India Financial News

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]. Mumbai: After plummeting over 6% in 2025 and breaching the psychologically-important 90-per-dollar mark, the Indian rupee is heading into 2026 carrying the weight of weak capital flows, global trade uncertainty and shifting central bank strategy.Yet, beneath the headline depreciation, economists and market participants said the outlook for the currency next year is far from one-way depreciation and hinges crucially on how the external sector evolves, especially India's trade deal with the US.At the heart of the debate is whether this year's weakness marks the start of a more prolonged downcycle or a painful, but necessary adjustment.“Typically, the rupee needs to depreciate to the extent of the interest rate differential between the US and India, but the reality is that the external front has been hit hard by US tariffs," Neeraj Gambhir, executive firector at Axis Bank said.

Best stocks to buy today (All Buy trades are rates of Equity & Sell rates are based on F&O)NMDC Ltd: Buy above ₹83 | Stop ₹80 target | ₹89 (multiday)Oberoi Realty Ltd: Buy above ₹1,690 | Stop ₹1,660 | Target ₹1,740 (intraday)LTIMindtree Ltd: Sell below ₹6,020 | Stop ₹6,110 | Target ₹5,850 (intraday)On December 26, 2025, Indian equities extended their losing streak as profit-booking and foreign fund outflows weighed on sentiment. Benchmark indices closed lower for the third straight session, with the Sensex slipping 367 points to 85,041 and the Nifty declining 99.8 points to 26,042, marking its second consecutive day of losses.

Stock market recap: The Indian stock market ended lower on Friday, 26 December, as investors stayed in selling mode amid a lack of fresh triggers and mixed global cues. The Sensex fell 367 points, or 0.43%, to 85,041.45, while the Nifty 50 dropped 100 points, or 0.38%, to 26,042.30.

₹7 crore and ₹10 crore, comparable with the price of a high-end apartment in South Delhi or South Mumbai. People are moving to these places for a relaxed pace of life. This is the reason for the 65% year-on-year rise in real estate prices in this sleepy, peaceful coastal province.Goa isn’t alone.

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] a year of testing the waters, India’s top law firms are heading into 2026 facing a decisive question: can artificial intelligence (AI) move from a promising pilot to everyday legal infrastructure? What began as cautious experimentation in 2025 is now shifting toward deeper, workflow-level integration, even as firms remain measured about governance, client confidentiality and the impact on pricing.

Even in a tough year, the Nifty has delivered 7–8% returns, Systematic Investment Plan flows remain strong, and this phase has been more of a time correction than a price correction, said Sunil Singhania, founder of Abakkus Asset Manager. As economic recovery gains pace, he is more optimistic about 2026 and 2027.While some markets, such as South Korea, have posted 60–70% gains in 2025, these gains reflect a catch-up after years of flat returns and are driven by just a handful of tech and AI stocks, making them vulnerable if the AI trade cools.

Mint had earlier reported that Adani TotalEnergies E-mobility Ltd, Reliance BP Mobility Ltd and JBM Group had signed non-disclosure agreements (NDA) for the proposed deal.“JBM Group has signed an exclusivity agreement for GLIDA and due diligence is ongoing,” said the first of the two persons cited earlier, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.JBM Group is drawn to GLIDA's 850 charging points across 29 cities and 25 highways in 17 states amid India’s green-mobility push that depends on the expansion of an effective EV charging network. JBM Group’s flagship firm JBM Auto Ltd is one of India’s largest electric bus manufacturers, with 1,500 EV charging sites.

Apple Inc. has notched another feat in India – fuelled by easy credit, cashbacks and aspirational Indians, the iPhone 16 is now the country’s highest-selling smartphone, eclipsing the most popular budget model from China’s Vivo.The iPhone 16 series, launched about 15 months ago, sold 6.5 million units in the first 11 months of 2025, according to data from Gurugram-based Counterpoint Research.

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] a year that saw initial public offerings (IPOs) eclipse other investment banking activity, cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) transactions gained traction and are expected to continue through next year, industry executives said.

New Delhi: India’s leading electric bus and truck makers are planning to ask for a one-year extension on exemptions to import rare earth magnet motors — that are critical for electric vehicles (EVs)—under a central government scheme, three executives directly aware of the development said.According to the executives, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, manufacturers may seek an import relaxation till March 2027 under the ₹10,900-crore PM-E Drive scheme.The earlier deadline for e-trucks and e-buses to switch to locally manufactured rare earth magnet motors was March 2026, which was in turn extended from 1 September 2025.The extension is being sought as supply disruptions persist in imports, while local production of rare earth magnets and alternative motor technologies is expected to take another one to two years.Manufacturers such as Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Eka Mobility and Montra Electric are deliberating on sending a request to the ministry of heavy industries (MHI) to extend the import deadline, the executives said.A formal outreach to the government is expected in the next few weeks.

₹2,000-crore technology upgradation scheme for small businesses in the 2026-27 budget, aimed at boosting the adoption of energy-efficient machinery, two people aware of the development said.The technology upgradation scheme, proposed by the Union ministry of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME), and currently under discussion, will cover MSMEs with annual turnover of less than ₹50 crore, offering them a 20% capital subsidy for purchase of energy-efficient machinery, smart manufacturing, and automation upgrades, said the first of the two persons cited earlier, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.A micro enterprise has an annual turnover of up to ₹5 crore, a small enterprise up to ₹50 crore, and a medium enterprise up to ₹500 crore.The plan comes amid several countries introducing their own carbon taxes on imports from nations with weaker climate regulations. The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) comes into effect from 1 January.

₹96,557 crore) in dividends and share buybacks and about $1.5 billion (around ₹14,000 crore) on acquisitions, Mint research showed. Earlier in FY22, the same companies spent about ₹27,000 crore on buyouts and gave ₹81,669 crore to shareholders.

pharmaceutical sector, a major global supplier of generic medicines.The revised Schedule M GMP had been earlier extended from the previous 1 January 2025 cutoff. The proposed extension for MSMEs, which have revenue of ₹250 crore or less, comes in the backdrop of less than a third of them submitting their upgrade plans, with the remaining units risking immediate closure and penalties.There are a total of 10,500 drug manufacturing units in India, of which 8,500 fall under the MSME category.

Fractal Analytics Ltd is likely to begin the book-building process for its ₹4,900 crore market debut as early as next week, two people directly aware of the matter said.India's first artificial intelligence unicorn, which received regulatory approval for launching its initial public offering (IPO) in November, is likely to file updated draft papers by mid-January 2026, one of the people quoted above said.The company has been meeting potential investors, both local and global, and has received investment commitments from several of them, the other person explained.Book building is a process where merchant bankers determine a price range within which investors can bid for shares in an IPO. The final price is determined after the bidding process is completed.A book-building process is also likely to help Fractal decide on its pre-IPO placement, the second person said.

New Delhi: Companies must recognize the impact of the new labour codes in their December-quarter profit and loss statements, even as a new financial reporting format and lower compliance requirements for unlisted subsidiaries are in the pipeline, according to the head of the accounting profession’s self-regulator.Businesses are required to reflect any additional gratuity liability arising from the labour codes upfront in their December-quarter results, Charanjot Singh Nanda, president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), said in an interview, citing a guidance note issued by the accounting rule-maker.The labour codes mandate that at least 50% of an employee's total remuneration must be treated as wages, the basis for gratuity calculation. This is expected to increase gratuity and leave benefit liabilities for many employers who currently compute gratuity on a smaller base because of allowances accounting for a larger share.The guidance note, reviewed by Mint, says that any increase in gratuity liability due to application of the new labour codes is ‘past service cost’ as it results in benefits payable.

With this acquisition, Coforge expects to earn $2 billion a year by the next fiscal year. All of this is in anticipation of AI and its benefits.Coforge, however, isn’t the only one.

The author is chief India economist and Asean economist at HSBC.Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.

the bill is probably necessary. Opening up the sector to greater foreign participation could bring capital, expertise, and competitive pressure.Reducing bureaucratic hurdles for share transfers and expanding the definition of intermediaries are sensible updates.

India Ageing Report 2023 projects that the number of persons aged 60 years and above would double from 149 million in 2023 to over 347 million (25% of the population) by 2050. The dependency ratio would grow from 16% in 2020 to 34% by 2050.This has profound social, political and economic implications.

₹10,300 crore ($1.15 billion) for supplying subsidized chips to startups or research centres for developing AI platforms that exclude the Western biases of existing models.This puny outlay, compared with other sovereign budgets (such as France’s $117 billion), is predicated on the hope of private capital pitching in.That might be slightly problematic, given India Inc’s reluctance to invest; a survey by EY India and Confederation of Indian Industry shows that over 95% of enterprises have earmarked less than 20% of their infotech budgets for AI.But the government’s year-end guidelines reveal an indulgent attitude towards the private sector in the name of innovation that may tempt many Indian companies to use artificial intelligence for shirking their after-sales service responsibilities. Many banks and consumer-facing companies have already replaced a human voice with under-developed, inefficient and untrained AI bots.

While the hikes appear modest when measured per kilometre, their impact is concentrated on sleeper and second-class passengers, who account for over 70% of railway travel in India and are typically from lower-income groups.Under the latest fare structure, fares on mail and express trains have risen by 2 paise per kilometre for both AC and non-AC classes. Second-class passengers on ordinary trains travelling more than 215 kilometre (km) will now pay an additional 1 paisa per km.The latest fare rationalisation is expected to generate additional revenue of around ₹600 crore for the Indian Railways in this fiscal year.The July revision had also raised mail/express fares by 2 paise per km for AC classes and 1 paisa per km for non-AC classes, while second-class ordinary passengers were charged 0.5 paise per km after the first 500 km.The cumulative impact of both revisions becomes more pronounced on longer routes.