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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: India’s plan to connect its interior areas by air has run into heavy weather, with expensive infrastructure and commercial viability playing spoilsport while hundreds of crores are being spent to maintain airports where no planes are landing. The total expense of the government is nearly ₹900 crore on 15 regional airports that are currently non-operational.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MINNEAPOLIS—For months, crisis after crisis has battered this Midwestern city and state. The killing of a state legislator and her husband.

At first glance, this may seem like a question for economists and statisticians, a matter of compensation data, actuarial logic and policy benchmarks. It is nothing of the sort. It is a moral question that we in India must ask ourselves.As a citizen who has lived his entire life in India’s metropolitan cities, benefited from a measure of material success and travelled globally, my conclusion is neither emotional nor ideological.

Titan Co. Ltd’s shares are up around 6% in the past two trading sessions, hitting an all-time high of ₹4,312.10 apiece on Wednesday, mostly led by the solid growth in its jewellery business, as per its December quarter (Q3FY26) update.It also held a conference call to lay out the initial roadmap for lab-grown diamond (LGD) studded jewellery under the brand name of ‘beYon’.

New Delhi: Indian Gas Exchange (IGX) plans to launch its initial public offering by the end of 2026, according to its top executive.The IPO would largely be an offer for sale (OFS) for 22% stake by promoter Indian Energy Exchange Ltd, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Rajesh Mediratta told reporters on Wednesday. “The merchant bankers are yet to be appointed for the sale process.”IEX currently holds 47% and NSE owns 26% of IGX, while other minority shareholders include GAIL India Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

₹12 crore and going beyond ₹15 crore. Its Bandra Bay project is a Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (Mhada) society redevelopment venture.“What makes Bandra Bay truly distinctive is that it combines the aspirational legacy of Bandra with the openness of bay front living, a rare offering in a land-constrained city like Mumbai,” Hiranandani added.Adani Properties will launch its largest luxury project in the area, featuring sea-facing apartments that will be sold by invitation only in the initial phase.

Unlike Charles Dickens’ fabled expression, it isn’t the best or worst of times for us in India; we have seen better and we have seen worse. Inspired, however, by the title of the celebrated work from which these lines are taken, I am going to tell a tale—not of two cities, but of two disruptions, both of which arrived on India’s scene with a bang, promising the consumer escape from mediocrity and even delivering on that promise for a while.This is a tale of IndiGo in aviation and Vodafone in telecom. Both injected competition into sectors long accustomed to limited choice and uneven service.

In December 2025, several salaried taxpayers received emails and SMS alerts from the income tax department flagging discrepancies in deductions and exemptions claimed in their income tax returns (ITR).The alerts said certain claims did not match employer-reported salary data or other system records and needed revision.Most of the flagged cases involved returns where exemptions or deductions were claimed in the ITR but did not reflect in Form 16, said Nemin Shah, director at EQX Business Consultancy.If an employer deducted tax assuming fewer deductions, but the employee later claimed a larger set of exemptions directly in the return, it resulted in a refund of excess TDS. “Seeking a big refund results in the system likely taking notice and flagging it,” said Shah.This is where the annual investment declaration and proof-submission window with employers becomes critical.Every year, in January or February, employers ask employees to submit proof of investments and expenses declared at the start of the financial year.

With India’s urban hubs struggling with creaking infrastructure and weak service delivery for bulging populations, the central government is drawing up a blueprint to give municipal administrators greater autonomy over finances and service delivery, while reducing reliance on state and central grants.The blueprint—expected to be unveiled at the upcoming Union budget—will focus on strengthening urban local bodies’ (ULBs’) own-revenue sources such as property tax and user charges, two government officials directly involved in the process said, requesting anonymity.It will also encourage ULBs—including municipal corporations, municipalities and nagar panchayats—to tap market-based instruments including municipal and green bonds to fund long-term urban investment.

₹1.77 trillion, surpassing the 2024 high of ₹1.73 trillion.“A key catalyst was the primary market cycle, including widely recognised names such as Tata Capital, Meesho, Lenskart, LG Electronics, PhysicsWallah and ICICI Prudential–where familiar brands significantly lowered entry barriers for first-time investors across smaller towns,” said Ankit Mandholia, head equity and derivatives, wealth management at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.The growth in new investors from some of these states comes even as the active investor count has fallen from the post-pandemic highs amid global uncertainty and the Sebi’s crackdown against retail trading in the futures and options (F&O) markets.While state-wise data for individual investors is not available, the number of investors pan-India who traded in the cash segment at least once a year fell 8% in 2025. But those trading in the equity derivatives segment fell 25%, showed NSE data, indicating that new investors are participating in the cash market.Across regions, the entry pattern is consistent: the vast majority of new investors begin in cash equities and IPOs, while F&O participation remains a relatively small fraction, said Arief Mohamad, chief business officer-direct business, Angel One.

Mumbai: Come January, thousands of people across India will be getting into their running shoes, perfecting their pace, getting together for practice runs in the morning, perhaps exchanging notes on their performance, sharing Strava screenshots of their completed runs, all to line up in the wee hours for one of the tens of major marathons India’s major cities will host this month and the next.Distance running—from the humble 3K and 5K for beginners to the humbling half- and full-marathons—has slowly become a national obsession as getting fit becomes aspirational. Nearly all of India’s major cities are host to at least one major marathon with an impressive title sponsor, while smaller cities and towns too begin hosting local races.More than 20 years after the Mumbai Marathon was started and became India’s biggest running event, distance running has become a serious business enterprise, generating hundreds of crores in direct revenue from participation fees and sponsorships along with additional money made from participants buying goods and travelling to these races.Marathons and other distance running events are driving annual revenue of ₹250-300 crore in the sale of clothes and shoes, travel, hotels and other components of the ‘running economy’, according to a September 2025 report by consulting firm KPMG.

The government was paralysed, its leaders unable to change course because they were too weak, ideological or inept (and in some cases all three). It was only a matter of time until such gloom gave rise to another round of mass protest. The only question was what would trigger it.It came from an unlikely corner on December 28th, when electronics vendors in Tehran went on strike.

Mint explains.India’s housing sector recorded its second consecutive year of declining sales in 2025, as high prices eroded affordability. Despite a fall in sales volume, rising prices led to growth in transaction value, as developers moved towards premium housing.In contrast, commercial real estate surged, with strong leasing momentum for good office space. Flexible workspaces gained more favour among occupiers and investors, as leading operators such as WeWork India Management Ltd, Indiqube Spaces Ltd, Smartworks Coworking Spaces Ltd went public.Global capability centres (GCCs) emerged as a key office occupier class in the top-tier cities.

India’s quick commerce battle is set to turn even more intense in 2026 even as companies delivering groceries to electronics within minutes chase customer loyalty and improve unit economics.The ongoing year saw an explosion of the rapid delivery segment as companies expanded beyond metros to tier 2 and 3 cities, added more warehouses and went beyond everyday essentials, burning even more cash to win over customers.Backed by fresh funding, the three dominant players–Swiggy’s Instamart, Eternal’s Blinkit and Zepto–will look to create profitable models to solidify their market position in the coming year, according to industry executives.“Expect sharper credit terms with brands, stricter expiry control, and consolidated city hubs,” said Madhav Kasturia, founder and chief executive officer of hyperlocal delivery platform Zippee. “Capital sets the pace, but execution still decides who can convert density into contribution profit every single week.”Swiggy raised ₹10,000 crore in fresh capital via a qualified institutional placement (QIP) on 13 December, two months after Zepto raised $450 million at a valuation of $7 billion, led by US-based pension fund California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) in October.

₹1,100 crore in FY26—nearly 70% higher than the ₹650 crore recorded last year—as the regional airline scales up operations, expands its fleet and raises fresh capital to double down on India’s smaller cities.In FY25, the company reported revenue of around ₹650 crore, of which nearly a third, about ₹200 crore, came from viability gap funding (VGF), said Shrenik Ghodawat, executive director of the group. The company is privately held and is yet to file its FY25 numbers with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).VGF is a subsidy provided by the Centre under the UDAN regional connectivity scheme to ensure the commercial viability of select unserved or underserved routes.

compressed natural gas (CNG) and city gas distribution (CGD) prices cheaper.Noting that the regulator is vested with power primarily to fix tariffs for natural gas pipelines, the report said: "However, other remaining major part of delivered cost of gas i.e. gas prices, regasification charges (including truck loading charges) are currently not in PNGRB’s regulatory oversight.

₹7 crore and ₹10 crore, comparable with the price of a high-end apartment in South Delhi or South Mumbai. People are moving to these places for a relaxed pace of life. This is the reason for the 65% year-on-year rise in real estate prices in this sleepy, peaceful coastal province.Goa isn’t alone.

The heavy industries ministry is likely to exhaust its ₹857-crore subsidy fund for electric three-wheelers in the L5 category under the ₹10,900-crore PM E-Drive scheme three months ahead of schedule, according to the government’s letter to manufacturers. The funds were originally expected to last until March 2026, but the high adoption of electric three-wheelers means they have been disbursed faster than anticipated.In a publicly available letter to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) dated 23 December, the ministry said it would stop granting incentives on reaching the scheme's target of 288,809 L5 three-wheelers, or on 26 December, whichever came earlier.“Para 46 of the scheme notification clearly stipulates that the PM E-Drive Scheme is fund-limited, and once the allocated funds for the scheme or any of its sub-components is exhausted, no further claims will be entertained,” the letter read.Two kinds of electric three-wheelers can receive subsidies under the PM E-Drive scheme – L3 category e-rickshaws with small batteries, commonly used for last-mile connectivity in cities such as Delhi and Kolkata; and larger, L5 category three-wheelers that are used to ferry both passengers and cargo.

New-age electric bus manufacturers have stormed India’s biggest tender, picking up nearly 80% of the 10,900 e-buses on offer as part of the ₹10,900-crore PM E-Drive scheme, leaving legacy players with little to show for their efforts.Flush with recent investments, companies like PMI Electro Mobility and Eka Mobility offered aggressive, lucrative pricing, securing contracts for 5,210 and 3,485 e-buses, respectively.Among other manufacturers, only Olectra Greentech—an established electric bus manufacturer and a subsidiary of Hyderabad-based EPC company Megha Engineering—managed a partial win, bagging 1,785 e-buses.Bigger names such as Tata Motors and VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) were caught off guard when the results, revealed on Wednesday, showed they had not won a single contract, according to three executives directly aware of the development. Chennai-based Ashok Leyland missed the tender entirely due to a technical glitch and has approached the Delhi High Court.Government officials and industry executives spoke on the condition of anonymity as the results are so far only known to the bidders and haven’t been made public.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected] Chinese zodiac predicts that 2026 will be the Year of the Fire Horse, symbolizing bold decisions, ambition and sharply moving away from the strategic thinking that was 2025, the Year of the Wood Snake.For both the employer and the employee in India Inc, there will be three prominent trends, says experts.

For India’s affluent, convenience never sat in apps or bookings but in the privilege of things done for them—access to anything, anywhere with no friction or complexity and satisfaction guaranteed. That was traditionally delivered by humans: house managers, executive assistants, and trusted fixers who served the everyday world to the wealthy.Now, a new set of startups is attempting to sculpt that quiet operating system into a product.Over the past year, personal concierge services have drawn renewed attention from founders and large consumer platforms alike.