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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. InCred Financial Services Ltd aims to raise ₹4,000-5,000 crore ($471-588 million) in an initial public offering late next year, less than two years after the KKR-backed fintech startup earned its unicorn stripes, two people familiar with its plans told Mint. The issue is expected to be valued at ₹15,000-22,500 crore ($1.78-2.6 billion), one of them said, adding that InCred will shortly finalise merchant bankers to manage its IPO.

precious metals from its free trade agreements (FTA) so as to curb speculative imports, safeguard foreign exchange reserves and protect India’s trade balance and economic resilience, think tank Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said Tuesday. Gold imports reached a staggering $14.9 billion in November 2024, accounting for 21.2% of India’s total merchandise imports of $70 billion and for the first time, gold surpassed crude petroleum as the country’s largest single import item. Most gold enters India as bars and rods with 99.99% purity, but traders are also using other tariff-free or concessional categories to bypass import duties such as platinum alloys from Dubai, gold compounds and noble metal solutions from Japan, and gold and silver jewelry from Indonesia. These routes push actual gold imports to much higher levels than official figures suggest.

The proposal gained broad support at a meeting chaired by commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday after small industries dropped initial opposition once they received assurances that they would not be hit by higher steel prices. «It seems the safeguard duty will be imposed after an investigation, likely completed within a month,» said an industry official who attended the meeting. «To address concerns of small manufacturers, large steelmakers will supply them steel at reduced prices.»

The government's move has irked the cold storage owners in the state as the ban is causing irreparable damage to the cold storage industry in the state. If the stocks in the cold storages are not cleared, it will lead to distress sales and spoilage of potatoes, thus hurting both the potato growers and the rural economy. Subhajit Saha, Vice President of West Bengal Cold Storage Association, said, “The ban on inter-state potato movement is causing irreparable damage to the cold storage industry in West Bengal. The cold storages in South Bengal, particularly in districts of Bankura, Midnapore and parts of Burdwan and Hooghly, are facing the full brunt of this decision."

Telangana Tourism Policy 2025-2030" in the Assembly. The first-ever dedicated tourism policy, after the formation of Telangana, also aims to create additional employment opportunities for three lakh people in the next five years besides enhancing tourism contribution to 10 per cent or higher of the GSDP ( gross state domestic product). The tourism infrastructure sector is predominantly driven by the private sector and there is a pressing need for the government to provide greater confidence through proactive policy and administrative framework that improves investor confidence, it said. Through the policy, the state government will be promoting «safe tourism» by creating dedicated tourist police units/tourist patrols across key tourist destinations, implementing women-friendly measures to ensure the safety of female tourists, and leverage Tourism Friendly Index (TFI) to evaluate the safety standards of destinations.

High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, highlighted that the situation in Georgia is not moving in the right direction for its citizens. The EU emphasized its continued support for the people of Georgia by redirecting financial aid from government authorities to civil society and independent media. Also Read: Devastating layoffs: Kamala Harris fires DNC staffers without severance packages just before Christmas holidays and gives them pep talk afterwards

Kamala Harris assures DNC staff that their spirit will not be defeated following devastating layoffs. Harris made the remarks on Sunday in Washington, D.C., during the DNC's holiday celebration. At the event, which was attended by staffers fired from the Democratic National Committee without severance pay following the election, she spoke alongside President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. Harris emphasized the importance of being mindful of blessings and the invincible spirit that drives their efforts. The spirit that drives the innumerable hours, days, and months of effort they have invested in this, as quoted in a report by Fox News. She thanked those present for their clarity and willingness to work hard. She also emphasized the need for continued effort and fighting for their nation. Biden also assured them that they are not going anywhere, in reference to Harris.

Cloud computing solution provider AceCloud on Tuesday announced a new cloud region in Noida in partnership with data solution provider firms NetApp and Quantum. A cloud region is a specific geographic area containing multiple data centres owned by a service provider. The cloud region will offer low-latency access to advanced cloud technologies with enterprise-level reliability, integrated security, and disaster recovery features, a company statement said. It will offer affordable pricing plans for high-performance cloud services. The pricing for compute for GPU will start from $ 0.03/hour and object storage at $ 7/TB/month, it said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. When I first saw the original blueprint of the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDM), the feature that really jumped out at me was its anonymizer module. This was the first time that a digital building block designed to de-identify personal data was being built directly into the digital workflow and I was excited by the possibilities that this offered.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the lower-than-expected GDP growth of 5.4 per cent in the second quarter was a «temporary blip» and the economy will see healthy growth in the coming quarters. Replying to a debate in the Lok Sabha on the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants, she said India has seen «steady and sustained» growth and its GDP growth rate has averaged 8.3 per cent in the last three years. India continues to be the fastest-growing major economy in the world, Sitharaman added. The second quarter growth is only a «temporary blip», and the economy will see healthy growth in the coming quarters, Sitharaman said.

Annual Information Statement (AIS) and those revealed in Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the fiscal years 2023–2024 and 2021–2022 the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has started an electronic campaign. In a press release dated December 17, 2024, the Ministry of Finance said, «People who have taxable income or major high-value transactions recorded in their AIS but have not filed ITRs for the relevant years are likewise the target of this campaign. The e-Verification Scheme, 2021, is being implemented in part via this endeavour.»

To determine the busiest international and domestic flight routes, OAG analyzed the volume of scheduled airline seats from January to December 2024. The routes listed reflect round trip flights rather than one-ways in a single direction. “With the Asia Pacific region very close to a full recovery, the busiest routes are concentrated in the familiar major hubs of Hong Kong, Seoul Incheon and Singapore,” said John Grant, chief analyst at OAG, in a release.

Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday presented the second supplementary budget for financial year 2024-25, amounting to Rs 17,865 crore. The budget was tabled on the second day of the winter session of the state assembly. After the Question Hour, Finance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna presented the second supplementary budget. In his address, Khanna stated that the budget size is Rs 17,865.72 crore, which is 2.42 per cent of the original budget of Rs 7,36,437.71 crore. Khanna explained that the need for this supplementary budget arose due to the government's development priorities and adherence to constitutional provisions.

Buoyed by domestic growth prospects, technological advancements, and robust policy measures, India continues to solidify its position as a key player in the global economic arena.

RVNL and Kaynes Technology are among 19 stocks that may soon be upgraded to largecap and midcap status by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) in its February 2025 rejig, according to a prediction by the Nuvama Institutional Equities. The 11 stocks slated to be upgraded in the AMFI rejig include CG Power, Rail Vikas Nigam, ICICI Prudential, Polycab India, Indus Towers, Cummins India, Info Edge, Hyundai Motor India, NTPC Green, Bajaj Housing Finance, and Swiggy. Also Read | Year-ender 2024: Quant Mutual Fund schemes deliver up to 42% return in 2024. Check top winners

Ecommerce furniture and home decor company Pepperfry has elevated Madhusudan Bihani to the role of chief financial officer (CFO), the company said in a statement Tuesday. Bihani has close to two decades of experience in finance, corporate compliance, taxation and auditing. He joined Pepperfry in 2019 as AVP-finance and advanced to the role of VP-finance in 2021. Over the past six years, he has played a crucial role in driving the company's growth, financial discipline, operational efficiencies and compliance frameworks. He has been responsible for improving profitability, streamlining financial operations and supporting strategic initiatives.

ICRA expects the domestic gold jewellery consumption (in value terms) to continue its momentum in the current fiscal with an estimated growth of 14-18% Y-o-Y. This follows the sharp increase of 18% in FY2024, which was primarily driven by realisations even as volume growth was subdued. A sharp 900 basis points (bps) cut in import duty in the Union Budget in July 2024 and consequent correction in gold prices for a brief period led to some pre-buying of jewellery as well as bars and coins during Q2 FY2025, which is generally a seasonally weak quarter. While gold prices were volatile, improving consumer sentiments and festive-led demand increased consumption in recent months. This, coupled with a higher number of auspicious and wedding days, and favourable monsoons aiding better rural output, is likely to help jewellery demand growth in H2 FY2025, in ICRA’s view. Revenue growth for organised jewellery in FY2024 had been supported by realisations with gold prices rising by ~14% YoY. The same trend is expected to continue this fiscal as well. So far in the current fiscal, the average gold price has risen by a sharp ~25% vis-à-vis FY2024 average price, despite occasional corrections – first, after the cut in customs duty in late July 2024 and then in November 2024, following the US elections and currency movements. The evolving global economic and geopolitical scenario and rising investment demand for gold have stimulated the continuing uptick in gold prices for the last seven quarters.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Bengaluru: Antler India plans to close about 50 investments in 2025 in a sign that early-stage funding may pick up after a two-year slump due to heated valuations, a top executive at the venture capital firm toldMint.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner had alleged that personal information of some users was being disclosed to Facebook's personality quiz app, This is Your Digital Life, as part of the broader scandal. The breaches were first reported by the Guardian in early 2018, and Facebook received fines from regulators in the United States and the UK in 2019.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s farm sector has long been bonded to the state. The supply of major crops is responsive not to price signals that reflect actual demand, but mostly to minimum support prices (MSPs) set by the government, which is widely seen by farmers as their buyer of first and last resort.