LIVE updates: Rajasthan govt announces 19 new districts in poll year

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BS Web TeamBusiness Standard New Delhi

The Rajasthan government today announced it will create 19 new districts and three more divisional headquarters to serve the needs of people who live far away from the divisional headquarters. The ruling Congress government's move in an election year, however, received criticism from the BJP, which alleged the real intention behind the decision by the Ashok Gehlot government is to meet "personal political ends". "Rajasthan is the biggest state in the country in terms of geographical area. In some cases, the distance to the district headquarters is more than a 100 km. People are unable to reach district headquarters easily and the administration, too, is unable to reach each and every family," Mr Gehlot, the Chief Minister, said in the Rajasthan assembly today.

Patanjali Foods says not considering another further public offering to achieve minimum public shareholding, reports Reuters.

India's foreign exchange reserves fell to $560 billion as of the week ended March 10, their lowest since early-December, the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) statistical supplement showed on Friday. The reserves stood at $562.40 billion in the week to March 3. The central bank intervenes in the spot and forwards market to prevent runaway moves in the rupee's exchange rate against the dollar. The RBI has said in the past that changes in reserves also stem from valuation gains or losses. Last week, the rupee fell 0.1% against the dollar as the banking crisis in the United States unfolded, with the currency trading in a range of 81.6150 to 82.2975. The rupee ended at 82.5525 on Friday.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has concluded the hearing on the HDFC-HDFC Bank merger and has kept the matter reserved for orders, reports ET. With the arguments in respect of the merger being concluded, there will be no more hearings in the matter. The tribunal typically issues an order within a fortnight of the final hearing. The HDFC-HDFC Bank merger has received in-principle approval from regulators including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). The merger has also been cleared by the stock exchanges and the competition commission. Earlier this week, the transaction was approved by the shareholders. However, even if the NCLT issues an order in favour of the merger, the process is unlikely to be completed before June. The merger envisages the transfer of HDFC Mutual Fund’s ownership from the housing finance company to the bank. Under Sebi guidelines, the HDFC asset management company will have to seek consent from all unit-holders for the transfer of ownership. This process is expected to take several weeks.

India on Friday recorded a single-day rise of 796 coronavirus infections, while the number of active cases surpassed 5,000 after 109 days, according to Union health ministry data.

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First Published: Mar 17 2023 | 8:01 AM IST