Affordable homes, priced under Rs 40 lakh per unit, may not be attractive anymore, not just for developers but also for investors, with the segment seeing a 26 per cent price rise over three years since 2022 versus 40 per cent returns from luxury homes priced Rs 1.5 crore and above.
These losses increase insurance premiums for customers and reduce insurer margins on the other.
The exemption of individual life and health insurance premiums from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) enables the insurance industry to make products affordable and attractive, said Ajay Seth, chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2025.
They accounted for 39.1 per cent of the premium paid to trade equity options in September 2025.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt clarifies President Trump's stance on H-1B visas, emphasizing his priority for American workers while acknowledging the need for skilled foreign workers to train them in specialized industries.
'In the long run, India's strong growth story and reforms to make assets globally attractive will determine the rupee's resilience.'
The recipe for Indian higher education institutions to succeed in the global markets is excellence in academics, promoting contemporary socially relevant material, and enabling individuals (learners) to realise their full potential, suggests N Ravichandran.
The incident happened on Wednesday morning when the mother put her baby to sleep on the grandmother's bed and went to the kitchen. Later, when she returned, she saw the baby lying in a pool of blood with a neck injury.
The girl's father Mariyappan, a fisherman, had recently confronted the youth over his alleged harassment and warned him against troubling her, according to police and local reports.
What is currently perceived as a massive, low-tech liability could become a high-value, export-oriented economic engine, points out Ajit Balakrishnan.
India needs to increase the investment rate to 34-35 per cent from 31-32 per cent currently to achieve a growth rate of 7 per cent and above, said S Mahendra Dev, chairman, economic advisory council (EAC) to the Prime Minister, on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court has directed the CBI to conduct a pan-India investigation into digital arrest scams and questioned the RBI about its lack of AI usage in detecting and freezing accounts used by cybercriminals.
According to the complaint filed by the victim, around 11:57 am, when she was walking her pet, suddenly when an unknown man, believed to be in his 30s, called out 'Madam' to get her attention. When she turned, he allegedly began to publicly expose himself and masturbate.
The Supreme Court of India has expressed concern over the increasing tendency to label failed relationships as rape, emphasizing the need to distinguish between genuine sexual violence and consensual acts within a relationship.
Ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) monetary policy review in the first week of December, major public sector non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) - the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi), Power Finance Corporation (PFC), and Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) - plan to raise up to Rs 24,000 crore together through bond issuancesk.
'...not merely in managing fiscal mathematics, but in demonstrating conservatism and prudence within that framework.' 'Looking forward, we believe sufficient growth drivers exist -- ranging from government reforms to revival in consumption to favourable monsoons. Numerous factors support the Indian economy.'
After a year of muted single-digit growth, hiring intent has returned to double digits at 11 per cent, up from 9.75 per cent last year, supported by formalisation and regional expansion, says a report. According to the India Decoding Jobs 2026 Report, launched by digital recruitment platform Taggd in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), sectors such as BFSI, manufacturing, and infrastructure are set to drive hiring momentum.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has launched an integrated audit across 32 states and Union Territories to assess the ease of doing business for the micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) sector.
When emotionally immature people feel cornered, usually you will find them blaming the other person for what goes wrong, says rediffGURU Anu Krishna.
A US court's $1.07-billion default judgment against Byju Raveendran can't be enforced directly in India because the US isn't a "reciprocating territory." Creditors must file a new case in an Indian court.
The best way for India to prepare is by preserving and strengthening the RBI's hard-won credibility, point out Rajeswari Sengupta and Vaishali Garga.
Spinner Matthew Kuhnemann hopes Australia's bowlers will curb the fireworks from India's batting star Abhishek Sharma in the fourth T20I on Thursday.
A 28-year-old revenue officer (lekhpal) in Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh, died by suicide a day before his wedding, allegedly due to excessive work pressure related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. The incident has triggered protests and accusations of harassment by revenue staff.
India's information technology (IT) spend is projected to touch $176.3 billion in 2026, rising 10.6 per cent from 2025, and outpacing the 9.8 per cent growth expected globally, according to the latest forecast by Gartner Inc., a business and technology insights company.
'10 million Indians are currently living with dementia, and the number is expected to double by 2036.'
A 26-year-old doctor at KEM hospital in Mumbai was attacked with a knife by three individuals, including the brother of his girlfriend, due to their relationship.
As many as 26 top e-commerce companies, including Zepto, BigBasket and Zomato, have given an undertaking that their platforms are free from misleading claims and unfair trade practices which constitute 'dark patterns', the government said on Thursday.
Just over a year ago, India was investors' top pick among EMs. Its slide down the rankings follows $30 billion (over 2.5 trillion) of foreign selling over the past 12-13 months.
Market experts say India's IPO ecosystem has matured to support both primary and secondary issuance, rendering the mix less consequential.
'Do remember, people will be on your side sometimes and not on your side at other times.' 'This goes for friends and family as well; so learn to be comfortable with that,' says rediffGURU Anu Krishna.
Inflation data, quarterly earnings and global trends will be the major driving factors for stock markets this week, analysts said. Moreover, the trading activity of foreign investors would also influence the equity market trends.
The reduction in goods & services tax (GST) on individual life and health insurance premiums has been called a "landmark step" for making insurance affordable and inclusive. In a panel discussion at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2025, Anup Bagchi, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance; Mahesh Balasubramanian, MD & CEO of Kotak Life Insurance; Tarun Chugh, MD & CEO of Bajaj Life Insurance; and Ratnakar Patnaik, MD of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), listed what else the industry needs to reach more people.
Hit by a slowdown in information technology (IT) hiring, Info Edge (India)'s results for the July-September quarter (Q2) of 2025-26 (FY26) fell short of brokerage expectations. What helped the online recruitment major offset the weak IT hiring trend was broad-based growth across other sectors.
Even as non-life insurers reported muted premium growth in October, standalone health insurers saw a robust 38 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) surge. This growth was driven by pent-up demand in the retail health insurance segment.
Domestic PMI data, US Federal Reserve meeting minutes and the progress on India-US trade deal negotiations are likely to influence movement in the equity market in the week ahead, according to analysts. Moreover, the trading activity of foreign investors would also influence the equity market trends.
The Supreme Court expressed serious concern over custodial deaths, calling it a 'blot' on the system. The court is pushing for compliance with orders to install CCTV cameras in police stations and central investigation agencies to curb human rights abuses.
Byju's founder Byju Raveendran is preparing to file a $2.5 billion damages claim, alongside new evidence in a US court that he says disproves GLAS Trust's allegations that $533 million in 'Alpha Funds' was diverted by the company's founders.
From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Bajaj Finserv, Adani Ports, HCL Technologies, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Trent, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Eternal, Titan and Bajaj Finance were the gainers. On the other hand, Tata Steel, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles, Bharat Electronics, Kotak Mahindra Bank and PowerGrid were the laggards.
The average daily turnover (ADTV) in the derivatives market rose to a 12-month high in October, touching 506 trillion - up nearly 46 per cent since June - as volatility picked up and concerns over further regulatory tightening eased. Derivatives activity had slumped earlier this year after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) capped weekly expiries to two days and discontinued weekly contracts on non-benchmark indices.
You cannot 'fix' the relationship between your mother and wife, says rediffGURU Kanchan Rai. You can only create conditions for healing.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances