India Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Oil has sprung back above $100 per barrel amid sharp volatility that is likely to make the task of policymakers trickier. High oil prices are threatening to let inflationary pressures loose, but growth prospects have also come under a cloud.

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) has proposed launching weekly index options for its bullion derivative index, the MCX Bulldex, according to two people familiar with the matter. The proposal is currently in the early stages of discussion within a regulatory committee, they added."The matter is being discussed in the commodity derivatives advisory committee (CDAC) of Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) but no decision has been taken yet.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Indian equity markets remained under pressure on 23 April, as rising crude oil prices, continued foreign fund outflows and weak Asian cues weighed on investor sentiment.The Sensex fell 852 points to 77,664, while the Nifty slipped 205 points to close at 24,173. Market breadth stayed negative, with most sectoral indices ending in the red.Despite intermittent rebounds, the broader trend remains fragile.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When mutual funds start accumulating a stock, especially in the small-cap space, it's not by accident.Fund managers spend weeks, sometimes months, doing the kind of due diligence most retail investors simply don't have the time or resources for.So when fresh shareholding data shows a fund quietly building a position in a small-cap name, it's worth paying attention.Here we look at four such small-cap companies.These stocks are filtered using Equitymaster’s stock screener: Smallcap Stocks Recently Bought by Mutual Funds in India.In the most recent March 2026 quarter, mutual funds increased their stake by 7.5%, taking the overall shareholding to 17.24%.This buying comes on top of three consecutive quarters of buying, where mutual funds had increased their holding from 8.44%.Aavas Financiers operates in the affordable financing segment. It offers housing loans and MSME loans backed by property and loans against property (LAP) to segments in the middle and lower income salaried and self-employed borrowers in India's rural and semi-urban regions.Unlike its peers, Aavas uses an in-house sourcing model (98.9% direct) rather than relying on agents.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: India’s avocado demand is surging, but domestic supply is still playing catch-up, keeping the country reliant on imports even as local cultivation expands.Government data show imports have more than tripled in two years, rising to $42.27 million in FY26 (till February), from about $27 million in FY25 and $13.5 million in FY24. Domestic output, meanwhile, has increased more gradually—from about 6,000 tonnes in 2023 to around 9,000 tonnes in 2026, experts said.The mismatch highlights a widening gap: rising health-driven consumption is outpacing India’s nascent production base, forcing the market to lean on overseas suppliers even as farmers begin to scale up planting.The area under avocado cultivation has expanded over the years, with farmers in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim and parts of Maharashtra responding to growing urban demand.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The post-pandemic era saw the Indian retail investor evolve into a formidable market force, but is the tide finally turning? After years of relentless accumulation, an interplay of lofty valuations and geopolitical friction has triggered a pivot toward caution.From turning net sellers for the first time in six years to participation patterns becoming increasingly transient and episodic, Mint decodes the moves of these mom-and-pop investors in fiscal 2026, based on the latest data disclosures by the National Stock Exchange.The cash market segment currently shows a highly skewed, long-tailed participation pattern that challenges the narrative of a stable retail base. Data for fiscal 2026 reveals a sharp concentration of ‘transient’ activity: single-day traders alone account for 24% of the base.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Stock market recap: The Indian equity benchmark indices witnessed a volatile session today, with Nifty 50 ending lower at 24,173.05, shedding 205 points (-0.84%), while Sensex dropped approximately 0.70% to close near 78,000.The market sentiment was largely dampened by escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Brent crude prices surging above $100 per barrel, heightening inflation fears for the import-dependent economy. Sectorally, Nifty Pharma (+2.36%) and Healthcare (+2.11%) were the standout outperformers, providing a defensive cushion amid the broader sell-off.Conversely, Nifty Auto (-2.35%) and PSU Bank (-2.19%) faced significant selling pressure, reflecting caution over rising input costs and credit growth.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Belgium’s Ageas Insurance is prepared to invest additional capital in India to break into the country’s top 10 life insurers in the next three to four years, provided returns on equity remain favourable.“If the growth is there and the return on equity is good, we will be there with the capital,” Ageas Insurance’s global CEO Hans De Cuyper, who is in India, told Mint. “On the life (insurance) side, we have expressed the intention to become top 10.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Motorcycle manufacturer Classic Legends Private Ltd is betting on new products to sustain its recent growth momentum after years of muted sales, as it seeks to challenge the dominance of Royal Enfield in India’s premium motorcycle market.The Mumbai-based premium bike brand, a subsidiary of the Mahindra Group, introduced two motorcycles on Thursday, which comes nearly a year after it committed to a series of premium bike launches. This was the company's first launch for financial year 2027.Classic Legends’ efforts to return to a growth trajectory come at a time when Mahindra has identified the company as a potential growth driver.Anupam Thareja, co-founder of Classic Legends, said the new motorcycles with 350cc and 650cc engine capacities will be positioned as "SUVs" of bikes."I have always believed that scramblers will redefine Indian riding culture the way SUVs (sports utility vehicles) redefined passenger four-wheelers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India is planning a sweeping overhaul of its drug regulatory system by unifying central and state licensing, approvals, and compliance into a single digital platform, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.At the centre of the plan is a proposed interoperable Digital Drugs Regulatory System (DDRS) being developed by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO). The regulator is preparing to invite proposals from IT services firms to build and run the platform, the documents show.The DDRS is designed to streamline complex processes—from registration and clinical trial approvals to import-export licensing and supply chain traceability—by bringing central and state regulators, laboratories, and allied agencies onto a unified, real-time digital architecture.States have been asked to review the proposed framework and provide feedback, the first person cited above said, requesting anonymity.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Travellers will have to wait a while longer to fly overseas from Navi Mumbai International Airport as the Adani Group-owned facility has postponed the start of its international operations due to the ongoing war in West Asia, a senior executive familiar with the development told Mint on the on the sidelines of the Airport360 Expo in Mumbai.International flights were originally meant to commence at the airport from 29 March, in line with the start of the 2026 summer flight schedule in India. However, the Iran conflict has forced a rethink, causing the launch to be pushed further into the season, said the executive, who requested anonymity to discuss business plans."It is difficult to specify an exact start date at this point, but we expect international departures to commence once the Gulf situation stabilizes,” the executive added.Airlines had lined up nearly 20 daily international departures from the airport for the summer schedule, reflecting strong anticipated demand for overseas travel, particularly to Gulf destinations that are key routes for Indian carriers, the executive said.However, Indian airlines have limited or no flights to the Middle East since the start of the Iran war, which has also led to higher fuel prices and longer flying hours for airlines.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Havells India’s shares lost about 5% after higher input costs and advertising expenses dragged down its March quarter (Q4FY26) Ebitda, lower by 6% year-on-year (y-o-y), to ₹724 crore. Revenue grew by a modest 2.4% to ₹6,688 crore, with a milder start to summer impacting the sale of cooling products, intense competition, and cautious trade sentiments amid global macro uncertainties.The Lloyd Consumer segment, including air conditioners, refrigerators, and televisions, remained a pain point. It reported an Ebit loss for the fourth straight quarter.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Law firms are closely watching a potentially precedent-setting case before India’s bankruptcy courts that could have far-reaching implications for companies dealing with entities facing international sanctions.At the heart of the dispute lies a key question: can companies legitimately withhold payments to a sanctioned supplier, or can the supplier initiate insolvency proceedings over non-payment? Whichever way this question is ultimately settled is likely to reshape bankruptcy disputes in India.The issue has surfaced after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Ahmedabad, in a 26 March order, held that foreign sanctions cannot be used as a defence to avoid payment of dues to operational creditors such as suppliers and vendors.The case involves an insolvency plea by Mumbai-based petrochemical supplier CJ Shah & Co. against Flint Group India Pvt.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.If the Iran War has taught us nothing else, it’s that weaponizing shipping routes is now the military move du jour. That has rightly turned attention to the Taiwan Strait, but in this era of intense US-China rivalry, the Strait of Malacca is just as important.The shipping route—which carries roughly 40% of global trade and around 80% of China’s imported oil—has long been regarded as vulnerable to disruption. Southeast Asia’s divisions will make any crisis much harder to contain.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Axis Bank is expected to report a steady performance in its March quarter earnings, marked by resilient loan growth, modest margin pressure and improving asset quality trends, six brokerages said. While headline growth remains healthy, the focus of analysts and investors will be on liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) and management commentary on the outlook for growth and profitability.Net profit at India’s third-largest private sector lender is expected to fall more than 2% to ₹6,942 crore from a year earlier, according to a poll by Bloomberg.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India’s early and intense summer is already pushing electricity demand towards the highest levels seen during peak summer last year, challenging the country's power system for the weeks ahead.Peak demand has risen to nearly 240 GW this week amid rising use of cooling appliances, up from about 215 GW end March, according to the Grid Controller of India. With the weather bureau warning of sustained above-normal temperatures, demand is seen rising further, raising the likelihood of new records this season.The record high power demand so far is 250 GW seen on 30 May, 2024.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: National Stock Exchange (NSE) plans to roll out a market-making scheme for its recently launched Brent crude futures, as it seeks to build liquidity in a segment dominated by Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX).“There is a plan to offer a liquidity enhancement scheme (LeS) for Dated Brent Crude Oil (Platts) futures in the next two-three weeks,” said a person aware of the development. “The exchange is in talks to appoint select broking firms for the LeS.”The move reflects NSE’s broader strategy in commodity derivatives segment: introduce differentiated products and use market-making incentives to build volumes from scratch.Sriram Krishnan, chief business development officer of NSE, declined to comment specifically on the LeS.But, underscoring NSE's strategy to gain traction in the commodity derivatives segment, dominated currently by the Multi Commodity Exchange with over 99% share, Krishnan said, "We are trying to introduce unique and differentiated products from what is available in the market."NSE launched Brent futures on 13 April.“An LeS in dated Brent futures is a good move as this is one of the major traded commodities not just globally, but also in India,” said Naveen Mathur, director, commodities and currencies, at Anand Rathi.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.As companies around the world accelerate automation and adopt artificial intelligence (AI) tools, layoffs have shifted from speculation to reality. Thousands of professionals who once considered their careers stable are now navigating sudden unemployment.The scale is significant.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.For many Indians, trust in their bank is built over decades. But when that trust is leveraged to sell insurance products that may not suit a customer’s needs, the line between fiduciary advice and sales blurs.The bancassurance model—where banks act as agents for insurance companies—comes with a structural conflict of interest. Customers often walk away with policies that do not align with their financial goals.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its new draft rules, has called for significant structural changes to curb mis-selling.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The sudden exit of a chairperson is often accompanied by off-the-shelf explanations like ‘personal reasons’, ‘strategic realignment’ or the pursuit of ‘other opportunities.’ The recent abrupt resignation of HDFC Bank’s chair was a reminder that at the summit of corporate power, where the air is thin and minutes are curated, such reasons are rarely taken at face value.This is curious because a corporate organization chart resembles something between a pyramid and a theological hierarchy. At the base: employees. Above them: managers.