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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: Last week’s euphoria on Dalal Street appears to have cooled, even as global indices outperformed Indian benchmarks. While optimism around US–Iran peace talks lent support, investor activity remained selective, driven more by stock- and sector-specific bets than broad-based momentum.The Nifty 50 and Sensex rose over 1% this week, extending gains after last week’s near 6% surge—their strongest in over five years—but the pace has now moderated.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.THE WORLD stands on the brink of a nuclear-arms race. If one can be avoided, a big reason will be this: currently, the first country to start such a race risks paying a terrible price.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.President Trump is pitching a U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz as an opportunity for American oil-and-gas exporters. The squeeze on supplies is a bad omen for prices at the pump.The U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A combustible mix of policymaker FOMO, industry self-interest and parental anxiety about the future of work is fuelling Asia’s push to introduce AI into classrooms at ever younger ages. The result risks turning a generation of developing minds into guinea pigs, while gains flow not to students, but to tech companies.You don’t have to be a Luddite to see the problem: AI’s inherent promise is convenience, while learning requires effort. Those aims are fundamentally at odds.

As we enter a new fiscal year, both the government and industry bodies such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) would do well to focus on what truly drives sustained growth in India: Is it the demand or supply side of the Indian economy?In ten-pin bowling, a strike happens only when the head pin is hit. Economic strategy is no different. If India wants to trigger a virtuous cycle of 8% growth, it must hit the right first pin.

Even though the Strait of Hormuz is just about 33km wide at its narrowest point, about 20 million barrels of crude oil and refinery products would pass through it every day before the war in West Asia. This was roughly a quarter of all seaborne oil trade. Since late February, tanker traffic through the strait has fallen sharply, driving up the price of Brent crude and triggering an oil shock.

Indian equity valuations have eased sharply down to the levels of peer regional markets, offering investors some comfort after a prolonged phase of elevated multiples.The Nifty 50 is now trading at 19.4 times on a trailing 12-month (TTM) earnings basis, slipping below its five-year median of 22.6x and 10-year median of 22.3x—marking a marked shift down from recent peaks.The headline index has slipped below the 20x price to earnings, or PE, mark for the first time since the Covid-led market disruption in 2020. At these levels, it is placed at a discount to markets in Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea, a Mint analysis based on data from Bloomberg showed.The moderation follows a nearly 12% correction in the Nifty 50 from its 52-week high of 26,328.55 touched on 02 January 2026, driven by the West Asia war, sustained foreign outflows, and softer earnings momentum.While the pullback has brought valuations below to historical averages, it also raises a key question: are Indian equities attractive enough to lure foreign investors back?Foreign portfolio investors, or FPIs, have pulled out about ₹1.25 trillion from Indian equities in 2026, driven by global risk-off sentiment, earnings and growth concerns and sector-specific pressures.“With the Nifty now around 19x PE, valuations have come off meaningfully and look more reasonable versus history,” said Ravi Singh, chief research officer at Master Capital Services.Still, he said, it may be premature to call it a bottom.

On 7 January, Mint made a case for reforming India’s highly inefficient regime of fertilizer production, pricing and distribution, and for switching over from product subsidization to income support for farmers. This imperative has since been sprung centre-stage by a war in West Asia that has disrupted our imports of urea and its feedstock gas, both of which form large shares of domestic usage and have seen global prices flare up.

was killed along with his 44 top leaders. The US and Israel thought that like in Iraq, people would revolt in Iran. But the reverse happened.People took to the streets to mourn Khamenei’s death.

Two of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, a chemical manufacturer, and an auto giant have established internal artificial intelligence (AI) teams and opened centres to increase automation across their businesses, as the technology’s rapid pace continues to upend business operations worldwide.Over the last 18 months, Swiss life sciences major Novartis International AG and Texas-based chemical manufacturer Celanese Corporation started AI councils to identify segments that can be automated. Indiana-based Eli Lilly and Co.

Mumbai: The Indian stock markets slumped to their weakest weekly performance in 14 months, after conflict erupted in the Middle East between the US, Israel and Iran on 28 February.Benchmark indices NSE Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex dropped nearly 3% through the week, marking their steepest decline since the week ended 22 December 2024, when markets had corrected over 4% amid concerns over the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance and rising bond yields.On Friday, the Nifty 50 fell 1.27% to close at 24,450.45, while the Sensex declined 1.37% to end at 78,918.88, extending their decline following the prior session’s relief rally.Rising crude oil prices and continued selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) weighed on sentiment. Currency weakness added further pressure, with the rupee hitting a record low of 92.1488 against the US dollar on 4 March (Wednesday).Market volatility also spiked during the week, with the India VIX (Volatility Index)—a measure of the market’s expectation of volatility in the Indian stock market over the next 30 days—rising from 13.70 to 19.88, signalling heightened investor nervousness and expectations of larger market swings ahead.To be sure, Indian equities’ fall was milder than several Asian markets.

South Korea’s 16% stock plunge this past week. In the U.S., any inflation uptick could deprive investors of more interest-rate cuts. Or perhaps worse, the Federal Reserve could cut rates later this year, and depending on the circumstances, be judged by the bond market as giving President Donald Trump what he wants, but not necessarily giving the economy what it needs.A quick and tidy exit in Iran is no sure thing.

New Delhi: India’s top carmakers are seeking alternative sources for lithium-ion cells that go into electric vehicle batteries as they seek to secure supply to counter China’s unpredictable curbs.Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, the country’s second-largest carmaker, has begun talks with Germany’s Volkswagen Group, which has a lithium-ion cell subsidiary PowerCo, for future supply, the company said at Kotak Institutional Equities’ Annual Investor Conference last week.While Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd will depend on its group firm Agratas, Hyundai Motor India Ltd has inked a partnership with Exide Industries Ltd to procure locally made cells from the gigafactory under construction in Bengaluru.Lithium-ion batteries account for more than a third of an EV’s cost. Diversifying cell supply is important after China imposed restrictions on the export of rare-earth magnets, another critical component used in building motors.

drive up natural gas prices and freight costs, industry officials and analysts said.Although the government makes a provisional estimate of the fertilizer subsidy at the start of the financial year—based on sowing patterns, irrigated area and historical demand—it carries an implicit obligation to enhance the allocation if unforeseen developments arise.Currently, the fertilizer subsidy is projected at ₹1.71 trillion for the next financial year, slightly lower compared to the revised estimate of ₹1.86 trillion for the ongoing 2025-26 fiscal (FY26)."If the crisis persists for long, the fertilizer prices are expected to go up which might require higher subsidies," said an industry official on the condition of anonymity. In the past, the government has been making special financial provisions for additional subsidies in case of a spike in global prices.Natural gas, the primary feedstock and energy source for urea production, accounts for a bulk of fertilizer manufacturing costs, making the sector highly sensitive to price spikes.Research firm Zero Carbon Analytics has said that of the top countries that import oil and gas via the Strait of Hormuz, Japan faces the most direct risk of disruption, due to its high share of oil and gas trade through the shipping route and its reliance on imported oil and gas.

₹22,615 crore in Indian equities after selling for three months in a row, showed NSDL data. Strengthening of the Indian rupee (improves returns in dollar terms) and reducing trade uncertainties with India-European Union deal and other trade agreements were the likely catalysts.But geopolitics could interrupt that revival.The latest new series gross domestic product (GDP) data for the December quarter (Q3FY26), using 2022-23 as the base year, showed growth at 7.8% despite tariff troubles.

Technological innovation in all quarters is critical for accelerated economic growth. However, India’s research and development (R&D) debate often focuses on public spending: how much the government allocates, which missions are launched and what headline targets are announced. The data, however, suggests that India’s innovation shortfall is fundamentally an industry story.

speech last September. Then, he told his parliament that Washington’s aim for denuclearization was a “delusional obsession.”The two leaders haven’t met since 2019, and the North Korean leader ignored an offer to reconnect when Trump visited South Korea last fall. The Kim regime hasn’t held formal nuclear talks with the U.S.

India’s long-held ambition to become a serious shipbuilding nation on par with giants such as China, South Korea, and Japan may finally get off the starting blocks in the second half of 2026, at a time when the Asian shipyards are packed with orders, with waiting periods stretching into several years.In the first instance of a global shipbuilding giant investing directly in core shipbuilding infrastructure in India, state-run Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) and South Korea’s HD Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE)—part of the HD Hyundai Group—are in final stages of forming a joint venture to set up a $500-million manufacturing facility in Kochi, with both partners contributing equally.CSL’s chairman and managing director, Jose V.J. said a CSL team would visit South Korea this month to finalise the deal.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: A set of common initiatives and directives signed by India, the US, China and 83 other countries at the recently concluded India AI Impact Summit will shape global collaborations on artificial intelligence (AI) despite the agreement being non-binding in nature, said a top bureaucrat who spearheaded the declaration. On Saturday, the government released the New Delhi declaration that was signed by 88 entities, including the European Union (EU) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. President Trump still has three years left in office. Yet the Supreme Court’s ruling Friday that most of his tariffs are illegal has given the world a glimpse of U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SEOUL—North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un kicked off his country’s most important political event in half a decade with confidence, gearing up for an era of military expansion and defiance as a self-declared nuclear power. The 9th Party Congress, where North Korea’s leadership sets out its foreign policy and economic and military goals for the next five years, opened Thursday with a celebratory atmosphere.