India Financial News

Reserve Bank of India on Friday. For the previous week, India's forex reserves fell to $638.69 billion in the week ending February 28, 2025, down by $1.7 billion, said the Reserve Bank of India on Friday. India's forex kitty The central bank releases India's forex reserves' data every Friday, closely monitoring the economic indicator of foreign trade.

Saina Nehwal and PR Sreejesh, have written a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) presidential candidates, urging them to make climate action their top priority. As IOC members gather in Costa Navarino, Greece, to vote on the seven candidates next week (March 18-21), the Olympians called for stronger commitments from the IOC to cut carbon emissions, promote sustainability in host cities, set clear guidelines on polluting sponsors and use its platform to advocate for climate action. Climate impacts are «no longer a distant threat, but a current and growing harm to the sports we love and to the countries that make up our Olympic family», the letter said. The signatories include 57 Olympic champions and over 100 Olympic flag bearers. They represent some of the world's most climate-vulnerable nations, including Argentina, Aruba, the Bahamas, Cabo Verde, Colombia, Cook Islands, Eswatini, Fiji, Ghana, India, Kenya, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Sierra Leone and Zambia. Recognizing that extreme weather events are already disrupting the Summer and Winter Olympics and affecting athlete performance and safety, the letter urges decisive action to ensure the games remain accessible and safe for future generations. Earlier this year, massive wildfires burned large areas of Los Angeles, the host city of the 2028 Olympic Games. The fires killed about 30 people, destroyed thousands of buildings, and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes.

eight-day variable rate repo (VRR) auction that the Reserve Bank of India conducted on Thursday got bids for less than one-tenth of the notified amount, with treasury executives citing the tenure of the operation as a likely reason for the weak demand. The RBI offered to infuse Rs 1 lakh crore in the banking system through the VRR auction that would reverse, or be repaid, on March 21, but it received bids for only Rs 9,860 crore. The central bank also conducts daily overnight VRR auctions. Treasury heads said the auction could have seen more demand if the maturity date were in April, in the new fiscal year. “There is no difference between borrowing overnight and borrowing for eight days. If I have the flexibility to borrow every day, I will borrow when the need arises and not for eight days,” Jana Small Finance Bank’s head of treasury Gopal Tripathi told ET. “Plus, this would mature within March; if the reversal date were crossing March, there would have been more demand.” The RBI has been conducting these auctions to inject liquidity in anticipation of outflows from the banking system due to advance quarterly tax and GST payments.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. At its best, Haldiram Snack Food Pvt. Ltd is a great example of a successful Indian family business.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The same cast of characters features in most wildlife conservation campaigns: majestic tigers, adorable pandas or other creatures that tug human heartstrings. Images of the blood-splattered bills of endangered vultures tend to evoke less sympathy, but a new study provides a reason to be concerned for their survival.

OfBusiness. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can also enhance employment from 110 million to 175 million, particularly in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, it said. «AI and technology transformation can scale-up SMEs production and then reach to 50% contribution to the GDP from the current 30%, and enhancing employment from 110 million to 175 million, particularly in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, would not be difficult. This would prove to be a major game-changer for the Indian economy,» OfBusiness said in a statement. It said most SMEs are looking forward to adopting AI & ML in their business operations to upscale production.

Veteran actor Deb Mukherjee, father of acclaimed director Ayan Mukerji, passed away at the age of 83. He had been unwell and was hospitalized, where he breathed his last at 9:30 am today, March 14 (Friday). His funeral will take place today evening 4pm at Pawan Hans, Mumbai. Just last year, during Durga Puja celebrations, Deb Mukherjee was actively involved in the festivities alongside his nieces-actresses Kajol and Rani Mukerji. Deb Mukherjee's personal life was marked by two marriages. From his first marriage, he had a daughter, Sunita, who is married to renowned director Ashutosh Gowariker. His second marriage blessed him with a son, Ayan Mukerji, who has made a significant mark in Bollywood with films like Wake Up Sid, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, and Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva.

Ashokan Edict Sites and Chausath Yogini Temples spread across multiple states — have been added to India's tentative list by the UNESCO's World Heritage Centre. These sites were added to the list on March 7, the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO said in a statement. India at UNESCO shared the statement on microblogging site X, late on Thursday. Addition to the World Heritage Centre's tentative list is mandatory if a property is to be nominated for inscription to the World Heritage List in future, it said. The six properties added to the tentative list include Kanger Valley National Park in Chhattisgarh; Mudumal Megalithic Menhirs in Telangana; serial nomination of Ashokan Edict Sites along the Mauryan Routes (multiple states); serial nomination of Chausath Yogini Temples (multiple states); serial nomination of Gupta Temples in north India (multiple states), and the palace-fortresses of the Bundelas in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, the statement said. With these additions, India now has 62 sites on the tentative list.

Putin expressed gratitude to Donald Trump and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, among other world leaders, for their «noble mission» to resolve the conflict. Speaking at a joint press briefing in Moscow with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday, Putin said he is «grateful» to all the leaders for their efforts towards the goal. «As for Ukraine's readiness for a ceasefire, I will tell you how I view it, of course. But I would like to start by thanking the President of the United States, Mr Trump, for paying so much attention to the Ukraine settlement. We all have enough of our own domestic affairs to attend to,» Putin told reporters. «But many leaders of states, among them the President of the People's Republic of China, the Prime Minister of India, the Presidents of Brazil and the Republic of South Africa are addressing this issue and give it a lot of their time. We are grateful to all of them for that because this activity is aimed at achieving a noble mission — the mission of ending hostilities and loss of life,» Putin said. It may be recalled that Modi had repeatedly called for peace over the last three years while resisting huge pressure from the Western powers to take sides in the war.

Blackstone is set to acquire a 40% equity stake in realtor Kolte-Patil Developers in a deal valued at over Rs 1,167 crore including the company’s preferential allotment of shares and stake sale by controlling shareholders. The board of directors of Kolte-Patil has approved a preferential allotment of shares to Blackstone entity BREP Asia III India Holding Co VII, raising approximately Rs 417 crore from the global investment firm. Under the preferential issue, Kolte-Patil will allot over 1.26 crore equity shares at Rs 329 per share to BREP Asia III, giving the investor a 14.3% stake in the company post-issuance, the Pune-based developer said in a regulatory filing.

Gig workers, or those outside traditional employer-employee relationships, are set to play a key role in the world's fifth-biggest economy, spurred partly by high unemployment after COVID-19 pandemic curbs fuelled growth in the sector. Tamil Nadu is also introducing an insurance scheme for nearly 150,000 gig workers to compensate for accidental deaths and disability, its finance minister, Thangam Thenarasu, said while unveiling the budget.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s biggest telecom operators—Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel Ltd—turning marketing agents for Elon Musk’s satellite broadband project, Starlink, is a welcome development. The government must explicitly assist in this with funds from the Universal Service Obligation Fund, now dubbed the Digital Bharat Nidhi, to make satellite broadband connection affordable even for low-income communities in rural areas.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. On a Monday evening in late February, the Women’s Premier League featured its first-ever ‘super over’—an additional over following a regulation tie to determine the winner. UP Warriorz won that match, defeating the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their home turf by 4 runs.

Elon Musk’s satellite communications venture, Starlink, to establish a control centre in India. This move aims to enable authorities to suspend or shut down communication services in sensitive or troubled areas when necessary to maintain law and order, according to top sources cited by TOI. As per the TOI report, the government has also outlined security requirements, including allowing law-enforcement agencies to intercept calls through official channels when required. These directives come as Starlink’s application for a satellite communications licence reaches the final stage. The company has been working on agreements with Reliance Jio and Airtel for marketing, deployment, and network enhancement.

Russian oil supplies to top buyers India and China fell sharply following the January 10 sanctions by the former Biden administration targeting Russian producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegaz as well as insurers and more than 100 vessels to curtail Moscow's oil revenue. While Russian shipments to the two Asian countries have rebounded after more non-sanctioned tankers joined the trade, China's state-run Sinopec and Zhenhua Oil halted purchases of March-loading Russian oil due to concerns over dealing with the sanctioned firms, sources with knowledge of the matter said. The scaled-back buying by Chinese state players has weighed on Russian oil prices, eating into Moscow's revenue and putting additional pressure on Russia ahead of a possible ceasefire deal with Ukraine. A Beijing-based state oil source said his company ceased Russian oil deals as it undertakes more compliance checks and waits for a «clear picture» on a possible Russia-U.S. deal to end the Ukraine war.

Piyush Goyal on Friday said that he had a «forward looking» discussion with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on a mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement. «Our approach will be guided by 'India First', 'Viksit Bharat' and our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,» the Commerce Minister wrote on his X timeline, sharing a photograph of the meeting. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal was in the US last week. His visit to the US followed US President Donald Trump and PM Modi's plans to negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by the fall of 2025. The two leaders had committed to designating senior representatives to advance these negotiations. During the recent meeting between President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the two leaders resolved to expand trade and investment to make their citizens more prosperous, nations stronger, economies more innovative, and supply chains more resilient. They resolved to deepen the US-India trade relationship to promote growth that ensures fairness, national security and job creation. To this end, the leaders set a bold new goal for bilateral trade — "Mission 500" — aiming to more than double total bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030.

Jaaved Jaaferi said his latest film, Inn Galiyon Mein, reflects India's diversity through the story of a young couple from different faiths and lower economic backgrounds. The film, directed by Avinash Das, features Avantika Dassani and Vivaan Shah in lead roles and was released in theatres on Friday.

iPhone SE released a few years ago, but won’t be enough to reverse a China slide, according to analyst firm IDC. The market tracker found sales of the iPhone 16e were 60% stronger in its opening three days versus the iPhone SE from 2022. But that won’t be enough to alter the forecast that Apple’s sales in China will decline about 2% overall this year. “The competition from Android will be even stronger, strengthened by the national China subsidies which will benefit Android significantly more than Apple,” said Nabila Popal, IDC senior director. The new $599 iPhone 16e replaces the $429 iPhone SE, making the challenge in China tougher when it comes to fending off budget Android alternatives. The device includes only one rear camera, limited base storage and insufficient AI features, making it a tougher sell in the region. The Chinese government has set aside 300 billion yuan (in excess of $41 billion) for subsidies to stimulate the consumer economy. Those extended to smartphones in recent months and have helped the likes of Xiaomi Corp. and Vivo expand their sales. Apple is working on bringing its Apple Intelligence suite to Chinese consumers as early as the middle of this year, Bloomberg News has reported. Still,Apple could make up for the sales weakness via other models in the region. “We need to keep in mind that these would likely still be only a small portion of Apple’s volumes given that many consumers in China place an emphasis on ‘face’ — not wanting to be seen as having a lower-priced iPhone,” IDC’s Bryan Ma said. Looking beyond China, he expects the 16e to make up as much as a fifth of iPhone sales in India in the second half of the year.

compressor shortage seems to have been well managed. The industry faced a shortage of high-value intermediaries, i.e., compressors and copper during 3QFY25 which came as a surprise to the manufacturers as BIS certifications for certain players were not extended and imports got impacted.

commerce ministry on Thursday assured domestic exporters, particularly those in labour-intensive sectors like leather and textiles, to protect their interests amid the US tariff threats, industry officials said. The issues related to the country's exports were discussed during a virtual meeting chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. «Held a stakeholder consultation meeting with Export Promotion Councils and Industry Associations to discuss strategies for strengthening India's export ecosystem. »The optimism among our industry stakeholders in transforming global challenges into opportunities is truly encouraging. With an evolving global trade landscape, we explored ways to expand into new markets and strengthen competitiveness to drive India's export growth," the minister said in a post on X.

In an interview with ETMarkets, Ramkumar said: “We also feel infrastructure and defence sectors are in for structural growth in India,” Edited excerpts: