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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: The shrill emergency alerts that lit up millions of phones across India on Saturday brings the spotlight on an ongoing legal battle on the award of this critical public safety network project.Germany-headquartered Utimaco Technologies has alleged irregularities in government’s selection of the implementation agency for the cell broadcast system to roll out a nationwide disaster alert mechanism, according to people in the know and a copy of the company's petition seen by Mint.A case on the matter has been pending before the Delhi high court since 2024, with the next hearing slated for 11 May 2026.Utimaco, which owns Israel-based emergency alert solution provider Celltick, said India's decision to assign the project to the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) lacked fairness and transparency. Citing the absence of an open tender, the petition said the move violated the principle of natural justice and fair competition.C-DOT is a research and development wing of the department of telecommunications (DoT).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s power prices on electricity exchange hit zero for the first time on Friday, 1 May, raising concerns for investors and developers as the country moves towards its target 500 giga watt (GW) non-fossil capacity by 2030.Data from the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) showed power prices were at zero in two blocks of 15 minutes each on Friday, as demand dipped due to easing temperatures and low industrial demand but power supply — especially solar power — climbed, bringing prices down.The dip in demand came from partly cloudy skies, light rains, and gusty winds in northern India and Delhi-NCR, and heavy rainfall in parts of eastern India. Similar weather was witnessed on Saturday, 2 May.To be sure, power prices on the real time market (RTM) platform of the IEX had dropped to near-zero twice earlier—on the afternoon of 5 April, and on 25 May last year, under similar circumstances.In a LinkedIn post on on Friday, IEX said: “Cooler weather, record solar generation (~57.5 GW), and inflexible thermal supply are leading to ample sell-side availability on the Exchange.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Looking at her bold, singular designs, it is hard to believe that jewellery designer Bhavya Ramesh never formally studied the craft. The engineering graduate, who describes herself as “completely self-taught”, started her eponymous label in 2018 with a small investment from her father, and one clear goal: “I wanted people to look at my work and say, ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before.’ That’s still my only aim,” she tells Lounge over a video call from Mumbai.A D2C brand that began online, the label has, in recent years, made a confident leap into offline retail, with two stores in Mumbai and a newly launched outpost in Khan Market, Delhi. While the move signals the brand’s growth, Ramesh says the real push came from customers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.At 11.40 am on Saturday, millions of phones across India blared a loud alert simultaneously, interrupting calls and conversations. The disruption was deliberate. It was a nationwide test of a multilingual cell broadcast system developed by the state-owned Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) for emergency warnings during disasters.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The best business class flight I have ever taken was with Air India. As the flight was taxiing for take-off, it stopped on the tarmac. There was a snag, and we had to stay in the aircraft.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Around two decades after exiting India, UK cosmetics brand Lush has re-entered the market, looking to tap into the country’s growing luxury beauty segment.The maker of bath bombs, shower jellies and solid shampoo bars has partnered with Bengaluru-based Bilberry Brands under a licensing agreement, beginning with an online launch and a physical store in Delhi. A second Delhi outlet, along with stores in Gurugram and Mumbai, is expected to open soon. It plans to open seven stores by the end of 2026.In a video interview, Lush co-founder Rowena Bird discusses the brand’s return to India.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Diagnostics major Dr. Lal Path Labs saw revenue improve 17% year-on-year to ₹703 crore in the March quarter (Q4FY26), beating consensus estimate by 5%. The jump was primarily led by higher sample volumes and better realizations.Revenue grew 12.2% to ₹2,763 crore in FY26.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Strait of Hormuz chokehold inflames oil prices and causes jitters in India. In a seeming upturn, the Iranian ambassador to India met journalists on 13 April to say there is continual engagement with the Indian government. He is also reported to have said no Indian ships had been charged for passage through the strait.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Even as India’s electricity demand hit record highs in April, power prices crashed to near-zero during peak solar hours during the month—a paradox driven by too much renewable energy chasing too little flexible demand.For the second time in two years, rates on the Real Time Market (RTM) of the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) dropped to near-zero— ₹0.0003 per unit on the afternoon of 5 April—as excess solar power flooded the market even as demand dipped due to rains and thunderstorms in Delhi and other parts of northern India. The first such instance was on 25 May last year.Prices have since remained volatile, falling to as low as 40 paise per unit on 12 April even as they recently hit the ₹10 per unit cap amid a heatwave-driven surge in demand.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.As companies around the world accelerate automation and adopt artificial intelligence (AI) tools, layoffs have shifted from speculation to reality. Thousands of professionals who once considered their careers stable are now navigating sudden unemployment.The scale is significant.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The government’s push on entrepreneurship through the Atal Innovation Mission promised to transform Indian colleges into innovation hubs. A decade on, that ambition remains largely unrealized.Since2016, the Centre has established Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) in 60 institutions across the country under the initiative, spearheaded by think tank Niti Aayog.Of these, 38 have incubated 3,067 startups.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Three weeks after its official inauguration, the Noida International Airport faces fresh uncertainty over the start of commercial flights, as a key security clearance for its chief executive is still pending. The nod from the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS)—essential before operations can begin—has yet to come through, raising the possibility of a delay to the airport’s planned mid-May launch.The Noida International Airport at Jewar in Uttar Pradesh, 100 km off Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International airport, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28 March 2026.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A soft-spoken civil engineer with a fondness for early mornings and scriptures, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan appears to be an unlikely revolutionary.Yet few individuals have altered urban India as profoundly as he has. The label “Metro Man” barely captures the scale of his impact — especially in Delhi, where he didn’t just build a railway system, but helped change how a city thinks about movement, time and public space.When Sreedharan took charge of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in the late 1990s, the daily commute of a typical Delhite was a case study in hardship.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.On warm evenings in Delhi, bartenders are swapping vodka and gin for jamun (java plum), kaccha aam (raw mango) and chilli mango, signalling India's palate is expanding beyond plain white spirits.This shift is beginning to reshape how alcohol producers such as Diageo Plc, Allied Blenders and Distillers Ltd, Radico Khaitan Ltd and NV Group approach their white spirits portfolios, as the country now stands as the fourth-largest flavoured spirits market globally by value, according to industry estimates.Driven by younger consumers, at-home drinking and cocktail culture, India is catching on to a global trend in which flavoured spirits account for a significant share of consumption, but with a twist: it is instead drawing from local kitchens, street snacks and seasonal fruits rather than traditional profiles such as citrus or berry.Kunal Madan, chief marketing officer of Radico Khaitan, which makes Magic Moments vodka, told Mint that its flavoured spirits portfolio is driving 60% of vodka volume growth. Magic Moments also reported around 18% volume growth in the third quarter and sales of ₹1,050 crore for the nine months ended 31 December, driven by flavour-led innovations.In September 2025, it launched Magic Moments vodka in the ‘Jamun SpicyMint’ flavour.

Mint and confirmed by two officials.According to the direction issued as part of the Mediation for Nation 2.0 campaign, state chief secretaries have been asked to actively support efforts to identify and dispose of cases that can be settled through mediation, the government officials cited earlier said, adding that the cases where the state is a complainant can be resolved through settlement.The emphasis is on disputes that are legally compoundable—cases that can be resolved mutually, including cheque bounce cases, land acquisition matters and certain criminal offences, the officials said on the condition of anonymity.The move assumes significance as cheque dishonour cases have been identified as a key focus area due to their sheer volume. As per government data, over 8.007 million cheque bounce cases are pending across high courts.

India’s first class action suit has hit an unexpected hurdle: Ankit Jain, the lead minority shareholder in the ₹2,500-crore siphoning case against Jindal Poly Films, is looking to walk away. Having sold his shares in the company, Jain, who previously represented a 4.99% minority stake alongside other petitioners, has now moved to exit the landmark legal battle.Jain’s legal team informed the Delhi principal bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Thursday that he had divested his entire shareholding and no longer had the legal standing to appear as a petitioner leading the class action.

In a crucial ruling for the banking sector, the Supreme Court clarified that banks are not required to provide borrowers a personal or oral hearing before classifying their accounts as fraudulent. On Tuesday, the court held that a written process is enough to satisfy principles of natural justice.Mint explains the case, the ruling, and what it means for fraud detection by banks and for borrowers.The case before a two-person Supreme Court bench arose from appeals filed by banks, including State Bank of India and Bank of India, against orders of the Calcutta and Delhi High Courts.

For the emerging megacities of Asia, the oil crisis that spread out from the Strait of Hormuz is like the acute phase of a chronic condition. The largest migration in human history is filling their streets and alleyways to bursting point.Urbanization and births will add a billion more people between now and 2050. Jakarta and Dhaka, with 42 million and 37 million people respectively, have overtaken Tokyo at 33 million as the world’s biggest metropolises.

Mint from hotel chains and hospitality consultancies, at least three companies—including Radisson and Marriott—have already signed up with over a dozen hotels this calendar year, growing on the back of a big domestic tourism boom and a greater demand for branded experiences.Last week, Hyatt signed two new hotels with the Brigade group in Chennai and Bengaluru, while IHG Hotels signed a hotel in Delhi's Nehru Place while ITC Hotels signed a Storii branded hotel in Mukundgarh Fort Hotel in Rajasthan."In 2026 so far, we have already added nine new hotels signed across markets. Our development strategy remains focused on a balanced mix of tier-1, -2, and -3 markets," said Nikhil Sharma, managing director and chief operating officer, South Asia, for the Radisson Hotel Group.That is the appeal of the asset-light model that now dominates much of the branded hotel business.

This year’s summer holidays are not a simple beach-versus-mountains or Eiffel Tower versus Burj Khalifa decision. Instead, the West Asia war is likely to shape where you travel and how much you spend.

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has given a clean chit to nine whole-time directors (WTDs) of various public sector banks, saying there were no adverse findings against them, two people aware of the development told Mint.Those cleared include Nidhhu Saxena (MD & CEO, Bank of Maharashtra), Bhavendra Kumar (executive director, Canara Bank), Mahendra Dohare (executive director, Central Bank of India), Bijay Baran Singh (executive director, Indian Bank), Ravi Mehra (executive director, Punjab & Sind Bank), and Vijaykumar Nivruti Kamble (executive director, UCO Bank), one of the people cited above said.A second person added that Rajiv Mishra (executive director, Bank of India), Brajesh Kumar Singh (executive director, Indian Bank), and Dhanraj T (executive director, Indian Overseas Bank) had also received clearance from the CVC.The development is significant as it comes at a time when the government has tightened oversight of board-level appointments in public sector banks following recent lapses and controversies related to vigilance disclosures. The clearances are seen as a critical filtering exercise amid heightened scrutiny of senior appointments.The move also comes against the backdrop of an unusual and high-profile action last year, in which the Centre demoted Union Bank of India Executive Director Pankaj Dwivedi to general manager at Punjab & Sind Bank.