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Gentari Sdn Bhd, the clean energy arm of Malaysia's state-run Petronas Group, has agreed to acquire a part of the renewables portfolio of Brookfield Asset Management for $900 million, inclusive of debt, following months of talks, said people with knowledge of the matter. Last week, both parties signed a firm agreement that will see Gentari take control of a 2.2 GW portfolio of assets. This is the first time Brookfield will be monetising part of its green energy portfolio after building, acquiring and operating the assets for over five years. Gentari is expected to seek regulatory approvals in the next few days before any formal announcement. Its portfolio in India will double from the current 2 GW capacity. This will be its second acquisition in India this year. Gentari had bought the 185 MW solar power portfolio of Finnish firm Fortum Oyj in May.

Food services and hospitality company SKFS Group is acquiring 100% equity in Mirah Hospitality & Gourmet-which owns restaurant brands Rajdhani, Bayroute and Hitchki-for ₹80 crore. «We are looking to scale up the business nationally; we see this as a strategic acquisition to take forward our food services business, with fresh investments in upgradation of our existing outlets,» SKFS Group chairman Dinakara Shetty told ET. He said the group's existing business verticals «will align and synergise well» with the acquired restaurant brands.

Indian audit standards with global norms is a «major reform towards corporate governance and making India a developed country» by 2047, National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) chairman Ajay Bhushan Prasad Pandey told ET, while allaying fears it would lead to audit work concentration or disruptions. Pandey added that 39 of the 40 new audit rules proposed by the NFRA board this week will be applicable to all companies without any special dispensation. The revised standard on auditing (SA) 600, which proposes to make the principal auditor responsible for the entire corporate group's financial statements, would apply only to listed companies, banks and insurers, barring the state-run ones, he said. «We can't afford to have any standards that will be at variance with the global ones and which don't inspire trust and confidence of investors, both global and Indian,» Pandey said. «A developed India can't afford to have inferior audit standards. The upgrade will help detect any deviation or irregularity (in the financial performance of companies) at a very early stage, thereby protecting the interests of shareholders.»

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Swaminathan J on Thursday stressed the need for urban cooperative banks to evolve digitally, addressing IT and cybersecurity gaps as he highlighted the importance of improving the liquidation process to protect depositors' interests. Speaking at the Second Conference of State Registrars of Cooperative Societies (RCSs) here, Swaminathan also stressed the importance of coordinated engagement between the RBI and registrars of co-operative societies, respecting each other's roles. While financial indicators for UCBs have improved, he noted room for growth in business, asset quality, and liquidity, he said.

small businesses in India get paid faster, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The system, called TReDS, allows small businesses to sell unpaid invoices to banks and other financial institutions. “TReDS has effectively bridged the credit gap by enabling MSMEs to promptly convert their trade receivables into liquid funds. This ensures that small businesses do not have to wait endlessly for payments,” said RBI Deputy Governor Michael Patra. Small businesses often struggle to get paid on time by their larger customers. This delay can make it hard for them to pay their own bills and grow their businesses.

manufacturing output witnessed a rise coupled with increase in employment, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). ET's Anoushka Sawhney takes a look.

Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu on Thursday said the Ministry is exploring the use of seaplanes to connect even the most remote areas of India, including the North East. Naidu, who was here to participate in a two-day aviation conference, also took a test ride on a seaplane during a demonstration at the scenic Umiam Lake, where Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma and other senior officials of the ministry were present. «Let it be road, rail, or air connectivity, Modi wants the North East to be integrated with the mainland with the best connectivity possible. The Ministry of Civil Aviation wants to ensure that his (Modi) vision becomes a reality,» Naidu told reporters after a 30-minute joyride on the seaplane. He said people come to Meghalaya and the region for a variety of reasons, such as tourism, spirituality, to connect with nature, and for business activities.

Ride-hailing app Uber on Thursday announced a host of new features such as SOS integration, helmet selfie and women rider preference for female drivers — all aimed at making experience for million-plus drivers on its platform «safer, easier and fairer». Further, in support of the government's Code on Social Security (CoSS), which seeks to provide a safety net for gig workers, Uber announced the promotion of registrations on the e-Shram portal, which is a unified database for gig workers and unorganised workers. To encourage participation and accelerate such registrations, Uber is offering cash incentives to the first 10,000 drivers who register on the portal. Key enhancements for drivers include SOS integration, helmet selfie, women rider preference for female drivers, and audio recording, as also upfront tipping, instant payments, and mentorship program.

Infosys' founder Narayana Murthy recently said Indians failing to solve problems as the main factor behind issues such as Delhi pollution remaining a persistent problem for the country. «Which area has (India) invented? Please give me an example,» Murthy during an inter highlighting the country’s dependence on adapting foreign technologies rather than creating innovations. Murthy said that India has yet to solve long-standing issues like Dengue and Delhi's pollution, despite these being persistent problems. He questioned why the IT services industry should be singled out for criticism when the country as a whole has not addressed these challenges.

Reliance Power, asking why it should not initiate criminal proceedings after a subsidiary of the power producer submitted fake documents for a bid, according to a notice dated Wednesday. Last week, Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd (SECI) barred the power firm from participating in its clean energy project tenders for three years after it found that a unit of the company had submitted a fake endorsement of a foreign bank guarantee. SECI said on Wednesday that the bank guarantee submitted by the unit, Reliance NU BESS, was also fake.

Capex), largely driven by a 10.3 per cent year-on-year increase in central government spending, according to CareEdge Ratings report. Though state-level spending continued to decline, dropping by 3.8 per cent compared to last year, a few states, including Punjab, Assam, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan, showcased resilience by recording double-digit growth in Capex during the first half of the year, highlighting regions of sustained investment momentum despite the broader slowdown. On the corporate side, the capex for a sample of 1,074 non-financial listed companies totalled Rs 9.4 trillion in FY24, showing a minor reduction from the previous year.

Shiprocket Copilot — an AI-powered assistant to help 1 lakh sellers improve their management and expansion of their ecommerce businesses. Designed as a comprehensive virtual assistant for sellers, it handles a wide range of tasks — processing orders, checking COD billing, assisting with queries on international shipping, and a Whatsapp suite to offer precise solutions on the queries raised. According to a recent study by Meta, 94% of MSMEs acknowledge AI's potential to drive significant business growth, with 91% emphasising the need for accessible and affordable AI technologies. Recognising this demand, Shiprocket unveiled this offering to bridge the technology gap in the MSME ecosystem. This AI-driven assistant boasts of enabling small businesses across Bharat to optimise operations, improve productivity and build a more sustainable, self-reliant digital future. It is positioned as a go-to platform for merchants, similar to ChatGPT, helping them solve queries independently and on demand.

Low Visibility Procedures' are in progress at the airport. The advisory requested the passengers to contact their respective airlines for 'updated information' about their flights. «Low Visibility Procedures are in progress at Delhi Airport. All flight operations are presently normal. Passengers are requested to contact the airline concerned for updated flight information,» the advisory reads.

James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G

Trump’s return to the White House, chief economic adviser (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran said on Wednesday, cautioning against any “kneejerk reaction” to the current bout of stock market volatility. The CEA was in conversation with economist Prachi Mishra at the ET India Ascends event. While capital has flooded into the US markets over the past week in the aftermath of Trump’s victory, “I'm not entirely sure that this will sustain over a very long term,” he said. “Because even before this election happened, US stocks were somewhat elevated in valuation, etc., and the Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates. So I think we can give some time for the financial markets to take a breath….”

Indian Railways has fast-tracked deployment of automatic train protection (ATP) system Kavach on a fifth of its network, with contracts for installing the system on 10,000 locomotives and 1,105 route kilometres (RKM) of tracks set to be awarded this month, said officials. The national transporter has also thrown its weight behind a 2030 Kavach Rollout Plan that targets manifold ramp-up of installed capacity, they said. «Bids have been invited for 14,735 RKM while over 1,500 RKM of Kavach is operational. Work is also underway on 3,000 RKM of tracks for Kavach deployment,» said a senior official, who did not wish to be identified.

Chubu Electric on Wednesday said it has signed an agreement with OMC Power to increase investment in the company. The investment will help OMC Power commission 100 MW of energy transition projects in the near term and expand presence in India and South Africa, Chubu Electric said in a statement. According to industry sources, Chubu had earlier invested in OMC Power for a 20 per cent stake. With the latest investment, its stake will increased to over 35 per cent to become single-largest stake holder in OMC Power. Mitsui & Co has over 25 per cent stake in OMC Power.

microfinance lenders have reduced lending rates in the past couple of months amid heightened regulatory scrutiny on the pricing policy adopted by these financiers that service the bottom of the consumer pyramid. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was conducting a scrutiny over the past six months or so, and that culminated into the decision to bar errant lenders from doing business from October 21 for charging «excessive» interest rate spreads over their cost of funds. Both Arohan Financial Services and Asirvad Micro Finance — the two NBFC-MFIs penalised — have submitted fresh plans to the regulator. Arohan promised to reduce rates by about 200 basis points while Asirvad said it would lower rates by around 300 bps once they are allowed to resume business, people familiar with the matter said.

bankruptcy courts, a report said on Wednesday. In over 71 per cent of the cases, the 270-day timeline is getting exceeded, the report by rating agency Icra said, adding that this is resulting in a higher number of liquidation orders as the elongated process erodes value. "'Lenders continue to face steep haircuts or reduction in loan amounts of nearly 72 per cent in Q2 FY2025 as the overall resolution process continues to face material delays emerging from litigations from either promoters or dissenting creditors," the agency's group head for structured finance ratings Abhishek Dafria said. He added that 71 per cent of the ongoing corporate insolvency resolution processes (CIRPs) had exceeded 270 days, post-admission by the NCLT.

ITR) filing data, the number of individuals showing annual income of over Rs 50 lakh has gone up to over 9.39 lakh in 2023-24, a five-fold jump from 1.85 lakh in 2013-14. Also, the income tax liability of those earning above Rs 50 lakh has gone up 3.2 times, from Rs 2.52 lakh crore in 2014, to Rs 9.62 lakh crore in 2024. A source said that 76 per cent of income tax collected is from those earning above Rs 50 lakh a year. This has led to reduced tax burden on the middle class. Also, the increase in number of people filing ITRs with annual income above Rs 50 lakh is due to «strong anti tax evasion and black money laws implemented by the Modi government», the source added.

As per data released by industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), as many as 393,238 vehicles were dispatched from factories to dealerships, compared to 389,714 units sold in the corresponding period of the last financial year.