Social Financial News

State of Working India (SoW) report says India’s demographic bulge will stop expanding in four years. The share of its working-age population will begin declining in 2030.

the New York Times. This is to give Trump additional military options even as he weighs a new diplomatic initiative with the Islamic republic, according to the report.“About 2,300 Marines from the 31st Expeditionary Unit are scheduled to arrive in the Middle East later this week, and U.S.

Mint India Investment Summit 2026 on Friday.“I have been telling Sebi for the last 10 years (to) have an effective regulatory impact assessment mechanism (to) see whether the regulations that are in your books are relevant for today's times,” said the former Indian Administrative Services officer, who was the guest of honour at Mint’s flagship summit.Many of Sebi’s rules have passed their “sell-by date”, he said, responding to a question on what rule change he would ask the current Sebi leadership to make.The septuagenarian deflected no questions and eloquently shared his opinion on subjects ranging from environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues to the sudden resignation of Atanu Chakraborty as the chairperson of India’s largest private-sector bank, HDFC Ltd.While calling the HDFC episode sad, he clarified that he did not know more about it than what has been publicly disclosed by the bank. However, he said no differences in a boardroom were insurmountable.He attested to witnessing many boardroom conflicts himself through his extensive experience as an independent director at top Indian companies.

Give credit where it’s due. Despite all the setbacks, Donald Trump is right that the US-Israeli war in Iran war hasn’t triggered the oil price super-spike many feared—at least not yet. “I thought it would be worse, much worse,” the American president said last week, and it’s hard to disagree.

When it comes to punishments levied against Meta and Google over the years, $6 million for claims that their apps were addictive and caused a mental health crisis might not seem like much. The amount, which a Los Angeles jury on Wednesday ordered to be paid to a 20-year-old woman known as Kaley G.M., is a mere pittance when compared with a $5 billion fine from the Federal Trade Commission for Meta or a $3.5 billion penalty for Google from the European Union.But that would be the wrong way to look at this pivotal moment in big tech accountability.

₹2,055 crore (about $245 million), said the people quoted earlier, speaking on the condition of anonymity as details are not public yet.The edtech firm was valued at $3.4 billion in 2021, and upGrad had proposed a valuation of $300–400 million in November before the talks collapsed in January.upGrad’s own valuation remains unchanged at around ₹17,000 crore, though it has fallen in dollar terms from $2.2 billion in its last funding round to roughly $1.8 billion due to currency movements.This roughly translates to 0.12 Upgrad shares for every Unacademy share, the people quoted earlier said.The companies refused to share valuations when they announced the deal. UpGrad and Unacademy did not respond to Mint’s queries sent on Wednesday.The acquisition was announced earlier in March after months of on-and-off negotiations.

Mint explains.On Wednesday, the California Superior Court held that Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, and Google, which owns YouTube, deliberately built features that foster prolonged, compulsive use among children, contributing to mental distress and long-term harm.The court flagged infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations as core drivers of “addiction by design,” drawing parallels with tobacco companies. Both firms have disputed the verdict.Unlikely.

The recent release of Korean group BTS’s Arirang album looks less like a musical comeback after a break and more like a case study in the strategic manipulation of consumer psychology. While publicists have framed the group’s return from a mandatory hiatus for military service as a cultural restoration, a closer analysis suggests a masterclass in behavioural economics.BTS’s comeback is projected to inject billions of dollars into the global economy.

₹1 lakh.”Santosh Joseph, founder of Germinate Investment Services, added: "People earlier were told what to do, but never the why. Now social media sells the benefits through these tips."But accessibility comes with risks.“The biggest issue is oversimplification,” Anooshka warned. “Wealth creation is complex, but social media often reduces it to quick tips.”There’s also the problem of context—what works for one person may not work for another.

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 back-and-forth was the latest demonstration of one of the dangers that AI technology has posed to global affairs: Not only can AI fakery deceive millions online, but real videos can also be dismissed as AI-generated lies,” a New York Times report said. The phenomenon, known as the “liar’s dividend,” has proliferated during the current West Asia conflict, with thousands of videos leaving watchers unable to tell the difference.As far as can be verified, Netanyahu appears hale and hearty.Meanwhile, Israel assassinated two top Iranians: Ali Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator and secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, head of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force.The killings underscore a problem highlighted by US President Donald Trump on Friday: there are few leaders left in Iran to negotiate an end to the war.

crude prices translates quickly into higher fuel costs. In the US, for instance, a gallon of regular petrol that averaged $2.94 in February now costs $3.58—a 20% increase—according to AAA Fuel Prices, a retail fuel price tracker from the American Automobile Association.In contrast, petrol in cities like Mumbai has held steady at around ₹103 per litre in recent weeks.At the core of this stability are state-run oil marketing companies (OMCs) such as Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum.When international prices surge, these companies often absorb the increase instead of passing it on immediately to consumers.According to Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda, "In the interest of social stability and to shield the common citizen from sudden inflationary shocks, domestic oil marketing companies often maintain steady product prices even as global crude costs climb.

There is something remarkable about the best salespeople, something quiet. Not the loudest, not the most decorated, not the ones with the fanciest titles or biggest incentive payouts. The truly effective ones, if you spend enough time around them—in liquor distribution, IT services, pharmaceuticals, agricultural inputs, across every sector—you begin to notice a common thread that has nothing to do with technique or personality type.They have pride in their work.

What is an economy for? Since Adam Smith, economists have given a straightforward answer to this question: the economy increases our consumption possibilities. A well-functioning economy is one that offers a widening array of ever-more affordable goods and services, from food and consumer items to housing and transportation.

the Netherlands has produced—under judicial compulsion and apparently with a straight face—is a mechanism that may force investors to sell assets simply to fund tax bills on gains that have not actually been realized.The broader concern is not the Dutch policy alone, but the trend it represents.Spend time in any corner of social media where economics is debated and you will encounter a growing community of neo-socialists who have arrived at a remarkable conclusion: socialism did not fail—it was simply never implemented properly.In this narrative, the Soviet Union, Maoist China and Cuba were merely flawed attempts at what is fundamentally a sound idea.The right people, armed with modern technology and the right intentions, will supposedly get it right this time.Within this worldview, taxing paper gains is not seen as overreach but as an obvious act of justice. The rich are simply too rich; their wealth—even the theoretical kind—is viewed as an affront that the state should correct.The notion that market value represents real money that the government is entitled to immediately, rather than when an asset is sold, fits neatly into this framework.

Springing a surprise, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a plan for what he called America’s first new refinery in half-a-century, backed by investment from India’s Reliance. To be built by America First Refining, it is part of a deal whose value Trump put at $300 billion, calling it the biggest in US history.“Thank you to our partners in India, and their largest privately held Energy Company, Reliance, for this tremendous Investment,” he said in a Truth Social post.

New Delhi: The government has initiated a study to review and revise India’s workplace social accountability standard, a move that could shape how companies structure compliance and governance practices as the country prepares to operationalise its new labour codes, said two government officials.The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has commissioned research to examine whether amendments are needed to its existing Social Accountability at the Workplace norms, which set out requirements for organisations to establish policies, procedures and practices related to ethical conduct and workers’ welfare, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.The study will assess the relevance of the existing framework in light of recent policy and regulatory changes aimed at strengthening labour protections, the first of the two officials said.Mint reviewed the terms of reference for the research and development (R&D) project. These include reforms relating to child labour, forced labour, anti-discrimination provisions, whistleblower protection, data privacy and workplace safety, this person said.“Updating the workplace social accountability standard is important at a time when India’s labour regulations are undergoing major changes,” said Sumita Dawra, former labour secretary.

New Delhi: As India's job market battle intensifies, top tech firms are swapping staid job ads for influencer-marketing campaigns on Instagram, YouTube and LinkedIn. Creators with millions of followers now spotlight job openings and work cultures, turning a single video into a flood of thousands of applications.Companies like Atlassian, 7-Eleven GCC, Octa, EPAM Systems, ServiceNow, Intuit, ZS Associates, and Infosys are leading this charge, betting on niche influencers’ social media reach to lure talent in a hyper-competitive landscape.“For us, it’s about visibility in the right places where top tech talent is consuming content.

Late last month, the US Department of War labelled Anthropic, creator of the artificial intelligence (AI) system Claude, “a supply chain risk,” and began taking steps to remove it from all use in the department, including by contractors and subcontractors to its roughly $1 trillion annual spending. There are news reports that no company that does work with the Pentagon will be allowed to engage in “commercial activity” with Anthropic. President Donald Trump called Anthropic a “radical left, woke company” that he “fired… like dogs.” OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and leading system in the AI race, swooped in within a day.

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.

New Delhi: Industry stakeholders and policy experts have reacted with scepticism over Karnataka’s proposal to ban social media use for youngsters under 16 years of age, questioning both the legality and the practicality of enforcing such a restriction in one state of India.Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah unveiled the proposal along with the state’s budget for FY27 on Friday, but did not share details.Lawyers and policymakers Mint spoke with said such a state-level demographic-specific ban could require intrusive age-verification systems and may be impractical, since many children access social media through adults’ devices and accounts.Further, such a ban may also clash with the Centre’s data-privacy framework, and go against the principles of minimal data sharing put forth in the Digital Personal Data Privacy (DPDP) Act that was notified last year.“Governments considering bans should be careful not to push teens toward less safe, unregulated sites, or logged-out experiences that bypass important protections—like the default safeguards we offer in Instagram’s ‘teen accounts’,” a spokesperson for Meta Platforms Inc said in response to Mint’s queries.“We’ll comply with social media bans where they are enforced, but with teens using nearly 40 apps every week, targeting a handful of companies won’t keep them safe.