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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd's group chief executive, Anish Shah, is shifting his focus to deploying artificial intelligence, as the conglomerate closed its fifth year under his leadership with double-digit profit growth.The Mumbai-based company has crafted a strategy to increase revenue, which surged 26% year-on-year to ₹1.98 trillion in 2025-26, by using AI to enhance the service experience, improve marketing efficiency, and shorten the time-to-market for new products.Revenue surge was powered by a 20% on-year jump in sports utility vehicle (SUV) volumes to over 660,000 units, dethroning rival Hyundai Motor India from the second position, while net profit rose 32% on-year to ₹18,621 crore, further supported by growth across its business segments and a reduction in loss-making assets overseas.Its real estate and logistics business, Mahindra Lifespaces and Mahindra Logistics, reported a 50% rise in profit after tax, while its automobile segment—the largest contributor—posted 33% profit growth. Tech Mahindra Ltd, India's fifth-largest IT services company, ended the fiscal year with a 7% rise in net profit.Now, M&M wants to improve efficiencies to further boost revenue while reducing costs and turnaround time.“Over the past few months, I have spent an hour a day on AI, one hour every day.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In December 2024, a number of scientists from around the world signed a four-page paper in Science that urged their own community to ensure that an entire class of organisms is never created. Their efforts managed to halt progress in a field that many of them had themselves been pursuing. This marked a rare moment in science when an entire field voluntarily abandoned the path it had been on because of the risks scientists saw ahead of them.The science in question was mirror-life, and the fact that such a moratorium was achieved raises the question of why similar outcomes were not achieved in the field of artificial intelligence (AI).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The government is considering awarding national highway contracts only after obtaining all critical clearances, a move aimed at curbing project delays and cost escalation, according to two officials aware of the development.Under the proposal being considered, road projects will be awarded only after at least 90% of the land required is acquired, a norm already being enforced more strictly in recent years. In addition, the ministry of road transport and highways wants prior approval to remove structures such as houses and buildings that fall along the project stretch, an issue that has emerged as a key source of delays, one official said.According to the second official, even after land acquisition and statutory approvals, pending permissions to remove or modify built-up structures have stalled several projects.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.It’s happening. California looks likely to put a ‘one-time’ tax of 5% on wealth above $1 billion on the ballot in November and polls suggest it could pass— despite opposition from some economists (not so surprising) and Democratic politicians (more so). Meanwhile, calls to tax the rich are resounding across the country, from New York’s proposed ‘pied-à-terre tax’ to Washington State’s first-ever income tax, imposed only on millionaires.As someone who has been arguing for more than a decade that these taxes are bad economics, I find all this disheartening.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.China escalated its fight against the U.S. over Iranian oil, defying American sanctions in a show of resistance ahead of President Trump’s visit to Beijing planned for next week.Beijing has typically been wary of being seen to openly violate U.S. sanctions, even as privately run Chinese refiners, known as “teapots,” buy nearly every barrel of oil Iran exports.But China’s Commerce Ministry on Saturday told companies not to comply with the U.S.’s blacklisting of several Chinese refineries over alleged purchases of Iranian oil, invoking for the first time a 2021 “blocking rule” designed to counteract foreign laws it believes violate international norms or restrict trade.“It sends a broader message that China is willing and can resist what it views as unilateral and unfair sanctions that hurt Chinese interests,” said Dylan Loh, a professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University who studies China’s foreign policy.The U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.U.S. cities are facing huge liabilities that remain invisible on their books: dilapidated roads, bridges and buildings.A new study aims to put a dollar figure on the total wear and tear on the country’s urban infrastructure, and arrives at $1.03 trillion.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Ather Energy’s March quarter (Q4FY26) results are a classic case of operating leverage in action. While revenue surged 74% year-on-year to ₹1,175 crore, matching market expectations, net loss narrowed significantly, shrinking 57% to ₹100 crore.However, investors remain cautious despite these gains. Volume growth was robust, supported by rapid network ramp-up (700 experience centres versus 350 last year) and the continued success of the Rizta scooter.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Indian ethnic and fusion wear brand Libas is looking to become a broader lifestyle house, adding new categories and labels as it works towards a public listing by FY28."We want to be a lifestyle house of brands over the next five to ten years…So you will see some categories like handbags or maybe accessories, even home furnishing that we might explore over the next two years,” said Sidhant Keshwani, founder and CEO, without specifying the segments where the company wants to grow.The expansion plan comes as Libas scales both distribution and revenue ahead of its initial public offering (IPO) ambition. The company is targeting ₹1,000 crore in revenue by FY28, while maintaining annual growth of 30-35%.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.With the government planning to roll out E-PRAAPTI, an Aadhaar-linked portal by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), subscribers will soon be able to trace and access dormant or unclaimed provident fund accounts with minimal effort. The platform is designed to let users identify legacy accounts, link them to their Universal Account Number (UAN), update KYC details and reactivate balances through a fully digital process.The shift marks a move from an employer-dependent system to a member-led model, where individuals can manage PF accounts directly using digital authentication.Mint explores how the portal could help unlock dormant provident fund accounts and what the shift to a member-led system means for subscribers.India has a large number of inactive provident fund (PF) accounts, largely due to job changes, incomplete KYC, or accounts created before UAN became universal.Over time, EPFO has acknowledged that a significant portion of its total accounts are inactive or inoperative—many of them small-value balances that workers have lost track of.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd’s (BHEL) shares have gained about 8% in the past two trading sessions, and also hit an all-time high of ₹399 apiece on Monday, surpassing the previous all-time high of ₹390 seen on 7 November 2007. Not without reason.The state-owned equipment manufacturer’s consolidated Ebitda jumped 111% year-on-year to ₹1,753 crore for the March quarter (Q4FY26).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BENGALURU: On-demand house-help services platforms such as Urban Company’s Insta Help, Snabbit and Pronto are facing a workforce shortage across major cities including Mumbai, Bengaluru and the National Capital Region, leading to limited availability and rescheduled or cancelled bookings.Even as the platforms try to scale up to meet demand, users have reported difficulty securing slots for same-day or even next-day services, particularly for routine cleaning services. The disruption comes as demand for app-based home services continues to grow, driven by dual-income households and a shift towards convenient platform-based hiring.“I’ve tried booking a cleaner multiple times in the last two weeks and either there are no slots or the booking gets pushed to the next available day,” said a Bengaluru-based user who did not wish to be identified, adding that Pronto and Urban Company currently only allow scheduled bookings (not help within minutes) for their area.A user in Mumbai recently purchased Insta Help’s three-day pack but has been unable to find vacant slots.“The app simply says it will notify you when slots are available.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.As the economic consequences of US President Donald Trump’s war against Iran become evident, policymakers around the world are running out of patience. The recent Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington made this abundantly clear, with UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves lamenting the “folly” of a war that is “not ours.”But much of the cost will be borne by the US itself. The immediate effects are visible: a sharp rise in gas prices, inflation climbing to a two-year high and growing concerns that, as consumers cut back on spending to offset higher costs, unemployment will rise.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The end of a 15-year political regime in West Bengal has rekindled investor interest in companies headquartered in the state, triggering a sharp rally in select stocks on expectations of a policy reset.On 4 May, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a watershed win in the 294-member assembly, unseating the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) and ending its 15-year rule.On the back of expectations of improved industrial policy clarity and faster clearances, shares of RP Sanjiv Goenka Group companies, Bandhan Bank, Emami Limited and others saw a sharp move in prices.However, analysts caution that the rally reflects anticipatory positioning rather than earnings visibility.“The market is largely anticipatory positioning, not earnings-led yet,” said Ajay Bagga, a market expert. “Any regime shift that improves industrial policy clarity and capex visibility can expand earnings multiples but sustainability depends entirely on execution, not sentiment,” Bagga added.Shares of Kolkata-based Bandhan Bank touched an all-time high of ₹212.5 on Monday, emerging as the top gainer in the Nifty Private Bank pack that day.As of FY26, West Bengal accounted for 24% of Bandhan Bank’s total loans and advances—the highest among all states.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Power Grid Corp. of India Ltd, the top power transmission utility, sits at the heart of India’s electricity network, moving bulk power across states and linking generation with distribution.Its business runs on long-term, 35-year transmission contracts under a regulated tariff framework set by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp has become the third largest Indian heritage IT services firm — after Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd — to dial back shareholder payouts as it redirects capital towards acquisitions and AI capability building.Nasdaq-listed Cognizant, which follows a January–December financial calendar as against Indian IT’s April–March year, returned $1.99 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases last year.This year, the company is set to return less.“This year again, $2.5 billion (in free cash flow), we have committed $1.6 billion to be returned to the shareholder, $1 billion by share buyback and $600 million odd in dividends, of which we have now used about $600 million from the remaining $1 billion for Astreya,” said Jatin Dalal, chief financial officer of Cognizant, during the company’s post-earnings analyst call on 29 April.Cognizant ended last year with $21.1 billion in revenue, up 7% year-on-year.“Our long-term capital allocation framework is to deploy ~50% of our annual free cash flow towards M&A aligned with our strategic priorities and ~50% towards dividends and share repurchases, targeting a consistent dividend payout ratio and repurchases to offset dilution.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), should India create its own large language models (LLMs) that can work on a trillion-plus parameters? Scale-wise, this would put them in contention with LLMs created by US players OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Meta and their Chinese rivals Alibaba, DeepSeek and Moonshot, with ByteDance, Tencent and Zhipu AI not far behind. Or should India focus on creating AI tools and agents based on available models? Eminent leaders of India’s success in IT services have argued in favour of the latter option. Scarce resources need not go into building frontier models from scratch, they say, as we could gain more by using what already exists to go further.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.East India has shown a dramatic shift to the right, with West Bengal voting decisively for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the country’s latest round of assembly elections.The Trinamool Congress, which was ousted from power in polls held under the shadow of a controversy over an electoral-roll revision, had for 15 years looked like a stable inheritor of the Marxist regime that ruled the state for the previous 34 years. Unable to differentiate itself from the leftist formation it had replaced, it could not withstand a robust BJP campaign. That Assam would go the BJP way was expected all along.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Interest rate margins may remain under pressure in the first half of the current financial year, as lenders continue raising funds at high costs to match soaring loan growth. In the March quarter, margins for most banks, especially the mid-sized lenders, were flat to slightly lower.Margins compress when banks cut loan rates in line with benchmarks, but continue paying deposit interest at assured rates until they mature.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India is set to implement a new framework for fire and life safety across all healthcare facilities, moving beyond general building codes to address the specific vulnerabilities of patients and critical care units.The ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) has released a comprehensive manual titled “National Guidelines on Fire and Life Safety in Healthcare Facilities (2026)” in the backdrop of recurring tragedies that highlight systemic safety failures in Indian healthcare.The manual provides a technical and operational roadmap to identify high-risk zones such as ICUs, operation theatres, and oxygen storage areas for targeted interventions. Under these guidelines, all major structural elements in new hospitals must be non-combustible, and existing buildings must maintain compartmentation to limit the spread of fire and smoke.The updated framework responds to a history of tragic incidents where electrical faults—specifically short circuits and malfunctioning equipment—were identified as the primary cause of hospital fires, exacerbated by high oxygen concentrations and limited patient mobility.In 2021, an oxygen leak at Dr.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The air in West Bengal crackles with the raw electricity of change, but also brings with it real challenges for the new party in power.As the counting of votes continued on the evening of 4 May, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raced ahead in more than 200 seats, dwarfing the Trinamool Congress’s trailing presence of around 80, with others negligible.This is no incremental gain. It signals a wave that is poised to dismantle chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s 15-year citadel.The discontent against Banerjee’s party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), fuelled by years of alleged corruption, violence, and administrative decay, has finally overwhelmed loyalty to Didi’s welfare architecture.This verdict builds on a decade of simmering anti-incumbency.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: Ather Energy Ltd is moving closer to breakeven as rapid scale-up in volumes and an aggressive expansion of its retail network offset persistent commodity cost pressures, even as the electric two-wheeler maker continues to operate with narrow margins.The Bengaluru-based company saw its net loss narrow to ₹517 crore in fiscal year 2026 (FY26) from ₹812 crore a year earlier, aided by a 16.3 percentage point improvement in earnings before interest tax depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) margin to -6.7%.Revenue rose 66% to ₹3,823 crore, driven by a 69% jump in volumes to 263,000 units. The company said store expansion and product-led demand were key drivers of growth, with distribution emerging as a central lever in FY26.