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ITC Ltd is rapidly premiumizing its portfolio with an eye on aspirational shoppers, as consumer goods makers pivot to the juicier side of the retail market for higher margins. India has typically been a value market, with more consumers buying low-priced unit packs. However, over the years, rising prosperity have prompted shoppers to increasingly buy differentiated products such as fragrant body washes, value-added hair oils and organic wheat flour.

Adele, the renowned British singer, shed light on her ongoing struggle with seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a form of depression that typically arises during winter months. Her move to Los Angeles in 2016, where she resides in a mansion worth $58 million, has been primarily attributed to her battle with SAD. She expressed a fondness for the LA weather, which significantly alleviates her condition, stating, «I get really bad seasonal depression, so the weather is good for me here.» Despite her love for LA, Adele admitted to missing her British roots, confessing that her song "Hometown Glory" evokes strong emotions tied to her London upbringing. The track was inspired by her experience participating in a protest against Tony Blair's decision to engage in the Iraq war when she was 16 years old.

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year (against a very undemanding base for comparison”.  Although investment banks, by and large, do not party like they used to, the festive season still means a lot more socialising, difficulty getting calendars in sync and an unwillingness on the part of clients to do anything that might complicate their year end.  Consequently, December is a month in which, notoriously, not much happens.

Max Healthcare Institute Ltd announced its complete acquisition of Starlit Medical Centre Pvt Ltd for an enterprise value of ₹940 crore, on Friday. This strategic move grants Max Healthcare ownership of the 550-bed Sahara Hospital located in Lucknow. The company has successfully finalized a binding share purchase agreement (SPA) to acquire a full 100% stake in Starlit Medical Centre Pvt Ltd.

Tate McRae, the singer behind 'Greedy,' pleasantly surprised fans earlier this year with the announcement of her second album, 'Think Later’. Now, the album has officially been released along with the announcement of a world tour to support it

We all have debts, but the situation gets slightly challenging when someone has multiple debts, and he fails to manage all of them as it is not always feasible to run several loans and keep a track of all payments without delay or default. That is why it makes sense to consolidate your debts and focus on just one single debt that can be managed and repaid on time.

A credit card balance transfer involves moving the outstanding balance from one credit card to another, usually to take advantage of lower interest rates. Credit card balance transfers can help in managing high-interest debt more effectively by consolidating it onto a single card with a lower interest rate, potentially saving money on interest payments.

Back in June, when China’s youth unemployment rate hit a record 21.3%, Western analysts saw it as a sign of a moribund recovery. China’s ministry of statistics responded by announcing it would no longer publish the statistic. Six months on, that move might have had the desired effect.

rupee closed slightly lower on Friday, tracking subdued moves in its Asian peers, as investors turned their attention to a crucial U.S. labour market report due later in the day. The rupee ended at 83.3850 against the U.S.

By Paul Carsten

Investing.com — Most Asian currencies moved little on Friday as traders positioned for a potentially softer U.S. nonfarm payrolls reading, while the yen sat near a four-month high to the dollar tracking hawkish signals from the Bank of Japan. 

Can the U.S. economy achieve a much-hyped “soft landing”

Meta is rolling out end-to-end encryption for calls and messages across its Facebook and Messenger platforms, the company announced Thursday

Sebi) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch on Friday said the inclusion of Indian sovereign bonds in the global indices would not just help the government raise resources but also deepen the country’s corporate bond market. Speaking at the industry body CII’s Global Economic Policy Forum event in the capital, Buch said: “This is hugely important for us as a country, not only because it will help the government raise resources, but once the Indian yield curve is established globally, on the back of that, the corporate bond market can also get a lot of traction, and a lot of interest from foreign investors.” “And so we are hoping that down the line, it will be a case of my name is bond. Indian bond,” she added. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had in October said JPMorgan’s decision to include Indian government bonds in its widely tracked emerging market debt index could potentially lead to annual inflows of about $23 billion into the country. JPMorgan will start adding the securities from June 28, 2024 and India will have a maximum weight of 10% on the index. Same-day settlement Buch said Sebi wants to introduce the same-day settlement of trades on the bourses--or the T-plus zero regime--by the end of this fiscal year. The capital markets regulator also aims to move towards the instantaneous settlement regime within 12 months after that.

UPI payment transactions for educational and healthcare purposes. In measures announced after its monetary policy review, the central bank has also increased the limit for e-mandates used to make recurring payments, such as buying mutual funds and paying insurance and credit card bills. The RBI has also proposed to set up a fintech repository to keep track of the increasing linkages among banks, NBFCs and fintechs. The limits of UPI transactions for payments made to hospitals and educational institutes have been raised by five times from Rs 1 lakh to Rs.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said while announcing a proposal to establish data storage facilities for financial institutions (FIs) in India on December 8, 2023. "Banks and financial entities are maintaining an ever-increasing volume of data. Many of them are utilising various public and private cloud facilities for this purpose.

The Most Valuable Builder (MVB) accelerator program, which is a collaborative project between BNB Chain and Binance Labs, has been in the forefront of supporting Web3 builders and fostering the development of the BNB Chain ecosystem ever since it was first introduced in 2021. This forward-thinking program, which is well-known for its intense accelerator structure that lasts for ten weeks, has been instrumental in bringing early-stage businesses to the forefront of the blockchain and Web3 worlds.

Nifty 50, Sensex at record highs; how should you play large, mid, smallcaps? Nuvama underscored that midcaps are also expensive but they should still do relatively better than smallcaps. "Midcaps are also expensive at 26 times P/E (versus 20 times 10-year average), but the sizes and profiles of midcap businesses in India have improved significantly in the past five–seven years. Midcap premium of 28 per cent to Nifty valuation (versus 7-8 per cent average) is also not supportive.

RBI Monetary Policy (MPC) Meet: The Reserve Bank of India's MPC has kept repo rates unchanged at 6.5 percent, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced on December 8. “The RBI MPC has decided unanimously to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 6.50 percent. Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate remains at 6.25 percent, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 6.75 percent," Das said.

Omkar Shetty, Pune, Maharashtra In the realm of investments, diversification is a key mantra, and venturing beyond the familiar shores of the Indian stock market can open up a world of possibilities. Indian international mutual funds, particularly those with a focus on the S&P 500, offer an enticing avenue for Indian investors to tap into the dynamic and growth-oriented US equity market. The US stock market has consistently outperformed its Indian counterpart over the long term.

Japan's economy fell faster than initially estimated in the third quarter, revised data showed on Friday, complicating the central bank's efforts to phase out its accommodative monetary policy. Consumer and business spending both shrank, driving down third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP). Separate data showed real wages and household spending kept falling in October, as prolonged inflation discouraged shoppers.