Top headlines: Stalemate continues over three farm laws, IT shares rally

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Repeal agri laws, we'll return home: Farmer leaders tell govt in meeting

Sticking to their key demand of the repeal of three farm laws to end their protest, farmer leaders on Friday told the government their "ghar wapsi" can happen only after "law wapsi" but the Centre insisted talks must be limited to contentious clauses and ruled out a complete withdrawal of Acts. At the eighth round of negotiations with the 41-member representative group of protesting farmers, the government asserted the farm reform laws have been welcomed by a large section of farmers in various states and asked the unions to think about the interests of the entire country. Read more

IT shares in rally; Tech Mahindra's m-cap tops Rs 1-trillion; Wipro up 5%

Shares of information technology (IT) companies were trading higher, surging up to 6 per cent on the BSE, ahead of sector giant Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS'), October-December 2020 quarter (Q3FY21) result, scheduled to be announced after market hours today. Meanwhile, Tech Mahindra has joined the elite Rs 1-trillion market capitalization (market-cap) club on the BSE as its share price rallied 6 per cent and hit an all-time high of Rs 1,060 on Friday. Read more

Indian economy to rebound with 8.9% growth in fiscal 2022: IHS Markit

Indian economy is likely to rebound with an 8.9 per cent growth in the fiscal year beginning April 2021 after economic activity showed significant improvement in the last quarter, IHS Markit said on Friday. The National Statistical Organisation (NSO) on Thursday predicted that the economy will contract 7.7 per cent in the current financial year ending in March, the worst performance in four decades. Read more

26/11 mastermind Lakhvi gets 15-year jail term in Pak for terror financing

Mumbai attack mastermind and Lashkar-e-Taiba operations commander Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court here in a terror financing case on Friday. UN proscribed terrorist Lakhvi, 61, who was on bail since 2015 in the Mumbai attack case, was arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab province on Saturday. Read more

Reliance Capital's total outstanding debt rises to Rs 20,380 crore

Reliance Capital Ltd (RCL), part of Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Group, has said the total outstanding debt rose to Rs 20,379.71 at the end of December 2020. The total debt, including interest, stood at Rs 19,805.7 crore on August 31, 2020. Total financial indebtedness of the listed entity, including short-term and long-term debt and accrued interest, was Rs 20,379.71 crore at the end of December 2020, Reliance Capital said in a regulatory filing on Thursday. Read more