Top headlines: Sensex scales 50k for first time, RBI sees growth recovering

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Road to 50K: Sensex jumps 10,000 pts in 74 sessions; these are top gainers

The BSE barometer Sensex scripted history on Thursday, January 21, when it scaled Mount 50,000 for the first time. The 30-pack index galloped from 40,000-mark hit on October 8, 2020 to 50,000 in just 74 sessions and from 45,000 level (scaled on November 4, 2020) in mere 32 trading days. When the index had plummeted to the lows of 25,000 at the peak of the Covid-19 crisis, there was little to no one who had envisaged such a meteoric rise from the index's three-year low. A plethora of factors have fuelled such a rally in the index, ranging from liquidity push by the central bankers to FII buying, and recovery in economic growth. Read more

Economy getting over pandemic, growth headed for 'glorious summer': RBI

The economy has come out of the pandemic crisis and recovery is getting stronger, said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The vaccination drive against the pandemic has bring in a new optimism, and “barring the visitation of another wave, the worst is behind us," the RBI said in its January Bulletin on Wednesday. “Recent high frequency indicators suggest that the recovery is getting stronger in its traction and soon the winter of our discontent will be made glorious summer," said the RBI, quoting William Shakespeare to describe the state of the economy in its bulletin. Read more

Fire at Serum Institute building in Pune; vaccine output not hit: Report

A big fire has broken out at a plant being built for the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s biggest vaccine maker, but it will not affect production of coronavirus vaccines, a source close to the firm said. SII is manufacturing a vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca for India and many other low- and middle-income countries. Read more

Bajaj Auto Q3 consolidated PAT grows 30% YoY to Rs 1,716 crore

Two-wheeler major Bajaj Auto, on Thursday, reported consolidated net profit of Rs 1,716.26 crore for the October-December quarter of FY21 (Q3FY21), up 29.7 per cent, from a profit of Rs 1,322.4 crore in the year-ago period, primarily on the back of 9 per cent year-on-year (YoY) volume growth. Sequentially, the profit surged 43.74 per cent from Rs 1,193.97 crore posted in the September quarter of FY21. The company's revenue grew 16.62 per cent YoY to Rs 8,909.88 crore, as against Rs 7,639.66 crore in Q3FY20. Read more

Turnaround hopes for rupee fade over RBI's stance on forex reserves

Bets on the Indian rupee’s rebound this year are already facing headwinds. The Reserve Bank of India signaled recently it won’t relent on dollar purchases that pushed the currency to the bottom of Asia’s currency rankings in 2020. Analysts had forecast for the rupee to rise for the first time in four years on hopes the RBI may slow its foreign-currency accumulation after the stockpile rose to a record. Read more