Top headlines: Govt buries retro tax; Cipla Q1 net profit rises 24%

Business Standard brings you the top headlines on Thursday

Govt to amend Income Tax Act to nullify retrospective tax demands

After Vodafone and Cairn Energy setbacks, Union government on Thursday moved to end retrospective tax by amending Income Tax Act.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced The Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Lok Sabha, which seeks to withdraw tax demands made on indirect transfer of Indian assets prior to May 28, 2012. Read more

Cipla's Q1 PAT grows 24% to Rs 715 crore riding on domestic sales

Mumbai-headquartered Cipla posted a 24 per cent growth in profit after tax (PAT) to Rs 715 crore for the June quarter riding on strong revenue growth in the India business as well as in the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) business.

The company posted a 27 per cent YoY increase in income from operations, at Rs 5,504 crore during the quarter. The Ebitda grew by 28 per cent to Rs 1,346 crore with a resulting Ebitda margin of 24.5 per cent. Read more

Moderna says its Covid shot remains 93% effective 4-6 months after 2nd dose

Moderna Inc said on Thursday its COVID-19 shot was about 93% effective four to six months after the second dose, showing hardly any change from the 94% efficacy reported in its original clinical trial.

That compares favorably to data released by rivals Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE last week in which they suggested their vaccine's efficacy waned around 6% every two months, declining to around 84% six months after the second shot. Both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines are based on messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. Read more

Ahead of Q1 results, Tata Steel rallies on rare double ratings upgrade

Tata Steel Ltd. seems to have just about everything going for it ahead of next week’s quarterly earnings report.

A ratings upgrade by S&P Global Ratings this week -- its second in 2021 -- is burnishing the appeal of the stock that’s already surged on the back of a global commodities boom and the firm’s aggressive debt-reduction efforts. Up about 117% this year, Tata Steel is the top performer on India’s benchmark NSE Nifty 50 Index, and on course for its biggest annual jump since 2009. Read more