Country Financial News

₹11.11 trillion for the infrastructure sector. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech last month, said the government will look at a market-based financing framework to address infra funding challenges.

Say Nothing. The nine-episode series will be available on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ in select international markets.

Audi. Balbir Singh Dhillon, head, Audi India, said while the company is considering introducing more electric car models in the domestic market, and exploring the possibility of assembling them locally, policy continuity is required to make investments viable. He emphasised that subsidies are needed to drive growth in the EV segment, «till the time we reach a decent penetration level». «There is no science behind this; it's just a gut feeling that, maybe by the time we reach 50% EV penetration in the luxury space, we need that support (lower GST) and thereafter, it is driven by itself,» he said.

BIMSTEC Summit scheduled in Bangkok on September 4 owing to “technical issues” over formation of the cabinet. The decision to postpone the Summit was taken on Thursday as all preparations were ongoing till Wednesday. PM Narendra Modi in the light of the current circumstances will not travel to Bangkok. He was also scheduled to undertake a bilateral visit to Thailand on September 3. Modi is, however, expected to go ahead with the bilateral visit to Singapore on September 5, it has been learnt. Earlier he had plans to fly to Singapore from Bangkok. Ahead of Singapore visit, Ministerial delegations of the two countries will meet to firm up agenda to boost strategic partnership and the visit.

Experian India, on Thursday announced the launch of AiDRIAN, an AI driven tool that detects potential fraud. AiDRIAN detects potential fraud at its source, preventing the possibility of financial loss in real time, the company said. The platform integrates device profiling, analysing over 150 device parameters to create unique device IDs and identify anomalies, Experian claimed. According to Experian’s 2024 Future of Fraud Forecast report, nearly 70% of businesses report increased fraud losses in recent years, and over half of consumers feel more vulnerable to fraud than before.

India may allow certain foreign investors to raise capital in rupees for investments in select countries, a government official said, in a move aimed at boosting the international use of the South Asian nation's currency. The plan comes after Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in July the nation will simplify its foreign direct investment and overseas investment rules to promote opportunities for use of the Indian rupees as a currency for overseas investments. The new provision could enable investments in rupees in select nations of «strategic interest» to India, said the official with direct knowledge of the plans.

Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said micro, small and medium industries will play an important role in realising the vision to transform India into a developed nation by 2047. Therefore, she said, they have been given special priority in the Union Budget. The finance minister was addressing the discussion programme with MSME marble cluster units in Udaipur on Thursday evening. «The participation of MSME is important in realising the vision of 2047. Therefore, it has been given expert priority in the budget,» she said.

BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday took a dig at Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren after JMM leader Champai Soren hinted at forming a new political party and hinted at possible future alliances. Chouhan accused Hemant Soren of being responsible for the current state of affairs in Jharkhand and stated that he deceived many people, including his own relatives — «aisa koi saga nahi jisko Hemant Soren ne thaga nahi.» «Now whatever is being done is done by Hemant Soren. He (Champai Soren) expressed his pain. He is one of the founders of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha who worked hand in hand with Shibu Soren...Due to Hemant Soren's behaviour, Sita Soren was in the same condition earlier. 'Aisa koi saga nahi jisko Hemnat Soren ne thaga nahi'...Champai ji has said everything, BJP has nothing to do with this,» Chouhan said.

jamón iberico, into part of a shopping mall, and through a tricky chicane until they finally emerged into the Spanish daylight. (To be clear, this section of the race was neutralized for safety—no one was allowed to launch an attack before the bunch had made it outdoors.) How a major bike race even wound up in a supermarket comes down to a question of sponsorship. Carrefour is one of the Vuelta’s major backers and organizers promised a “unique and original event that will make cycling history." The thing is, cycling history is already full of absurd detours.

Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Prof. Jayant Varma raised concerns over the impact of the current monetary policy stance on the country's economic growth, the minutes of August meeting showed on Thursday. He argued that the policy, which he believes is excessively restrictive, is sacrificing growth potential at a time when India's economy could be accelerating. Varma, an external member of the MPC, had voted for a cut in repo rate during the meeting which took place on August 6-8. The committee, however, decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 6.50 per cent with a 4:2 majority.

Air India on Thursday announced that it will temporarily operate additional flights to Kolkata from four Indian cities to meet greater travel demand to the city during the upcoming Durga Puja festivities. Starting 20 September 2024, Air India will operate daily, non-stop flights to Kolkata from Bengaluru and Hyderabad for nearly a month. The airline has also increased frequency to Kolkata from Delhi effective 15 August 2024, and from Mumbai effective 25 September 2024.

₹24,000 a night rooms. Our focus is the remaining 90%," he said. "Dropping rates is not a good strategy for hotels, in general.

Madhapur, a village on the outskirts of Bhuj in Gujarat, is dubbed 'Asia's richest village.' With a population of around 32,000, up from 17,000 in 2011, its residents hold fixed deposits worth Rs 7,000 crore. The village's prosperity is attributed to its NRI (non-resident Indian) families who deposit crores every year in local banks and post offices. Madhapur is home to the Patel community and boasts 17 banks, including major public and private banks like HDFC Bank, SBI, PNB, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and Union Bank. This is unusual for a single village, but more banks are interested in opening branches here. The significant deposits are primarily from families who live abroad, particularly in African countries where Gujaratis dominate the construction business. Many residents also reside in the UK, Australia, America, and New Zealand.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in a letter to Prime Minister Modi, requested the formation of a 'stringent central legislation ' to fight against the rising cases of rape in India. Alapan Bandyopadhyay, Chief advisor to the West Bengal CM, on Thursday revealed that the TMC Supremo urged PM Modi to take into account the increasing number of rapes throughout the country, and help set-up laws that put an end to such hate-crimes. «Respected Prime Minister, I wish to bring to your kind attention the regular and increasing occurrence of rape cases throughout the country and in many cases rapes with murder are committed according to the available data, it is horrifying to see that almost 90 cases of rapes occur daily throughout the country,» the letter read by Bandyopadhyay stated.

Piyush Goyal on Thursday said that India is not against e-commerce companies but wants them to be fair and honest. In remarks that came a day after he flagged concerns about e-commerce firms, Goyal said online businesses need to ensure a «fair chance» of competing. Goyal on Wednesday voiced concerns about predatory pricing by e-commerce firms and feared about the impact their operations have on small retailers in the country. He also went public with his fears, warning of the «huge social disruption» with the massive growth of the e-commerce sector. «We are very clear that we want to invite FDI (foreign direct investment), we want to invite technology, we want to have the best of the world, and we are not against online at all,» Goyal said at an event here.

markets regulator SEBI to raise Rs 4,000 crore ($480 mn) through an initial public offering (IPO). The offer comprises fresh issue of shares worth Rs 1,250 crore and offer-for-sale shares worth Rs 2,750 crore.

Disney and Reliance have offered some concessions to secure an India antitrust approval for their $8.5 billion media merger, but are unwilling to sell any cricket broadcast rights, the biggest prize in the deal, two sources familiar with matter said. Reuters reported earlier this week that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) sent a warning notice to the companies expressing concern that their merged entity will have a tight grip on most cricket rights for TV and streaming in India, and can hurt advertisers. In their response, the companies have offered to go easy on advertising rate hikes and not increase them unreasonably, the sources said.

tax disputes with major companies including Infosys Ltd. and foreign airlines, people familiar with the matter said, suggesting New Delhi is open to making accommodations to avoid hurting investor sentiment in the South Asian nation. Authorities are exploring options to settle with companies including Infosys, which last month got hit by a demand for 324.03 billion rupees ($3.9 billion) in back taxes dating back to 2017, the people said. Authorities at the time cited non-payment of taxes on expenses incurred by overseas offices of the company, which provides IT services to banks and other multinational corporations from the US to Europe. Also Read: Infosys accused of Rs 32,000-crore GST evasion: Here are 10 things to know

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paid homage at the 'Good Maharaja Square,' a monument in memory of the late Maharaja of Jamnagar in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. According to the Indian Embassy website, eight Polish primary and secondary schools are named after Jam Saheb, known as 'Good Maharaja' in Poland. The memorial monument – comprising a small brick pillar with inscriptions on it – was unveiled in October 2014 at the Square of the Good Maharaja, Ochota district in Warsaw.

Audi India Head Balbir Singh Dhillon. He noted that hybrid cars are not currently part of the company's strategy for the country and the focus firmly remains on petrol and electric models. Dhillon said subsidies are needed for the growth of the EV segment, «till the time we reach a decent penetration level». «There is no science behind this, it's just a gut feeling that maybe by the time we reach 50 per cent penetration in the luxury (electric) space, we need that support (lower GST) and thereafter it is driven by itself,» he added.

right to disconnect." The law, which passed in February, protects employees who refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact from their employers outside work hours. Similar laws giving employees a right to switch off their mobile devices are already in place in France, Germany and other countries in the European Union.