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clean-fuel vehicles. The latest amendment dilutes that requirement, allowing the induction of BS-VI compliant petrol two-wheelers into fleets for another year.The norms apply to a wide range of companies with delivery fleets, including food delivery, e-commerce and ride-hailing firms such as Zomato, Swiggy and Rapido, among others.“A number of representations have also been received from various aggregators, delivery service providers and e-commerce entities, as well as gig workers, highlighting their difficulties with a request to allow them to continue induction of petrol-run two-wheelers in the existing fleet,” the 23 December amendment said.Email queries sent to the environment ministry and CAQM on December 30 remained unanswered till press time.

Indian stock markets: The Indian stock market ended largely flat on Tuesday, 30 December, as investors stayed cautious amid a lack of fresh domestic triggers and mixed global cues. The Sensex closed at 84,675.08, down 20 points, or 0.02%, while the Nifty 50 slipped 3 points, or 0.01%, to 25,938.85.

Despite domestic equities becoming the worst-performing among emerging markets in 2025, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have continued to invest in India through its primary markets, and the trend is expected to persist next year.Investment bankers and money managers have attributed this trend to FPIs' conviction in the country's long-term structural growth prospects, even as the cohorts tactically reduce their cash market exposure due to a range of factors, including softer US interest rates and a slowdown in earnings growth.While FPIs have net sold a record ₹2.34 trillion of cash or secondary market shares this calendar year, following steeper valuations compared to emerging market (EM) peers amid an earnings growth pause, their purchases through the primary route at ₹73,749 crore this year have been the second-highest, only to the record ₹80,314 crore inflows in 2021.This bullishness on India is also evident historically. From 2015 to the end of 2025, FPIs have been net sellers six out of 11 times in the cash market.

Mint has reviewed a copy of the letter.Many travellers at the Navi Mumbai airport also took to the social media platform X to complain about the lack of cellular connectivity at the airport over the last few days. The airport, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 8 October, began operations on 25 December, with the arrival of its first commercial flight.A NMIAL spokesperson, in response to Mint’s queries, said that it has not denied permission to the telecom services providers (TSPs) and is discussing the matter with them.“Owing to the delay by other TSPs, NMIA is providing free, high-speed Wi-Fi services reiterating its commitment to provide high-speed connectivity to all the passengers,” the spokesperson said.Queries emailed to operators’ lobby the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Tuesday evening did not elicit any response until press time.S.P.

₹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.

Mint. However, the changes are unlikely to win NFRA’s backing, which has already approved its own, tougher version of the Standard on Auditing (SA) 600 and referred it to the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) for notification, said a person informed about the development.SA 600 in its current form allows the lead auditor to rely on the work of a subsidiary’s auditor, subject to safeguards.

₹100 to the dollar.Former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian argued this week in the Indian Express that ₹100 per dollar is a worthy new-year resolution for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), not least because China and East Asia have kept their currencies cheap to exploit foreign markets: “The markets are trying to do a desirable job that policymakers have been unable or unwilling to do.”Indian companies are savvy enough to hedge their currency exposure.We should do more to help our most labour-intensive industries: ‘Make in India’ needs to be rebranded as ‘Hand-Make in India.’ A much-needed pen-stroke reform, says Laila Tyabji, founder of Dastkar, is to “simply remove GST on handlooms; it needlessly increases the paperwork and end price.”I buy handloom or hand-dyed cotton and walk 400 metres from my apartment to a tailor who adeptly makes shirts out of Kerala mundu material and even delicate jamdani that looks like candyfloss.Consider renaming Ease of Doing Business as a more truthful ‘unease of doing business,’ thus focusing on reducing the complexity of dealing with the government.It is wonderful, of course, that we can pay our taxes online almost as easily as buying a book off Amazon, but our tax system is still too complex and does little to widen the tax base. In fact, the last budget arguably narrowed it by raising the income threshold for income tax.In a country as unequal as ours, we need an inheritance tax.

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] India’s telecom sector moves into 2026, the stage is set for major, high-stakes developments.

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.

The year 2025 emerged as a pivotal year for household finances—marked by significant changes like a reduction in mandatory annuitization in the National Pension System (NPS), lower income tax rates, GST slab rationalization, and the introduction of new labour codes—laying the groundwork for how Indians will plan, save, and invest in 2026.For instance, the new tax regime has emerged as the obvious choice for most taxpayers following the increase in the rebate limit to ₹12 lakh. To make the old regime work, taxpayers would now need to claim deductions of over ₹8 lakh a year—a tough target given the ₹1.5 lakh cap under Section 80C and no change in the ₹50,000 standard deduction for years.

₹6,049 crore, chief executive officer Akhilesh Kumar Dixit said in an interview on Monday.The enterprise and equity values of the deal are estimated at $723 million and $500 million, respectively, said another person in the know of the developments.The proposed transaction would rank among the largest deals in India’s fast-growing smart metering sector and highlights the financial stress at EESL, even as IntelliSmart plays a key role in the country’s $30-billion programme to replace 250 million conventional electricity meters with smart ones.Set up in 2019, IntelliSmart was awarded 22 million smart meter orders in the backdrop of India running the world’s largest electricity smart metering programme that aims to replace 250 million conventional meters with smart ones at a $30 billion investment. This will not just help reduce power theft but also ensure reliable electricity supply.IntelliSmart has installed 5 million smart meters and has presence across Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Bihar.

₹25,000 crore safety net, as the Union Budget for FY26 could unveil a risk guarantee fund designed to ease financing bottlenecks and attract capital to stalled projects. The move comes amid rising project delays, cost overruns, and higher borrowing costs that have long constrained investment flows into the sector.Modelled on credit guarantee schemes for small businesses, the fund, likely managed by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC), would underwrite development risks for infrastructure projects, allowing banks and financial institutions to lend on easier terms, said two government officials aware of the development.

₹2,000-crore technology upgradation scheme for small businesses in the 2026-27 budget, aimed at boosting the adoption of energy-efficient machinery, two people aware of the development said.The technology upgradation scheme, proposed by the Union ministry of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME), and currently under discussion, will cover MSMEs with annual turnover of less than ₹50 crore, offering them a 20% capital subsidy for purchase of energy-efficient machinery, smart manufacturing, and automation upgrades, said the first of the two persons cited earlier, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.A micro enterprise has an annual turnover of up to ₹5 crore, a small enterprise up to ₹50 crore, and a medium enterprise up to ₹500 crore.The plan comes amid several countries introducing their own carbon taxes on imports from nations with weaker climate regulations. The European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) comes into effect from 1 January.

India Ageing Report 2023 projects that the number of persons aged 60 years and above would double from 149 million in 2023 to over 347 million (25% of the population) by 2050. The dependency ratio would grow from 16% in 2020 to 34% by 2050.This has profound social, political and economic implications.

Pension System (NPS) to increase its wider acceptance among households, while the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) took some tough calls to plug complete withdrawals of the provident fund. Here are the headline events of 2025 in the space that you should take note of.NPS is a defined contribution plan. The original product required an investment for a certain number of years, and on vesting or maturity, which coincides with the traditional retirement age of 60, you annuitise at least 40% of that corpus to buy a pension for life.

The government is likely to announce a manufacturing-focused incentive scheme under the Drone Shakti initiative in the Union budget for 2026-27 to accelerate the indigenous production of unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a Moneycontrol report. The proposed scheme is expected to run for five years and align with the period of the Sixteenth Finance Commission, the report said.Here are three drone stocks that stand to benefit should an announcement materialize.

Ajanta Pharma Ltd announced an in-licensing agreement with Biocon this week to market semaglutide across 26 emerging markets, including Africa, West Asia, and Central Asia. The patent for the weight loss drug expires in most of these markets by March, with commercialisation expected post regulatory approvals in late 2026 or early 2027.

World Bank report in September on container port performance. "The port’s CPPI values were 66 (2020), 62 (2021), 35 (2022), 48 (2023), and 100 (2024).

₹6.64 a unit, even though solar and wind power come for ₹2.5-4. The key reason is the 'infirm' nature of renewable power - lack of generation when the sun doesn't shine, and the wind doesn't blow.Even those renewable projects with combined solar and wind generation, plus battery storage, are not finding takers despite being available at ₹5 a unit or lower, as discoms remain wary of battery supply chains. Meanwhile, thermal provides the necessary base load.

Mint has seen copies of both filings.Privately held Natsoft filed its lawsuit against Hexaware in an Illinois district court on 23 September, alleging that Hexaware used application modernization software whose functioning was covered by nine patents developed by Updraft, an IT services company Natsoft acquired in 2024. The company claimed Hexaware marketed these products for both application modernization and GenAI use cases.

Mint reported earlier on 1 November that PMI, EKA and Olectra were eyeing this tender. EKA confirmed the development to Mint.