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silver prices surged by around 150% to ₹218,918 per kg, outperforming gold's 79% return. Over the past five years, silver's 231% gain has also outpaced gold's 173% return. This rapid increase has once again brought silver into the spotlight.

Following years of aggressive hoarding, Indian corporations are starting to dip into their cash reserves to fund dividend payouts and acquisitions, but not capital expenditure (capex).According to a Mint analysis of data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the pace of cash accumulation hit an eight-year low by September 2025.The analysis of CMIE data for a common sample of nearly 2,000 listed firms, excluding banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) companies, showed that cash and bank balances rose just 1% year-on-year to about ₹5.4 trillion by September. The pace is a far cry from the pandemic period, when heightened uncertainty pushed median cash balances up by nearly 15% annually between September 2020 and September 2024.Companies are now sitting on a cash pile equivalent to nearly 5% of their total assets, up from 3.5% in September 2017 and 4% in September 2020, the analysis showed.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected]: India’s pet care market is suddenly swelling with contenders, as consumer giants chase a new generation of indulgent pet parents and their ‘fur babies’.

New-age electric bus manufacturers have stormed India’s biggest tender, picking up nearly 80% of the 10,900 e-buses on offer as part of the ₹10,900-crore PM E-Drive scheme, leaving legacy players with little to show for their efforts.Flush with recent investments, companies like PMI Electro Mobility and Eka Mobility offered aggressive, lucrative pricing, securing contracts for 5,210 and 3,485 e-buses, respectively.Among other manufacturers, only Olectra Greentech—an established electric bus manufacturer and a subsidiary of Hyderabad-based EPC company Megha Engineering—managed a partial win, bagging 1,785 e-buses.Bigger names such as Tata Motors and VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) were caught off guard when the results, revealed on Wednesday, showed they had not won a single contract, according to three executives directly aware of the development. Chennai-based Ashok Leyland missed the tender entirely due to a technical glitch and has approached the Delhi High Court.Government officials and industry executives spoke on the condition of anonymity as the results are so far only known to the bidders and haven’t been made public.

₹6.64 a unit, even though solar and wind power come for ₹2.5-4. The key reason is the 'infirm' nature of renewable power - lack of generation when the sun doesn't shine, and the wind doesn't blow.Even those renewable projects with combined solar and wind generation, plus battery storage, are not finding takers despite being available at ₹5 a unit or lower, as discoms remain wary of battery supply chains. Meanwhile, thermal provides the necessary base load.

Mint breaks down what’s driving this improvement and why affordability is still under pressure.India’s residential real estate market continues to see strong demand. Despite housing prices being on the rise, certain cities, including Mumbai, the country’s most valuable property market, are seeing improving homebuyer affordability.Knight Frank’s Affordability Index, which measures the proportion of household income spent on equated monthly instalments (EMIs), shows a consistent improvement across the top eight cities since 2010.Affordability is influenced by three key factors: weighted average prices, income levels and home loan interest rates.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected].

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Justice Department released a second trove of files related to the late Jeffrey Epstein, including a fake video that purported to show the sex offender’s suicide. Roughly 11,000 documents were posted on the department’s website on Tuesday.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Stock market recap: Domestic frontline indices, the Sensex and the Nifty 50, ended flat on Tuesday, 23 December, on profit booking at higher levels, even as mid and small-cap segments ended with modest gains amid mixed global cues. The Sensex ended with a minor loss of 43 points, or 0.05%, at 85,524.84, while the Nifty 50 closed 5 points, or 0.02%, up at 26,177.15.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. “Passion doesn’t have to look like ‘rah, rah!’" Bristol-Myers Squibb employees were giving managers pointers on how to tell whether their introverted staffers are excited about their work. After all, it can be hard to tell.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The brain goes through five distinct stages between birth and death, a new study shows. Scientists identified the average ages—9, 32, 66 and 83—when the pattern of connections inside our brains shift.

Following the release of two discussion papers by India’s ministry of statistics outlining proposed methodological changes for the upcoming base-year revision of national accounts, there has been a renewed focus on our methodology for the GDP revision. The new base year will be 2022-23 and the revised series is scheduled for release in early 2026.

₹10,000 becomes ₹20,000. As per media reports, the 8th CPC may recommend the fitment factor of 1.92-2.86, largely in line with 1.86 recommended by the 6th CPC and 2.57 by the 7th CPC.While the pay increases add to the government's employee costs, recent trends show they have become less cumbersome.The central government spent ₹2.75 trillion on the pay and allowances of its regular civilian employees in FY23, accounting for 6.6% of the total budgetary expenditure.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected] the past decade, a silent crisis has been unfolding in India's middle class.

air quality-focused climate-tech startup, for a full retrofit. Today, every IntrCity SmartBus functions like a moving air-quality lab.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India’s advertising market has undergone a decisive shift over the past year, with digital platforms emerging as the dominant growth engine while television advertising is losing momentum. Latest data from TAM AdEx shows a 149% surge in digital ad impressions from January to September 2025 compared to the same period last year.

In 2026, artificial intelligence (AI) won’t just be something companies talk about in press releases. It will become part of how everyday work gets done. Instead of being tested in small pilot projects or used in flashy demos, AI will be built into the core of how businesses operate.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A JetBlue plane was en route to Puerto Rico when its pilots got word from air-traffic control they were about to fly through a danger zone. The plane initially went into a holding pattern to stay safe.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Indian equity markets snapped a four-day losing streak on Friday, 19 December, with Nifty 50 gaining 150.85 points (0.58%) to settle at 25,966.40, and Sensex rising about 447 points (0.53%) to close at 84,929. Market breadth was decisively positive, as reflected in an advance-decline ratio of 2,185 advances to 939 declines, signaling robust, broad-based buying.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Indian stock markets: Bearish forces have been unrelenting and the trends are unable to stage any recovery despite the best intentions. With the trends remaining challenged the road ahead is fraught with uncertainty.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Ticker is a weekly newsletter by Vijay L Bhambwani. Subscribe to Mint's newsletters to get them directly in your email inbox. Dear reader, Last week, I wrote that bulls would have to do some significant work to push markets higher.