Election Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.After a week of mounting political drama, the stage is set in the U.K. for months of uncertainty over who will lead the world’s fifth-biggest economy, as unpopular Prime Minister Keir Starmer embarks on a long and messy fight for his job against the left-wing mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.Burnham said late Thursday he planned to stand for election to parliament, opening the path for him to take on Starmer for the leadership of the ruling Labour Party.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi/Mumbai: The Supreme Court’s decision to send the high-profile Kapur family dispute over late Sona Comstar chairman Sunjay Kapur’s estimated ₹30,000-crore estate to mediation under former chief justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud has drawn attention to how Indian courts are handling promoter-family battles outside traditional courtroom litigation.Mint explains whether mediation can really solve inheritance battles that carry financial and emotional stakes, and how mediation works in high-profile family business disputes.The inheritance battle emerged last year after Sunjay Kapur, the then chairman of Sona Comstar, one of India’s largest automotive technology and EV component makers, died following a heart attack.Sunjay Kapur’s children – Samaira and Kiaan – from his earlier marriage to actor Karisma Kapoor, moved the Delhi High Court, challenging a will that allegedly left his entire estate to his widow, Priya Kapur.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The British pound, stocks and markets are in turmoil. U.K.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Brexit was a shot heard ’round the world a decade ago next month, when the British voted to reject the recommendation of their political, economic and cultural establishment and leave the European Union. Its global significance was its loud expression of deep disaffection with the self-satisfied, self-serving elites in Western democracies who dictated the boundaries of acceptable debate on immigration, national sovereignty, the globalized economy and the modern gospel of cultural progressivism.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the oath ceremony in two states. These weren’t meant to declare Samrat Chaudhary and Suvendu Adhikari chief ministers of their states. They were a declaration of an electoral Ashwamedh yagya by the saffron outfit, inspired by its success in recent years.In May 2014, when Modi took the reins at the Centre, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) with all its allies was in power in just seven states.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s retail inflation likely rose to 3.8% in April from 3.4% in March, moving closer to the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) medium-term target of 4% as food prices firmed up across key categories and favourable base effects continued to fade, according to the median estimate of 20 economists polled by Mint. Official data is due on 12 May.Economists expect Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation for April to print between 3.5% and 4.2%, with all respondents anticipating further firming under the revised CPI series with 2024 as the base year.India’s retail inflation had risen to 3.4% in March from 3.21% in February, driven by higher food and energy prices amid tensions in West Asia.“CPI inflation is expected to rise in April 2026 from March, largely on account of hardening food and beverages inflation led by edible oils, vegetables, and readymade food segments,” said Aditi Nayar, chief economist at ratings agency Icra Ltd.Economists at Societe Generale said simultaneous increases in vegetable and edible oil prices tend to broaden food inflation pressures, raising the risk of spillovers into headline inflation.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.From India and Vietnam upgrading their bilateral ties and setting a $25 billion trade target by 2030, to four states declaring assembly election verdicts amid a mixed economic backdrop, direct tax collections falling short of revised estimates in FY26, manufacturing and services activity rebounding in April, and India’s domestic LPG consumption taking a hit due to West Asia war—here is a compilation of this week’s news in numbers.India and Vietnam have set a target of raising bilateral trade to $25 billion by 2030, following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vietnam President To Lam in New Delhi this week. The two countries also upgraded ties to an “Enhanced Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”, signalling deeper cooperation in trade, defence and technology.Trade has steadily expanded over the past decade, crossing $18 billion in FY26.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The emphatic victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in elections to the West Bengal assembly focuses attention on an important aspect of India’s political economy: the role of politics and governance in economic development. The link is hard to quantify, especially in an era where economics is increasingly about mathematical models.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The theme in Monday’s election results of three of the four major states that went to the latest hustings was the same—anti-incumbency. Incumbents were sent packing in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holding ground in Assam and likely Puducherry.When the euphoria peters out, the hard part will be in governing for all four major states.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The air in West Bengal crackles with the raw electricity of change, but also brings with it real challenges for the new party in power.As the counting of votes continued on the evening of 4 May, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raced ahead in more than 200 seats, dwarfing the Trinamool Congress’s trailing presence of around 80, with others negligible.This is no incremental gain. It signals a wave that is poised to dismantle chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s 15-year citadel.The discontent against Banerjee’s party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), fuelled by years of alleged corruption, violence, and administrative decay, has finally overwhelmed loyalty to Didi’s welfare architecture.This verdict builds on a decade of simmering anti-incumbency.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When a film star enters politics, the first question is usually whether charisma can translate into votes. In Tamil Nadu, where cinema and politics have long shared a porous border, that question has been asked for decades. But the more consequential question—what happens after the victory—has often been the harder one.As a journalist and a commentator of many elections, I tend to believe that Vijay’s entry into the chief minister’s office marks a new phase in the state’s political evolution, and it arrives with a complex mix of expectations, vulnerabilities, and structural tests.The most immediate challenge is administrative.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Poriborton (meaning change in Bengali) was the big call across West Bengal, and poriborton it was when the final results emerged on Monday.The Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to register a watershed win in the 294-member assembly to unseat the ruling Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) and end a 15-year rule.As of 5.30 pm, BJP had a vote share of 45.4% and had won or was leading in 202 of the 293 seats for which results are available. It was largely a binary contest, and the other parties, like the Indian National Congress (INC) and Communist parties, barely registered a presence in seats.In the 2021 assembly polls, the BJP had emerged as the leading opposition party with 77 seats and around 38% vote share, up from a mere three seats and 10% vote share in 2016.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Chennai: To say the Kerala government’s finances are in a mess is an understatement. The state has a litany of woes which successive governments have failed to take head on. Its ability to raise revenue is impaired.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Whether the majority of the exit poll predictions regarding the landslide victory of the incumbent National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government come true or not will be known later on Monday. However, the newly-formed government, irrespective of the party, will be inheriting an economy full of contradictions—of high economic growth and low income.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.At his confirmation hearing last week, Kevin Warsh [US President Donald Trump’s nominee for Federal Reserve Chair] dodged questions about interest rates, tariffs and the 2020 election. As his nomination to be chair of the Federal Reserve heads toward confirmation after clearing the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday, it’s worth focusing on an equally troubling gap in his public record: his near silence on anything related to employment.Warsh gave a perfunctory nod to the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate—price stability and maximum employment—in last week’s testimony, but while he extensively discussed the former, he essentially ignored the latter.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The 2028 Democratic presidential primary race won’t begin in earnest until after November’s midterm elections. But speed dating is already well under way among prospective candidates and major donors on Wall Street and elsewhere.Sen.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Hooghly/Durgapur/Murshidabad/Medinipur/Kolkata: On a sultry April afternoon in Singur, Hooghly, a group of men sit shirtless on the cool floor under a tin shed, taking turns drinking cold water from a jug to beat the heat as they chat about the upcoming elections.“We’ve seen the Trinamool Congress government for 15 years now and there really isn’t much work that has been done. Development and infrastructure are lacking, and unemployment is a big concern,” says Pranab Parui, a vegetable seller.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The fight against Russia in Ukraine is now firmly Europe’s war.The European Union this week signed off on the equivalent of $105 billion in loans to keep Kyiv afloat through the end of next year—but officials warned that it may not be enough.With Russia determined to continue its four-year invasion until it dominates its neighbor, and President Trump pulling back from Europe and focused on the Middle East, Ukraine finds itself reliant on the traditionally gun-shy EU in its war for survival.The confirmation of the loan ahead of a summit in Cyprus on Thursday, long blocked by recently ousted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, marked a fresh sign of resolve and unity in the bloc.“For the first time in years there are no Russians in the room,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on social media, an apparent reference to Orbán, who had warm ties with Moscow but stayed away from the EU summit after recently losing an election. “Huge relief,” Tusk added.The funding decision, which Orban cleared this week following his election defeat, comes at a critical moment for Ukraine, which needs the cash to sustain its economy and its military amid relentless Russian assaults as Moscow seeks to grab more land in its neighbor’s east.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Velmurugan J., a hospitality sector executive from Kulithalai town near Karur, considers himself lucky. He decided to attend actor Joseph Vijay’s political rally in Karur on 27 September last year, urged on by his colleague who was a die-hard fan of the star.By noon, they reached Velusamypuram, the venue of the meeting on the Karur-Erode highway, and took a vantage position near a generator shed. The crowd was swelling and the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) leader’s arrival was delayed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.WASHINGTON—President Trump’s decision to post an AI-generated image depicting himself as a Christ-like figure sparked outrage on the religious right, triggering the most significant pushback from his Catholic and evangelical Christian supporters since he returned to the White House.“We are a little bit beside ourselves,” said John Yep, CEO of Catholics for Catholics, a nonprofit that has hosted faith events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club and maintains close ties to the administration.On Sunday night, Yep was eating dinner with friends after church services when his phone lighted up with messages about the now-deleted image in which Trump, wearing robes, touches the forehead of a man lying in a hospital bed.The collective sentiment around the table, Yep said in an interview, “was one of sadness, because we were truly confused by this president after Catholics gave him such a resounding vote, and yet he is treating our faith with such disrespect at this moment.” He immediately reached out to contacts close to the administration to voice his “sadness and frustration.”Rod Dreher, a conservative writer who attended the Catholic baptism of Vice President JD Vance before he entered politics, went further. “Not saying Trump is the Antichrist,” Dreher told The Wall Street Journal.

₹3.3 trillion and more will come if LDF returns to power,” he said. As many as 15 lakh jobs have been created so far and more will be created if the policies continue, he added.Apart from need for change, LDF is also battling perception issues. UDF has been accusing LDF of having a tacit understanding with the BJP.