Digital Financial News

Coming to the next milestone, more than half of Indian states now have a female-investor share that exceeds the national average of nearly 25%. Despite this, the underlying momentum is undeniably positive as the needle is moving in the right direction nearly everywhere.

New Delhi: Industry stakeholders and policy experts have reacted with scepticism over Karnataka’s proposal to ban social media use for youngsters under 16 years of age, questioning both the legality and the practicality of enforcing such a restriction in one state of India.Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah unveiled the proposal along with the state’s budget for FY27 on Friday, but did not share details.Lawyers and policymakers Mint spoke with said such a state-level demographic-specific ban could require intrusive age-verification systems and may be impractical, since many children access social media through adults’ devices and accounts.Further, such a ban may also clash with the Centre’s data-privacy framework, and go against the principles of minimal data sharing put forth in the Digital Personal Data Privacy (DPDP) Act that was notified last year.“Governments considering bans should be careful not to push teens toward less safe, unregulated sites, or logged-out experiences that bypass important protections—like the default safeguards we offer in Instagram’s ‘teen accounts’,” a spokesperson for Meta Platforms Inc said in response to Mint’s queries.“We’ll comply with social media bans where they are enforced, but with teens using nearly 40 apps every week, targeting a handful of companies won’t keep them safe.

The central bank is proposing a safety net for one of the world's largest digital payment ecosystems, offering to partially reimburse victims of cyber fraud—even when the victims themselves are at fault.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday proposed that it, along with banks, will compensate victims of fraudulent digital banking transactions of up to ₹50,000. The customer will be paid up to 85% of the loss, or up to ₹25,000, whichever is lower.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign on 28 February by including it in India’s Universal Immunization Programme to vaccinate 12 million girls annually. With 120,000 new cases and 80,000 deaths annually, India accounts for a quarter of global cervical cancer deaths.Infection by certain HPV strains can cause precancerous cell changes, which may eventually lead to cancer.Mint explains the rationale behind the plan to help stop cervical cancer – the second most common cancer among women in India – by leveraging the country's digital infrastructure and primary health centre network.The aim is to prevent cervical cancer in girls before they are exposed to the virus.

e-Rupee, with total transactions of 120 million valued at ₹28,000 crore since its 2022 launch, central bank data till December showed. While retail CBDC can be used to pay other users, as well as merchants for goods and services, wholesale use cases include interbank settlements and large-value transactions.

The Estée Lauder Companies has signed an agreement to acquire the stake it doesn’t already own in Indian luxury beauty company Forest Essentials, with the transaction expected to close in the second half of 2026, said Stéphane de La Faverie, president and chief executive officer of The Estée Lauder Companies.The deal completes an 18-year partnership with the luxury Ayurveda brand, which was founded by Mira Kulkarni.Forest Essentials sells Ayurvedic skincare and haircare products and competes with premium labels such as Kama Ayurveda. Estée Lauder had a 49% stake in the company in 2013, which it increased from a 20% stake it took in 2008.Speaking to Mint, La Faverie, said, “Today, this brand is the leader in prestige skincare in India, which is still a very small segment of the larger beauty business in India.

Mint shows the standards establish common definitions for cloud systems, introduce performance metrics for data centres, and embed ethical considerations within AI system design, formalizing the technical and governance backbone of India’s AI expansion.The standards have been notified under Sub-rule (1) of Rule 15 of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Rules, 2018. They are Indian Standards derived from international ISO/IEC frameworks.For now, they are not mandatory.

A new term that entered the lexicon after India’s budget for 2026-27 was the ‘orange economy.’ Synonymous with the creative economy, it is emerging as a formidable engine of growth that transcends traditional industrial boundaries. Once viewed as niche, the intersection of culture, technology and intellectual property now accounts for roughly 3.1% of global GDP and 6.2% of all employment.For a country like India, where recent budgetary initiatives recognize the strategic value of creative assets, the growth of this sector offers more than just economic expansion.

In today’s ‘digital-first’ times, is it possible the last handwritten note you received was from a grateful small business thanking you for your purchase? These little touches—a personalized feedback request on WhatsApp or a delighted repost of your review on social media—can turn one-off transactions into sustained customer relationships. In these simple yet meaningful ways, small businesses across India are leaning on direct channels and tech infrastructure to connect with buyers.

YouTube and Instagram Reels content increasingly frame celebrities as difficult or unethical. The risks are compounded by AI-generated deepfakes that create false scenarios involving public figures.“Podcasts and YouTube commentary have increasingly become flashpoints for defamation disputes because of their informal tone and rapid virality.

Information technology services has been among the most talked-about sectors in the Indian market over the past few days, driven by sharp swings in sentiment and price action.On Tuesday the Nifty IT Index slipped nearly 4% to its lowest in about 10 months, highlighting the extent of the pressure on technology stocks. However, the trend seemed to reverse on 25 February, when Indian IT stocks staged a strong rebound.

BENGALURU: Reliance Retail is reshaping its fashion business around faster-moving private labels as it looks to win over India’s young shoppers, betting speed and control over its own brands will be critical as competition intensifies across apparel and lifestyle retail.The shift is visible across its brands, such as Azorte and Zivame, where the retailer is speeding up product cycles, adding more trend-focused styles, and investing in tech-enabled store experiences for consumers who increasingly discover fashion through digital content and influencers.The push reflects how Reliance Retail is adapting to a market where younger consumers are increasingly setting the pace of competition.“India’s median age is 26. If you are in an aspirational category like fashion, lifestyle or beauty and you are not targeting this segment, then you are missing the obvious,” said Ankur Bisen, senior partner at The Knowledge Company.

In Indian boardrooms, ‘AI-enabled’ could overtake ‘digital transformation’ in its buzz quotient. If it’s new, app-based and comes with a valuation expressible in unicorns, it must be good, right? Well, India has always had a muscular pro-innovation bias. From UPI to ONDC, from Aadhaar to account aggregators, it has shown the world that technology can leapfrog infrastructure.

Mint.Developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), the SaaS-based digital platform—eSushrut@Clinic—is a "Lite" alternative to the often bulky and expensive hospital information management systems (HIMS) currently in the market, and is aimed at bridging digital divide in Indian healthcare, the two officials cited earlier said on the condition of anonymity.With comparisons being drawn to BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) UPI (Unified Payments Interface), one of the most useful features is the built-in “Smart Assistant”. Its Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) helps doctors manage chronic conditions by offering clear, evidence-based treatment guidance.“The platform allows doctors to digitize records and streamline consultations, improving care continuity without replacing human expertise,” said the first of the two officials cited earlier.The new e-platform serves as a government-backed, reliable entry point for small-scale doctors to join the national digital health ecosystem, much like what the BHIM app did for digital payments.

Dhurandhar, industry experts say Bollywood has, in several cases, acted as a cultural accelerator for international acts in India.The phenomenon is not new.Akon’s association with Ra.One is often cited as a strong example—while he already had global recognition, the film placement pushed him into deeper mainstream recall across India. Similarly, Kylie Minogue (Blue) and Snoop Dogg (Singh Is Kinng) saw their familiarity widen through Bollywood integrations.The unparalleled reach of Hindi cinema—across theatres, television and streaming—creates a fast track for international artists to penetrate the Indian market.

, she was reading a book called “Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage,” about a woman disentangling the family finances after her husband of 20 years abruptly leaves her. While Adhikari had no concerns about her husband running off, the book did get her thinking about how little she knew of their monetary logistics.

Earlier this month, IDFC First Bank reported it had been the victim of a fraud in which four of its current and former employees connived to siphon off ₹590 crore from the bank account of a Haryana government department. The theft was uncovered when the department tried to close its account with the bank and found a discrepancy between the account balance in its records and the actual balance.While the Haryana government subsequently said it had recovered all its money, the incident underscores the risks of banking fraud, especially as the number of digital transactions increase, enabling new methods of fraud.Indian banks reported 11,615 cases of fraud involving ₹3,497 crore in 2024-25. Both figures were lower in 2023-24.

playback singing remain skewed. Most singers are paid a one-time fee, while ownership and much of the long-term digital earnings stay with producers and music labels.Industry experts say the issue is particularly acute for newer names, even though the debate has been triggered by established voices.Depending on popularity and stature, established singers can earn upwards of ₹25 lakh per song.

On Monday, WhatsApp told the Supreme Court it would comply with directions requiring it to give users greater control over the data they share with other Meta entities such as Facebook and Instagram, ending a years-long battle with the Competition Commission of India over its controversial privacy policy update in 2021.The update, which required WhatsApp users to consent to having their data shared with Meta for advertising and non-advertising purposes, quickly drew the attention of the competition watchdog, leading to a landmark case that raised questions about dominance, consent and user choice in India’s wider digital economy.Here’s why Meta backed down this week, and what it means for Big Tech accountability in India.In 2021, Meta released a controversial update to its privacy policy for WhatsApp, requiring users to accept new terms – including expanded data collection and mandatory data sharing with Meta companies – if they wished to continue using the platform.This triggered a backlash worldwide, but especially in India, WhatsApp’s largest market. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) soon ordered a probe, saying the policy update may constitute an abuse of WhatsApp’s dominant position in instant messaging.WhatsApp challenged the probe, arguing that privacy matters were already being deliberated by constitutional courts and remained beyond the jurisdiction of competition law.

In the past few days, nearly every alternate day has brought news of bomb-threat emails sent to one or more schools in Delhi. The script is wearyingly familiar. An email lands in multiple school inboxes—often routed through encrypted servers, sometimes crudely drafted with digital trails left behind.

India’s traditional brokers are banking on a business they dominate to claw back the ground they ceded to digital rivals over the past decade: lending clients money for leveraged trading.Called the margin trading facility (MTF) in market parlance, it allows investors to buy shares by paying only a part of the total value upfront, with the broker funding the rest at an interest cost.MTF book surged 42.9% in the year through January 2026 to ₹1.20 lakh crore even as the markets turned volatile, according to a February Care Edge report. The top two in the category are bank-backed brokers: ICICI Securities Ltd and Kotak Securities Ltd.