Pulwama terror attack: Pakistan isolated, Narendra Modi vows fitting strike back

• PM Narendra Modi authorizes the Indian security forces to fashion a response on their terms and at a timing of their choice
• Pakistan finds itself internationally isolated after the Pulwama terror attack, with China also falling in line

KKR-backed firm eyes $1 billion fund to tap India ESG investors

• Avendus sees around 70% of the money coming from overseas investors
• Global investment based on ESG strategies stood at nearly $23 trillion at the end of 2015

Cognizant to pay $25 million to settle India bribery charges

• Cognizant has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
• Cognizant undertook a comprehensive internal investigation under the oversight of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors

Swipe right for spirituality

• Many upwardly mobile millennials are looking to ‘gurus’ and spirituality as a dominant belief system
• The evolution of the mystic has also made spirituality appealing to younger audiences.

Pulwama terror attack: 'We support India’s right to self-defense', says US

• US National Security Advisor John Bolton offered all assistance to India
• Expressions of support have poured in from across the world in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack

Vande Bharat Express breaks down on return from Varanasi 

• Train 18 is completely booked and has a waiting list till February 24
• Vande Bharat Express is expected to start it's commercial operations tomorrow

TV18 writes to Trai regarding incorrect genre categorization of Republic Bharat 

• Republic Bharat recorded a reach of 73 million in its opening week according to BARC
• A Trai spokesperson admitted having received the complaint

Aadhaar mandatory to file income tax returns

• For those who don’t want to use Aadhaar, you can continue using documents such as PAN, passport, driving licence and voter identity card
• Beware of how much information you share as most frauds happen because people using Aadhaar don’t have enough clarity on how much information they end up giving away

SBI rate cut: no impact?

• Interest rate cut on spread, not on MLCR
• The move will only benefit new borrowers with a loan amount of up to ₹30 lakh, most home loan borrowers will not see any immediate impact

Buy, rent, or pay an EMI?

•  While young earners moving to new cities generally tend to go for EMI or rent while purchasing appliances owing to the lack of a lump sum, those who are settled mostly go for a direct purchase
• Renting is a good idea if one knows that the usage of the appliance is not permanent and one may be constantly moving

India, Pakistan to argue at World Court amid tensions

• The World Court will hear arguments on Monday in a dispute between India and Pakistan about former Indian navy commander Kulbhushan Jadhav
• India wants the ICJ to order Pakistan to annul the conviction, ensure the death sentence is not carried out, and release Jadhav

Flights grounded at Dubai airport after unauthorized drone activity: Report

• Dubai airport, which handled 89.1 mn passengers in 2018, is the world's busiest airport for international travelers
• Earlier, Drone threats to commercial air traffic had hit operations at London's second busiest airport Gatwick Airport

RBI threatens action against Yes Bank for disclosing nil divergence report

• RBI finds the disclosure of the nil divergence report in violation of the confidentiality clause, says Yes Bank
• Yes Bank had earlier this week said RBI has not found any bad loan or provisioning divergence during FY18

Jet Airways defers plans to sell stake in Jet Privilege

• The decision comes a day after Jet Airways board approved a bailout plan to rescue the airline
• Jet Privilege was estimated to have a valuation of $1.131 billion last year

Pulwama attack fallout: India moves to remove MFN status to Pakistan

• India identified Pakistan as Most Favoured Nation (MFN) in 1996, but the latter has never done so despite agreeing to in 2012
• India reviewed the MFN status to Pakistan after the Uri attack in 2016 but decided not to withdraw it

India piles pressure on Pakistan after Pulwama terror attack

• Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale summons Pakistan high commissioner Sohail Mahmood to the foreign ministry
• 'Pakistan must take immediate and verifiable action' against JeM for the Pulwama terror attack, Gokhale tells Mahmood

Pulwama attack: India turns up the heat on 'non-state actors' in Pakistan

• Whether or not India will carry out a surgical strike against Pakistan’s terror launchpads remain unclear
• A surgical strike in PoK, similar to the one following the Uri attack, could have huge ramifications, say some experts

Withdrawing Pakistan's MFN status will divert trade

• Most of the trade (around $3 billion) between India and Pakistan is routed either through the UAE or Singapore
• Pakistan enjoys benefits of lower tariffs on its exports to India due to the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status

IndiGo steps up hiring of expat pilots amid flight cancellations

• IndiGo COO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer says the airline will hire 120 expat pilots by June 2019, taking their total number to 160
• Pilot shortage is a reality with all Indian airlines, but IndiGo is affected more due to its aggressive expansion plans

Arun Jaitley resumes charge as finance minister

• Arun Jaitley had stopped attending office last month and had gone to New York for medical treatment
• Railway minister Piyush Goyal was temporarily given charge of the finance and corporate affairs ministries

Film review: ‘Gully Boy’ amplifies a voice from the streets

• Rap battles and real struggles animate Zoya Akhtar’s film about an 'up-and-coming emcee' 
• Ranveer Singh plays Murad, a rapper from Dharavi who channels his frustrations into rhyme 

We come back to life when we learn, reconnect to hope: Robin Sharma

• In conversation with Robin Sharma, a leadership coach and author of 15 books including ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’ and ‘The Leader Who Had No Title’
• Robin Sharma's new book, ‘The 5am Club: Own Your Morning, Elevate Your Life’, was released in India recently

CIC appointment needn't be confined to bureaucrats, says Supreme Court

• The appointment of CIC and ICs should be completed in six months, says the Supreme Court
• The directions issued by the Supreme Court are expected to ensure transparency in the CIC appointment process

Tax receipts from digital economy surge to ₹712 crore in FY19, shows data

• Market for online ads on which a 6% equalization levy is applied is up from ₹9,800 crore in FY18 to ₹11,870 crore till mid-February
• The idea behind the equalization levy is to tax services of digital service providers in other markets with a customer base in India

Titan plans to double market share in jewellery over 3-4 years

• Wedding jewellery, which has been a focus area for the company, will be a key driver in reaching the target
•  The company has around 2-3% market share in the wedding jewellery space

Panel recommends national minimum wage of ₹9750 per month   

• The panel recommended an additional house rent allowance averaging up to ₹1,430 per month
• States currently decide on minimum wages after taking into account several factors

Govt gets applications worth ₹50,000 crore for Bharat-22 ETF AOP

• The sale is part of the government divestment target of ₹80,000 crore set for this fiscal
• The one-day Additional Offering Period (AOP) managed by ICICI Prudential AMC launched on 14 February saw a subscription of over 14 times

Paytm wants to cash in on Amazon's India distress   

• Paytm is trying to bring stores and shopkeepers from the physical world to sell online, says Vijay Shekhar Sharma  
• Paytm Mall has turned net contribution positive  

India needs to boost private investment for growth, says Uday Kotak

• Infrastructure logjam needs to be removed
• Government needs to create bigger local private equity pool

Stubborn mutual fund SIP flows take markets into uncharted territory

• Equity returns have been negative in the past four months, but net inflows into equity mutual funds have remained strong
• Mutual fund SIPs have done all of the heavy lifting in the past two months amid net outflows from other types of investors

Jet Airways seeks to raise $840 million from share sale: Report

• National Investment and Infrastructure Fund will funnel ₹1,500 crore into Jet Airways for a 20% stake, according to a report
• Jet may propose to raise ₹4,500 crore via a rights issue priced at ₹125-150 per share

Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra see end of road for diesel cars

• Maruti’s talks with Suzuki include whether it should completely stop producing diesel cars in India
• Mahindra wants to offer petrol variants across models, barring the Bolero, says managing director Pawan Goenka

Paytm okays pledge on current assets for ₹1,400 crore loan from ICICI Bank

• Under the Paytm-ICICI Bank deal, One97 has pledged to the bank ₹7,081.1 crore in assets to boost its borrowing capacity
• Until now, Paytm could borrow up to ₹400 crore from ICICI Bank for working capital

Pulwama attack: Will completely isolate Pakistan, says Jaitley after CCS meet

• Ministry of Commerce will take necessary steps to withdraw the most favoured nation status to Pakistan
•  Arun Jaitley also added that MEA will take all possible steps to ensure that full security is maintained

Product launches aid growth at Coca Cola’s India business  

• In 2018, Coca-Cola launched over 18 products including variants across Minute Maid, Maaza and Thums-Up brands
• Unit case volume growth in India during the year also aided demand growth for part of its beverage portfolio globally

Rafale review: CJI defends SC, criticises lawyers for giving publicity

• Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the review application was filed with defects
• No efforts were made to remove those defects, he added

How students will plan their own lessons: Byju Raveendran on future of education

• Students will be able to decide ‘what’ they learn, ‘how’ they learn and ‘when’ they learn, charting their own path to achieve excellence 
• The use of tech will bring down the cost of delivering and accessing quality education, and create an equitable education system

ONGC shares surge 6% in biggest gain since October

• Profit surged to ₹8,262.70 crore in December quarter
• IDBI Capital maintains Buy on the stock

US negotiating multibillion-dollar fine with Facebook  

• Facebook said in a statement it is cooperating with US Federal Trade Commission
• The FTC investigation, opened nearly a year ago, focuses on whether Facebook failed to honor previous privacy commitments

Pulwama attack signals a return of terror tactics used in the 1990s

• Pulwama terror attack shows JeM has emerged a bigger terror outfit than LeT and Hizbul Mujahideen in Kashmir
• JeM is seen adopting terror tactics of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Islamic State—carrying out suicide attacks that wreak maximum destruction and minimum casualties for terrorists

Govt gets ₹10,000 crore from additional offering of Bharat-22 ETF

• The additional 'on-tap' offering was opened for a single day with a base issue size of ₹3,500 crore
• Govt has mopped up approximately ₹46,000 crore by way of disinvestment

Huracán Evo: Need for speed

• Lamborghini has just launched its next generation V10 sports car—the Huracán Evo—in India
• It promises to be an update on the standard Huracán in terms of looks and power

Jet Airways, on the verge of collapse, now close to a bailout

• As per the Jet Airways bailout plan, banks will become majority owners of the airline, pushing out founder-promoter Naresh Goyal
• The Jet Airways bailout plan is similar to the offered to Kingfisher Airlines in 2011; that airline shut down three years later

Delhi Metro's new Ghaziabad corridor to open soon with red line extension

• Trains will be available at a peak hour frequency of six minutes and twelve seconds on the Dilshad Garden–New Bus Adda section.
• The total journey from Dilshad Garden to New Bus Adda will take about 16 minutes

Twice-bitten Yes Bank investors taken aback by RBI clean chit on NPAs

• With no bad loan divergences, Yes Bank's new CEO Ravneet Gill will have a fairly clean book to work with
• The clean chit, however, puts a question mark on RBI’s decision to demand removal of Rana Kapoor as Yes Bank CEO

Buying a mid-range smartphone? These are the best ones from the segment

• The ZenFone 5Z is a device that punches above its weight in terms of specifications
•  Manufacturers have flooded the market with phones in mid-range segment

Lessons to learn from major apps that are fated to die

• Incorporation of AI and machine learning into apps has shortened the life span of older ones
• Failure to generate revenue, and technology upgrades that diminish the value, make apps unviable

44 CRPF jawans killed, 70 injured in Pulwama terror attack in J&K

• Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rams explosives-laden SUV into CRPF convoy in Awantipora, Pulwama
• The Pulwama terror attack was the most audacious in Jammu and Kashmir in over a decade

Petrol, diesel prices rise marginally as crude hits year's high

• Since the beginning of this month, the price of petrol has fallen by 48 paise and that of diesel by 2 paise
• Brent pushed above $65 per barrel for the first time in 2019

NestAway in funding talks with Fosun, other Chinese investors

• NestAway’s fundraising efforts come at a time when competition in India’s co-living sector is heating up
• Oyo Rooms, which has amassed a war chest of nearly a billion dollars, has launched its rental arm Oyo Living

Data localization may be key focus area of India's draft e-commerce policy

• The move comes at a time Amazon and Flipkart are making several changes to comply with norms for FDI in e-commerce
• The draft e-commerce policy will likely be put out as early as next week for public consultation

Profit growth in Q3 FY19 slowest in 5 quarters, shows analysis

• Aggregate profit growth, after adjusting for one-time gains or losses, was at 5.29% in Q3 FY19
• Analysts, however, expect lower oil prices and a firm rupee to boost profit growth in Q4 FY19