Manufacturing Financial News

From the Sensex delivering over 9% return in 2025 to industrial output rising to a two-year high, Indian exports getting zero-duty access to Australia, the US’s humanitarian aid commitment to the United Nations plunging to the lowest in over 25 years, and a sharp rise in bank fraud amount—here's a compilation of this week's news in numbers. The Indian stock market remained resilient in 2025 despite several external risks like US tariffs lingering throughout the year. The BSE Sensex gained 7,082 points in 2025, recording an increase of 9.1%.

NEW DELHI: The Centre is considering extending the 5% concessional basic customs duty (BCD) on lithium-ion cells used in battery packs for electric vehicles (EVs) for another two years in the upcoming Union budget, according to two people familiar with the matter, as domestic manufacturing has failed to gain momentum.“The proposal from the country’s automobile industry came up during consultations with the ministry of finance,” said one of the two people cited above.“The recommendation is being considered by the Union ministry of finance,” said the second person. Both persons quoted earlier did not want to be identified.The battery accounts for up to half of an EV’s price, and India’s lithium-ion cell imports have surged to $3 billion in FY25 from $1.8 billion in FY22, according to data from the commerce ministry's trade portal.India currently only assembles imported batteries, and demand for these cells is expected to quadruple from the existing 15 gigawatt-hours (GWh) to 60-65 GWh by FY30.

The government is discussing an extension or a completely new production-linked incentives plan for assembling mobile phones in India as the existing ₹40,995 crore scheme is set to expire in March, according to a top government official.A final call on the exact contours of the new or an extended mobile phone PLI scheme has not been taken, and the quantum of incentives has not been decided, S Krishnan, secretary at the ministry of electronics and IT (Meity), said in an interview.“There’s an analysis which shows that some degree of disability continues in the mobile phone electronics industry. While the situation has improved significantly, there still are areas that require improvement and support.

The growing popularity of obesity drugs is expected to spur Indian pharma companies to sign licensing partnerships and distribution deals as they eye the lucrative segment. Indian companies started signing big-ticket deals with innovators for novel GLP-1s, as well as generic versions, last year.

Mint explains.India’s housing sector recorded its second consecutive year of declining sales in 2025, as high prices eroded affordability. Despite a fall in sales volume, rising prices led to growth in transaction value, as developers moved towards premium housing.In contrast, commercial real estate surged, with strong leasing momentum for good office space. Flexible workspaces gained more favour among occupiers and investors, as leading operators such as WeWork India Management Ltd, Indiqube Spaces Ltd, Smartworks Coworking Spaces Ltd went public.Global capability centres (GCCs) emerged as a key office occupier class in the top-tier cities.

The animal spirits seem to be stirring, but the scoreboard tells a mixed story. New project announcements rose nearly 16% sequentially in the October-December quarter (Q3 FY26), almost doubling the momentum seen in the previous three months.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected] Centre is shaping a wider and more deliberate standards strategy for 2026, moving to realign Quality Control Orders (QCOs) with actual testing and laboratory capacity while easing friction with key trading partners.

Homegrown carmakers JSW Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) are open to adopting range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs) if India’s policy framework expands incentives beyond pure electric vehicles, even as experts warn against equating the technology with battery-electric cars.REEVs, also called REX (range extender) hybrids, are always driven by an electric motor but carry a small internal combustion engine (ICE) whose sole role is to generate electricity when the battery charge runs low. Comparatively, strong hybrids have both an electric battery and a powerful ICE engine, both of which can run the vehicle.To be sure, no carmaker in India manufactures or sells REEVs currently.

New Delhi: India’s two-wheeler market has just logged a record year, crossing 20 million units in sales, but the milestone comes with a fresh bout of regulatory uncertainty. Manufacturers are still awaiting a formal notification on the Centre’s proposal to mandate anti-lock braking systems (ABS) on all two-wheelers below 125 cc from 1 January.Even as the cost increase-wary industry pushes for a combined braking system (CBS) as an alternative, Mint explains why the government is pressing ahead with ABS and the safety trade-offs at the centre of the debate.For one, India is the world’s biggest two-wheeler market by sales.

The Indian stock market is no longer a place where bargains are easily available. Thanks to the rally over the past two years, all stocks, including midcaps, have moved up.Riding a mix of earnings growth, policy stability and steady domestic inflows, most now enjoy valuations way above their historical medians.In such an environment, the question for investors is no longer where growth exists; it is how to capitalise on it.

DPIIT) has taken note of the recommendations of a high-level Niti Aayog committee that suggested a softer stance on restrictions on investments from China,” one of the two people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. “Some rounds of inter-ministerial consultations have already been held in this regard, with a recent such consultation taking place in December,” the person said.The shift in thinking marks an emphasis on effective control rather than mere equity holding, as India seeks to balance the need for capital inflows with security considerations.

New Delhi: India’s top manufacturers of scooters, motorcycles and cars are set to close the year on a record high, with two-wheeler retail registrations crossing 20 million and four-wheeler registrations crossing 4.3 million for the first time.According to data from the government's Vahan portal, which records vehicle registrations after they have been sold at dealerships, two-wheeler registrations grew by 7% to 20.2 million units in 2025, breaking the all-time record of 19.6 million registrations in 2018. Meanwhile, passenger vehicle registrations (cars, sports utility vehicles and vans) grew 9% year-on-year to 4.38 million units, also a new record.This growth is reflected in investors' bullishness for the automobile sector, with the Nifty Auto rising 22% during the year, against 10% for the benchmark Nifty 50.Independent analysts have noted over the past few days that the automobile sector as a whole benefited from the goods and services tax (GST) cuts in September, helping it achieve record-high sales.“Following the GST rationalization, demand has picked up across segments and seems to have remained intact even after the festive season.

In a development that is alarming policy makers and public health experts, India's oral nicotine pouch manufacturers are seeking permission to sell products of 6mg strength that are 50% more potent than the current maximum, offering them as therapeutic medical products under the nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) regime, according to two officials and documents reviewed by Mint.With the government running awareness campaigns against tobacco use in the country, this has sparked concerns of nicotine initiation and long-term addiction.The latest development pertains to Vcherish Pvt. Ltd, Harsh Nutricare Pvt.

With the Union budget of fiscal year 2027 (FY27)—finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s ninth—set to be announced soon, India’s governance engine is revving up to add more muscle to the slew of reforms initiated in FY26.The two keywords for the coming budget—de-regulation and de-criminalisation—are being impressed upon all who matter within the government in an effort to make the budget a blueprint for faster economic growth over the medium term, according to two persons informed about developments within the government.The first person cited above said that every ministry and department has been instructed to give proposals for deregulation and decriminalization of laws, rules and procedures. “These are being reviewed and refined at high levels in the government every 10 days,” this person said, requesting anonymity.The second person said that the government will also move to amend two laws in the budget session of Parliament.

₹15,000 crore, as per estimates from the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways. The guidelines speak of three to four shipbuilding clusters in coastal states, with only one in each state.

helmets with every vehicle purchase from 1 January 2026. However, industry representatives cautioned that meeting the timeline would be difficult due to limited supplier capacity.Manufacturers pitched for a phased rollout instead of a hard deadline.

quality control orders (QCOs) between mid-November and early December, even as it launched over 15 new standards in the same period. The number of new standards notified has risen to close to 50 after Saturday's update.The standards create a pipeline for future regulation as the standards can be converted into mandatory QCOs in future.Experts say the latest standards are designed to be flexibile.

Ambuja and Orient have outperformed the broad market index, with 18% and 15% CAGR, respectively, over the last five years. The proposed simplification of organizational structure across Adani’s cement companies should unlock further value for shareholders.The merger ratios approved by the Ambuja board will accord 328 shares of Ambuja Cements for every 100 ACC shares.

New Delhi: India's rollout of surrogate advertising guidelines is likely to be delayed further, as the government struggles to find clear legal authority under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, two people familiar with the matter said. This complicates efforts to rein in indirect promotion of alcohol and indirect promotion ofbrands while prolonging regulatory uncertainty for companies operating under existing advertising restrictions.There is little clarity yet on a timeline for the guidelines even after one-and-a-half years of a government panel first meeting to fix these gaps from which surrogate promotions scrape throughThe consumer law does not define surrogate advertising or treat indirect promotion of prohibited products such as alcohol and tobacco as a standalone offence, limiting the government's ability to issue binding rules.“The consumer affairs ministry is examining whether the guidelines can be rolled out through executive action, while the department of consumer affairs is of the view that the current law allows intervention only when an advertisement is misleading with respect to the product being promoted, limiting the scope for such guidelines,” said the first of the two people cited above.In most such cases, the advertised product, such as packaged water, soda, music CDs or merchandise, is legally sold and not misleading in isolation, even if it uses the same brand name, logo or colours as a prohibited product.

data centres are the refineries converting it into AI-ready fuel. And India is fast emerging as the next global hub.The country generates nearly 20% of the world's data but hosts only 3% of global data centre capacity.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected] Indian government will focus on boosting the adoption of electric buses and trucks and charging infrastructure in 2026, which remains crucial for the nation’s goal of 30% electric mobility by 2030.E-trucks and e-buses under the ₹10,900-crore PM E-Drive scheme would be the government’s priority in 2026, as incentives for electric two- and three-wheelers under the scheme are set to lapse in March 2026, a senior government official directly aware of the development said.Overall adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) rose in India despite supply-chain disruptions in 2025, stemming from China’s grip in rare earths.