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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India is planning to build a six-month strategic reserve of critical minerals to shield its green energy and manufacturing sectors from supply shocks and price swings, two people aware of the matter said. The Union ministries of mines and heavy industries are working on a plan to stockpile imported and locally sourced critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper and rare earth elements, a segment dominated by China.The strategic reserve will act as a long-term safeguard for sectors such as electric mobility, energy storage and electronics manufacturing, which are increasingly dependent on imports, the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Cognizant Technology plans to cut about 4,000 jobs, or roughly 1% of its workforce, two people with knowledge of the matter said, even as slowing demand and a push toward automation weigh on growth and prompted the company to lower its full-year outlook.The company on Wednesday announced Project Leap, a transformation programme involving increased investments in AI, integrated digital offerings, and workforce upskilling. Cognizant expects the programme to cost $230-320 million, including $200-270 million of employee severance and other personnel-related costs, but generate savings of as much as $300 million this year.While Cognizant did not put a number to the employees affected by the restructuring, the management said in a post-earnings analyst call that more than 20,000 freshers would join this year, suggesting reductions in mid-level roles.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India's summer (zaid) crops, including maize, moong, and groundnut, have remained resilient despite scorching heat across several parts of the country. However, an extended heatwave could hurt both yields and crop quality, a senior agricultural scientist warned on Wednesday.Field reports suggest that these short-duration crops, grown between rabi and kharif seasons, are largely holding up, supported by timely irrigation, M.L.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BENGALURU: Prestige Group is preparing to launch a premium senior living brand, entering a fast-growing real estate segment, a top company executive said.The developer has identified land parcels in Bengaluru for its first projects, with an inaugural development likely in north Bengaluru. The brand will be unveiled alongside the first project launch. Prestige is also setting up a dedicated senior living vertical and has hired experienced professionals to lead the business.“We are keen to get into senior living but we plan to do it differently.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India currently levies a 5% basic customs duty on raw cotton imports. The government had temporarily waived this duty between 19 August and 30 September 2025, and later extended this exemption to 31 December 2025.Addressing the media on the supply-chain scenario amid the war in West Asia, Bipin Menon, trade advisor in the textiles ministry, said on Tuesday that discussions were ongoing with the ministry of agriculture and the department of revenue on reducing or eliminating customs duty on cotton.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Over the past few weeks, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks have drawn renewed investor attention. Traditionally, the sector, alongside IT, has been seen as a defensive play during market volatility.The Nifty FMCG index has rallied sharply since early April 2026.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The year 2025 proved highly significant for those tracking interest rates, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) embarked on its most aggressive easing cycle since 2019. Over the course of four policy meetings, the central bank reduced the repo rate by a total of 1.25 percentage points, bringing it down to 5.25%.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Concerned about the rising number of complaints over unfair sales practices in India’s insurance sector, the regulator is planning a major clean-up of how life, health and motor vehicle policies are sold by bringing out a discussion paper on proposed distribution reforms.The next phase of insurance reforms will focus less on headline liberalization and more on fixing structural inefficiencies in pricing, distribution and customer outcomes, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India chairman Ajay Seth said in an interview. IRDAI is also working with the Reserve Bank of India to tighten oversight of banks selling insurance products while pushing for a lower-cost and more transparent model, he said.“We are coordinating with the RBI to curb mis-selling through the bancassurance channel.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Investors will be keenly watching how the US-Iran war-induced volatility in raw materials in March impacted Hindustan Unilever Ltd's (HUL) margins when the packaged consumer goods giant announces its fourth-quarter results on Thursday.HUL is expected to post a profit after tax of ₹2,612 crore and revenue of ₹16,270 crore in the three months ended 31 March, according to Bloomberg's 21-analyst estimate. In the third quarter, it reported a net profit before exceptional items of ₹2,562 crore and revenue of ₹16,235 crore.The company, often considered a proxy for consumption in India, has had a tough March quarter, with several key inputs used across its product portfolio directly exposed to disruptions triggered by the US-Iran war.For example, the price of palm oil, a key ingredient for HUL, which makes soaps under brands such as Lux, Lifebuoy, Dove, Pears, Rexona and Hamam, has been rising as the war has pushed major producers such as Malaysia and Indonesia to increase their biodiesel capacity.Similarly, prices of liquid paraffin, used in creams, have edged up slightly.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Billionaire Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd is undergoing a major restructuring, splitting itself into five independent listed companies: Vedanta Aluminium, Vedanta Oil & Gas, Vedanta Power, Vedanta Iron & Steel, and parent Vedanta Ltd, which will house the zinc and silver businesses through Hindustan Zinc and act as an incubator for new opportunities.While this move is aimed at unlocking value, it creates short-term disruption in the derivatives (futures and options) market. Mint breaks down the process.All futures and options (F&O) contracts of Vedanta will expire on 29 April, irrespective of their original expiry date, Nimish Maheshwari, co-founder of Beat the Street, wrote in a note.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The shift towards passive investing is one of the defining trends of this decade. According to NSE Indices’ Nifty Passive Insight report, released in March, assets under management (AUM) in passive schemes stood at ₹14.84 trillion as of end of February, up ninefold from ₹1.63 trillion in 2020.The passive universe now spans 677 schemes and 54 million folios, with 67% of AUM in equity, and more than half of that benchmarked to the Nifty 50.The foundation traces back to Nobel laureate William Sharpe, who argued in his 1991 paper The Arithmetic of Active Management that, after costs, the average actively managed dollar must underperform its passive counterpart.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Over the course of just three days last week, India witnessed three important developments in the banking space, all of which have a significant bearing on the larger issue of financial stability. On 23 April, reports appeared that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had granted a non-bank called PayPoint approval to access its Centralised Payment System (CPS). The same day, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was reported to have met bank chiefs to discuss AI-related risks in the context of global concerns over Anthropic’s Mythos model, which is seen as a threat to the data security of financial systems.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Even as India’s electricity demand hit record highs in April, power prices crashed to near-zero during peak solar hours during the month—a paradox driven by too much renewable energy chasing too little flexible demand.For the second time in two years, rates on the Real Time Market (RTM) of the Indian Energy Exchange (IEX) dropped to near-zero— ₹0.0003 per unit on the afternoon of 5 April—as excess solar power flooded the market even as demand dipped due to rains and thunderstorms in Delhi and other parts of northern India. The first such instance was on 25 May last year.Prices have since remained volatile, falling to as low as 40 paise per unit on 12 April even as they recently hit the ₹10 per unit cap amid a heatwave-driven surge in demand.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s mid- and small-cap stocks are seeing a clear shift in ownership patterns, with retail investors and mutual funds stepping in as key buyers even as foreign investors continue to cut exposure.A Mint analysis of shareholding trends across BSE mid-cap and small-cap companies shows that while ownership churn remains widespread, the direction of flows differs sharply across investor groups.Data as of 31 March 2026 suggests that domestic flows are increasingly shaping these segments, cushioning the impact of foreign selling. However, the nature of participation also highlights a divergence in risk appetite, particularly between retail investors and institutional money.In the mid-cap universe, retail investors remained selective.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Broking firm Sahi has raised about $33 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Accel Global, more than tripling its valuation to about $200 million, the company’s top executives told Mint.Less than a year ago, it had raised funds at a valuation of $60 million.“It has come on the back of the trajectory of the business in terms of how fast we have been able to grow, but more importantly, it's the quality of the business,” said Dale Vaz, founder and chief executive, Sahi.Accel Global led the round with a $20 million investment, with the rest coming from existing investors Elevation Capital and Accel Partners India. This takes the company’s total funding to over $43 million in under 18 months of operations.Founded in December 2024 by former Swiggy chief technology officer Dale Vaz and ex-Kotak Securities executive Manish Jain, Sahi offers a chart-first interface with features like real-time Greeks, open-interest tracking, technical indicators and one-click execution.“Since launch, we’ve been able to onboard about 400,000 demat accounts.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: AWL Agri Business Ltd expects a recovery in volume growth in FY27, led by a turnaround in its foods segment, management said on Tuesday.“As far as volume growth is concerned, edible oil should continue to grow at a mid-single digit,” said Shrikant Kanhere, managing director and chief executive of AWL Agri Business Ltd, in an interaction with Mint. “Food is something we want to turn around next year with double-digit volume growth.”AWL Agri Business, formerly known as Adani Wilmar, reported underlying volume growth of 4% in FY26, with 14% growth in the March quarter (Q4FY26).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Once upon a time, a U.S. president asked his aides for one thing before his trip to Beijing: a chance to be seen as a regular guy.It was 2005, a relatively warm chapter in U.S.-China relations, and George W. Bush was a passionate mountain biker.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When NV Group launched Smoke Lab, it aimed to do vodka differently—ditching familiar citrus and berry profiles for local flavours.“When we started doing flavours, nobody was thinking about Indian flavours. Everybody was doing orange, lime, lemon and raspberry.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.On Monday, shares of One97 Communications Ltd, which operates Paytm, fell more than 8% intraday before trimming losses to close 1% lower at ₹1,137.80 apiece on the National Stock Exchange. The decline followed the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) cancellation of Paytm Payments Bank Ltd’s (PPBL) licence.But what triggered the action, and what does it mean for India’s fintech major? Mint breaks it down.PPBL, launched in May 2017, had long been under regulatory scrutiny over its operational structure and dependence on its parent’s technology systems and data-sharing arrangements.Over time, RBI flagged concerns including breaches of deposit limits and weak know-your-customer (KYC) controls, which it said weakened safeguards against money laundering risks.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Venture capital and growth investing firm Peak XV Partners has fully exited One MobiKwik Systems Ltd through an over ₹130-crore block deal, selling its remaining stake shortly after the fintech secured the non-banking financial services (NBFC) licence.The investor sold around 6.08 million shares, or about 7.7% of MobiKwik’s equity, at an average price of ₹214 apiece in a transaction executed at 9:15am on 28 April, according to two people aware of the matter.Buyers included private equity firm Florintree, hedge fund Viridian Asset Management, alternative investment firm Dymon Asia Capital and equity investment management firm Karma Capital, the people said.The ₹130-crore deal delivered about 3x returns for Peak XV on its investment in the company.Peak XV’s exit marks the departure of the last major PE fund from MobiKwik’s cap table. In September 2025, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) sold its 2.1% stake in a block deal, after which MobiKwik shares rallied as much as 14%.Peak XV, formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA, had been an early backer of MobiKwik and remained invested through the company’s public listing.The block sale came a day after MobiKwik announced that the Reserve Bank of India had approved its application for the NBFC licence.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.At its core, India’s Finance Commission (FC) is a constitutional mechanism for equalization, ensuring that differences in income across states do not translate into differences in access to basic public services. But equalization is only as effective as the information it uses. When fiscal data is incomplete or opaque, the FC’s recommendations—however well intentioned—risk misallocating resources, weakening incentives and undermining fiscal discipline.Fiscal transparency is foundational to India’s fiscal federal system.