Country Financial News

Narendra Modi with American researcher and podcaster Lex Fridman is available now in more than 10 languages, the Prime Minister said on Sunday, while encouraging people to give it a listen. «The recent podcast with Lex Fridman is now available in multiple languages! This aims to make the conversation accessible to a wider audience. Do hear it,» read a post by PM Modi as he shared the link to the translations. The translations have been posted by public broadcaster Doordarshan in their multiple regional language channels. The episode is now available in Gujarati, Telegu, Punjabi, Bengali, Kannada, Marathi, Assamese, Odia, Tamil and Malayalam.

SUNDAY Hotels have opened in 10 countries across the globe including India, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam. SUNDAY Hotels, a premium brand of four-star and five-star hotels, was originally launched in May 2023 through a joint venture between the SoftBank Group and Oravel Stays. The initiative is part of Oravel's ongoing programme to spread its premium hotel footprint around the globe.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, who acknowledged planning a January 2008 attack on the Serena Hotel in Kabul, which killed six people, including US citizen Thor David Hesla, no longer appears on the State Department's Rewards for Justice website. The FBI website on Sunday still featured a wanted poster for him. Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said the U.S. government had revoked the bounties placed on Haqqani, Abdul Aziz Haqqani, and Yahya Haqqani. «These three individuals are two brothers and one paternal cousin,» Qani told the Associated Press. The Haqqani network grew into one of the deadliest arms of the Taliban after the U.S.-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

Donald Trump has denied signing the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants. “I don’t know when it was signed, because I didn’t sign it,” Trump told reporters. Trump, however, defended his administration saying, “We want to get criminals out of our country, number one, and I don’t know when it was signed, because I didn’t sign it...Other people handled it, but (Secretary of State) Marco Rubio has done a great job and he wanted them out and we go along with that. We want to get criminals out of our country.” His comments came after Judge James Boasberg claimed that the proclamation was “signed in the dark” of night and that migrants were hurried onto planes, CNN reported. The judge had issued a two-week temporary block on Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport 238 alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. The judge said in court that any flights already en route should return to the US. His written order following the hearing appeared in the court's online docket, the justice department said in a court filing.

electronics and automobile sectors, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. Addressing an event organised by Chennai Citizens' forum on Saturday evening, Sitharaman dismissed charges of the state government that the Centre has neglected Tamil Nadu in terms of funding. She said major 'big ticket' projects have been announced and are progressing at various stages of implementation across the State. «Tamil Nadu has been the largest beneficiary under the PLI- scheme in electronics, electronic parts and automobiles. Out of the 27 companies that have received approval from the Centre, 7 are based out of Tamil Nadu,» the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs noted. Sitharaman highlighted that 25 per cent of the companies availing benefits from the PLI scheme are from the state, she said drawing applause from the audience at the M O P Vaishnav College in the city. Without naming the government or any individual, she rejected claims that the state received minimal revenue from central taxes. «These people arrive at a calculation that the Centre was giving a minimal amount of revenue from the central taxes. I really do not know how they pose such an argument. All I have to say is that the State has been a beneficiary in various central schemes and sector specific initiatives in the last 10 years.» She also pointed out that Tamil Nadu hosts one of the country's two major electronic parts manufacturing clusters, alongside Gujarat. An allocation of Rs 1,100 crore has been made for setting up the cluster in Tamil Nadu.

Hyundai, announcing price hikes due to rising input costs and operational expenses. Maruti Suzuki India, which leads the domestic passenger car segment in the country, plans to hike prices of its entire model range by up to 4 per cent from next month. The auto major currently sells various models, ranging from the entry-level Alto K-10 to the multiple-purpose vehicle Invicto in the domestic market, with prices ranging from Rs 4.23 lakh to Rs 29.22 lakh, respectively (ex-showroom Delhi). Its rival Hyundai Motor India said it will increase car prices by up to 3 per cent from April 2025, owing to rising raw material and operational costs.

Trump are challenging the global commodity market, making prices highly volatile. The recent US tariffs on countries like Canada, Mexico, and China have raised concerns over a global trade war, as Canada and China have already imposed retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products. Bullion was the asset that benefited most due to the tariff war. Gold in the key London spot market is hovering above the psychological level of $3,000 an ounce, gaining more than 15 percent so far this year. Similarly, Indian gold prices also gained considerably, with the MCX futures prices trading at a lifetime high of ₹88,800 per ten grams last week.

Election Commission «dysfunctional» and a «failed» institution, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal has claimed that a large section of the people do not have faith in the poll body as it has not discharged its functions in accordance with its constitutional responsibilities. In an interview with PTI, Sibal said the quicker the issue of lack of faith in the Election Commission is dealt with, the greater is the chance of saving democracy. «The Election Commission is a dysfunctional body. The Election Commission has not discharged its functions in accordance with its responsibilities which are expected of it under the Constitution,» he said when asked about the Congress' and TMC's allegations about voters list irregularities. The Election Commission as it stands today is a «failed institution» and there is no confidence in the Election Commission among a large section of the people of this country, the Independent Rajya Sabha MP said. «Therefore, the quicker we deal with this issue, the greater is the chance of saving democracy,» Sibal said. «The message to the opposition is that apart from the EVMs, there are some really serious issues which in fact suggest that the process of elections is polluted,» he said.

Market leaders IndiGo and Air India Group, along with SpiceJet, told the aviation regulator they can’t share the data as disclosing the information would lead to commercial setbacks, according to a March 11 letter by the Federation of Indian Airlines that was seen by Bloomberg News. The move is set to impact the government’s plan to strengthen monitoring of fares in a market where IndiGo and Air India Group together control over 90% of the share of domestic aviation following a merger last year. That dominant position gives IndiGo and Air India a greater say in deciding fares and has fueled concern among policymakers. While fares aren’t regulated in the South Asian country, interventions, including asking airlines to add flights or cut fares, have increased after a sharp spike in prices during a Hindu religious gathering in February was widely criticized.

A key leader of NCP, which was floated last month with widely assumed blessings of Professor Muhammad Yunus, accused the military of «political interference» over a proposal for inclusiveness that would allow Awami League to participate in the next elections. «Those who are supposed to discharge their work inside cantonment, should stay there... in the 'post-revolution Bangladesh' no interference in the political landscape from the cantonment will be accepted,» said Hasnat Abdullah in a press briefing at the NCP office. Several hundred followers of Hasnat and NCP activists also chanted slogans at the rallies against Army chief General Waker Uz Zaman chanting «Waker or Hasnat; Hasnat, Hasnat» and demanded Hasina and her «cohorts» to be hanged after trial. The military, which is now entrusted with maintaining nationwide law and order with magistracy power, however, did not enter the campus but continued their intensified patrol, particularly in the capital.

Donald Trump’s coming wave of tariffs is poised to be more targeted than the barrage he has occasionally threatened, aides and allies say, a potential relief for markets gripped by anxiety about an all-out tariff war. Trump is preparing a “Liberation Day” tariff announcement on April 2, unveiling so-called reciprocal tariffs he sees as retribution for tariffs and other barriers from other countries, including longtime US allies.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said it instructed the army to respond forcefully against dozens of targets in Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah is based. Israel's army said six rockets were fired toward Metula, a town along the border with Lebanon. Three crossed into Israel and were intercepted. The army said it «cannot confirm the identity of the organisation that fired the rockets.» It said it struck Hezbollah command centres and dozens of rocket launchers. An Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Touline killed five people, including a child, and wounded 10 others, including two children, Lebanon's state-run National News Agency reported. Another Israeli strike Saturday night hit a garage in the coastal city of Tyre, the NNA reported, with one person killed and seven wounded. It was the first attack on the city since the ceasefire took effect November 27. And a strike on Hawsh al-Sayed Ali village along the border with Syria wounded five people, according to the NNA.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, as he backed the country's entry into the coveted Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Speaking to ET during his visit to India this week, Grossi stressed that countries that have important nuclear programmes and that manifest a wish to participate in a group (NSG) that fosters responsible trade in nuclear should be welcome. The IAEA director general recalled how when he was president of the NSG «we got very close». «The problem was not India in itself, it was the multilateral dynamic at the time.» Some countries including China and New Zealand had expressed reservations about India's entry into NSG. The NSG is a 48-member group that seeks to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons by regulating the export of nuclear materials and technology. The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog visited India to attend the Raisina Dialogue, and strengthen cooperation on nuclear energy and cancer care, among other issues. «I am proud to recognise Tata Memorial as an IAEA Rays of Hope Anchor Centre. A leader of the Global South, India has built strong cancer care expertise — now it's time to share it with the world. With this partnership, we will bring India's know-how to regions that need it most,» he said.

licence plates “all manner of alphabetical permutations and combinations were on view”. This included JA (Jamaica), WAG (West Africa and Gambia), FM (Federated Malay States), BI (British India), M (Mandatory Palestine), EA (Kenya and East Africa) and SAU (South African Union). ToI explained that the UK allowed drivers from most countries to use their cars without paying any charge for 90 days, but because the US had not signed the relevant international convention: “American cars are required to be registered with British number plates and this is done at the ship’s side.” Licence plate-spotting goes back a while.

Events ticketing platform StubHub has filed for an initial public offering of its common stock

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to carry out the delimitation exercise in such a manner that no state would suffer any reduction in representation in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, especially in terms of the share of total number of seats in the House. In a letter to the Prime Minister, the YSRCP chief highlighted that the gravity of the delimitation issue has the potential to disrupt the social and political harmony in the country.

interest equalisation scheme and its merger with the export promotion mission is going to adversely affect the Indian exporters and it should be extended till the operationalisation of the mission, according to a report of a Parliamentary panel. The mission which was announced in the budget has an outlay of Rs 2,250 crore. The Department of Commerce has informed the Standing Committee of Parliament on Commerce that under the export promotion mission (EPM), it is working to carve out an umbrella scheme with various components, in consultation with the ministries of Finance and MSME. «Once the cabinet approves the scheme, additional funds required will be sought from the Department of Expenditure,» the commerce department has informed the committee.

Elliot Rosenberg moved abroad and now lives comfortably for less than ₹1 lakh per month.

Textiles on a Pan India basis, including Odisha, said the Ministry of Textiles. The PLI scheme promotes the production of MMF apparel, MMF fabrics, and technical textile products to achieve size and scale and become competitive. Rs 1,143 crore is allocated for disbursement under the PLI scheme to companies that achieve the prescribed threshold investment and threshold turnover. Out of the 74 applicants selected under the scheme, 24 are MSMEs. No application is made for setting up a factory in Odisha.

Perplexity on Friday expressed its interest in buying TikTok, which faces a deadline to divest from its Chinese owner or be banned in the United States. Perplexity in a blog post laid out a vision for integrating its AI-powered internet search capabilities with the popular video-snippet sharing app. «Combining Perplexity's answer engine with TikTok's extensive video library would allow us to build the best search experience in the world,» the San Francisco-based firm reasoned.