Record News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Across Europe, voters are fed up and taking it out on their leaders.This week, Britain’s ruling Labour Party had its worst result ever in local elections as voters angry about a persistently weak economy and high immigration punished Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is backed by just 20% of voters.Last month, Europe’s longest-serving leader, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, was swept out of office by a wave of discontent over the sluggish economy and a government that many saw as corrupt.Elsewhere in Europe, the picture is similarly bleak for those now in power. In Germany, a left-right government that is breaking public spending records is also plumbing uncharted popularity lows.The diminished incumbents can do little to placate an angry electorate, as they contend with melting parliamentary majorities, internal divisions and empty public coffers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In 1954, conductor Herbert von Karajan and the Philharmonia Orchestra released what was considered a definitive recording of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It was meant to capture the grandeur of the Ode to Joy for home listeners.But when Amar Bose, then a brilliant graduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an obsessive music lover, bought an expensive high-fidelity stereo to listen to it in 1956, he was deeply disappointed.The symphony, which should have felt like a tidal wave of sound, felt more like a trickle.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The usage gap in India’s flagship financial inclusion programme has widened further, with inactive zero-balance accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) surging to 26% at 143.83 million at state-run banks, while falling to 36% at 6.3 million at private banks as of March 2026.The total PMJDY accounts across state-run and private banks stood at 581.8 million, with deposits reaching ₹3.02 trillion by early April 2026. State-run banks had 449.8 million accounts, while private banks held 20.8 million.This spike in inactive accounts has been broad-based across public sector banks, which had 112.4 million dormant PMJDY accounts, or 21% of the total, at the end of March 2025.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Data released on Tuesday by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations in India shows that automobile retail sales rose 13% from a year earlier to over 2.6 million units in April, the best-ever performance for this month. The growth was broad-based, with five of the six main segments posting record numbers; all barring construction equipment, that is.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), the infrastructure fund manager that BlackRock Inc. acquired for $12.5 billion two years ago, is exploring initial public offerings (IPOs) for two of the companies in its Indian portfolio, logistics operator Pristine Logistics & Infraprojects Ltd and tower company Ascend Telecom Infrastructure Pvt.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: The Centre's reliance on small savings to finance its budget deficit increased in the previous financial year, with collections under the National Small Savings Fund (NSSF) rising to ₹2.19 trillion in the 11 months to February 2026, said two government officials aware of the matter.The overall mobilization from these long-term, lock-in-based savings schemes such as Public Provident Fund (PPF), National Savings Certificate (NSC), and Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana helped reduce pressure on market borrowing, even though monthly inflows remained uneven, the officials cited earlier said on the condition of anonymity.According to department of expenditure data reviewed by Mint, NSSF collections during the first 11 months of FY26 were nearly ₹30,000 crore higher than ₹1.89 trillion recorded in the same period of FY25.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.To call Varijashree Venugopal, 35, “multifaceted” feels like compressing a wide canvas into a tiny capsule. A child prodigy who started performing when she was four, the Bengalurean is today a flautist, singer, music composer and a serial collaborator who’s worked with eminent musicians like Rajesh Vaidya, Herbie Hancock, Bobby McFerrin and Michael League. In 2024, she was nominated along with Jacob Collier and Anoushka Shankar for the Grammy for Best Global Music Performance for the track A Rock Somewhere, featured on the album Djesse Vol. 4. She is also attributed as the creator of “Carnatic Scat” singing, a vocal style that blends carnatic singing with jazz.“As a musician I am a lot into improvisation and experimentation and it applies across projects and collaborations.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Bank loans under the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) fell by half to ₹6,148 crore in 2025-26 from ₹12,315 crore a year earlier, marking the third consecutive decline, according to data from the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) ministry and its PMEGP portal.The lower disbursements coincide with FY26 recording the lowest number of loan applications in a decade, signalling weakening momentum in credit support for small enterprises and job creation under the scheme.The trend raises questions about the creditworthiness of MSMEs and banks’ risk perception of small business loans amid external uncertainties, even as the Centre has increased the budgetary allocation for subsidized loans to start small non-farm business ventures to ₹4,500 crore (BE) for FY27 from ₹2,548 crore (RE) in FY26.The fall in bank loan sanctions is likely due to FY26 being the last year of the fifteenth finance commission cycle that began in FY21, with banks facing uncertainty about whether the scheme will continue, said an official directly aware of the development.The sixteenth finance commission, in its report submitted to the central government in November 2025, noted certain inconsistencies in the reporting of the PMEGP as a subsidy scheme.“Now that the budget for the PMEGP has been allocated for FY27, we expect bank loan sanctions as well as job creation under the scheme to rebound,” the official said on condition of anonymity.A senior bank official said the fall also needs to be seen in the context of tighter credit filters and a shift towards improving asset quality.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Poriborton (meaning change in Bengali) was the big call across West Bengal, and poriborton it was when the final results emerged on Monday.The Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to register a watershed win in the 294-member assembly to unseat the ruling Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) and end a 15-year rule.As of 5.30 pm, BJP had a vote share of 45.4% and had won or was leading in 202 of the 293 seats for which results are available. It was largely a binary contest, and the other parties, like the Indian National Congress (INC) and Communist parties, barely registered a presence in seats.In the 2021 assembly polls, the BJP had emerged as the leading opposition party with 77 seats and around 38% vote share, up from a mere three seats and 10% vote share in 2016.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s power prices on electricity exchange hit zero for the first time on Friday, 1 May, raising concerns for investors and developers as the country moves towards its target 500 giga watt (GW) non-fossil capacity by 2030.Data from the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) showed power prices were at zero in two blocks of 15 minutes each on Friday, as demand dipped due to easing temperatures and low industrial demand but power supply — especially solar power — climbed, bringing prices down.The dip in demand came from partly cloudy skies, light rains, and gusty winds in northern India and Delhi-NCR, and heavy rainfall in parts of eastern India. Similar weather was witnessed on Saturday, 2 May.To be sure, power prices on the real time market (RTM) platform of the IEX had dropped to near-zero twice earlier—on the afternoon of 5 April, and on 25 May last year, under similar circumstances.In a LinkedIn post on on Friday, IEX said: “Cooler weather, record solar generation (~57.5 GW), and inflexible thermal supply are leading to ample sell-side availability on the Exchange.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Soumya Sankar Bose’s new show We Need to Talk In Whispers at Experimenter, Ballygunge, in Kolkata is inspired by a journal he found on an overnight train journey from Howrah to Koraput. It seemed to be a curious “exploration of thanatology,” as the exhibition notes explain, a repository of “suicide notes” and “memories people hold on to in their final moments”.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The nerves calm, the mind clear, a deep breath later, Akshay Thatte immersed face-first in the water. He was competing in the Static Apnea category at the AIDA Malaysia Freediving Pool Games last December. By the time he surfaced, 5 minutes and 16 seconds had elapsed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Asset management companies (AMCs) largely held up their full-year earnings performance in FY26, but mark-to-market losses stemming from the West Asia conflict dented their latest quarterly profit. Listed AMCs recorded a sequential decrease in net profit or a loss in the January-March quarter.ICICI Prudential AMC reported a 16.8% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) decline in net profit to ₹763 crore in Q4.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Indian equities ended the holiday-truncated week only marginally higher, as stalled talks between the US and Iran and president Donald Trump's rejection of Tehran's proposal to remove the blockade of Hormuz pushed crude prices to a three-year high of $126 per barrel.Still, benchmark indices posted their best monthly show in nearly three years in a relief rally, as investors piled into beaten-down stocks after US and Iran announced a ceasefire early in April following more than a month of conflict.Surging crude prices pushed the rupee to a record low of 95.32 against the US dollar, sparking concerns that a fragile West Asia truce could unravel, intensifying inflationary and margin pressures. The weakening currency also accelerated foreign outflows, further dampening market sentiment.The Nifty 50 slipped 0.3% to 23,997.55, while the Sensex fell 0.8% to 76,913.5 on Thursday amid geopolitical concerns.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd is undergoing a major restructuring, splitting itself into five independent listed companies: Vedanta Aluminium, Vedanta Oil & Gas, Vedanta Power, Vedanta Iron & Steel, and parent Vedanta Ltd, which will house the zinc and silver businesses through Hindustan Zinc and act as an incubator for new opportunities.While this move is aimed at unlocking value, it creates short-term disruption in the derivatives (futures and options) market. Mint breaks down the process.All futures and options (F&O) contracts of Vedanta will expire on 29 April, irrespective of their original expiry date, Nimish Maheshwari, co-founder of Beat the Street, wrote in a note.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Even as India’s electricity demand hit record highs in April, power prices crashed to near-zero during peak solar hours during the month—a paradox driven by too much renewable energy chasing too little flexible demand.For the second time in two years, rates on the Real Time Market (RTM) of the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) dropped to near-zero— ₹0.0003 per unit on the afternoon of 5 April—as excess solar power flooded the market even as demand dipped due to rains and thunderstorms in Delhi and other parts of northern India. The first such instance was on 25 May last year.Prices have since remained volatile, falling to as low as 40 paise per unit on 12 April even as they recently hit the ₹10 per unit cap amid a heatwave-driven surge in demand.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Nearly 70% of Indians lack meaningful health insurance. Our penetration rate— just 0.35% of GDP—is lower than that of China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The conventional explanation is that Indians either do not understand insurance or cannot afford it.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s music industry is finally witnessing a long-awaited shift from free to paid consumption, with revenues and subscriptions climbing steadily.Yet the transition remains fragile. Sustaining the move from free to paid listening is critical, especially at a time when AI-generated versions of songs threaten to divert streams from original works and pirated sources continue to undercut legitimate consumption.Speaking to Mint, Victoria Oakley, chief executive officer of IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry)—the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide—said the recent uptick in paid streaming marks a long-promised transition for India.However, she cautioned that the regulatory framework around AI remains unclear, even as governments, including India’s, grapple with how to balance technological innovation with rights protection and fair monetization for the creative community.According to a recent Ficci EY report, the Indian music segment, measured as revenues earned by music labels from licensing and other income, grew by 10% to reach ₹5900 crore in 2025.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In 2025, renewables surpassed coal in the global power mix for the first time in over a century, according to a new report by energy think tank Ember. India and China played a pivotal role in this transformation, with electricity generated from fossil fuels falling in both countries.However, coal still accounts for more than 70% of India’s electricity.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When was the last time you engaged in friendly banter with your barista, chatted with your neighbor or called your mother?Chances are, you placed your latte order on an app and ignored your neighbor when you pulled into your driveway. Your mom? She likely had to settle for a text.Digital interactions are replacing face-to-face interactions with loved ones and strangers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.From fertilizer production falling to near five-year low in March, to foodgrain stocks surging to nearly three times the mandated buffer, to rural patients spending more than urban counterparts at government hospitals, to major IT firms declaring their FY26 earnings — here is a compilation of this week's news in numbers.India's fertilizer production fell to a near five-year low in March. Shortages of inputs, such as liquefied natural gas and sulphur, caused by the war in West Asia, dragged output down by 24.6% year-on-year.