CEO Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Potential competition from the National Stock Exchange (NSE), India’s largest bourse, hasn’t perturbed the country’s largest commodity derivatives exchange, MCX, though it is keeping a close eye on NSE’s activity in the commodity derivatives segment (CDS), Praveena Rai, managing director & CEO of MCX indicated on Monday.MCX dominated the commodity options market in FY26 with a 99.9% share, leaving rival NSE with just 0.1%."We are watching the space very closely… it is a large competitor and they have made their intention felt in the market with the focus they are placing on the commodity segment," Rai said in response to an analyst’s query on evolving challenges during the company's Q4 earnings call.Rai didn't name NSE, but the reference was unmistakable as it is the second-largest non-agri commodity contender in CDS, ahead of BSE.Though NSE entered the CDS in 2018, it began working at increasing its market share in earnest only since late last year. Starting last November, it revised the expiry of its WTI crude oil options contracts to seven days before the underlying futures expire—a significant shift from its previous two-day window and the current schedule followed by MCX.In March 2026, it launched a 10-gram gold contract to compete with MCX’s benchmark gold contract, followed last month by a dated Brent Platts futures contract to gain a foothold in the energy derivatives market.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Homegrown advertising group RK Swamy Ltd is betting on its integrated marketing model to drive growth over the next few years, combining media, creative and other advertising services even as the ‘Big Four’ agency networks increasingly separate those businesses.“We never did disaggregated media and creative [although] that was an option 20 years ago,” Shekhar Swamy, MD and group CEO of RK Swamy Ltd told Mint in an interview.“How can you disaggregate the two? The media function holds a lot of data, and then when media and creative walk separately, it creates a lot of tension. This is not a sensible model for a client.”RK Swamy’s clients include Magicbricks, Polycab, and several government institutions and PSUs such as LIC.The company reported a 15% jump in annual revenue for FY26 to ₹351.73 crore, while profit before tax and exceptional items rose 30% year-on-year to ₹32.2 crore.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The monthly mutual fund factsheet, primarily a standardized disclosure and compliance document, is evolving into a more carefully crafted communication tool for fund houses in an era where investors are more digital and informed.The shift reflects changing investor behaviour. Direct plans—where investors buy units directly from asset management companies without distributors—accounted for 49% of industry average assets under management in April 2026, up from 45% two years earlier, according to AMFI data.That rise suggests more investors are evaluating and comparing funds independently, increasing the importance of how fund houses present disclosures, portfolio positioning and performance context.Fund houses are now moving well beyond minimum disclosure requirements.Edelweiss Mutual Fund introduced a new factsheet format in 2026 called Fundverse, which includes rolling return analysis, portfolio overweight and underweight positions versus benchmarks, key return contributors, and SIP and SWP contribution breakdowns.Rolling return analysis, unlike trailing returns, measures performance across every possible holding period instead of one fixed start date, giving investors a broader view of consistency across market cycles.For instance, if an investor had invested in the Edelweiss Mid Cap Fund on 30 April 2021 and stayed invested till 30 April 2026, the fund would have delivered a 5-year trailing CAGR return of about 21.02%, turning ₹10,000 into nearly ₹25,968.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A judge tossed Elon Musk’s $150 billion lawsuit against OpenAI’s Sam Altman this week after the jury determined that the Tesla CEO waited too long to file his claim. Mr. Musk said the verdict was decided on a “calendar technicality” and vowed to appeal, so perhaps this courtroom battle over artificial-intelligence supremacy isn’t over.Essentially, Mr.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Executives at Nippon Life India Asset Management and Deutsche Bank’s asset manager DWS said global investors continue to view India as a key long-term market despite continued foreign portfolio outflows from equities.Global investors may be in a temporary “wait-and-watch” mood, said Sundeep Sikka, managing director and CEO of Nippon Life India Asset Management Ltd.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.We have all been in meetings that “could have been an email,” so why not have a jury trial that could have been an AI prompt?“Is Elon Musk able to sue OpenAI for breach of contract?” we might have asked an artificial intelligence (AI) model before the three-week circus at a federal court in downtown Oakland, California. “No,” should have been the AI model’s answer.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India Inc’s debate over work-from-home is returning on a call from prime minister Narendra Modi as part of a strategy to deal with the repurcussions of the West Asia war. This comes at a time artificial intelligence is reshaping jobs and productivity expectations, while macroeconomic pressures—from currency weakness to tighter cash visibility—add a new layer of urgency for chief executives.Mint reached out to Dr Ram Charan, feted global advisor to CEOs and boards, for his views on the tough choices CEOs need to make. Dr Charan, formerly a board member at Hindalco Industries, dwelled on work from home, top CEO worries, how AI will reshape the workplace, and how workers can retrain themselves.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Shareholders at Berkshire Hathaway’s early-May annual general meeting, often described as a pilgrimage for many who idolize Warren Buffett, might have been puzzled by some aspects of CEO Greg Abel’s presentation. Abel, a long-time lieutenant to Buffett who took over as CEO at the beginning of this year, underlined that he planned to continue with the Buffett tradition of buying undervalued businesses.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.To grab hold of the glossy dream of overseas education and eventual global employment, Indian parents have willingly liquidated family assets and taken out hefty education loans — all in the hope that earnings in dollars or euros would wipe out the debt.But in 2026, that fundamental equation stands fractured. With the Indian rupee hitting record lows of ₹96 against the US dollar, the financial math of studying abroad demands a hard reset.The equation has changed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s insurance sector has found renewed vigour, with two global players ready to expand their market presence and others exploring entry. On Monday, US-based Liberty Mutual Insurance announced a stake increase in its Indian venture Liberty General Insurance to 74% from a bit above 55%.A day earlier, UK-based Prudential said it will buy a 75% stake in Bharti Life Insurance Company. Also, Germany’s Allianz has struck a 50:50 joint venture (JV) with Jio Financial Services.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp has doubled its share buyback programme to $2 billion in 2026, with the flexibility to buy shares worth as much as $3.45 billion as the Nasdaq-listed company looks to instill investors with confidence after its stock was battered this year.The board of directors authorized the increase in the share repurchase target from $1 billion originally planned for 2026, the company said in a statement 18 May. The repurchase is expected to be completed during the second quarter of 2026.“Our plan to increase the amount of share repurchases reflects our strong conviction in the long-term opportunity AI creates and our critical role in it as an AI builder,” S Ravi Kumar, chief executive officer of Cognizant, said in the statement.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.As the West Asian crisis broke out late February, Sunil JhunJhunWala, managing director and co-founder of Tiruppur-based Techno Sportswear Pvt. Ltd, an active wear brand, moved fast.The disruption to the movement of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, he rightly surmised, would affect the supply of polyester filament yarn (PFY)–a raw material derived from crude oil—which he imports from China.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Two centuries and a half ago, Adam Smith used the example of a pin factory in The Wealth of Nations to explain how capitalism uses division of labour to boost productivity by splitting production into specialized tasks done by workers paid to work in close coordination for efficiency. But what happens to this model if AI agents run factories and companies?Andon Labs, a US-based startup, runs a cafe where tasks like inventory control, hiring, scheduling and operations are supervised by Mona, an AI agent powered by Google Gemini, even as human baristas brew and serve coffee.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.SEATTLE—Not long ago, Amazon was seen as an also-ran in the great AI race.Microsoft, in particular—with its partnership with OpenAI and cloud business outpacing Amazon’s AWS—seemed to have reclaimed its place as the Puget Sound’s reigning tech giant.Things are looking much different for AWS today.That’s thanks to some savvy deals of its own with OpenAI and Anthropic, plans for $200 billion of infrastructure spending and Amazon’s long-term bet on custom chips. It’s also not involved in the ugly tech trial of the year sucking in the biggest names in AI, from Elon Musk and Sam Altman to Mira Murati and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.“People thought we were behind,” Matt Garman, head of Amazon’s cloud-computing business, AWS, told me in an interview here on the corporate campus.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.OAKLAND, Calif.—U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers opened the last day of testimony in the titanic trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s OpenAI with a simple question: Should a trophy of a golden donkey’s backside be entered into evidence?The judge held the statue in her hands with a bemused look.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mid-cap information technology (IT) services companies believe they are less vulnerable to AI-led disruption than their larger peers. This optimism is underscored by their growth as companies earning between $1-2 billion grew faster than the big six last year.Executives from these companies attribute their resilience to nimble organizational structures, domain expertise and the ability to adapt faster to AI technologies due to fewer organizational layers.Over the last two months, bosses of mid-cap IT services firms have taken a more optimistic view of new software rollouts by AI companies.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Consumer goods makers are raising prices and bracing for weaker demand as commodity inflation spreads across fuel, packaging and food inputs.Large listed fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, including Hindustan Unilever, Britannia Industries, and Dabur India, have started hiking prices across parts of their portfolios and warned in recent earnings calls that inflationary pressures are likely to persist.The conflict in West Asia has pushed up crude-linked input and freight costs while also driving a rise in global edible oil prices, increasing pressure on FMCG companies that rely on imported commodities.The cost pressures are now spreading beyond fuel and packaging into food commodities.On Wednesday, milk cooperative brands, Amul and Mother Dairy, raised milk prices by ₹2 a litre. Smaller regional cooperatives, including Indore-based Sanchi Milk and Kerala-based Milma, have either raised prices or are planning hikes, according to media reports.Industry executives said higher prices of milk, wheat and edible oils are squeezing margins, forcing FMCG companies to pass on costs through price hikes and lower grammage packs, a move that could weigh on demand recovery.India’s wholesale price index rose 8.3% year-on-year in April, driven largely by higher prices of mineral oil, crude, natural gas and metals, according to government data.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.As boos rang out among the audience of University of Central Florida (UCF) graduates, commencement speaker Gloria Caulfield turned to the faculty staff behind her to ask what had happened. Then it dawned on her: She had mentioned artificial intelligence (AI).The real estate executive pressed on. “Only a few years ago,” she said, “AI was not a factor in our lives.” When that statement was greeted with loud cheers, Caulfield said: “We’ve got a bipolar topic here, I see.”For any commencement speaker in 2026, no conversation about the future could be credible without mentioning AI.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Tesla’s stock rose early, then fell, then rose again on Wednesday as CEO Elon Musk heads to China.Shares of the electric-vehicle maker traded up early, then dropped to as low as $430.21 before rising to $445.27, up 2.7% on the day, while the S&P 500 gained 0.6% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%Tesla shares fell 2.6% on Tuesday, snapping a four-day winning streak that raised Tesla stock more than 14%. One thing sending shares higher was the hope that Tesla was close to receiving approval to sell its Full Self Driving, or FSD, driver-assistance product in China.Americans can pay $99 a month for FSD.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Skyroot Aerospace Pvt. Ltd.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Ten years ago, only two or three students from a class of 30 would pass the class 10 board exam at this government school. Today, only two or three from a class of 60 do not.The class has grown because the school changed. As the class 10 board results were transformed, parents began moving their children here from other schools—mostly private ones.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Bengaluru and Mumbai: A 37-year-old transfer of shares of Tata Sons from a trust to the late Naval Tata—later inherited by his sons, Tata Trusts chair Noel Tata, the late Ratan Tata and his brother Jimmy Tata—has surfaced as an issue for the philanthropic entities that control the group.On Tuesday, Sunil Tulsiram Patilkhede, through his lawyer, Katyayani Agrawal, sent a legal notice to the six trustees of Sir Ratan Tata Trust, or SRTT, which owns 23.56% of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group.This is the third such legal notice against SRTT in the last month. First, lawyer Agrawal had complained to the Maharashtra Charity Commissioner that three among its six trustees—Noel Tata, Pune philanthropist Jehangir HC Jehnagir, and Jimmy Tata—were permanent trustees.This, she alleged, violated rules that capped the number of lifetime trustees at a fourth of the total number of trustees.Last week, Suresh Patilkhede, a Mumbai resident, had sought an adjournment of a Tata Trust meeting before the Bombay High Court.