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] India stands at a pivotal moment in its journey toward universal health coverage (UHC).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. 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].

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. An investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative. – Benjamin Graham, economist and financial investor Value investing is one of the best ways to build long-term wealth in the stock market.

To mark National Consumer Day on 24 December in honour of India’s Consumer Protection Act of 1986, the government has made “efficient and speedy disposal through digital justice” this year’s theme.It aims to highlight the consumer’s right to grievance redressal under that law’s 2020 update, which set up adjudicatory bodies at the district, state and national levels to look into disputes. Given the judiciary’s overload of cases, this expansion was welcome.This January saw the launch of e-Jagriti, a unified platform for online redressal that explains the 2025 theme’s digital aspect.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Kotak Mahindra Bank has built a reputation for taking long-term bets across a wide range of companies, including KFin Technologies, Pioneer Embroiderie, and Quadrant Televentures. But one investment stands apart, both for its timing and for what it has delivered over the years.

It is heartening that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to adopt a risk-based framework for deposit insurance to replace a one-size-fits-all one which does not distinguish between banks on the basis of their individual risk profiles. This decision was taken on Friday and it follows RBI’s monetary policy statement of October 2025, in which the central bank had proposed a model that abandons a flat premium rate in favour of payments that vary by risk—in this case, of a regular bank failing to meet its obligations to depositors. With this shift slated to come into effect from 2026-27, financially sound banks can expect to save on the price they pay.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Indian stock markets: Domestic frontline indices, Sensex and Nifty 50, ended flat on Tuesday, 23 December, on profit booking at higher levels, even as mid and small-cap segments ended with modest gains amid mixed global cues. The Sensex ended with a minor loss of 43 points, or 0.05%, at 85,524.84, while the Nifty 50 closed 5 points, or 0.02%, up at 26,177.15.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Some ideas look compelling on paper, but execution is a challenging task. A similar challenge is likely to surface in the Association of Mutual Funds in India’s (Amfi) plan to train one lakh postmen to sell mutual funds (MFs).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Stock market recap: Frontline indices, Sensex and the Nifty 50, ended flat on Tuesday, 23 December, on profit booking at higher levels, even as mid and small-cap segments ended with modest gains amid mixed global cues. The Sensex ended with a minor loss of 43 points, or 0.05%, at 85,524.84, while the Nifty 50 closed 5 points, or 0.02%, up at 26,177.15.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India, the world’s tea-drinking heartland and home to sprawling tea estates, is witnessing a shift in consumer tastes as its youngest consumers embrace Southeast Asian variants like boba and matcha. Boba tea, which originated in Taiwan, is a cold, milk-based beverage featuring tapioca pearls, while matcha is finely ground green tea powder, most commonly consumed as an iced latte.

Bajaj Auto Ltd is crafting a turnaround for KTM, its biggest acquisition, to boost profitability even as it loses market share in its home market.Pune-based Bajaj Auto will look to discontinue smaller brands under KTM, rejig core operations and unlock synergies between the supply chains of Bajaj and KTM to reduce costs, according to management commentary during the earnings call and meetings with analysts.“After the KTM acquisition, Bajaj Auto would now focus on the restructuring of the core operations. They would also look to leverage synergy benefits in manufacturing operations, the supply chain, and the distribution network,” analysts at Motilal Oswal wrote in a 15 December note after meeting Bajaj Auto's leadership team.A revival plan for KTM is aimed at bolstering its premium offerings, as its exports remain profitable, while India’s fourth-largest two-wheeler maker’s domestic market share continues to decline.Bajaj Auto acquired struggling motorcycle maker KTM for about €800 million.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : As scrutiny over train accidents mounts, the Centre is considering its biggest-ever outlay on rail safety, with allocations likely to cross ₹1.3 trillion in FY27, according to two people aware of the development. The proposed outlay, around 12% higher than the current year’s budget, would be directed towards maintaining rolling stock and critical infrastructure, including track renewals, and the rollout of India’s indigenous automatic train protection system—Kavach, one of the people said, requesting anonymity.

₹2,000 crore over the next three years to expand its battery recycling and critical minerals refining capacity, said co-founder and CEO Nitin Gupta.The company aims to scale up its rare earth recovery and recycling capacity in India to 100 tonne per day, from the current 1 tonne."Our (lithium ion) battery recycling capacity will increase to almost 300,000 tonne per annum from the current 17,000 tonne, almost 15 times the expansion," he said.Attero currently recovers rare earth elements from used permanent magnets and exports its recycled rare earth products. It recovers minerals such as neodymium and seramium that find end use in the permanent magnets in automotive and defence sectors.At a time when India is exploring ways to become self-reliant in critical minerals used in batteries, renewable energy components, defence and IT equipment, recycling of e-waste is increasingly seen as a major way to source these materials.India generates over 3.8 million tonne of e-waste annually.

My father’s father, my Dada, was born in Sarangarh and lived out his life there. Sarangarh was one of the least consequential of over 550 ‘princely states’ when the British left in 1947, and yet it was one of those that wanted to be independent. To negotiate with Sardar Patel the terms of equal coexistence with India, a three-member delegation was sent by the King of Sarangarh to Delhi that year.

Samsung’s India research & development (R&D) arm is the company’s most influential engineering team outside of its global headquarters in South Korea and alongside the US, a top company executive told Mint on Tuesday.According to Jong Bum Park, president and chief executive of Samsung Southwest Asia, Samsung’s India engineering operations account for the core development process of its second-largest revenue generator—smartphones. In fiscal year 2024 (FY24), Samsung generated $219 billion in revenue globally—of which 38% came from smartphones.The company’s semiconductor division, largely based out of the US and Korea, is its highest revenue generator.“The entire camera unit and its software for our flagship smartphones were developed and engineered entirely in India,” said Park in an interview.

Mint for a rare interview at his house near Mumbai’s Peddar Road—other residents in the area, also called the ‘billionaires row’, are Mukesh Ambani and Sajjan Jindal.Unlike the skyscrapers that dot the neighbourhood, Bangur’s home is a two-storeyed haveli called Mohini Mahal. Dressed in a fading lavender polo shirt and black, loose-fitting trousers, one would be forgiven for mistaking the septuagenarian businessman for a retired professor sharing his time-tested thesis with the three scribes. But under that mild demeanour hides one of the corporate sector’s shrewdest strategists.In a 90-minute conversation, Bangur spoke at length about his business philosophy and why Shree Cement—the third-largest cement maker by capacity in India—hasn’t joined the top two players in their inorganic expansion spree.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI: Millions of CNG and domestic PNG users across India could pay less for gas as the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) simplifies transportation tariffs under its “One Nation, One Grid, One Tariff" vision. The regulator has reduced the number of tariff zones from three to two—up to 300 km and beyond 300 km—aiming to lower regional disparities and align natural gas pricing with competitive fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or cooking gas, and petrol.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL)’s acquisition of South Africa-based Twizza (Pty) is less about shoring up near-term earnings and more about extending its growth runway beyond India. While the domestic business remains resilient, stiff competition is creating challenges.

MUMBAI: After spending nearly $10 billion over three years to build India’s second-largest cement business, the Adani Group is moving to simplify what has become a sprawling corporate structure.The board of Ambuja Cements Ltd, part of billionaire Gautam Adani’s conglomerate, late on Monday approved a plan to merge ACC Ltd and Orient Cement Ltd into Ambuja. Ambuja currently holds 50.05% in ACC and 72.66% in Orient.

HCL Technologies Ltd announced acquisitions for $400 million in the past week, the most spent on such transactions in three years, to strengthen its AI and data offerings for customers increasingly adopting automation.India’s third-largest IT services company said on Monday that it would spend more than $240 million to buy Jaspersoft, a US data analytics company. That day, HCL also said it would buy Wobby BV, a Belgian startup that provides AI agents for data analysis purposes.The company’s acquisition spree started on 18 December, when it said it would purchase the Telco Solutions business of Hewlett Packard Enterprise for $160 million.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. GE Vernova T&D India Ltd’s shares have risen about 8% after it announced a big-ticket order award from Adani Energy Solutions Ltd on Friday. The order pertains to the setting up of a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) substation for the evacuation of renewable energy from Khavda to Olpad in Gujarat.