HDFC Bank’s new chief is good news but it’s too early to rejoice

• Jagdishan currently heads important functions such as finance and human resources at the bank
• The biggest plus is that he is an insider and has been with the bank for nearly 25 years

Personal debt of Biyani a hurdle before RIL acquiring Future Group businesses

• A Rs23,000-crore, all-cash deal between Reliance Industries Ltd and Future Group for the acquisition of retail and lifestyle businesses of the latter was supposed to be announced 30 July
• According to persons directly aware of the discussions, further decision on the deal may be taken in another ten days

Adani group shows interest to acquire debt-laden HDIL

• Five other players have also shown initial interest to acquire HDIL
• In a regulatory filing, Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) shared the provisional list of prospective resolution applicants

Johnson & Johnson nasal spray approved to treat suicidal people

• The drug’s approval last year marked the first major breakthrough for depression since 1987
• America has been in the throes of a suicide crisis even before the pandemic, with the rate rising 30% from 1999 to 2016

Big jolt for Indians: Trump signs order that will increase H-1B visa scrutiny

The executive order Trump signed Monday increases scrutiny of federal contractors’ use of H-1B visas to bring in temporary foreign labor for high-skilled jobs rather than relying on American workers

Gold prices today hit another new high, silver rates rise

• Worries over economic growth due to rising coronavirus cases continued to support gold's safe-haven demand
• Gold is seen as a hedge against inflation and fears of currency debasement.

Replacement demand keeps batteries running for Exide Industries

• One positive is that cost-cutting was quite sharp during the quarter. Exide’s other expenses to sales ratio declined sequentially to 12.6% in Q1 from 17%

PM Modi to attend foundation laying ceremony of Ayodhya temple on 5 August

• In November, after years of litigation, the Supreme Court had directed that the disputed site be handed over for building a temple and that an alternative 5-acre site be given to Muslims

Brand Nexa: A success story from Maruti stable

• Since the launch with the sole brand S-Cross, today Nexa sells five premium models of Maruti
• At present, there are 370 Nexa showrooms across 200 cities

RBI approves Sashidhar Jagdishan as next CEO of HDFC Bank

• He will take over from Aditya Puri who will step down as the bank’s longest serving CEO ever since he took charge 26 years ago. Puri is set to retire by October this year

SpiceJet announces ₹899 flight ticket offer. DGCA asks airline to stop sale

• DGCA asked SpiceJet to stop ticket sale offer as govt-imposed fare limits are in place
• SpiceJet had earlier offered discounted one-way base fares starting at ₹899

Why investors must take Q1’s cost savings with a dose of scepticism

• Experts say companies may be compelled to eventually reinvest the savings or pass on the benefits to clients and customers for competitive reasons.

He made $3 billion in 2008 market crash. His new bet is linked to covid vaccine

• The only other firm of note that has stood by Oxford Biomedica for as long is M&G Plc, the investment-management arm spun out of insurer Prudential Plc
• Vulpes Investment’s 14% interest in London-listed Oxford Biomedica is now worth 94 million pounds ($123 million)

Mumbai shops will remain open on all days from August 5: BMC

• All non- essential markets, market areas and shops will remain open from 9 am to 7 pm, the BMC said
• Mumbai has so far reported 1,17,406 Covid-19 cases and 6,493 deaths

Why Colgate stock makes investors smile in covid-19 times

• The year-on-year drop in revenue was contained to 4% to ₹1,040.6 crore, better than Street expectations. The toothpaste business saw positive sales growth last quarter

Freelancing sites thrive at the times of covid crisis

• On Upwork., client and freelancer registrations have jumped 50% since mid-March
• On Freelancer.com, user sign-ups from the US rose by more than 30% between February and July, year over year

UPSC 2019 results announced, Pradeep Singh tops Civil Services Exam

A total of 829 candidates have been recommended for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS), among other civil services, it said.

Mumbai rains: Government offices declare holiday

• A holiday has been declared for all state government offices in the Mumbai and Mumbai suburban region today
• The IMD earlier issued a red alert, predicting extremely heavy rainfall in parts of Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Raigad and Ratnagiri districts

Meet Sashidhar Jagdishan, the banker who succeeds Aditya Puri at HDFC Bank

• Sashidhar Jagdishan joined HDFC Bank in 1996 as a manager in the finance function
• He became Business Head- Finance in 1999 and was appointed as Chief Financial Officer in the year 2008.

DU exams: Barely a week to go, students grapple with multiple challenges

• The online open-book exams (OBE) for final year undergraduate and postgraduate students of Delhi University are scheduled to begin from August 10
• Earlier, the OBEs were scheduled to start from July 1. They were later postponed to July 10 and subsequently to August

Sushant Singh Rajput death case: Bihar govt recommends CBI investigation

• Nitish Kumar said he told the DGP to initiate necessary steps to immediately send a proposal to the state government in this regard
• The 'state government would formally recommend the case to be handed over to the CBI today itself after completing all the procedures and formalities', the CM said

Big B thanks Amul for special ad treat; slams troll saying never endorsed it

• Amul added a witty tagline to their tribute. 'AB beats C'. 'AB' refers to Amitabh Bachchan and 'C' refers to coronavirus
• He also hit back at a troll who suggested that he was paid for the advertisement.

Trump ousts board members of US largest public utility over outsourcing jobs

• Donald Trump, who has the authority to appoint the TVA board, said he was removing its chairman James Thompson and Richard Howorth
• The move comes weeks after Donald Trump sparked criticism from business groups over his decision to suspend the entry of certain foreign workers on H-1B visas

To transport covid vaccines, giant freezers set up. Temperature: -80 Celsius

• Researchers are working feverishly to create effective vaccines and treatments, with multiple projects at various stages of development
• FedEx and DHL Global Forwarding also have been expanding their temperature-controlled transport capabilities

Monoclonal antibodies seen as 'almost a sure bet' against Covid. What are they?

• Monoclonal antibodies - grown in bioreactor vats - are copies of these naturally-occurring proteins
• Development of monoclonal antibodies to target the virus has been endorsed by leading scientists

Coronavirus India: 44,306 patients cured in a day, highest-ever testing

803 patients succumbed to coronavirus infection in past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 38,938

Article 370: Curfew imposed across Kashmir ahead of first anniversary

• Police and CRPF personnel were deployed in strength across the valley to ensure that the plans of the separatists to disturb peace did not succeed
• The authorities had announced on Monday that the curfew would be imposed in Srinagar and other parts of the valley

Why RBI’s policy rate should not drop below 4%

• Since 4% is also the country’s official inflation target, any interest rate below that would alert large numbers of people to the likelihood of losing money kept with banks and send them scurrying into risky investments

US doing 'very well' against Covid-19, India has a 'tremendous problem': Trump

• Donald Trump said China is witnessing a 'massive flare up' in coronavirus infections
• The US is the worst-hit country from the pandemic with over 4.7 million cases and more than 155,000 deaths

LIC's new business premium jumps 25% in FY20

• New business premium income of LIC's pension and group superannuation business reported nearly 40% growth

Satya Nadella is kingmaker now. TikTok may turn Microsoft's deal of the decade

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella can prove his worth by squeezing ByteDance on price

Hope for vaccine: Novel coronavirus strains show little variability, study finds

• The researchers at the University of Bologna in Italy mapped the spread and the mutations of the virus during its journey to all continents
• The findings show that the novel coronavirus presents little variability, approximately seven mutations per sample

Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah tests positive for Covid-19

• Former Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah tweets he has tested positive for Covid-19, admitted to hospital
• Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa is undergoing treatment at Manipal Hospital after testing coronavirus positive

H1-B visa should be used for highly paid talent to create American jobs: Trump

This ensures that US federal agencies will prioritise hiring Americans rather than signing on foreign workers majority of those who are on H-1B visas.

Mumbai rains: Local trains stopped; offices shut

• The IMD said that extremely heavy rain will occur at isolated places in Mumbai, Thane and Raigad districts
• Mumbaikars are advised not to venture out on August 4 and 5

Delhi restaurant booked after man finds dead lizard in bowl of sambar

• As they were having the meal, Agarwal found a dead lizard in his bowl of sambar and captured it on his mobile phone
• The manager assured him it won't happen again