India Financial News

NEW DELHI : New Delhi: British art auction house Sotheby's is attempting to cater to young Indian art collectors, who are now more comfortable about art and about spending on them, through different initiatives. The auction house is also proactively introducing new artists to its platform to provide more choices to the young collector, a senior official of the company said in an interview.

mega trade deal between New Delhi and the four-nation European bloc EFTA will not only open up broad market access for Swiss businesses in India but is set to improve the legal framework and predictability for them, the Swiss government said on Sunday. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) States — Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland — signed a Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) with India that came after around 16 years of negotiations. Under the mega trade pact, the four European countries are looking at making an investment of USD 100 billion in India over the next 15 years. The trade deal will provide a window to Indian exporters to access large European and global markets besides allowing companies from the four EFTA countries to expand businesses and investment in India.

NTPC Ltd, it's arm NTPC Green Energy, Coal India and NLC India on Sunday signed separate memoranda of understanding with Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd for setting up thermal and renewable energy projects. The MoU between NTPC & RVUNL was signed to explore opportunities for adding supercritical units to the existing Chhabra thermal power plant. The companies aim to implement measures to enhance efficiency and reduce the generation cost of the plant's existing units.

free trade pact with a four-member European bloc, Norway on Sunday said it will eliminate customs duties for almost 98 per cent of the imports from India under the framework of the pact. The ambitious trade pact, signed between India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) comprising Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein, aims to expand trade across a range of areas including pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, new technologies and machinery. After the EEA (European Economic Area) agreement, this could become one of the most important trade agreements Norway has ever entered, said Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere. At a media briefing, Norway's Minister of Trade and Industry Jan Christian Vestre described the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) as a major result-oriented milestone that would not only boost two-way trade but also promote a rules-based trading system.

European Free Trade Association (EFTA), comprising Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, aiming to boost trade and investments between the two regions. This agreement is expected to bring several benefits to Indian consumers and the economy. Key Benefits for Indian Consumers One of the major benefits of this trade pact is the phased-out custom duties on imported goods, which will enable domestic consumers to access high-quality Swiss products such as watches, chocolates, biscuits, and clocks at lower prices. The agreement includes tariff concessions on a range of products imported from Switzerland, including seafood, mediterranean fruits, coffee, oils, sweets, processed foods, and wine, among others. This will lead to a drop in prices of these products in Indian markets, making them more affordable and accessible to Indian consumers.

French Open badminton crown for the second time with a dominating straight game win over Chinese Taipei's Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan in the men's doubles final here on Sunday. The world No. 1 Indian pair had finished runners-up in the French Open in 2019 before winning the title in 2022. On Sunday, the Asian Games champions outwitted Lee and Yang 21-11 21-17 in 37 minutes to regain the Super 750 tournament title and also win their first crown of the season after reaching the summit clash for the third time in 2023. The Indian duo had finished second best at Malaysia Super 1000, India Super 750 this year, while signing off as runners-up at China Masters Super 750 as well last year.

Bihar's economy has grown faster than the national economy. Its annual growth rate averaged 7% during the 2000s, and 7.5% during the 2010s (until 2019-20). In comparison, the national economy grew at 6.3% and 6.6% annually during these periods, respectively. Bihar has also made remarkable progress in closing the gap in education, health and basic amenities. Its gross enrolment ratio (GER), sex ratio at birth, life expectancy, infant mortality, and availability of electricity, drinking water and sanitation have improved significantly to levels only slightly below the national average. Yet, in terms of per-capita income, it has remained India's poorest state. This is due to a very low level of initial income preceding the growth spurt and a high population growth rate, which inhibited conversion of higher GDP into the acceleration of per-capita income.

Nita Ambani, the Chairperson & Founder of The Reliance Foundation, took home a ‘Humanitarian Award’ from the Miss World Foundation at the 71st Miss Word Grand finale. The event was held at the Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai on Saturday. The entrepreneur was honoured with this award for her massive contributions to charity and philanthropy.

Startups in the country are “lost in the maze of existing regulations and controls that are applied to them sometimes even retrospectively”, Anand Mahindra, chairman Mahindra Group, said and called for increased ease of doing business for new enterprises. Delivering the 4th Annual Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture on ‘The role of industry in building a resilient and resurgent India’, Mahindra highlighted the importance of the government and industry working in a collaborative manner to achieve scale, innovation, and global reach.

Vistara was plagued with sudden mass sick leave reported by pilots that impacted its flight operations across India leading to the cancellation and delay of flights. The delay was also caused due to the mandatory maintenance requirements for some aircraft and other operational reasons. As of now, over a dozen flights have been cancelled, and a large number of Vistara flights have been delayed for over a week.

₹40-45 lakh. So far, NexCAR 19 has been administered to 98 patients (including 76 during clinical trials) across 45 hospitals. The response rate is 60-70%, according to data provided to Mint by ImmunoACT, a startup founded by Purwar and incubated at Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) at IIT Bombay to commercialize the therapy.

BJP has decided to seek an explanation from its Uttara Kannada Lok Sabha member Ananthkumar Hegde for his public comments on changing the Constitution of India if the party was reelected with 400 seats in the Lok Sabha. Hegde had reportedly made these comments at a party workers meeting at Siddapur in his constituency, saying the earlier Congress regimes made changes in the Constitution which hurt the interests of the Hindu community. The BJP Karnataka unit issued a clarification saying Hegde's remarks were his personal views and do not reflect the party's stand. "@BJP4India reaffirms our unwavering commitment to uphold the nation's Constitution," the party posted on X.

tax administration, a brainstorming is underway to figure out ways to deal with the ‘retrospective’ character of the Black Money law — a disputed feature of the stern statute that was passed nearly a decade ago to overcome the limitations of the Income Tax Act and target wealth stashed abroad. In the past few years, hundreds of writ petitions have been filed in multiple high courts of the country, challenging the sweeping power of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act (BMA) that empowers the taxman to go after foreign bank accounts and assets which were opened or acquired years ago but discovered only recently by the I-T department. The petitions before the court have questioned whether a law — that could put the offender behind bars for 7 years — can be used to punish someone for an offence that was committed when the specific law did not exist. Such a safeguard allowed under the Constitution has put the powerful BMA in a limbo, with some of the courts granting stay, the tax office unable to recover money in many cases, and several assessments coming to a halt.

96th Academy Awards is drawing to an end! The most-awaited, and iconic awards show will take place on Monday. The Academy Awards aka the Oscar ceremony will take place on March 10 at 4:00 pm PT/7:00 pm ET on the ABC Channel. Here’s everything you need to know about the big night.

Bharat Shakti', a synergised demonstration of indigenous defence capabilities in the form of a tri-services live fire and manoeuvre exercise, in Rajasthan's Pokhran on March 12. Modi will also visit Gujarat on Tuesday to launch multiple development projects, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement on Sunday. The 'Bharat Shakti' will have on display an array of indigenous weapon systems and platforms as a demonstration of the prowess of the country, premised on the nation's self-reliance initiative, the statement said. The exercise will simulate realistic, synergised, multi-domain operations displaying integrated operational capabilities of the Indian armed forces to counter threats across land, air, sea, cyber, and space domains, it added.

Viksit Bharat, Viksit Northeast' programme at Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh. During the programme, the Prime Minister virtually inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for multiple development projects worth Rs 55,600 crore in 6 North Eastern States, including the inauguration and laying of the foundation stone for multiple development projects worth over Rs 8500 crore for Tripura and Northeast. On this occasion, the Prime Minister said that he considers the dreams of the people of the country to be his own. The objective of this government is to ensure a pucca house for every family in the country, free rations, pure drinking water, health care service and internet service. The central government is working on the concept of Ashtalaxmi to boost development in the Northeast.

Mint. These next-generation reforms will go alongside India's aspirational goal of establishing the rupee as a stable currency over the next decade, helping internalize its usage, besides enhancing its global acceptance as a payment mode. Additionally, the bureaucracy must keep pace and meet the demands of the 21st century, Sanyal said, adding that the other major area for reforms would be the legal processes.

Saudi Press Agency reports, quoted by Hindustan Times, the Supreme Court has asked that anyone in the Kingdom, who sees the Ramadan crescent moon with their naked eyes or through binoculars, should notify the court nearest to their location and record their testimony there. ALSO READ: Ramadan 2024 moon sighting: When crescent moon is expected to be sighted in India, Saudi Arabia The report added that various observatories across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will search for the crescent moon for the month of Ramadan 1445 AH on Sunday.

₹2,000 crore for the wholly-owned unit, the people said on condition of anonymity. Antara has two lines of businesses–Assisted Care services, including Care Homes, Care at Home, MedCare Products and AGEasy; and independent residences for seniors. The company is in the process of setting up multiple communities and care facilities across different regions of India.

Sachin Tendulkar, the demi-god of Indian cricket, on Sunday criticized the way Mumbai batters played against Vidarbha in the final of the Ranji Trophy at the Wankhede Stadium. Tendulkar was left disappointed at the batting performance of Mumbai as the home team suffered a middle-order collapse, which included another flop show from skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer despite a strong opening partnership between Prithvi Shaw and Bhupen Lalwani. Prithvi Shaw and Bhupen Lalwani gave Mumbai a strong start with an 81-run stand before Yash Thakur dismissed Lalwani.

Indian Energy Exchange stood at ₹3.69 per unit, against ₹4.90 per unit last month, showed data on the exchange website. On a year-on-year basis, the price in the real-time market for the first five days of March was ₹2.8 per unit or 57% lower. "Sell-side liquidity on the exchange has surged by nearly 90% in the initial five days of March.