Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has directed the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday to pay Rs 1,100 crore for favoring a few brokers to make gains using unauthorized trading software, networks and servers in the same room where the main trading servers of the exchange were located.

The market regulator has also banned both the former managing directors (MD) of the exchange- Ravi Narain and Chitra Ramkrishna from the market for the period of five years each. It has directed them to disgorge part of their salaries for the period when the co-lo scam was in operation, according to a ToI report.  

The exchange can not come out with its IPO during this period. It has asked NSE not to introduce any new derivatives contracts for the next six months. Through five different orders, apart from banning three brokers for up to five years from the market, it has also asked them to disgorge the illegal gains and interest, aggregating about Rs 51 crore.

India Ratings and Research Tuesday marginally lowered country's GDP growth projection for 2019-20 fiscal to 7.3 per cent mainly due to below normal monsoon prediction and loss of momentum in industrial output.

The Fitch group company had earlier projected India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 7.5 per cent.

The key reasons for the downward revision are the prediction of lower-than-normal monsoon for 2019 and continued agrarian distress, and the loss of momentum in the industrial output growth, especially manufacturing and electricity.

Besides, the slow progress on cases referred to the National Company Law Tribunal under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, was another reason cited by the company for lowering the growth forecast.

"Inability to bring the stuck capital back into the production process will have implications for investment recovery," India Ratings and Research said in a release.

Bharti AXA General Insurance Tuesday said it will sell policies through social media messaging platform WhatsApp and has tied up with web aggregator Wishfin Insurance for speedy delivery of two-wheeler cover.

Bharti AXA General Insurance, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and global insurance firm AXA, will sell the policies on the website of Wishfin's insurance arm Wishpolicy.

"Wishfin has launched 'Buy Two-Wheeler Insurance on WhatsApp' through web aggregator Wishfin Insurance, which is available on (Wishpolicy's) site, provided by Bharti AXA General Insurance," the company said in a release Tuesday.

This is an instant and additional customer service option for the policyholders, apart from the company's multiple channels, including its vast network of branches, robust customer care and contact centre, dynamic portal and intelligent chatbot, it said.

Japan's new emperor, Naruhito, has formally ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne, replacing his father, Akihito, who had abdicated a day earlier. 

In a morning ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, today, Naruhito became the 126th Emperor of Japan. 

A new imperial era called Reiwa, which means order and harmony, has now begun.

The emperor in Japan holds no political power but serves as a national symbol.

The  Met  Department has said that the severe Cyclonic storm Fani in the Bay of Bengal intensified into a very severe cyclonic storm in the last six hours. 

It is likely to cross Odisha coast around Friday afternoon. 

The Bhubaneswar Met centre said under the impact of the cyclonic storm, heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to occur in the districts of Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Khordha, Rayagada and Kandhamal districts tomorrow. 

It also said heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is likely to occur in the coastal areas and some isolated places including southern districts Sambalpur, Deoghar, and Kalahandi on Friday. 

Odisha Chief Secretary Aditya Padhi who reviewed the cyclone preparedness in a high-level meeting at Bhubaneswar yesterday said as many as 879 cyclone shelters have been kept ready for sheltering the evacuated people; adding that 28 NDRF, 20 ODRAF teams, and fire services are positioned for the emergency situation. 

Today is International Labour Day, also known as International Worker's Day or May Day. 

The day is celebrated to honour the contribution of working men and women. The theme of Labour Day this year is - Uniting Workers for Social and Economic Advancement. 

Labour Day aims to pay tribute to workers sacrifices in achieving economic and social rights all over the world. 

During industrialization at the beginning of the 19th Century, the industrialists used to exploit the labour class and made them work up to 15 hours a day. The workers rose against this exploitation and demanded paid leaves, proper wages and breaks for the workforce.

The day marks the victory of the workers' movement for eight hours of work. In India, the first Labour day or May Day was celebrated in 1923 in Chennai.

US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller to investigate links between Russia and Donald Trump's campaign in the Presidential elections, has submitted his resignation. 

In a letter to Mr Trump, Rosenstein said, he will leave his post on the 11th of next month. Attorney General William Barr confirmed in a statement that the letter had been submitted.

The public sector Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) has been awarded a ₹6,311 crore contract to build eight anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft for the Indian Navy, a statement from India’s defence ministry said on Monday.

The contract was signed by Joint Secretary & Acquisition Manager (Maritime Systems) Ravi Kant on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and S S Dogra, Director (Finance), on behalf of GRSE, in New Delhi.

The request for proposals was issued by the Indian Navy to defence public sector unit shipyards and other Indian private shipyards in April 2014, with GRSE emerging as the successful bidder for design, construction and supply of the eight craft, the statement said.

These craft are designed for a deep displacement of 750 tons, speed of 25 knots and complement of 57 and capable of full-scale subsurface surveillance of coastal waters besides coordinated anti-submarine warfare operations with aircraft, the statement said. “In addition, the vessels shall have the capability to interdict or destroy sub surface targets in coastal waters. These can also be deployed for search and Rescue by day and night in coastal areas," the statement said.

The Home Ministry has ordered for advance release of financial assistance of 1086 crore rupees for four states to assist them in undertaking preventive and relief measures in response to cyclonic storm FANI.
 
Based on the decision of National Crisis Management Committee, NCMC, the amount will be released to their State Disaster Response Fund, SDRF.
 
Around 200 crore rupees for Andhra Pradesh, over 340 crore for Odisha, 309 crore for Tamil Nadu and 235 crore rupees for West Bengal have been sanctioned.

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting on Monday said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Splash Corp., Philippines’s largest personal care company. Splash, which clocked $80 million revenue last year, owns brands including SkinWhite, Maxi-peel and Vitress.

The transaction strengthens Wipro’s consumer care portfolio in personal care and strengthens its South-East Asian market footprint. The transaction value was not disclosed.

“This acquisition enables us to grow Wipro brands in the Philippines market by leveraging Splash’s distribution strength across market segments. Splash’s brands can be expanded further to other international markets where Wipro has a strong footprint and brands have latent equity. Splash brands are not only strong in the Philippines, but also have tremendous equity in multiple international markets such as Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the Middle East and Nigeria," Nagender Arya, regional director (East Asia, Africa and Europe), Wipro Consumer Care, said in a statement.

This is Wipro’s 11th consumer business acquisition, and the ninth in the personal care segment. The company has made five acquisitions in the Indian market in the consumer line business.