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Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Odisha, the state president of the saffron party, Manmohan Samal, left for New Delhi on Monday for discussions with the central leadership regarding the list of potential candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Accompanied by Odisha BJP's organisational secretary, Manas Mohanty, Samal carried the shortlisted list of candidates prepared by the state election committee, which had convened on Saturday for this purpose. BJP's election in-charge for Odisha, Vijaypal Singh Tomar, and co-in charge Lata Usendi had departed for the national capital a day earlier. The candidate list for various Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies were previously drafted by the State Election Committee and core committee.

NEW DELHI : Russia remained the top supplier of oil to India in January, accounting for nearly a third of the crude brought into the country, according to data from the commerce ministry. At $4.47 billion, the value of the crude oil supply from Russia jumped 41% year-on-year. Sequentially, crude imports from that country increased 14% from $3.92 billion in December 2023, the data showed.

New Delhi: India is contemplating softening its stand on some of the contentious issues that have held up a free trade agreement with the UK, according to two people aware of the matter who expect the UK to do the same. Both countries have underscored the significance of finding a “feasible solution" to speed up the process, they added. “India is planning to soften its stand on some of the sticky issues in the trade negotiations with the UK.

NEW DELHI : The government’s move to amend its 1 March advisory mandating companies developing GenAI- and AI-based tools and features to take explicit government consent before releasing them in the market was welcomed by industry players, as they wouldn't now need to take any permissions. The amended advisory was issued on 15 March, which also removed the requirement of compliance within 15 days.

NEW DELHI : Soho House is looking to expand its presence in India by adding two more ‘houses’ to its existing business here in the next few years, a senior executive of the global hotel chain said. The luxury members-only club -- which currently operates its 'house' in an asset-light model out of an 11-storied townhouse in Mumbai — first began operations in 1995 in London. The company's current membership costs about ₹1.6 lakh per annum for individuals if they want to enroll for just one house (say the one in Mumbai) and ₹3.1 lakh for all-house access.

NEW DELHI : Large OTT platforms with deep pockets, secure in their scale and dominance, are able to confidently adopt advertising-led monetization models to offer content for free, squeezing their smaller rivals. In response, these smaller regional-language streaming services have picked hybrid models of monetization, where they offer certain content for free to be sampled while developing a bouquet of programmes, based on a deep understanding of the local markets, at different price points.

“At 43000, Indian students form the largest number of international students in Germany. It is important to make the German labour market attractive for Indian students after they get their educational degrees to address the increasing gap in skilled workers in the German labour market,” German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) president, Dr Joybrato Mukherjee, said during a press briefing in New Delhi. He added that following the discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last year; and Germany’s newly enacted Skilled Immigration Act; Indian students will find a smoother pathway into the German labour market. “For Indian students, who have got German degrees many of which are taught in English; the way to getting employment in Germany and other Schengen area countries is now more attractive. We believe in the concept of brain circulation rather than brain drain and we think that international students who are well qualified can follow a very successful professional career path in Germany,” Dr Mukherjee said.

New Delhi, Congress' leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has raised with Prime Minister Narendra Modi the issue of «huge traffic snarls», particularly in central Delhi, due to the movement of the PM's cavalcade and urged his intervention to ensure avoidance of any hardship to people. Chowdhury raised the issue in a letter to Modi while stressing that the prime minister's security and well-being are of utmost concern to the people as a whole and there can never be any compromise or let up on that front. «Nevertheless, it is a fact that the commuters on the public roads, who are from varied sections of the society and may include daily wagers, patients, office-goers, school and college going children, are often put to immense hardship owing to blocking/diversion of traffic, which is often for long durations, due to the VVIP movement,» he said. «I have heard and am also told of instances of people missing their flights, trains, examinations, as also delays in getting critically needed medical care owing to traffic blocks. The effect on the commuters that your movement on Delhi's roads has been having may not be in your notice and knowledge in complete and objective terms,» Chowdhury said in his letter dated March 15.

Lok Sabha elections date 2024 LIVE updates: CEC Rajiv Kumar-led Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to announce the complete schedule of Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Saturday. The election body will hold a press conference in New Delhi and will declare the crucial details about the upcoming general elections like dates, phases, announcement of results, etc.The announcement of the Lok Sabha election date 2024 comes two days after the appointment of two new Election Commissioners- Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.

Telangana on Saturday, the BJP said in an official statement. The BJP is formulating strategies to win more seats in the Lok Sabha elections in the state this time. The party's top leaders have already focused on Telangana.

NEW DELHI : Google found itself in deeper trouble in India after the country’s antitrust watchdog ordered an investigation into the tech giant’s pricing methods, saying the company had implemented its policies in a “discriminatory manner". The Competition Commission of India on Friday said it will probe Google’s pricing model within 60 days, without immediately passing a verdict or enforcing penalties. CCI’s decision has wider implications for Google, the dominant mobile operating platform in India, given the watchdog’s earlier rulings as well as the company’s run-ins with the domestic app ecosystem.

Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) MLC K Kavitha was taken into custody on Friday evening. The development came hours after Income Tax Department (I-T) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials conducted searches at her Hyderabad residence, according to media reports. Earlier on Friday, at least 10 officers from both agencies from New Delhi had conducted searches in the presence of Kavitha and her husband D Anil Kumar. It was not clear if the action is linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy linked case of the central agency in which the ED has questioned the BRS MLC and daughter of former Telangana chief minister Chandrashekar Rao, PTI reported citing official sources. The ED had claimed Kavitha was linked to a «South Group» lobby of liquor traders who were trying to play a larger role under the now scrapped Delhi excise policy for 2021-22.

Thousands of farmers are protesting in India's capital to press their demand for a new law that would guarantee minimum crop prices

This year, Indian debt will begin to be included in global bond indexes, starting with JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s products in June, followed by the Bloomberg Emerging Market Local Currency Government Index from January 2025. (Disclaimer: Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, offers index products for various asset classes through Bloomberg Index Services Ltd.) And, when last quarter’s growth numbers were announced in the past fortnight, analysts were startled to see that the Indian economy had apparently grown at an annualized rate of 8.4%. There are certainly solid grounds for optimism. India’s macroeconomic stability is impressive compared to many of its peers. Pandemic spending wasn’t excessive. The fiscal deficit has been steadily shrinking as a proportion of gross domestic product. The rupee has been remarkably stable. And “core” inflation, which excludes food and fuel prices, has eased to 3.3% year-on-year, according to data released this week.

NEW DELHI : Simultaneous state and national elections will fuel growth, cool inflation and raise spending quality, a top government panel said, making a pitch for the so-called ‘one nation one election’ backed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for long. On average, real GDP growth after simultaneous polls was comparatively higher than otherwise, the panel led by former President Ram Nath Kovind said. The committee submitted its report to President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday, recommending Constitutional amendments to facilitate concurrent polls.

NEW DELHI : State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) have decided to cut the price of petrol and diesel by around ₹2 per litre with effect from 6am on Friday. With the revision in prices, petrol will be sold at ₹94.72 per litre in the national capital, against the current price of ₹96.72.

Flight services at Sikkim's only airport in Pakyong will resume on March 31 after remaining suspended for six months, a senior official said on Thursday. Low-cost carrier SpiceJet will operate two flights — one from Kolkata and another from New Delhi, Pakong airport Director RK Grover told PTI. The airline will operate daily flights between Kolkata and Pakyong, while the flights between New Delhi and Pakyong will be operated five days a week, he said. SpiceJet will operate 78-seater aircraft on both routes, he added.

NEW DELHI : Power Exchange India Ltd (PXIL), promoted by NSE and NCDEX, aims to launch its carbon-credit trading platform by the second quarter of next fiscal (FY25) year as it is already working on the technology for the product, its managing director and chief executive Satyajit Ganguly said. In an interview, Ganguly said that as the regulations for such platforms are likely to be rolled out by the second quarter, the exchange would be ready by then with its technology and also complete its educational workshops for industry participants across sectors to get them on board the platform and trade in carbon credits. "We have already started working on the technology.

NEW DELHI : New Delhi: In a sluggish consumer electronics market, the key to boosting smartphone sales is to steer clear of cookie-cutter experiences for buyers and, instead, enhance value-addition in mid-segment devices, Raju Pullan, senior vice-president and head of Samsung India’s mobile experience business, said in an interview. According to Pullan, Samsung is targetting non-urban markets, and enhancing value of the smartphones priced below ₹50,000 to drive growth despite the challenges. “Upgrades are happening from ₹15,000 to the ₹30,000 price bracket, and from ₹30,000 to the ₹50,000 range.

NEW DELHI : Novartis India, the local arm of Swiss pharma giant Novartis AG, is in discussions to secure a distribution partner for the imminent launch of Asciminib, the first-in-class treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) targeting the ABL myristoyl pocket (STAMP), Amitabh Dube, the company's country president and managing director, said. “Innovative therapies introduced over the past two decades have revolutionized treatment for people with CML, a serious and life-threatening blood disorder. Novartis, known for developing targeted therapies for CML, is now launching Asciminib, the first CML treatment that works by specifically targeting the ABL Myristoyl pocket," Dube told Mint in an email interaction.

NEW DELHI : India’s demand for petroleum products, particularly diesel, will spike this year on increased industrial and construction activity, as well as because of the upcoming national election that’s held once in five years, as per S&P Global Commodity Insights. Demand for petroleum products in 2024 is likely to grow by about 206,000 barrels per day, with gasoil (diesel) and gasoline (petrol) accounting for about 65% of the growth, S&P Global said in a report. In February, India’s demand for petroleum products increased by 132,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 2.4%, year-on-year, and by 256,000 bpd from January.