UPS Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.FINANCE IS PEPPERED with jargon that doesn’t make much sense: “investment-grade bonds” (unlike those other, uninvestible ones), “forward guidance” (as opposed to the backward kind), “convexity adjustments” (translation: your trader wants more money) and so on. Still, it can be exasperating to hear an investment adviser sagely recommend “quality” stocks, as if without their wisdom you would seek out dross.In fact, now is the moment to do just that. An eccentric conclusion to draw, you might think, as the world’s rules-based order breaks down, its dominant superpower attacks enemies with impunity and vital shipping lanes are blocked by war.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Ahead of its initial public offering (IPO), Jio Platforms Limited has appointed Akash M. Ambani as its managing director for five years, effective 9 April, according to disclosures seen by Mint.The leadership reshuffle comes as the company prepares to file its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to seek approval for listing.“...subject to the approval of the members of the company, Mr Akash M.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.MUMBAI: Bears in gold and silver are in for a rude shock after the government raised import duty on bullion to 15% from 6%, a move expected to send prices on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) soaring by more than 9% and potentially lock contracts at upper circuits.Gold and silver contracts on MCX have a maximum daily price limit of 9% in either direction. If international prices move beyond those levels, the exchange can relax the circuit limits in additional 3% bands.The government on Wednesday raised import duties on gold and silver as part of efforts to curb precious metals imports amid a swelling import bill triggered by the West Asia crisis.The duty hike comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to defer gold purchases for a year to help cushion the economic impact of the West Asia war.India imports about 700 tonnes of gold annually, putting pressure on the current account deficit (CAD) at a time when the conflict has driven crude oil prices up 45% to above $107 a barrel.CAD reflects the gap between the country’s foreign exchange earnings and spending.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Every month, Mint’s Plain Facts gives you an update on key global data to help you thread together the biggest developments worth paying attention to. The accompanying analysis and charts explain how each story is creating ripples on the global stage, where it is headed in the coming weeks, and whether it could have an impact on India.After months of steady cooling, consumer prices are rising once again as the escalating war in West Asia continues to disrupt energy markets and global supply chains.The inflationary shock is most severe in import-reliant Asian economies.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The global situation in the oil market has been steadily worsening. This is putting a huge stress on India. India's petroleum consumption depends on 85% of imported crude oil.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s inflation in April climbed to a 13-month high of 3.5% from a year earlier, driven by food prices. Though this was only marginally higher than March’s 3.4% reading and undershot economists’ expectation of a 3.8% print, there isn’t much relief to draw, given the rising trajectory of price levels. Commodity and freight costs have risen in the wake of supply disruptions caused by the war in West Asia, making food costlier.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for Indians to help conserve foreign exchange in various ways, such as by holding off on foreign travel and using less fuel, made waves as news partly because it has been more than a decade since India’s external sector was last under pressure. With crude trading above $100 per barrel globally, our oil imports are soaking up dollars even as exports face protectionist headwinds. Ever since war erupted in West Asia, it has been clear that its adverse effect on our balance of payments (BoP) would need to be kept under watch.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.BEIJING—When President Trump returns to China nearly a decade after his last visit, he will find a country that is more self-sufficient, militarily assertive and economically insulated from the tools the president has used to stymie it and its ambitions.China has caught up to or surpassed the U.S. in technologies such as batteries, robotics and advanced manufacturing.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Two of India’s largest tractor makers and at least one motorcycle company expect sales of tractors and entry-level motorcycles to slow this year, signalling imminent stress for the auto industry in the rural areas that may spread to other sectors if the monsoon is poor, company executives and analysts said.Mumbai-based Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd estimates 5% growth in its tractor sales volumes in FY27 compared with a 20% increase to 446,948 units in the previous fiscal year. Faridabad-based Escorts Kubota Ltd expects a 2-3% decline in tractor sales this fiscal after a 30% growth to 114,468 units in FY26.Tractor sales in India grew 19% to 1.05 million in FY26, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (Fada).The commentary from the companies suggests that consumption demand can slow in rural India this year due to the impending impact of a below-average monsoon, which can spread to other sectors, including fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG).The overall guidance for FY27 is 2-3% up or down, Neeraj Mehra, chief officer of the tractor business division at Escorts Kubota, said on an earnings call on 7 May.“We will see growth this year in this quarter.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co. Ltd wants to position itself as an influencer, using wellness incentives to boost customer engagement, cost efficiencies and claims ratios.“Our thesis is very clear that we are building a long-term relationship with our consumers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s retail investors turned selective in the March quarter, funnelling money into a narrow set of large-cap banking, metals, energy and technology stocks even as broader market participation weakened amid persistent volatility.A Mint analysis of shareholding data for 4,489 BSE-listed companies showed that only about a quarter of listed firms witnessed a rise in retail investor participation during Q4FY26, while nearly 70% saw a decline in retail ownership.Among the biggest beneficiaries were private sector lender HDFC Bank Ltd and state-run miner Hindustan Copper Ltd, which together added nearly 1.1 million new retail investors between December and March quarters.Individuals holding nominal share capital up to ₹2 lakh are categorized as retail investors.“The rise in retail holdings in large-cap stocks such as HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and Hindustan Copper reflects that retail investors have become more selective and defensive, with a clear preference for fundamentally strong companies offering stable earnings growth and healthy balance sheets,” said Naveen Vyas, senior vice president, Anand Rathi Global Finance.“This shift suggests a safety-first approach, as many retail investors have seen wealth erosion over the last 12-18 months through exposure to high-beta small-cap and micro-cap stocks.”HDFC Bank emerged as the biggest retail favourite during the quarter, adding 570,540 individual investors and taking its retail shareholder base to 4.1 million.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Noida-headquartered Dixon Technologies, India’s largest publicly listed electronics manufacturer, expects revenue growth of 15-17% in FY27, with management expecting growth to accelerate to as much as 45% if its long-pending joint venture with Vivo gets government approval.In an interview with Mint following the company’s FY26 earnings on Tuesday, Saurabh Gupta, director and group chief financial officer of Dixon Technologies, said the company is in “advanced-stage talks” with the government regarding the Vivo joint venture and remains confident that approval is only “a matter of time away”.The proposed joint venture with Vivo, in which Dixon holds a 51% stake, was first disclosed in December 2024. However, with Vivo owning the remaining 49%, the venture has been under the Centre’s scrutiny for more than 18 months under the government’s Press Note 3 restrictions.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.An ex-convict who is missing part of his right arm and has two titanium plates in his head, Vyacheslav Kudryashev might not seem like the best soldier to put in the vanguard of a military offensive.But for four days last year, he was at the tip of Russia’s spear, trying to pierce Ukraine’s defenses in the kind of infantry assault that is yielding meager gains and heavy losses for Russian troops.After more than four years of war, Russian President Vladimir Putin is far from achieving his goal of dominating Ukraine and facing mounting criticism at home. Russian forces are struggling to advance on the battlefield despite some 25,000 wounded and dead a month, say Western officials and military analysts.

debt, data shows, as consumer insolvencies have reached their highest level since the start of 2009.Consumer insolvencies — a measure that indicates how many Canadians filed for relief under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act — reached record highs in the first three months of 2026, according to data from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.In January, February and March, 37,121 Canadians filed for insolvencies — amounting to 17 Canadians filing for insolvencies every hour this year, according to the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals (CAIRP).This is the highest volume of Canadians filing for insolvencies since the first quarter of 2009, CAIRP said, when the Canadian economy was reeling from the aftershocks of the Great Recession of 2008.Compared to the same period in 2025, consumer insolvencies were up 8.5 per cent, while they were up 6.5 per cent compared to the last three months of 2025.Between January and March, 1,232 businesses in Canada filed for insolvency.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.How long can mutual funds (MFs) hold up stock indices in India? Inflows into equity MFs in April fell 5% from March to ₹38,440.2 crore, according to data issued on Monday by the Association of Mutual Funds in India. This despite the 6.5%-odd rise in the BSE Sensex last month.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The U.S. and Iran are locked in a diplomatic stalemate over issues that have bedeviled the two sides for years, as the conflict settles into a gray zone that is neither war nor peace.The cease-fire is entering its second month and, despite sporadic violence, has now lasted almost as long as the fighting which preceded it. There is little to indicate that either the U.S.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: After halting new cooking gas connections and extending refill booking periods, oil marketing companies (OMCs) are turning to tax data to weed out ineligible beneficiaries of the direct benefit transfer scheme for LPG (DBTL), even as high energy prices raise the possibility of a fuel price hike.Indian Oil Corp. Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.New Delhi: Exploding sales of low-speed electric scooters—powered heavily by cheap Chinese imports—are giving a headache to India’s established electric vehicle (EV) makers, who warn that the poor-quality products risk hurting consumer confidence in electric two-wheelers just as the sector is gaining scale.Low-speed scooters—with speeds capped at 25 kmph—do not need to be registered on the Vahan portal, and so their growth has gone under the radar. But industry estimates point to sales numbers matching that of established players such as TVS Motor Co., Bajaj Auto, Ola Electric Mobility, and Ather Energy, among others.According to two-wheeler consultancy InsightEV, sales of low-speed electric scooters shot up more than 200% in 2025 to an estimated 1.3 million units.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Healthcare jobs are keeping the U.S. labor market humming.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Early investors in Billionbrains Garage Ventures Ltd, the parent company of Groww, are set to offload shares worth up to ₹4,750 crore ($498 million) through a block deal on Tuesday, according to a term sheet reviewed by Mint.The proposed transaction involves the sale of up to 268.4 million shares, representing around 4.3% of Groww’s existing total outstanding shares, through one or more on-market transactions on Indian stock exchanges.The floor price for the sale has been set at ₹177 per share, reflecting an 8.5% discount to Groww’s closing price of ₹193.52 on the National Stock Exchange on Monday.The sellers in the transaction include Peak XV Partners Investments VI-1, Sequoia Capital Global Growth Fund III – U.S./India Annex Fund LP, Y Combinator's YC Holdings II LLC, Ribbit Capital V LP, Ribbit Cayman GW Holdings V Ltd, and GW-E Ribbit Opportunity V LLC.The proposed stake sale comes months after Groww’s strong stock market debut and sharp post-listing rally. The issue comprised a fresh equity issue worth ₹1,060 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of 55.72 crore equity shares by existing shareholders.Shares of the company, which listed at ₹100 apiece in November last year, opened at premiums of 12-14% on the NSE and BSE.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India's top business leaders, including billionaires Gautam Adani and Sunil Bharti Mittal, on Monday endorsed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call to reduce consumption of import-dependent commodities like fuel and gold to conserve precious foreign exchange as a protracted West Asia war fuels price rise.They also called for strengthening domestic investments, accelerating energy transition, and ensuring self-sufficiency in compute for artificial intelligence (AI) to help insulate the economy from future global shocks.The industry leaders were speaking at the Annual Business Summit 2026 of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).“We need to get away from this obsession of gold. We need to lower our energy cost.