Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government has changed the telecom policy after receiving electoral bonds worth Rs 150 crore from a company, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi claimed on Thursday.
Among Sensex shares, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, ITC and Asian Paints were the biggest winners. On the other hand, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries, NTPC, UltraTech Cement and Power Grid were among the laggards.
The Supreme Court of India has repeatedly criticized the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for exceeding its authority and misusing its powers. The latest rebuke came on Thursday, when the court accused the agency of 'crossing all limits' in a money laundering probe against a Tamil Nadu state-run liquor retailer. This follows a string of similar observations by the Supreme Court and high courts across India, raising concerns about the ED's investigative practices and the potential for misuse of its powers.
Shares of Reliance Industries as well as Bharti Airtel began the trade on a positive note on Wednesday after the two firms announced their partnerships with Elon Musk's SpaceX for providing high-speed internet services in India. Bharti Airtel stock opened with a gain of 5.49 pc to hit a high of Rs 1,388.25 apiece on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Soon, it pared all gains and traded 0.77 per cent lower to Rs 1,650.10 per piece.
India's biggest telecom players, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Industries-backed Jio Platforms, will soon bring billionaire Elon Musk-led SpaceX's Starlink satellite services to India. According to analysts, the move could boost India's tele density, especially in the rural areas, and may be an opportunity for investors to add the two stocks on dips for long-term gains
Telecom service providers and the Maha Kumbh Mela administration are on their toes to ensure smooth connectivity at the grand event set to witness record teledensity.
BJP MLC Chitra Wagh has called for promoting the use of the Marathi language in Maharashtra after a video of an Airtel employee refusing to speak Marathi with a customer went viral. Wagh, who heads the women's wing of the Maharashtra BJP, said that anyone residing in Maharashtra should know Marathi or be willing to learn it. She demanded action against the employee and called for all Airtel employees to be proficient in Marathi.
An hour-long disruption could affect around 40 million UPI transactions.
Foreign investors have infused nearly Rs 8,500 crore in the country's equity markets last week, after a phase of heavy outflows earlier in the month, supported by renewed investor confidence, resilient domestic economy and relative insulation from global trade disruptions. During the holiday-truncated week ended April 18, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) made a net investment of Rs 8,472 crore in equities.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) brass, including its Governor Sanjay Malhotra, on Tuesday told a Parliamentary panel that it was "optimistic" about the impact of the US tariffs on the Indian economy and, in long-run, it could benefit the country due to dipping trade relations between the US and China.
The Telecommunications Bill, 2023, which was passed by a voice vote after a short debate, also allows the Centre to take possession of a telecom network in case of any public emergency or in the interest of public safety.
Spain and Portugal suffered a major power outage on Monday, affecting millions and disrupting airports, metros, and telecom companies.
As Damascus teetered, Assad's aide orchestrated a shadowy airlift, spiriting millions and secrets to Russia, paving his own escape route.
India's major imports from the US include crude oil and petroleum products, gold and jewellery, plastics, aircraft, and electrical machinery and components. The key exports to the US comprise pharmaceuticals and biologicals, telecom equipment, precious and semi-precious stones, petroleum products, gold and precious metal jewellery, and ready-made garments.
Geopolitical developments between India and Pakistan, quarterly earnings and macro data will be the key drivers of stock markets in the holiday-shortened week, say analysts.
The US remained India's largest trading partner for the fourth consecutive year in 2024-25 with bilateral trade valued at $131.84 billion, while the country's trade deficit with China widened to $99.2 billion during the same period, government data showed. In the last fiscal, India's exports to China contracted 14.5 per cent to $14.25 billion as against $16.66 billion in 2023-24. The imports, however, rose by 11.52 per cent in 2024-25 to $113.45 billion against $101.73 billion in 2023-24.
Continuing to push back against the stringent quality of service (QoS) norms brought in by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), telcos have informed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that collection and submission of monthly and site-to-cell-level data should be eased, officials and industry sources said. In place since October last year, the QoS norms call for data for network availability, call drop, voice packet drop rate in uplink and downlink, among other parameters, to be collected at the cell level.
Reliance Jio said certain tariff plans will continue to give subscribers free streaming access to IPL 2025.
Officials said the bill has provided a clear legal basis for spectrum allocation, which till now was allocated or auctioned by the government based on the interpretation of various laws and judgements.
These duties will come into force from April 9.
Reliance Industries Ltd, India's most valuable company, is back on a growth path after six months of challenges as it posted better than expected earnings in the December quarter, brokerages said.
Amid the ongoing global tariff war, Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday said he is more worried about its impact on growth than inflation. Speaking to the media after presentation of the first bi-monthly monetary policy for the current financial year, Malhotra said, RBI has reduced the growth forecast for 2025-26 by 20 basis points to 6.5 per cent.
A 24-year-old woman, Priyanka, died after falling from a roller coaster at the Fun and Food Village amusement park in southwest Delhi's Kapashera. She was meeting her fianc, Nikhil, who was about to return to Cyprus where he works. The incident occurred on Thursday evening, and Priyanka's family is alleging negligence on the part of the amusement park owners. They are seeking justice and have accused the police of inaction. The family is dependent on Priyanka's income as a telecom company manager.
A Rs 23,000-crore production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for electronic components may boost margins and enable a broader product mix.
The Bill allows stopping of transmission and intercepting messages in case of public emergency, in the interest of the public, to prevent incitement for committing offence.
An Indian official team is likely to visit Washington next week to iron out differences on certain issues before formally launching negotiations for the proposed India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA), an official said. The visit, which comes within weeks of a high-level US team visiting India, indicates that the talks for the BTA are gaining momentum.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said it has partnered with Elon Musk's SpaceX for providing Starlink's high-speed internet services to its customers in India. This agreement is subject to SpaceX receiving authorisations to sell Starlink's satellite communications-based services in India, Airtel said in a statement.
On India, the chart showed that the country charged 52 per cent tariffs on the US "including currency manipulation and trade barriers," and America will now charge India "discounted reciprocal tariffs" of 26 per cent.
The government's stake in Vodafone Idea will more than double to 48.99 per cent as it is set to acquire shares worth Rs 36,950 crore in lieu of outstanding spectrum auction dues, the company said in a regulatory filing on Sunday.
Essential and strategic items such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, copper, and energy products like oil, gas, coal and LNG are exempted from the 27 per cent import duty announced by the US on Wednesday, according to think tank GTRI.
Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) reported a 25 per cent rise in net profit attributable to the owners of the company for the January-March quarter of 2024-25, owing to higher revenues and an exceptional gain. For the quarter under review, L&T posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 5,497.3 crore, while revenue rose 10.9 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 74,392.28 crore.
Starlink's application for offering satcom services in India had been held up for the company's inability to comply with mandatory ownership disclosure norms.
This has also raised concerns over undetected infiltrations from across the Line of Control and terrorists potentially residing in the outskirts of cities and villages, they said.
Issues related to the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) and bilateral investment treaty between India and the UK are expected to figure during the three-day visit of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to London from April 8-10, official sources said. The minister will attend a host of meetings, including the India-United Kingdom Economic and Financial Dialogue, in London.
India's policy for agriculture trade must move commodity-by-commodity to gain maximum benefits as US President Donald Trump's 26 per cent tariff on exports from the country take effect, said agriculture economist Ashok Gulati in a recent policy paper.
The Indian industry is paranoid about the USA's plan to impose reciprocal tariffs and wants early conclusion of a bilateral trade agreement, sources said on Wednesday. They said that the talks for the proposed bilateral trade agreement are going well.
The official said there are both challenges and opportunities for India as many of its competitor countries in exports, such as China Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Thailand, face higher duties.
While India has become the largest data generating nation, and hosts more than 152 data centres, it is fed by only 18 undersea cables.
Losing subscribers for the fourth straight month, Reliance Jio witnessed 3.76 million users leave the telecom operator in October, data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) showed on Monday. Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel reversed three months of decline, and added 1.92 million users, indicating it has overcome the impact of the broad-based tariff hikes imposed by private sector telcos in July.
Senior officials of India and the US will begin three-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement in New Delhi on Wednesday amid threats of reciprocal tariffs from the Trump-administration, an official said. To formally start the negotiations on the pact, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, along with a team of officials, is in New Delhi.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances