India Financial News

Millions of girls fall out of India’s education system after school, simply because there is no safe and affordable place for them to live near college. To plug this gap, the Centre is weighing a national programme to build girls’ hostels in districts with an outlay of about ₹10,000 crore in the upcoming Union budget, according to two government officials aware of the matter.The first official said, requesting anonymity, that the proposal envisages at least one dedicated hostel for girl students in each of India’s 806 districts over the next five years.The hostels will be standalone and not connected to any institution, and they will likely be built at district headquarters, near clusters of colleges and universities.

Data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (Fada) data released on Tuesday showed EV penetration grew for two consecutive months after a dip in October, leading to fears that New Delhi’s move to cut tax on ICE vehicles could hurt EV penetration in the long run, as the fossil-fuelled ones were already much cheaper in the price-sensitive Indian market.“Electric vehicle sales are here to stay. There was softening in the last few months, but penetration levels have grown in 2025.

Why it’s recommended: Strong digital engineering and cloud-led revenue mix, consistent earnings growth with healthy margins, rising deal wins, and an improving order pipeline, strong client diversification across industries and geographies, and a healthy balance sheet with low debt levels.Key metrics: P/E: 64.91 | 52-week high: ₹6,599 | Volume: ₹409.23 croreTechnical analysis: Cup-with-handle breakoutRisk factors: Dependence on global IT spending cycles, pricing pressure from large IT peers and niche players, client concentration risk in key accounts, talent attrition and wage inflation impacting margins, and currency volatility affecting overseas revenues.Buy: ₹6,420-6,480Target price: ₹7,100 in two to three monthsStop loss: ₹6,100Why it’s recommended: Strong presence in chronic therapy segments, consistent earnings and cash flow generation, improving India formulations growth, a healthy product pipeline with regular launches, and a stable balance sheet with manageable debt.Key metrics: P/E: 65.98 | 52-week high: ₹4,104.80 | Volume: ₹361.85 croreTechnical analysis: Flat base breakoutRisk factors: Pricing pressure in the U.S. generics market, regulatory risks from the US FDA inspections, dependence on key molecules and markets, rising input and compliance costs, and currency volatility impacting margins.Buy at: ₹4,070-4,100Target price: ₹4,600 in two to three monthsStop loss: ₹3,820Indian equities ended marginally lower on Tuesday after a volatile session, with Nifty 50 slipping 0.14% to close at 26,140.75.

Coal India Ltd’s (CIL's) key subsidiary Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) is set to launch the first mainboard initial public offering (IPO) of 2026, marking an important step in the government-owned miner’s long-planned monetization strategy.BCCL, incorporated in 1972, is India’s largest producer of coking coal and plays a strategic role in CIL’s portfolio. The company has an estimated 7.91 billion tonnes of reserves as of 1 April 2024, making it one of the country’s biggest holders of coking coal resources.

India’s telecom regulator has ramped up penalties on operators, but its crusade to improve service quality, compliance and contain spam is stalling. Hamstrung by limited powers and litigation, 97% of these fines have gone unpaid.The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) imposed penalties worth ₹45 crore in the fiscal ended March 2025 (FY25), according to data flagged by the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG's) audit of the regulator’s financial statements.

Stock market recap: Frontline indices, the Sensex and the Nifty 50, declined for the third consecutive session on Wednesday, 7 January, amid mixed global cues. The Sensex dropped 102 points, or 0.12%, to end at 84,961.14, while the Nifty 50 settled at 26,140.75, down 38 points, or 0.14%. The mid and small-cap indices outperformed.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected]: After a slew of big insurance reforms since the end of 2024, India's insurance sector is hoping for an uneventful year ahead that would give industry participants time to adapt to the policy changes, and get back on the growth track.The past year saw the impact of the policy surrender value norms introduced in 2024-end.

New Delhi: Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) plans to launch its initial public offering by the end of 2026, according to its top executive.The IPO would largely be an offer for sale (OFS) for 22% stake by promoter Indian Energy Exchange Ltd, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Rajesh Mediratta told reporters on Wednesday. “The merchant bankers are yet to be appointed for the sale process.”IEX currently holds 47% and NSE owns 26% of IGX, while other minority shareholders include GAIL India Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

₹183.75 apiece on the BSE on Wednesday.Tata Steel, through its Canadian subsidiary, owns iron ore assets in the Labrador and Northern Quebec regions of the country. In FY225, Tata Steel had an iron ore production of 40.5 million tonnes in India, and 3 million tonnes in Canada.

₹20,000 crore that have slowed highway development in the country.The pre-conciliation committee, set up by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), will attempt to resolve disputes valued under ₹5 crore between highway contractors and government authorities before they snowball into prolonged legal battles, according to two government officials aware of the development.The development assumes significance given that these small-value disputes account for a fifth of the nearly ₹1 trillion legal claims in road and highway construction that the government has been party to over the past decade. Also, there are documented cases of sub- ₹1 crore road payment disputes where contractors had to wait for 6-7 years for resolution.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proposed a uniform 30-day lag for exchanges to share market data with trading academies and for academies to use such data in their teaching materials after receiving feedback from the industry. Two previous circulars had sparked confusion about whether these academies could use one-day-old or three-month-old market data.In a consultation paper released on Tuesday, the regulator suggested that stock exchanges provide market data for educational purposes only after a 30-day delay, and that trading academies limit their training materials to 30-day-old data.Mint explains why such time lags for sharing and using market data exist, why a delicate balance is needed, and why Sebi decided to change them now.In May 2024, Sebi restricted exchanges from sharing live market data such as prices, volumes and so on for trading and related activities, while allowing a one-day lag in the dissemination of such data for education and awareness.Then in January 2025, Sebi said educational institutions could only use three-month-old data in their teaching sessions.

₹12 lakh, increasing disposable incomes at the hand of consumers.On the monetary policy front, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has delivered a massive 125 basis points (bps) reduction in interest rates over the past 12 months, which is expected to boost liquidity in the market through higher spending in rate-sensitive segments, such as banking, real estate and consumer durables.“Policy measures implemented during the year, including tax and interest rate reductions, are beginning to yield positive results, which are expected to translate into stronger earnings growth for domestic economy-oriented sectors in 2026,” Yogesh Patil, chief investment officer, equity, LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management (LIC MF), told Mint. The strength of India’s macroeconomic fundamentals, coupled with the expected benefits of recent policy moves, has made this optimism the near-consensus view on the Street.“We expect festive demand momentum in Q3 results to bring calm to the market as we enter 2026.

: As tax hikes in major states and last year’s slowdown in middle-class consumption hurt mass alcohol brands that were the strength of the industry, Allied Blenders and Distilleries Ltd is homing in on premium customers.In March, the Mumbai-based distiller launched a premium and luxury spirits subsidiary, ABD Maestro, in partnership with Hindi film actor Ranveer Singh. The company is expecting to close FY26 with a revenue of ₹100 crore annualized run rate (ARR) and aims to double that in the next financial year, Alok Gupta, Allied Blenders’ managing director, told Mint in an interview.ABD Maestro is home to Allied Blenders’ premium brands, including small batch gin brands Zoya and Pumori, vodka brand Rangeela, and Yello, a whiskey the company launched just last month.“What we have been working on is to figure out what the forward consumption is, where the consumer is likely to go in the sipping and cocktails terrain,” Gupta said.

software-as-a-solution (SaaS)-like model of recurring subscriptions.“Procurement and financial approvals still lean heavily towards hardware acquisitions,” said Ankit Mehta, co-founder of ideaForge. While annual maintenance contracts are the bread and butter for hardware makers, software is the expected add-on, at least for the time being.

Shares of Indian oil companies have been volatile over the past three days, after the US removed the president of Venezuela through a military intervention over the weekend. While Indian state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) Indian Oil Corp.

retirement age defined by the organisation overrides the option of exit after completion of 15 years,” said Sumit Shukla, MD and CEO, Axis Pension Fund.The main hesitation towards NPS was the lock-in until 60 years of age and the minimum 40% annuity. “Now, both have been considerably eased.

There’s more to dense fog conditions than pollution and flight cancellations. There’s also the risk of power outages.In fact, a perfect storm may be brewing across several parts of north and central India, where a rain-deficient winter, dense fog conditions and atmospheric pollution have raised concerns over the tripping of power transmission lines, said three people aware of the outage concerns in India’s power system.Fog increases moisture on power transmission lines, allowing pollutants in the air to settle on their surface.

Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) signals a gradual consumption recovery over the next few quarters, with improving demand conditions in the December quarter (Q3FY26). Easing inflation and a better affordability after the goods and services tax rate rationalization would aid revival.In its Q3FY26 pre-quarterly update, GCPL stated that consolidated revenue (in rupee terms) would be close to double digits, driven by double-digit volume growth in the India business.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected]: Despite equity markets remaining muted, systematic investment plans (SIPs) are set to drive the retail mutual fund assets under management (AUM) next year, with most of the flows expected to go towards hybrid and multi-asset schemes.Within equity and hybrid mutual funds, 27% of the assets under management are contributed by retail investors, who are defined as those investing less than ₹2 lakh.

Unlike Charles Dickens’ fabled expression, it isn’t the best or worst of times for us in India; we have seen better and we have seen worse. Inspired, however, by the title of the celebrated work from which these lines are taken, I am going to tell a tale—not of two cities, but of two disruptions, both of which arrived on India’s scene with a bang, promising the consumer escape from mediocrity and even delivering on that promise for a while.This is a tale of IndiGo in aviation and Vodafone in telecom. Both injected competition into sectors long accustomed to limited choice and uneven service.

. While the fear gauge still hovers near 10, January is shaping up to be a month of heightened volatility, suggesting that market swings could intensify as budget day approaches. The Union budget is likely to be tabled on 1 February this year.Historically, the India Vix edges higher ahead of the Union budget as investors price in uncertainty around policy decisions and spending priorities.