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The National Pension System (NPS) has emerged as one of the most popular investment vehicles for retirement planning. It offers you the option to invest in different types of asset classes — equity, corporate debt, government bonds and alternative investment funds. Regular investment and a little bit of planning can generate as much as Rs 2 lakh a month from NPS when you retire. Let's get one thing straight at the beginning: The pension you earn from NPS after retirement will depend on how much corpus you can accumulate. Before you start investing, you need to know the withdrawal rules of NPS. At present, an NPS subscriber cannot withdraw the entire accumulated corpus on maturity. You have to invest at least 40% of the total NPS corpus in an annuity plan from a life insurance company. The annuity amount will get a regular pension after retirement. The remaining 60% can be withdrawn as a lump sum.

ASML's deep cuts to its 2025 sales forecast sparked a sell-off in chip stocks on Tuesday over worries that global chip demand may be faltering. The weaker outlook could, instead, reflect some overcapacity at chip factories that had already stocked up on ASML's pricey tools during the pandemic and have become better at using them to produce a larger numbers of chips, analysts said. ASML's stock plummeted to its biggest single-day loss in a quarter century on its downgraded forecast. In results that the company inadvertently posted a day ahead of schedule, ASML said it expects 2025 total net sales of 30 billion-35 billion euros, near the bottom of its previous forecast.

Jio's Akash Ambani and Airtel's Sunil Mittal recently voiced concerns about market access for multinational corporations in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the report by (Pankaj Doval) said. During the India Mobile Congress, Ambani emphasised the need for the local storage of data and expressed worries about data being moved abroad.

World Bank report has highlighted the persistent gender disparity in employment across South Asia, with women experiencing a significant decline in labor force participation post-marriage, often referred to as a "marriage penalty." In India, female employment rates drop by 12 percentage points after marriage, about one-third of the pre-marital employment level, even in the absence of children. Meanwhile, men gain a 13-percentage-point employment premium upon marriage, although this advantage gradually erodes after five years. “This marriage penalty among women without children persists up to five years after the wedding in India and Maldives,” the report states, attributing the trend to deep-rooted social norms. In addition to the marriage penalty, women also face a “child penalty,” as caregiving responsibilities often push them out of the workforce.

National Conference leader Sheikh Bashir Ahmad on Wednesday said that the new government in Jammu and Kashmir will fulfill people's expectations. He stated that unemployment and inflation are major issues in the valley and that Article 370 must be restored. «After ten years, a government that will represent Jammu and Kashmir is being formed. There has been presidential rule for five years. People were suppressed by bureaucracy. J-K has witnessed a lot. We hope that we fulfill all the expectations of the people. Unemployment will be the top priority. The youth has no opportunities. Prices have been skyrocketing. Along with that, there are so many issues. It is a border state. Peace must be established here. We will work together for it,» said the NC leader. Speaking on the demand for restoring statehood, he said, «The day BJP took away the statehood, they mentioned that it will be restored. If they empathise with people, then, it must be done. We will push for this demand. J-K's land and jobs were secure under Article 370. We will fight for it.»

Bengaluru is facing incessant rain since Monday evening, affecting normal life in the city. Several localities witnessed water-logging and traffic congestion. Many citizens faced difficulties navigating through the city due to the downpour as several roads in Varthur, Hebbal, Kadubeesanahalli, and surrounding areas were water-logged. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an orange alert for Wednesday and Thursday in the city. Union Minister and JD(S) leader HD Kuamraswamy took to social media platform to blame the Congress government for the poor infrastructure.

Uday Kotak backed Kotak Mahindra Bank’s ambition to be India’s third largest private sector lender could expose it to significant M&A risk given the integration challenges and the weaker RoA of smaller banks, Bernstein Research a part of the Société Générale group has said. The brokerage house also said that given the high growth outperformance ask, inorganic growth would almost be inevitable for Kotak Mahindra to achieve its ‘Top 3’ objective. To emerge as the third most profitable private sector bank, Kotak will need an organic earnings growth which is 7% percentage points higher than Axis which looks unlikely, it said. In a recent interview with The Economic Times, Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO Ashok Vaswani had said that he aspires that the bank would become the third largest private sector bank by profits by 2030.

Vishnu Deo Sai on Wednesday announced a 4 per cent hike in the dearness allowance (DA) for state government employees, bringing the total DA to 50 per cent. Speaking to reporters in Raipur, CM Sai said, «There is a cabinet meeting today at 11:30 am… Our government has decided that all state employees are currently getting 46 per cent DA, we are increasing their DA by 4 per cent. From now on, they will get 50 per cent DA.» The Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's Office added that the revised 50 per cent dearness allowance will be effective from October 1.

swearing-in ceremony, Jammu and Kashmir CM-designate Omar Abdullah on Wednesday offered floral tributes at the Mazar-e-Anwar of «Sher-e-Kashmir» Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, in Srinagar. Omar Abdullah's grandfather, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, was the first Prime Minister of JK after its accession to India and later served as Chief Minister. Omar's father Farooq Abdullah has been the CM of the erstwhile state thrice. Speaking after he offered prayers Omar Abdullah said his government has a lot to do for the people of the region.

junior doctors continued their fast-unto-death for the 12th consecutive day on Wednesday demanding justice for the deceased woman colleague of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital and workplace security. Sourav Dutta of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, fasting since October 5 was hospitalised on Tuesday evening and is being treated at the CCU of the hospital in Jalpaiguri while Spandan Chowdhury and Rumelika Kumar joined the hunger strike on Tuesday. Claiming that Tuesday's 'Droher Carnival' was «successful» in bringing more people, from all walks of life, together to match their voice to demand for justice besides safety and security for them, junior medics on Wednesday opined to increase the heat of their ongoing protest. «Yesterday the world saw how people are keen on getting justice. We are happy to see that so many people especially common man are with us for this noble cause… this is giving us the zeal to keep on with our fight. We will make it stronger from now on to make the administration realise that we are not out of energy,» Debashish Halder, one of the agitating doctors told PTI.

World Anaesthesia Day is celebrated annually on October 16 to mark the significance of plays in modern medical care. It also serves as a reminder to recognise the work of anesthesiologists, who are essential for hassle-free surgeries. This day not only acknowledges their vital role but also credits them for promoting advancements in anaesthesia practice. Diethyl ether anaesthesia was successfully demonstrated for the first time in history in 1846.

Registrar General of India and Census Commissioner Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, and appointed IPS officer Praveen Vashista as Special Secretary (Internal Security) in the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the extension of Narayan, and the appointment of Vashista as Special Secretary, mentions a Ministry of Personnel order. The Committee has extended the tenure of 1995-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre Indian Administrative Service officer Narayan beyond December 6, 2024, for a period up to August 4, 2026, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Pakistan and China reaffirmed their «unwavering commitment» to combating terrorism in all its forms, embracing a zero-tolerance policy during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, according to a report by Geo News. The two nations also expressed readiness to collaborate with the international community to bolster multilateral counter-terrorism cooperation within established organisations such as the United Nations and the SCO. During the summit, Pakistan strongly condemned recent terrorist attacks targeting Chinese personnel in Pakistan, including the March 26, 2024 attack on the Dasu Hydropower Project and the October 6, 2024 attack on the Port Qasim Power Plant convoy. It pledged to uncover the truth behind these incidents and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

The artificial intelligence boom is providing an unusual windfall for Anguilla, a tiny island in the Caribbean

More and more people are using payment apps to send and receive money

Index funds are getting popular with investors as they offer a simple and low-cost way to gain exposure to a broad and diversified portfolio. WHAT IS AN INDEX FUND? An index fund is a type of mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the performance of a market index by buying the same stocks or bonds as the index. These funds aim to replicate the investment returns of particular benchmark indices by holding a securities portfolio that closely mirrors the index’s composition. WHAT ARE THE EQUITY INDEX FUNDS IN INDIA?

HCLTech garnered about a third of incremental demand from data and artificial intelligence (AI) verticals, helping India’s third largest software services provider post better-than-expected revenue — 6.7% higher from a year earlier — in the fiscal second quarter. Speaking to ET, CEO and managing director C Vijayakumar declined to elaborate on revenues earned from data and AI businesses. “It (data and AI revenues) is spread across different verticals, and every client situation is different, so I'm not able to quantify it. But I think at least a third of the (incremental) demand seems to be coming from AI and data, roughly,” he said. Announcing the September quarter results on Monday, the Noida-based company reported revenue of Rs 28,862 crore, up 6.7% from a year ago and 2.6% sequentially. Revenue surpassed the Rs 28,710 crore ET estimate for Q2. The company also raised its lower-end guidance for revenue growth to 3.5-5.0% from the earlier 3.0-5.0% for FY25.

GCCs) in India to provide centralised support to their businesses. Large Indian corporations are also building such facilities, often to beef up their technology capabilities. Reliance Industries, Adani Group, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) and Bank of Baroda are among Indian entities that have set up such centres locally in the past two to four years. Indian firms are estimated to have set up around 50 GCCs in the last couple of years in sectors like telecom, financial services and automotive, said Arindam Sen, GCC leader and partner for media, entertainment and telecommunications practice at EY India.

Eldercare startup Primus Senior Living has raised $20 million in a seed funding round led by General Catalyst, with participation from Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath and Gruhas, the investment firm co-founded by Kamath and Abhijeet Pai of Puzzolana Group. General Catalyst contributed $7 million to the round, while Kamath and Gruhas invested the remaining $13 million, according to Adarsh Narahari, founder and managing director of Primus. Led by Narahari, Bengaluru-based Primus is developing a comprehensive eldercare platform offering various services, including healthcare, wellness, lifestyle, and social engagement—all delivered to elders in their homes.

credit marketplace Paisabazaar, a part of listed PB Fintech, is taking a leaf out of sister concern Policybazaar’s playbook and building its own offline distribution channel. Paisabazaar is one of the largest credit marketplaces in India. It allows consumers to access unsecured personal loans, credit cards and similar products from banks and non-bank lenders through online channels. As it builds out its secured credit distribution play, Paisabazaar wants to create a physical presence to help in fulfilment of such loan delivery. Speaking with ET, Naveen Kukreja, chief executive officer of Paisabazaar, said it has set up a field team of around 100 people in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, targeting secured credit products like home loans and loans against property. It is also testing other products like loans against cars and securities, but those are still in the beta stages. By the end of this fiscal, it intends to scale up this team to 500.

mutual funds now hold stocks worth more than $8 billion, or almost Rs 69,000 crore, in a dozen new-age companies including Zomato, Paytm, PB Fintech, Nykaa, Delhivery and Mamaearth on account of the rising valuations of some of these companies and many of them having gone public in recent years. The value of startup holdings by mutual fund companies such as ICICI Prudential, Axis Mutual Fund, Kotak Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, Nippon Mutual Fund, Invesco India and Mirae Asset Mutual Fund was $2.7 billion a year ago, but only with six companies versus 12 now, calculations made by ET show. Besides the steady climb in stock prices that companies such as Gurgaon-based Zomato and Policybazaar-parent PB Fintech have witnessed in the last year, a clutch of new-age companies doing their initial public offerings (IPO) has led to the increased exposure by domestic mutual funds to this asset class.