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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.An industry body has asked the government to scrap a proposal to ban audit firms from offering non-audit services to clients for three years after their term ends.It said the move will lead to operational inefficiencies, increased costs and hurdles for large corporate groups, and force companies to depend on smaller auditors, which could compromise service quality in complex areas.Companies including EY, PwC, KPMG, Deloitte, BDO and Grant Thornton Bharat, among other audit firms, will be severely impacted if amendments proposed to the Companies Act of 2013 are implemented. These companies offer other advisory services besides audits for clients.The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), a body representing companies across sectors, submitted its comments and suggestions on the Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, last week, Mint has learnt.According to the proposed clause in the bill, an auditor or audit firm shall not provide, directly or indirectly, any non-audit services to a company or its holding company or subsidiary.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Shriram Finance Ltd expects its cost of funds to decline by around 1% over the next 18 months as the non-banking financial company (NBFC) looks to restructure its debt following a capital infusion from Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG).First announced in December 2025, MUFG completed the acquisition of 20% stake in the NBFC for ₹39,618 crore in April 2026. The non-bank plans to use about 50% of the proceeds to restructure its liabilities and the remaining to push lending in existing segments.The capital infusion also led rating agencies to upgrade the company’s debt rating to ‘AAA’ from ‘AA+’, which is also expected to help reduce funding costs.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is facing its largest-ever US recall, with more than 170,000 vehicles pulled back over a critical drive power defect, an issue that, by one estimate, could cost the British luxury carmaker upwards of $130 million and dent customer confidence in a key market.The recall, triggered by a hardware fault that can lead to a complete loss of drive power, comes as the Tata Motors-owned unit grapples with the fallout of a cyberattack and higher tariffs in North America. While the financial hit is seen as manageable, analysts warn the cumulative impact of repeated disruptions and safety concerns could weigh on demand and brand perception.According to at least two independent experts, the recall could lead to multi-million dollar expenses, with one estimate pegging the impact at more than $130 million.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Bluestone Jewellery and Lifestyle Ltd is falling behind its ambitious target of reaching 500 stores by 2026-27, as volatile gold prices weigh on its expansion plans.The Bengaluru-based jeweller had outlined in its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) plans to add over 290 new stores between 2024-25 and 2026-27, but managed to add only 65 stores in 2025-26, taking its total to 340 outlets.It now expects a more measured pace of expansion of about 20% annually, well short of its original target.“We should look at how the external operating environment has been, specifically from a gold price perspective,” said Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, founder and chief executive of Bluestone, during the company’s March-quarter earnings call on Friday.“Gold prices have seen a significant increase, and we need to ensure enough conviction from a demand behaviour perspective before accelerating store additions,” he added.The company also indicated a gradual shift away from franchise-led expansion. Of the 340 stores, around 67 are franchise-owned.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Telecom operators Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd are evaluating the risks posed by Anthropic’s Claude Mythos, an AI model that identifies cybersecurity vulnerabilities in operating systems.“We are talking to suppliers (to understand the vulnerabilities) because we don't do this, the software is owned by them,” Randeep Sekhon, chief technology officer (CTO) at Bharti Airtel, told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Friday.Sekhon’s comments assume significance as Anthropic has said its latest model, Claude Mythos—currently available to a limited set of companies—can identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities in their digital infrastructure.This has raised concerns that, if accessed or misused by malicious actors, it could increase the risk of cyberattacks across critical infrastructure sectors such as telecom and banking.Sekhon, however, emphasized that it was too early to comment on the actual impact on telecom operators.“These are not systemic risks putting networks in danger. They are typically smaller software bugs that earlier may not have been discovered through routine checks,” Sekhon said, adding that telcos are users of technology and not builders of technology.On Thursday, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a high-level meeting with banks and key stakeholders to assess risks from emerging threats linked to the AI model.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Meta Platforms just offered a glimpse at what it thinks the future of work looks like: training and supervising artificial-intelligence systems to do what used to be your job. And that’s if you still have a job at all.The social-media company has been unusually aggressive, even by the standards of Silicon Valley, at pushing to incorporate AI into its employees’ workflows and using it to streamline and accelerate its operations.Already this year, it has started grading employees in performance reviews on their AI use; created ultraflat teams with almost no managers; and begun to develop a so-called CEO agent to assist Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg in performing his job.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Over the past decade, India’s digital economy has increasingly relied on open-source software to power its core digital infrastructure and governance systems. From banking to government platforms, the code behind payments and public services is shared, modular and visible.While this approach delivers scale, lower costs and reduced vendor lock-in, new AI systems developed by Anthropic, OpenAI and others are exposing its soft underbelly. Old unpatched gaps are showing up in widely used open-source software.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Havells India’s shares lost about 5% after higher input costs and advertising expenses dragged down its March quarter (Q4FY26) Ebitda, lower by 6% year-on-year (y-o-y), to ₹724 crore. Revenue grew by a modest 2.4% to ₹6,688 crore, with a milder start to summer impacting the sale of cooling products, intense competition, and cautious trade sentiments amid global macro uncertainties.The Lloyd Consumer segment, including air conditioners, refrigerators, and televisions, remained a pain point. It reported an Ebit loss for the fourth straight quarter.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Chinese artificial-intelligence startup DeepSeek is tapping external investors for the first time since it became a household name, looking to raise funds for research and development, people familiar with the matter said.In recent weeks, DeepSeek has held talks with potential investors, including Chinese technology giants Alibaba and Tencent, seeking to raise at least $300 million, the people said. The funds will be denominated in Chinese yuan, they said.Beijing-based venture-capital firm Shunwei Capital—backed by Lei Jun, founder of Chinese consumer-electronics maker Xiaomi—has also held talks with the AI startup, some of the people said.Preliminary discussions value the Chinese AI heavyweight at between $10 billion and $30 billion, the people said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MINING A CRYPTOCURRENCY can be an expensive business. Producing new coins, also known as tokens, can require computers to solve cryptographic puzzles, which takes large amounts of power. One way to keep costs down is to relocate mines to wherever electricity is cheapest.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.If the Iran War has taught us nothing else, it’s that weaponizing shipping routes is now the military move du jour. That has rightly turned attention to the Taiwan Strait, but in this era of intense US-China rivalry, the Strait of Malacca is just as important.The shipping route—which carries roughly 40% of global trade and around 80% of China’s imported oil—has long been regarded as vulnerable to disruption. Southeast Asia’s divisions will make any crisis much harder to contain.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Axis Bank is expected to report a steady performance in its March quarter earnings, marked by resilient loan growth, modest margin pressure and improving asset quality trends, six brokerages said. While headline growth remains healthy, the focus of analysts and investors will be on liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) and management commentary on the outlook for growth and profitability.Net profit at India’s third-largest private sector lender is expected to fall more than 2% to ₹6,942 crore from a year earlier, according to a poll by Bloomberg.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Tech Mahindra Ltd embarked on a turnaround journey two years ago under the leadership of CEO Mohit Joshi, who was appointed in 2023. Cut to FY27 and it is gearing up to meet a crucial milestone: delivering revenue growth above its peers and achieving the last leg of margin improvement.Tech Mahindra has formally concluded the stabilization phase and is pivoting toward an execution-led acceleration phase focused on high-margin growth, management said in the March quarter (Q4FY26) earnings call.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Steel companies are set to post a strong March quarter (Q4FY26), thanks to firm demand and higher prices after hitting multi-year lows in November 2025. Will this momentum continue in the coming months?Mint breaks down why this rally in prices is expected to decline starting mid-May.Steel prices began rising around mid-December, driven initially by higher coking coal costs, and continued to gain through the quarter.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The conflict with Iran has entered a damaging new phase—a crippling limbo between war and peace that leaves the Strait of Hormuz closed and the prospect of escalation looming.The missiles and bombs that the U.S. and Israel rained down on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory salvos might have stopped with President Trump’s indefinite extension of a cease-fire.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Bengaluru/Mumbai: War-driven cost pressures are deepening an already weak travel cycle, dampening luggage makers’ peak summer season and pushing them to pivot to smaller, lower-priced products from bigger suitcases. Higher airfares and geopolitical uncertainty have hit suitcase sales, forcing brands to lean on backpacks and accessories to protect volumes without eroding margins.The April-June quarter accounts for about 40% of annual sales for luggage brands as families typically spend more on holidays and leisure travel.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India is looking to strengthen the social security net for informal workers amid rising living costs for retirees. Under the plan, the finance ministry, in consultation with the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), is considering doubling the assured pension ceiling under the flagship Atal Pension Yojana (APY) to up to ₹10,000 a month, according to three people aware of the discussions.The proposal aims to boost fresh enrolments as well as retention in a scheme that now has 90 million subscribers but faces high drop-offs.Launched in May 2015, the pension scheme focuses on informal sector workers and currently provides a guaranteed monthly pension of ₹1,000-5,000 after the age of 60 years, depending on the subscriber’s contribution slab.With nearly half the enrolled subscribers discontinuing contributions over time, the government is examining a long pending demand to enhance the pension cap to up to ₹10,000 per month to make the scheme more attractive and aligned with rising living costs, according to the people cited above.The scheme's gross enrolments in FY26 crossed 13.5 million, the highest ever in a single fiscal year since its launch.“The government and the PFRDA are examining options to enhance the upper pension cap to around ₹8,000– ₹10,000 per month, aiming to make the scheme more attractive and aligned with rising living costs,” said one of the people cited above, requesting anonymity.Under the scheme's structure, the government provided a co-contribution in the initial years for subscribers enrolled before 31 March 2016.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.HCL Technologies shares plummeted more than 10% on Wednesday after a weak earnings report for the March quarter (Q4FY26) and full year FY26 led to analyst downgrades. The company’s modest revenue guidance for FY27 has raised questions about whether its stock deserves to trade at a valuation that’s in line with or higher than those of rivals such as TCS and Infosys.HCL has forecast revenue growth of 1-4% in constant currency terms, down from its previous year's initial guidance of 2–5%. This outlook is primarily driven by an expected 1.5-4.5% growth in services.Client-specific headwinds in telecom, manufacturing and retail could shave about 50 basis points (bps) off growth, it cautioned.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.More young professionals these days are trading longer vacations for bite-sized weekend hikes and domestic trekking. This trend has picked up immensely across India's busy metros and cities.The government has recognized India's potential to offer world-class trekking and hiking experiences.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: The financial year ended on March was expected to be another record-breaking year for India's corporate bond fundraising. However, the debt market lost momentum following a sharp rise in yields, and a shift in supply and demand dynamics.Funds raised through private placement of listed corporate bonds fell 9% year-on-year to ₹8.99 trillion in FY26, according to data by the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Indians are holding on to their smartphones for a record period of nearly four years, data from three independent market researchers showed, as exchange offers and interest-free loans fail to offset soaring prices in a challenging economy.Brands have been nudging buyers towards the premium end, where the average smartphone now costs over ₹26,000, against ₹17,000 in 2021. The devices themselves have become sturdier and offer extended software upgrades, making phone purchases more discretionary and less urgent.“Our business used to thrive on enthusiasts and high net-worth individuals, who would previously upgrade their smartphones every year.