors (ASK PIA), the real estate private equity arm of the ASK group, on Tuesday said it is announcing a new real estate-focused fund called - ASK Real Estate Special Opportunities Fund – IV.

The fund is targeting a corpus of Rs 1,000 crore and an additional Rs 1,500 crore via a green shoe option. ASK PIA is looking to the raise funds via a mix of offshore and domestic investors.

Shares of SBI Life Insurance (SBIL) hit a record high of Rs 1,049.85, up 1.5 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Tuesday. The stock of the insurance company surpassed its previous high of Rs 1,040, touched on May 7, 2021.

In the past three months, SBIL has beaten the market by gaining 16 per cent, as compared to an 8 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex. In January-March quarter (Q4FY21), SBIL had reported 31.1 per cent year-over-year (YoY) increase in gross premium to Rs 15,647 crore in Q4FY21, driven by a strong growth in new business premium (NBP) as well as renewal premium.

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