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Mint breaks down how digital nomad visas work and why countries are betting on remote workers.A digital nomad is a professional who works remotely while living and travelling across different cities or countries, relying on digital tools rather than a fixed office. Typically employed in fields such as technology, consulting, content creation or online services, digital nomads earn their income online and choose locations based on factors like cost of living, internet connectivity and lifestyle.In recent years, governments have begun to formally recognise this group through ‘digital nomad visas’, allowing remote workers to legally live in a country for extended periods without entering the local job market.

The Asian Drama, Gunnar Myrdal introduced the concept of the ‘soft state.’ He was really writing about South Asia, especially India, with barely any mention of the ‘miracle economies’ of East Asia.He characterized the Indian state as a ‘soft state,’ implying a government with limited capacity, unable to unwind a gridlock of competing interests that sucked up and dissipated scarce resources. This pre-empted the high growth necessary for reducing widespread poverty.India is now a fast-growing economy and poverty is much reduced, but regulatory failure to clean up the air in Delhi under successive governments suggests that the ‘soft state’ still prevails.Of late, the soft state has also been very visible in the awful tragedy in Arpora, Goa, where a fire at an unauthorized night club, Birch by Romeo Lane, killed 21 persons.

tax department is accurate in most cases and that the return should therefore be revised. This assumption, however, is flawed.The problem is not one of intent or aggressive enforcement.

For India’s affluent, convenience never sat in apps or bookings but in the privilege of things done for them—access to anything, anywhere with no friction or complexity and satisfaction guaranteed. That was traditionally delivered by humans: house managers, executive assistants, and trusted fixers who served the everyday world to the wealthy.Now, a new set of startups is attempting to sculpt that quiet operating system into a product.Over the past year, personal concierge services have drawn renewed attention from founders and large consumer platforms alike.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Close to 4.6 million weddings are expected to be hosted by the end of the calendar year—and the wedding season is still only halfway through. These large-scale celebrations involve dozens of moving parts, from venues and vendors to guests and travel logistics, raising the risk of things going wrong.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Chennai: It isn’t every day that you come across companies declaring with some ferocity that they are second best. That kind of intensity is usually reserved in the battle for the top spot.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. MUMBAI : Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, India's Union minister for tourism and culture, on 15 December informed the Lok Sabha, through written replies, of the government's initiatives to promote homestays, especially in tribal areas. Mint explains what these policies are and why the government is keen on homestays.

India’s central bank recently released the 10th edition of its Handbook of Statistics on Indian States. Among its new additions is state-wise data on domestic tourist visits. Goa, despite its salience as a holiday spot, is a small player on this chart, with just under 10 million visitors in 2024.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The rupee slipping past the ₹90 mark against the US dollar may sound like a problem mainly for travellers heading to the United States. But the reality is broader—and more expensive.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A career as an influencer may be an instinctive choice for younger Indians born in the digital age. But even older professionals in their 40s, 50s and 60s are taking it as a serious pursuit.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Private bus operators and online ticketing platforms are hoping to retain more users as travellers stranded by the IndiGo flight cancellation fiasco seek out last-minute travel alternatives. From local travel companies to electric-bus startups, everyone is vying for a share of a market that has lit up like a Christmas tree.

In the bustling skies of India, where air travel has become the lifeblood of a rapidly growing economy, a single airline’s dominance can destabilize the entire nation. December 2025 will long be remembered as the month when IndiGo, India’s undisputed aviation giant, triggered the country’s worst ever flight crisis with its disregard for regulation.In the past few days, this air carrier, boasting a fleet of over 350 aircraft and a domestic market share of around 64%, descended into chaos amid the cancellation of thousands of its flights that left tens of thousands of Indian passengers stranded.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The artificial-intelligence chips that Nvidia is allowed to ship to China will undergo a special security review in the U.S. before they are exported, according to administration officials.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Company Outsider is a weekly newsletter by Sundeep Khanna. Subscribe to Mint's newsletters to get them directly in your email inbox. A toothless regulator and a dominant player in a two-horse race is a recipe for disaster.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : An international New Year holiday often sounds expensive, but Oman proves otherwise. With its turquoise wadis, cliffside beaches, and dramatic mountains, the country looks luxurious yet is actually one of the easiest and most affordable international trips for Indians today.

It is apparent that IndiGo has used its dominance of India’s air travel market to blackmail the authorities into giving it relief—albeit temporary—from compliance with tighter rules on night landings and how long and late into the wee hours pilots and crew can be put to work. In the process, it has penalized the vast majority of air travellers.With the airline’s market share above 60%, its bulk cancellation of flights left passengers stranded and let rival operators fleece fliers with steep fares until the government stepped in to cap fares.This has exposed a regulator powerless to enforce its fiat in the face of determined resistance by a dominant player. This cannot be allowed to stand.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The recent success of several consumer tech companies in public markets has prompted Indian venture capital funds to back the next wave—startups using artificial intelligence (AI) to build products. Several companies have picked up early-stage cheques this year.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The perception of safety in stock markets varies widely depending on the investor's risk tolerance, investment horizon, and market conditions. Safe investing often means managing risk through diversification, proper entry points, and a margin of safety rather than an absolute guarantee of no loss.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is set to introduce the country's first metro corridor designed for operations with three-coach trains on the upcoming Lajpat Nagar-Saket G Block route, officials said on Sunday. A part of Phase-IV of the Delhi Metro project, the corridor will span eight kilometer and be the second-smallest in the network, the DMRC said in a statement. The line aims to enhance last-mile connectivity and ensure seamless interchange with existing corridors, it said. Unlike other metro lines that operate with four, six or eight coaches, the new corridor will use 3-coach trains, developed specifically for short-distance urban travel, the statement said.

Delhi Metro will soon introduce India’s first metro corridor designed to operate with 3-coach long trains. An official statement said unlike most metro lines that use 4, 6, or 8-coach trains, this 3-coach system has been developed to cater specifically to short-distance urban travel. The Lajpat Nagar to Saket G Block Metro Corridor of Phase-IV will be the second smallest metro line (8 kms) in the Delhi Metro network, enhancing last-mile connectivity while ensuring seamless interchange with existing metro corridors, the statement added. Projected daily ridership on this corridor is expected to rise from 60,000–80,000 passengers in 2025 to over 1,20,000 in 2041.

Keen to move beyond its reputation as a weekend escape for drinkers from dry Gujarat, the administration is exploring a dramatic shift: a plan to lease out the 16th-century Portuguese-built Diu Fort for destination weddings and rebranding the beach town as a family-friendly retreat. “Diu will soon be Goa minus the casino and nightlife,” Diu collector Rahul Dev Boora told ET. “Both Diu and Goa share a Portuguese legacy, but for tourists seeking a family getaway, Diu will always have the edge.”