The country’s new scheduled airline Akasa Air is “well capitalised” and will allow carrying of domesticated dogs and cats onboard along with passengers from November, according to its senior executives. The airline, which began operations on August 7, also plans to launch international operations in the second half of next year. Akasa Air CEO Vinay Dube said the airline is well capitalised and is not looking to have new investors.

ITC has been one of the best performing large-cap stock at the bourses thus far in calendar year 2022 (CY22), rallying nearly 52 per cent during this period and outperforming the sector benchmark – the S and P BSE FMCG index – by a wide margin that moved up around 17 per cent during this period. However, the counter has lost over 5 per cent from its recent high of Rs 346.25 hit on September 23, 2022 and has underperformed the S and P BSE Sensex, which has lost nearly 2 per cent since then. So, is the rally in the stock coming to an end, and is this a good time to book profit?

Amid fast-depleting forex reserves, the Finance Ministry on Wednesday signalled that it was not in favour of selling the dollar to defend any particular level of the rupee. “Let it (rupee) reach whatever levels it has to reach. We can’t fritter away reserves on defending some artificial, imaginary rate of exchange,” a senior finance ministry official told Business Standard. Forex reserves declined to a near two-year low of $545.65 billion as on September 16, down $85.88 billion from the level that existed on February 25, a day after Russia invaded Ukraine.

India’s post-pandemic recovery appears to be shaping up like the letter K, widening the inequality among states. The last part of the series captures the rising rural distress, as seen through the prism of MGNREGS demand. The pandemic appears to have exacerbated rural distress in the poorest states.

The Indian services sector activity fell to a six-month low in September, as new business inflows rose at the slowest rates since March, amid inflationary pressures and competitive conditions, a monthly survey said. The seasonally adjusted S and P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index fell to 54.3 in September, from 57.2 in August, highlighting the weakest rate of expansion since March. For the fourteenth straight month, the services sector witnessed an expansion in output. In Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) parlance, a print above 50 means expansion, while a score below 50 denotes contraction.