India Financial News

ONDC) completed more than 7.1 million cumulative orders in February since its inception in January last year. Here’s a look at all the key facts and numbers of the platform that promises to democratise ecommerce.

Ben Greenfield, well-known fitness consultant, ‘biohacker’ and triathlon runner, whose list of high-profile clients includes Twitter cofounder Jack Dorsey, is consulting with serial entrepreneur Mukesh Bansal to help him set up a chain of biohacking centres across the country. These centres, which employ popular practices of biohacking and age reversal, will provide various therapies and consultations, among other services.

NARCL) has offered lenders base bids for the bad loan accounts of Hitodi Infra, Sion Panvel Tollways and Morarjee Textile with total consolidated debt of more than ₹4,000 crore. Based on binding bids from the government-backed bad bank, lenders have initiated a Swiss challenge auction for Hitodi Infra. The lenders, including Bank of Baroda, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of India, IDBI Bank and State Bank of India, have appointed BoB Capital as the process advisor. NARCL has offered ₹465 crore for the outstanding loans of ₹2,101 crore. The lenders have asked bidders to either bid in all cash or on a cash-and-security receipt basis. NARCL buys debt under a 15:85 structure where 15% is paid in cash and 85% in security receipts. The minimum markup will be 5% of the anchor bid. The Swiss auction will be held on March 26.

retail touch points, increasing distribution by 37% year-on-year," Ghazal Alagh, co-founder of Mamaearth, one of India's most prominent direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands, wrote on social media platform X last month. The post affirmed a strategic pivot on the part of personal care company Honasa Consumer, which owns Mamaearth, to rapidly scale up in physical retail over the past year, much like some of the other large D2C or internet-first brands in the country, while companies such as meat delivery startup Licious and cosmetics firm Minimalist have taken the omnichannel route. Millet-based snack brand Slurrp Farm, cosmetics makers Just Herbs and Sugar Cosmetics, lingerie brand Zivame, eyewear retailer Lenskart, wearables brand boAt and beauty retailer Nykaa are among those which have opened physical stores.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises has come out with competitively priced packages for advertisements during the Indian Premier League (IPL) season, according to a senior executive, a move seen making it easier for brands that find IPL TV broadcaster Disney Star's rates prohibitive. The packages offered by Zee Entertainment — which has more than 17% share in TV viewership — will allow brands to reach audiences at scale with lower outlays during the IPL period. The rates of Zee's prime-time advertisement packages range from ₹16 crore to ₹35 crore, according to Ashish Sehgal, the company's chief growth officer, ad sales. In comparison, rival Disney Star's IPL packages are priced between ₹83 crore and ₹167 crore. Disney Star is also looking to broaden its IPL advertiser base by offering customised packages. Sehgal said the company has multiple advertisement packages for the IPL period for the varied marketing objectives of advertisers. Sehgal said the company has devised an eight-week plan for brands that wish to outshout their competitors during the IPL. It has shorter duration four- and six-week plans.

₹10 lakh on the State of Rajasthan for what it deemed as harassment of the poor litigant by dragging the case on for years and through various layers of the judiciary. This decision underscores the Supreme Court’s stance against unnecessary legal actions that burden individuals, particularly those with limited resources, and the Indian judicial system.

₹4 trillion. To put it in context, that is around 8% of the budget’s total expenditure, second only to defence in its non-interest expenditure pie. Add to it separate outlays from state governments—state-level top-ups for minimum support prices (MSPs), power subsidies, etc—and the amount is likely to go up substantially.

Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL) has emerged as the most active player in the market for bad loans last two months following a change in leadership, said people from the banking industry. In four months, the ARC has given binding offers for eleven companies to acquire over Rs 30,000 crore of stressed loans from commercial banks, more than double the amount it acquired since it started operations two years ago. NARCL has been playing an active role after former State Bank of India managing director Diwakar Gupta took charge as its chairman in the first week of December 2023, replacing Karnam Sekar, banking industry officials said. Before this, Gupta was chairman of India Debt Resolution Company (IDRCL) — an agent for NARCL. Sekar resigned last August as chairman soon after IDRCL proposed to the finance ministry to merge NARCL with IDRCL, which did not materialise.

engagement of apprentices across establishments in industrial clusters. The skill development and entrepreneurship ministry is finalising the process of selecting industry clusters across the identified states and handholding them through financial aid as well as infrastructure creation to help them participate in a formal apprenticeship system, said a senior government official. «Top officials of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship held the first meeting with industrial clusters in Gujarat, Delhi and Haryana to nudge micro, small and medium enterprises to engage more apprentices as the country aims to fast-track creation of a skilled workforce,» said the official, who did not wish to be identified.

UPI users said they will stop using the application if transaction fees are levied on the same, said a survey of 34,000 respondents by Local Circles, a pollster on governance and public issues. UPI recorded a transaction value of over ₹16 lakh crore in February 2024, up from over ₹12 lakh crore in February last year, according to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). The most common example of a transaction fee is the ₹20 fee by IRCTC for UPI payments. Fintech companies urged finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to raise issues about implementing a merchant discount rate (MDR) in UPI transactions. «The MDR on UPI payments has been a long standing demand from the fintech industry, asserting they don't generate revenue from such transactions. MDR is the rate charged to a merchant for payment processing services on various payment instruments», said the report.

Banks' bad loans have fallen to record lows as recoveries from defaulters rise and many who missed payments have regularised, but lenders are looking at building buffers anticipating some stress, said CareEdge Ratings. Bad loans fell 21% in the last calendar to Rs 4.85 lakh crore, from a year earlier.

NEW DELHI : Indians are flying overseas like never before. And airlines are taking swift measures to cater to the rising demand. This January has seen 6.52 million people take off for foreign destinations from India, 17% more than January 2023 and, significantly, 0.5% higher than the pre-covid level of January 2020 as well.

MUMBAI : Retail investors appear to have turned savvier with stock trading, cashing out of small-cap counters while prices ruled high. As a category, retail investors' share in these stocks declined between the March and December quarters, a period when many small-cap stocks generated sky-high returns. In the past, many retail investors used to burn their fingers, buying up overheated shares and selling lower.

Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday made it clear on «no violence» stand in coming Lok Sabha polls and cautioned Sandeshkhali issue was elaborately discussed with senior district police officials of North 24 Parganas and Basirhat about serious law & order situation in Sandeshkhali even as it met various political parties, District Magistrates, Superintendents of Police and senior government officials to discuss preparedness for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal. ECI bench has directed the state administration to pull up its socks on violence and said «no-violence & no bombings» will be tolerated in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Panchayat violence issue was raised by the full bench. Following demands by BJP, Congress and CPI-M, the ECI directed District Magistrates to take action against fake voters, an issue raised by LoP Suvendu Adhikari and today again by BJP, Congress and CPI-M leadership, people in the know told ET. Meanwhile, the ruling Trinamool Congress delegation demanded «one phase vote» during the meeting and claiming that CAPF working in the instruction of BJP. «When all states have on phase vote, why will Bengal have seven phase votes? Just to ensure PM Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah can come to Bengal in several phases? It should be ensured that central forces are not pressurized by BJP, senior Trinamool MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay said.

Baring Private Equity subscribed to nearly 35% of the Rs 70-crore anchor book of stabilisers manufacturer Platinum Industries. According to the stock exchange disclosure, the company allotted 14,62,035 shares to Baring Private Equity India AIF II at Rs. 171 per share. The investment philosophy of the Baring Group is rooted in partnership with their clients, aiming to deliver customised private equity and real assets solutions. As of December 31, 2023, Barings Group manages assets under management (AUM) totalling $ 6.05 billion.

Taiwan Foreign ministry on Monday said that the Taiwan will welcome any Indian worker who meets conditions for recruitment and satisfies industry demand, regardless of their ethnic background. Following the signing of an MOU on labour force cooperation between the two countries on February 16, the ministry stated that the qualified workers will be treated fairly. «Taiwan will welcome any Indian worker who meets conditions for recruitment and satisfies industry demand, regardless of their ethnic background. Qualified workers will be treated fairly and accorded due protection under Taiwanese law,» the statement said.

NEW DELHI : India is in talks with several countries including Guyana, Suriname and Namibia to source crude oil at a time when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies have decided to extend their production cuts. India will also source oil from Venezuela in lieu of stuck dividends worth $600 million, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, said on Monday. The country will comfortably navigate through any market volatility and supply crunch arising as a result of the OPEC cuts, he added.

Sanchar Saathi portal, which was unveiled in May last year. While launching the platform, Union Minister for Communications Ashwini Vaishnaw said, the government has been persistently making efforts to check cyber-frauds under the Secure India project.

." While Google has restored most of the apps on the Play Store that were suspended for non-payment of its service fee on Friday, startup founders allege that the restored apps do not have a way to accept payments from users for subscription services or one-time purchases. “The restored apps have all been done through what Google calls its ‘consumption model’, where we can only mention to users that they can go to our website to purchase our services.

₹5 and consists of a fresh issue of ₹617.69 crore and an offer for sale of up to 14.28 million equity shares by the promoter and promoter group selling shareholders and individual selling shareholder. The offer for sale consists of the sale of equity shares of up to 4.28 million by Ramneek Sehgal, up to 7.59 million equity shares by Ramneek Sehgal and Sons HUF, up to 5,030 equity shares by Avneet Luthra, up to 9.27 lakh equity shares by Mohinder Pal Singh Sehgal, up to 5.53 lakh equity shares by Parmjit Sehgal, up to 9.22 lakh equity shares by Simran Sehgal and up to 1,677 equity shares by Kanwaldeep Singh Luthra.

NEW DELHI : India has rolled out a digital platform that will allow individuals to flag calls and text messages by fraudsters, adding a layer of protection against faceless criminals using tech to rob people of their money. The department of telecommunication’s new platform, Chakshu, simplifies reporting on fraud calls and messages, and allows for real-time intelligence-sharing among several stakeholders.