Top headlines: Ant considers Paytm stake sale, UK nod to Pfizer vaccine

US court rejects Trump rules limiting H1-B visas to skilled workers, Maruti Suzuki sees 'much better' 2021, govt gets three bids for BPCL, and more top headlines of the day

China's Ant considers Paytm stake sale

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group is considering selling its 30 per cent stake in Indian digital payment processor Paytm amid tensions between the two Asian neighbours and a toughening competitive landscape, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. Read more

H-1B: Court rejects Trump rules limiting visas to skilled workers

A federal judge on Tuesday struck down two Trump administration rules designed to drastically curtail the number of visas issued each year to skilled foreign workers. The changes applying to the H-1B visa program announced in October include imposing salary requirements on companies employing skilled overseas workers and limits on specialty occupations. Read here

UK first to approve Pfizer Covid vaccine
 

The UK became the first western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine, with its regulator clearing Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s shot ahead of decisions in the US and European Union. The emergency authorisation clears the way for the deployment of a vaccine that’s expected to play a significant role in the global effort to halt the coronavirus. Pfizer and its German partner said in November that the shot, relying on novel technology called messenger RNA, was 95 per cent effective in a final analysis of clinical-trial data. Read here

Maruti Suzuki sees 'much better' 2021
 

India’s biggest carmaker is expecting next year to be “much better” than 2020 as the economy rebounds and consumers emerge from pandemic-induced lockdowns to buy its vehicles. Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., the local unit of Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp., is expecting retail sales in December to be “pretty good” as there are pending orders with its dealerships and the rate of enquiries has sustained even after the festive season, Chairman R.C. Bhargava said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Wednesday. Read here

Govt gets three bids for BPCL
 

The government has received three preliminary bids for buying of controlling stake in India's second-largest fuel retailer Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Wednesday. Read here