India is making a significant push to establish itself as a global semiconductor manufacturing hub, driven by strategic investments and policy support. The upcoming SEMICON India 2026 event will showcase the country's advancements and ambitions in this critical industry, which underpins virtually all modern electronic devices and has faced global supply chain vulnerabilities.
India's statistics ministry has defended its newly released economic growth estimates, stating that revisions to last year's GDP and the divergence between different price measures reflect updated data and estimation techniques rather than an attempt to artificially boost headline growth.
Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) reported a 9.1 per cent year-on-year decline in net profit for the April-June quarter of 2026-27, marking its second consecutive quarterly fall. This dip occurred despite a significant 29.3 per cent jump in sales volume, primarily due to escalating commodity prices, increased energy costs, and logistics disruptions stemming from the West Asia conflict.
The Indian banking sector is projected to experience a steady 9-13 per cent industrial credit growth in the first half of 2026, driven by capital expenditure, infrastructure development, and sectoral demand recovery, according to a Ficci-IBA survey.
Landfill sites are filling up faster than ever, raising concerns about where all our waste will go in the future. India alone produces more than 150,000 to 170,000 tonnes of household waste every day, with each person generating roughly 0.3 to 0.6 kilograms of rubbish daily, depending on the area and lifestyle, as per PIB.
The Indian government has allocated an additional 2 million tonnes of surplus broken rice from FCI stocks for its ethanol blending programme, while simultaneously issuing a detailed rebuttal to widespread misinformation regarding the E20 fuel, addressing concerns from water consumption to engine damage and environmental impact.
It, however, conceded that 20 per cent blending of ethanol with petrol leads to 3-5 per cent lower mileage in vehicles than conventional petrol, but said the blend offers a significantly higher octane rating, superior anti-knock properties, faster combustion, better pickup, smoother acceleration, and cleaner engine operation.
India's leading passenger vehicle manufacturers are significantly increasing investments and factory capacities, alongside planning major product launches for FY27, driven by strong confidence in sustained domestic demand growth despite global geopolitical tensions and supply chain risks.
Escalating geopolitical tensions in West Asia are beginning to disrupt India's automotive supply chain, leading to rising commodity prices, logistics bottlenecks, material shortages, and pressure on consumer demand, with two-wheeler makers already raising prices.
India and the United States are committed to finalising an interim trade agreement, despite recent challenges including the US imposing a blanket 10 per cent surcharge and India's decision to wait for a new global tariff architecture. The US Trade Representative's annual report highlights India's maintained high import tariffs and various non-tariff barriers across several sectors.
Shares of tyre manufacturers have outperformed broader equity benchmarks, buoyed by multiple tailwinds. Softer raw material prices, an uptick in demand from automakers following the reduction of the goods and services tax (GST) rates, and steady replacement demand have lifted sentiment toward the sector.
Various industry bodies have sought immediate government intervention through the imposition of anti-dumping duties, claiming India has seen a surge in imports of Chinese goods over the past two weeks.
New Delhi will substantially reduce tariffs on industrial and agricultural goods while continuing to protect sensitive sectors. Tariffs on some agricultural products that are not traditionally considered sensitive will be brought down to zero, while in the case of relatively sensitive items, duties will be reduced in a graded manner and quotas will be imposed.
The 2025 US National Security Strategy marks a major pullback, with America turning backward and effectively allowing China greater dominance in Asia. while long-time partners like India are left to face an increasingly unstable global order largely on their own, observes Rajeev Srinivasan.
The ministry stated that for vehicles designed for E10 and calibrated for E20, mileage may drop by just 1-2 per cent, while in other vehicles, it could be around 3-6 per cent.
Larger listed domestic-focused tyre companies have underperformed the benchmarks in the last three months but exporter Balkrishna Industries has bucked the trend. The company, which exports off-highway tyres, has generated 43 per cent returns in this time compared to MRF and Apollo Tyres, which are down 5-10 per cent. In addition to better-than-expected performance in the March quarter, exports and market share gains have helped Balkrishna pull ahead of peers.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is expected to present the Budget for 2014-15 in July.
Oil marketing companies (OMCs), paint manufacturers, tyre producers, and aviation stocks witnessed significant gains as Brent crude oil prices slipped below $70 per barrel. The price drop came after a double blow: The US imposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico, including energy imports, and OPEC+ - the group of major oil-producing nations including Russia - announced an output increase of 138,000 barrels per day, the first such hike since 2022.
Automotive (auto) and auto ancillary stocks have been in the fast lane thus far in 2023-24 (FY24), with the National Stock Exchange Nifty Auto Index surging nearly 27 per cent, outperforming the Nifty50, which has gained roughly 11 per cent during this period. The top-gear performance of auto stocks at the bourses, according to A K Prabhakar, head of research at IDBI Capital, has been triggered by the premiumisation of products across vehicle manufacturers, which has seen vehicle sales remaining relatively stable. "It is not about higher sales figures now, but about premiumisation.
'The favourable rupee-dollar exchange rate, there are opportunities we can tap.'
Automobile manufacturers are likely to report strong numbers for the September quarter of Financial Year 2023-24 (Q2 FY24), riding on growth across segments and offset by a marginal drop in overall two-wheeler (2W) volumes. Higher average selling price (ASP) year-on-year (YoY), which was necessitated by price hikes taken by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and an improved product mix will also aid revenues and margins. Moreover, commodity prices are down on a YoY basis, leading to higher margins in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda).
Members of franchise team, owned by Reliance Industries, will display the Bridgestone logo, which highlights the slogan 'Your journey, Our passion', on the non-leading arms of their shirts.
Trade links with Israel have strengthened in the past few years, even as the value of goods exchanged with Iran has diminished. Iran accounted for $3.9 billion worth of India's exports in the four quarters ending December 2019, compared to $3.6 billion to Israel. However, India's exports to Iran dropped to $1.2 billion as of December 2023, on a rolling four-quarter basis, while exports to Israel grew to $6.1 billion in the same period.
Uttarakhand saw the sharpest decline (of 11 per cent) in the "total persons engaged" in manufacturing in the worst-hit pandemic year of 2020-21 as industrial units shut shop, according to the latest Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data, released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). This was followed by the decline in the workforce in states such as Jharkhand (8.9 per cent), West Bengal (8.3 per cent), Kerala (8 per cent), and Karnataka (7.8 per cent). The "total persons engaged" in an enterprise is defined as the sum of directly employed workers, supervisory or managerial workers, and the unpaid family members who might be engaged in the enterprise.
Wholesale inflation rate eased to 34-month low of (-) 0.92 per cent in April on easing prices of food, fuel and manufactured items. The wholesale price index (WPI) based inflation has been on a declining trend for 11 months in a row and entered the negative zone in April. In June 2020 WPI was at (-) 1.81 per cent.
'Given all the linkages, the monthly registration data for new vehicles, may well be the single most accurate indicator of India's economic health,' points out Devangshu Datta.
A number of private companies have contributed to the development of ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft which successfully landed near the south pole of the Moon on Wednesday evening.
Corporate margins and profits in India remain vulnerable to changes in crude oil prices in the international market. Historical quarterly data from listed companies (excluding banks, finance and insurance, oil and gas, and power sectors) indicate an adverse correlation between corporate margins and crude oil prices.
Up to 95 per cent of units in the Noida-Greater Noida mega industrial zone are currently shut.
Kerala floods take a toll on small businesses, NBFCs brace for losses
The tyre industry has urged the Central Government for recast of India's Free Trade Agreements
Electricity generation has outperformed the industrial production index for five months in a row this financial year, even as the broader economy is struggling to grow.
Shares of MRF crossed a first time Rs 100,000 mark, hitting a record high of Rs 100,300, up 1.4 per cent on the BSE in intra-day trade. on June 13, 2023. The stock surpassed its previous high of Rs 99,879.65, touched May 8, 2023. Thus far in the current calendar year 2023 (CY23), MRF has outperformed the market by gaining 14 per cent on improved financial performance.
The sharp rise was also due to a statistical illusion -- low industrial numbers in November 2015, and sharp reversal of a 12-month declining trend in capital goods.
The annual rate of inflation based on monthly wholesale price index (WPI) was 1.22 per cent in December as compared to 1.55 per cent in the previous month. It was 2.76 per cent in December 2019. The decline last month was mainly due to lower increase in food prices, data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry showed on Thursday. The food inflation for December dropped to 0.92 per cent as compared to 4.27 per cent in the previous month.
The department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) has suggested to the home ministry to allow limited activity in certain sectors such as heavy electricals and telecom equipment with reasonable safeguards. In a letter to Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, the department said that these activities are essential to improve the economic situation and provide liquidity in the hands of the people.
The wholesale price-based inflation eased to a 29-month low of 1.34 per cent in March on easing prices of manufactured products and fuel items, even though food articles turned expensive.
The earliest ones included whistles shaped like birds, toy monkeys that could slide down a string and small carts made from materials found in nature such as sticks, clay and rocks. While there might be no disputing India's rich toy-making tradition, the industry is languishing for lack of investment and technology, and also owing to competition from cheap imports. And though it has been listed among 24 key sectors under the government's Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan, the question remains: will this push help place it in the global game? Currently, 80-odd per cent of the toys sold in India are imported - nearly 60 per cent of them from China.
