Top headlines: RIL offers Amazon stake in retail arm, SC relief on NPAs

From Reliance reportedly in talks to sell stake in retail to Amazon, IAF inducting Rafales to Serum Institute pausing Covid vaccine trial, Business Standard brings you top news of the evening

Reliance to offer $20-bn stake in retail business to Amazon: Report

Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Ltd. is offering to sell a roughly $20 billion stake in its retail business to Amazon.com Inc., according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Amazon has held discussions about investing in the conglomerate’s Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd. unit and has expressed interest in negotiating a potential transaction, the person said. Mumbai-based Reliance Industries is willing to sell as much as a 40% stake in the subsidiary to Amazon, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Read More...

Reliance Industries hits record high; m-cap crosses Rs 15 trn mark

Shares of Reliance Industries (RIL) hit a record high of Rs 2,344, up 8.4 per cent on the BSE in the intra-day trade on Thursday, with its market-capitalisation (market-cap) crossing Rs 15 trillion mark for the first time ever. It surpassed its previous high of Rs 2,198.70, touched on July 27, 2020 in the intra-day trade. At the end of day, the fully paid RIL’s shares, however, gave up some of the intraday gain but still managed to close 7 percent higher at Rs 2,314.65 per share with a market cap of Rs 14.67 trillion. Read More...

SC extends relief on NPAs after govt tells interest issue being looked into

The Supreme Court Thursday extended its interim order that no account is to be declared NPA till further orders after the Centre said an expert panel has been set up to look into the issue of interest being charged by banks on instalments deferred during the moratorium period due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The top court granted two weeks to the Centre and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to file the affidavit and place before it the decisions taken in this regard. Read More...

IAF inducts Rafale in Golden Arrows squadron, all eyes now on deployment

Amid palpable tension at the Line of Actual Control with China, the Indian Air Force inducted the newly acquired Rafale fighter jets into its fold on Thursday. The jets that flew into India from France on July 29 have been inducted into the Golden Arrows squadron of the IAF at the Ambala airbase. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh without naming China said that the induction of Rafale is a strong message to eyes being raised towards the territorial integrity of India. This induction is especially critical for the atmosphere being created on our borders. Read More...

Covid-19: Serum Institute to halt trial of Oxford vaccine after DCGI notice

In a major turn of events, the Indian drug regulator on Wednesday issued a show cause notice to Serum Institute of India (SII), which had earlier said it would proceed with clinical trials of AZD1222, the vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford, despite a halt on the same by AstraZeneca in the UK. On Tuesday, the British-Swedish drug major had decided to stop trials after a participant fell sick with an unexplained illness. Read More...