Country Financial News

India's angel networks are increasingly creating their own funds, tapping into the surge of domestic capital to institutionalise early-stage investing in the country's startup ecosystem.To streamline their investment focus, these networks are shifting from deal-by-deal syndication to closed-ended funds, capitalizing on the surge in domestic capital available.“Failure rates for individual angels can be very high, and coming together to structure their investing is a way of addressing that failure rate,” said Ranjeet Shetye, a deeptech angel investor and a mentor at YourNest Venture Capital.Veteran networks like Indian Angel Network (now IAN Group), Hyderabad Angels, and Rajasthan Angels have launched their own funds. These networks have successfully identified enough winners, encouraging investors to supply capital for early-stage bets rather than engaging directly in deal-making.Hyderabad Angels Fund (HAF) launched their maiden fund last year, but it is relatively small at ₹150 crore.

New Delhi: The government has initiated a study to review and revise India’s workplace social accountability standard, a move that could shape how companies structure compliance and governance practices as the country prepares to operationalise its new labour codes, said two government officials.The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has commissioned research to examine whether amendments are needed to its existing Social Accountability at the Workplace norms, which set out requirements for organisations to establish policies, procedures and practices related to ethical conduct and workers’ welfare, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.The study will assess the relevance of the existing framework in light of recent policy and regulatory changes aimed at strengthening labour protections, the first of the two officials said.Mint reviewed the terms of reference for the research and development (R&D) project. These include reforms relating to child labour, forced labour, anti-discrimination provisions, whistleblower protection, data privacy and workplace safety, this person said.“Updating the workplace social accountability standard is important at a time when India’s labour regulations are undergoing major changes,” said Sumita Dawra, former labour secretary.

Mint. “With the population and purchasing power that the country has, companies can't afford to make solutions which are not designed with the Indian price point in mind.”Qualcomm's chief executive Cristiano Amon had announced the AI-focused $150 million fund at the India AI Impact Summit held in Delhi last month.

DGCA), and uploaded on its website, has proposed that foreign carriers register on the civil aviation ministry’s e-governance portal and submit applications online to obtain operating authorization before launching flights to India.Such approvals are currently largely handled through correspondence-based submissions to the regulator, with documentation requirements determined on a case-by-case basis. The new system aims to replace that with a uniform portal-based process."An airline shall register itself on E-Governance of Civil Aviation portal… by creating unique login ID and password (Login Credentials) and providing ....

As the dust settles on India’s recent AI summit—optimistic in tone, ambitious in scope—a harder question demands an honest answer. What does the next wave of artificial intelligence mean for a sector that has served as a key economic engine for three decades? Information technology (IT) services generate over $254 billion in annual exports, employ 5.4 million professionals and finance a merchandise trade deficit that has breached $300 billion. Software exports are a success story.

Mint.The email sent last week by David Udell, group president for Asia Pacific, said Sharma would take on broader regional responsibilities as the hotel chain sharpens its focus on growth across the region.In the communication, Udell said India represents a significant long-term growth opportunity for Hyatt.Hyatt has been expanding aggressively in Asia Pacific, particularly in markets such as India, where demand for premium travel and luxury experiences has risen sharply in recent years. It currently has 85 hotels in the country under various brands.In 2025, Mint reported that Hyatt Hotels planned to expand its footprint in India and Southwest Asia to tap growing domestic demand for experience-led travel.

A Japanese maker of high-tech toilets has been causing a splash in the world of artificial intelligence (AI). Activist investor Palliser Capital recently called on the management of Toto, best known for its Washlet bidets, to highlight that the firm is a growing AI play, thanks to its advanced ceramics segments. Toto is the “most undervalued and overlooked AI memory beneficiary,” Palliser wrote.

These are sombre times for the world. The big conflict in West Asia is giving everyone the jitters. For readers of a business paper, the main questions would be related to its impact on markets.

Mint’s Emerging Markets Tracker more consistently. As India grapples with these weaknesses, Vietnam—newly added to the tracker—has emerged as a formidable challenger.Vietnam has claimed the top spot in three of the past four months, marking a strong debut on the tracker.

New Delhi: For the first time, nearly a third of all laptops being sold in India are being shipped with the ‘Made in India’ tag. This rise, which has played out over the past two years, has happened as government incentives have pushed electronics manufacturers to focus on the segment and diversify from mobile-led revenue.In March 2024, less than 5% of all laptops being sold in India were being assembled locally, analysts and industry executives said.

New Delhi: Indian refiners have ramped up daily domestic production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by around 10% in the past few days in the face of a supply squeeze from the US-Iran war, two people aware of the development said.The refiners have also secured 20 very large gas carriers (VLGC) carrying around 1 million tonne (mt) cargo, mostly from the US, the people said on condition of anonymity.However, the country is still short of another 20 VLGCs—totalling 2 mt—which Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs) have been scouting for since the war broke out on 28 February, these people added.“Production has already gone up by 10%,” the first person cited above said, adding that India is looking at sourcing more LPG from all available sources, including the US, Canada, Australia and Algeria.The second person said: “There was a shortfall of about 40 VLGCs, and 20 VLGCs have already been booked.

Mint has seen, was also marked to petroleum secretary Neeraj Mittal.According to Singh, the continued stoppage of LPG and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to tower manufacturing units is likely to adversely impact the telecom tower manufacturing supply chain and may lead to delays in ongoing and planned tower rollout activities. “This could consequently affect efforts aimed at strengthening telecom networks and expanding connectivity, particularly in uncovered and capacity-constrained areas,” he said.In an order dated 5 March, the petroleum ministry directed all public-sector OMCs to ensure that LPG procured is supplied and marketed only to consumers of domestic LPG.

Last week, I wrote about how frontier artificial intelligence (AI) has begun to improve exponentially—to the point where it is not just introducing linear improvements in functionality, but literally augmenting capabilities. Personally, this became evident when I realized I could code anything I could imagine, allowing me to create various applications and programs to eliminate micro-frustrations in my workflow. I am sure that those in other domains are experiencing similar capability uplifts.

domestic LPG production, a move that could further tighten fuel availability for commercial users such as restaurants.Mint explains what the order says, why restaurants are concerned and how the industry is responding.The issue stems from an order issued by the ministry of petroleum and natural gas on 5 March directing oil refining companies to prioritize propane and butane streams for LPG production and supply it to the three public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs)—Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp.

Mint.Other action points listed in the minutes include: trimming state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL)'s workforce, securing national networks, a roadmap for component localisation, and resolving issues in the undersea cable industry. SIM cards should be issued only on the basis of Aadhaar cards after biometric verification, it noted.Most countries tax income of companies that have data at the core of their business or some try to reduce screen usage in other ways with restrictions on timings of gaming services or age of consumers."Any kind of taxes on data usage would be impossible to implement.

New Delhi: India has tightened access to domestic cooking gas as the escalating conflict in West Asia threatens fuel supplies and drives volatility in global energy markets.The Centre has prioritized household LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) consumption, and introduced a lock-in period between cylinder bookings, two people aware of the matter said.“The priority for LPG supply in this situation is domestic consumers. Further, in order to curb hoarding of cooking gas, a 25-day lock-in period has been implemented,” one of the two people mentioned above said on condition of anonymity.

Iran’s strategy in its war with the US and Israel is clear: Impose an intolerable economic cost on US President Donald Trump, forcing him to abandon his ‘war of choice’ as American petrol prices surge. Is there any way the Islamic Republic’s blueprint for survival can fail? Yes, if its old regional nemesis, Saudi Arabia, can step in to cushion the global oil market.Enter the East-West pipeline, a 1,200km conduit crisscrossing the Arabian Peninsula from the Gulf to the Red Sea. Its raison d’être is to meet this historic moment.

Mint.Saraswat also said that specific features and the incentive structure under the second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission announced in Union budget 2026 are being worked out.Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the second phase of the mission in her budget speech in February to scale up the country’s capabilities in equipment, materials, design, intellectual property rights and to fortify the supply chain. In the budget for 2026-27, the Centre announced a second tranche of incentives under the mission, five years after rolling out the first ₹76,000-crore programme.India will also strive to explore and produce select critical minerals found domestically despite their low resource intensity making them costlier to extract, to guard against the risk of supply denial by other countries in future, Saraswat said.India’s push to build domestic capabilities in semiconductors and critical minerals, which are vital for IT, clean energy and defence sectors, comes at a time technology is increasingly shaping industrial and military power in a de-globalising world with weakening adherence to the rule of law.

copper demand is expected to surge globally amid electrification, renewable energy and grid expansion, even as supply remains constrained. Global benchmark copper prices are currently around $11,000-12,000 per tonne, jumping a little over 30% over the last one year.Drawing a parallel between operating a mine in Gadchiroli and in Congo is not entirely fair, said Suman Kumar, assistant vice-president for metals and mining at brokerage Philip Capital.In India, companies understand regulatory and political ecosystem, but in foreign jurisdictions, especially parts of Africa, execution risks are far higher, said the sell-side analyst.He pointed to examples of Indian companies that struggled to scale overseas mining projects, including Jindal Steel and Power Ltd in Mozambique and Vedanta Ltd's challenges at Konkola Copper Mines in Zambia.“Even companies with significantly deeper financial muscle have struggled.

Edited excerpts:I think the move into this role happened quite naturally for me. When you understand the product deeply, it becomes much easier to sell or convince people because you know exactly what you’re talking about. My investment banking and research background helped a lot in that sense.

Mint.For the early growth-stage corporate venture fund, there is a distinction between what venture capital like to call Bharat and rural India. While the term is all-encompassing, it doesn’t account for the fundamental issues facing rural India.