India Financial News

Omar Wasow teaches political science at the University of California, Berkeley. Speaking to Srijana Mitra Das, he discusses the past — and future — of movements encompassing America’s current protests: Q. What is the core of your research? A. I’ve studied American protests of the 1960s, particularly civil rights protests which used some of the techniques of noncooperation that were central to the Indian independence movement. I’ve found non-violent protests were effective in increasing support to civil rights for African-Americans — this was particularly so when non-violent protests were met with state violence. That tended to generate sympathetic media attention. When protesters used violent tactics, that generated negative media, growing the coalition of voters opposed to civil rights. Q. We are in an era of polycrises now — what are the most important political movements you’re observing? A. Right now, in the US, we’re seeing protests in opposition to the Israel-Hamas war, also described as pro-Palestinian movements. Alongside, we’ve had globally sustained waves against climate change and pro-democracy movements.

Airbnb saw a 30% increase in nights booked in India in 2023 from the year before, surpassing its global average growth rate. This “robust performance” underscores the “burgeoning” demand for unique accommodations and experiences within India, said Nathan Blecharczyk, Airbnb co-founder and chief strategy officer. Blecharczyk said in an interview that the company has observed “significant interest” in various destinations across the country, and to support this trend, it has collaborated “closely” with the government to promote local tourism and highlight the rich cultural heritage and diverse accommodation options available. “In India, more than 86% of bookings on Airbnb are group trips, which is why we’re introducing new features to help make planning trips with friends and family easier,” he said.

Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, seeking re-election to the Lok Sabha seat is sweating it out in Dhubri. He is up against Congress’s Rakibul Hussain, a prominent leader from Muslim minority community and former minister. BJP’s ally in state government, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), has fielded Zabed Islam from Dhubri setting up a multi cornered contest in Dhubri.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) stellar run seems to continue this year with theatrical hits like Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire already crossing Rs 100 crores in India collections, making it the highest grossing Hollywood film in the first four months of 2024. The top 3 Hollywood films for 2024 in India including Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune 2 are all from the WMD stable or are distributed by the company, said its top executive of the region. Together the trio have already grossed over Rs 175 crores in theatres in the country so far. These films made it to the top 10 films for the month of March, as per Ormax, a media consulting firm. This, in a market, where Hollywood productions (including dubbed versions) contribute just a tenth of all-India films.

The way the pot can't call the kettle black, hardly any product seller or service provider can take the 'holier than thou' stance against others. The Supreme Court's rebuke to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) during the Patanjali misleading advertising case hearing, asking it to also put its house in order, given the complaints of unethical conduct by allopathic doctors, is an instance in point here. Lack of effective regulations and their poor implementation is one of the major reasons for consumers' disempowerment over the years. Regular instances of product contamination, deficiency in services and involuntary product recalls or bans ordered by other countries point to the lack of regulatory deterrence among Indian businesses.

GST collections for 2023-24 underpin the economic momentum and create the groundwork for streamlining a vital piece of fiscal reform. GST is a work in progress with scope for rate rationalisation and extension of coverage. Progress on either front will yield non-linear growth in indirect tax collection.

India on Thursday rejected fresh comments by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and said the remarks once again illustrated the political space given in Canada to separatism, extremism, and violence. Trudeau addressed a Khalsa Day event in Toronto on Sunday that was attended by some pro-Khalistan people. On the sidelines of the event, he told the media that the killing of Nijjar in British Columbia in June last year created «problem» and that he cannot ignore it, in an apparent reference to his earlier allegations of involvement of Indian agents in the assassination. «PM Trudeau has made such remarks earlier as well. His remarks illustrate once again the political space that has been given in Canada to separatism, extremism, and violence,» external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.

immigrants from Manipur deported to Myanmar on Thursday, altogether 77 illegal Myanmarese migrants, including 55 women and five children, deported to their country since March 8. Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh said on the X: “Without any discrimination, we have completed the first phase of deportation of illegal immigrants from Myanmar with 38 more immigrants leaving Manipur, India, today through Moreh.” He said: “A total of 77 illegal immigrants have been deported in the first phase. One Indian national was also brought back from Myanmar during the handover ceremony.

regulatory regime, a government-appointed three-member panel is mulling the idea of making commonly used cough and cold medicines, antacids, and fever-reducing drugs available 'over the counter' (OTC) at general stores. Many countries, such as Britain, the US and Australia, have well-defined guidelines for their sale and regulation. In 2022, India allowed the sale of certain drugs without a prescription as part of a new OTC drug policy. Though the Drugs Technical Advisory Board, the top advisory board on drugs, approved the policy, it never saw the light of the day.

Dabur India on Thursday said that all its spices comply with the regulations set up by FSSAI for Indian markets. «All our spices comply with the regulations set up FSSAI for Indian markets and by the Spice Board of India for the overseas markets,» said Mohit Malhotra, CEO of Dabur India. All export consignments are tested by the Spice Board and shipped only once they comply with their regulations and specifications, he said.

Joe Biden has called two of his QUAD partners — India and Japan — and two of his adversaries — Russia and China — "xenophobic" nations, asserting that none of these countries, unlike the United States, welcome immigrants. «This election is about freedom, America and democracy. That's why I badly need you. You know, one of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants,» Biden told his supporters at a fundraiser here on Wednesday evening.

Bank loans to commercial real estate whivh aldo includrs residential construvtion, last fiscal year nearly tripled at 23 percent, excluding the impact of the merger of HDFC with HDFC Bank. Outstanding loans amounted to Rs 3.97 lakh crore. If one includes the merger impact, the loan growth works out 38.9 percent and the outstanding loans as of March 31 works out to Rs 4.48 lakh crore. The real estate sector is growing across segments said property analysts. Top seven property markets in the country registered total sales of 74,486 apartments during the quarter. This marks the second consecutive quarter of sales exceeding 74,000 units after December quarter’s record-breaking 75,591 apartments, showed data from JLL India.

India's mineral output rose 8 per cent in February as compared to the year-ago period, the government said on Thursday. The index of mineral production of the mining and quarrying sector for February 2024 at 139.6 is 8 per cent than February last year. The cumulative growth for the April-February period of 2023-24 over the corresponding period of the previous year is 8.2 per cent, as per the provisional statistics of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), the mines ministry said in a statement. In February, the production of coal was 966 lakh tonnes, lignite 42 lakh tonnes, natural gas (utilised) 2,886 million cubic metre, petroleum (crude) 23 lakh tonne, among others, it said.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will never accept Bharat Ratna or any other award for his father Biju Patnaik in return for any election or political alliance with the BJP, his close associate and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader V K Pandian has said. The former IAS officer, who has worked in Odisha for over 25 years, including as private secretary to the chief minister, also hit out at the central ministers from the state for having never spoken about the highest civilian award for the 'Pride of Odisha' and inspiration for every Odiya, Biju Patnaik. «One of the biggest identities for Odisha is the courage and valour shown by Biju Babu. If you see two Odiyas in any part of the world if they speak about Odisha, they will end up speaking about Biju Babu,» Pandian told PTI in an interview here. «They will either have tears or they will have emotions. That is the connect Biju Patnaik has with the people of Odisha. He was a freedom fighter, he has done so much for the country and the state. He is the architect of modern Odisha,» he added.

PTI, citing BJP sources, Bose had cut short his personal visit to his home state Kerala to return to Kolkata owing to the prime minister's visit. PM Modi is scheduled to address election rallies in support of party candidates in Krishnanagar, Bardhaman Purba and Bolpur Lok Sabha constituencies on Friday.

Manpasand Beverages Scam: The capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has barred Manpasand Beverages Ltd (MBL) and its top officials and directors from the securities markets for a period of three years from now and also imposed a total penalty of ₹74 lakh for manipulating and mis-reporting the company's financial statements. Apart from MBL, those who restrained by SEBI are -- the promoter, chairman, managing director (CMD) Dhirendra Singh, promoter and executive director Abhishek Singh and chief financial officer (CFO) Paresh Thakkar. Also, these four entities have been fined ₹17 lakh each, which needs to be paid within a period of 45 days, SEBI said in its recently released 55-page order.

Dabur expects mid-single digit growth in Q4 consolidated revenues For Dabur, rural markets grew 400 basis points (bps) ahead of urban markets in the March quarter. On Thursday, the company reported a 16.2% jump in quarterly net profit to ₹350 crore, up from ₹301 crore a year earlier. Revenue in the three months through March stood at ₹2,815 crore, up 5.1% from a year earlier.

Mint finds out. They are a regular occurrence in India between November and June due to a rise in temperatures. The presence of a huge quantity of dry leaves acts as a catalyst but in 95% of the cases, fires are man-made.

Mint has reviewed a copy of the mail. As per the airline's latest annual report for 2022-2023, the total staff strength of IndiGo was 32,407 employees. "We started our path to recovery in the second half of the year 2022 and since then we demonstrated solid and strong performance," the airline said in the mail, adding that it became a net worth positive company with its October-December 2023 results and the recent wide-body aircraft order is further support for a robust future.

ALSO READ: Irfan Pathan upset with BCCI over Hardik Pandya's selection in T20 World Cup, 'Sends wrong message…' Speaking in his Youtube channel, K Srikkanth said, "He (Ruturaj Gaikwad) scored more than 500 runs in 17 T20I innings. Also, he scored a century against Australia. Shubman Gill is out of form, but why is he selected in the team?" He added, "Shubman Gill is the selectors' delight.

Citroen expects India to become its second biggest market after home country in the next five years, for which it will accelerate network expansion besides introducing new products, company global CEO Thierry Koskas said on Thursday. The company will be incorporating learnings from the past few years of its presence in India to attract more consumers besides looking to rope in a brand ambassador to push the brand's visibility in India. «India is an important market for Citroen and in a few years, it will become the second biggest market for us after our home market France,» Koskas told PTI here in an interview. At the moment, India is «probably in the top 10 markets for Citroen, more towards the 10th rather than upwards», he said, adding, «So, there is a lot of room for improvement, but I think it's absolutely possible.»