Top Headlines: Factory output rises 3.6%, Blackstone to buy Piramal Glass

IPL boosts Hotstar's subscriber base, Standard and Poor's downgrades Sri Lanka's sovereign credit rating and more top headlines of the day

Industrial production up 3.6% in October

Industrial production rose 3.6 per cent in October, mainly due to better performance of manufacturing and electricity generation sectors, official data showed on Friday. Manufacturing and electricity generation sectors registered a growth of 3.5 per cent and 11.2 per cent, respectively. Read here

Blackstone to buy Piramal Glass for $1 billion
 

Blackstone Group Inc. has agreed to acquire the glass unit of Indian conglomerate Piramal Enterprises Ltd. for about $1 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The transaction could be announced as soon as in the next few weeks, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. The US private equity giant is in talks with banks for about a $400 million, five-year loan to fund the deal, another person said. Read here

Over 5,000 employees from Walmart India joining Flipkart Wholesale

Flipkart Wholesale, the digital business-to-business marketplace of e-commerce giant Flipkart Group is recruiting over 5,000 employees who are transitioning from Walmart India to the Flipkart Group. Read here

Farmer union moves SC against new laws
 

Bhartiya Kisan Union (Bhanu) has moved an intervention application in the Supreme Court challenging the recently enacted three farm laws, which has led to major farmers protests at various Delhi borders. The plea, moved by farmers' union president Bhanu Pratap Singh, sought to intervene in the plea led by Tiruchi Siva, Member of Parliament (DMK), challenging the three laws: The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, the Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. Read here

Govt prunes 20% stake in IRCTC

Retail investors lapped up all the shares in the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) offer for sale on Friday. A day earlier, the institutional investor portion of the OFS was subscribed 1.34 times. Through the OFS, the Centre has successfully divested 20 per cent stake in the railway ticketing firm. Read here