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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India is gearing up for one of its largest offshore oil and gas exploration campaigns in recent years.The government has planned extensive geological surveys across multiple eastern offshore basins.The timing is no coincidence. India still sources nearly 85% of its crude oil from overseas, along with a significant chunk of its natural gas needs.That dependence leaves the economy exposed; any spike in global crude prices, geopolitical flare-up, or supply disruption abroad quickly feeds into higher fuel costs and inflation at home.According to media reports, survey ships are expected to soon begin scanning vast stretches of the Bay of Bengal and nearby offshore regions to hunt for commercially viable hydrocarbon reserves buried beneath the seabed.The government has floated bids for a large-scale multi-basin exploration project covering the Bengal-Purnea, Mahanadi, Krishna-Godavari, Cauvery, and Andaman offshore basins—all using advanced 2D Broadband Marine Seismic and Gravity-Magnetic surveys.The scale is striking.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Nvidia is no longer the only AI chip game in town. But it is the largest by far, and the likelihood that it will be that way for the foreseeable future should count for something.It hasn’t counted for much lately.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Pain is invisible; the sufferer has to make noise for it to be acknowledged, treated or accepted. Mumbai-based artist Koshy Brahmatmaj, 34, lives with chronic endometriosis, a painful condition that afflicts millions of women around the world.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: India’s listed electronics manufacturers are under pressure to defend profitability as the mobile-phone assembly boom slows, prompting a shift towards higher-value industrial electronics.Investors remained jittery through the last fiscal, driven by concerns that slowing consumer sentiment could weigh on the rapid growth that electronics manufacturing services (EMS) firms have delivered so far.In an interview with Mint, Jasbir Singh Gujral, managing director of Syrma SGS Technology Ltd, India’s second-largest listed EMS firm, said, “We’re increasingly looking to capture a larger chunk of contracts from defence, aerospace and med-tech verticals, all of which represent opportunities for original design manufacturing, and also bring significantly higher margins. We’ve already started this transition, and we plan to do more of it this fiscal.”Beyond mobile phones and laptops, EMS firms are expanding into smart metres for electricity boards, aerospace and defence subsystems, railway safety instrumentation, printed circuit boards and display assemblies, and medical devices deployed in hospitals.India’s annual mobile phone shipments have remained subdued since the covid-19 pandemic, with industry estimates pointing to a single-digit decline this calendar year from 152 million smartphones shipped last year.The margin pressure driving this shift is increasingly visible.In FY26, Syrma SGS reported an operating margin of 7.1%, up 2.3 percentage points.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Oil marketing companies’ (OMCs) strong March-quarter (Q4FY26) results hide the heavy losses they are incurring due to higher crude oil prices. Brent crude now trades over $100 per barrel, up from about $70 per barrel before the West Asia war began.Efforts to soften the blow are still not enough to cushion the impact of crude price surge.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Policy formulation will see challenges mount in 2026-27 as the effects of the West Asia war unsettle India’s growth picture. The high price of oil has exposed its vulnerability, with the reverberations of every policy action or non-action likely to influence other parts of the economy.Let’s start with monetary policy first. The regime of low interest rates is over and the decision that India’s central bank must take is when—and by how much—to raise its repo rate.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India’s electric-bus rollout under two central government schemes is nearing completion, with Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi accounting for the largest share of allocations, while Uttar Pradesh received no buses and Bihar was allotted 400, according to parliamentary data analysed by Mint.As much as 98% of the buses planned under the PM E-Drive and PM E-bus Sewa programmes have now been tendered, the data showed, effectively bringing the government’s push to electrify state-run bus fleets into its final phase and shaping how electric buses will enter urban transport over the next decade under long-term contracts.Data on the e-buses tendered under the PM E-Drive by the ministry of heavy industries and the PM E-bus Sewa by the ministry of housing and urban affairs showed Karnataka (5,250 e-buses), Maharashtra (4,109 e-buses), and Delhi (2,800 e-buses) leading the chart.The country's most populous state Uttar Pradesh did not win any busesunder the schemes while Bihar won only 400 buses. The contribution of these states is important to note given their large population and high dependence on public transport.Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu all have received only 50 e-buses each, with Ladakh receiving 48, and Andaman & Nicobar getting 45, the data showed.Tenders under these central schemes assume importance as these state-run buses will ply on Indian roads for at least the next decade, since these are long-term contracts.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Most of us grew up seeing conservation at home—saving water, switching off what we did not need, repairing rather than discarding things and treating resources with quiet respect. We never called it ‘sustainability.’ It was common sense, passed down by elders, absorbed without effort and practised without announcement.In today’s global environment, that common sense is not just a virtue but a practical national strength. That is why I read the Prime Minister’s recent seven-point appeal as a timely reminder and not as a signal of panic.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Indian FMCG products might get costlier on account of the war in West Asia as companies use up their buffer raw material stocks and shipments of key ingredients, including crude oil and oil-derived products, slow down because of global tensions, experts said.Persistent crude oil-linked inflation could keep companies cautious on pricing, margins and expansion plans. As inflationary pressures build, consumers are expected to cut back on discretionary spending and reduce shopping frequency.“People will start to look at value for money often.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Travel fintech startup Scapia has raised $63 million in a fresh funding round led by General Catalyst, with continued participation from existing investors Peak XV Partners and Z47."We're still very young and very small in terms of the largeness of India. There's a large opportunity to scale the business into a larger customer base," said Anil Goteti, founder and chief executive of Scapia in a conversation with Mint.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Trading your mortarboard for a company badge is exciting. Just make sure your first job after college is the starting point, not the high point, in a satisfying career.If you’re a new graduate, you were about 6 years old when a basketball player named Tyreke Evans won the NBA’s rookie-of-the-year award with stats comparable to Michael Jordan’s and LeBron James’s in their debut seasons.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India is looking to accelerate its government fleet electrification programme via its clean energy agency to central ministries, state governments, public sector banks, and autonomous bodies—widening a drive that has so far hardly made a dent in a vehicle fleet of over 800,000 units.Led by the Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), a central clean energy agency, the expansion plan will offer state governments and public sector undertakings (PSUs) a leasing-based 'EV as a Service' model that eliminates purchase costs and provides charging infrastructure and maintenance. The model, launched in 2024, will help circumvent the two big barriers to fleet electrification: high capital outlay and logistical complexity.“CESL is also reaching out to public sector banks, central/state governments, PSUs, autonomous bodies, etc., to align with the government’s larger vision of reducing fossil fuel dependence, lowering operational fuel costs and accelerating clean mobility adoption across public institutions,” a CESL spokesperson told Mint.The move comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for increased use of electric vehicles (EVs), and as the finance ministry directed all public sector banks, insurance companies and financial institutions to switch to EVs as part of an austerity programme.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd (AHEL), the country’s largest listed hospital chain by beds, is betting on its planned capacity expansion as well as its clinical programmes and expertise to maintain its lead in an increasingly competitive private healthcare market, its top management said.The hospital chain, which commissioned four hospitals in Pune, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Delhi in FY26, plans to add about 1,500 beds in the next 12-18 months. This includes beds in the new hospitals as well as existing ones.“We think capacity is a strategically important lever… it will place us as the largest player substantially in terms of bed capacity.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Artificial intelligence is like a cake, says Jensen Huang, the boss of Nvidia, a chipmaker. ai applications, such as chatbots, are at the top. The next layer down is software, like the large language models (llms) on which chatbots run.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: India’s efforts to diversify LPG supplies have gained momentum after state-run Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) made its first-ever spot purchases from the American market, a top company official said, as the country seeks to reduce dependence on West Asia amid ongoing conflict in the region.The development assumes significance as India imports 60-65% of its annual liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) requirement of 33 million tonnes, with nearly 90% of these imports sourced from West Asia, making it vulnerable to supply-chain disruptions amid the ongoing US-Iran tensions in the region.Although the mobilization period from the US is about 45 days, cargoes from North America would ease supply crunch faced by the world's second-largest LPG importer, said VRK Gupta, director (finance) at BPCL."For the first time, BPCL has procured 2 US cargoes of LPG on spot purchase basis which have arrived in the month of May 2026. Hence, even if it takes about 90 days (to and fro), cargoes from the US will ease the supply scenario," Gupta told Mint in an interview.These are very large gas carriers (VLGC), with a capacity of 45,000-48,000 tonnes.BPCL’s LPG business accounts for about 28% of the country’s liquefied petroleum gas market, covering 93.5 million cylinder connections.LPG is a sensitive issue in the country as it is used for cooking by nearly 340 million households.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.A judge tossed Elon Musk’s $150 billion lawsuit against OpenAI’s Sam Altman this week after the jury determined that the Tesla CEO waited too long to file his claim. Mr. Musk said the verdict was decided on a “calendar technicality” and vowed to appeal, so perhaps this courtroom battle over artificial-intelligence supremacy isn’t over.Essentially, Mr.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.It was a good run, but now it’s over. Now, another car company wants to fill the gap.In January, Tesla announced plans to stop production of its high-end Model S and X vehicles, choosing to turn that manufacturing capacity in Fremont, California, into a line dedicated to humanoid robot production. Car production stopped in May.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Executives at Nippon Life India Asset Management and Deutsche Bank’s asset manager DWS said global investors continue to view India as a key long-term market despite continued foreign portfolio outflows from equities.Global investors may be in a temporary “wait-and-watch” mood, said Sundeep Sikka, managing director and CEO of Nippon Life India Asset Management Ltd.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Air India is cutting domestic and international capacity this summer, flying up to 5% fewer flights on domestic routes and nearly 40% less on international corridors compared with a year ago, as a depleted fleet, surging jet fuel costs, and war-related airspace closures squeeze the Tata Group carrier.The airline and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express together offered roughly 9.24 million domestic seats in April and May, down from 9.71 million a year ago, even as India's largest carrier, IndiGo, expanded domestic capacity 6% to 23.04 million seats and newcomer Akasa Air grew 9% to 1.63 million seats, according to data from aviation analytics firm OAG reviewed by Mint. Seats are a measure of capacity for airlines.The move reflects pressures that analysts say have pushed Air India's network strategy into what one expert calls ‘survival mode’.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Petrol and diesel prices have increased by nearly ₹4 following back-to-back price hikes over the past week. With crude oil prices still above $100 and no end in sight to the conflict in West Asia, at least two independent analysts have said retail fuel prices will have to increase by ₹13-20 per litre to curb the losses of oil companies.Mint explains why more fuel price hikes are probably on the way and what it means for consumers.The simple reason is that oil marketing companies — Indian Oil Corp.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Specialized investment funds (SIFs), positioned between mutual funds (for retail investors) and portfolio management services (PMS) or alternative investment funds (AIFs) for high net-worth individuals, offer multiple advantages.Being within the mutual fund fold, SIFs enjoy MF-style taxation. Mutual funds are tax-free trusts; profits accrue within the fund. PMS and AIF categories I and II are pass-through for tax purposes.Sebi permits short positions in SIFs up to 25% of the portfolio.