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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Indian business rarely does exactly what the government wants it to. For the past decade or so, for example, it has obdurately refused to invest as much as officials think it should.Last week, chief economic advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran said that profits for the 500 largest publicly traded companies had grown by over 30% a year since the pandemic, “but still, our overall capital formation rates from the private sector have been disappointing.”Nageswaran is not the only one complaining.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: India’s electronics companies are getting more time, but not price revisions, to execute government procurement contracts as geopolitical conflicts and supply-chain disruptions raise costs for suppliers of smartphones, tablets and laptops.In a 29 April notice, the department of expenditure in the finance ministry said global economic and supply-chain disruptions triggered by the Iran conflict and preceding geopolitical tensions qualify as force majeure, allowing companies executing government contracts to seek delivery extensions of up to four months without penalty.The move offers some relief to companies such as Acer, Lava and Samsung India, which had sought price revisions for ongoing contracts amid rising component and logistics costs but have so far failed to secure them. Instead, the Centre has allowed extensions of “not less than two months and not more than four months.”The order said the Centre “recognizes delays in delivery in completion of contractual obligations on account of force majeure event for which the supplier, consultant, service provider and contractor is not at fault.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: The Centre is preparing to crack down on the illegal sale, distribution and misuse of sexual enhancement medicines, with the drug regulator warning that it has become a threat to both public safety and social dignity, according to two government officials and a document reviewed by Mint.This regulatory action against unauthorized products sold without valid prescriptions has been ordered by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr. Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Aerospace and defence major Rolls-Royce Plc is borrowing from the India playbook of British energy giant BP Plc as it pursues billions of dollars worth of opportunities across defence, civil aviation and nuclear energy in the country.To lead that push, Rolls-Royce has turned to Sashi Mukundan, the former head of BP’s India business, who spent 24 years building the energy company’s partnerships in the country across gas, fuel retail and mobility ventures.The man who recruited him: Rolls-Royce chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic, who himself spent two decades at BP, including five years leading its downstream business.“Tufan was also with BP before. He’s seen how BP built the relationship in India,” Mukundan, now executive vice president Transformation India at Rolls-Royce, told Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: The Centre is set to adopt a more modest highway construction target for fiscal 2027 (FY27) as it focuses on clearing delayed projects while attempting to revive private investment through the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.The government is likely to target construction of 10,000 km in FY27, unchanged from the previous fiscal year, when actual construction fell short at about 9,400 km. The target marks a step-down from the record 13,814 km set for FY24 and about 12,500 km for FY25.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.From India and Vietnam upgrading their bilateral ties and setting a $25 billion trade target by 2030, to four states declaring assembly election verdicts amid a mixed economic backdrop, direct tax collections falling short of revised estimates in FY26, manufacturing and services activity rebounding in April, and India’s domestic LPG consumption taking a hit due to West Asia war—here is a compilation of this week’s news in numbers.India and Vietnam have set a target of raising bilateral trade to $25 billion by 2030, following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vietnam President To Lam in New Delhi this week. The two countries also upgraded ties to an “Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”, signalling deeper cooperation in trade, defence and technology.Trade has steadily expanded over the past decade, crossing $18 billion in FY26.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: Next week, the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant will start hearing arguments for and against India’s first-ever data privacy law. After five separate public interest litigation petitions filed in February challenged the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, these hearings starting 13 May could determine the future of what companies and government bodies can do with the personal data of 1.4 billion people.Both the Centre and the litigators have deployed batteries of top lawyers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.US-based FMC Corporation, a global agricultural sciences company, on Thursday said it has signed an agreement to sell its India commercial business to IPO-bound Crystal Crop Protection Ltd, a crop solutions company in New Delhi, for about $252 million.“FMC’s innovative portfolio, blockbuster brands and future pipeline give us an opportunity to provide Indian farmers access to innovative products,” Crystal’s chairman and managing director, Ankur Aggarwal, said in a statement. He added that the deal is aimed at accelerating innovation across both chemical and biological domains of crop protection.FMC will continue to receive all cash generated from the ongoing operation of the India business until closing, primarily through monetization of working capital.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India has issued guidelines defining and classifying intensive care units (ICUs), a regulatory step that will affect 71,000 hospitals and over 1.38 million registered doctors in the country, as the government aims to eliminate hospital-acquired infections and address uneven critical care standards, according to an official familiar with the matter and a document reviewed by Mint.The directorate general of health services (DGHS), operating under the health and family welfare ministry, has categorized ICUs into three levels. The standards start at Level 1 units that are intended for basic stabilization with a minimum of six beds and one ventilator, to Level 3 units equipped for advanced multi-organ failure support with bedside portable CT and mobile digital radiography.The norms set round-the-clock physician coverage, nurse-to-patient ratios and require Level 2 and Level 3 doctors to hold a Doctorate of Medicine or a Doctorate of the National Board in intensive care.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Luxury home decor and furnishing brands are seeing a rise in demand in India as wealthy consumers splurge on larger homes, renovations and design-led interiors.From dinnerware costing several lakh rupees to collectable decor and contemporary furniture, affluent buyers are increasingly spending on their homes with luxury malls dedicating floors to what retailers describe as the "sleeper category".In New Delhi’s The Chanakya mall, an entire floor is now dedicated to luxury home and decor brands, including Jay Strongwater, Baccarat, Diptyque and Lladró, alongside Indian labels such as Janavi Home and Ravissant.The luxury home segment in India has seen a post-pandemic acceleration, with a fresh wave of global brand entries and expansions. Reliance Brands brought Pottery Barn to India in 2022, marking one of the early large-format bets on organised luxury home retail.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The surging shares of US chipmakers such as Intel and Micron point to a deeper shift in artificial intelligence (AI). First, the narrative is moving from a speculative buzz around AI models to hard spending on the infrastructure that powers them. Second, big money is flowing into computing power and memory, the choke points of the AI economy.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India is tapping alternate trade routes to facilitate movement of cargoes—exports as well as energy imports—moving shipping lines at some of the West Asian ports not affected by the Strait of Hormuz blockade amid the ongoing US-Iran war, said a government official on Wednesday.Speaking to reporters, Opesh Kumar Sharma, director in the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways, said India and West Asian countries are taking these options to ensure least interruption in trade between the Gulf region and India, including fuel shipments, at a time when the Strait of Hormuz, a key channel for 20% of global oil and gas trade, remains largely closed.Alternate shipping services have been operationalized in the backdrop of the West Asia crisis, he said, with shipping lines including CMA CGM (Compagnie Maritime d'Affrètement - Compagnie Générale Maritime), Unifeeder and AP Moller-Maersk connecting Indian ports such as Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority, Mundra and Hazira to Sohar (Oman), Fujairah (UAE), and Khorfakkan (UAE) in West Asia."So, there are many places which have been activated. The cargo is moving,” he said.The industry and the government have noted issues related to trade routes, and the reduction in congestion at the ports indicated “normalization”, Sharma said.West Asia and North Africa (Wana) is a key region for India for energy imports and non-oil exports.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: The government’s subsidy spending has already reached 91% of the revised estimate for financial year 2026 in the first 11 months, highlighting sustained strain from welfare commitments that is unlikely to ease soon, as the West Asia war fuels cost pressures in the economy.According to the Department of Expenditure data, reviewed by Mint, total expenditure on major subsidies including food and fertilizers stood at ₹3.89 trillion during April–February, against the revised estimate of ₹4.29 trillion. The department is still collating the final month's figure.The subsidy spending is higher than ₹3.63 trillion recorded in the same period of FY25.Despite higher subsidy spending, the fiscal deficit moderated to ₹12.52 trillion during April–February FY26, lower than the ₹13.46 trillion in the same period last year, the ministry data showed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: Demand for beer in India is holding up, but for United Breweries Ltd, rising costs and delayed pricing are squeezing margins.The Heineken NV-controlled maker of Kingfisher beer reported a weaker-than-expected performance for fiscal year 2026 (FY26), with revenue and profit declining even as volumes showed some resilience. A fresh wave of input cost inflation, particularly in packaging, alongside supply disruptions linked to the West Asia conflict, is driving the pressure in India’s tightly regulated beer market.Revenue from operations fell 10% to ₹1,746.3 crore in FY26 from ₹1,940.8 crore a year earlier, according to exchange filings, while profit declined 6.6% to ₹413.4 crore.For the quarter ended 31 March (Q4FY26), revenue was largely flat at ₹440 crore versus ₹442.7 crore a year earlier, while profit rose to ₹101.8 crore from ₹97.7 crore.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: Xiaomi once sold one in every four smartphones in India. By 2025, it had fallen out of the country’s top five brands.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: The Centre's reliance on small savings to finance its budget deficit increased in the previous financial year, with collections under the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) rising to ₹2.19 trillion in the 11 months to February 2026, said two government officials aware of the matter.The overall mobilization from these long-term, lock-in-based savings schemes such as Public Provident Fund (PPF), National Savings Certificate (NSC), and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana helped reduce pressure on market borrowing, even though monthly inflows remained uneven, the officials cited earlier said on the condition of anonymity.According to department of expenditure data reviewed by Mint, NSSF collections during the first 11 months of FY26 were nearly ₹30,000 crore higher than ₹1.89 trillion recorded in the same period of FY25.

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.New Delhi: India is set to implement a new framework for fire and life safety across all healthcare facilities, moving beyond general building codes to address the specific vulnerabilities of patients and critical care units.The ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) has released a comprehensive manual titled “National Guidelines on Fire and Life Safety in Healthcare Facilities (2026)” in the backdrop of recurring tragedies that highlight systemic safety failures in Indian healthcare.The manual provides a technical and operational roadmap to identify high-risk zones such as ICUs, operation theatres, and oxygen storage areas for targeted interventions. Under these guidelines, all major structural elements in new hospitals must be non-combustible, and existing buildings must maintain compartmentation to limit the spread of fire and smoke.The updated framework responds to a history of tragic incidents where electrical faults—specifically short circuits and malfunctioning equipment—were identified as the primary cause of hospital fires, exacerbated by high oxygen concentrations and limited patient mobility.In 2021, an oxygen leak at Dr.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: Ather Energy Ltd is moving closer to breakeven as rapid scale-up in volumes and an aggressive expansion of its retail network offset persistent commodity cost pressures, even as the electric two-wheeler maker continues to operate with narrow margins.The Bengaluru-based company saw its net loss narrow to ₹517 crore in fiscal year 2026 (FY26) from ₹812 crore a year earlier, aided by a 16.3 percentage point improvement in earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) margin to -6.7%.Revenue rose 66% to ₹3,823 crore, driven by a 69% jump in volumes to 263,000 units. The company said store expansion and product-led demand were key drivers of growth, with distribution emerging as a central lever in FY26.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Poriborton (meaning change in Bengali) was the big call across West Bengal, and poriborton it was when the final results emerged on Monday.The Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to register a watershed win in the 294-member assembly to unseat the ruling Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) and end a 15-year rule.As of 5.30 pm, BJP had a vote share of 45.4% and had won or was leading in 202 of the 293 seats for which results are available. It was largely a binary contest, and the other parties, like the Indian National Congress (INC) and Communist parties, barely registered a presence in seats.In the 2021 assembly polls, the BJP had emerged as the leading opposition party with 77 seats and around 38% vote share, up from a mere three seats and 10% vote share in 2016.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Situated 33 kilometers from the busy streets of Pune is Chakan, home to automobile manufacturers and their suppliers. One company in this area is electric bus maker Eka Mobility.