India Financial News

Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, when top Pakistani cricketers like Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Salman Butt, and Kamran Akmal played in the tournament. The prospect of more such moments, where Indian and Pakistani cricketers played as teammates rather than opponents, came to an abrupt end after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. The attacks, carried out by a Pakistan-based terrorist organisation, shook India to its core and brought the two nations to the brink of war.

iDEX award from the Ministry of Defence. «In a major step towards strategic autonomy, Pravaig has won the prestigious iDEX Award for its VEER Electric Tactical All-Terrain Vehicle (E-TATV) — a cutting-edge, highly stealthy vehicle designed for forward patrolling, reconnaissance, and ISR operations,» Pravaig Dynamics said in a post on X. Atima Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pravaig, won the iDEX Award by the Defence Innovation Organisation (DIO), under the aegis of the Department of Defence Production in the Ministry of Defence, «for deepening India's sovereignty by building cutting-edge defence technologies and reinforcing the country's strategic autonomy.» The scheme for iDEX-Innovations for Defence Excellence was launched in May 2021 by DIO to foster innovation and technology development in the Defence sector. The mission is to build, own and operate India's defence technology. The award is considered the first step towards induction into Indian Defence Services. Pravaig said technology dependency on foreign entities proved to be an Achilles' heel for not just Ukraine, but even for India, as evidenced by the GPS denial by the US during the Kargil War.

bio-enhanced curcumin, the active compound in turmeric (haldi), can effectively treat mild to moderate dry eye disease (DED), reported The Times of India. DED occurs when the eyes fail to produce enough quality tears for proper lubrication. Published in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, the research highlights curcumin’s positive impact on improving tear film stability, lipid layer thickness, tear meniscus height, and reducing eye redness.

Ashwini Vaishnaw visited the Hyperloop testing facility at IIT Madras on Saturday and said that the Hyperloop tube, being developed with the help of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, will soon be the world's longest tube, measuring 410 meters in length. The 410-meter-long Hyperloop test tube located at IIT Chennai is already the longest Hyperloop test facility in Asia. Hyperloop is a high-speed train that runs in a vacuum in a tube. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday in a social media post added, «Longest Hyperloop tube in Asia (410 m)… soon to be the world's longest.»

Shahi Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal began on Sunday morning, an advocate of the mosque side said. The Allahabad High Court on March 12 directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to undertake and complete the whitewashing at the mosque within one week.

The report noted that the Indian government’s initiatives over the last few years, to boost semiconductor fab and OSAT investments by inviting global firms, has created awareness about the importance of global supply chains and led to increased interest among domestic suppliers. We take a look at the potential opportunities and challenges facing the sector.

Uber Technologies is in early stages of discussions to acquire BluSmart Mobility, the Gurugram-based all-electric cab service operator, two people in the know said. A deal could help Uber increase its presence in the growing space for electric cabs in India as well as signal consolidation in the urban mobility industry. The discussions come at a time when Gensol Engineering, the solar engineering procurement and construction company promoted by BluSmart cofounder Anmol Singh Jaggi, is facing liquidity issues. “Uber is scoping out BluSmart’s assets...particularly the electric vehicle fleet, which could help shore up its presence in the segment,” one of the people said.

US recession. A raging tariff war. Supply chains in disarray. Companies grappling with uncertainty. Governments on tenterhooks. It hasn't even been two months since Donald Trump was sworn in as US President and it has been more dramatic than an episode of his reality show The Apprentice. On March 5, Trump underlined this with his plan forreciprocal tariffs on countries such as India and China. “Whatever they tariff us, other countries, we will tariff them. That’s reciprocal, back and forth,” Trump said in his first address to the joint session of Congress.

Reserve Bank of India said Saturday that the financial position of IndusInd Bank «remains satisfactory», reassuring depositors of the safety of their money after the lender last week reported discrepancies in its derivatives portfolio and warned of a one-time hit on its net worth. The bank is «well-capitalised», while its financial health «remains stable» and is being closely monitored, the RBI said in a press release, and urged depositors not to be swayed by «speculative reports at this juncture». Based on public disclosures, the bank has already engaged an external audit team to review its systems and assess the actual impact of any issues, the central bank said. It directed the lender's board and management to complete the remedial actions by the end of this month after making required disclosures to all stakeholders. According to the bank's auditor-reviewed financial results for the quarter ending December 31, 2024, IndusInd Bank has maintained a solid capital adequacy ratio of 16.46% and provision coverage ratio of 70.20%, compared with the RBI-mandated 9% and 70%, respectively. Its liquidity coverage ratio was 113% as on March 9, exceeding the regulatory requirement of 100%. The reassurance comes amid growing concerns about the bank's lapses in derivatives accounting which it discovered in September-October but disclosed only on Monday.

Skoda Auto's India unit is targeting 2026 sales of more than 100,000 vehicles, which will be more than twice its annual sales in recent years. That number may still seem small when compared with the sales volume of Maruti Suzuki, the local market leader that sells one and a half times as many cars and SUVs each month in India. But in a market where European automakers have long been pushed to the sidelines by their Japanese, Korean and local rivals, the Skoda target is a formidable one. Skoda and other European mass-market brands like Volkswagen, Renault and Citroen are trying to carve out a space for themselves in the crowded but fast-growing Indian market through strategic positioning and niche offerings with premium features, latest technology and competitive pricing. «The Indian automotive landscape is experiencing nuanced shifts, even with Japanese brands holding a strong lead. These shifts signal growing opportunities for global players to respond to evolving consumer preferences,» said Ravi Bhatia, president at Jato Dynamics.

Job offers from startups and ecommerce companies at the country's prestigious business schools surged this hiring season, with graduates of the Class of 2025 being wooed with attractive pay packages to help drive growth and expansion plans. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), XLRI-Xavier School of Management, Management Development Institute (MDI) Gurgaon, Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) Delhi, and Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad were among the B-schools that saw offers pour in from companies such as Zomato, Flipkart, Amazon, Navi, Myntra, PhonePe, Ola, Nykaa and Swiggy, among others. Business expansion plans and the push towards digital transformation drove hiring across domains, including product management, growth and marketing, operations, business analytics, sales, tech, finance and human resources (HR), covering entry- to mid-level leadership roles.

Three federal immigration agents showed up at a Columbia University apartment searching for Ranjani Srinivasan, who had recently learned her student visa had been revoked. Srinivasan, an international student from India, did not open the door. She was not home when the agents showed up again the next night, just hours before a former Columbia student living in campus housing, Mahmoud Khalil, was detained, roiling the university. Srinivasan packed a few belongings, left her cat behind with a friend and jumped on a flight to Canada at LaGuardia Airport.

Chief Election Commissioner and an election commissioner last month, needless questions are being raised on whether they were the right individuals for these offices because the Chief Justice of India was not on the selection committee. Argument being that the CJI's exclusion has rendered the selection one-sided as the Leader of Opposition is in the obvious minority. This logic is spurious. Article 324 (2) of the Constitution that outlines the composition and appointment of the CEC and ECs reads as follows: «The Election Commission shall consist of the chief election commissioner and such number of other election commissioners, if any, as the President may from time to time fix and the appointment of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners shall, subject to the provisions of any law made in that behalf by Parliament, be made by the President.» The President has been appointing the CEC and ECs on the advice of the executive, that is the government of the day. Parliament has not enacted any law to amend this process. The LoP's inclusion in the selection committee for the appointment of any regulatory position started with the Right to Information Act, 2005. Under this law, the President appoints central information commissioners on the recommendation of not the executive but a selection committee comprising the Prime Minister, a minister nominated by him and the LoP in the Lok Sabha. In state information commissions, the governor makes the appointment on the recommendation of a committee comprising the chief minister, a minister and the LoP of the state assembly.

The success stories of Spanx and Skims have made shapewear quite hip—and it’s true for India, too. A Google search for “shapewear in India” results in hundreds of options, including shapewear specialists like Dermawear, startups like ButtChique and The Active Story that started in 2020 and 2023, respectively, intimatewear labels like Nykd by Nykaa Fashion, older brands like Zivame and Clovia, international brands like Marks & Spencer and smaller brands in online marketplaces. There are tummy tuckers, sari shapewear, bodysuits, shaping dresses, 4-in-1 shapers for the stomach, hips, back and thighs, and colours that go beyond the beige, with prices starting from `250 to `7,000. So, is everyone wearing shapewear? Not as many as should, says Abhishek K Kumar, CEO of Dermawear. “In comparison to the global usage of such products, we have only scratched the surface. India still has a long way to go to adapt shapewear in daily life, which underscores the opportunity the market presents.” He that is not keen on loose petticoats and pinching drawstrings. It entered the shapewear segment with high-compression garments targeting occasion wear; that is close to 10% of its portfolio now. She says, “Today, shapewear has moved from thicker fabrics to high-compression thin fabrics. It is also being looked at beyond occasion wear.” She says people now want outerwear with shaping function, like a knit top that shapes the abdomen.

Maya’s team—which included another woman, two men and a child— was carrying the skin of an adult tiger and 17 kilos of bones. Before “someone from Meghalaya” could come and collect the consignment from Maya, the police swooped in. “We were stunned to find that these were the remains of a second tiger— we had already missed the first tiger,” says Pranjal Baruah, a range officer of Kamrup, Assam, who had spearheaded the initial probe. Forensic tests traced the skin to one of the three missing tigers from the faraway Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. That was a clue something was going awry with the striped beast. Even as India’s tiger population has been steadily climbing over the past couple of decades, it could get derailed. A surging appetite for tiger bones in China and Vietnam and the revival of a smuggling route through Mizoram-Myanmar have reignited dormant trafficking networks. The Assam case was transferred to the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), an arm of the ministry of environment and forests, which cracks down on organised wildlife crime. The agency’s trail led to multiple arrests in Maharashtra. They also caught Mishram Jakhad, an octogenarian from Dwarka in Delhi, believed to be a key link between tiger poachers and smuggling syndicates.

China though it has not got the sensational public attention the AI model received. China’s biotech research is redrawing the global map. The axis of innovation is tilting from the West to Beijing. Scores of small biotech startups, which have sprung up across China over the last decade, are coming up with medical breakthroughs. Impressed by the speed of drug research and new treatment modalities, global pharmaceutical companies are throwing princely sums to buy leads, which have the potential to be drugs. There is a big lesson or two here for India, which has been prioritising generics over innovation. The quiet change in China is stark. Barely two decades ago, it was looked down as a big factory for low-cost production of chemicals and raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. Now savvy and young scientists, trained in the US and Europe, are regrouping in their home turf. Popularly referred to as sea turtles (which return from the sea to the beach to lay eggs), they come back with their knowledge of science and business. This disruption has become an existential risk for the centuries-old, entrenched American and European pharmaceutical industries.

Rang barse' and 'Hori khele Raghuveera' so often that I have Bachchan coming out of my ears. For the uninitiated, both songs are based on traditional numbers that were reimagined for Hindi cinema. Amitabh Bachchan sang 'Rang barse' in Yash Chopra's 1981 film Silsila, and is one of the singers for 'Hori khele Raghuveera' from 2003's Baghban directed by Ravi Chopra. Up to the 1980s, songs and dances revolving around Holi were routine in Hindi cinema. While the colours and energy intrinsic to the festival were its primary attractions for filmmakers, they also often steeped Holi set pieces in symbolism, or used them as a segue into high drama in the plot. Sometimes these songs contained expressions of longing and sorrow, emotions that were underlined by their contrast to the unbridled joy of most of the characters present. Sometimes they were an excuse for either consensual romance or sexual harassment. In Mehboob Khan's 1957 Mother India, heartache, flirtation, and misconduct were all packed into 'Holi aayi re Kanhai' picturised on Nargis, Raaj Kumar, Sunil Dutt, and Rajendra Kumar.

Rosmerta Digital Services, an operational creditor of Ola Electric Technologies, has filed a plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against the wholly owned subsidiary of electric two-wheeler maker Ola Electric, over alleged payment defaults. The petition, filed before the Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), claims non-payment for services rendered and seeks to initiate a corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against Ola Electric Technologies. Ola Electric has disputed the claims and said it plans to challenge the petition through legal proceedings.

Fincantieri is one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the world, with over 230 years of history and more than 7,000 ships built. Fincantieri is the exclusive supplier for the Italian Navy, a partner of the US Navy and numerous foreign navies, and a key player in some of the most important European Defence partnership programs. In an exclusive interview with ET’s Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, Pierroberto Folgiero, Managing Director and CEO of Fincantieri SpA, explores shipbuilding opportunities & IMEEC partnership with India. India is emerging as a global hub for shipbuilding. How does Fincantieri see opportunities for partnership with Indian shipyards and industry players? India’s growth from primarily a domestic focus to a global player in shipbuilding, in tandem with its rise to the fastest-growing large economy in the world, brings exiciting opportunities for collaboration, and we view this as an invitation to share knowledge and build upon complementary strengths.

In 2012, KKR won their first title because of Sunil Narine and Robin Uthappa. They won the title in 2014 again — the first season with Andre Russell in their ranks. The next three years showed promise but didn’t bring KKR another title, leading to Gautam Gambhir’s exit ahead of the 2018 auction. Dinesh Karthik took over as captain in 2018, guiding KKR to a third-place finish in his debut season. Midway through the 2020 IPL, he stepped down, passing the leadership to Eoin Morgan, who led the team to their third final in 2021. However, Morgan went unsold the following year, making way for Shreyas Iyer, who ultimately steered KKR to their third IPL title in 2024.