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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Berkshire Hathaway may be de-emphasizing its smaller stock picks under CEO Greg Abel and the selloff Monday in Domino’s Pizza would support such a pullback.Berkshire owned just under 10% of Domino’s—some 3.35 million shares—at year-end. The stock fell nearly 9% Monday to $335.51 and hit a new 52-week low earlier in the session after the company reported results for the March that missed the consensus estimate on both revenue and earnings.Berkshire bought most of its stake in late 2024 at what Barron’s estimates is a price of between $400 and $450 and added to the holding in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Kolkata-based WishCare, known for its range of serums, sunscreens, and hair growth products, is exploring a majority stake sale that will value the brand at about ₹3,000-3,500 crore, three people familiar with the matter said.The company has appointed O3 Capital to help with the sale and several strategics and private equity funds will be tapped as part of the process, the people said on the condition of anonymity.“The deal is likely to attract a strategic buyer and feelers are expected to be sent to the likes of Marico, ITC and L'Oréal,” one of the people cited above said.India’s beauty and personal care (BPC) market, valued at $23 billion in FY25, is projected to touch $40 billion over the next four years, according to consultancy firm Redseer. Riding this surge in premium, science-led skincare demand, WishCare competes with fast-scaling brands such as Minimalist, Pilgrim, Dot & Key, The Derma Co, Arata, True Frog, Lotus Herbals and Auli Lifestyle across categories.Emails sent to WishCare, O3 Capital, Marico, ITC and L'Oréal did not elicit a response till the time of publishing.“The company clocked about ₹350 crore in revenue and ₹100 crore in Ebitda in the last financial year (FY26),” according to the second person.WishCare clocked about ₹200 crore in revenue in FY25 and has been profitable.At the upper end of the indicated valuation range, the deal would value the company at roughly 8–10x FY26 revenue and about 30–35x Ebitda, indicating strong investor appetite for profitable new-age beauty brands.Interestingly, L'Oréal is also evaluating the acquisition of personal care brand Innovist at a valuation of $350-400 million, Moneycontrol reported last month.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Sun Pharma would appear to have got itself a sweet deal when it agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of US-based Organon for $3.7 billion in cash at $14 per share.The US pharma company had outstanding debt of $8.6 billion at the end of 2025, annual sales of $6.2 billion and adjusted Ebitda of $1.9 billion (i.e., earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). Its enterprise value of $11.75 billion, as widely reported, is the sum of its stock value and debt, less cash on hand.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Tech companies are rushing to trade their people for more chips. Some of those companies might come to regret the exchange.Microsoft and Meta Platforms are just the latest major tech companies trying to scale back their workforces in the name of artificial intelligence. Meta’s latest plans will cut about 8,000 people from its workforce.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), has raised satellite bandwidth prices by 20%, effective 1 April, marking its first revision in a decade and signalling a reset in how scarce orbital capacity is priced amid shifting demand.The increase, communicated to customers in a letter dated 18 September, reviewed by Mint, will affect broadcasters, direct-to-home (DTH) platforms and companies leasing capacity for TV distribution, connectivity for ATMs and remote areas, maritime and defence projects, and enterprise communications.The move comes as demand dynamics shift, with traditional DTH usage weakening even as aviation, maritime and defence applications seek capacity, prompting a long-delayed pricing correction.“NSIL management has decided to revise the pricing of Ku-band capacity in three satellites—Gsat-31, Gsat-10 and Gsat-16. This is the first price revision of government satellites after 2016.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In a shift from the ‘growth at any cost’ era, IT services industry leaders like Infosys Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, and Tech Mahindra Ltd are increasingly avoiding low-margin contracts, preferring to sacrifice top-line revenue to protect their bottom lines from the impact of artificial intelligence (AI).The change comes as generative AI begins to affect the traditional outsourcing model. By automating tasks that previously required thousands of engineers, AI is compressing deal values and forcing firms to choose between hyper-competitive, low-yield work and more lucrative, automated services.The impact of this selectivity is already showing up in the books.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.For those who have faced a shortage of small-value notes and coins in their wallets, the next three months could bring a change.India’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), is looking to install dozens of cash and coin dispensers by the end of June, as it leads an initiative by the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to ease access to low-denomination paper money and coins.The state-owned lender plans to install 60 such machines in markets and other high-traffic areas where demand for change is high, according to four people familiar with the development and a document seen by Mint.The rollout will cover branches with currency chests in cities such as Bengaluru, Pune, Amravati, Chandigarh, Vellore, and Shimla, among others. The idea is to cover 13-14 states, the person said.“If the bank sees usage pickup at these machines, it will gradually increase the number.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.One MobiKwik Systems Ltd expects to see margins improve after the Reserve Bank of India approved its application for a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence, the company’s top executive told Mint.This marks a key regulatory milestone for the listed fintech as it looks to deepen its lending business. The licence will sit under wholly owned subsidiary MobiKwik Financial Services Pvt Ltd.“We have got this NBFC license to make our business more efficient and improve on margins,” said Bipin Preet Singh, chief executive officer of MobiKwik.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BENGALURU: India’s café chains are moving beyond traditional coffee-led formats and experimenting with dessert-focused concepts, hybrid cafés and experience-led stores to drive higher engagement and spending.Last week, Westbridge Capital-backed Third Wave Coffee launched “Third Rush” at four of its outlets in Bengaluru, branding and positioning desserts as a standalone experience aimed at enhancing late-evening socializing.“We see desserts evolving into a strategic lever that supports higher engagement and ticket size,” Rajat Luthra, chief executive officer (CEO) of Third Wave Coffee, told Mint.Barista Coffee recently started diner-style outlets that offer a more expansive set of meal items like burgers and pastas and hybrid cafés that serve coffee and food items, while Tata Starbucks already has desserts as part of its food menu and is expanding a mix of neighbourhood stores and more immersive Reserve formats.These formats are becoming more specialized. Dessert-led menus and artisanal bakery tie-ups are helping chains move beyond beverages into full-stack consumption.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has notified new design requirements for offshore wind turbines, blades, and tower and foundation structures, in line with International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) standards, according to two government officials aware of the development.The new standards aim to establish clear benchmarks for the design, testing and installation of key components of wind energy systems, particularly in offshore conditions where operational risks are higher.“These norms would ensure structural safety, improve quality control and enhance the reliability of wind installations,” said one of the two officials.“By aligning with IEC-based standards, the move ensures global compatibility and is expected to facilitate greater participation from international players, while supporting technology transfer and investment in the sector,” the official added.This comes as India pushes to scale up its offshore wind sector, which has an estimated potential of 70 gigawatts (GW), enough to power nearly 70 million households. The country aims to auction about 37GW of offshore capacity by 2029-30.Offshore wind projects cost around ₹15- ₹20 crore per megawatt (MW), significantly higher than ₹7- ₹8 crore per MW for onshore projects, due to the need for seabed infrastructure and transmission systems.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The rise of artificial intelligence-powered self-learning tools is forcing India’s upskilling companies to redesign their programmes to attract a broader, non-technical learner base.Upskilling firms such as Great Learning, Temasek-backed upGrad and Prosus-backed Eruditus, among others, have introduced no-code tracks within existing skilling programmes and launched targeted courses for non-technical learners in areas that previously required coding knowledge, the firms told Mint.This comes amid rapid improvements in generative AI models, which are increasingly capable of performing tasks that once required months of technical training.Learners are now wary of sitting through three to six-month-long courses for something that can be done in minutes using AI, said Arjun Nair, co-founder of Great Learning, which was formerly a Byju’s group company.“The models have become dramatically better. Whether it is Claude, Gemini, or OpenAI models, their capabilities have improved sharply in the last three to six months,” Nair said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Acko General Insurance Ltd has appointed investment banks for an initial public offering in India that could value the startup at up to $2 billion, according to three people familiar with the matter.The Bengaluru-based company has selected ICICI Securities Ltd, Kotak Mahindra Capital Co, and the India unit of Morgan Stanley to manage the share sale, one of the persons said, asking not to be identified because the information is not yet public.Mint had reported on 14 December 2025 that the General Atlantic- and Multiples-backed insurtech firm was preparing for an offer that could raise $300–400 million.The offering is expected to include a mix of a fresh issue of shares and an offer for sale by existing investors, the second person confirmed.Mint has reached out to Acko, ICICI Securities, Kotak Mahindra Capital Co, and Morgan Stanley India for comment.Acko intends to file its draft prospectus through the confidential pre-filing route before the end of this calendar year, the third person said.Under regulations introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the confidential filing mechanism allows companies to undergo regulatory review without immediately disclosing detailed financials and business strategies. It also gives issuers the flexibility to withdraw the offering without public disclosure if market conditions deteriorate.The IPO push comes as Acko reports improving financial metrics.For the fiscal year ended March 2025, the company posted revenue of ₹2,837 crore, up 35% year-on-year.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Defence profligacy is a prerogative of rich, powerful nations. In 1983, the US embarked on its Strategic Defense Initiative, nicknamed Star Wars after a science-fiction film. Its bizarre cost-benefit equation led to it being binned within a decade.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Big American companies are piling up profits despite war and consumer anxiety, bolstered by healthy sales growth.With just over one-fourth of S&P 500 companies reporting results for the first quarter, Wall Street’s expectations for earnings suggest big U.S. companies are far healthier than wider economic concerns might indicate.“Earnings growth has been exceptional,” said Parag Thatte, an equity strategist for Deutsche Bank. “We’re seeing the broadening of earnings growth beyond just tech and financial” firms.War in the Middle East had led economists to rein in growth projections for the year.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Gender parity in India Inc.’s boardrooms remains distant, and the gap is widest among younger women entering the director pipeline, official data show.A Mint analysis of ministry of corporate affairs data up to January 2026 shows women accounted for 32.5% of more than a million director identification numbers (DINs) issued over the past two years. But in the 18-30 age group, their share dropped to 26%, or roughly one in four of the 339,000 DINs issued, compared with 73.92% for men.DIN—an eight-digit identifier required to serve on company boards—helps track an individual’s involvement across multiple companies, though it does not guarantee a board seat.Representation improved with age.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India is working on an overhaul of its firefighting vehicles—from identifying challenges in dense urban landscapes to building domestic testing capacity—as the government seeks to address critical gaps in fire safety infrastructure, according to two people aware of the development. The effort comes amid acute shortages of fire stations, equipment and personnel, raising concerns over response readiness as urban fire risks rise.As part of the plan to ensure adequate fire safety preparedness, the heavy industries ministry has started consultations to identify challenges faced by firefighting vehicle makers—lack of indigenous testing, import dependence for high-tech components, varied regulatory requirements across states, etc.—the people cited above said on the condition of anonymity.To be sure, after the 15th Finance Commission had noted deficiencies in fire safety resources and recommended a ₹5,000-crore scheme to upgrade infrastructure and availability of trained manpower, the Centre launched a scheme for expansion and modernization of fire services with the recommended corpus in July 2023.India currently lacks any formal testing of firefighting vehicles and is considering setting up new facilities and upgrading existing testing agencies such as the Automotive Research Association of India (Arai) for the same, said the first person cited above.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Shriram Finance’s March quarter (Q4FY26) results are steady, but it is treading with caution amid macro-economic concerns, such as elevated crude prices and expectations of a dull monsoon this year, which could hurt rural demand.Shriram reported in-line net interest income (NII), but operating expenses came in lower than expected, leading pre-provisioning operating profit (PPoP) to beat consensus by 5%, said a report by Nuvama Research.NII increased by 21% year-on-year to ₹6,751 crore. Assets under management (AUM) rose by 15% year-on-year to ₹3 trillion, aided by an uptick in commercial vehicles (CVs), passenger vehicles (PVs), farm equipment and gold.Shriram still has a heavy dependence on CVs, which contributed 46.9% of its total AUM versus 45% last year, and grew by 19.5%.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (HD KSOE) is likely to begin groundwork next month on India’s first greenfield shipyard by a global shipbuilder, entailing an investment of ₹40,000 crore, according to two people aware of the development.The company, part of South Korea’s HD Hyundai Group, is expected to sign a definitive investment agreement with the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government after the ongoing state elections to set up a mega manufacturing facility at the Thoothukudi shipbuilding cluster, the people cited earlier said on condition of anonymity. The investment pact follows a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on 7 December 2025 by HD Hyundai with the Tamil Nadu government for the shipyard.HD KSOE is likely to invest about ₹40,000 crore in the project in phases, which is expected to have an annual production capacity of 3.5 million gross tonnage (GT).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Reliance Retail is scaling up its e-commerce platform JioMart’s quick-commerce business with a strategy that breaks from the industry’s fixation on 10-minute delivery.It is leveraging its extensive network of physical stores to enable two-hour deliveries, while broadening its focus to higher-value categories such as electronics and fashion.The playbook so far appears to be gaining traction. JioMart’s hyperlocal business scaled to roughly two million average daily orders in the March quarter, up 29% sequentially and over 300% year-on-year, Reliance Industries Ltd’s Q4FY26 investor presentation showed.Nearly 5.8 million new customers shopped on the platform during the fourth quarter, while the registered customer base expanded by 98% on-year.In fact, Reliance Retail logged total transactions (including JioMart, Reliance Digital, Metro, and Smart Bazaar) worth ₹193 crore in the last quarter of 2025-26, with JioMart’s high-frequency nature boosting the figure, Dinesh Taluja, group chief financial officer of Reliance Retail, told analysts on Friday.“We have the widest reach and network that any hyperlocal player has in the country today,” he added.The numbers come amid an aggressive expansion push by quick-commerce players such as Eternal Ltd-owned Blinkit, Zepto, Swiggy Instamart, and Tata group-owned BigBasket, which are investing heavily in dark stores and logistics even as profitability remains uncertain.Market leader Blinkit logged roughly 8.1 million daily orders as of the December quarter, while Swiggy Instamart’s daily order volume stood at 3.5 million in the same period.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A little more than three years after the launch of ChatGPT, the chief executives of India's top information technology (IT) services companies are beginning to acknowledge concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) is eroding revenue.Over the last two weeks, bosses of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Infosys Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, Wipro Ltd, and Tech Mahindra Ltd have all pointed to AI squeezing revenues, and addressed concerns around higher productivity benefits. More AI tools mean lower human involvement, leading to lower billing rates and, ultimately, lower business.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Real estate bankruptcies may be resolved project by project, and healthy projects of stressed builders spared the bankruptcy court, if a top committee's suggestions bear fruit. The two suggestions are among the committee's 155 recommendations aimed to make real estate rescues more efficient, consistent, predictable and effective, two people aware of the matter said.The committee, set up by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), recommended that the ministry of corporate affairs, department of financial services and real estate regulatory bodies jointly lay down the framework for project-wise real estate debt resolution.