India Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Hooghly/Durgapur/Murshidabad/Medinipur/Kolkata: On a sultry April afternoon in Singur, Hooghly, a group of men sit shirtless on the cool floor under a tin shed, taking turns drinking cold water from a jug to beat the heat as they chat about the upcoming elections.“We’ve seen the Trinamool Congress government for 15 years now and there really isn’t much work that has been done. Development and infrastructure are lacking, and unemployment is a big concern,” says Pranab Parui, a vegetable seller.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India is moving fast on clean energy. Solar capacity is rising, electric vehicle (EV) sales are climbing and green hydrogen is now part of official strategy. But beneath this momentum sits a less visible constraint in the form of the materials required to build this future.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Asia’s Gen Z is facing a summer of discontent. Already grappling with bleak job prospects and lacklustre growth, it is now being stung by the shock from the Iran war, which is driving up prices of everything from fuel to food. The immediate impact is economic, but there is a growing risk of political instability.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The microdrama sector is poised for a major disruption following the launch of Tadka by JioHotstar and Fatafat by Amazon MX Player. According to industry experts, these media giants are operating with budgets 10 to 15 times larger than those of early-stage companies.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Private credit has had a good start. There is growing demand from corporate borrowers for faster credit decisions, customization of the loan structure and possible flexibility in repayment terms. Except a few exemplar banks, most still take 30-75 days for corporate loan underwriting, while they find it challenging to customize loans or offer flexible payments for regulatory reasons.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Open an online fashion app today, and you’ll find a ₹490,000 Gucci dress or a waitlisted ₹415,000 Prada leather shirt sitting alongside discounted streetwear and mass-market labels.This paradox isn’t accidental. India’s online fashion and beauty market is projected to reach $210 billion by 2028.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Visual: A narrow winding cobbled way in Paris. My voice: “It’s far worse to be poor in a rich country than to be poor in India. To be poor in the spectacular beauty of Paris is like Assamese art cinema trapped in a Wes Anderson scene.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s presidency of Brics arrives at a consequential moment for the global order. Traditional multilateral institutions are struggling to respond to geopolitical conflict, economic fragmentation and technological disruption.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Earlier this week, commerce minister Piyush Goyal said that India and South Korea were working towards doubling bilateral trade while reviewing a 16-year-old trade agreement between them.Signed in 2010, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) has seen bilateral trade more than double, but with a greater share of gains accruing to South Korea. Speaking to the media at an India-Korea business forum, Goyal said this agreement “has not worked for India” and that a review was being undertaken to bring about “more balanced trade between the two countries”.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In the TCS New York City Marathon in November 2025, Vijayaraghavan Venugopal finished first among 332 Indians who participated in the run, a remarkable achievement for a 50-year-old. He was the only one among them to finish in under 3 hours, the timing of 2:47:57 being his best ever for the distance.At the Taj Santacruz in Mumbai a few months later when we meet, it’s not surprising that the athletic chief executive officer and co-founder of sports nutrition supplement brand Fast&Up looks much younger than his years.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s power sector is entering a high-growth phase, driven by rising electricity demand and an accelerating shift toward renewable energy.Air-conditioning adoption, electric mobility, data centres, infrastructure build-out, and urbanization are all pushing consumption higher. As the country balances energy security with sustainability, power companies are evolving their business models to keep pace.In this article, we examine why the sector could be turning attractive for investors.India’s peak power demand has been hitting fresh highs each year and, by government projections, is set to climb steadily over the next decade.The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects India to lead global energy demand growth through 2035.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.From fertilizer production falling to near five-year low in March, to foodgrain stocks surging to nearly three times the mandated buffer, to rural patients spending more than urban counterparts at government hospitals, to major IT firms declaring their FY26 earnings — here is a compilation of this week's news in numbers.India's fertilizer production fell to a near five-year low in March. Shortages of inputs, such as liquefied natural gas and sulphur, caused by the war in West Asia, dragged output down by 24.6% year-on-year.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Kapal Mehra once went head-to-head with Dhirubhai Ambani in the ruthless synthetic textile wars of the 1980s. In a battle fought over polyester yarn and government licences, Mehra would ultimately lose everything.As a serious contender, he should have secured a place in corporate folklore. Instead, remarkably little is known about him today.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.An industry body has asked the government to scrap a proposal to ban audit firms from offering non-audit services to clients for three years after their term ends.It said the move will lead to operational inefficiencies, increased costs and hurdles for large corporate groups, and force companies to depend on smaller auditors, which could compromise service quality in complex areas.Companies including EY, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, BDO and Grant Thornton Bharat, among other audit firms, will be severely impacted if amendments proposed to the Companies Act of 2013 are implemented. These companies offer other advisory services besides audits for clients.The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), a body representing companies across sectors, submitted its comments and suggestions on the Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, last week, Mint has learnt.According to the proposed clause in the bill, an auditor or audit firm shall not provide, directly or indirectly, any non-audit services to a company or its holding company or subsidiary.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: An early and harsher-than-usual start to summer has prompted the Centre to ask states to step up heatwave preparedness, with temperatures already running 4-8 degrees Celsius above seasonal averages in several regions, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.The directive comes as parts of northwestern, central and eastern India report daytime highs crossing 44°C, raising the risk of heat-related illnesses and potential disruption to economic activity if extreme conditions persist.The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned that heatwave conditions are very likely in the next 24 hours in states including Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, as well as parts of central and peninsular India.India's official weather forecaster defines a heatwave as temperatures at least 4.5°C above normal, with higher departures classified as severe.Union health secretary Punya Salila Srivastava has asked states to stock essential supplies such as oral rehydration salts (ORS), intravenous fluids, ice packs and cooling equipment, and to operationalize dedicated Heat Stroke Management Units at health facilities. Ambulance services have also been asked to be equipped to handle heat-related emergencies, according to the communication sent to states.States have been directed to mandatorily report daily heatstroke cases and deaths through the Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) to enable real-time monitoring.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Telecom operators Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd are evaluating the risks posed by Anthropic’s Claude Mythos, an AI model that identifies cybersecurity vulnerabilities in operating systems.“We are talking to suppliers (to understand the vulnerabilities) because we don't do this, the software is owned by them,” Randeep Sekhon, chief technology officer (CTO) at Bharti Airtel, told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Friday.Sekhon’s comments assume significance as Anthropic has said its latest model, Claude Mythos—currently available to a limited set of companies—can identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities in their digital infrastructure.This has raised concerns that, if accessed or misused by malicious actors, it could increase the risk of cyberattacks across critical infrastructure sectors such as telecom and banking.Sekhon, however, emphasized that it was too early to comment on the actual impact on telecom operators.“These are not systemic risks putting networks in danger. They are typically smaller software bugs that earlier may not have been discovered through routine checks,” Sekhon said, adding that telcos are users of technology and not builders of technology.On Thursday, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a high-level meeting with banks and key stakeholders to assess risks from emerging threats linked to the AI model.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A change in the way commissions are structured for onboarding clients to the National Pension System (NPS) may still fail to draw significant interest from distributors, experts said.Points of Presence (PoPs), the intermediaries that act as the primary customer interface for the NPS, can now earn 0.20% of the assets under management per annum as a trail commission in addition to a one-time onboarding fee of ₹200 when a new client is registered, the Pension Fund Regulatory Authority of India (PFRDA) said in a circular on 10 March.Before this, trail commissions—a recurring fee paid to distributors as long as a client remains invested—were not allowed. Distributors could only charge a direct fee of ₹200-300 per customer.PoPs are regulated institutions appointed by the PFRDA to provide services to all citizens seeking to open and operate their NPS accounts.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BENGALURU: Even as global luxury demand shows signs of cooling, international brands are accelerating their India playbooks, betting the country’s still-nascent but fast-evolving luxury market will deliver long-term growth.Ralph Lauren India and the Lanvin Group are sharpening their strategies to deepen their presence, expand retail footprints, and localize offerings in India as revenue growth slows in more mature markets. Both companies are adopting starkly different approaches in India.Shubhi Sinha, brand head at Ralph Lauren India, said the company will continue expanding its physical presence while tapping demand beyond top metros.“We have about eight stores currently and plan to expand.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s international air travel fell to a four-year low in March as the West Asia conflict disrupted key routes, with Air India Express emerging as the worst-hit among local carriers.The low-cost carrier of Air India, which has a heavy exposure to the region, recorded the steepest decline. Its departures plunged 68% to 1,263 in March from 3,928 a year ago.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.With equity markets roiled by the West Asia war and sharp swings in mid- and small-caps, investors are grappling with how to position portfolios.In an interaction with Mint, Trideep Bhattacharya, president and chief investment officer-equities, Edelweiss Mutual Fund, with average assets under management of ₹1.65 trillion in the March quarter, shares why he remains cautiously optimistic and how investors should navigate the current phase. Edited excerpts:Where do you see markets heading from here, given the recent volatility?We are incrementally positive on markets, particularly from a near-term perspective.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Over the past decade, India’s digital economy has increasingly relied on open-source software to power its core digital infrastructure and governance systems. From banking to government platforms, the code behind payments and public services is shared, modular and visible.While this approach delivers scale, lower costs and reduced vendor lock-in, new AI systems developed by Anthropic, OpenAI and others are exposing its soft underbelly. Old unpatched gaps are showing up in widely used open-source software.