India Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. “Bhagwan har jagah hain, or OYO bhi." Translated into English, “God is everywhere, so is OYO." A half-page ad released in a Hindi newspaper by OYO suddenly ignited the internet last week, and #BoycottOYO made it to the top of trending lists. OYO was accused of allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Luxury watchmakers are keeping a close eye on India as demand for premium timepieces rises, with several global watch company heads doing the rounds of the country in the past year or so. From Panerai to Rado to Hublot, India is becoming the new playground for luxury brands, driven by a rising class of affluent consumers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s share markets are reeling from a significant sell-off, just completing a disastrous week and the fifth straight month of free fall. The decline is fuelled by global headwinds and a palpable sense of investor panic.

According to media buyers, JioStar has secured multiple sponsors for IPL 2025, including Campa, My11Circle, Birla Opus, SBI, Coca-Cola, Kent Fans, Amfi, Amul, Zupee, PhonePe, Jaquar Bath Fittings, and Asian Paints. «We are pretty confident that IPL 2025 is going to be much bigger than IPL 2024. We are aiming for a billion viewers this season,» said JioStar Chief Business Officer, Sports Revenue, SMB & Creator Ishan Chatterjee. He added, «IPL has its own place in India's marketing calendar, and many brands plan their campaigns around it.»

Demand for loan collection agents, or temporary manpower often deployed to chase sticky advances, has climbed more than 30% in the past six months, TeamLease data shared with ET showed, pointing to the mounting pile of doubtful unsecured retail advances at lenders that now need specialised recovery support. TeamLease, which manages more than 85,000 frontline employees in areas such as sales, customer care, and field operations, has recruited up to 7,000 new collection agents for banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), credit card firms, microfinance institutions, and fintech companies. «This is a direct result of the challenges we've seen in the unsecured loan segment, and as a result, the demand for collection agents has increased by over 30%,» said Krishnendu Chatterjee, VP and business head, TeamLease Services. «In many cases, lenders have shifted sales roles into collection roles.» The central bank increased risk weights on unsecured loans to reduce systemic risks, and to prevent a further increase in potential stress in bank balance sheets since retail segment was at vanguard of credit demand lately.

Varun Chakravarthy on Sunday became a «good headache» for India ahead of their Champions Trophy semi-final against Australia after his match-winning five-wicket haul against New Zealand, said captain Rohit Sharma. Mystery spinner Chakravarthy returned figures of 5-42 in Dubai to help India beat New Zealand in their last group match of the 50-over tournament. His recent 14 wickets in a 4-1 T20 series win over England at home got Chakravarthy back into the India reckoning in the white-ball formats and he was a last-minute addition to the Champions Trophy squad.

Retail Kaleidoscope' prepared jointly by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and the Retailers Association of India (RAI). The Indian retail market is expected to reach over ₹190 lakh crore by 2034 and retailers capable of embracing the country's diverse demographics and contrasting consumer behaviours stand to gain the most, according to the report With distinct consumer groups, each with their own unique needs even within a city, retailers will need to recognise the different opportunities and pick sharply where they want to play to be successful in 'Bharat' and 'India', said the report.

But, the hero of India’s day, Varun Chakravarty, with 5 for 42, ensured that India defended a middling score with some ease. Varun was not part of India’s 50-over set up till recently and the fact that he got so few chances left him wondering if he was even in the scheme of things, from a big-picture point of view.

Oscar 2025: How to watch in IndiaE! Countdown to the Red Carpet: 12:30 AM IST (E!)On the Red Carpet at the Oscars: 2:00 AM IST (ABC)Live From the Oscars: 2:30 AM IST (KTLA)E! Live From the Red Carpet: 2:30 AM IST (E!)The Oscars 2025 will be broadcast live on JioHotstar / Star Movies at 5:30 AM IST on March 3.This year’s event wraps up a highly unpredictable awards season, with no dominant frontrunner. Several first-time winners are expected, adding to the excitement surrounding the night.Oscars 2025 nominations: From Wicked, Dune: Part 2, to Adrien Brody, Timothée Chalamet - Check complete listWho are the Oscar favorites?Netflix’s Emilia Pérez leads with 13 nominations but faces controversy due to backlash over offensive past tweets by its star, Karla Sofía Gascón.

Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating if there's a foreign link to a multi-thousand crore fraud allegedly committed by an IT company headquartered in Noida. The agency has thus far identified proceeds of crime to be ₹3,558 crore, generated by Vuenow Marketing Services Ltd (VMSL) and its entities. In a breakthrough, the federal agency Saturday arrested Sukhvinder Singh Kharour, CEO of the company, and his wife Dimple Kharour. The agency said that the duo was trying to fly out of India, however an active look out circular (opened against them at the behest of the agency) helped detain the duo at the Indira Gandhi International Airport after the Bureau of Immigration tipped off the federal agency sleuths. Interestingly, Sukhvinder claimed before the court that he and his wife were arrested from Nepal at 8 am on February 28. The court found Sukhvinder's claim «devoid of any merit» and granted ED ten days of custodial interrogation.

While tier 1 cities remain key hubs, the market is expanding significantly in 12 emerging tier 2-3 cities, fuelled by a consumption boom, with a major share of online purchases now originating from these regions. Government initiatives, such as the Urban Infrastructure Development Fund, which allocates ₹10,000 crore annually to enhance 459 tier 2 and 580 tier 3 cities, are further accelerating this growth.

above normal temperatures in March through May summer is likely to adversely affect India's wheat crop. Inflation in wheat has remained high for the past four years mainly due to the adverse impact of weather conditions. After having witnessed the hottest February on record in 125 years, the Met department (IMD) has forecast above normal maximum and minimum temperatures over most parts of the country from March to April 2025. The number of heat waves in March, which is crucial for the grain formation stage of wheat, is also expected to go up.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Mumbai: With just over two weeks to go for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, JioStar—the joint venture between Reliance Industries Ltd’s Viacom18 and The Walt Disney Co.—has secured 12 sponsors and is targeting ₹5,000 crore in advertising revenue from this edition, according to two people aware of the matter. However, industry experts are not sure if this target is achievable.

ethnic wear, suits, motorbikes and staples. Listed jewellery chains, such as Tanishq, Kalyan Jewellers and Senco Gold, said same store sales growth has been strong, while the 30%-plus surge in gold prices over the past year appears to have had little impact on demand for the precious metal that has become seemingly inseparable from traditional wedding rituals in the country. «The wedding demand is very strong,» said Ramesh Kalyanaraman, executive director, Kalyan Jewellers India. This, he said, is despite the recent «turbulence» in gold prices.

Wopke Hoekstra, the European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, feels when it comes to the India-EU partnership, «the sky truly is the limit for the future». This comes at a time when countries are grappling with challenges on multiple fronts-geopolitical headwinds, the need to secure industrial competitiveness while also tackling climate change. Bullish on India's efforts to transition to a low-carbon economy while expanding the country's economic output and bridging development gaps, Hoekstra, who was in Delhi last week, spoke of the potential for increased India-EU cooperation in areas like renewables and batteries, building the clean manufacturing industrial base in India and Europe, and delivering on the promise of carbon markets.

Radico Khaitan expects sales of ₹500 crore from its luxury brands, including single malt 'Rampur' and Jaisalmer Indian Craft Gin, in the next fiscal, its managing director Abhishek Khaitan said. The company expects an 8-9%volume growth, and value growth of around «12-15%», Khaitan told PTI, adding that «this year has been a good year for us, and hopefully next year should be much better.» For the next fiscal, he said, «We expect the same thing, our premium PNA category (Prestige & above) should grow more than 15% and we should be close to overall double-digit growth.»

Pakistan cricket captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has urged international cricket boards to boycott the Indian Premier League (IPL) in response to the ongoing Champions Trophy venue controversy, echoing concerns raised by Saqlain Mushtaq. Earlier, former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq also criticised the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over the ongoing Champions Trophy venue controversy, in which the India Team has been playing all its matches in Dubai in a hybrid mode after it refused to travel to Pakistan due to security concerns. The dispute gainted traction after former English player and cricket experts Nasser Hussain and Mike Atherton highlighted that India gained an 'undeniable' advantage by playing all their matches at a single venue in Dubai.

Viv Richards hailed Indian batting icon Virat Kohli, who plays his 300th ODI against New Zealand in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy, saying that the 36-year-old reminds him of himself and his energy and fitness are standout features of his game. Virat became the seventh player from India to play 300 ODIs during India's final league stage match against the Kiwis in the ICC Champions Trophy. His 300th ODI ended with an unremarkable outing with the bat, as he could score just 11 runs off 14 deliveries, In 300 ODIs, Virat has scored 14,096 runs at an average of 58.00, with 51 centuries and 73 fifties. His best score is 183. He is the third-highest run-getter in ODIs, next to Kumar Sangakkara (14,234 runs in 404 matches with 25 centuries) and Sachin Tendulkar (18,426 runs in 463 matches with 49 centuries). He also has the most centuries in ODIs.

bilateral trade agreement, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal's Washington visit will begin on Monday, according to an official. Goyal is likely to hold talks with US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the official said. During the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Washington, India and the US announced their commitment to more than double the two-way commerce to USD 500 billion by 2030 and negotiate the first tranche of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall of 2025. Last month, the minister stated that India and the US are committed to increasing bilateral trade to USD 500 billion and negotiating a «strong» trade agreement within the next 6-8 months.

ICC Academy on Sunday afternoon with the focus firmly on their play against spin. While senior pros like Steve Smith and Travis Head had a light hit, the youngsters went full throttle. The Australian team opted for seven ICC academy based net bowlers — all spinners including slow left-arm orthodox Harshit Seth, a 20 year old UAE player, besides two left arm Chinaman bowlers, as many off-spinners and a leg-spinner. Australia finished second in Group B behind South Africa and both teams are camping in the UAE, waiting to know who their opponents will be in the semifinals.

Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi said on Sunday. After meeting the protesting fishermen at Rameswaram, who sought quick release of arrested fishermen and their boats from Sri Lanka, Ravi said the fishing community was a victim of an «iniquitous agreement» of 1974 (between India and Sri Lanka), which was extremely insensitive to the livelihood concerns of the state's poor fishermen. The governor alleged the ruling DMK was equally responsible «for the wrong of 1974» as it held power at that time in the state. Law Minister S Regupathy hit back at Ravi, asking him to not «compete» with BJP Tamil Nadu President K Annamalai as the Saffron party's state unit chief is available for politics.