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.
As the election nears, political positions on prohibition are shifting.
A shift appears underway in India's tax landscape. States with relatively smaller tax collections like Odisha and Telangana are emerging as the fastest-growing contributors to indirect and direct tax collections, respectively.
...compared with 153,000 in all of 2024.
Qualcomm has partnered with eyewear brand Lenskart to build glasses using its Snapdragon XR chipsets, which allow for on-device AI processing and spatial computing.
'At COP30, the emphasis will be on unlocking climate finance, reinforcing the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and building resilience through inclusive transitions and the mainstreaming of adaptation.'
'This marks a turning point for Paytm, with the regulatory environment looking much clearer than it has been in the last two years.'
Divya Nair suggests five versatile ways to put your dosa batter to good use.
Days after an outage at MCX, Sebi chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Tuesday expressed his displeasure over "repeated" instances of breakdowns at exchanges.
'That is going to have an impact on literally every one, whether you buy a toothpaste, a safety pin, a car, shoes or medicines or you go to a diagnostic centre.'
'There are cases of suicides, and middle-class families losing their entire family savings.'
...on par with oil, power, and defence, and to restrict its storage under foreign control.
'GST reduction will help larger and high-end cars too.'
'There is a shift in what customers are thinking about in the long term and better planned structures are going to emerge as winners.'
But selectively, with regulatory scrutiny and special approval, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
=In 21 states, the time gap between the general Budget and ministry-specific discussions was just one day.
'The Pahalgam terror attacks and the conflict that followed were a big blow to local tourism.' 'And just when things were starting to go back to normal, the floods, caused by heavy rain, spoiled all chances of a bounce-back this season.'
'By quick, fast, and just awards, the insurance ombudsman can bring the trust of the policyholders in the insurance system and insurance as a product and create a positive impact on the entire industry.'
'The steel industry has a multiplier effect on direct and indirect employment, national security on the supply chain, technology access etc.'
'An HAL-private sector tieup is a possibility.'
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority will monitor how companies are increasing prices of non-scheduled drugs.
'We sent just 500 people from India to the US on H-1B visas. There is no dependence on H-1B visas.'
Between April and August this financial year, passenger car exports rose 8.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), while domestic sales fell by 8.5 per cent.
'Margins will be an outcome of that. They will likely remain somewhat range-bound.'
Sandwiched between a Hero MotoCorp showroom and a shop that hires out cooking utensils is a small, dingy building that's been locked up. The non-descript two-room building is a manufacturing unit of Sresan Pharmaceuticals, the pharma company made its Coldriff cough syrup that has allegedly killed 25 children in Madhya Pradesh.
Herman Jansen continues to see India as a strategically-important emerging market despite selling the global rights for Maison House and Savoy Club brands from UTO Asia to Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD). Herman will focus on growing its European and South East Asian market, Diederik Jansen, chief executive officer and seventh-generation owner of Herman Jansen, which has been producing spirits since 1777, told Business Standard.
Air India significantly altered the composition of the aircraft order it placed earlier this year with Airbus, the European plane manufacturer has said. In February, Air India had placed the world's second-largest single-tranche aircraft order for 470 planes: 250 with Airbus and 220 with Boeing. In July, Airbus disclosed an order comprising 70 A321neo, 140 A320neo, 34 A350-1000, and six A350-900 aircraft for Air India.
'Reinvention is not a hugely difficult task. With technology as available today, you can reinvent yourself pretty quickly.'
'I can sanction projects worth Rs 20 trillion annually as of today.' 'But my system is only capable of executing projects worth Rs 3 trillion to Rs 4 trillion.'
'The outlook for the next Samvat is more constructive, as many of the earlier drags are gradually becoming supports.'
Reliance holds 67.03% of Jio Platforms Limited and the public listing would provide an exit to many investors.
The change in the government's engagement with the economy's need for reforms is more nuanced than how analysts have so far perceived it, points out A K Bhattacharya.
OpenAI will provide 500,000 free ChatGPT licences for six months to students and teachers across government schools from classes 1 to 12, engineering and technical institutes, as well as K-12 educators.
Buoyed by regulatory overhaul and infrastructure boom, engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has identified realty business as one of its growth engines for the next 10 years and plans to acquire land parcels while expanding pre-sales, said a senior company executive. L&T Realty has started looking out to acquire land parcels and grab partnership development opportunities across markets to scale up its business. "We are making some strides in that direction, albeit cautiously.
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed lower in a highly volatile trade on Thursday amid relentless foreign fund outflows and selling in blue-chip ICICI Bank. Falling for the second day in a row, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 148.14 points or 0.18 per cent to settle at 83,311.01.
Businesses are testing new markets, tapping into domestic demand, and pushing the government for relief.
'For most investors, I recommend a low double-digit allocation (10 to 12 per cent) to gold and silver combined.'
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, retail firms, and producers of consumer durables are witnessing stable urban demand. However, people in the trade are waiting for clearer signs of revival closer to the festival season, starting in September.
'...than by the calendar.' Indian travellers are no longer restricting their getaways to summer or winter holidays.
If Lockheed Martin gets the opportunity, then it will set up a mega hub in India to produce the "iconic" aircraft and it will be the first such global facility outside of the US, top officials of the company told PTI.
