The very severe cyclonic storm Nivar, crossed the Tamil Nadu and Puducherry coast late night and early Thursday morning with an estimated wind speed of 120-130 kmph, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

On its way the cyclone uprooted several trees and power lines in Tamil Nadu's Cuddalore, Marakkanam and in Puducherry.

The Uttar Pradesh government has approved an ambitious 594-km Ganga Expressway project worth Rs 36,402 crore running along the river from Hardwar to Allahabad.

The decision to build the expressway between the two cities on the riverbank while running through Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao and Rae Bareli was taken in a UP Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The Supreme Court Wednesday stayed the Andhra Pradesh High Court direction restraining the media from publishing news regarding an FIR lodged on alleged irregularities in land transactions in Amaravati.

A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said that the high court shall not decide till January last week the pending matter which relates to the alleged illegal land transactions in shifting of the state capital to Amaravati.

The government on Wednesday asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to take action against those responsible for debacle at troubled private lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) and improve oversight of entities under its regulation.

Giving finality to the efforts towards salvaging LVB, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to merge LVB with DBS Bank India (DBIL). The amalgamation will come into force on.

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, one of Sonia Gandhi's closest political advisors and a top party leader-shooter, has died at 71. His health worsened after COVID's infection. A staunch Nehru-Gandhi family loyalist, Ahmed Patel worked for years as the political secretary to Sonia Gandhi and was one of the most influential leaders in the Congress. Still, he never joined the government, preferring to keep a low profile.

He represented Gujarat eight times in Parliament - three times as a Lok Sabha member and five times from Rajya Sabha.

Wearing a mask is mandatory in India, and authorities have been cracking the whip on those who break the rule. Amidst a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases across Delhi and other Indian cities, Delhi announced a steep rise in fine, from Rs.500 to Rs.2000 for those caught without masks, in a bid to help control the coronavirus surge.

The Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal appealed to all political parties and social organisations to distribute masks at public places in Delhi.

India's COVID-19 caseload went past 92 lakh with 44,376 new cases reported in a day, while the number of recoveries surged to 86.42 lakh, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

The number of total coronavirus cases rose to 92,22,216 in the country, while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 1,34,699 with 481 new fatalities, the ministry's data updated at 8 am showed.

In the light of severe cyclonic storm Nivar poised to strike Tamil Nadu and parts of his state, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy sounded an alert on Tuesday and instructed the state machinery to be prepared.

In a review meeting with District Collectors and Superintendents of Police, he asked them to be on high alert especially when Nivar makes landfall.

Shares of automobile companies continued their northward movement with the BSE Auto index hitting a fresh 52-week high on Wednesday. The index has more-than-doubled from its March low. The strong rally in automobile stocks is on the expectation of improvement of volumes in the coming quarters on better rural sentiment, low-interest rates, improving finance availability, and a gradual pick-up in business and economic activity.

HDFC Bank has joined the elite club of Rs 8-trillion market capitalization (market-cap) on the BSE, as its share price hit a new high of Rs 1,464 in Wednesday's early morning deals. HDFC Bank, which is at number three position in overall market-cap ranking of listed companies, has become the first lender to achieve the milestone.

Shares of HDFC Bank hit a fresh record high today after rising nearly 2 per cent on the BSE. At 09:17 am, HDFC Bank had a market capitalisation of Rs 8.02 trillion, the BSE data shows. In comparison, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.54 per cent at 44,765 points, also the index's record high.

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