The government on Wednesday said the production and supply of critical anti-viral drug Remdesivir will be increased in the country amid the rising COVID-19 cases. The government met Remdesivir manufacturers who volunteered to reduce the price to less than ₹3,500 per vial by the end of this week. Fast-track approval has been given for seven more sites to manufacture Remdesivir.

Infosys plans to hire more than 25,000 freshers in the financial year 2021-22, the company's Chief Operating Officer (COO) UB Pravin Rao said during an earnings call on Wednesday. The company plans to hire 24,000 freshers from campuses within the country and 1,000 freshers from overseas. Infosys hired 21,000 freshers from campuses in FY21, of whom 19,000 were from India.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has responded to a man who tweeted that the SpaceX Founder and CEO worked at a videogame company named 'Rocket Science' in the early 90s. The man had also remarked on the coincidence and tweeted, "Fate loves irony." Musk responded, "True. Ancient times...Had to flip CPU registers explicitly, as the computer was so slow."

Bernie Madoff, the mastermind of the world's largest Ponzi scheme, died in a US federal prison aged 82 on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Madoff died at the Federal Medical Center from natural causes, it added. Madoff was serving a 150-year prison sentence for cheating thousands of clients of as much as $65 billion.

Infosys on Wednesday announced that the company's board has approved a ₹9,200-crore share buyback to buy back 1.23% of the total paid-up capital. The maximum buyback price of ₹1,750 per share is at a 25.2% premium on Tuesday's closing price. The company also reported a 17.1% year-on-year rise in net profit at ₹5,078 crore in quarter ended March 2021.

Facebook India head Ajit Mohan said the internet needs new rules, not just in India but around the world. "We operated for a very long time with not enough clarity on...traffic lights...we should think...about how we navigate complex issues where there are competing trade-offs," he said. Organisations should be more transparent about how they use customer data, he added.

The world's largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin crossed the $64,000-mark for the first time on Wednesday. It rose as much as 1.6% to as high as $64,207 in Asia trading. The rally comes amid growing acceptance among companies like Tesla, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Mastercard and others. The cryptocurrency has surged around 120% since the start of the year.

Microsoft President Brad Smith said that the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook data scandal was the "tipping point" for privacy globally. He further said that the event along with other similar incidents impacted how people think about technology more broadly now. "It (cybersecurity) is an extraordinarily important issue...I think the recent...attacks underscored that even more clearly," he added.

Ether, world's second-largest cryptocurrency, rose more than 5% in the last 24 hours to hit a new all-time-high of $2,300 on Wednesday, according to CoinDesk. The cryptocurrency, which runs on the Ethereum network, crossed $270 billion in market capitalisation for the first time. The cryptocurrency has surged 205% year-to-date amid a broader cryptocurrency rally led by Bitcoin.

Coinbase Co-founder Fred Ehrsam said that when he started the cryptocurrency exchange platform in 2012, Bitcoin was worth $6. "It was only known by a few nerds on the internet," he said, adding that he met Coinbase Co-founder Brian Armstrong on Reddit. Ehrsam further said that Coinbase launched out of a two-bedroom apartment that they shared with another company.

Billionaire Elon Musk-led space company SpaceX has raised about $1.16 billion in equity financing over the last two months, the company said in amended regulatory filing. Earlier in February, SpaceX reported that it had raised about $850 million at a reported valuation of $74 billion. SpaceX plans on landing its Starship rockets on Mars before 2030, Musk said last month.

The Centre has informed the Bombay High Court that making FASTag mandatory for all vehicles running on national highways "does not violate a citizen's fundamental right to freedom of movement". FASTag has been made compulsory to ensure seamless traffic movement and cut travel time short, the Centre said. The government was responding to a plea that challenged its decision.

Noted investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has raised his stake in Fortis Healthcare in the final quarter of FY21. Jhunjhunwala held 3.25 crore shares, or a 4.31% stake, in Fortis Healthcare at the end of the March quarter, as per a BSE filing. Earlier this month, Fortis Healthcare share price hit a new 52-week high of ₹227.20 apiece on BSE.

Amid the new restrictions to curb COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, Amazon has urged the state government to allow deliveries of all products to customers. Amazon said that it was challenging to define a static essentials list. The company is currently delivering only essential products in the state in line with the new guidelines set by the government.

Partial lockdowns and night curfews across different states have led to a cumulative business loss of ₹46,000 crore in the 10 days, according to traders' body CAIT. Retail businesses suffered a loss of ₹32,000 crore, while wholesale businesses lost ₹14,000 crore, it said. Nearly 60% of consumers are avoiding visits to markets amid the rise in COVID-19 cases, CAIT added.

India's palm oil imports jumped 57% year-on-year to 5,26,463 tonnes in March, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said. The country's sunflower oil imports halved to 1,46,970 tonnes in March after prices more than doubled in a year, it added. Meanwhile, soyoil imports were eased by 3% to 2,84,200 tonnes. India buys palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia.

The Finance Ministry on Wednesday said that fundraising through public issues and rights issues surged 115% and 15% respectively in 2020-21. The ministry further said that ₹46,029.71 crore and ₹64,058.61 crore were raised through public issues and rights issues respectively. The financial year also witnessed 55 initial public offerings (IPO) and one follow-on public offer (FPO).

Infosys posted a 17.1% year-on-year rise in net profit at ₹5,078 crore in the January-March period, as against ₹4,335 crore in the year-ago period. The company's revenue jumped by 13.1% to ₹26,311 crore in the fourth quarter from previous year's ₹23,267 crore. Infosys' net profit rose 16.7% in 2020-21 at ₹19,423 crore while revenue rose 10.7% to cross ₹1,00,000 crore.

HDFC Bank said on Wednesday that it will raise up to ₹50,000 crore through private placement of debt instruments over the next 12 months. The proposal will be considered at the bank's board meeting on April 17, it said. Recently, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said that banks should ensure credit flow in a meeting with bankers.

China's exports in March rose 30.6% to $241.1 billion from a year earlier, while imports increased 38.1% to $227.3 billion, customs data showed. Customs spokesman Li Kuiwen said that it's a positive signal that global economic and trade activities are recovering and market confidence is increasing. However, he warned that the world's economic situation remains complicated and severe.

Collections through systematic investment plans (SIPs) fell 4% to ₹96,000 crore in the 2020-21 fiscal, as per the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). According to AMFI, Indian mutual funds have about 3.73 crore SIP accounts currently through which investors regularly invest in schemes.

The surge of COVID-19 cases in India threatens the country's growth prospects, Jonathan D. Ostry, International Monetary Fund's Deputy Director of Asia and Pacific Department said. "The current surge in infections presents a worrisome downside risk revision," he added. Last week, IMF had upgraded its growth projection for India to 12.5% for FY22 from its January estimate of 11.5%.

Spectrum held by telecom operators cannot be transferred to new buyers under insolvency proceedings if government dues are not cleared, NCLAT has ruled. The order comes after the Supreme Court had asked NCLAT to decide whether lenders have the rights to sell the spectrum of Aircel. Aircel and its subsidiaries owe around ₹50,000 crore to creditors.

The government has permitted export of an additional 3,675 tonnes of raw or refined sugar to the United Kingdom under the tariff-rate quota. The additional quantity will be exported till September 30. The quota is for a volume of exports that enters the UK at relatively low tariffs and after the quota is reached, a higher tariff applies to exports.

Credit Suisse Group has put about $2 billion of stocks linked to Archegos Capital Management on the market in the second such block sale since the fallout of the US-based hedge fund, reports said. The bank reportedly also unloaded $2.3 billion of Archegos-linked stocks last week. The Swiss bank has already taken a $4.7 billion writedown from Archegos' collapse.