Mint Morning Digest: Stock market holiday, Berkshire Hathaway’s stake in Occidental Petroleum and more

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway now owns over 20% in this oil and natural gas company

More shares of Occidental Petroleum Corp were purchased by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc, surpassing the 20 percent ownership required to record a portion of the oil company's earnings alongside its own and potentially generating billions of dollars in profit. Read more here

Actis to buy 400MW solar assets from Atha Group for ₹2,100 cr

Actis Llp has won the bid to acquire Kolkata-based Atha Group’s 400 megawatt (MW) solar power assets for an equity value of around $100 million, and the sale purchase agreement has also been signed, said two people in the know, requesting anonymity. Read more here

New bill to see power sector rejig

Power minister R.K. Singh on Monday introduced the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the Lok Sabha which proposes to let multiple power distribution companies operate in a particular area to drive competition and allow consumers to choose their power supplier. The bill has now been referred to the parliamentary standing committee. Read more here 

CCI to try lenience to encourage biz to come clean on cartelization

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is set to get more lenient in a bid to encourage businesses to come clean on cartelization behaviour if the proposals in a Bill to amend competition law introduced in Parliament last week go through. Read more here

Mid-caps, small-caps show spark; outperform broader index

Mid-cap and small-cap stocks, rebounding from lows, are outperforming the broader indices comprehensively. Read more here

Lok Sabha clears amendments to EC Act

The Lok Sabha on Monday cleared the amendments to the Energy Conservation Act aimed at putting in place provisions to make the use of clean energy mandatory and paving the way for the setting of carbon markets in the country. Read more here

Green energy will be RIL crown jewel in 7 years: Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries Ltd chairman Mukesh Ambani said the conglomerate’s massive investments in green energy aim to replicate the swift success it achieved in the telecom industry and make India the most affordable destination for green energy globally within the decade. Read more here

Uber says profitability in India biz not too far away

Cab aggregator Uber Technologies Inc. expects India to become a fast-growing and profitable market soon, backed by heavy demand and low penetration of ride-hailing. Read more here

Stock market holiday: NSE, BSE to remain closed today on Muharram

On account of Muharram, there will be no trading activity at stock market today. As per the information available on the official BSE website, trading on BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) and NSE (National Stock Exchange) will remain closed for entire session on Tuesday i.e. 9th August 2022. Read more here

Govt restricts exports of suji, maida from 14 August

The Union government on Monday restricted exports of maida, semolina and all variants of wheat flour (atta) from 14 August, a month after it restricted the exports of plain atta in view of global supply disruptions in wheat. Read more here

Check how your NPS investments are faring

There are very few retirement products that help you accumulate a retirement nest egg and one such product is the National Pension Scheme (NPS). It's a market-linked, defined-contribution product that needs you to invest regularly in the funds of your choice. The returns are based on the performance of the funds of your choice. There are eight pension fund managers to choose from and one of the ways to do that is by tracking returns. Here is a breakdown of the performance of different funds of the private sector NPS: equity funds, government bond funds, corporate bond funds. Read more here

Banks seek higher fees from NHAI to run FASTag services

Banks have asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to revert to higher FASTag project management fee (PMF) to ensure its viability for the issuer bank. Read more here

Parliament adjourned sine die 4 days ahead of schedule; here why

The Monsoon session of Parliament ended on Monday, four days ahead of schedule. This was the seventh time when parliament was adjourned ahead of its due date. Read more here

How allowing Bharat Bill Payment System for cross-border payments boosts economy

Allowing Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) to process cross-border inbound bill payments is a much-needed boost for Non-resident Indians (NRIs) who have been facing challenges in paying utility bills for their family and friends in India. NRIs are seen as the biggest beneficiary of the move. Read more here

Covid-19: 13 symptoms you shouldn't ignore and get tested

India on Monday reported 16,167 new covid-19 cases and 41 deaths in the last 24 hours. The sudden upsurge in the number of Covid cases, especially from seven states have poised a cause of concern for the Indian Government. Read more here

India may opt for ‘ring vaccination’ to combat Monkeypox

India may selectively vaccinate close contacts of Monkeypox patients and healthcare workers instead of going for mass vaccinations, an official aware of the plans said. The so-called ‘ring vaccination’ strategy is already adopted by the US and some European countries. Read more here

Canada student visa: Here's why applications are being rejected and how to avoid

In the past few days, Indian students have been witnessing a sharp rise in rejection of their student visa permit by the Canadian Government. Reports suggest that the student visa permit rejection have spiked to an almost 60% in the past few days. Read more here

What is the tax obligation of NRIs on a visit?

For a citizen of India or a person of Indian origin, who is visiting India, the 60 days are considered changed in the following manner. If total income, other than income from foreign sources, exceeds ₹15 lakh, the 60 days are substituted by 120 days; in any other case, the 60 days are substituted by 182 day. Read more here

This is what Centre said on salaries of professionals at five-star hotels

The government on Monday replied to a question on the claims that the professionals at the five-star hotels are paid “very less" as compared to their working hours. The government said that under the voluntary scheme for classification /reclassification of operational hotels, the Ministry of Tourism “only classifies operational hotels under various star categories based on standards of facilities and services provided by them." Read more here

Meta develops conversational AI chatbot: Concern for data-sharing?

Meta, a social media platform has created an AI chatbot and made it available to the public on the internet. Meta’s AI research labs have developed this conversational bot and want the public to interact with it for feedback about the chatbot. Read more here

'Avoid overcrowded areas': Experts warn against Covid transmission ahead of festival season

As the season of festivals approach with, so does the surging number of fresh Covid-19 cases in the country. India on Monday, 8 August, reported 6,167 new Covid-19 cases and 41 deaths in twenty four hours. National Capital Delhi and finance capital Mumbai has also began reporting an alarming surge in Covid-19 cases. At such a time, health experts have sounded an alarm against the probable rapid spread of Covid-19 during festivals. Read more here