India Financial News

Grand Continent Hotels will debut on the NSE SME platform on Thursday. Ahead of the listing, the GMP, at Rs 0, is not very inspiring for investors. The IPO, which was completely a fresh equity sale of 66 lakh shares, was subscribed just over 1x. The proceeds will be used for repayment of debt, expansion of hotel properties in India and other general corporate purposes.

Malayalam film has finally arrived at the theatres. Mohanlal and Prithviraj-starrer ‘L2: Empuraan’ is all set to make box-office history. As per Sacnilk reports, the pre-sales figures for the action thriller have already crossed Rs 50 crore globally. The early reviews for the Malayalam magnum opus are already out on Twitter.

Bharat Forge are expected to be in focus on Thursday following its contract with the Ministry of Defence for the procurement of 155mm/52 Calibre Advanced Towed Artillery Gun Systems (ATAGS) and High Mobility Vehicle 6x6 Gun Towing Vehicles respectively. The total contract is worth Rs 6,900 crore and Tata Advanced System is another company which is part of the agreement. The government has so far signed contracts worth Rs 1.40 lakh crore in the current financial year 2024-25, a defence ministry release said.

Muhammad Yunus is due in China on Wednesday at the start of a four-day visit during which he is expected to seek financial support and sign MoUs to boost his country’s sagging economy amid dwindling support from the US under President Donald Trump. India will keep a close watch if Yunus agrees to any Chinese military presence particularly in any airfield closer to the border area. Additional Chinese support for Bangladesh armed forces and any enhanced Chinese military presence in the Bay of Bengal will also be closely monitored, according to Bangladesh watchers. Yunus will attend the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2025 in Boao, Hainan province, and hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 28. Boosting economic relations with China will be a central focus of this visit, sources in Dhaka said. Yunus will later speak at Peking University, where he will reportedly be presented with an honorary doctorate. China, while engaged with Dhaka under the Hasina government and earlier with the BNP regime, is keen to keep Yunus in good humour for its economic and strategic interests in the Bay of Bengal region. As per a report in Bangladesh’s leading English newspaper The Daily Star, China and Bangladesh are planning to sign at least eight MoUs on trade, culture, upgrading Mongla Port and water management. The Sheikh Hasina government had given India access to the Mongla Port.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Donald Trump has sought to dismiss Signalgate as “the only glitch" in his two months as US president for the second time. But this will not wash with others around the world.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Come the end of May or June, India’s provident fund (PF) subscribers will be able to withdraw money from their retirement kitties through UPI or ATMs, according to labour and employment secretary Sumita Dawra.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Here are three stocks to buy, as recommended by Raja Venkatraman of NeoTrader for Thursday, 27 March. • Ambuja Cements Ltd: Buy ₹535 | Stop loss ₹520 | Target ₹575-590 • JTEKT India Ltd: Buy ₹135 | Stop loss ₹131 | Target ₹141-144 • Blue Dart Express Ltd: Buy ₹6,350 | Stop loss ₹6150 | Target ₹6,850-7,000 On 26 March, the broader market indices saw significant profit booking at elevated levels, with the Nifty 50 closing 182 points lower and the Sensex declining by 729 points.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s ambitious push to bring home trading in Nifty 50 derivatives has made limited progress in nearly two years, as many traders tempted by cost and logistical advantages keep faith in the Singapore Exchange (SGX). While the share of GIFT Nifty volumes originating from within GIFT City has nearly doubled to 33% during the period, it is still a long way from realizing the goal of attracting the majority of these trades to India.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. One number captures the explosion of India’s creator economy and its ability to shape consumer behaviour: 8,000. It's the count of social media influencers Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: Gross refining margins (GRM) of oil marketing companies (OMC) in India are likely to continue to narrow in the ongoing fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025 (FY25) with declining discounts on Russian oil and shrinking crack spreads. The benchmark Singapore GRMs in the January-March quarter as of February-end stood at $2.7 per barrel, compared with $4 per barrel in the fourth of the previous fiscal, showed data from Icra Ltd.

MUMBAI: Many mutual fund holdings go unclaimed because investors either fail to document them properly or do not inform their family members. To address this, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has introduced a mechanism that integrates mutual fund statements with DigiLocker, enabling nominees to access investment details when needed.

With nearly $11 billion in funding, India has emerged as the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. Yet, this growth comes with challenges—around 5,000 startups shut down in 2024 due to funding constraints, scalability issues, market saturation, governance lapses, and policy hurdles.

Indian benchmark indices fell almost 1% on Wednesday, snapping their seven-day winning streak, as traders found the pace of the recent run-up in the market excessive. NSE's Nifty fell 181.8 points, or 0.77%, to close at 23,486. BSE's Sensex declined 728.6 points, or 0.93%, to end at 77,288.

The floor price has been set at ₹1,625 per share, a 4.9% discount to Wednesday's closing price of ₹1,695 on NSE. The base offer comprises 10.6 million shares (6.8% stake) worth ₹1,717.4 crore, along with a greenshoe option of 5.3 million shares (3.4% stake) valued at ₹858.7 crore.

Donald Trump has indicated that there will not be too many exceptions to his reciprocal tariff announcement on April 2. «We don't know what will happen. There is a bit of uncertainty around that. Whether tariffs will be announced or imposed on us, we will see what comes and adequately react,» said an official. Another official said the Indian industry is worried about the US' plan and wants early conclusion of the bilateral trade agreement. «Industry is paranoid. Lot of jobs are at stake. It is demanding to do it (BTA) as fast as possible otherwise they will suffer from the US reciprocal tariffs,» the official said, adding that the industry wants to avert or delay tariffs. In the scenario the tariffs are imposed as threatened, industry wants protection from the impact and has written to the government regarding the same, according to the official.

NITI Aayog is working on a programme to improve India's penetration into global value chains for the growth of domestic micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), its chief executive BVR Subrahmanyam said on Wednesday. Observing that MSMEs are more affected by regulations than large companies, he said the PM has taken a major step towards deregulation and a task force under the cabinet secretary is working on it.

The ministry has put in place standard measures to maximise generation capacity, like ensure sufficient availability of coal, maximising hydropower, reducing the number of planned maintenance during the season, and optimising imported coal-based plants.

Rajasthan leads with the largest share at 20.3%, followed by Maharashtra (11.8%), Gujarat (10.5%) and Karnataka (9.8%).

Bank of Baroda (BoB), India's second largest public sector lender by assets, is stepping up on retail loan growth with renewed focus on home loans, tie-ups with auto companies, and a fresh strategy to target corporate account employees with personal loans as it expects a 20% compound annual growth rate to continue at least for the next 3 years, executive director Sanjay Mudaliar said. The brisk pace in retail loans will mean the proportion of retail in its total loan book could increase to about 32% in the next three years from 27%. Home loans as a percentage of BoB's loan book are relatively lower at 51% compared to 55% for larger peer SBI. Mudaliar said early success in personal and auto loans meant the bank never stepped on the pedal on home loans but that is now changing. «We had an experience in home loans, but it was not scaled up to the extent we were looking for. Now with the personal loans coming under pressure, the bank is going slow on digital lending, and with the ups and downs in auto loans, the shift is happening towards home loans,» he said.

Indian diaspora withdrew more money than it invested in local bank deposits since October last year despite the sharp depreciation of the rupee, possibly indicating a tighter job market overseas, especially in the Gulf countries, as well as a fear of uncertainty in the global economy amid a looming tariff war, said people familiar with the matter. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed that there was a net outflow of $1.5 billion between October 2024 and January this year in non-resident deposits while the rupee depreciated 3.3% during this period. The outstanding NRI (non-resident Indian) deposits stood at $161.2 billion at the end of January, down from $162.7 billion at the end of October last year.

indigenous fighter jet, the light combat aircraft Mk1a, has been delivered, marking the start of supplies that had been delayed due to supply chain constraints. GE Aerospace has handed over the first of 99 F404-IN20 engines on order to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and a total of 12 engines are expected to be sent this year. The supply of LCA Mk1a to the Air Force has been delayed by over a year as the engines could not come on time due to disruptions in global supply chains faced by the American vendor. The Air Force has placed an order for 83 jets on HAL, which now plans to gradually ramp up production, taking it to 24 aircraft a year. GE acknowledged the delays in supplies, saying that it shut down the production line for engines in 2016 when earlier orders had been fulfilled and restarting it was a complex task. The company added that the delivery of the first engine is an important milestone and it will continue to work with suppliers to keep the production line efficient. «Restarting the F404-IN20 engine line during Covid pandemic was even more challenging. With a high focus on safety and quality, and a remarkable commitment from our supply chain teams and our suppliers and partners, we have managed to restart the line,» Shawn Warren, general manager, Combat & Trainer Engines, GE Aerospace, said. The executive said that the engine is one the most successful in military aviation history and the variant delivered has been particularly made for the Indian requirement. «The F404-IN20 engine is a tailored design for India's single-engine fighter, with the highest thrust within the F404 family and a higher-flow fan, unique single-crystal turbine blades, and numerous special components,» he said.