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It upheld the 2022 guidelines issued by the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) that prohibited hotels and restaurants from automatically levying a 'service charge' on food bills, reinforcing that these payments must remain voluntary. Dismissing the petitions filed by the Federation of Hotels and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) and the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), which challenged the CCPA’s power to issue such guidelines, Justice Prathiba M Singh said that the Authority is not merely a recommendatory body but is fully empowered and has the jurisdiction to pass the guidelines under the CPA, 2019. “In fact, issuing guidelines in consumer interest is an essential function of CCPA and the guidelines would have to be mandatorily complied with as the scheme of the Act clearly provides for enforcement of guidelines, which would not curtail fundamental rights it held.

Emerging economies such as India, Brazil and Vietnam, which impose tariff on American imports higher than what the US levies on them, face a high risk of reciprocal tariffs, global ratings agency Fitch said. “Brazil, India, Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey and, on a simple average tariff basis, Vietnam and Indonesia, impose notably higher tariffs on exports from the US relative to tariffs imposed by the US on imports from these countries,” it said. US President Donald Trump has threatened with his reciprocal tariffs announcement on April 2 against trading partners he says have been “ripping off” the country by imposing high levies. As per the Fitch report, the tariffs in these economies were higher, both on a simple and trade-weighted average basis. “On a simple average basis, the highest differentials are in Brazil, India and Turkey,” Fitch said.

A team of US officials, headed by Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, is here for negotiations on the proposed agreement. «Early stage of discussions are going on,» one of the sources said, adding that nothing has been finalised so far. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said the ongoing talks between India and the US for the proposed pact are progressing «well» and will be for the «good» of both nations while protecting India's interests. The official level deliberations assume significance as US President Donald Trump has announced imposing reciprocal tariffs on April 2 on America's key trading partners, including India.

The downturn follows Trump’s announcement of a 25 per cent tariff on foreign vehicles, set to take effect April 2. Critics argue these policies risk inflating consumer prices and destabilizing global markets. Multiple polls, including CNN and Economist/YouGov, echo Gallup’s findings, with disapproval rates outpacing approval by double digits.

Morgan Stanley sold over 19.30 lakh shares in Kesoram Industries for Rs 81 lakh on Friday via block deal. The penny stock was sold at a price of Rs 4.20 per share which was at an 11% discount from Thursday's closing price of Rs 4.70. Shares of Kesoram Industries today ended at Rs 4.50 on the BSE, down by Rs 0.20 or 4.26% and a fresh 52-week-low.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON : President Trump is following through on his pledge to usher in one of the most sweeping deregulatory drives in modern U.S. history, moving swiftly to slash environmental rules and bank oversight, remove barriers to cryptocurrencies, and reverse the Biden administration’s restrictions on energy production.

capital on Friday amid rise in precious metal rates in the overseas markets, according to the All India Sarafa Association. The precious metal of 99.9 per cent purity had finished at Rs 91,050 per 10 grams on Thursday. In FY25, gold prices have increased by Rs 23,730 or 35 per cent from Rs 68,420 per 10 grams on April 1 last year.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney is set to have his first phone conversation with United States President Donald Trump in the coming days, and Trump’s commerce secretary said Canada may get some reprieve from automobile tariffs.

President Donald Trump’s promised tariffs on softwood lumber risk disrupting the supply chain for something nobody wants to be caught without: toilet paper.

Former Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz says we are “seriously outgunned” by the Americans in a trade war, arguing Canada will still need the United States down the road.

Canadian energy executives are pretty much all in on building a west-to-east pipeline, suggests a new survey.

Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board chief executive Jo Taylor and his investing team usually rely on a lot of real-world data when determining where to allocate billions of dollars of investment money on behalf of retirees. But United States President Donald Trump’s flurry of edicts that threaten to upend global trade and geopolitical alliances makes it hard to know what data points they should even be looking at.

King Charles III on Thursday was forced to cancel his appointments for the rest of the day and Friday after suffering «side effects» from his cancer treatment, Buckingham Palace said. «Following scheduled and ongoing medical treatment for cancer this morning, the king experienced temporary side effects that required a short period of observation in hospital,» the statement said. «His Majesty's afternoon engagements were therefore postponed,» the statement added, saying that the 76-year-old UK head of state had since returned to his home in Clarence House. «As a precautionary measure, acting on medical advice, tomorrow's (Friday's) diary programme will also be rescheduled.» The king had experienced temporary and relatively common side effects, the BBC reported, quoting sources, adding that it had been a very minor bump in his recovery.

Bangkok, Myanmar Earthquake Today LIVE: A strong 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar on March 28 (Friday), according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The tremor hit 16 km northwest of Sagaing city at a depth of 10 km, at around 12:50 pm local time, USGS added.Minutes later at 1.03 pm, the National Center for Seismology in India reported a 4.0 Ritcher scale quake in Meghalaya's East Garo Hills.Also Read | Earthquake today: Quake of magnitude 7.2 hits Myanmar; tremors felt in China, ThailandFurther, the USGS and Germany's GFZ Center for Geosciences also reported that a midday earthquake struck Thailand's capital city of Bangkok at a shallow depth of 10 km.

Nifty Pharma index dropping 0.9%, as investors digested U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to impose a 25% tariff on auto imports starting next week. The move drew backlash from global carmakers and stoked fears of escalating trade tensions. Auto stocks extended their two-day decline to 2%. Mahindra & Mahindra shares dropped 2.8% on Friday, while Tata Motors tumbled 6% over the last three sessions amid fears of a 25% tariff on auto exports to the U.S. Analysts warn that Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) could be particularly affected.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The early onset of summer this year has put the spotlight on stocks of power generation companies, with the BSE Utilities index up about 14% over the past one month. Peak evening demand in the first 26 days of March at the India Energy Exchange (IEX) crossed 14GW against 8.5GW during the same period last year, as per its market data.

Benchmark NSE Nifty index rose 50.35 points to 23642.3 amid buying in frontline bluechip stocks.

Silver May futures were trading around Rs 1,01,500/kg, up by 0.18% or Rs 187.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus here on Friday, official media reported. Yunus, on a four-day visit to China, took part in the country's Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference in Hainan after his arrival there on Wednesday. He arrived in Beijing on Thursday and was received at the airport by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong. Gearing up for his meeting with Xi, Yunus called on China on Thursday to reduce interest rates for Chinese loans and waive commitment fees on Chinese-funded projects. In his meeting with the Chinese Executive Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference, Yunus sought Chinese support in an array of development projects, Bangladesh media reports said. He also called for a reduction of interest rates for Chinese loans from three per cent to 1-2 per cent to Bangladesh and sought a waiver of commitment fees on the Chinese-funded projects in Bangladesh. China is Bangladesh's fourth-largest lender after Japan, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, with total loans disbursed since 1975 coming to USD 7.5 billion, according to a report in the Daily Star newspaper of Bangladesh.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.(up 1.8 per cent), Canara Bank(up 1.27 per cent), Punjab National Bank(up 0.81 per cent), ICICI Bank Ltd.(up 0.68 per cent) and State Bank of India(up 0.59 per cent) were among the top gainers.

BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday met with global executives and made a case for investing in the country, as Beijing focuses on reaching out to businesses amid escalating trade tensions with the U.S.