India Financial News

UNICEF India on Saturday announced Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor Khan as its new National Ambassador. The «Crew» star, who has been associated with UNICEF India since 2014, will support the not-for-profit organisation in furthering every child's right to early childhood development, health, education and gender equality, a press release said. Kareena had earlier served as a Celebrity Advocate for UNICEF India. «There are few things as important as the rights of children, the future generation of this world. I am honoured to continue my association with UNICEF now as India's National Ambassador,» the 43-year-old actor said in a statement.

Bangalore Watch Company has announced it has successfully tested an Apogee wristwatch in Space in pursuit of what it called producing world-class watches that tell stories from modern India. The prototype watch completed a Stratospheric flight by travelling 114,000 feet (35 kilometers) into the Earth’s atmosphere and returned safely to Earth in full working condition, the company said in a press release. “We launched the Apogee collection in 2021 as a celebration of the Indian space program. Since then, the Apogee has taken the moniker of ‘the Indian space watch’. We didn’t want to stop at creating watches that were merely inspired by Space. We wanted to see if we could build them to be qualified and tested for space”, said Mercy Amalraj, co-founder of Bangalore Watch Company.

CBI) is expected to issue a blue-corner notice against Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna to get him to face the ongoing investigations into his alleged abuse of women and leaks of explicit videos. Blue collar notice authorises Interpol to collect information about a person's identity, location or activities related to a criminal investigation. Participating in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday to review the progress made in the investigations, the special investigation team (SIT) officials informed him about the possibility of the federal investigating agency issuing a blue-collar notice. Such a notice will help the SIT speed up investigations, they said. The SIT has already issued a look out notice for Revanna Jr. The police officers also told the CM that they would arrest Revanna Jr as soon as he arrived in any of the Indian airports.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said what is happening in poll-bound Canada over the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar is mostly due to their internal politics and nothing to do with India. Jaishankar said this while replying to a question on why Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is criticizing India. While interacting with senior journalists during a visit here, he also said the country needs a strong and active Prime Minister like Narendra Modi in order to bring further reforms in various sectors to make a «Viksit Bharat (developed India)». «India's image globally is now actually much much higher than it had been ever… Canada is an exception. You see the different country heads are praising Bharat and its Prime Minister,» the external affairs minister said.

Rahul Gandhi who was born with a «silver spoon», Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday. Addressing a campaign rally in Daman city in the Union Territory of Daman and Diu, Shah alleged the INDIA bloc robbed the quota meant for Dalits, tribals and backward classes and gave it to Muslims, whereas the BJP has always preserved and strengthened the reservation meant for SCs, STs and OBCs. He campaigned for BJP candidates for Daman and Diu as well as Dadra and Nagar Haveli Lok Sabha seats, which fall under the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. «In this election, you have two options. On the one side, you have Rahul Gandhi who was born with a silver spoon. On the other side, you have Modiji who was born to a family of a poor 'chaiwala',» said Shah.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans are preparing for an important match in the Indian Premier League as they compete for a win to revive their chances of making it to the playoffs. Both teams are at the bottom of the points table with six and eight points from 10 matches each, highlighting the importance of the upcoming match. Both RCB and GT understand the importance of winning to enhance their chances of making it to the playoffs amidst the recent challenges faced by Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals. With the IPL group stage nearing its end, each match holds the potential to determine the teams that will secure playoff berths in the highly competitive race. RCB comes into the match with momentum in their favor as they have won their last two games. Virat Kohli's consistent run-scoring has been crucial, and standout performances from players such as Will Jacks and Cameron Green have strengthened their team. Nevertheless, RCB's bowling department is still a worry, and they need to improve their line and length against GT's strong batting order.

Madras Regiment of the Indian Army, Lt Gen Manjinder Singh, performed a sacred ceremony at the Murugan Temple of its regimental centre, wearing a traditional 'veshti', according to a post on X shared by the Army's Training Command. During the ceremony, Lt Gen Singh sported his traditional Sikh turban and also wore wore a 'veshti', a traditional wear of south India. «On the occasion of 15th Reunion & 35th BBCC of the Madras Regiment, Lt Gen Manjinder Singh, AVSM, YSM, VSM, GOCinC, ARTRAC and COLONEL of the Madras Regiment in the best secular traditions of Indian Army performed the sacred Kumbhabhishekam ceremony at the Murugan Temple of the Madras Regimental Centre, Wellington on 01 May 2024,» the ARTRAC posted. «The ceremony was attended by the #Veterans and Serving Officers, JCOs & NCOs of the Madras Regiment,» it said.

Volkswagen has inaugurated a new store in the city under its expansion drive in the state, strengthening its retail presence in the country. With the setting up of a new outlet at Ambattur in the city, the total network for the automobile major stands at 26 sales and 20 service facilities in Tamil Nadu. «The Chennai Metropolitan area is one of the key markets for Volkswagen in India. In 2023, our Virtus was one of the highest-selling sedans in this market. With this inauguration of our newest touchpoint in Chennai, we are emphasising our commitment to the rising need for premium, safe, and reliable vehicles throughout India..», Volkswagen Passenger Cars India Brand Director Ashish Gupta said in a company statement on Saturday. The new store 'KUN Capital Motors' is headed by Director Arun Uppuswami and has a five-car display and 25 service bays, among others.

KKR is all set to acquire Healthium Medtech ( formerly Sutures India) from its current PE owners Apax Partners for Rs 7000 crore ($840 mn) enterprise value after a hotly contested three way race that also included a consortium of Mankind Pharma — ChrysCapital and Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholders of Danish drug major Novo Nordisk, said people aware. KKR and Apax have signed the binding agreement for the acquisition of Bengaluru based Healthium Medtech and likely to make a formal announcement as early as Monday, the people mentioned above added. Healthium is the largest manufacturer of surgical needles globally by volume. Moneycontrol was the first to report on Saturday that KKR was the highest bidder for Healthium.

Insolvency Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) declared 2023-24 as a landmark year, with the National Company Law Tribunal achieving a significant 43 per cent increase in resolutions, jumping from 189 cases last year to 270 this year. The IBBI is expected to submit a report to the government over the next 2-3 months for including «mediation» in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), which is currently under discussion and scrutiny. The regulator is also working on prepackaged insolvency for large corporate cases, which is only allowed in MSME cases as of now. For the first time in a year, the number of outputs has increased from the number of inputs, reducing the pendency across India, said Sudhaker Shukla, an IBBI whole-time member, while addressing the CII organised 7th Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code conclave.

The last trading day of the week saw the index swinging wildly. During the week, the Nifty oscillated in a 446.65 range before closing the week on a flat note. The benchmark Index posted minor weekly gains of 55.90 points (+0.25%).

Zakia Wardak has announced her decision to step down from her role at the Consulate and Embassy of Afghanistan in India. Wardak said that she has faced numerous «personal attacks and defamation» over the past year. The development comes after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence intercepted her over alleged attempts to smuggle gold from India to Dubai. She noted that these attacks which seem to be organized have severely affected her ability to effectively operate in her role and showcase the challenges faced by women in Afghan society who want to bring a positive change amidst the «propaganda campaigns.

Connaught Place, on Saturday was on alert after an unattended bag was discovered at N Block of the area, reported ANI. «The unattended bag at N Block of Connaught Place was checked and nothing suspicious was found inside it,» said Delhi Police. Over the possibility of a threat, the area was cordoned off with the police team present at the spot.

Karnataka), Security has been beefed up at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) after the airport authorities received an email about a bomb scare, police said on Saturday. Following the threat received on April 29, the CISF and the police got into multiple levels of security sweeps all over the airport. A First Information Report has been registered in Bajpe police station stating that a certain group identifying itself as 'Terrorisers 111' had sent the emails. The FIR quoting the email has stated that «there are explosives placed in three places in the airport and we expect large scale bloodshed will happen. This warning and threat should not be taken lightly.» Commissioner of police of Mangaluru city Anupam Aggarwal has confirmed that the FIR has been registered.

Avenue Supermarts, which runs the popular DMart chain of retail stores, on Saturday, announced that its consolidated profit for the quarter ended March 2024 has jumped 22.4% to Rs 563 crore as against Rs 460 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. The company's revenue jumped 20% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs Rs 12,727 crore. The retailer's EBITDA rose 22.3% YoY to Rs 943 crore while its operating profit margin also growth of 13 bps at 7.41%.

Krutrim AI, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup founded by Ola Electric's Bhavish Aggarwal, on Saturday launched a mobile app for its chatbot which will compete with the likes of OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. In an event on Sunday, the company announced that it has opened up its cloud platform — Krutrim Cloud — to enterprises, developers and researchers, to help them develop technology products at lower costs.

Health Insurance for senior citizens: The recent amendments by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) regarding health insurance rules are set to benefit senior citizens significantly. By removing the age ceiling of 65 years for purchasing health insurance, IRDAI has expanded access to health insurance products for individuals of various age groups. Previously, seniors above 65 years could still buy health coverage, but options were limited in the market.

Indegene IPO: The Initial Public offering (IPO) of Indegene Limited is a rare event, set to hit the Indian primary market on 6th May 2024. This marks a significant departure from the norm, as there has not been a single IPO launch during May in the last four General Election cycles. The period from April to June during these years has typically been slow for the primary markets due to election uncertainty.

Delhi…May 3, 2024…KARAM Safety, a leading global PPE player and fall protection solutions provider, is pleased to announce the successful acquisition of Midas Safety India, a prominent player in the hand protection safety products industry. This strategic move marks a significant milestone in KARAM Group's journey towards expanding its presence and enhancing its product offerings.

IPL matches against each other so far. PBKS have won 14 and CSK 15. PBKS’ highest total against Chennai so far is 231.

NDTV Sports quoted, "He's more Indian than Australian. That's what I tell him. I say that.