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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Some shows on streaming platforms may have gained high viewership from the hype built around them and generous marketing spends, but these web originals don’t necessarily become audience favourites.

Airtel Payments Bank has surpassed one billion transactions on its platform in January 2025, reflecting a 47 per cent year-on-year growth in transaction volume across businesses, according to a top official. Anubrata Biswas, MD and CEO at Airtel Payments Bank told PTI that the «milestone» underscores increasing adoption of digital banking and payment solutions. It also highlights the diverse business model that the bank has built over the years. The bank caters to three key customer segments, urban digital, underbanked, and industries and institutions. «The bank's extensive digital presence combined with its deep distribution of over 5,00,000 banking points across India has been instrumental in making its services accessible to millions of customers in both urban and rural areas. Today, the Bank's monthly transacting users exceed well above 100 million,» Biswas said.

Kangana Ranaut’s political drama Emergency recently premiered on an OTT platform, igniting discussions across social media. The film, which delves into the controversial 21-month Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1975, has received a mix of critical acclaim and audience appreciation.

Ayushmann Khurrana has been named as the official 'Fit India Icon' by Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya at the inaugural ceremony which took place on Sunday in New Delhi. The actor 40-year-old actor has joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Fit India Movement which aims «to inspire people to focus on their fitness and wellbeing,» according to a press release. The Fit India Movement is dedicated to fostering a culture of fitness through various initiatives and events. Its core objectives include promoting fitness as easy, fun, and free by showcasing simple and enjoyable ways to incorporate physical activity into daily routines, eliminating barriers to fitness. Khurrana said «Good health empowers us to do anything». «When your health is good, the challenges in life whether personal or professional seem manageable. But when your health is compromised, it becomes the only challenge that matters. A healthy individual is capable, confident, and resilient even when the world around them feels uncertain,» he said in a statement. «Health truly is everything. A healthy nation is a wealthy nation. When we are healthy, we are more productive, more prosperous and contribute to nation-building,» he added.

The accompanying caption on platform X states, “1950: Car Parking on M.G. Road, Bangalore." First shared on March 15, the post has since accumulated over 22,000 views. While numerous individuals admired the old-world charm of Bengaluru, opinions remained divided on whether the city’s past was indeed superior to its present.

March Madness 2025 is heating up as the 68-team bracket for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament was officially revealed on Selection Sunday, March 16. Fans across the country are gearing up for a thrilling ride as college basketball's biggest tournament kicks off. Here’s a breakdown of the full schedule for the upcoming tournament, including when and where to catch all the live action.

Their spacecraft, Dragon, is set to return to Earth with valuable scientific research on Tuesday, March 18, 2025, and NASA will provide live coverage of the event. Though the final splashdown location will be confirmed closer to the event, it is expected to be off the coast of Florida, near the Kennedy Space Center. The live broadcast will kick off on Monday, March 17 at 10:45 pm EDT (8:15 am IST) with the spacecraft’s hatch closure preparations, and coverage will continue through the entire return process on Tuesday, March 18.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Even as Indian stock markets go through a rough patch, Chinese equities have rebounded after lagging for around a decade. Global investors are looking to ride this rally.

Tata Play FanCode Sports, a platform service that will provide its Direct-To-Home and streaming subscribers access to cricket, football, kabaddi, golf, and motorsports, including Formula 1. Tata Play FanCode Sports is set to air over 100 hours of live sports every month, covering more than eight major sports and featuring top tournaments, including the Carabao Cup, Copa del Rey, Concacaf Champions Cup, Australia Tour of West Indies, South Africa Tour of Zimbabwe, and a host of domestic and international T20 leagues. The service will also feature Formula 1 content, bringing coverage of all 24 Grand Prix weekends like never before.

Blackstone Group is foraying into India’s rapidly growing housing property market, marking a strategic shift after leading the country’s commercial property space, with clear focus on the mid-income and premium segment of the market to begin with, said persons familiar with the plan. While the global alternative asset management firm has already established itself as India’s largest office and logistics landlord, and expanded aggressively into data centers, the proposed acquisition of listed company Kolte Patil Developers, marks its first big bet on housing market. «The plan goes beyond investment to building execution and development capabilities, with no capital constraints for growth. Previously, assets were acquired and consolidated, as seen with Nucleus Office Parks, Horizon Industrial Parks, and Nexus Select. In contrast, the strategy for housing focuses on establishing the platform first and then adding assets,» said one of the persons mentioned above.

«It is a fact that the party's independent strength and influence have not grown… And that's primarily been due to the erosion in our base of support in West Bengal and Tripura, two of the strong states that we have,» Karat said in an interview with PTI. «So, the focus of our forthcoming party congress is how we strengthen the party,» the CPI(M) interim coordinator added. The CPI(M) had 43 MPs in the 14th Lok Sabha from 2004 to 2009. Its tally declined to 16 in 2009, nine in 2014 and three in 2019. The party won four seats in the Lok Sabha in the 2024 elections. In state assemblies, the CPI(M)-led Left Front was defeated by the TMC in West Bengal in 2011 after being in power for 34 years. It was defeated by the BJP in Tripura — which the CPI(M)-led coalition had governed since 1993 — in 2018.

Baidu released a new artificial intelligence reasoning model Sunday and made its AI chatbot services free to consumers as ferocious competition grips the sector. Technology companies in China have been scrambling to release improved AI platforms since start-up DeepSeek shocked its rivals with its open source and highly cost-efficient model in January. In a post on WeChat, Baidu announced the launch of its latest X1 reasoning model — which the company claims performs similarly to DeepSeek's but for lower cost — and a new foundation model, Ernie 4.5.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Union Budget for 2024-25 rightly focused on promoting inclusive growth and enabling employment-led development in India. With a goal of assisting the poor and vulnerable groups, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a scheme for the socioeconomic upliftment of Indian workers as the government tries to help them raise their incomes and attain sustainable livelihoods for a better quality of life.

Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" in the United States is further proof of President Donald Trump's support for the cryptocurrency sector. Trump earlier this month signed an executive order establishing the reserve, which White House crypto chief David Sacks has likened to «a digital Fort Knox», comparing it to the stockpiling of gold bars at the US military base. Gold is held in reserves by countries worldwide as the metal is seen as a safe-haven asset, protecting against financial instability such as high inflation. The metal on Friday surpassed $3,000 per ounce for the first time, boosted by an uncertain economic outlook amid Trump's tariffs. Gold reserves can help also stabilise a country's currency, while bars are used as collateral for loans and transactions.

Fincantieri is one of the largest shipbuilding companies in the world, with over 230 years of history and more than 7,000 ships built. Fincantieri is the exclusive supplier for the Italian Navy, a partner of the US Navy and numerous foreign navies, and a key player in some of the most important European Defence partnership programs. In an exclusive interview with ET’s Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, Pierroberto Folgiero, Managing Director and CEO of Fincantieri SpA, explores shipbuilding opportunities & IMEEC partnership with India. India is emerging as a global hub for shipbuilding. How does Fincantieri see opportunities for partnership with Indian shipyards and industry players? India’s growth from primarily a domestic focus to a global player in shipbuilding, in tandem with its rise to the fastest-growing large economy in the world, brings exiciting opportunities for collaboration, and we view this as an invitation to share knowledge and build upon complementary strengths.

Vice President JD Vance has found himself at the center of an online controversy following remarks he made about his wife, Usha Vance, who also holds the title of Second Lady of the United States. The incident took place during a public appearance in Michigan, where his comments quickly drew widespread criticism across social media platforms. A video capturing Vance’s statement, which he seemingly intended as a lighthearted joke, did not sit well with the internet audience. Standing with Usha positioned behind him, Vance acknowledged her contributions as Second Lady before quipping, «Here's the thing. The cameras are all on; anything I say, no matter how crazy, she has to smile, laugh and celebrate it.» True to his words, Usha responded accordingly, smiling and laughing as the gathered crowd reacted to his comment.

In a post on microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter), on Saturday, Sharma wrote, “Many Indian youth have come in the past 3-4 years, asking ‘How can I become a great investor.’ I say: ‘Move abroad. Get any job—even a driver in the Gulf makes Rs. 75k/pm. Build knowledge on the side. In a few years, you will have knowledge AND, mobile, free-flowing, UNCAGED USD capital.’”

Democrats are smarting over Trump's radical spending cuts which have shredded entire sections of government and seen Congress largely bypassed in what critics say is an unconstitutional exercise of power by the White House. Many in the party argue that refusing to back the Republican bill funding the US government for another six months would be a chance for Democrats to demonstrate opposition to the Trump project. Republicans have a slim majority with 53 of the 100 senators, but need some Democratic support to reach the necessary 60 votes for getting their bill through. Ahead of the Friday midnight deadline, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer — who has long insisted that it is bad politics to shut down the government — said he would support the bill. A Democratic blockade of the bill and the ensuing chaos of the entire US government temporarily being out of funds would be «a gift» to Trump, he said.

OfBusiness. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can also enhance employment from 110 million to 175 million, particularly in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, it said. «AI and technology transformation can scale-up SMEs production and then reach to 50% contribution to the GDP from the current 30%, and enhancing employment from 110 million to 175 million, particularly in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, would not be difficult. This would prove to be a major game-changer for the Indian economy,» OfBusiness said in a statement. It said most SMEs are looking forward to adopting AI & ML in their business operations to upscale production.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The maker of the wildly popular mobile game Pokémon Go is making a sharp turn toward a new frontier in AI research.

Kunal Kamra. On Wednesday, Zomato wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Some people skip giving ratings to delivery partners, the same people get upset when their work does not get recognition.” Kamra wasted no time in responding with a sharp retort, “Someone people skip giving minimum wage & social security same people get upset when they are sent to prison.” His comment reignited discussions on gig worker wages, with social media users quickly taking sides. Some supported Zomato’s stance, while others backed Kamra’s argument about fair pay.