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₹6–7 until recently, has now climbed to ₹11–12 due to a PP shortage.Due to the shortage, per tonne cost of cement will increase by roughly ₹60–80, considering 20 bags of 50 kg each per tonne, said Sourav Mitra, partner, Oil and Gas, Grant Thornton Bharat.At the heart of the issue is polypropylene (PP), used to produce woven cement bags. Refineries in the Gulf region are increasingly diverting feedstock such as propane and butane toward liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production amid supply uncertainties, tightening PP availability.Bag manufacturers are currently receiving only about 60–70% of their contracted PP chip supplies, according to a Motilal Oswal report dated 18 March.

Mystery shrouds the prospect of official talks between the US and Iran to stop the war in West Asia, but reports have emerged of feelers from America in the shape of a 15-point ceasefire plan sent via Pakistan.The US reportedly wants Iran’s nuclear facilities dismantled, stockpile of enriched uranium handed over, nuclear-weapon ambitions renounced and missile threat capped, plus the Strait of Hormuz opened and more, all in lieu of relief from bombs and sanctions.Iran recently reiterated its right to enrich uranium while asking for reparations and a no-aggression commitment as conditions to stop its attacks. To this list, it later added a closure of all US military bases in the region and formal control over the Strait of Hormuz.

₹950 a day during the peak season. He even helped his relatives and their friends—five people in all—enter the business, getting them work in the Anandapur facility a decade ago. Shaow eventually moved to take up work with another employer in 2024, but they stayed on.On 26 January, a massive fire on the premises gutted a unit owned by Pushpanjali Decorators and the adjacent one, owned by food chain Wow! Momo, killing at least 25 people, among them Shaow’s relatives and their friends.A preliminary investigation found serious lapses at the godown, which had been functioning without a fire clearance certificate.

SBI Life remains the cheapest among peers. Based on Motilal Oswal Financial Services’ FY26 estimates, SBI Life trades at a Price/VNB of 27x, compared with 30x for HDFC Life and 29x for ICICI Prudential.SBI Life’s valuation advantage is supported by stronger operating performance in 9MFY26.Its annualized premium equivalent (APE)—a proxy for topline or revenue in life insurance—is calculated by adding regular premiums and one-tenth of single premiums.

India stands at a crossroads as one of the fastest-growing large economies in the world, yet it also has among the highest levels of inequality, with little movement seen in recent years. On paper, India’s growth story remains strong even as global conditions are uncertain. According to the latest national accounts with a revised base year of 2022-23, India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7.2% in 2023-24 and 7.1% in 2024-25.

marriage or in common law relationships for financial reasons.”In addition, 80 per cent of Canadians say life is more affordable in a relationship versus being single.Nearly one in four (23 per cent) of surveyed Canadians also said they like the idea of a “five-year renewable relationship contract” instead of getting married.The survey states that four in 10 Canadians (40 per cent) say marriage is “mainly about practicalities for those planning or already have children.”This view is higher among Canadians who identify as male (at 45 per cent) versus female (36 per cent).In addition, 83 per cent believe that couples often stay together for the sake of their children.Clay Jarvis, a financial expert at NerdWallet Canada, said marriage is a “major financial decision” that should encourage couples to evaluate their financial situations.“I think if the conversation is about determining whether to have kids because you can afford them now, I think that’s because your reality now is what you’re basing all of your decisions on,” he said.

HCLTech, India's third largest IT services firm after Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Infosys Ltd, will reorganize its software products arm HCLSoftware into three core sub-groups: Xperience, Data and Operations, each with its own head and a specialized sales team, according to at least three people familiar with the matter.HCLSoftware had ended FY25 with a revenue of $1.43 billion, comprising a little more than a tenth of the company’s $13.84 billion topline last year. The software business grew 3.3% on a yearly basis last fiscal and the company aspires to triple this growth by FY27.According to the three people in the know, the Xperience division will include software focusing on app interfaces and marketing functions, while the Data sub-group will handle data analytics and data management software.

It has been almost six decades since American writer Joan Didion wrote a devastating critique of the hippie counterculture movement after months of reporting in San Francisco. She painted a picture of a community morally adrift and in the thrall of LSD.

For decades, the Indian youth dream followed a clear path: move out of farming, get a degree, and secure a stable job. The reality now is far different.More women did farm jobs in 2023-24 compared to six years ago, even though they have made great strides in securing non-agriculture jobs over the decades.

Mint in an interview, pointing to how consumer attention is now split across streaming, social, short-form video, and commerce platforms.For Amazon Ads, this shift has transformed a marketplace-focused product into a broader ecosystem spanning shopping, streaming, and third-party publishers—helping it emerge as a third major player after Google and Meta.Amazon stood in the third place in terms of monthly active user base of 325 million in December 2025, following Google in the first position at 501 million and Facebook (Meta) at 447 million, according to a Ficci-EY report released Tuesday.Over the past decade, Amazon Ads has linked advertising more closely to shopping behaviour, a strategy it is now doubling down on amid intensifying competition. On Wednesday, the firm rolled out two agentic AI tools: Creative Agent, to help advertisers easily create professional-quality ads, and Ads Agent, to assist sellers in planning, launching, and optimising campaigns.India’s advertising market continues to grow alongside the media and entertainment sector.

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-controlled Jio Platforms Ltd is targeting a valuation of $120 billion to $140 billion in its public offer, which will see some of its existing investors, including TPG, KKR, General Atlantic, and Silver Lake, sell shares, according to two bankers familiar with discussions.Parent Reliance Industries Ltd is not expected to offload any shares, and the company is also not looking to issue new stock to raise capital, as it will be a standalone offer for sale by some of its shareholders, said the bankers, who didn’t want to be identified as discussions were private.Jio Platforms executives met with representatives of 17-19 investment banks this week before filing its draft papers with the regulator for the initial public offering (IPO).“Some of the selling shareholders were also part of this meeting,” said one of the senior bankers present. The meeting was held to outline the role of individual bankers in the book-building process, said another.A General Atlantic spokesperson and TPG declined to comment.

Mint. Mint also saw a copy of the order released on Tuesday.Ashish Brijkishore Singh, a 42-year-old insurance advisor, filed the first information report (FIR) against Gupta and Khandelwal on 16 March after he and two of his aides were duped by a group of six individuals of ₹71.6 lakh.

The 19th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) begins this weekend, where all eyes will be on the defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who clinched their first ever win last year. Meanwhile, there are big-name investors, including Temasek, EQT, Premji Invest, Adar Poonawalla and a couple of US-based sports investors, vying for stake in the Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers teams.

The West Asia crisis is taking a toll on Indian manufacturing and services sectors. Private sector companies are grappling with demand slowdown and input cost inflation.The seasonally adjusted HSBC Flash India Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) Composite Output Index fell to a nearly three-and-a-half year low of 56.5 in March from a final reading of 58.9 in February.The Flash PMI is an early, advanced estimate of economic activity in the manufacturing and services sectors.

(DGCA), and the matter was later raised in Parliament.Laser strikes near Indian airports have jumped sharply, rising from 122 cases in 2023 to over 500 in 2025, data tabled in Parliament show. The incidents pose a direct safety risk to pilots and highlight weak enforcement of rules that strictly prohibit such activity that endangers life or safety.As per data, 502 laser-related disruptions were reported across 22 airports in 2025, slightly lower than the 528 incidents recorded in 2024.

New Delhi: India imports around 50% of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) requirements from West Asia, and most of it is sourced from Qatar. With the ongoing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on Ras Laffan industrial City, a large chunk of India's imports are halted. This supply crunch may impact several downstream industries in India including fertilizers and steel.

fertilizer. For plants, nitrogen is a vital nutrient for growth—without it they cannot convert sunlight into energy. If all crops knew how to synthesize nitrogen from the air (which is available freely), there would be no need for urea.

The demand environment for IT services is stable rather than sharply improving, according to Accenture. Clients continue to prioritize large, strategic transformation programs with spending trends similar to 2025, said the global IT giant, which competes with tier-I Indian technology companies in outsourcing business and is often seen as an indicator of future prospects.Accenture’s managed services (outsourcing) constant currency (CC) revenue increased 5% year-on-year in Q2FY26, outpacing the consulting business, the company told investors in its earnings call for the quarter ended February (Q2FY26)—Accenture follows a September to August financial year.Sequentially, managed services growth moderated with softening deal wins, but the management expects a gradual improvement in H2FY26, supported by the conversion of large deals.

IDBI Bank’s shares hit a new 52-week low of ₹66.45 on the NSE on Monday and have now lost almost 30% since 13 March after media reports that the central government may scrap its plan to sell a majority stake in the lender.IDBI Bank is classified as a private sector bank even though the government and state-owned Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) together hold a 94.7% stake in it.

live events sector was valued at over ₹20,800 crore in 2024, reflecting a 15% year-on-year and is expected to double by 2030, according to a report by Deloitte India, released last week. “Events of this scale involve a wide ecosystem: organizers, venues, ticketing platforms, security agencies, local authorities, licensing agencies, partners and multiple vendors for various aspects.

In 2011, a young male graduate earned about ₹21,800 a month; a non-graduate ₹9,000. By 2023, the graduate earned ₹19,573 while the non-graduate ₹10,507. Graduate earnings have fallen in nominal terms over 12 years.