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Cognizant says it is focusing on designing and executing AI projects better than rivals, rather than relying mainly on price cuts to win business.“So this is something that we are very careful when we first review the deal before we submit our bids. We look at very carefully how the need is constructed, and what is the solution because you don't win some of these deals on price point.

oil and petro-products to deal with short-term disruptions. The Union ministry of petroleum and natural gas has formed a 24×7 control room to continuously monitor the supply and stock position across the country.State-run oil marketing companies (OMCs)—Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL), Bharat Petroleum Corp.

In 2016, Pranav Doshi, then an executive with the Canadian consulate, decided to move 2,000 kilometres away from their home in Mumbai. Doshi’s wife was given an option to choose between Unilever Plc’s London and Dubai offices, and she picked the largest city in the United Arab Emirates. “We selected Dubai because we had a young child, and wanted family support; that was not possible in London,” said Doshi, 47.

Companies Act requires every listed company to appoint independent directors constituting at least one-third of its board. The report shows that the highest number of independent directors on a single board in the last four years (FY22-FY25) was eight in FY22, a level seen in three listed companies. The number is down to five, seen in a single company.Gender diversity on boards also remained skewed.

₹5.24 trillion as of January, according to data from the Association of Mutual Funds of India (Amfi). Over the past year, there were 37 new fund offers in these categories, compared with 19 across the broader equity segment.While Sebi permits only one scheme per category in most equity segments, there is currently no limit on the number of sectoral and thematic funds that an AMC can launch. This had led to a surge in offerings built around similar stocks packaged under different narratives.With the 50% cap in place, maintaining multiple differentiated active strategies within a constrained universe may prove difficult.

markets are closed on Tuesday for a public holiday.Brent crude, which hovered around $60 a barrel in early January, climbed to $72 by 25 February on expectations of military action against Iran. Since the conflict began, prices have surged to about $78.

The 16th Finance Commission (FC) report, covering 2026-31, arrives at a consequential moment for India’s fiscal federalism. It is wide-ranging, analytically rich and notable for making underlying data publicly available.

Wipro Ltd faces an annual dent up to $100 million as American cosmetics brand, Estée Lauder, has shifted the Bengaluru tech services company's share of work in a half-billion dollar, five-year deal to Accenture Plc.This latest development raises questions on chief executive officer (CEO) Srini Pallia's turnaround plan and growth at Wipro, as outsourcers pivot towards generative artificial intelligence, or GenAI, solutions, analysts said.According to four people in the know, Accenture will now handle key IT functions of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc including finance, database management, and back-end management for the New York-based cosmetics company.Early in February, Estée Lauder had announced the Accenture contract but there was no information on that business moving away from Wipro.“In the second quarter, we've established our new Enterprise Business Services, selecting Accenture to transform how we deliver shared services globally as we accelerate the deployment of AI throughout the organization,” said Stéphane de la Faverie, chief executive of Estée Lauder, during the company’s post earnings conference call on 5 February.Emails sent to Wipro and Estée Lauder on Monday went unanswered.Mint learns that much of the work awarded to Accenture was part of a February 2021 deal won by Wipro. The Bengaluru company had reportedly bagged the $500 million contract with Estée Lauder, which was supposed to run for five years.

₹1 trillion towards highway construction in FY27, potentially marking the largest annual private sector investment in India’s roads sector, according to two people aware of the matter.Projects worth around ₹35,000 crore, reserved exclusively for private participation under the build-operate-transfer (toll) model, are likely to be bid out in the first three months of the next fiscal year, according to the first person cited above.Detailed project reports for projects worth ₹50,000–60,000 crore are being finalised and are expected to be opened for bidding in the third and fourth quarters of FY27.“As all these would be BOT (toll) projects, the private sector is expected to give investment commitments of close to ₹1 trillion for building greenfield highways,” the person said.The push signals a renewed push to crowd in private capital after years of limited activity under build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.

₹366/bag, said a Jefferies India report dated 1 March. One cement bag weighs 50 kilograms.“Dealers in Ahmedabad said that hike attempts are being made slowly by companies to revert to stronger pre-September levels,” added Jefferies.Infrastructure momentum is aiding demand.

Climate litigation often feels like a distant Western concern, unfolding in American federal courts or European tribunals. Yet, the legal foundations that make such cases possible are now firmly in place in India. The shift has been gradual, almost quiet, but is unmistakable.

India’s economy is growing fast. The speedometer looks impressive. The engine, however, is increasingly running on debt.

₹7,421 crore in 2024, per latest available data from media investment agency WPP Media, while media spends rise 7% to ₹7,989 crore the same year.“ICC’s new sponsorship cycle that began in 2024 had a leaner look with fewer number of brand partners,” the WPP report said. “This strategy, driven by the 'Less is More' approach, aims to limit sponsor slots, allowing each brand a larger Share of Voice (SOV) within the roster.

manufacturing expansion.The government has amended the BIS (Conformity Assessment) Regulations, 2018, restructuring the framework for Scheme-II and Scheme-VII by formalizing a Self-Declaration of Conformity (SDOC) model for eligible notified products.“Under this system, manufacturers can obtain a licence to use the Standard Mark through registration based on self-declaration, backed by accredited lab reports,” said one of the two officials cited above, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.Scheme-II refers to the registration-based certification framework under BIS, largely covering notified electronics and IT (information technology) products where conformity is established through third-party testing and documentation, rather than mandatory pre-licence factory inspection.Under the revised Scheme-II, the application fee and annual licence fee are fixed at ₹1,000 each, with a resource fee of ₹25,000 per application payable in advance. Applications involving multiple test reports will attract an additional ₹20,000 for each extra report, with the fee structure now formally codified under the Self-Declaration of Conformity framework.Queries sent on Friday to BIS and the ministries of consumer affairs and commerce remained unanswered till press time.However, easier access to BIS certification—needed to use the Standard Mark on notified products—is paired with stricter ongoing compliance.

A multi-year deal of more than $300 million from Daimler Trucks that Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. snatched from Infosys Ltd last week has one common thread: Ravi Kumar.Kumar, Cognizant’s current chief executive, was also instrumental in securing the Infosys contract during his stint at India’s second-largest software services provider in 2020, according to a person familiar with the matter.

petroleum ministry is taking continuous stock of the energy supply scenario along with the refiners. They are looking at ways to ensure that supplies are not interrupted.

The fear of artificial intelligence (AI) is so rampant now that it appears to be a matter of decorum to admit to this fear. People keep telling me AI is coming and that I should be scared. I’m very open to being scared, which I’ve always thought is a reasonable way of surviving life, but somehow I am not, and I have tried to understand why.Also, I don’t know what exactly I should be scared of, because there are two distinct fears.

Earlier this month, IDFC First Bank reported it had been the victim of a fraud in which four of its current and former employees connived to siphon off ₹590 crore from the bank account of a Haryana government department. The theft was uncovered when the department tried to close its account with the bank and found a discrepancy between the account balance in its records and the actual balance.While the Haryana government subsequently said it had recovered all its money, the incident underscores the risks of banking fraud, especially as the number of digital transactions increase, enabling new methods of fraud.Indian banks reported 11,615 cases of fraud involving ₹3,497 crore in 2024-25. Both figures were lower in 2023-24.

order book can often speak louder than short-term price movements.It represents confirmed projects, assured revenue pipelines, and management’s ability to win and execute large contracts. When this order book outweighs the company’s own market capitalization, it signals a rare combination of strong demand and underappreciated scale.In this article, we spotlight the top four companies whose order books are larger than their market capitalization.The criteria: Return on equity (RoE) and return on capital employed (RoCE) above 12%, along with a debt-to-equity ratio below 1x.NBCC (India) Ltd is a Navratna Central Public Sector Enterprise under the aegis of the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA).The company provides value-added services in project management consultancy (PMC), engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and real estate development.

From gross domestic product (GDP) growth easing in the December quarter, to the government outlining a nearly ₹17 trillion asset monetization pipeline, IT stocks extending losses amid AI-driven concerns, India weighing contingency plans for crude oil imports, and a moderation in salary hikes, here’s a compilation of this week’s news in numbers.India's economy likely grew at 7.8% during the December quarter, slowing from 8.4% in the previous quarter, due to slower growth in agriculture and the non-manufacturing industrial sectors, and government spending cuts, data released on Friday showed. GDP growth is estimated at 7.6% for 2025-26, up from 7.1% in the previous year.

₹195.55 during Friday’s trading session. The decline reflects persistent weak growth: the company’s year-on-year revenue expansion has remained below 5% for eight consecutive quarters, and the absence of clear near-term triggers is weighing on investor sentiment.There is little immediate evidence of a sharp turnaround.