By Shu Zhang and Sonali Paul

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Oil prices dropped on Thursday, reversing gains in the previous session, on concern over whether major crude producers will be able to agree to extend record output cuts, heightened by worries over a huge build in U.S. distillate inventories.

Brent crude futures fell 1.18%, or 47 cents, to $39.32 a barrel as of 0652 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures slid 1.80%, or 67 cents, to $36.62 a barrel.

Saudi Arabia and Russia, two of the world’s biggest oil producers, have agreed to support extending into July the

Industrialist Rajiv Bajaj is the latest to join the chorus of the commentators, economists and businesspersons, who are of the opinion that India’s over two-month coronavirus lockdown was not the best thing to do. India got the worst of both worlds as far as the lockdown is concerned with the economic situation worsening than before, Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj said during a conversation with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. “The virus is waiting to hit you, so you have not solved that problem, but

The Reserve Bank of India told the Supreme Court that a forced interest waiver will make a huge dent in the stability of the financial institutions, therefore, the court should reject the plea seeking interest waiver in the loan moratorium period. RBI has estimated a loss of nearly Rs 2 lakh crore if the SC allows interest waiver in the moratorium period. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic-led financial crisis faced by many people,

(Bloomberg) — Deutsche Lufthansa AG signaled it would make sweeping job cuts and sell off non-core units in order to repay a 9 billion-euro ($10 billion) coronavirus bailout from the German government.

Europe’s biggest airline will slash employee expenses and look at spinning off non-core units to reduce costs and bolster cash flow as the coronavirus crisis depresses revenue, it said in a statement Wednesday. The group had a 2.1 billion-euro net loss in the first quarter.

“In view of the very slow recovery in demand, we must now take far-reaching restructuring measures to counteract this,” Chief Executive Officer Carsten

Nearly 42 crore poor people have received financial assistance of Rs 53,248 crore under the package and around 118 lakh MT of foodgrains have been distributed in the month of April, May, and June so far.Crores of people in need have received cash, food grains, LPG cylinders, and other assistance amid the nationwide lockdown. The Narendra Modi-led government has issued a report card indicating the status of the Garib Kalyan package worth Rs 1.7 lakh crore. Nearly 42 crore poor people have received financial assistance of Rs 53,248 crore under the package and around 118 lakh MT of

The Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) has squarely rejected the application by private equity firm Tiger Global for nil withholding tax on capital gains from its stake sale in e-commerce company Flipkart to US retail giant Walmart in 2018, according to the details of the filing sourced from Taxsutra. Stakes of Mauritius-based Tiger Global International II, III, and IV Holdings (parts of the US-based Tiger Global) in Flipkart Singapore (the parent company of Flipkart) was sold to Luxembourg-based Fit Holdings for more than Rs 14,500 crore

(Bloomberg) — Deutsche Lufthansa AG shares surged after Europe’s biggest airline overcame most of the barriers to receiving a 9 billion-euro ($10 billion) bailout from the German government.

The stock gained as much as 8.3% and was priced 6.6% higher at 9.75 euros as of 9:04 a.m. Tuesday, the first day of trading on the Frankfurt bourse since last week.

Barriers to the rescue began to crumble late Friday, with Lufthansa agreeing to hand over operating slots at its main hubs to win European Union backing for the deal. Its supervisory board approved the compromise in a vote on Monday.

Moody’s downgrade of India’s sovereign rating to lowest investment grade is mostly being overlooked by investors and economists alike since the effect of the cut is expected to be short-lived on investment flows. Moody’s downgrade was impending and is somewhat largely priced-in by the markets and any knee-jerk reaction in foreign exchange and rates markets would thus likely be short-lived, Madhavi Arora, Economist, Edelweiss, said in a report. With global policy backstops having improved global risk appetite, any

Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, stressing on the self-reliance path to recovery for India and integration into the world economy, also reassured the growth for India’s vast MSME sector with the recent revision in the definition and its approval by the government. Addressing the 125^th anniversary of industry association Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Modi said that demand for clarity in the definition of MSMEs that was sought by the industry for a long time has been fulfilled.

(Bloomberg) — Every year, John Gregson sells his autumn and winter truffles, carefully sourced from places like Italy’s Sibillini mountains and Teruel in eastern Spain, to restaurants for as much as 6,000 pounds ($7,400) a kilo. Not this year.

His biggest restaurant customers brought their shutters down during the coronavirus lockdown, and many may not be raising them anytime soon — if ever. The unprecedented disruption in the food chain, with worst-case estimates showing 80% of restaurants going bust in some parts of the world, is leaving people like Gregson grappling with an industry that may take years to untangle