UPS Financial News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mumbai: Axis Bank is selectively chasing corporate loan growth in sectors with strong tailwinds, such as data centres, commercial real estate and renewables, while staying “watchful” in the weaker segments, said Vijay Mulbagal, group executive and head of wholesale bank coverage, corporate salary, sustainability and CSR.The private sector lender has also sidestepped the “bidding game” in some aggressively priced loans to state-run firms, as banks grapple with pressure on margins and companies remain cautious on large capital expenditure despite healthy profitability.India’s third-largest private lender reported a 38% growth in corporate loans during the March quarter of FY26, significantly outpacing its rivals. The growth of corporate lending—outstanding loans at ₹4.12 trillion as on 31 March—was also higher than the bank’s retail or small business segments.Mulbagal, who joined from HDFC Bank in 2024, took over the corporate vertical a year ago, told Mint in an interview that the bank has not been reckless and its underwriting standards have been strong, with corporate borrowers rated A- and above at 91% of the book.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Mollie Amkraut Mueller’s mumbling was starting to get on her husband’s nerves.What was once a sacred nightly routine—putting the toddler to bed, collapsing onto the couch and opening their laptops to finish their work in peace—had become anything but peaceful. Instead of typing quietly, Amkraut Mueller started to hold down the function key and talk in hushed tones to her computer.Amkraut Mueller, who runs her own artificial-intelligence business in Seattle, is hooked on Wispr Flow, a dictation app that users are pairing with coding tools like Claude Code and Codex to turn rambling, stream-of-consciousness prompts into coherent, usable text in seconds.Efficient, yes.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.State-run NTPC Ltd is considering investing about ₹56,000 crore to set up 2.8 gigawatt (GW) of nuclear power generation capacity in Bihar through its subsidiary NTPC Parmanu Urja Nigam Ltd, two people aware of the development said.The proposal involves initially setting up two units of 700 megawatts (MW) each, which may later be scaled up with two additional 700 MW units, taking total capacity to 2.8 GW, they said.The required capital expenditure for 1 MW of nuclear power generation capacity is about ₹20 crore. NTPC is conducting a feasibility study for the proposed site in Banka district of Bihar."The standard capacity of NTPC's nuclear power plants would be 2x700 MW.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Apart from some currency depreciation, the Indian economy has held up reasonably well, and growth numbers remain stable, said Sailesh Raj Bhan, president and chief investment officer (CIO) - Equity Investments, Nippon India Mutual Fund.“India today is also far less fragile than before,” he added.The broader belief is that elevated crude prices are not a permanent situation, as they would hurt the global economy as well. Once conditions normalize, flows are likely to return to India, said Bhan.Among the sectors, he likes all private-sector banks, consumer plays, and general insurance plays.Edited excerpts:Things will improve in India as investors begin to see opportunities emerge.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.After decapitating the Iranian regime and bombing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) positions for 40 days, the Trump administration has failed to secure a surrender and left Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz. With Iran striking critical infrastructure across the Gulf Cooperation Council states and threatening shipping, the US reverted to TACO (Trump always chickens out) mode by agreeing to a ceasefire.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The waitstaff in restaurants should be aware: Patrons are less generous with tips over the weekend.That is the finding of a recent study that analyzed 68 million credit-card transactions at 47 restaurant chains operating in 41 states. Patrons, the study found, tipped their servers up to about 1% less on Saturdays and Sundays.The average tip for weekdays alone was 21.30%, with the highest tips on Tuesdays (21.45%) and Thursdays (21.47%).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: The Centre is set to adopt a more modest highway construction target for fiscal 2027 (FY27) as it focuses on clearing delayed projects while attempting to revive private investment through the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.The government is likely to target construction of 10,000 km in FY27, unchanged from the previous fiscal year, when actual construction fell short at about 9,400 km. The target marks a step-down from the record 13,814 km set for FY24 and about 12,500 km for FY25.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.War in the Persian Gulf and new Chinese export restrictions have sent sulfuric-acid prices soaring and raised concerns about the availability of a chemical that the world relies on for food, metal, paper, computer chips and clean water.Sulfuric acid is the most consumed chemical on the planet, produced by smelting and refining nonferrous metals, such as copper and nickel, or by burning sulfur, a byproduct of oil-and-gas processing.The acid can burn a hole in a steel shelf at the hardware store, where it is sold by the bottle as extra-strength drain opener. But it is more prevalently used higher up the supply chain by heavy industry to make a ubiquitous array of products and materials.Sulfuric acid is used to produce phosphate fertilizers, leach copper and other metals from rock, pulp wood, pickle steel, tan leather and vulcanize rubber.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The first public walkthrough of Epochal: The Period of Pioneers, a joint exhibition by Chatterjee & Lal and DAG in Mumbai, was packed to the rafters last month. Around 250 people turned up on a hot Saturday afternoon to see this showcase of modernists such as K.S. Kulkarni, Benode Behari Mukherjee, J.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The joint military strikes by the US and Israel on Iran in late February triggered a shockwave far beyond the energy markets, severely disrupting global commodity markets, especially fertilizers. India depends on imports for 25% of its urea, 90% of its phosphate, and its entire supply of potash.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Across Europe, voters are fed up and taking it out on their leaders.This week, Britain’s ruling Labour Party had its worst result ever in local elections as voters angry about a persistently weak economy and high immigration punished Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is backed by just 20% of voters.Last month, Europe’s longest-serving leader, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, was swept out of office by a wave of discontent over the sluggish economy and a government that many saw as corrupt.Elsewhere in Europe, the picture is similarly bleak for those now in power. In Germany, a left-right government that is breaking public spending records is also plumbing uncharted popularity lows.The diminished incumbents can do little to placate an angry electorate, as they contend with melting parliamentary majorities, internal divisions and empty public coffers.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The quest for the perfect watch never ends. You may be rolling your eyes when you read that line.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Despite the craze for Korean literature in India, you’d be hard-pressed to find an Indian fan who knows of Don Mee Choi. She writes poetry, not fiction.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.In 2018, photographer and documentary filmmaker Shino Cherian decided, on an impulse, to attend the Koovagam festival in Tamil Nadu, which spans 18 days of the month of Chithirai (April-May) in the Tamil calendar.At 28, he hadn’t done anything close to as daring as venturing into a completely unknown terrain, inhabited by people who were nothing like him. However, along with his friend and fellow photographer Ram Manu Prasad, Cherian went on to document the events of the crucial two days that mark the end of the festival.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Ritwik Pareek’s film opens with the image of a temple on a hill after dusk, prayer bells on the soundtrack. This gives way seconds later to shots of distant highway traffic and a great reverberating spaghetti western guitar chord. A man stumbles out of a dive bar, slurs a farewell “Jai siya Ram” and rides off into the night.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Rail engineering firm Jupiter Wagons Ltd is preparing a major global expansion through exports of battery energy storage systems (BESS), wheelsets and freight wagons, while also entering passenger coach and metro train manufacturing through a partnership with a global rail company.The company expects exports and new mobility businesses to become key growth drivers over the next three years as it diversifies beyond its core wagon manufacturing operations, looking to double its revenues by 2028-29.“Exports could contribute 20-25% of revenue over the next few years as we scale up our battery systems, wheelsets and wagon businesses internationally,” managing director Vivek Lohia told Mint in an interview, adding that the company’s proposed entry into rail coach manufacturing later in 2026 would also provide opportunities for tapping the market for exports.The company’s current exports contribute less than 5% of its annual revenue.Jupiter Wagons, which accounts for over 40% of India’s wagon manufacturing capacity, is already exporting BESS to the US and African markets and plans to scale overseas shipments significantly after securing international certifications later this fiscal year.“We are pursuing international certifications for BESS to comply with stringent US and EU standards that will help scale exports of this product,” Lohia said.The company’s containerized BESS based on lithium-iron-phosphate technology are being deployed for renewable energy storage, industrial backup, EV charging and data centre applications.“We are seeing strong demand not only from engineering, procurement, and construction applications but also from commercial and industrial users,” Lohia said.The company

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Soon after I started using AI assistants, I had an alarming realization. I had started to enjoy listening to music with ChatGPT rather than with people. I neither felt compelled to share my music nor did I pass on any interesting information about songs and artists.AI is really fantastic at talking about music.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NTPC Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, and Coal India Ltd are planing to list their joint venture Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Ltd (HURL) to raise up to ₹6,000 crore in fiscal year 2027 (FY27) as part of Centre's asset monetization plan, said two people aware of the matter.NTPC also plans to list its subsidiaries North Eastern Electric Power Corp. Ltd (NEEPCO) and THDC India Ltd (THDC), which is a joint venture (JV) of NTPC and Uttar Pradesh government."The plan is to bring the public offering of HURL within the ongoing fiscal as part of the asset monetization roadmap by offloading 10-11% stake in total to raise ₹5,000-6,000 crore," said the first of the two persons cited earlier, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity.The listing of the three companies would require approval from the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management, the second person said.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.India’s cable and internet gear makers are experiencing the effects of the US-Iran war, with companies citing higher raw material costs, export disruptions, and growing uncertainty across global markets.The geopolitical tensions have pushed up prices of key inputs such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), copper, aluminium, preform, helium and polymers, while also affecting exports to West Asia, according to companies such as Havells India Ltd, Polycab India Ltd, R R Kabel Ltd, Sterlite Technologies Ltd (STL) and HFCL Ltd.“While US tariff headwinds have meaningfully moderated from peak levels, adding margins, we are seeing new near-term cost pressures from geopolitical disruption driven by the war in West Asia, particularly impacting helium and polymer inputs,” said Ajay Jhanjhari, chief financial officer at STL, during an analyst call on 29 April.Helium is mainly used in making optical fibre for telecom networks, so it matters more to companies such as STL and HFCL. Polymers are used in almost all wires and cables to cover and protect them, affecting the entire industry.To be sure, some telecom gear makers, impacted by the US reciprocal tariffs, saw an improvement in margins during the March quarter owing to the tariff being reduced from 50% to 15%.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.For Gurugram-based marketing professional SP, 34, eating out was once a way to unwind after long workdays with sushi dinners and Sunday brunches that often doubled as preparation for the week ahead. Over time, the routine led to weight gain and lifestyle concerns, though she wasn’t ready to give up on it.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Initially, Navin Israni, 36, didn’t treat his back pain as much as he furnished around it. A back-support cushion for his work chair, then a medicine ball he tried sitting on and returned for being too large—both ordered online. The cushion on his sofa moved up to act as back support, then a sheet of plywood affixed to provide a firm seat.