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luxury brands to take note. Industry insiders said Hyderabad is now snapping at the heels of Delhi and Mumbai and is a market to watch out for. «In 2012, we had only three entrants from Hyderabad on the Hurun Rich list. Fast forward to 2023, and that number has surged to 87,” said Anas Rahman Junaid, founder and chief researcher, Hurun India.

BJP's state executive meeting in Lucknow on Sunday, the party passed a resolution stating that it could not get win on the expected lines in the 2024 LS polls in Uttar Pradesh because of false propaganda spread by the opposition against it on issues like ending reservation and making changes in the Constitution. The BJP reiterated that the party is committed to ensuring reservation for the OBCs, SCs and STs. The party felt that its workers must unite with greater strength. The BJP held the first major meeting of the UP unit to discuss the reasons for its performance which was below its expectations in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls where the BJP bagged only 33 seats, down from 62 it had won in 2019.

Raymond Lifestyle (RLL), the demerged entity of the ₹9,286-crore conglomerate Raymond, has appointed some top executives of India Inc as independent directors ahead of a possible listing next month. Vineet Nayar, former chief executive of HCL Technologies, GC Chaturvedi, former chairman of ICICI, Anisha Motwani, board member of Abbott, and Raymond director Dinesh Lal have been appointed as independent directors. The appointments were made earlier this month, people aware of the development told ET.

Tata Group is in favour of continuity at the top management level of Air India (AI) after its merger with Vistara. All the top executives of Air India are likely to hold their positions after the merger, people aware of the matter said. While Campbell Wilson will remain its chief executive, Nipun Aggarwal and Sanjay Sharma are set to retain their roles as chief commercial and transformation officer and chief financial officer, respectively. Vistara CEO Vinod Kannan is likely to return to his parent company, Singapore Airlines (SIA), people aware of the development said. Kannan was on secondment to Vistara since 2019 when he joined the Tata Sons-SIA joint venture as its chief strategy officer. SIA had the right to name the CEO at Vistara, while the Tata Group appointed its finance chief.

import duties, flagging dumping of chemicals from China. Crop Care Federation of India, which represents key players in the agrochemical sector, has sought an increase in import tariffs, currently at about 7.5%. «The government should raise import tariffs by 7.5% counteracting Chinese predatory pricing and monopolistic practices with targeted tariff,» said Harish Mehta, senior advisor, Cropcare Federation of India, adding that this will safeguard the chemical industry, which is a key contributor to the nation's GDP and exports. An increase between 5% and 7.5% in tariffs will go a long way towards levelling the playing field on the price front for domestic players, it suggested. The industry in its representation has pointed out that the Indian chemicals sector was trade surplus as recently as 2020-21 but reported a $17 billion trade deficit in FY23, arguing that predatory trade practices by foreign players, notably from China are largely behind this swing. As per industry estimates, the global chemicals industry is already worth $5,000 billion and India's share is small, valued at $220 billion in 2022. Industry in its representation has also made a case to fast-track trade remedy measures including making BIS standards mandatory in specialty chemicals and agrochemicals by line ministries along with need to expedite regulatory approvals by respective ministries (agriculture, health, environment) with preference for domestic manufacturing projects.

Vanuatu on the map. He had never been there; probably, he never would. Until the other day, he had not heard about the country. Vanuatu sounded like a mystery land in a ‘guess the country’ game. Nonetheless, he and his wife are citizens of Vanuatu — an island nation in the South Pacific that few Indians knew two years ago. Today, many do. Vanuatu has emerged as the quickest and cheapest avenue to switch citizenship, grab a new passport. Competing with Cyprus and Malta — which are more expensive and time-consuming options — Vanuatu is among the very few countries where one can become a citizen without ever visiting it. FIRST SPEND A YEAR IN UAE

Consumer spending on mobile services in India slumped sequentially in the fourth quarter of FY24, which was reflected in lower revenues for telecom operators from their postpaid services business as well as reduced payouts for data services, according to an assessment collated by the telecom regulator. User spending on mobile services (post-GST) rose a modest 1.4% sequentially to about Rs 55,524.5 crore in the fourth quarter of FY24 — 44% lower than the 2.5% sequential growth clocked in the third quarter of FY24 — as per latest sector performance data issued by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. According to analysts, the sequential dip in postpaid service revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter was caused by rising sales of low-value M2M (machine-to-machine) SIMs or 'connections'.

Gold and copper are two of the oldest metals known to humans. They have now acquired a new sheen. In the case of gold, uncertainty in the global economy and instability in geopolitics have sent the price of the precious metal, an investment of safe resort, soaring. In the case of copper, the ongoing energy transition and move to Industry 4.0, which are highly mineral-intensive, has seen demand grow impressively with an upward pressure on prices. India is heavily import-dependent for both metals, importing more than 95% of demand for each. GoI can dent this trend. Indeed, security of mineral supply chains is already emerging as a priority. India's goal as a manufacturing hub can only be realised if there is a security of raw materials. So far, GoI has pursued a strategy of looking for resources overseas. It can look at home as well.

Union budget round the corner, it's customary to discuss fiscal prudence and consolidation. But it's also the right time to talk about the need for policy changes, especially those that can unshackle the agriculture sector. First, a word of caution for votaries of minimum support price (MSP) as the primary tool of making the agriculture sector work better. Total value of agricultural and allied output in India is about ₹56 tn, out of which share of food grain is only 17%. Out of this, GoI is able to procure through MSP only 6% of the total agri and allied output, though it has entailed an expenditure of ₹3.4 lakh cr in FY23. (Interestingly, GoI procures 92.8% and 73.6% of paddy produced by Punjab and Haryana, respectively. For wheat, these ratios are 72% and 56.6%, respectively.) Livestock at 31% tops the list, followed by vegetables, fruit and spices at 26%. Fishing and forestry produce corner 7% policy share each. So, it's a grave policy mistake to use MSP as the primary tool of price discovery in agriculture, not to mention as a political tool. Alternatively, the politics of 6% procurement clearly obfuscates a better deal for the 71%.

BJP unit after the Lok Sabha poll debacle in the state, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said "overconfidence" hurt the BJP's hopes in this year's elections. Addressing the BJP's UP working committee meeting here, Adityanath said while the BJP managed managed to maintain its vote share of previous elections, there was a «shifting of votes», and now the «defeated» opposition is «jumping around» again. The chief minister said, «Under the leadership of PM Modi, we had maintained constant pressure on the opposition in UP, achieving great success in 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2022 (national and state elections).» «The percentage of votes that BJP had in its favour in 2014 and subsequent elections, BJP has been successful in getting the same number of votes in 2024 as well, but shifting of votes and overconfidence have hurt our hopes,» he said.

Manish Malhotra and Tarun Tahiliani were the go-to designers for American reality TV stars and sisters Kim Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian who attended the grand wedding ceremony of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant in India. Anant, the youngest son of Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, on Friday married pharmaceutical heiress and childhood sweetheart Radhika at a star-studded event in Mumbai which saw the presence of celebrities from across the globe, politicians, who's who of Hindi and south Indian cinema world and almost all the top cricketers of the country. For their first visit to India, Kim (43) and Khloe (40) embraced the Indian style in true Manish Malhotra signature glamour, the celebrated fashion designer's label said. The Kardashians, who returned to the US on Sunday morning, chose custom-made creations by Manish Malhotra for the Friday nuptials.

2023 hit the Indian gaming industry like a never-ending blizzard, akin to a real-life rendition of Murphy’s Law — everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. First up, some states banned real money games (RMG) such as poker to prevent harm to children and young adults. It was followed by a policy flip-flop on permissible and non-permissible games, and finally, the imposition of a 28 per cent goods and services tax on the sector.

Virat Kohli and his wife Anushka Sharma settling in London have been around for some time. While most of Bollywood was seen letting their hair down at Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant’s wedding, the ace cricketer and the former actress was seen attending a kirtan in London. The power couple was seen listening attentively to a live performance by devotional song sensation Krishna Das Kirtan in London. In the video, Virat and Anushka are seen clapping and cheering during the bhajan, while American vocalist Krishna Das greets the audience with folded hands. The video was shared on the popular sub reddit Bolly Blinds Gossip. One Reddit user humorously commented with a famous line from Panchayat Season 3, «Kohli to Ambani: Kijiye wedding, kheliye wedding wedding, karte rahiye wedding wedding, alhua wedding.» Another fan observed, “They’re generationally securing ties for their future generations to reap benefits. Virat and Anushka I don’t think want power or even social capital. They just want to be wealthy private NRIs in the long run.”

State Bank of India (SBI) has hiked its benchmark marginal cost of fund based lending rate (MCLR) by 5 to 10 basis points in majority of tenures effective Monday. In an update on its website the country's largest lender said MCLR on one month to three years has been hiked by 5 to 10 basis points. One basis point is 0.01 percentage point. Following the hike, interest rates on loans linked to MCLR will likely go up by a similar quantum. The benchmark rate on one month MCLR has been hiked by 5 basis points to 8.35% while the three month MCLR has been hiked by 10 basis points to 8.40%.

new terminal of Pune international airport was operationalised on Sunday with passengers boarding flights to New Delhi and Odisha capital Bhubaneswar, an official said. Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and local MP Murlidhar Mohol handed over the first boarding pass to a flyer to mark the occasion. The new terminal was e-inaugurated along with several other airport projects nationwide by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from an event in Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh on March 10 this year.

air-conditioning industry, valued at around Rs 27,500 crore (USD 3.3 billion), is likely to double in the next four years, Blue Star has said in its annual report. The Indian HVAC&R (heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigerating) is poised for exponential growth, said Blue Star Chairman & Managing Director Vir S Advani. This growth would be driven by factors such as «low penetration» of room ACs and the burgeoning middle-class consumers with «high disposable incomes», especially from smaller Tier III, IV & V markets. «The Indian The overall AC industry (both residential and commercial), currently valued at around Rs 27,500 crore, is likely to double in the next four years,» Advani said in his address to the company's shareholders in the annual report for 2023-24.

Several other political figures also attended the ceremony, underscoring the significance of the event. Former President of India Ram Nath Kovind graced the occasion with his family.

Mukesh Ambani was seen getting emotional at the vidai (farewell) ceremony of his new daughter-in-law Radhika Merchant. Ambani’s younger son Anant exchanged vows with his fiancee on Friday. A video captured the newlyweds, Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant, walking slowly while the groom's father, Mukesh Ambani, stood beside them. The emotional bride greeted another person who handed her a silver lamp. Netizens praised the billionaire for openly expressing his emotions and devotion to his family. “I love Mukesh Ambani for exactly this reason. He shows emotions and treats his daughters-in-law with great love and respect,” wrote an Instagram user.

Sanju Samson's well-crafted fifty and Mukesh Kumar's disciplined spell helped India wind up their Zimbabwe tour with a comprehensive 42-run victory in the fifth and final T20I here on Sunday. With this win, India clinched the series 4-1. Samson's (58, 45b) was central to India's healthy 167 for six along with Shivam Dube's flashy 26 (12b). Then the India bowlers led by Mukesh (4/22), Shivam Dube (2/25) and Washington Sundar (1/7) did their job, bundling out Zimbabwe for 125 in 18.3 overs.

Narendra Modi has become the world's most followed leader on the social media platform 'X' with over 100 million followers. While comparing the followers of various Indian politicians on X, PM Modi stands out significantly in terms of numbers. The Leader of Opposition (LoP), Rahul Gandhi has 26.4 million followers, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has 27.5 million, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav has 19.9 million, and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has 7.4 million.

Union Budget on July 23 in Parliament, standard deduction to Rs 1 lakh and increasing tax break among others are some of the expectations for the comman man that consultancy firm KPMG expects. «There has been a significant rise in medical expenses, fuel costs and overall inflation. Keeping in mind the increase in personal expenditure it is popularly expected to enhance the standard deduction to Rs 1 lakh from the existing limit of Rs 50,000,» said the firm in a note. The Union Budget will be Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led coalition government's first major policy announcement after the 18th Lok Sabha polls.