Experts Financial News

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.

In the past few months United Nations-sponsored negotiations to tackle climate change, plastic pollution, loss of global species and a growing number of deserts have either outright failed or come out with limited outcomes that didn't address the scale of the problems. It's been three years since activist Greta Thunberg dismissed global talks as «blah-blah-blah,» which became a rallying cry for young environmentalists. «If you are not feeling some kind of grief about what's going on, you're obviously not understanding what's going on,» said climate negotiations veteran analyst Alden Meyer of the European think-tank E3G. He said he's been watching humanity «collectively fail as a species.»

Darshan Thoogudeepa and other accused in the Renukaswamy murder case. A proposal will be submitted to the state government in this regard, he said. The Karnataka High Court on Friday granted conditional bail to Darshan, who is accused number 2 in the case. The bench of Justice S Vishwajith Shetty had also granted bail to Darshan's friend Pavithra Gowda, who is accused number 1, and other accused — R Nagaraju, Anu Kumar alias Anu, Lakshman M, Jagadeesh alias Jagga and Pradoosh S Rao.

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.

Investec, Equirus, and JM Financial have shared their outlooks on Afcons Infrastructure, Delhivery, and Piramal Pharma, respectively, projecting significant upsides for investors.

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.

Over the past week, gold prices have dropped by Rs 1,900 per 10 grams, while silver has seen a larger decline of Rs 4,900 per kg.

Israel Katz told Knesset lawmakers on Monday (local time), as reported by Times of Israel. Katz's comments to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee were reportedly made in a closed-door meeting, but leaks of his remarks were reported widely in the Hebrew press. «Israel is closer than ever to another hostage deal,» Katz was quoted as saying.

Markets are pricing in a more than 90% probability of a 0.25-percentage-point cut in the Fed funds rate this week. Officials are likely to pencil in higher «dot plots» for rates, notwithstanding the dispersion in forecasts among them, together with a move up in the terminal rate closer to what the market expects. Finally, while Chair Jerome Powell will not close off his options for January completely, he is expected to signal at his press conference that the central bank will stand pat when the Federal Open Market Committee meets next month.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is likely to discuss a number of proposals including revamping rules for initial public offerings of small and medium enterprises, changes to the framework for custodians such as doubling their minimum net worth to ₹100 crore from the current requirement of ₹50 crore and expanding the ambit of unpublished price-sensitive information. The Sebi board is scheduled to meet on December 18. The board will consider whether to raise the minimum application size for the public offerings of small and medium(SMEs) to ₹2 lakh or even higher at ₹4 lakh from the existing ₹1 lakh. The proposed tightening of rules comes in the wake of instances of diversion of issue proceeds to shell companies controlled by promoters and inflation of revenue by circular transactions through related parties.

Federal Reserve. A key stock benchmark for the region climbed, as did shares in Australia and Japan. South Korean equities fell, while futures for Hong Kong stocks pointed to a decline. The moves came after a positive session on Wall Street, where the Nasdaq 100 gained more than 1% to reach another record high.

China while suggesting that they might be really inflated, reported Business Insider. According to Business Insider, while speaking at an event which was hosted by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Gao Shanwen eventually stated that the actual GDP growth of China could be averaging somewhere around 2% over the past two to three years, in spite of the official figures reporting close to nearly 5%. He also made a speculation that the future growth rates might realistically range between 3% and 4%, while the government will likely continue to report around 5%. Also Read :It's official! Don Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle had a friendly split; source says, she is intelligent, sm

Lionel Messi’s animated series is set to entertain young viewers globally. Titled Messi and the Giants, the series blends adventure with creativity and will be available on Disney platforms.

pharma companies and government officials will meet Tuesday to iron out issues regarding over the counter (OTC) drugs. «Appropriate use of OTC drugs improves accessibility and affordability for treatment and prevention of commonly occurring conditions.

Mallikarjun Kharge while participating in the Constitution debate, attacked the ruling BJP for promoting "hate politics". Kharge also responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's «jumla» charge at the Congress and said that it's his government which was fooling people with false promises. Arguing against the BJP's charges, Kharge said that it was under the Indira Gandhi government in 1971 that the Indian forces divided Pakistan into two parts and liberated Bangladesh. He also urged the Centre to ensure the safeguarding of Hindu minorities in the neighbouring country. He said that BJP leaders keep abusing Jawaharlal Nehru as well as Mahatma Gandhi and then go on to give lectures on probity in public life. «Merely pointing fingers at each other won't help. The Jan Sangh had once aimed to structure the Constitution based on the laws of Manusmriti. This was the intent of the RSS. Those who despise the tricolour, the Ashoka Chakra and the Constitution are lecturing us. On the day the Constitution was implemented, these people burnt the effigies of Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru at Ramlila Maidan. They insult the Nehru-Gandhi family without shame,» he said.

Prime Ministers' Museum and Library, and wondered what were in these documents which the Gandhi family didn't want to become public. BJP MP Sambit Patra cited reports of the Prime Ministers' Museum and Library's (PMML) deliberations on the issue to note that Nehru's correspondence with Edwina Mountbatten, wife of the last British viceroy to India, and eminent leaders Jayaprakash Narayan and Jagjivan Ram lay with the erstwhile Nehru Museum and Library Society, which returned them to Sonia Gandhi in 2008. Addressing a press conference, Patra said the historical documents belonged to the country and were not anyone's personal property.

Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday initiated the debate on the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha and launched a scathing attack on the Congress accusing the party of amending the Constitution to restrict civil liberties and to protect those in power. Starting with the First Amendment of the Constitution, she accused the Congress of curbing freedom of speech. «In the last seven decades, this living document, our Constitution, has seen many amendments,» she said, adding, "...The Supreme Court in 1950 had ruled in favour of the Communist magazine 'Cross Roads' and the RSS organisational magazine 'Organiser'. But in response, the (then) interim government thought that there was a need for a First Constitutional Amendment and that was brought in by the Indian National Congress and it was essentially to curb freedom. So India, a democratic country which prides itself even today on freedom of expression, saw the first interim government coming up with a constitutional amendment which was to curb the freedom of speech of Indians and that too within one year of adoption of the Constitution..." She added that the First Amendment was done by former PM Jawaharlal Nehru despite MPs being against it, to harm the press and it is still affecting the freedom of media.

SUV sales are driving the share of diesel with nine out of ten diesel-powered vehicles sold in the country this year being SUVs. This has helped boost the share of diesel in the domestic passenger vehicle market for only the second time in 13 years at a time when the auto fuel is getting increasingly outshined by petrol, CNG and electric vehicles. The share of diesel in total PV sales is estimated at 18% as of the first half of December 2024, up from 17.8% in 2023, according to Jato Dynamics, a market research, data and analytics firm. Diesel vehicle sales climbed to 774,000 units from 738,000 units during this period. SUVs have a 55% share of total car sales this year, up from 48.4% in 2023. This is the second instance since 2011 of diesel improving its share in the Indian passenger vehicle market. It last rose in 2022 to 19% from 13% in 2021.