India Financial News

premium offerings as budget-conscious consumers dial down on fast food while upmarket chains and restaurants take a big bite of gourmet burgers. Inflation has taken a toll on the current value pack, which does not come anywhere close to the original offering. This has diluted the messaging of cheap meals on the go, pivoting quick-service restaurants up the value chain.

fiscal deficit in the first four months of this financial year hit 17.2% of the annual target, against 33.9% a year before, as revenue mop-up soared while expenditure contracted. The performance keeps the government firmly on course to meet its renewed target of containing fiscal deficit at 4.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024-25, said experts. The Centre aims to reduce the gap further to less than 4.5% of GDP in 2025-26.

ICAI's) central council will on September 17 deliberate on a proposed revamp of domestic audit standards in sync with global norms, as it fears the plan could impact small and mid-sized audit firms. «It is a larger issue and it has to be debated,» ICAI president Ranjeet Kumar Agarwal said on Friday. The National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) has firmed up draft norms to overhaul the extant Standard on Auditing (SA) 600. The revised standard will apply only to listed companies and banks, barring the state-run ones.

Reliance Jio's 100GB free cloud storage offer could challenge Google One and iCloud's dominance among Android and Apple phone users in India, something which Dropbox and Microsoft's OneDrive haven't been able to do as yet, experts said. The competition could also nudge these players to lower their pricing — Google One (100GB at ₹130), iCloud (50GB at ₹75) — a trend emerging as Indian players like Ola, and MapMyIndia, challenge the large Western counterparts like Amazon Web Service (AWS), Microsoft's Azure, Google etc. «Jio has brought a very lucrative proposition for an average phone user in India who struggles to upgrade memory because of paid storage,» said Neil Shah, founding partner of technology consulting firm Counterpoint Research. «But, bundling of products and services with the OS ecosystem is a key challenge here.»

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund sold 12,66,929 shares on August 28 to reduce its stake in Zee Entertainment Enterprises, as per the regulatory filings. Overall, the fund has sold 1,95,30,335 shares, representing a 2.03% stake in Zee since its last filing on January 31. Consequently, the fund's stake has come down to 3.05% from 5.08% on January 31.

New SBI chairman Setty has his task cut out The banking sector is facing the worst deposit crunch in 20 years as the pace or raising funds from customers has lagged credit growth. On year, credit growth was up 13.5% as of 9 August while deposits have risen 10.9%, as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data. The credit-to-deposit ratio—or the percentage of deposits given out as loans—has been generally hovering around 80% since September.

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) Friday said it has agreed to buy an 80% stake in Dubai-based Astro Shipping Company for $185 million (about ₹1,551 crore) as part of its strategy to expand fleet and boost earnings. «Astro's acquisition is part of our plan to become one of the world's largest marine operators,» said Ashwani Gupta, wholetime director and CEO of APSEZ. «Astro will add 26 ships to our current fleet of 142 tugs and dredgers, making a total of 168 ships. This will also give us access to many important customers and strengthen our presence in the Arabian Gulf, Indian subcontinent, and Far East Asia.» The deal valued Astro Shipping at $235 million. The company offers maritime services including ship management, shipping agency, freight forwarding, and chartering.

government has slashed windfall tax on domestically produced crude oil to Rs 1,850 per tonne from previous Rs 2,100 per tonne. The new rates will be effective from August 31, an official notification said. Windfall tax on export of diesel and aviation turbine fuel (ATF) has been retained at nil. The tax is levied in the form of Special Additional Excise Duty (SAED). Previously, the government on August 17 revised the windfall gains tax on petroleum products, reducing the levy on domestic crude oil to Rs 2,100 per tonne, down from the previous Rs 2,400 per tonne.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises has filed an application with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking the recall of the tribunal's August 10, 2023 order, which sanctioned the merger scheme with Sony Group Corporation's India media units, Culver Max Entertainment and Bangla Entertainment. The Indian entertainment giant filed the application with the Mumbai bench of the NCLT on August 29, according to its regulatory filing. Furthermore, on August 30, Zee withdrew its application and relinquished its rights to file claims/counterclaims before the arbitral tribunal constituted in the arbitration proceedings related to the merger cooperation agreement dated December 22, 2021.

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Vistara said on Friday that its aircraft and passengers will be handled by Air India from November 12, as the merger of the two Tata Group-owned airlines comes closer with Singapore Airlines (SIA) getting approval from the Indian government for acquiring a 25.1% stake in the erstwhile state-run carrier. «Starting 3 September, customers will, progressively, no longer be able to make bookings with Vistara for travel on or after 12 November. All Vistara aircraft thereafter will be operated by Air India and bookings for the routes operated by these aircraft will be redirected to Air India's website. Vistara will continue to take bookings and operate flights as usual till 11 November 2024,» Vistara said in a statement Friday. Tata Sons owns a 51% stake in Vistara, while SIA holds 49%. Air India is currently owned fully by Tata Sons.

gold medal at stake, the top two — India’s Avani Lekhara and Korea’s Yunri Lee — were tied on points. The pressure was squarely on Lekhara as she was desperately fighting to defend the gold medal she had won in Tokyo. Lee, on the other hand, had peaked at the right time and shot multiple 10.8s to stay neck and neck with the Indian. Under pressure from her opponent, Lekhara fired a 9.9 in her penultimate shot. The Korean took advantage of the Indian’s wobble and fired another fantastic 10.7 to secure a 0.8 advantage going into the final shot. Even the hopeless optimists must have given up on the hope of the gold medal. It seemed the curse of Olympics ‘near misses’ was following India to the Paralympics too. But that’s when sport teaches you a lesson. That it’s not over till it’s over. 10.5 in her final shot for a final score of 249.7 to improve upon her own Paralympic record by 0.1. Now, all eyes were on the Korean. It was her medal to lose. Perhaps the weight of expectations was too much for Lee to bear as she ended up shooting a shocking 6.8 and surrendered the gold. Lekhara was once again the champion, India got its first gold medal in Paris.

Electronics has become the country's fifth largest export commodity, growing by 23 per cent annually, a senior official in the Ministry of Electronics and IT said on Friday. Electronics manufacturing in India has crossed USD 100 billion market in March 2024, which was USD 49 billion in 2017, Bhuvnesh Kumar, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and IT, said at the launch of indigenously-built Tyronne AMD servers by Netweb Technologies. «The electronics exports are rapidly growing at rate of 23 per cent annually. Last year we did USD 30 billion of exports from India. »Surprisingly for many, it has become 5th largest commodity being exported from India," Kumar said.

Vadhvan Port in the Palghar district of Maharashtra will generate 12 lakh jobs for the local youth and women besides creating multiple facilities for the people of the area once it becomes operational, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Friday. Speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the port project at CIDCO ground in Palghar, Sonowal also said that India has earned a name as a maritime nation in the world under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has taken a slew of initiatives for the maritime sector in the last 10 years. Modi laid the foundation stone for the mega project in the presence of Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan, state chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy chief ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. The prime minister during his visit to the state also inaugurated, laid foundation stoned for 218 fisheries projects worth Rs 1,560-crore in Palghar besides addressing the 2024 edition of three-day Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, which culminated here on Friday.

The Indian culinary scene still suffers from that same colonial hangover when it comes to codification, with the curricula in desi catering and cooking colleges continuing to teach primarily European precepts, mainly French. Considering India regained independence 77 years ago, and our cuisines have become popular worldwide especially in the past 30 years, it is mystifying why the basic principles of our many cooking styles are not better known or widely taught yet. The first reason that comes to mind is inertia. A famous Indian chef recently commented how Indians tend to just replicate a successful idea millions of times to make 'easy' money instead of innovating. Although the redoubtable Thangam E Philip of Dadar Catering College wrote her magnum opus Modern Cookery for Teaching and the Trade in 1965 and was awarded a Padma Shri in 1976 for services to the hospitality industry, not much has happened since then.

India confirmed on Friday that it has received an invitation from Pakistan for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) Council of Heads of Government meeting to be held in Islamabad in October. Pakistan invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday to the SCO's Council of Heads of Government meeting. «Yes, we have received an invitation from Pakistan for the SCO's Council of Heads of State that is to happen. We do not have an update on that,» a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in response to a reporter's question during his media briefing here. Pakistan holds the rotating chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) and in that capacity, will be hosting the two-day in-person SCO Heads of Government meeting in October.

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Modi Friday laid the foundation stone for the Vadhavan Port project in Maharashtra's Palghar district, near Dahanu town. The port is set to become one of India’s largest deep-water ports, with a total project cost of Rs 76,220 crore. Vadhavan Port, a joint venture between Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority and Maharashtra Maritime Board, will enhance India’s maritime infrastructure. It will feature 9 container terminals, 4 multipurpose berths, 4 liquid cargo berths, a Ro-Ro berth, and a Coast Guard berth, with a depth of 20 meters, handling vessels up to 24,000 TEUs. Modi described the day as historic for both Maharashtra and India’s development. He stated, “The Vadhavan Port will be the country’s largest container port and will be counted among the world’s deep-water ports. It will become an epicenter of trade and industrial development for Maharashtra and India.”

Mumbai: The all-India House Price Index (HPI) moderated to 3.3 per cent in the June quarter of 2024-25 from 5.1 per cent in the year-ago period, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India on Friday. The RBI releases HPI-based on transaction-level data received from the registration authorities in 10 major cities. The cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai. «All-India HPI increased by 3.3 per cent (y-o-y) in Q1:2024-25 as compared to 4.1 per cent growth in the previous quarter and 5.1 per cent a year ago; annual HPI growth varied widely across the cities — ranging from a high of 8.9 per cent (Kolkata) to a low of (-)1.7 per cent (Delhi),» the central bank said.

Fintech startups are reshaping how large banks conduct business, prompting traditional financial institutions to adapt their offerings to the evolving fintech landscape, according to C S Setty, the newly appointed chairman of the State Bank of India (SBI). “The good thing about fintechs is that they are reshaping the way we do business. An extreme customer convenience-focused approach is something which made the conventional players reimagine the customer journey. Yono itself is an example. I keep saying that we are the largest fintech company and we align our business looking at the fintech environment,” Setty said on Friday at the Global Fintech Fest held in Mumbai. Setty added that SBI is actively seeking deeper integrations with fintech companies.

Indian Banks' Association is likely to ask the central bank to reduce the amount of additional funds lenders will need to set aside against some retail deposits and also seek a delayed and gradual implementation of the proposal, seven sources told Reuters. The Reserve Bank of India in July proposed an additional 5% 'runoff' requirement on retail deposits enabled with internet and mobile banking facilities to bolster the liquidity resilience of banks. The RBI had sought feedback on the proposal until Aug. 31, after which it would finalise them for implementation from April 2025.