With less than two months to go for the Lok Sabha election, the expected process of political realignments has begun, reports Anita Katyal.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel -- who covers the Sheena Bora murder trial for Rediff.com -- reports on a day in a Ranchi court.
'You can't take your eyes off him.'
Udta Punjab truly soars when being its own madcap beast, profane and powerful and preening.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
Outside Diggi Palace's walls, things may be getting darker. Speech may be under threat; writers may be getting murdered for their writing. But, inside, it is possible to feel hope that ideas, nevertheless, may have their own power, says Mihir S Sharma.
'Peddlers isn't a movie of grand cinematic achievements, but one of small yet startlingly original victories.'
Aslam Hunani presents some of the frequently asked questions about health insurance in India.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
'Success comes only to those who dare and act,' says proud father Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
From an exclusive interview with GQ magazine's Daniel Riley, for GQ India's April 2016 issue, here are 12 things you should know about Cristiano Ronaldo - the footballer, the father and the man
Sukanya Verma shares her exciting filmi week with us.
'In Carol, Cate Blanchett reminds us what a real movie star is and why we are enamored by her acting and looks.'
Shabana Azmi showers praise on birthday boy Anil Kapoor.
Reduce frill expenses, monetise your assets and invest in professional development to negotiate the choppy phase.
Two professionals -- from aviation and jewellery industry -- share their stories and lessons they learned from the pink slips they got.
'So what if the enemies take us as prisoners of war? So what of they kill us? I would feel proud that I could sacrifice my life for the country,' say these proud lady officers of the Indian Navy.
Often when I meet a new Indian friend, who is not aware of my background, he exclaims: "So many years in India! but why, why? I can't understand! My dream is to go to the States or Europe and you are living in 'this' country!" Claude Arpi, who was born a Frenchman, looks back on his 40 years in India.
An army of 'book fairies' are anonymously dropping off some delightful books in public places across the world.
A budget is nothing but a tool to keep your spending under control and ensure that the monthly expenses are lower than your monthly income. Here are some tips on how you can make your budget work
Digitally driven businesses have cut short the time to market significantly.
Here's a peek into another stylish celeb home.
India has just had one of the worst quarters in export earnings.
Benchmark indices failed to sustain gains and retreated from day's high dragged primarily by the losses in metals, information technology and bank shares as investors started to book profits in late noon deals. Earlier, markets had scaled fresh all-time highs on the surprise post-budget rate cut by Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The 30-share Sensex ended down 213 points at 29,380 and the 50-share Nifty closed down 74 points at 8,922. Intra-day, Sensex reached the all-time high mark of 30,024.74 while Nifty touched the life-time high level of 9,119.20. In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap index and Smallcap indices, down 1% and 1.2% each underperformed the front-liners. Market breadth in BSE ended negative with 1,882 declines against 1,010 advances. A day after signing an agreement with Finance Ministry on inflation targeting, RBI surprised the markets with an early post-budget repo rate cut of 25 bps (basis points) to 7.5% from 7.75% which was again outside of central bank's scheduled policy review meetings as the earlier rate cut effected on January 15. "RBI's latest rate cut of 25 basis points, while a surprise in its timing is in-line with our expectations of a sharp rate-cutting cycle over the coming quarters. With inflation sustainably lower by 500bps, the RBI has in recent months acknowledged the scope for rate cuts and was only waiting for additional comfort that the government's fiscal policy would not play spoil-sport," said Dinesh Thakkar, chairman and managing director at Angel Broking in a note. Analysts at Karvy believe that further monetary policy action will depend on number of factors including easing of supply constraints, improved availability of power, land, minerals and infrastructure, fiscal consolidation, the pass through of rate cuts by banks and the expected monsoon. Citing weakness in some sectors of the economy and the overall global trend towards monetary easing as rationale for the rate cut the central bank also exuded confidence in the road map for fiscal consolidation as laid out in the Union Budget, 2015. Commenting on how the markets reacted to RBI's surprise move, K Subramanyam assistant vice-president (institutional research), Asit C. Mehta Securities said, "The unexpected cut did take the market by surprise .However, credit off-take is not dependant only on interest rates. A gradual revival in the economy would be of more help which would trigger credit off-take. Hopefully this will follow and RBI's action would prove helpful. From market point of view this is bullish as equity becomes more attractive vis-a-vis falling interest rates." On the macro-economic front, the HSBC services PMI rose to an eight-month high of 53.9 in February up from 52.4 in January indicating strong expansion in output across the sector. Respondents cited robust growth of new business as the principle factor for the increase in activity. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 773 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data. Buzzing Stocks 9 out of the 12 sectoral indices of BSE ended in red. BSE Metal index, down 2.4% was the top loser followed by BSE Oil & Gas and Power indices, down 1.3% each. BSE Healthcare index, up 1.2% and BSE FMCG index, up 0.9% were the top losers. Bank stocks came under during late noon trades as traders booked profits at higher levels. However, RBI rate cut may encourage large lenders to cut their lending rates boosting demand for home and auto loans and provide funds for various stalled and new projects. Many stalled projects across the country are waiting for cash to restart work. The stock of stalled projects at the end of December 2014 stood at Rs 8.8 lakh crore or 7% of GDP. ICICI Bank ended down 0.1%, Axis Bank and SBI declined over 3% and HDFC Bank shed 1.5%. Sun Pharma gained over 6% on approval granted to Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC) by US FDA for an antiepileptic drug. The product will be manufactured by Sun Pharmaceutical Industries at its Halol (Gujarat) facility in India. SPARC was formed in 2007 when Sun Pharma separated out its active projects in drug discovery and innovation into a new company. Dr Reddys Lab and Cipla have gained over 1% each. ITC gained over 1% after consecutive sessions of losses on the proposed larger-than-expected hike in excise duty on cigarettes in the Union Budget. The biggest ever auction of spectrum by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) started on Wednesday in the morning where government expects to garner Rs 80,000-1lakh crore from the sale of spectrum. Idea Cellular gained over 2%, Reliance Communication gained around 1% and Bharti Airtel closed 0.5% higher. Metal stocks were under pressure in today's session. Hindalco declined over 3%, Sesa Sterliteended down over 4% and Tata Steel closed down 2%. Profit-taking in IT stocks led to Wipro losing around 1.8%, Infosys declining 0.7% and TCS losing 1.5%.
The movie evokes a few laughs but otherwise it decides to shift tracks from droll comedy to dreadful drama.
Aseem Chhabra picks his favourite movies from the Telluride Film Festival.
'There is a difference between the US burger and the Indian vada pav. She should have done some research or watched at least one episode of Bachao before she came on the show.' Comedy Nights Bachao Taaza host Krushna Abhishek reacts to the controversy.
The 2015 edition of the Sony World Photography Awards, the world's biggest photography competition, has announced the shortlists.
CNN International's Amanpour speaks with Margaret Rhodes, first cousin and longtime friend to Queen Elizabeth II. They speak about the impending birth of the Royal baby, the harsh public reaction to the Queen following the death of Princess Diana, and her thoughts on the film, The King's Speech. The transcript of this interview is below:
Rediff.com brings you a collection of some of the best sports images from around the world...
Saltwater crocodiles are the world's largest reptiles, and these had already disappeared from the coasts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh by the 1970s. In all of Bhitarkanika, there were only 96 of them left. The census this January noted their count at 1,682.
The way you keep your desk reflects on how organised your life is.
'Salman has changed a lot in the past few years. He was totally different when I shot with him for Jai Ho. He has mellowed down, but I don't like him like this.'
Each time they held the leafy bedsheet over the window for a few seconds, a clearer but very grey visage of Indrani came into view. In the barely discernible image, Indrani seemed to look tired and downbeat. But then the bedsheet would be taken away and Indrani would disappear into the darkness once more.
Angus Deaton's Nobel Prize should spark off more research on the measurement and usefulness of poverty percentages.
'Dhoni's skills are unbelievable and also his mindset, the way he thinks about the game.'
Raj Babbar remembers wife Smita Patil on her 20th death anniversary.
They are shaken by the mass molestation in the city on New Year's Eve. But they are not waiting to be rescued. Nikita Puri reports.
