Top headlines: Govt to fix domestic air fares for 3 mths, says Hardeep Puri

From AAI releasing guidelines for resuming flights to WHO reporting biggest single-day jump, here are top headlines of the day

Airlines to follow ticket price rules as domestic flights begin from May 25

Airlines should stick to ticket price guidelines issued by India's civil aviation ministry when they restart some domestic flights, two months after air travel was halted to fight the novel coronavirus, the ministry said on Thursday. Airlines should adhere to the lower and upper limits of fares set by the ministry, it said in a notice, but it did not give details on the amounts. Read More

FPIs may not rush back to India; holding in Nifty50 companies at 23-qtr low

A massive sell-off in equities by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to the tune of Rs 48,029 crore ($6.37 billion) in the March 2020 quarter has seen their ownership in Nifty50 companies decline to 23-quarter low of 23.11 per cent during the period. Earlier, in September 2014, FPIs held an average 22.94 per cent stake in Nifty 50 companies. The S&P BSE Sensex slipped 28.6 per cent during the recently concluded quarter, while the Nifty which declined 29.3 per cent, recorded its sharpest quarterly fall since the June 1992 quarter when it had tanked 32.2 per cent. In 2008-09, the Sensex had recorded a 37.9 per cent decline, while the Nifty slipped 36.2 per cent as the global financial crisis roiled the markets and the economy. Read More

Train ticket bookings resume Friday at 170,000 centres: Ministry

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that booking of train tickets will resume at around 170,000 common service centers across the country from Friday. Common service centres are physical facilities for delivering e-services of the government at rural and remote locations where the availability of computers and the internet is negligible or absent. The minister also said that bookings will also resume at counters at specific stations over the next two to three days. Read more

AAI releases guidelines for resuming flights; Aarogya Setu app mandatory

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) to airport operators on Wednesday for recommencement of domestic flights from May 25. Civil Aviation Minister had announced on Wednesday that domestic flight services would resume from May 25 onwards in a calibrated manner. Read More

Regular health insurance policies cover Covid-19, says Irdai chairman

The Insurance Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) is hepling policy holders and insurance companies as the face the coronavirus pandemic. Subhash Chandra Khuntia, Chairman, IRDAI, in an email interview with Namrata Acharya, explains some of these interventions. Read More

Strides Pharma to conduct trials for potential Covid-19 drug Favipiravir

Indian pharmaceutical company Strides Pharma Science Ltd said on Thursday it has got regulatory approval to conduct clinical trials of antiviral drug favipiravir, considered a potential treatment for Covid-19. The Bengaluru-based company has received approval from the Drug Controller General of India to conduct trials of favipiravir in the country, Strides Founder and Non-Executive Chairman Arun Kumar said on a post-earnings conference call, without giving any more details. Read More

WHO reports biggest single-day jump in Covid cases; over 100,000 infected

Coronavirus has infected 106,000 people in the last 24 hours, the largest number of cases since its outbreak, the WHO said on Wednesday. Revealing the alarming numbers at his daily briefing, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that two-thirds of those cases came from just four countries, the BBC reported. Read more