India Financial News

REA India, which owns Housing.com and PropTiger, is not actively looking for acquisition for further growth but the company is open to evaluate «interesting» opportunities that complement the business or help in securing new technologies, its CEO Dhruv Agarwala said. REA India, which is part of Australia-based REA Group, will focus on consolidating its both businesses — real estate classified platform Housing.com and residential brokerage portal PropTiger.com, he added. In an interview with PTI, Agarwala, who is also CEO of Housing.com and PropTiger, said there is no plan of acquisition in near future.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and said he was making statements with the intention of fostering communal division. BJP state chief K Surendran, while addressing the media here, said the decision to withdraw cases registered against the anti-CAA protestors was taken to appease a particular community. He said the chief minister was violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by withdrawing the cases and his party will approach the Election Commission of India (ECI).

IIFL Finance Ltd and JM Financial Products Ltd (JMFPL) will undergo a special audit to further probe their regulatory breaches, as the Reserve Bank has initiated the process for the appointment of auditors. The Reserve Bank has floated two separate tenders for the appointment of auditors for special audits of these two non-banking finance companies. Audit firms empanelled by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for forensic audit can participate in the tendering process, and the last date for submission of bids is April 8, as per the tender document published by the Reserve Bank of India. The selected firms will be awarded work on April 12, 2024, as per the bid documents.

INDIA bloc, Union Minister Anurag Thakur claimed that while the opposition leaders were busy «abusing» Prime Minister Narendra Modi's, his prestige continued to grow globally in the last ten years. "… Initially you wanted to do 'tukde tukde' of the country and now you want to do the same to PM Narendra Modi. First, they would go and stand with the 'tukde tukde' gang, now they include those advocating 'tukde tukde' into their gang...," the Minister for Information and Broadcasting said. The sharp remarks came at a press conference held on Sunday in New Delhi.

India has «incredibly affordable» airfares and the country's aviation market has the kind of growth potential where Akasa Air as well as other carriers can do well, according to the nearly two-year-old airline's chief Vinay Dube. As Akasa Air prepares to take the international skies on March 28 with the first overseas flight from Mumbai to Doha, Dube also asserted that the airline is not about «marketing gimmicks». Akasa Air is aiming to be among the world's top 30 airlines by 2030 and will go public in future. «We think we have a great financial future. Listing is in our future… but you never say never. We hope to list some day,» he told PTI in an interview this week. While acknowledging that aviation competition has always been intense, he said that as long as the focus is on fundamentals, there is enough room not just for Akasa Air to thrive in the future but for others as well.

Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander. This decision, announced on March 19, 2024, follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi's declaration on August 26, 2023, that the landing site would be named 'Shiva Shakti'. The Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, which documents planetary names approved by the IAU, defines 'Statio Shiv Shakti' as a compound word from Indian mythology that represents the masculine (Shiva) and feminine (Shakti) duality of nature. Modi made the announcement at the Isro Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (Istrac) in Bengaluru, where he underscored the significance of the names in connecting India from the Himalaya to Kanyakumari. He stated, "...In Shiva, there’s resolution for humanity’s welfare and Shakti gives us strength to fulfil those resolutions. This Shiva Shakti Point of Moon also gives a sense of connection with the Himalaya to Kanyakumari.”

fiscal bias against Congress-ruled Karnataka and non-provision of funds, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday every penny due to the state is accounted for and was released on time. Speaking at an informal interaction organised by the Thinkers Forum here in the Karnataka capital, Sitharaman said, «The claim that Rs 5,495 crore as a special grant was not released for Karnataka is totally false. The Finance Commission, in its final report, did not recommend any such special grants.» «Under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, 80 crore people all across the country and 30.5 lakh from urban Bengaluru get free rations at home every month. I want to flag those guarantees that we fulfilled to help the common people, especially the poor. In urban Bengaluru, 14.68 lakh Jan-Dhan accounts were opened as against 52 crore across the country,» the Union Finance Minister added.

Care Edge Ratings shows that the demand for vehicles powered by traditional fuels is progressively shifting towards those that utilise alternative fuels. The share of petrol vehicle sales, as a percentage of total vehicle sales, has recorded a significant decline, decreasing from 86 percent in 2020 to 76 percent in 2023 while for diesel vehicles it has slightly decreased from 12 percent in 2020 to 11 percent in 2023. The sales volume of alternative fuel-driven vehicles recorded a growth of more than 400% in Calendar Year (CY) 2023 as compared to CY2020, though on a much smaller base.

Bharat Biotech International Ltd on Sunday said it started clinical trials of the Tuberculosis vaccine Mtbvac on adults in India. This is the first vaccine against Tuberculosis derived from a human source by the Spanish biopharmaceutical company, Biofabri, a press release from Bharat Biotech said. The release said that Mtbvac is being developed for two purposes; firstly, as a more effective and potentially longer-lasting vaccine than BCG ( Bacillus Calmette Guerin) for newborns and secondly, for the prevention of TB in adults and adolescents, for whom there is currently no effective vaccine. The trials are carried out by Bharat Biotech in close collaboration with Biofabri. Trials to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of Mtbvac have started with a pivotal safety, immunogenicity and efficacy trial which has been planned to start in 2025, the release said. It is a giant step to test in adults and adolescents in the country where 28 per cent of the world's TB cases accumulate.

Karnataka government has moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to release financial assistance from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state for drought management. The petition has also sought to declare that the Centre's action in not releasing the financial assistance for drought arrangement as per the NDRF is «ex-facie violative» of the fundamental rights of the people of the state guaranteed under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution. It said the state is reeling under «severe drought», affecting the lives of its people and for the Kharif 2023 season, which starts in June and ends in September, a total of 223 out of 236 taluks are declared as drought-affected. The plea said 196 taluks are categorised as severely affected and the remaining 27 as moderately affected.

'maha rally' in the national capital's Ramlila Maidan on March 31, Gopal Rai announced on Sunday at a press conference. The minister urged all spiritual, business and political groups to join the public meeting as a protest against oppression by the ruling BJP and to safeguard the country. “By adopting dictatorship and ending the democracy in the country, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has been arrested. There is anger in every person who loves and respects the Constitution and democracy. One by one, PM Modi is misusing the agencies to file fake cases against every opposition leader," Rai said.

ICICI Securities Ltd its wholly-owned subsidiary. On Friday, Norges Bank Investment Management, which is the single-largest public shareholder in ICICI Securities, voted in favour of the resolution, according to a filing reviewed by Mint. Norway’s $1.55 trillion sovereign wealth fund is an influential voice in deciding the outcome of whether ICICI Securities would continue as a standalone listed business entity, as it owns 3.2%.

Holika Dahan, a bonfire is lit to symbolize the victory of good over evil, commemorating the legend of Prahlad and Holika from Hindu mythology. People gather around the bonfire, offer prayers, sing hymns, and perform rituals to seek blessings and protection from negative energies. Holika Dahan is celebrated with enthusiasm and joy across India and among Hindu communities worldwide.

₹2.75 crore at the domestic box office. Moreover, the movie had an overall 17.95% Hindi Occupancy on Saturday. Kunal shared his experience of shooting the film in Goa.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys taking the biggest hit amid volatile trends in equities. Last week, the BSE benchmark climbed 188.51 points or 0.25 per cent. The market valuation of TCS tanked Rs 1,10,134.58 crore to Rs 14,15,793.83 crore, the most among the top 10 firms.

Rajnath Singh, who was to celebrate Holi with the armed forces personnel in Siachen, the world's highest battleground, on Sunday, will mark the festival of colours in Leh instead, his office informed on Sunday. Raksha Mantri Karyalaye informed through a post on its official X handle that owing to the prevailing weather conditions in the world's highest battleground, Singh will celebrate Holi with the armed forces in Leh. «Due to inclement weather conditions in Siachen, there is a change in Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh's tour programme. He will now celebrate Holi with Armed Forces Personnel in Leh,» the statement read.

FPIs have shown a significant resurgence in their investment activity within the Indian equity markets this month, injecting over Rs 38,000 crore, mainly driven by favourable shifts in the global economic scenario and strong domestic macroeconomic outlook. The investment came following a modest investment of Rs 1,539 crore in February and a massive outflow of Rs 25,743 crore in January, data with the depositories snowed. With this, foreign portfolio investors' (FPIs) investment has turned positive to the tune of Rs 13,893 crore in equities so far in 2024 and Rs 55,480 crore in the debt market.

Muntingia calabura) and was useful for growing fast. It would give green volume and shade while slower-growing plants came up. It seemed a stopgap tree, not worth taking that seriously. Within two years it was full-sized, with abundant leaves and, soon, small white-petalled flowers. The surprise was the small red fruits that followed, really like tiny cherries. The tree produces almost continuously, but only a few ripen every day. We find them shaken off by the wind on the ground below. When I was told they were edible, I had little expectation. Many plants have edible fruit, in that they won’t poison you, but that doesn’t really make them worth eating. The fruits tend to have wincingly bitter notes or tannic aftertastes that leave your mouth puckered. Some, like wax or rose apples (Syzygium samarangense) have pleasantly crunchy textures, but little taste. And then there are the sour fruits beloved of Indian school kids, like starberries (Phyllanthus acidus) or bilimbi (Averrhoa bilimbi), which are refreshing on a hot summer day, eaten with salt and washed down with lots of water, or made into a pickle, but that’s about it.

GTRI said on Sunday. China's automotive industry, buoyed by substantial state support, has grown rapidly in electric vehicle technology, making it a leading exporter of EVs and related components, the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said. The renewed policy push to make India a hub for e-vehicle manufacturing and efforts of the private sector will lead to a sharp increase in dependence on auto component imports from China, the report said. India's auto component imports were USD 20.3 billion in 2022-23 of which 30 per cent came from China.

Stock market holidays in March 2024: BSE, NSE to remain closed on Holi, Good Friday Both MCX and NCDEX will also observe trading closure on Friday. According to the BSE holiday calendar, there are 14 trading holidays scheduled for 2024. Previously, the markets were closed on January 26 for Republic Day and March 8 for Shivratri.

Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Bollywood actor Neha Sharma may step into the political arena during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, as hinted by her father, Congress leader Ajay Sharma, NDTV reported. Speaking to reporters, Ajay Sharma, an MLA representing Bihar's Bhagalpur, advocated for his daughter's nomination as a candidate if Congress secures the Bhagalpur seat in the party's seat-sharing arrangement with allies. "Congress should get Bhagalpur, we will fight and win the seat.