COST Financial News

₹500 crore for carriers.In a tweet on Saturday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said Indian airlines cancelled around 410 flights on 28 February and 440 on 1 March due to security concerns in parts of the Middle East airspace, impacting Gulf and long-haul routes beyond the region, including services to London Heathrow and Canada.West Asia accounts for 15-20% of IndiGo’s daily revenue, according to at least one sell-side analyst. “Flight cancellations due to the West Asia crisis will have an impact on airline revenues.

France is great. I visit a few times a year, and the food is fantastic, the museums are amazing and day care is free (or heavily subsidized) for toddlers aged 3 months or more. New York City, where I live, is also great, with pretty good food and architecture.

The AI scare has come knocking on the doors of Indian IT sooner than expected. Spooked by rapid advances in agentic AI, the Nifty IT has erased 20% of investor wealth this month, even as the broader market has remained flat.But as doomsday theories proliferate, the other side of the story is being ignored – that AI’s impact will be multi-layered and will depend on how India Inc adapts. Let’s discuss.

Schaeffler India Ltd’s shares have risen over 7% after its consolidated Ebitda for the quarter ended December (Q4CY25) jumped 36% year-on-year to ₹506 crore, beating analysts’ estimates.The figure is adjusted for labour code impact. The automobile component manufacturing company’s earnings were supported by a relatively slower pace of growth in employee expenses and raw material costs, even though other expenses grew sharply by 44%.Plus, revenue growth was strong at 28% to ₹2,742 crore, aiding operating leverage and higher localisation, leading to lower import costs.The company follows a January to December financial year.

I recently asked Claude to help me think through the structure of my next book. I already knew where the weak point was—I just wanted to see what Claude would come up with. I was amazed by its response: Claude didn’t just correctly identify the problem.

A surge in domestic and international travel by Indians has turned India’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) luggage sector into a magnet for venture capital investment over the past few years, even as legacy players struggle under their own weight.According to data from the tourism ministry’s India Tourism Data Compendium 2025, Indians recorded 2,948.19 million tourist visits in 2024, a 17.5% increase over the previous year, while overseas trips rose 10.8% to 30.89 million.A host of startups are looking to cash in on this boom. Uppercase, a digital-first luggage and travel gear maker based in Bengaluru, is in talks to raise about $20 million in a Series C round as it sharpens its plans for overseas expansion and accelerates its offline retail rollout, Sudip Ghose, the company's founder, said in an interview with Mint.

Tata Sons, and Nandan Nilekani, chairman of Infosys, struck a more optimistic note, arguing that IT services firms would remain relevant, playing a critical role in integrating AI technologies into clients’ back-end systems.Amid deepening fault lines, at least two IT CEOs put on a brave face during the Nasscom event, hinting at a turbulent short-term outlook.While Vijayakumar highlighted the human cost of automation, Tata Consultancy Services' (TCS) K. Krithivasan pointed towards revenue cannibalization.“See, we don't have to really incentivize because everybody wants to learn this tech.

traders could back a bank guarantee with a small cash or cash-equivalent margin along with personal or corporate guarantees.Under the amended framework, both domestic and foreign proprietary traders must provide a 50% cash margin to secure a bank guarantee (BG). For the remaining collateral, RBI directions require customers to furnish eligible securities such as government bonds, sovereign gold bonds, and listed shares, among others.

Grade-A office spaces are seeing faster absorption buoyed by favourable demand-supply dynamics, thus pushing vacancies lower. All-India (aggregate of top-seven cities) vacancy levels in the December quarter (Q3FY26) declined further to 12.3% from 12.7% in Q2 and 13.9% in Q3FY25, showed Propstack data compiled by Kotak Institutional Equities.Global capability centres (GCCs) and flexible-space operators continue to dominate demand.

rooms, is projected to reach 350,400 rooms by 2030. The composition of that pipeline, though, is telling.Midscale hotels account for 37% of the existing branded hotel room supply but 39% of the upcoming pipeline, suggesting that a large proportion of future supply is tilting further toward the segment.The economy segment, by contrast, is shrinking from 6% of current inventory to just 3% of pipeline share.

retirement savings with immediate healthcare liquidity.The NPS Swasthya Equity Plus scheme follows a high-growth investment mandate to counter medical inflation.Subscribers can withdraw up to 25% of their own contributions for medical expenses, including OPD, diagnostics and pharmacy purchases. However, the first withdrawal is permitted only after the account accumulates at least ₹50,000.

India’s traditional brokers are banking on a business they dominate to claw back the ground they ceded to digital rivals over the past decade: lending clients money for leveraged trading.Called the margin trading facility (MTF) in market parlance, it allows investors to buy shares by paying only a part of the total value upfront, with the broker funding the rest at an interest cost.MTF book surged 42.9% in the year through January 2026 to ₹1.20 lakh crore even as the markets turned volatile, according to a February Care Edge report. The top two in the category are bank-backed brokers: ICICI Securities Ltd and Kotak Securities Ltd.

Commuters looking to zoom past toll plazas on India's 1,46,560 km highway network will have to wait longer. Security concerns about surveillance cameras imported from countries like China have delayed the rollout of the barrier-free tolling system.The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) seeks to install the multi-lane free-flow (MLFF) system at around 1,150 toll plazas nationwide to allow vehicles to pass through at speeds of 100 km/h or more.

food safety monitoring and traceability by improving documentation of production and storage practices, according to the notification, reviewed by Mint.Such daily documentation will help ensure real-time visibility into food-handling practices across the supply chain, a government official said on condition of anonymity. Clearer documentation could also reduce disputes during inspections.The regulator has not specified the implementation date for the new norms and has invited comments until 5 April 2026.The proposal, notified under the WTO’s Technical Barriers to Trade framework, will apply to all licensees under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006.Mint's emailed queries to the FSSAI chief executive Rajit Punhani remained unanswered.FSSAI data shows that it has issued licences to over 10 million food business operators (FBOs) with the number of currently active ones at around 4.63 million.An industry representative flagged compliance cost and regulatory friction that will accompany the new norms.“Daily reporting would add another burden on small businesses,” said Vinod Kumar, President, SME Forum that represents micro, small, and medium enterprises in India.

The battle for market share in India’s ride hailing industry between American giant Uber and homegrown Rapido has intensified, even as the once-dominant position of the country’s first major ride-hailing service—Ola Cabs—steadily erodes.In a bid to bulk up its financial firepower, Uber has pumped nearly ₹3,000 crore into its India unit in recent months to take on the challenge from Bengaluru-based Rapido, which entered the current fiscal year with a stronger cash position and has rapidly gained market share.The Indian unit of US-based Uber Technologies Inc got ₹2,721 crore in January from Uber BV, the Dutch arm of Uber, following a ₹200-crore investment made in November, according to a Mint review of the financials filed with the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA).On the other hand, Rapido received ₹125 crore funding in FY26 from Nexus Ventures. Its last significant capital round was a $200-million series E raise in 2024 led by WestBridge Capital, which made it a unicorn (startup with a billion-dollar valuation).However, Rapido ended last fiscal (FY25) with ₹345 crore free cash in hand, while Uber had ₹292 crore, MCA data showed.Experts note that in the ride hailing business, higher cash in hand of companies can help in incentivising drivers and customers, which in turn will help in defending market share.The buildup of cash reserves by the two rivals signals that the ride-hailing war between Rapido and Uber is entering a new phase, a fact underscored by Uber’s chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi last year.

backed by the production linked incentive (PLI) scheme—where the Indian government provides financial incentives based on incremental sales—and a minimum import price, Aurobindo is reversing that arc.In an exclusive interview with Mint, Madan Mohan Reddy, a whole-time director of Aurobindo Pharma, said the decision was far from impulsive. “It wasn’t a tough call to make,” he said.

ABB India Ltd’s shares have risen over 7% in the past four trading sessions, led by better order inflow prospects and early signs of demand improvement.In the December quarter (Q4CY25) earnings call, the management said that demand is rebuilding after a slack in early 2025, supported by traction in emerging industries such as data centres and electronics, favourable macro environment led by the government’s capital expenditure, and a gradual pick up in private-sector investments. This bodes well for 2026.

The monetization of state-owned assets is a good idea in principle. It could trigger fresh capital formation that accelerates economic growth if implemented right.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. CIE Automotive India Ltd’s shares are up about 7% since its December quarter (Q4CY25) results last week, as growth momentum continued to gather pace. Consolidated revenue increased by 13% year-on-year, clocking the best growth in many quarters, to ₹2,393 crore on the back of a good show from the India business and a favourable exchange rate in Europe.

financial stability.Here’s how careful planning and a simple investment strategy can help you enjoy your sabbatical without constant money worries.“Every financial goal has a time horizon, which depends on personal circumstances and demographics. For example, when you plan to take a sabbatical, how much money you will need during that period to meet your expenses, and how long the sabbatical will last,” said Shantanu Awasthi, chief executive, wealth management firm Mavenark.Treat your sabbatical corpus as a ‘sinking fund’, a specific bucket accumulated specifically to be consumed like your emergency fund.

At one level, the Supreme Court’s (SC) chastisement last week of political parties and elected governments announcing freebies and direct cash transfers to woo voters ahead of elections might smack of judicial over-reach.Under India’s Constitution, all three arms of the state—the legislature, executive and judiciary—are required and expected to maintain a delicate balance without stepping on each other’s turf. However, a closer look at the object lesson delivered by the apex court to our political class on the long-term cost of such fiscal irresponsibility offers no reason to level that charge.