India Financial News

Read more.War opens a window for India’s space startups: India’s space startups may have found an unexpected tailwind. The Iran war is driving demand for satellite-based surveillance, creating a “just right” moment for firms building imaging and data capabilities.Startups like Pixxel, Digantara and GalaxEye Space are already seeing inbound interest and signing deals, especially from West Asia, where many countries lack their own satellite systems.The opportunity is sizeable, with projections pegging India’s space surveillance market at $8 billion by 2033.

Mint, the company “has started receiving queries and having conversations with at least two West Asian nations to supply space-based sensing and Earth observation data”.Speciale Invest and Infosys-backed GalaxEye is in the race for surveillance satellite solution services. Suyash Singh, co-founder and CEO, said the company is ready to launch its Drishti optical and synthetic aperture radar (OpToSar) surveillance satellite this quarter, following which surveillance imaging and data services will commence commercially from July.“There is certainly a lot of interest, but the number of surveillance satellites that can cater to foreign demand in the current war from India is only in double digits, as compared with the US having hundreds of satellites in orbit," Singh said."We’re launching a 1.5-metre earth observation satellite in about two months, and in anticipation of the future demand based on queries received, have established plans to set up a 0.5-metre resolution satellite constellation of 20 satellites for Earth observation and surveillance constellation by 2029,” he added.Space firms are therefore hedging their bets on surveillance satellites, seeking to tap into a global surge in demand for space-based data.Several factors are driving this shift.“One of the key factors is that many West Asian nations, including Iran, do not have sovereign satellite capabilities and run very limited and small-scale space programmes.

Bengaluru: India’s growing faith-tech startups are moving beyond digital horoscopes and virtual rituals to claim the nation’s $35 billion market for spiritual merchandise. So, the firms that once focused solely on software are now wrestling with the complexities of supply chains, selling everything from ‘blessed’ crystals to sacred beads.The pivot toward e-commerce is a move for higher margins and stronger customer loyalty.

With no end in sight to the West Asia war, concerns are rising over inflation, interest rates and GDP growth in India. As part of the Money Guru series, Bank of Baroda chief economist Madan Sabnavis breaks down the potential impact on the economy, household finances and job markets, and assesses whether recession risks are real or overstated.At a theoretical level, inflation could rise, but much depends on how long the war lasts, how high crude oil prices go and how much of this increase is passed on to consumers. So far, the government reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel, absorbing much of the crude price increase.

Mint.A multipolar world could open up new leadership pathways that may not align perfectly with the largest economies, said Sternfels, pointing to emerging growth areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres.India’s talent, combined with grit and entrepreneurship, gives it a winning edge, said Sternfels, who is serving his second three-year term as head of the consulting firm that has a significant influence across boardrooms and national leaderships.“In a shifting world order, this is India’s leadership moment on multiple dimensions, as it becomes a strategic imperative for organizations globally to re-orient towards India,” he said.Sternfels rejected the idea that global trade is diminishing. Instead, it is growing in different ways, he said.Global trade flow moves like water; if it is blocked somewhere, it finds a different way, said Sternfels, adding that a few free trade agreements were negotiated among countries in the last 12 months, but they do not involve the US.

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s EV debut got off to a poor start with production falling short of target as its domestic launch got delayed, a rare-earth magnet crisis hit manufacturers and global electric vehicle sales growth slowed.The country’s largest car manufacturer exported 25,000 EVs and registered 1,400 units domestically in FY26, missing a target set by chairman RC Bhargava at the start of the fiscal year to produce 70,000 units of its first electric vehicle, mostly for overseas markets. Although Maruti hasn’t disclosed EV production numbers, they are typically a little higher than sales volumes.“There were some initial delays but now the ramp-up is progressing steadily,” Rahul Bharti, senior executive officer-corporate affairs at Maruti Suzuki, told Mint in an emailed response.According to experts, Maruti’s EV manufacturing plan faced setbacks for reasons ranging from a delay in the launch to production-related issues.“The lower-than-anticipated production came on the back of rare earth magnet issues which affected production schedules of automakers.

Mint earlier reported that amid high oil prices and a supply squeeze due to the war in West Asia, OMCs halted supplies on credit to fuel retailers.On 26 March, the petroleum and natural gas ministry had said that efforts were underway to increase the supplies from one-day credit period to up to three days of supplies on credit.“In most cases, it is still advance payment. For large retailers there may be instances of a day's credit, but not all are getting that,” said Marri Amarender Reddy, general secretary of the UPDA.

The Mumbai-based company, which focuses on branded land development, has recently expanded into several new locations, including Nagpur, Vrindavan, and Khopoli (Mumbai Metropolitan Region). It sells plots ranging from 1,200 sq ft to 5,000 sq ft, priced between ₹25 lakh and ₹5 crore, depending on size and location.“Our approach remains straightforward, wherever strong infrastructure development, improved connectivity and growing economic momentum begin to shape a region’s growth story, HoABL aims to establish an early presence and create branded land developments that cater to both end-users and investors,” chairman Abhinandan Lodha told Mint.In recent years, plotted sales have seen strong momentum in sales and a rise in prices, prompting many mainstream real estate developers to enter the segment.“The average ticket size for our plotted developments is currently around ₹97 lakh per plot, with the average plot size being approximately 1,500 sq ft.

VIP and Safari each command roughly a third each of India’s organized market with the US brand Samsonite making for the rest, data from VIP Industries’ filings and analysts tracking the stock shows. But in the first nine months of 2025-25, ending December, Safari has overtaken VIP in revenue ( ₹1,574 crore compared to ₹ 1,422 crore).

The West Asia escalation has brought back into focus a structural vulnerability that has long remained underappreciated in policy discourse. Energy flows translate into payment flows, and both are now increasingly mediated by financial architectures that reflect geopolitical reality as much as economic logic. These are not passive conduits, as they can shape outcomes—by enabling, delaying or, in extreme cases, constraining the movement of money across borders.At the heart of this evolving dynamic lies mBridge, an initiative incubated under the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) for interoperability among multiple central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

OTT platforms engage a smaller but paying audience, offering higher completion rates and longer shelf life.According to the Ficci EY Media and Entertainment Report 2026, TVoD revenues in India are projected to rise from ₹500 crore in 2025 to ₹740 crore by 2028. Yet monetization remains skewed towards micro-transactions and subscription models, rather than pay-per-view-led revenue.YouTube is India’s leading ad-supported video platform by reach and watch time, reaching four out of five internet users aged 18 and above.

Mint unpacksZomato has made three attempts at ultra-fast food delivery: Instant, Everyday, and Quick. Each was built on a different model but ended for the same reason: the economics never worked.

India’s record-breaking initial public offering (IPO) run is beginning to show signs of fatigue. Even as companies raised an all-time high ₹1.78 trillion in 2025-26—surpassing the previous peak of ₹1.62 trillion—investor enthusiasm, particularly among retail participants, has started to wane.The shift comes against a volatile backdrop.

This persistent stalemate stems from caps on overseas investments imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Once these $8 billion aggregate ceilings were breached in 2022 and 2024, fresh allocations were halted. This effectively locked the market in favour of first-movers.

This summer, Anisha and Karan Kapur, a Delhi-based couple in their mid-40s working corporate jobs, are skipping a ritual they rarely miss: an overseas holiday.With only a few weeks off, they had planned a trip to Portugal, drawn by Europe’s pleasant summer weather. But with geopolitical tensions and the West Asia war, they decided to stay on safer shores instead, swapping the Portuguese summer for a shorter luxury break in Goa and along the Konkan coast.Hotels in India, sensing an opportunity, are looking to lure such travellers with offers that range from longer stays to all-inclusive meals.

₹9,000 crore to become the country’s fourth-largest paint company, sees stronger growth potential in industrial coatings than in the decorative segment, Parth Jindal managing director of JSW Paints and chairman of JSW Dulux, the erstwhile AkzoNobel India, told Mint.“We have global R&D capabilities after we acquired Akzo Nobel and particularly in the absence of Birla Opus in the industrial paints space we see less competition,” Jindal said. He added that a potential shift towards electric vehicles (EVs), driven by the West Asia conflict, could further boost demand.The conflict has already started influencing the EV market.

Last week, the National Statistical Office (NSO) released its annual report of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) for 2025. It differs from earlier PLFS reports in its coverage and sampling design.The PLFS has been in existence since 2017, yielding annual reports for rural and urban areas along with quarterly reports for only urban India. This survey was a departure from the erstwhile Employment and Unemployment Survey (EUS).

GDP growth in the December quarter and strong manufacturing activity. This placed India among the better-performing economies on domestic indicators and pushed it closer to the top of the table.Currency and equity markets showed some recovery in February compared with the previous few months, but remained among the weaker performers compared to peers.

Like the ministerial gatherings in 1999, 2003 and 2017, the 14th Ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO), held at Yaoundé, Cameroon, ended without an agreement on anything. US trade representative Jamieson Greer used the occasion to reiterate his long-held view that the WTO is not of much use. This trade body operates by consensus and India has had its fair share of blame for such huddles yielding little, having held firm on its right to subsidize agriculture, a point that rich countries found hard to stomach.

Airlines got a fuel price scare after state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) more than doubled its aviation turbine fuel (ATF) price, only to roll back most of the hike within hours on Wednesday. Its initially notified price for jet fuel was ₹207,341 a kilolitre for April in New Delhi, up 115% from March, marking its highest level ever. This was swiftly revised to ₹104,927 for domestic airlines, a mere 8.5% increase.

In a first, India plans to publicly disclose findings from inspections of drug manufacturing units, marking a shift towards greater transparency and quality monitoring, according to two government officials and documents reviewed by Mint.According to the proposal being discussed, the country’s apex drugs regulator, Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), will publish details of inspected firms and audit recommendations on its website, as India's pharmaceuticals sector faces heightened scrutiny over quality.The plan assumes significance for the country's $50 billion pharmaceutical market in the backdrop of Indian-manufactured cough syrups being linked to over 140 deaths in countries, including Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon, due to ethylene glycol poisoning.The office of Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), headed by Rajeev Raghuvanshi, conducts these risk-based inspections (RBI) to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and Rules.“It has been desired that CDSCO may examine the feasibility of displaying brief details of firms inspected under RBI along with the recommendations of the inspection team, after due consideration of legal implications," according to the documents reviewed by Mint. "During such inspections, inspection teams make observations and recommendations based on risk assessment.