India Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.There has been growing awareness about credit cards in India, but the number of users still remains low, with 118.6 million credit cards issued as of end-March, a penetration of only 8.5%. This is because of strict credit appraisal processes that leave a large segment of the population underserved.In such a scenario, customers can opt for a secured or fixed deposit (FD)-backed credit card instead of the ubiquitous unsecured card.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Foreign investors have spent much of this year cutting exposure to Indian equities, diverting some capital to Taiwan and South Korea amid an AI-driven rally and robust semiconductor earnings. However, recent selling in those East Asian markets has brought the conversation surrounding foreign flows back to India.According to Bloomberg data, Foreign portfolio investors have pulled nearly $23.4 billion from Indian equitiesso far this year, driven by stretched valuations, rupee weakness and softer earnings growth expectations.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: India’s listed electronics manufacturers are under pressure to defend profitability as the mobile-phone assembly boom slows, prompting a shift towards higher-value industrial electronics.Investors remained jittery through the last fiscal, driven by concerns that slowing consumer sentiment could weigh on the rapid growth that electronics manufacturing services (EMS) firms have delivered so far.In an interview with Mint, Jasbir Singh Gujral, managing director of Syrma SGS Technology Ltd, India’s second-largest listed EMS firm, said, “We’re increasingly looking to capture a larger chunk of contracts from defence, aerospace and med-tech verticals, all of which represent opportunities for original design manufacturing, and also bring significantly higher margins. We’ve already started this transition, and we plan to do more of it this fiscal.”Beyond mobile phones and laptops, EMS firms are expanding into smart metres for electricity boards, aerospace and defence subsystems, railway safety instrumentation, printed circuit boards and display assemblies, and medical devices deployed in hospitals.India’s annual mobile phone shipments have remained subdued since the covid-19 pandemic, with industry estimates pointing to a single-digit decline this calendar year from 152 million smartphones shipped last year.The margin pressure driving this shift is increasingly visible.In FY26, Syrma SGS reported an operating margin of 7.1%, up 2.3 percentage points.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Forensic audits have gained significance in today’s world of business as they serve as a useful tool for commercial lenders to investigate fraud by borrowers and/or identify other deep-seated financial irregularities. Forensic auditors are also employed by resolution professionals to report on preferential, undervalued, fraudulent and extortionate (‘PUFE’) transactions for adjudication under India’s Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). While there is no single universal definition, several globally recognized organizations have provided widely accepted definitions (and norms) of forensic auditing.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.With global video-on-demand platforms streaming largely identical titles across markets, India-specific edits to international programming have drawn renewed attention after viewer backlash over The Boys on Amazon Prime Video. The latest season of the American series has triggered criticism on social media over censored dialogue and visuals, highlighting how global content is often altered before reaching Indian audiences, and how that gap is increasingly visible to subscribers.In The Boys, religious references were reportedly sanitized, while certain visuals, including religious idols and sexual content, were blurred or cut to comply with India’s broadcast standards.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Oil marketing companies’ (OMCs) strong March-quarter (Q4FY26) results hide the heavy losses they are incurring due to higher crude oil prices. Brent crude now trades over $100 per barrel, up from about $70 per barrel before the West Asia war began.Efforts to soften the blow are still not enough to cushion the impact of crude price surge.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Policy formulation will see challenges mount in 2026-27 as the effects of the West Asia war unsettle India’s growth picture. The high price of oil has exposed its vulnerability, with the reverberations of every policy action or non-action likely to influence other parts of the economy.Let’s start with monetary policy first. The regime of low interest rates is over and the decision that India’s central bank must take is when—and by how much—to raise its repo rate.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India’s electric-bus rollout under two central government schemes is nearing completion, with Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi accounting for the largest share of allocations, while Uttar Pradesh received no buses and Bihar was allotted 400, according to parliamentary data analysed by Mint.As much as 98% of the buses planned under the PM E-Drive and PM E-bus Sewa programmes have now been tendered, the data showed, effectively bringing the government’s push to electrify state-run bus fleets into its final phase and shaping how electric buses will enter urban transport over the next decade under long-term contracts.Data on the e-buses tendered under the PM E-Drive by the ministry of heavy industries and the PM E-bus Sewa by the ministry of housing and urban affairs showed Karnataka (5,250 e-buses), Maharashtra (4,109 e-buses), and Delhi (2,800 e-buses) leading the chart.The country's most populous state Uttar Pradesh did not win any busesunder the schemes while Bihar won only 400 buses. The contribution of these states is important to note given their large population and high dependence on public transport.Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu all have received only 50 e-buses each, with Ladakh receiving 48, and Andaman & Nicobar getting 45, the data showed.Tenders under these central schemes assume importance as these state-run buses will ply on Indian roads for at least the next decade, since these are long-term contracts.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Most of us grew up seeing conservation at home—saving water, switching off what we did not need, repairing rather than discarding things and treating resources with quiet respect. We never called it ‘sustainability.’ It was common sense, passed down by elders, absorbed without effort and practised without announcement.In today’s global environment, that common sense is not just a virtue but a practical national strength. That is why I read the Prime Minister’s recent seven-point appeal as a timely reminder and not as a signal of panic.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Indian FMCG products might get costlier on account of the war in West Asia as companies use up their buffer raw material stocks and shipments of key ingredients, including crude oil and oil-derived products, slow down because of global tensions, experts said.Persistent crude oil-linked inflation could keep companies cautious on pricing, margins and expansion plans. As inflationary pressures build, consumers are expected to cut back on discretionary spending and reduce shopping frequency.“People will start to look at value for money often.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Travel fintech startup Scapia has raised $63 million in a fresh funding round led by General Catalyst, with continued participation from existing investors Peak XV Partners and Z47."We're still very young and very small in terms of the largeness of India. There's a large opportunity to scale the business into a larger customer base," said Anil Goteti, founder and chief executive of Scapia in a conversation with Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.K Hospitality Corp, which operates restaurant brands such as Copper Chimney and Bombay Brasserie, has launched Kliff Ventures — a strategic investment platform with a corpus of ₹200 crore to invest in early-stage consumer retail brands, a top executive at the company said.“Over the last five decades, we have seen the evolution of consumers, their eating habits and the multiple shifts that have taken place. The timing of this fund is closely linked to how the market has evolved and the enormous opportunity that the consumer sector in India presents,” said executive director Karan Kapur in an interview with Mint.The fund, which aims to selectively deploy capital across 5-6 investments, will focus on partnering with and scaling companies in food & beverage, retail, consumer services and allied sectors.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has put out a draft amendment to its earlier directions on prudential norms for the capital adequacy of commercial banks. It deals with Pillar 3 (disclosure requirements) of the Basel III framework, adopted by RBI in 2013.The rationale, according to the central bank, is to ensure greater consistency with that framework, as prescribed by the Bank for International Settlements, the global collective of central banks.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Should India tighten capital controls in response to its dollar crunch? Not unless the country faces a dire emergency. That’s a key lesson from the ‘taper tantrum’ crisis of 2013.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: The Centre is weighing an emergency, one-time increase in prices of around 300 essential medicines as the West Asia war disrupts supplies of petrochemical-based pharmaceutical inputs and drives up manufacturing costs, according to two government officials and two industry executives.The increase, which is being discussed between the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), and the commerce ministry, would be rolled back once supply chains stabilize, they said.The medicines under discussion include antibiotics and anti-infectives (amoxicillin, azithromycin), cardiac drugs (amlodipine, atorvastatin), and analgesics (paracetamol), besides other essential and life-saving formulations such as steroids (dexamethasone) and vitamins (ascorbic acid) that are dependent on imported active pharmaceutical ingredients and petrochemical-based solvents.“A proposal has come from the industry to the government regarding this pricing, and the government is reviewing the matter,” one of the two officials cited above said, requesting anonymity.“Indian Drugs Manufacturing Association (IDMA) is in dialogue with the government for getting some temporary relief under Drugs Prices Control Order (DPCO), in order to ensure a balance between the industry concerns and patients’ needs,” said Dr.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai/Bengaluru: A ₹6,700-crore windfall from the listing of Tata Capital last October will help Tata Sons offset an over 10% decline in dividend income from its listed companies, helping the holding company end FY26 with its overall revenue higher than the previous year. The one-off boost comes as Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, the majority shareholder in Tata Sons, raised concern over mounting losses in newer businesses that continue to consume significant funding.Tata Trusts, worried over ballooning losses, has sought clarity on Tata Sons chairman N.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India is looking to accelerate its government fleet electrification programme via its clean energy agency to central ministries, state governments, public sector banks, and autonomous bodies—widening a drive that has so far hardly made a dent in a vehicle fleet of over 800,000 units.Led by the Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), a central clean energy agency, the expansion plan will offer state governments and public sector undertakings (PSUs) a leasing-based 'EV as a Service' model that eliminates purchase costs and provides charging infrastructure and maintenance. The model, launched in 2024, will help circumvent the two big barriers to fleet electrification: high capital outlay and logistical complexity.“CESL is also reaching out to public sector banks, central/state governments, PSUs, autonomous bodies, etc., to align with the government’s larger vision of reducing fossil fuel dependence, lowering operational fuel costs and accelerating clean mobility adoption across public institutions,” a CESL spokesperson told Mint.The move comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for increased use of electric vehicles (EVs), and as the finance ministry directed all public sector banks, insurance companies and financial institutions to switch to EVs as part of an austerity programme.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India is gearing up for one of its largest offshore oil and gas exploration campaigns in recent years.The government has planned extensive geological surveys across multiple eastern offshore basins.The timing is no coincidence. India still sources nearly 85% of its crude oil from overseas, along with a significant chunk of its natural gas needs.That dependence leaves the economy exposed; any spike in global crude prices, geopolitical flare-up, or supply disruption abroad quickly feeds into higher fuel costs and inflation at home.According to media reports, survey ships are expected to soon begin scanning vast stretches of the Bay of Bengal and nearby offshore regions to hunt for commercially viable hydrocarbon reserves buried beneath the seabed.The government has floated bids for a large-scale multi-basin exploration project covering the Bengal-Purnea, Mahanadi, Krishna-Godavari, Cauvery, and Andaman offshore basins—all using advanced 2D Broadband Marine Seismic and Gravity-Magnetic surveys.The scale is striking.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.American hospitality chain Marriott International is betting on a surge in outbound Indian travellers despite temporary disruptions from the West Asia war and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for austerity, with this growth likely to reshape customer loyalty programmes that reward customers with points and perks for repeat stays.The company said loyalty-conscious Indian travellers are increasingly driving demand across Southeast and East Asia, and now expect far more from hotel loyalty programmes than simple earn-and-burn on room nights, including upgrades and experiences beyond stays.“We’re seeing Indian travellers explode into Southeast Asia -- not just Thailand -- but in every destination, from Bali to Japan to South Korea, this summer,” said John Toomey, chief commercial officer for Asia Pacific (excluding Greater China) for Marriott International. He attributed part of the growth to rising air connectivity, led by IndiGo and Air India.The hospitality chain expects travel demand to remain strong through the summer months, with a significant jump in June and July compared to the same time last year.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Urban India appears to be going through a parenting revolution. Only one in five persons interviewed in a recent Mint survey said they believe in raising their kids similar to how their own parents raised them.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: India’s microfinance institutions (MFIs) are returning to growth mode after almost two years of sector-wide stress, but management commentary indicates the recovery will be measured and cautious as these lenders grapple with geopolitical uncertainty, inflation risks and a structurally altered lending environment.CreditAccess Grameen Ltd, Spandana Sphoorty Financial Ltd and Satin Creditcare Network Ltd suggested that collection efficiency and asset quality have improved materially, aided by stricter underwriting norms and guardrails introduced after the recent microfinance crisis.“The sector is healing,” H.P. Singh, chairman and managing director of Satin Creditcare, said during the company’s Q4 earnings call on 12 May.Portfolios at risk (PAR), a percentage measure of overdue loans by number of days, have declined in the sector.