India Financial News

Having risen steadily over time, the share of Indian households who use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as their primary source of fuel for cooking is now at 60% as of 2024. Another 33% of households still used firewood.This data comes from India's Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys, a series of large, nationally representative household surveys conducted by the National Statistical Office, which ask the head of the household what the primary source of energy used by the household in the 30 days preceding the survey was.

Mint, the new norms prescribe test methods to measure the presence of dimethylformamide (DMF) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), respectively. Both substances are commonly used in footwear manufacturing and can pose health risks with prolonged exposure.DMF is widely used as a solvent in the production of polyurethane-based synthetic leather and components.

The government’s ₹20,000 crore credit guarantee support for the microfinance sector, announced on 21 March, comes at a crucial time for smaller non-banking finance company-microfinance institutions (NBFC-MFIs), which are grappling with tight liquidity and risk-averse lenders.In an interview, Sadaf Sayeed, chief executive officer of Muthoot Microfin in New Delhi, told Mint the move could unlock lending, revive financial inclusion and support sectoral growth. Edited excerpts:This is a very welcome step and something the industry has been requesting for a long time.

Mumbai/Bengaluru: Fast-food chains serving dosas and momos to pizzas across India have found out that switching away from cooking gas amid the ongoing supply squeeze is difficult. The piped gas network is confined to a few cities, and the transition to electric cooking is hampered by higher operating costs and a spike in upfront equipment prices.“Over the past three weeks, we have made conscious efforts to reduce our dependency on gas by increasing the adoption of electric equipment across locations,” said Ankur Sharma, co-founder of Rebel Foods, which operates cloud-kitchen brands such as Faasos, Behrouz Biryani and Oven Story Pizza.“In some areas, we continue to face constraints due to limited availability of equipment from vendor partners,” he said.

New Delhi: India plans to float a fresh tender for over 3,000 electric buses by June, according to people aware of the development. This is set to be launched just six months after closing of the country's largest e-bus tender for over 10,000 units.The move aims to sharpen the country's push to electrify public transport and reduce fuel dependence, as oil supply risks from the West Asia war continue to weigh on costs.According to two executives in the know, the tender will be rolled out under the PM e-bus seva scheme, which aims to subsidize purchase of 10,000 e-buses across the country.

war drags on, reducing the availability of fuel for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and forcing the government to allow oil marketing companies (OMCs) to raise fuel prices.The running cost of EVs is relatively cheaper than ICE vehicles. The only two pure-play EV companies in India – Ola Electric Mobility Ltd and Ather Energy Ltd – present a contrast.

Mint analysis of vehicle registration data from the transport ministry’s Vahan dashboard shows that fewer than 30% of petrol passenger vehicles and two-wheelers registered in 2025 were ethanol-compliant. About 0.9 million passenger vehicles were ethanol-compliant, against a total 3.36 million registered in 2025.

Fertilizers are vital to India’s economy as they underpin the agricultural sector, which financially supports nearly half the population. Companies from the sector ensure food security by providing essential nutrients for crop yields.Fertilizer stocks are currently in the spotlight because the escalating West Asia conflict has triggered a massive supply shock, driving global prices to three-year highs and forcing a strategic shift in India's domestic production.Here are three beaten-down stocks from the fertilizer space that investors can watch.

global AI boom. Interestingly, the company's share price is down just 10% from its 52-week high, even in a weak market. GNG operates in the global secondary-refurbished market under its brand, Electronics Bazaar.

If FY26 had a defining feature, it was the breadth of the sell-off. Indian equities didn’t just correct, they saw a deep, cross-sector downturn that dragged the market lower even as global peers surged ahead.From defensive sectors like FMCG to rate-sensitive realty and global-facing IT, few corners of the market were spared, underscoring the unusual breadth of the downturn.

With the rupee under pressure from capital outflows and higher crude prices, India’s central bank is expanding its scrutiny beyond banks to corporate treasury positions in the foreign exchange market to assess large arbitrage trades, two bankers familiar with the matter said.According to these bankers, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) data call is aimed at assessing the extent of arbitrage exposure with corporate clients, rather than signalling immediate regulatory action.The exercise follows the central bank’s move on 27 March to cap banks’ net open positions in the domestic market at $100 million at the end of each day, which forced several lenders to unwind trades.“Corporates might have to unwind as well if things come to a head,” one of the two bankers cited earlier said, requesting anonymity. Corporate treasuries manage firms’ foreign exchange exposures through hedging to ensure that earnings and cash flows are not hit by currency swings.An email sent to the RBI on the matter remained unanswered till press time.A Jefferies report on 29 March said that the forex derivative market is dominated by larger banks with gross onshore positions of $30-40 billion that largely offset each other.

Stock market recap: The Indian equity markets witnessed a sharp sell-off on Monday, 30 March 2026, as the West Asia war and surging crude oil prices triggered a widespread risk-off sentiment.Nifty 50 plummeted 2.14% to settle at 22,331.40, while S&P BSE Sensex crashed 1,636 points (2.22%) to end at 71,947.55. The session was marked by deep institutional selling, particularly from FPIs, as Brent crude climbed above $115 per barrel, threatening India's macroeconomic stability.Sectorally, Nifty Realty and PSU Banks bore the brunt of the carnage, with heavyweights like Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank, and SBI leading the losers' list.

Tile maker Kajaria Ceramics hopes to clock 7-8% year-on-year volume growth in the March quarter compared with flattish growth in Q3 as operations normalize. The third quarter was marked by weak demand and the company’s unification process to align sales operations, which led to dealer churn and temporary destocking.

Mint that the compliance requirement is especially important for digital personal loans, buy now, pay later (BNPL), and other frequently disbursed unsecured products, where borrowing patterns can shift within days rather than months.“In a traditional monthly reporting cycle, the lifecycle of a 15-day BNPL transaction or a 30-day micro-loan is essentially a blind spot…it begins and ends before the data ever reaches the bureau,” said Aditya B. Chatterjee, managing director of credit bureau Equifax India.And borrowers “used to exploit this particular window of a blind spot in the (bureau reporting) system”, said Sugandh Saxena, chief executive of self-regulatory organization Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE), adding that “fintechs would greatly benefit” from fresher bureau data.That is because digital NBFCs dominate the personal-loan market by volume, accounting for 78% of sanctioned loans in the first nine months of 2025-26, even though their share by value was only 19%, according to FACE data.Credit data from banks, NBFCs, and fintech lenders used to be updated with bureaus on a monthly cycle, but in practice, taking 30-45 days from disbursal to reflection in a borrower’s file.

Best stocks to buy today (All buy trades are rates of equity, and sell rates are based on F&O)Indusind Bank Ltd: Sell below 750 | Stop 790 | Target 685 (Multiday)IPCA Laboratories Ltd: Buy above ₹1,610 | Stop ₹1,540 | Target ₹1,785 (Multiday)On 30 March 2026, Indian equity markets witnessed heavy selling pressure for the second consecutive session as surging crude oil prices above $114 a barrel and escalating tensions in the Middle East dampened investor sentiment. The NSE benchmark Nifty closed sharply lower by 488.20 points, or 2.14%, at 22,331.40, marking its weakest finish in nearly eleven months.

New Delhi: Telecom gear maker Nokia said that supply chain pressures due to the West Asia war, with component shortages such as memory chips, are increasing costs for devices, including wireless access equipment and network infrastructure.“We started seeing the cost creeps happening. As soon as the supply shortage starts, the first thing is the cost changes, and that is what is happening right now,” Vibha Mehra, country manager - designate for India at Nokia, told reporters on Tuesday.Mehra, who will take charge as Nokia’s country manager in India on 1 April, said discussions about the cost increases have also begun with telecom operators.To be sure, memory chip prices had already been increasing before the war, as manufacturing capacity shifted from consumer electronics toward high-margin memory solutions for AI.

Mint India Investment Summit held in Mumbai last week.Backed by Zerodha founders' investment vehicles Rainmatter and Gruhas, SuperYou is a modern Indian health and nutrition brand. Co-founded by actor Ranveer Singh and entrepreneur Biyani in late 2024, the brand is focused on fermented yeast-based, high-protein snacks and supplements.“The opportunity to start and find PMF (product-market-fit) with consumers is better than ever before.

A year after it acquired AGS Health from EQT in a billion-dollar transaction, global private equity firm Blackstone has hired bankers to plan a listing for the company at three times the buy value, three people with knowledge of the development said. The company, which is now being valued upwards of $3 billion, will look to raise around $500 million from the public market listing, these people added.AGS, which provides a host of services, including medical billing, claim submission, denial management and medical coding, has appointed investment banks JM Financial, Jefferies, ICICI Securities, Nomura and JP Morgan India and others for the IPO.“It will be a mix of primary plus secondary share sale,” said one of the people cited above.

A leading stockbrokers' association plans to ask the government to defer the increase in the securities transaction tax (STT) on equity futures and options after the Reserve Bank of India postponed implementation of rules on bank funding of capital market intermediaries amid the Iran war-induced rout in the stock markets."The RBI deferment comes as a major reprieve, given the doldrums the market is in because of the West Asia crisis," said K Suresh, national president of the Association of NSE Members of India (ANMI). "Now, we will request the ministry of finance to temporarily hold back imposition of the hike in securities transaction tax on equity futures and options, given the drop in volumes it could lead to, given the extant conditions."In the FY27 budget presented on 1 February, the government proposed to increase the STT on equity futures to 0.05% from 0.02% and on options premium and exercise of options to 0.15% from 0.1% and 0.125%, respectively, from 1 April.

Mint explains.From 1 April, all digital transactions must be verified using at least two independent authentication factors—such as a personal identification number (PIN), a one-time password (OTP) or biometric—with at least one factor being dynamic.The requirement applies across payment modes, including cards, UPI and wallets, standardizing security protocols across platforms. The tighter framework is aimed at reducing vulnerabilities and strengthening safeguards in digital payments.Many transactions today rely on a single authentication factor, typically a PIN or an OTP.

renewable energy capacity annually over the next four years to reach its goal of 50 GW by March 2030—nearly double the 3.4 GW it added on average over the past four years.Until now, the company handled most EPC work in-house or through Adani Infra (India) Ltd, a privately held entity of the Adani group. In FY25, Adani Infra was tasked with managing infrastructure projects across the group’s listed companies to retain margins that would otherwise go to external vendors.Sterling and Wilson, Bondada, and KPI confirmed their business with Adani Green Energy through press notes between November and January.“We are pleased to partner with Adani Green Energy for the Khavda renewable energy complex, one of the world’s largest clean energy developments.