Security Financial News

Mint explainsDSR refers to a cultivation method where seeds are sown directly into the field without transplanting seedlings, saving water, labour, and time compared to traditional methods.This eliminates several stages involved in conventional rice farming such as nursery preparation, ploughing, puddling and transplanting. In the traditional system, farmers grow seedlings in nurseries and later transplant them into flooded, puddled fields.Puddling is particularly concerning from an environmental perspective because it releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas.Though not a new technique, DSR is increasingly seen as a transformative approach to rice cultivation as India faces growing concerns over groundwater depletion, labour shortages and climate sustainability.Experts say the technique can play an important role in addressing groundwater depletion, particularly in major rice-growing states where intensive irrigation for paddy has put pressure on water resources.Producing a kilogram of rice requires 3,000–5,000 litres of water under conventional methods.

War never brings good news. But the West Asian geopolitical crisis has halted an information technology (IT) sector-led sell-off in domestic office real estate investment trusts (Reits) as investors flock toward defensive, income-generating assets amid volatility.Reits have held up better than the broader market so far this year, falling around 2% on average year-to-date, while the benchmark Nifty 50 is down about 7%.Analysts attribute this resilience to the quasi-debt nature of these trusts.

New Delhi: Indian refiners have ramped up daily domestic production of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by around 10% in the past few days in the face of a supply squeeze from the US-Iran war, two people aware of the development said.The refiners have also secured 20 very large gas carriers (VLGC) carrying around 1 million tonne (mt) cargo, mostly from the US, the people said on condition of anonymity.However, the country is still short of another 20 VLGCs—totalling 2 mt—which Indian oil marketing companies (OMCs) have been scouting for since the war broke out on 28 February, these people added.“Production has already gone up by 10%,” the first person cited above said, adding that India is looking at sourcing more LPG from all available sources, including the US, Canada, Australia and Algeria.The second person said: “There was a shortfall of about 40 VLGCs, and 20 VLGCs have already been booked.

In 123 BCE, Gaius Gracchus passed the lex frumentaria, a law mandating that the Roman state sell grain to citizens at a fixed below-market price. The aim was modest: stabilize food prices, protect the poor. Within two generations, it had become free distribution.

Zerodha and Upstox hold mutual fund units in demat form. Groww, one of India’s largest investing apps, made demat the default for all new mutual fund purchases from June 2025, unless users opt out.

beer (5% alcohol content), making it more affordable relative to spirits/IMFL with alcohol content over 40%, said a Nomura Research report on 8 March. The higher tax burden on spirits can pressure volumes in the price-sensitive popular and below segments and improve the affordability for the prestige & above (P&A) segment, given same alcohol content.P&A contributed 89.4% of United Spirits’s 9MFY26 net sales value.

Over a decade ago, domestic projects had dominated L&T’s business, but the picture is different now. As on 31 December, 49% of its ₹7.33 trillion order book came from international markets, and India contributed the rest.

A regulatory overhaul of how commissions are paid will shake up the segment estimated to account for about half of India’s ₹81 trillion in mutual fund assets: small distributors. Industry experts say they will be forced to partner with larger peers to survive, driving consolidation.The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in December approved a revised framework for total expense ratio (TER) limits.

Quick-commerce operator Zepto Ltd is targeting a late April deadline for filing updated documents for an initial public offering (IPO) with India's market regulator, even as it faces valuation concerns, said three people aware of the matter.Zepto's December 2025 confidential filing is likely to be cleared in another four weeks, one of the people quoted earlier said–all three spoke on the condition of anonymity. Following the clearance, Zepto plans to file its updated draft red herring prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) before the end of April, this person added.An updated prospectus is a public disclosure of the share sale details to investors after confidential filings.

If you thought 2025 was a tough transition, 2026 now seems to have plenty more surprises in store. India, in particular, has to trek through two tricky minefields over the next 10 months: energy security and technological flux. These two prickly issues will have to fight for the political leadership’s mind-space, cluttered as it is with tricky geopolitics, rising unemployment, sticky economic growth and an always-on electoral cycle.

In international relations, manifestly illegal government action can sometimes be morally defensible. While historical examples of legitimacy trumping legality are few and far between, they do exist.

Mint.For the early growth-stage corporate venture fund, there is a distinction between what venture capital like to call Bharat and rural India. While the term is all-encompassing, it doesn’t account for the fundamental issues facing rural India.

The central bank is proposing a safety net for one of the world's largest digital payment ecosystems, offering to partially reimburse victims of cyber fraud—even when the victims themselves are at fault.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday proposed that it, along with banks, will compensate victims of fraudulent digital banking transactions of up to ₹50,000. The customer will be paid up to 85% of the loss, or up to ₹25,000, whichever is lower.

Gold has nearly doubled and silver has tripled over the past two years. Both metals surged in popularity last year as investors globally placed greater trust in liquid physical assets over the US dollar-denominated financial system.In January, Indians invested more in gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) than in equity mutual funds for the first time, with net inflows surging to a record ₹24,040 crore even as equity fund investments slipped to ₹24,029 crore.

Could India be returning to Russia for oil supplies? Going by a Bloomberg report, it seems so. Two shipments of Russian crude oil that were originally headed for East Asia have reportedly been redirected towards India and are expected to unload this week, with one already having reached Paradip.

₹290 crore in a Series B funding round led by Bertelsmann India Investments, as the company looks to deepen its presence and expand its rural storefront network, Ankur Dahiya, co-founder and chief executive told Mint.“We started in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana and we feel its the right time to expand our footprint in the same Ganges belt,” said Dahiya. “Secondly, we want to increase our penetration in the areas we're present.”The fundraise comes as Rozana scales its hybrid rural commerce model—combining neighbourhood storefronts and centralized warehouses with a network of women-led last-mile partners—at a time when relatively few startups are focused exclusively on India’s rural e-commerce opportunity.The fundraise was led by German conglomerate Bertelsmann's local venture capital arm, Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) with participation from Fireside Ventures, US-based Spark Growth Ventures, FE Securities and a few family offices.The deal was majorly a primary investment with a small component of secondaries to give early angel investors an exit.

Lenskart, are also entering the fray with smart glasses aimed at real-time translation and contextual assistance.The logic is simple: if traditional smartwatches have become commoditized health trackers, AI-powered wearables could revive demand by becoming what founders describe as a “second brain”, devices that remember conversations, assist with speech, translate in real time and even complete tasks through voice commands.“AI-first wearables have the potential to revive a slowing category by transforming devices from passive trackers into intelligent companions that deliver real time health insights, personalization, and secure authentication,” said Anshika Jain, senior analyst at Counterpoint Research.Market projections reflect that optimism. The AI wearables segment in India generated $1.7 billion in revenue in 2023 and is projected to reach $12 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research.

Those who view President Donald Trump’s strikes on Iran as a blow to China should think again. Beijing will manage any potential leadership change in Tehran as long as the oil keeps flowing, a summit with Trump and President Xi Jinping stays on track, and Washington handles Taiwan—China’s most sensitive red line—with care. Xi’s strategy is closer to the ancient Chinese phrase that notes the benefit of sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight: conserve strength while others exhaust themselves, and intervene only if core interests are directly threatened.Beijing doesn’t think of alliances the way the US does.

Past conflicts in the Middle East typically hit India at the gas station. This time, the risks transcend oil, threatening everything from smartphone exports to New Delhi’s fragile finances.Flames have reached the United Arab Emirates, India’s second-largest electronics export destination after the US. Beyond being an entrepôt for regional trade, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are wealth hubs for the Indian elite.

The escalating US-Iran conflict has wreaked havoc on market sentiment, leaving investors anxious about spiking crude oil prices and the economic fallout of a prolonged confrontation. This instability carries significant implications for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies, particularly with the threat of supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital chokepoint for global energy.Consequently, Indian firms with meaningful exposure to the Middle East are facing heightened near-term volatility.

Mint shows the standards establish common definitions for cloud systems, introduce performance metrics for data centres, and embed ethical considerations within AI system design, formalizing the technical and governance backbone of India’s AI expansion.The standards have been notified under Sub-rule (1) of Rule 15 of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) Rules, 2018. They are Indian Standards derived from international ISO/IEC frameworks.For now, they are not mandatory.