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Shaping Urban India: By Design, Not By Default, by Janaagraha, a Bengaluru-based non-profit.India has urbanized at a fairly steady clip, broadly in line with its G20 peers. But fine feathers don’t always make fine birds.Estimates by the United Nations’ Degree of Urbanisation (DegUrba) show that about 84.1% of India’s population qualifies as urban.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Rail engineering firm Jupiter Wagons Ltd is preparing a major global expansion through exports of battery energy storage systems (BESS), wheelsets and freight wagons, while also entering passenger coach and metro train manufacturing through a partnership with a global rail company.The company expects exports and new mobility businesses to become key growth drivers over the next three years as it diversifies beyond its core wagon manufacturing operations, looking to double its revenues by 2028-29.“Exports could contribute 20-25% of revenue over the next few years as we scale up our battery systems, wheelsets and wagon businesses internationally,” managing director Vivek Lohia told Mint in an interview, adding that the company’s proposed entry into rail coach manufacturing later in 2026 would also provide opportunities for tapping the market for exports.The company’s current exports contribute less than 5% of its annual revenue.Jupiter Wagons, which accounts for over 40% of India’s wagon manufacturing capacity, is already exporting BESS to the US and African markets and plans to scale overseas shipments significantly after securing international certifications later this fiscal year.“We are pursuing international certifications for BESS to comply with stringent US and EU standards that will help scale exports of this product,” Lohia said.The company’s containerized BESS based on lithium-iron-phosphate technology are being deployed for renewable energy storage, industrial backup, EV charging and data centre applications.“We are seeing strong demand not only from engineering, procurement, and construction applications but also from commercial and industrial users,” Lohia said.The company

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.With Dhurandhar: The Revenge crossing the ₹1,000 crore mark at the domestic box office—becoming the first Hindi film to do so—industry watchers believe India’s theatrical potential could stretch to ₹1,200–1,500 crore for the right film.But unlocking that ceiling is far from easy.Films remain constrained by limited and uneven screen penetration across smaller towns, high ticket pricing that curbs footfalls, and intense competition that shortens exclusive theatrical runs. Add to that the shortage of consistently mass-appealing commercial entertainers, and record-breaking numbers become rare events rather than the norm.“The success of the Dhurandhar franchise clearly highlights the headroom in India’s theatrical market and demonstrates how scale-driven content can unlock exceptional outcomes,” said said Bhuvanesh Mendiratta, managing director, Miraj Entertainment Ltd.The opportunity is significant, but structural challenges persist.Screen penetration remains the biggest constraint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s chaotic public transportation system could be in for a major overhaul, with federal think tank NITI Aayog beginning work on a national framework for first- and last-mile mobility, according to two people aware of the development and a document reviewed by Mint.The move is significant given the scale of reliance on informal transit: an estimated 200–300 million Indians depend heavily on privately run rickshaws, tempos and minibuses for last-mile connectivity, with most tier-II, tier-III and smaller towns having limited public transport.The framework is to be finalized by a nominated committee of transportation sector experts, as well as officials from the ministries of road transport and highways, and housing and urban affairs, according to one of the two people cited above, who requested anonymity.“The target for this committee, headed by a NITI Aayog official, is to prepare a report in the next three months,” this person added.The second person cited above said that the move was prompted by the fact that there is currently no formal framework for a transport system widely used by the public. “The committee will try and figure out what can be done about establishing an oversight into this informal system of transport, which is growing rapidly,” the second person said.The document reviewed by Mint showed that government-run systems are available in just 66 of 496 Indian cities with populations above 100,000.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: India’s appetite for Swiss watches is expanding, but the bigger shift is in how consumers are buying them. As the market crossed ₹3,500 crore for the first time in 2025, demand is increasingly being shaped by more informed, deliberate choices—moving away from logo-driven purchases towards craftsmanship, heritage and understated design.“The Indian luxury customer has evolved from buying brands to buying watchmaking,” said Pranav Saboo, managing director and chief executive of Ethos Ltd, one of India’s biggest watch retailersThat shift is showing up across the market.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A soft-spoken civil engineer with a fondness for early mornings and scriptures, Elattuvalapil Sreedharan appears to be an unlikely revolutionary.Yet few individuals have altered urban India as profoundly as he has. The label “Metro Man” barely captures the scale of his impact — especially in Delhi, where he didn’t just build a railway system, but helped change how a city thinks about movement, time and public space.When Sreedharan took charge of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in the late 1990s, the daily commute of a typical Delhite was a case study in hardship.

With the introduction of the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill of 2026 (JV2), India’s government has made one thing unmistakably clear: the decriminalization of various actions covered by the country’s statute book is not a one-time gesture, but a sustained and serious programme of reform. Covering 79 Central Acts in a single sweep, the JV2 Bill follows the Jan Vishwas Act of 2023 and picks up where the Select Committee-examined 2025 bill left off. The ambition behind this exercise deserves recognition on its own terms.

The Mumbai-based company, which focuses on branded land development, has recently expanded into several new locations, including Nagpur, Vrindavan, and Khopoli (Mumbai Metropolitan Region). It sells plots ranging from 1,200 sq ft to 5,000 sq ft, priced between ₹25 lakh and ₹5 crore, depending on size and location.“Our approach remains straightforward, wherever strong infrastructure development, improved connectivity and growing economic momentum begin to shape a region’s growth story, HoABL aims to establish an early presence and create branded land developments that cater to both end-users and investors,” chairman Abhinandan Lodha told Mint.In recent years, plotted sales have seen strong momentum in sales and a rise in prices, prompting many mainstream real estate developers to enter the segment.“The average ticket size for our plotted developments is currently around ₹97 lakh per plot, with the average plot size being approximately 1,500 sq ft.

After a strong run over the past few years, railway stocks have entered a period of correction, with valuations cooling and execution concerns weighing on sentiment.Yet the broader story remains intact.The Union Budget 2026-27 has announced a record ₹2.93 trillion (tn) allocation toward railways, focused on capacity expansion, modernisation, and network upgrades.This creates a steady pipeline of orders across segments, from rolling stock to EPC and signalling.In this backdrop, we examine five beaten-down railway stocks.#1 Texmaco Rail & EngineeringTexmaco Rail, an Adventz group company, is a leading player in the Indian railway manufacturing. It’s the largest wagon supplier to Indian Railways with a production capacity of 12,000 to 15,000 wagons.It designs and manufactures a diverse range of freight rolling stock for the government, the private sector, and export markets.Also, Texmaco is one of India’s largest exporters of foundry goods.

₹15,000, convinced it’s fair because it served you well. Then the offers arrive: ₹5,000, ₹6,000. You feel insulted.

taxpayers are opting for the new tax regime, which offers few exemptions for allowances. Companies don’t want to keep bearing the administrative burden of giving an allowance that no one uses.

AI summit.“For a creator like me who talks about AI and engineering, I found all the brands I could create content with under one roof. I earned in one week what I usually earn in a month from several of the collaborations with brands I had at the summit,” said Arsh Goyal, a tech and engineering content creator with 488,000 Instagram followers.“I also got to meet the leadership of global tech giants and created content with them out of goodwill to build on my authenticity and long-term relationships with the brands,” Goyal added.

New Delhi: With just a month left in the financial year, India has operationalized only four airports under its regional air connectivity scheme UDAN—the lowest number added in a single fiscal year since the programme began nine years ago.However, the civil aviation ministry denied that there was any loss in momentum in adding UDAN airports.UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) was central to the government’s push to expand aviation beyond the large cities and make air travel accessible and affordable for everyone in the country. However, data submitted by the ministry of civil aviation in Parliament show that airport additions under UDAN have declined steadily after peaking early.Airports operationalized this year were those at Amravati in Maharashtra, Purnea in Bihar and Datia and Satna in Madhya Pradesh.

Mint.The growth ambition comes as India’s premium personal care and wellness market intensifies, drawing aggressive FMCG majors, venture-backed startups and global brands. Cipla Health is betting that its pharmaceutical lineage and scientific credibility can help it scale brands into large consumer franchises.“We don't have as many large consumer health brands in India at the moment,” Puri said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Mumbai: With affluent flyers buying food, chocolates, perfumes and duty-free liquor, Adani Airport Holdings Ltd made more incremental income from its non-aeronautical business than from its mainstay of managing air traffic during the first nine months of FY26. Aero income of the Adani Group company, which is the biggest private airport operator, grew by over a fifth year-on-year to ₹3,495 crore during the first nine months of FY26.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. As part of the Income Tax Rules, 2026, notified last week, the government has proposed three key changes that may tilt the needle towards the old tax regime again. First, the children’s education allowance exemption is to be increased sharply from a token ₹100 per month per child to ₹3,000 per month per child.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Tax simplification should make us happy. After all, who wants a complicated tax law? That is precisely what the government set out to do by introducing the Income-tax Act, 2025—effectively a rewrite of the six-decade-old Income-tax Act, 1961 using clearer language and better-organized sections.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: Subsidies continue to serve critical national needs, and cannot be withdrawn abruptly, expenditure secretary V. Vualnam said in an interview, as he outlined a gradual course correction in India's subsidy and spending framework.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. For years, grocery shopping was an exercise in disappointment for Venkataramanan Reddy, a 58-year-old farmer living near Rayachoty, a town of 1.25 lakh in Andhra Pradesh’s Rayalaseema region. At the small neighbourhood stores he relied on, the quality of products, especially staples such as lentils, was poor, even as prices remained high.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: Indian Railway Finance Corp (IRFC) is reworking its foreign-currency borrowing mix, exploring a plan to swap part of its dollar-denominated loans into Swiss francs to limit foreign exchange losses and lower funding costs amid a free fall in the rupee against the greenback. The move reflects how the government's rail financier, which has nearly $8 billion in overseas exposure, is responding to currency volatility even as it reshapes its business beyond funding the Indian Railways.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. FOR SEVEN decades Tokyo was considered the world’s most populous city. That was 15 years too long, according to data released last month by the UN.