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The fear that artificial intelligence will lead to mass layoffs is spreading. Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of the financial technology firm Block, laid off nearly half of its workforce last week. Citing AI’s labour-saving capabilities, he predicted other companies would soon follow suit: “Within the next year, I believe the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion and make similar structural changes.”As an economist, I disagree with Dorsey’s prediction.

Gold has nearly doubled and silver has tripled over the past two years. Both metals surged in popularity last year as investors globally placed greater trust in liquid physical assets over the US dollar-denominated financial system.In January, Indians invested more in gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) than in equity mutual funds for the first time, with net inflows surging to a record ₹24,040 crore even as equity fund investments slipped to ₹24,029 crore.

Could India be returning to Russia for oil supplies? Going by a Bloomberg report, it seems so. Two shipments of Russian crude oil that were originally headed for East Asia have reportedly been redirected towards India and are expected to unload this week, with one already having reached Paradip.

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₹290 crore in a Series B funding round led by Bertelsmann India Investments, as the company looks to deepen its presence and expand its rural storefront network, Ankur Dahiya, co-founder and chief executive told Mint.“We started in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and we feel its the right time to expand our footprint in the same Ganges belt,” said Dahiya. “Secondly, we want to increase our penetration in the areas we're present.”The fundraise comes as Rozana scales its hybrid rural commerce model—combining neighbourhood storefronts and centralized warehouses with a network of women-led last-mile partners—at a time when relatively few startups are focused exclusively on India’s rural e-commerce opportunity.The fundraise was led by German conglomerate Bertelsmann's local venture capital arm, Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) with participation from Fireside Ventures, US-based Spark Growth Ventures, FE Securities and a few family offices.The deal was majorly a primary investment with a small component of secondaries to give early angel investors an exit.

Stock market recap: The Indian stock market saw strong buying interest on 5 March, largely driven by short covering after a sharp sell-off that had dragged benchmark indices down about 4% in just a few days.The Sensex jumped 900 points, or 1.14%, to close at 80,015.90. Its NSE counterpart, the Nifty 50, rose 1.17% to end at 24,765.90.Buying was broad-based across the market.

e-Rupee, with total transactions of 120 million valued at ₹28,000 crore since its 2022 launch, central bank data till December showed. While retail CBDC can be used to pay other users, as well as merchants for goods and services, wholesale use cases include interbank settlements and large-value transactions.

West Asia conflict could ease.The benchmark Nifty50 index recovered close to half of its recent losses in the last hour on Thursday, as reports emerged that Iran had reached out to the US for talks to end the war, improving risk appetite. The news coincided with the weekly expiry of Sensex options on Thursday, which also forced the traders to square off their positions in panic.The US and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran on Saturday that killed its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering retaliation and fuelling a wider regional conflict in West Asia, dragging stock markets around the world lower.Over two trading sessions starting Monday, the Nifty50 had fallen 695 points, of which 285 points—about 41%—were recouped on Thursday.

The Iran-US conflict has sent shockwaves through Indian markets, pushing the rupee to a record low of 92.32 and driving crude oil past $80 per barrel. As the Nifty 50 shed 2.1% in just four days, foreign investors pulled out over ₹11,700 crore, seeking safety in a strengthening dollar.With the Strait of Hormuz blockade threatening energy supplies and squeezing margins for oil and chemical firms, investors are caught between gold's safe-haven appeal and rising macroeconomic headwinds.Mintexplains what this nascent war and the resulting supply shocks mean for your portfolio and the road ahead for Indian equities.Since the Iran-US war began on 28 February, equity markets worldwide have fallen.The Nifty 50 index declined 2.1% between 28 February and 4 March, while the Nikkei fell 5.5%, the Hang Seng 4.5%, and the Kospi 8.9% over the same period.

The day after the Union Budget on 1 February, US tariffs on Indian exports fell from 50% to 25%, and further to a promise of 18% through a trade deal. Later, the US Supreme Court verdict against ‘reciprocal’ tariffs resulted in a uniform levy of 10% on all countries, including India, possibly rising to 15%. Wherever it settles, there is some reprieve for labour-intensive export sectors.

₹3,296 crore. Tuesday was a market holiday.On Wednesday, provisional BSE data showed that FIIs were net sellers of Indian equities worth Rs8,753 crore, while DIIs stepped in as net buyers, purchasing shares worth Rs12,068 crore.

Stock market recap: It was a bloodbath on Dalal Street on Wednesday, as the Indian stock market suffered sharp losses on March 4 amid investor dumping of risk assets amid the ongoing US-Iran war, which shows no signs of easing.The conflict in West Asia has pushed crude oil prices significantly higher, stoking fresh inflation concerns and dealing a strong blow to expectations of near-term rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of India.Sensex crashed 1,123 points, or 1.40%, to end at 79,116.19, while the Nifty 50 plunged 385 points, or 1.55%, to close at 24,480.50. The BSE 150 MidCap Index crashed 2.26%, while the BSE 250 SmallCap Index suffered a loss of 2.24%.India VIX jumped over 23% to hover above the 21 mark, indicating heightened nervousness in the market.Buy: Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd(current price: ₹1,750)Buy: Solar Industries India Ltd (current price: ₹14,523)Indian equities ended sharply lower on March 4, with Nifty 50 declining 385 points, or 1.55%, to close at 24,480.50, after slipping to an intraday low of 24,305.40.

Those who view President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran as a blow to China should think again. Beijing will manage any potential leadership change in Tehran as long as the oil keeps flowing, a summit with Trump and President Xi Jinping stays on track, and Washington handles Taiwan—China’s most sensitive red line—with care. Xi’s strategy is closer to the ancient Chinese phrase that notes the benefit of sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight: conserve strength while others exhaust themselves, and intervene only if core interests are directly threatened.Beijing doesn’t think of alliances the way the US does.

Past conflicts in the Middle East typically hit India at the gas station. This time, the risks transcend oil, threatening everything from smartphone exports to New Delhi’s fragile finances.Flames have reached the United Arab Emirates, India’s second-largest electronics export destination after the US. Beyond being an entrepôt for regional trade, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are wealth hubs for the Indian elite.

oil and petro-products to deal with short-term disruptions. The Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas has formed a 24×7 control room to continuously monitor the supply and stock position across the country.State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs)—Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corp.

Exits from international subsidiaries and associate companies in Japan, Finland and Sri Lanka in the financial year 2026 have narrowed the list of loss-making foreign companies for Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, which is resetting its international business to back profitable businesses.The exits from international subsidiaries and joint ventures in the three countries have helped Mahindra and Mahindra shed companies with total annual losses of about ₹313 crore or 2.2% of its consolidated profit of ₹14,073 crore as of 31 March 2025.With these exits, the major loss-making foreign subsidiaries of the Mumbai-based company have narrowed down to companies in the US, Turkey, Mauritius and Germany, which together posted losses of ₹670 crore, or 4.7% of the company’s consolidated profits for FY25.Mahindra’s strategy to curb losses in its international businesses has come into focus after its exit from its Japanese subsidiary, Mitsubishi Mahindra Agricultural Machinery, on Monday, which it said will help reduce losses from a business it acquired in 2015.“On completion of the liquidation procedure, the promoter group would not have to incur the annual loss as well as fund these losses,” the company said in an exchange filing on Monday.The company’s renewed focus on exiting loss-making international businesses to double down on its high-growth areas and markets comes at a time when group chief executive Anish Shah is set to complete five years at the helm next month.Since taking over in 2021, Mahindra under Shah has exited several key international loss-making businesses as it seeks to increase profitability.

The escalating US-Iran conflict has wreaked havoc on market sentiment, leaving investors anxious about spiking crude oil prices and the economic fallout of a prolonged confrontation. This instability carries significant implications for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies, particularly with the threat of supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint for global energy.Consequently, Indian firms with meaningful exposure to the Middle East are facing heightened near-term volatility.

Write to Chun Han Wong at [email protected] updated with the latest Trending, India , World and US news.

The market’s reaction to the joint US-Israel strikes on Iran wasn't exactly subtle. The war is choking the Strait of Hormuz, hurting tanker flows and causing oil markets to react. Brent crude price is now at $78 a barrel.Back home, the benchmark Nifty 50 index fell by 1.2% on Monday, while shares of state-run Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs) were down around 4%.

Anthropic’s latest complaint against three Chinese labs is a warning sign for Silicon Valley: Don’t expect to earn too much from the competitive edge your model gives you. Companies from the developing world will line up to swim across your moat, if they can—and neither the US government nor your lawyers will be able to help you. As the music industry and Big Pharma could tell them, nobody will eliminate your rivals, you have to accommodate them.The company says it has pretty solid evidence that DeepSeek, MiniMax and Moonshot ran “industrial-scale campaigns” to “illicitly extract” the capabilities of its own model, Claude.

markets are closed on Tuesday for a public holiday.Brent crude, which hovered around $60 a barrel in early January, climbed to $72 by 25 February on expectations of military action against Iran. Since the conflict began, prices have surged to about $78.