Indian factories saw an 8 per cent decline in gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) in FY25, marking the first drop since the pandemic, despite achieving record high employment generation, according to the latest Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) data.
'I've seen a lot of meetings over the years, but this was the first time I've seen the deputy chief minister and the industries minister sit through something like this with 200 to 300 industrialists, local residents and politicians from both the ruling side and Opposition, all in the same room.'
Karex, the Malaysian company that makes roughly one in five of the world's condoms -- about five billion a year, supplying Durex and Trojan among others -- announced this week that it is raising prices by up to 30 percent. The reason is the Strait of Hormuz.
Former poll strategist Prashant Kishor made a stunning electoral debut by winning Bihar's Bankipur assembly seat, a long-held BJP bastion. Concurrently, the Congress retained the Datia assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh, while the BJP successfully held onto the Manjalpur seat in Gujarat, showcasing mixed results for the ruling and opposition parties in these crucial by-elections.
'You have seen the retrenchments by big corporates in the IT industry because they are not getting enough offers.' 'MSMEs in the manufacturing sector are really struggling. They do not know what to do. They are not able to predict what will happen tomorrow.'
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien has challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi's claims about India's progress, citing poverty statistics and West Bengal's economic growth.
'Workers are the people who create all the wealth in this country. How can you call them anti-national?'
'If you're so sick, so ill, how will you show that power?'
'It was diminishing even before Trump came to power.' 'The US was at the centre of the global economy. That position is going to become less and less important and less central.'
'It is too early to conclude that there will be a bloodbath, that there will be no jobs, and that there will be civil unrest.' 'Let's calm down.' 'AI is a tool, it is not a weapon, it is not a virus.'
What we are watching is something different: A fog manufactured and maintained by the people who started the war, so that the question of why it was started never has to be answered, observes Prem Panicker in his must read blog on the war in the Middle East.
This new year will bring, once again, a repetition of both intent and apathy, expects Aakar Patel.
The tragedy struck the 39th Surajkund International Crafts Mela on Saturday evening, when about 19 people were riding the swing before it suddenly tilted and then crashed onto the ground.
The Indian economy recorded a six-quarter high growth of 8.2 per cent in July-September, as factories churned out more products in anticipation of a consumption boost from the GST rate cut, according to government data.
In what is seen as a U-turn, US President Donald Trump appeared to defend the H-1B visa programme to bring talent from across the world, saying a foreign investor cannot pull people off an unemployment line, who haven't worked in five years, and start making missiles.
If the Thackerays don't save a Marathi school in their backyard, who will, wonders Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
The $1.2 billion in-space manufacturing market is expected to grow and be worth more than $20 billion by 2033.
'The biggest point of contention is market access for US agricultural and dairy products.'
The textile and apparel sector is India's second-largest employment provider, after agriculture, and it is now caught in a wave of uncertainty following the Donald Trump administration's tariff policy.
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal's scathing remarks on Indian startup ecosystem and its innovation priorities have drawn sharp reaction from the industry, with Zepto CEO Aadit Palicha putting up a strong defence citing the company's contribution to jobs, FDI and terming it a "miracle in Indian innovation".
'Arundhati Roy is like a ballerina performing on a high wire, cool, supremely at ease but conscious of all the adoring eyes on her,' notes P Vijaya Kumar.
'The startup ecosystem, the government, and the owners of large pools of Indian capital need to actively support the creation of these local champions, not pull down the teams that are trying hard to get there.'
'Peninsular Indians could ask 'Why should we contribute half of India's tax revenues if we account for only a quarter of the seats in the Lok Sabha?'.' 'The rest of the country seems likely to counter that 'democracy means one vote per person irrespective of where that person resides in India'.' 'With no easy answers to this thorny debate, the south's economic ascendancy could end up creating a Hobson's choice.' A revealing excerpt from Nandita Rajhansa and Saurabh Mukherjea's book, Behold the Leviathan: The Unusual Rise of Modern India.
Both new and completed project values as of December 2024 remain below pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019.
'What's sad today is that there are so many people who cannot find work, not because the country is devoid of that opportunity, but because we are not doing enough in the country.'
On the eve of Durga Puja in October 2008, industrialist Ratan Tata announced that Tata Motors would withdraw from the nearly completed Nano car plant in Singur, attributing the decision to Mamata Banerjee's anti-land acquisition movement, which he claimed had derailed what was meant to be a "groundbreaking project" -- the world's cheapest car.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Wednesday slammed ally Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray's MP Sanjay Raut for his remarks on Haryana poll outcome, stressing that accusations against Congress won't be tolerated.
Japanese agri-equipment firm Kubota is taking cues from Suzuki Motor's strategy to establish India as its global production hub, according to a report by Nikkei Asia. The acquisition of Escorts in 2022, leading to the rebranding as Escorts Kubota, a prominent tractor manufacturer in India, which held the fourth-largest global market share, offered Kubota a crucial foothold in the Indian and international markets, complementing its strengths with Escorts' established presence.
He was colourful. He was dramatic. He was The Master of His Craft. There never will be an editor as versatile as Pritish Nandy, notes Nikhil Lakshman.
The year was rich in content as far as Web series were concerned.
He also asserted that India has not given up on SAARC, but it will keep looking for other opportunities for regional integration "since SAARC is stuck".
Mahindra & Mahindra, the Indian carmaker, confirmed Tuesday that it had pulled out of a $1bn joint venture with Renault and Nissan to set up a factory near Chennai.
This star designer who has now found an audience on foreign shores, all thanks to her minimalistic style, and worship of Indian fabrics.
The ongoing second quarter earnings, movement of oil benchmark Brent crude and the uncertainty in the Middle East would dictate terms in the domestic markets this week, analysts said. Furthermore, the activities of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) will also influence trading in the markets. "A slew of earnings reports from heavyweights expected this week will significantly impact market direction.
Swift Dzire has clocked 2.5 million in sales, and you might, in a non-too-distant future, see headlines that the DZire has done 3 million as well, observes Suveen Sinha.
As the Indian version of The Archies gets ready to hit OTT, Deepa Gahlot picks 10 interesting college-and-youth-oriented shows on OTT.
The share of slow-moving orders in the overall order book of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is at a multi-year low. This has led to a renewed focus on fast-moving orders. A mix of factors such as commodity price fluctuations, robust order inflow and strong sectoral demand have put capital goods order book in the fast lane, analysts and company executives said. L&T, with its large presence in the capital goods sector, is often seen as the bellwether for trends in this space.
With the kind of money and talent that has gone into making this movie, a really good biopic of a personality like Savarkar could be made. But this film is lost in polemics, as is the case with almost every biopic and period drama today, observes Utkarsh Mishra.
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.
Nokia's Chennai plant is under freeze over tax dispute.
