Indian Air Force brings back 58 Indians from coronavirus-hit Iran

New Delhi, May 17: Eight of the 10 most valued domestic firms suffered a combined erosion of Rs 1,37,311.31 crore in market valuation last week, with Reliance Industries (RIL) taking the biggest knock.

Only Bharti Airtel and ITC from the top-10 list managed to close the week with gains.

RIL's market cap plunged Rs 65,232.46 crore to Rs 9,24,855.56 crore.

The market valuation of HDFC Bank declined Rs 22,347.07 crore to Rs 4,87,083.88 crore and that of Hindustan Unilever Limited tanked Rs 13,192.26 crore to Rs 4,77,458.89 crore.

ICICI Bank's market cap dropped Rs 9,770.06 crore to Rs 2,08,900.79 crore.

Infosys witnessed a decline of Rs 9,518.84 crore in valuation to reach Rs 2,77,814.09 crore while that of HDFC tumbled Rs 9,370.38 crore to Rs 2,83,293.70 crore.

The m-cap of Kotak Mahindra Bank slipped by Rs 7,805.2 crore to Rs 2,25,327.22 crore.

Tata Consultancy Services' market valuation dipped Rs 75.04 crore to Rs 7,10,439 crore.

In contrast, Bharti Airtel added Rs 13,147.89 crore to its valuation to stand at Rs 3,02,292.43 crore.

ITC's valuation also rose by Rs 7,744.11 crore to Rs 2,02,330.13 crore.

In the ranking of top-10 firms, RIL retained the number one spot, followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, HUL, Airtel, HDFC, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank and ITC.

During the last week, the Sensex declined 544.97 points or 1.72 per cent.

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 23: Amid a spurt in coronavirus cases, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has asked the Centre to give the states authority to give clearances for manufacturing masks, gloves and sanitisers.

In a letter addressed to prime minister Narendra Modi, Vijayan said during the crisis, masks and sanitisers are needed in large numbers.

"As an interim, states must be given authority to give clearances of manufacturing of items related to medical devices, sanitisers, chemicals, etc. which are needed for fighting Covid-19," Vijayan said in the letter.

He also sought permission for the state home department to use drones for the relevant applications related to Covid-19.

"In China and elsewhere in the world, drones have been used extensively in minimising human contact, disinfection, etc. Unfortunately, with the current laws pertaining to the use of drones, none of these is possible in India," the chief minister said.

He also sought permission to access and use facilities available with all central institutions and research labs operating in the state.

The chief minister shared the letter on his Twitter handle.

With 15 new positive cases of Covid-19, the total number of infected persons in Kerala had gone up to 67, including the three who were discharged after recovery last month.

New Delhi, Mar 13: Delhi's Tis Hazari Court on Friday sentenced expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and six others to 10 years imprisonment for the death of Unnao rape survivor's father. Sengar is already serving life imprisonment for raping the minor.

While sentencing them, District Judge Dharmesh Sharma said, "There can be no denying that rule of law was broken. Sengar was a public functionary and had to maintain the rule of law. The way the crime has been committed, it does not call for leniency."

Sengar and his brother Atul has been directed to give 10 lakh compensation to family of the victim for loss of their father. "There are four minor children involved, three girls and one boy. They have also been uprooted from native place," the judge said.

Seven people, including Sengar, his brother and two police personnel, were held guilty for culpable homicide and criminal conspiracy, earlier this month.

The case pertains to the death of rape survivor's father in custody on April 9, 2018. It was alleged that he was assaulted following a quarrel with some of the accused in the case.

He was taken to the police station and then framed for allegedly possessing an illegal firearm. Pursuant to this, he was sent to custodial remand, during which he died.

The case was transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the Supreme Court's directions in August last year. Both the death and illegal firearm case was later clubbed by the court.

During the arguments on sentencing on March 12, Sengar had told the court that he should be "hanged and acid poured into his eyes if he has done anything wrong".

The former MLA had also raped the daughter of the deceased in 2017 in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district and was sent to jail for "remainder of his natural biological life", last year.