India Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Indian cement makers, once reliant on pricing power, are shifting gears to survive a bruising price war that’s eroding margins even as demand climbs. With intense competition cutting into cement prices, manufacturers are pursuing aggressive cost-cutting measures, from buying their own railway cars and ships to slashing energy costs—all in an effort to outlast rivals in an industry facing one of its most competitive eras yet.

Rohit Sharma and his wife Ritika Sajdeh have been blessed with a baby boy. Several users posted congratulatory messages, with one post reading, «Ritika and Rohit Sharma have welcomed a baby boy! Congratulations to the happy couple!» Another post shared, «Jr Hitman has arrived.» The couple, already parents to a daughter who will turn six on December 30, received warm wishes from fans across platforms. Despite the flood of posts on social media, there was no official announcement from either Rohit Sharma or his social media accounts.

Narendra Modi's historic visit to Nigeria from November 16-17 can open investment opportunities for Indian companies in the mining, infrastructure and defence sectors in the African nation. This would be the first visit by an Indian PM to resource-rich West Africa in 17 years. Modi’s visit will also seek to boost security, counter-terror, defence industry and energy partnership, ET has learnt. The previous visit by an Indian PM to Nigeria was by Manmohan Singh in Oct 2007. During that visit, both countries elevated the status of their bilateral relationship to a “Strategic Partnership’.

fossil fuel lobbyists with 1,773 registered participants are only outnumbered by delegations of three countries — host Azerbaijan (2,229), COP30 host Brazil (1,914), and Turkiye (1,862). The list of lobbyists include 24 from India as well. Among Indians, mostly (17) came as a delegation from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), three from CII and remaining four representing different NGOs. The list of Indians also shows the name of a senior functionary, Pravin Dongre (executive director) from public sector oil company, Indian Oil Corporation. The list, accessed by TOI, mentioned him as nominated by an NGO, Griha Council, as its guest. Dongre told TOI that he is here to promote global biofuel alliance. He, however, didn't have a clear answer as to why he was in the list of NGO's guest.

insolvency law improved sequentially in the September quarter. However, creditors still took larger haircuts as the recovery against their admitted claims moderated further. Recovery rose to nearly 97% of the fair value of companies derived after they were admitted for bankruptcy resolutions from just over 84% in the June quarter, beating the historical average of 86%. However, recovery against creditors' admitted claims eased to 28.33% from 31.12%, showed data from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI). The substantial gap in recovery against fair value and creditors' claims suggests stressed firms had already lost much of their worth by the time creditors tapped the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), experts said. This disparity reflects the double whammy of late filing as well as admission of insolvency cases, said Manoj Kumar, head of insolvency resolution and M&A at consultancy firm Corporate Professionals Capital.

Experts say companies can reap several dividends from offering personalised and flexible benefits to their workforce — attracting and retaining talent; improving engagement and productivity; enhancing organisational culture and brand image and optimising costs.

India will likely retain the fastest-growing G20 economy tag, with the bigger G20 emerging economy China seen growing 4.7%. Overall, the G20 economies will expand 2.8% in 2024, slower than 3% in 2023, according to the Global Macro Outlook 2025-26 report released Friday. The relocation of supply chains, investment from multinational companies and Chinese domestic manufacturers seeking to diversify production are creating opportunities for India, Mexico and many Southeast Asian nations, per the report.

Make in India' and component localisation has led to a decline in imports by major electronic firms such as Samsung, Apple, Whirlpool, Dixon and Havells — possibly for the first time ever. The combined import value of eight electronics firms, that also include LG Electronics, Amber Enterprises and Haier India, fell 7% year-on-year in 2023-24 to ₹95,143 crore, according to their regulatory filings with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The total import value of these companies had crossed ₹1 lakh crore in 2021-22 and increased further in FY23.

regional cross-border connectivity, Union minister Manohar Lal jointly inaugurated electricity transmission from Nepal to Bangladesh, along with Bangladesh power adviser Md Fouzul Kabir Khan and Nepal power minister Dipak Khadka through a virtual event. This historic occasion marks the first trilateral power transaction, which has been carried out through the Indian grid. New Delhi had announced its decision to facilitate the first trilateral power transaction from Nepal to Bangladesh through the Indian grid, with an export of up to 40 MW of power during the visit of the then prime minister of Nepal, Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda', to India in 2023.

In a regulatory filing, the company said this impairment includes non-cash cumulative foreign currency translation losses of around $800 million. It also said it will recognise a non-cash tax charge of approximately $300 million in connection with the close of the transaction between Star and Reliance Industries' (RIL) Viacom18. «Star India's assets and liabilities are classified as held for sale in the consolidated balance sheet as of September 28, 2024, and we recorded $1.5 billion of non-cash impairment charges in 'restructuring and impairment charges' in fiscal 2024 to reflect Star India at its fair value less costs to sell,» Walt Disney said.

long-range guided rockets that are needed to counter Chinese-origin systems deployed on India's northern borders, with all validation trials completed in a process that lasted almost four years. The indigenous Guided Pinaka rockets can hit targets at a range of over 75 km and are equipped with a guidance kit that corrects their course during flight for enhanced accuracy. The final tests were conducted on November 10 and all technical requirements of the Army have been met. Sources said the next step is to extend their range to 120 km in the first phase and to over 200 km in the second, work for which is already underway. The system has been designed by DRDO in partnership with four companies, including three private sector entities, that have already set up production facilities.

India's drug regulator will meet the representatives of the cosmetics industry to discuss regulatory issues on Tuesday. The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) regulates the import and quality of cosmetics in India. The meeting will be attended by the manufacturers, importers and industry associations.

air purifiers (for those who can afford them), face masks and inhalers. Never in its long and storied history has Delhi and the current grand-sounding National Capital Region (NCR) felt quite so wretched and neglected as in the 21st century. Time was when emperors and mystics, conquerors and courtesans, poets and plebeians arrived and thrived in these very plains and Aravalli outcrops. Now it is permanently blighted by unrestrained 'development' activity and seasonally masked in thick pollutants as a consequence, with no recourse in sight. Most Delhiwallas have grown up hearing that the region is a sort of natural bowl, making it ideal for any sort of particulate matter, whether dust, sand, soot or pollutants, to hover indefinitely overhead unless pushed away by beneficial winds. That is why we GenXers resigned ourselves to spells of dusty skies, particularly during the pre-monsoon period. Winter brought fog but that was mostly water vapour, utterly unlike today's dust-and-chemical fug.

Chipmakers like Qualcomm are pushing the Indian government to delicense a portion of the 6GHz spectrum band to support the latest Wi-Fi 7 technology. However, telecom operators are mounting a pushback seeking for the band to remain licensed and available for cellular connectivity. As a result, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has been putting off its decision on delicensing the band with telecom operators, broadband providers as well as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) caught in the tussle. So, Wi-Fi 7 enabled products are not being allowed to enter the market, with the PlayStation 5 Pro the most recent example. To work around this, chipset makers like Qualcomm and MediaTek are pushing ahead with Wi-Fi 7 products in India. A top Qualcomm executive said that gearmakers are currently working around the ban by not opting for 6GHz support in new routers. Instead, they continue to support 2.5GHz and 5GHz bands which are combined to give a higher bandwidth. The 6GHz spectrum, which spans from 5925-7125MHz, is considered ideal for both 5G services and Wi-Fi use due to its capability to deliver higher bandwidth. Telcos fear that free use of the band for Wi-Fi would eat into their revenue. Even ISRO has raised concerns about potential interference with its satellite operations if the band is used for cellular connectivity.

Swiggy piloted a services marketplace, Yello, for astrologers, therapists, etc, as well as Rare, a premium ticketing service for events and restaurants. While patently unrelated to Swiggy's core ensemble, the new entities are systematically attracting existing customers with newer offerings. Such next-gen business growth strategies, joysticked by scalable technology, can be classified as 'momentum diversification' (MD). Historically, brand diversifications were based on existing competencies, 'line' or 'imagery' driven. Line extensions are amply defined by the never-ending variety of aerated drinks in Coca-Cola's and PepsiCo's portfolios, not to mention the innumerable iPhone iterations. Imagery extensions originate from category-agnostic customer associations, such as couturier Giorgio Armani launching perfumes, or Porsche designing mobile phones. Line-ups scarcely conceal legacy connectivity, whether competency-based or appeal-driven, and are invariably subject to the scathing scrutiny of the boardroom and armchair marketers. MD is the outcome of a booming alliance of personal technology and customer-centricity. An established trust-cum-convenience equation with a substantial consuming class can be the foundation for unlimited opportunities, undeterred by draconian filters of brand suitability. Here, trust is the consistent delivery of measurable value, and convenience, a smooth process that facilitates access and choice.

The Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) is among India's most polluted regions, and air quality across northern India has worsened this past week. Flight disruptions were inevitable.

quality control regime for electrical goods to allow testing and certification at laboratories owned by equipment manufacturers, officials said. These equipment- like circuit breakers — can now be covered under a modified quality control regime. This relaxation in norm will benefit companies wanting to shift electrical equipment manufacturing out from China, they told ET, since these products can be conveniently tested at more facilities. «Effectively, India has doubled the number of labs where quality of electrical goods like circuit breakers can be vetted. These certifications are valid under Scheme X of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS),» a senior official told ET, adding that the heavy industries ministry is the first to allow testing under this scheme. With this, enforcement of the Electrical Equipment (Quality Control) Order, 2020 (EEQCO, 2020) can now begin. «The domestic industry was concerned since there is inadequate testing infrastructure to certify products for compliance with the QCO,» the official said.

energy efficiency is the central pillar of its plan to achieve Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement, which aims for a 45% reduction in carbon intensity and a 1 bn t reduction in GHG emissions by 2030. Hitting these targets is indispensable to its long-term goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2070. Bottlenecks that hinder adoption of energy-efficient technologies — finance, sustainable supply chains and policies — must be identified and addressed. For emerging markets, energy demand is essential for development. The developing world must look to sustainable progress through improved energy efficiency, integration of RE, and adoption of innovative technologies that promote cleaner and more efficient-energy systems. To do this, financing, supportive policy frameworks and continued international collaboration are required to ensure access to necessary resources, supply chains and expertise. One such critical area for collaboration is sharing best practices among developing countries like Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia. These nations often face similar challenges in enhancing energy efficiency. Working together can lead to significant advancements. For example, India can champion initiatives that facilitate access to investments and technologies, particularly for manufacturing countries.

Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma hammered unbeaten centuries as India posted a colossal 283 for 1 in the fourth and final T20 International against South Africa on Friday. The duo’s partnership helped India set a new benchmark for T20I batting, with both players crafting match-winning centuries in what was a historic first for Indian cricket.

The system-on-chip or SoC multinational with its Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite and Oryon cores compute platform is touted to outperform AMD or Intel central processing units (CPU), based on critical benchmarks. “Qualcomm has been able to bring more heterogeneous compute capability and mobile-centric features from edge AI to elite gaming to 5G easily with lower battery consumption to the PC ecosystem. This allowed it to be the first chip vendor to power Microsoft CoPilot+PCs ahead of incumbents – AMD and Intel, which is a significant feat,” Neil Shah, Vice President, Counterpoint Research told ETTelecom.