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The share prices of domestic steel producers have risen by 4-6% since 30 December after the finance ministry notified the extension of safeguard duty imposition on steel imports, as per the recommendation of the director general of trade remedies. The big gainers here are JSW Steel Ltd and Jindal Steel Ltd (formerly Jindal Steel & Power Ltd), which increased 6%.The duty would be levied for three years on most grades of flat steel products at 12% for the first year, 11.5% for the second and 11% for the third year.

Caracas will determine the fate of India's multi-billion dollar investments and hefty dividends.Indian investments in Venezuela have been stuck, said an official with an official with a state-run firm with major stakes in the country. "Volatility brings in concern, but we will have to watch out for the way forward. An opening-up of the market may allow more supplies," the official said on the condition of anonymity.ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

Mint analysis, this is the third straight quarter where brokerages have outlined sequential growth below 4%, signalling a tempered outlook. This follows efforts by companies to pursue new growth avenues.TCS and HCLTech release their December quarter earnings on 12 January, Infosys on 14 January, and Tech Mahindra on 16 January.

On 3 January, the US carried out airstrikes on Caracas in the backdrop of heightened tensions in the Caribbean and its recent interdictions of vessels alleged to be carrying narcotics in Venezuelan waters. The White House framed this operation as a necessary move to dismantle narco-terrorist efforts and halt weapons being sold to anti-US forces. This large-scale operation included the ‘capture’ of Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro and there is enough to suggest that its aims were wider than claimed.

Dear reader,Happy New Year!Last week, I wrote monthly derivatives expiry and calendar year-end could cap gains in the markets, which otherwise showed signs of optimism. Read that piece here. The Nifty managed to test new highs and is now in blue sky territory.

, 64, has been driving for Uber since losing his job as a financial adviser at a major asset-management firm two years ago. The money supplements his Social Security payments. He feels financially squeezed by the rising cost of living, and his Uber income is down, which he attributes to rising competition from self-driving Waymos.

tax hike on cigarettes.Globally, Indian equities lagged their East Asian peers, with the South Korean and Taiwanese markets outperforming sharply, posting weekly gains of about 4% and 3%, respectively. The divergence was driven largely by valuation-led sector rotation and strong rallies in technology and semiconductor stocks in those markets, where India has limited representation, said Robin Arya, founder of GoalFi, a Securities and Exchange Board of India-registered corporate research analysis firm.

ITC will have to increase product prices, which won’t go down well with consumers, so investors can expect the company’s cigarette volumes to drop in FY27. Moreover, higher taxes on cigarettes could boost sales of illicit cigarettes and, as a result, dent ITC’s volumes.Unsurprisingly, analysts have cut their earnings estimates for FY27, and some have also downgraded their rating on the stock.

AI superpowers can engage in constructive risk management even as they compete vigorously for AI leadership.Moreover, diplomats and experts from our two countries had also met earlier in 2024, in Geneva, for an extended session dedicated to AI risks. It was the first meeting of its kind, and though it didn’t produce any significant results, the very fact that it occurred was an important step, and both sides did manage to identify critical areas of risk that required further work.Now, as the momentum behind AI development and deployment, both civil and military, gathers pace, the US and China need to build on this foundation by pursuing sustained, senior-level diplomacy on AI risks, even as each strives for the lead in the AI race.

in support of the plan was widely backed, including by the Arab and Muslim-majority states in the region. It provided the UN mandate needed for the International Stabilization Force to help implement the plan, support the ceasefire, and avoid leaving a vacuum which Hamas could exploit.The resolution also emphasized the importance of increased humanitarian aid, which is still desperately needed in Gaza.

Israel’s strike on Hamas targets in Qatar in September, the United States began pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza. But with or without one, Israel will continue to pursue expansive goals, redrawing borders in the West Bank, southern Lebanon, and southwestern Syria in ways that could further fracture its neighbors.

Bengaluru: The nationwide strike called by gig workers against food delivery platforms such as Swiggy and Zomato on New Year’s Eve was largely ineffective as riders didn’t want to lose the chance to earn additional income after companies offered financial incentives for a day.Zomato set peak-hour rates at around ₹120 to ₹150 per order during the early evening to midnight on New Year’s Eve, according to its letter to delivery partners reviewed by Mint. Depending on order volumes and availability, riders had the potential to earn around ₹3,000 throughout the day.

passage of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act in July 2025, US lawmakers added to the sense that crypto is here to stay. But look beyond the hype and an uncomfortable issue remains unresolved: Are cryptocurrencies a genuine innovation capable of serving the common good, or a speculative threat to financial and social stability?Of course, not all cryptocurrencies are alike.

₹336 per bag of 50 kg, as per Elara Securities (India).A key drag on the overall pricing trajectory came from the southern region, which registered the steepest sequential drop of 3.9% to ₹304 due to subdued demand. After witnessing the sharpest price hikes of nearly ₹20-45 per bag in April, cement prices in the south have consistently trended downward and ended 2025 on a weak note, said the Elara report dated 30 December.Prices in Tamil Nadu and Kerala fell by around ₹5 per bag, while prices in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were flat month-on-month in December.The problem of the South? The region has been primarily experiencing an oversupply, along with relatively lower demand growth.

lawsuits were filed in the last week of December by individuals in states including Arizona and California, who claimed they lost sensitive personal data such as financial account details, social security numbers, and addresses. Mint could not independently ascertain whether Cognizant intends to settle the claims.The 23 December complaint alleged that Cognizant did not disclose critical details of the cyberattack.“Defendants (Cognizant) have not disclosed the details of the cyberattack to Plaintiffs (complainants) or Class members, including the root cause of the data breach, the vulnerabilities exploited, and the remedial measures undertaken to ensure such a breach does not occur again.

2014 invasion of Crimea, when the West told Ukrainians to stand down and tacitly accepted Russian control of the peninsula. On the eve of the 2022 full-scale invasion, we prepared to support a long Ukrainian guerilla war against Russian occupation and were cautious about giving the Ukrainian government weapons that we assumed would only fall into Russian hands. As the Kremlin’s tanks crossed the border, we offered President Volodymyr Zelensky an escape route, so he could lead Ukraine’s government in exile.Even after the Ukrainian people showed that they had the will and the strength not to be conquered, we have been collectively hesitant about giving them the tools that they need to win.

DPIIT) has taken note of the recommendations of a high-level Niti Aayog committee that suggested a softer stance on restrictions on investments from China,” one of the two people cited above said on the condition of anonymity. “Some rounds of inter-ministerial consultations have already been held in this regard, with a recent such consultation taking place in December,” the person said.The shift in thinking marks an emphasis on effective control rather than mere equity holding, as India seeks to balance the need for capital inflows with security considerations.

The fate of Vodafone Idea Ltd hangs in the balance, with the Union cabinet on Wednesday clearing a relief plan that punctured hopes, hammered its shares, and shook its fundraising hopes.According to officials familiar with the matter, the cabinet has decided to freeze the struggling telco’s pending adjusted gross revenues (AGR) dues at ₹87,695 crore for five years. The amount can be paid from fiscal year 2032 (FY32) through FY41.That means the AGR amount will not increase, but it does not also reduce the overall AGR dues of the company, even though the officials said that the recalculation is still on the table and the amount may reduce later.

₹500 per child where creche facilities are not provided, and travel allowances for inter-state migrant workers."These changes reflect a strong emphasis on health, safety, and social security, and businesses should start preparing now to ensure smooth compliance once the rules are finalized," Gupta said.The draft central rules under the four labour codes provide clarity on several operational aspects. The code on social security rules specifies that gratuity will be calculated on ‘wages’ last drawn, excluding components such as annual performance-linked pay, medical reimbursements, stock options, and meal vouchers.

The impact of Trump 2.0: The year saw a stark turn in US engagement, with Trump’s approach to the Indo-Pacific characterized by unpredictability at best and rent-seeking at worst.The recently-released US National Security Strategy was emblematic of this ambiguity, prioritizing quid pro quo ties over legacy commitments and the use of muscular rhetoric while offering little doctrinal clarity.This has sent out mixed signals on China, as its deterrence rhetoric coexists with policy fuzziness and even deference in some parts, with US partners struggling to identify US thresholds for action, particularly on high-stakes issues such as Taiwan.Despite the rhetorical turbulence emanating from Washington, alliance architectures did not collapse, although they didn’t sprint forward either.Traditional security partnerships with Japan, Australia, South Korea and the Philippines have endured amid a sobering realization of the magnitude of US capabilities, particularly vis-à-vis strategic concerns about China.Nonetheless, the pace and predictability of strategic cooperation have waned, which is telling in the context of a tenuous regional landscape.Hence, although formal alliances will continue to matter, their political meaning has shifted, with partner countries less willing now to outsource strategy entirely to Washington and more inclined to shape outcomes independently, reflecting a post-‘hub-and-spokes complacency’ mindset.Similarly, multilateral formats like the Quad persisted and adapted, but the coherence of their agenda often reflected leadership from partners as much as from Washington.Initiatives such as maritime domain awareness and cooperation on critical minerals, for example, were driven more on the ground by Canberra,

Mint.For users, this would mean smartphones would automatically redirect a portion of data traffic from cellular networks to nearby Wi-Fi networks when available—including hotspots under the PM-WANI (Prime Minister Wi-Fi Access Network Interface) scheme—without interrupting calls, SMS, or applications.This will help reduce congestion on crowded mobile networks, improve speed in indoor and high-traffic areas, and enable operators to use their limited mobile spectrum more efficiently, often without users noticing any change.“Telecom operators in India do offload traffic to Wi-Fi in specific scenarios, but the practice has varied widely and lacked a nationally accepted technical framework,” a government official said, on condition of anonymity.“The new draft standard aims to define how Wi-Fi can work seamlessly with mobile networks, including public Wi-Fi, while ensuring there are no call drops during network switches and that there is a common offloading framework that works across operators,” the official added.The government wants operators to ensure that Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi) works properly, including emergency calls, standard text messages over the internet, and multimedia calling services, while ensuring that all authentication and data transport mechanisms shall comply with national security directives and lawful interception, according to the draft rules.The rules also want operators to support open roaming and interoperability between different vendors to allow Wi-Fi offloading to scale without friction as users move across locations and networks.The Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) under the department of telecommunications (DoT) is currently working to formalize the rules.“Telecom operators have