India Financial News

We look at banks as safekeepers of our money, which they are. The banking system in India is generally robust. As long as you keep your money with a leading bank, your money is safe. However, on paper, your money is safe up to ₹5 lakh per bank, which is known as deposit insurance. This insurance is taken care of by Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC). With the latest cooperative bank failure, there are talks of increasing the coverage from ₹5 lakh to, say, ₹10 lakh.

As a thumb-rule for stock market investing, doing less is more. “The stock market is designed to transfer money from the active to the patient," Warren Buffet famously said. However, exchange rules require you to make some transactions in your broking account to keep it active.

RBI) data showed, illustrating deceleration in the country’s discretionary spending through a month that coincides with the start of school board examinations in most parts of the country. This decline usage was also accompanied by a significant reduction in new credit card additions that nearly halved to 440,000 in February—from 820,000 in January. To be sure, India’s broadest equity gauges plunged through the first two months of 2025, before a late rearguard from overseas buyers through the last ten days of March helped the indices erase losses for the calendar year. Equity gains were often at the vanguard of big-ticket expenditures, particularly in the metros, through the first nine months of 2024.

homestay policy to ensure adequate incentives for hosts and aggregators, bring in transparent regulations and introduce measures to protect the interests of both tourists and homeowners. The move will help formalise the informal sector and make it world-class as the government aims to develop India into the most preferred tourist destination with focus on niche tourism, eco-tourism and wellness tourism, said officials. The revised policy could see fiscal incentives for homeowners and aggregators, a robust verification and monitoring mechanism and comprehensive standards with a bigger range of classification of homestays to enhance the overall experience, they said.

Once DC openers made a quick start off the block, the result was never in doubt, but their approach was vastly different. Du Plessis wound the clock back with some stunning shots, such as a straight six off Pat Cummins. But at other end, McGurk was struggling for his timing, partly because of his exaggerated back-lift and partly because of his desire to hit all the ball out of the park. However, his senior partner was willing to do the heavy-lifting and brought up his fifty in 26 balls.

bad bank. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed lenders (on Saturday) across the spectrum and ownership types to reverse excess provisions in their profit and loss (P&L) accounts if a loan is transferred to an asset reconstruction company (ARC) at a value exceeding its net book value. The relaxation, the RBI said, would apply if the deal with an ARC includes cash payments upfront and government-guaranteed security receipts (SR).

The wage bills of companies with operations in these places have increased by 20-25%, as their expenses on unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers have gone up, said top corporate executives. While this has been sharper than usual, the growing preference of people to work in gig roles and stay back in villages amid an increase in income from the rural employment guarantee scheme and other welfare programmes are compounding the problems for companies as they are finding it difficult to mobilise workers. States like Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Meghalaya, Odisha and Jharkhand have increased minimum wages by up to 38% in the last one year, as per industry executives and data compiled by staffing firm CIEL HR. Manpower cost has been a challenge because minimum wages have grown in certain markets by a very high degree, value fashion retailer V-Mart Retail managing director Lalit Agarwal said. Odisha recently hiked minimum wages by 29% and Jharkhand by 22%, he said. V-Mart reported a 24% increase in manpower cost in the December quarter compared with a year earlier

The new mechanism, which would be operationalised after planned imposition of a safeguard duty on specified steel imports, would be extended to MSMEs and members of the Engineering Exports Promotion Council (EEPC), the people said. «Discussions are on on the mechanism...It would be implemented once safeguard duty is imposed...This is being done to shield domestic consumers from rise in prices,» an official said.

reciprocal tariffs, India has communicated to Washington that the focus of the trade relationship should be a bilateral trade agreement (BTA) to address any concerns over import duties, said people with knowledge of the matter. US officials who were in Delhi last week to negotiate the BTA told their Indian counterparts that the message would be conveyed to the White House as the final decision would be made there, the people told ET on condition of anonymity. Assistant US trade representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch was in India from March 26-29 to discuss the BTA. The joint statement issued on Saturday after the talks did not mention reciprocal tariffs.

Indian films are showing higher growth in collections abroad than at home, with overseas box-office mop-up surging nearly 30% to $323 million ('2,760.6 crore) between 2022 and 2024, even as domestic growth crawled at 7.2%, according to the FICCI-EY Media and Entertainment 2025 report. Between 2022 and 2024, domestic box-office revenue for Indian films increased a modest 7.2% to '11,800 crore, it said. «Recently, Indian films have been telling stories which have universal emotions and global appeal. These films score well on the parameter of visual presentation of stories. Consequently, Indian films have been crossing language and geographical barriers,» said Adi Tiwary, creative director and partner, Stuart Entertainment, an Australia-based boutique distributor and producer specialising in global content licensing, production and strategic partnerships.

Binance have come under the glare of the tax authorities. Over the past few weeks, the Income Tax (I-T) department has inquired whether the 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) levied on such deals have been collected. Local investors must either provide proof of TDS deduction or submit documentary evidence on why TDS is not applicable to them, according to notices served by the tax office. Probing into the traders' source of money, the department has sought their I-T returns for the years when the funds used to purchase cryptos were earned. A few scrutiny notices, questioning the transaction data downloaded from the website of the offshore exchange, have imposed 30% tax on the entire turnover instead of claiming tax on the gains.

Debadatta Chand had the proverbial baptism by fire as CEO at India’s second largest public sector lender, Bank of Baroda (BoB), hit by the controversy over the financier’s attachment notice on actor and MP Sunny Deol just a couple of months into the top job. Then came the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) curbs on its digital banking application, restrictions that took nearly seven months to be lifted. But after a trying first year, Chand has eased into the corner-room job, seeking consistency in the bank's business matrix and reducing the lender's dependency on costlier wholesale deposits. In a detailed interview with ET, Chand spoke about BoB’s current positioning and shared his outlook for what's traditionally known as a corporate-focused lender. Edited excerpts: You will complete two years at the helm in June. How has BoB shaped up in this time? The bank is doing extremely well. Fundamentally, it is a strong bank. For the past two years, the performance has been consistent, and the outlook is stable. Earlier we (had) talked about how to double the business in 5-6 years and how to maintain margin in a dynamic market scenario. The performance has been very satisfying. The balance sheet strategy is to not to be heavily dependent on the bulk deposit. Our RAM (retail, agriculture MSME) is going very strong. We decided to go slow on fine priced corporate loans. We are capturing market share in retail loans and deposits.

loitering munition test facility during a visit to Nagpur. The first-of-its-kind testing facility has a 1.27-km long runway dedicated to developing indigenous Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) and High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) drones for the Indian Armed forces. The PM also dedicated a 1,080-acre test range for loitering munition at the same complex, geared to develop next-generation munition by Solar Defence and Aerospace. «Spread over 1,080 acres, this test range has a dedicated Command & Control Centre, UAV Take-off Area, Endurance and Communication Range check facility, Parachute Recovery Area, Static & Moving Target Engagement, Target Hit and CEP Measurement and Warhead Lethality Test facility,» company officials said, adding that a suo moto proposal for developing an indigenous MALE drone has been submitted and is being processed by the ministry.

fuel efficiency norms under the CAFE III (Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency) standards as they resumed talks with the government after a hiatus of a few months, said people aware of the matter. The new norms are slated to come into effect on April 1, 2027. In the latest round of consultative meeting held earlier this month between the auto industry and government, representatives from automakers cited the current low penetration of electric vehicles (EVs)-critical for curbing overall vehicular emissions-in the Indian market for easing the norms.

R Praggnanandhaa, known for his sharp strategies on the chessboard, recently took on a completely different challenge—cooking dosa. In a moment captured and shared on social media, his coach, Ramachandran Ramesh, posted a picture of the young grandmaster attempting to make the iconic South Indian dish for the first time.

Nagpur after becoming the prime minister 11 years ago, Narendra Modi on Sunday described the Sangh as the 'banyan tree' of India's immortal culture. Modi became the second sitting PM to visit the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had visited it in 2000 during his third term as PM, an RSS official said.

preferential trade agreement (PTA) into a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), making Chile the first Latin American country to have such a deal with New Delhi. Discussions on CEPA are expected to take place during Chilean President Gabriel Boric Font’s State Visit to India from April 1-5. He will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including ministers, MPs, senior officials, business associations, media, and cultural representatives. The PTA between India and Chile was signed in 2006 and expanded in 2017. Officials are now looking at tariff and non-tariff barriers to boost trade between the two regions. The target is to double two-way commerce to $100 billion in the coming years. Key sectors for cooperation include automobiles, medical devices, and pharmaceuticals. Chile is India’s fifth-largest trading partner in Latin America. From April to December in FY25, India’s exports to Chile amounted to $860.26 million, mainly consisting of pharmaceuticals and vehicles. Imports were $2.07 billion, with ores, slag, ash, and copper being the primary inbound shipments. Indian trade organizations have been actively engaging with Chile through business summits and trade fairs in sectors such as pharma, apparel, handicrafts, and chemicals. An Indian mining delegation also visited Chile in April 2024 to explore collaboration opportunities in the mining sector.

X (formerly Twitter) is currently experiencing a major outage, with thousands of users across the globe reporting issues accessing the platform. According to outage-tracking website Downdetector, more than 8,000 users in US have flagged problems, while the number of reports in India has crossed 400. Users are primarily facing difficulties with the X mobile app, with 61% of complaints related to app access in India. Others report trouble loading the website and server connectivity failures.

“Friends, our indigenous games are now becoming a part of popular culture. You all must be knowing the famous rapper Hanumankind. His new song ‘Run It Up’ is becoming quite famous these days. Our traditional martial arts like Kalaripayattu, Gatka, and Thang-Ta have been included in it,” he said. The Prime Minister further added, “I congratulate Hanumankind that due to his efforts, people of the world are getting to know about our traditional martial arts.”

Indian equities in March for the third consecutive month but there was a sharp deceleration in the outflow due to strong buying in the second fortnight of the month. They invested net Rs 26,042 crore ($3,037 million) in the second half of March, a sharp contrast to the outflow of Rs 30,015 crore ($3,438 million) in the first fortnight. As a result, net outflow for the full month reduced to Rs 3,973 crore ($401.2 million). The extent of investment by foreign investors in the coming months will depend upon several factors including the tariff stance by the Trump administration and its impact on global trade, attractiveness of the Indian economy relative to the US, which is facing recessionary pressure and the valuation comfort of the domestic equities.

Zomi Council has alleged bias in the Manipur government's handling of missing persons cases, claiming selective action based on community identity. The controversy follows the government's announcement of a ₹10 lakh reward for credible information on Luwangthem Mukesh, a 20-year-old from Imphal West, who went missing on March 16, 2025. The case was officially registered under FIR No. 90(3)2025IPSu/s140(1)/142/3(5) BNS at Imphal Police Station. In response, the Zomi Council stated, «The state's glaring partiality is alarming. While swift action and a significant cash reward were announced for Luwangthem Mukesh, similar cases involving Zomi individuals, such as Muangpu Langel's abduction in Jiribam on June 6, 2024, by Arambai Tenggol, remain ignored. Over 11 marginalized individuals are still missing, yet authorities have not taken substantive action.» The council further demanded equal treatment, saying, «The ₹10 lakh reward should be applied equitably in all cases, ensuring justice for Zomi and other tribal communities. This disparity reflects systemic discrimination, which must be rectified. If justice continues to be denied, every democratic recourse will be pursued to uphold fundamental rights.» Meanwhile, in a coordinated effort between March 26-29, 2025, Indian Army and Assam Rifles, under Spear Corps, conducted multiple operations in Manipur. Working alongside Manipur Police, CRPF, BSF, and ITBP, they recovered 29 weapons, explosives, and ammunition from various districts, including Kangpokpi, Tengnoupal, Chandel, Senapati, Jiribam, and Bishnupur.