India's services sector experienced a slight moderation in growth during February, according to the HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index, with new order growth slowing and inflation picking up.
Households should moderate large discretionary expenses for the time being.
'They should prioritise essential spending. They should maintain an emergency fund covering 6 to 12 months of expenses.'
Analysts predict that the ongoing conflict in West Asia, crude oil price fluctuations, and the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision will significantly influence the Indian equity market this week.
Indian car buyers care more about affordability than technology, keeping ICE vehicles dominant while hybrids emerge as the preferred transition option and EVs struggle in the mass market.
'India is often skipping legacy cycles and moving directly to advanced AI-driven operations.'
Delhi Police have registered multiple FIRs and seized hundreds of LPG cylinders in a crackdown on illegal storage, refilling, and black marketing operations amid concerns of potential supply shortages.
Global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky plans to significantly increase its investments in India, leveraging the country as a hub for regional services due to strong financial performance and the escalating threat landscape.
'The next phase of India's IPO cycle will be defined by quality, pricing discipline and investor selectivity.'
India's services sector growth moderated in December, as the rates of expansion in incoming new work and output eased to the slowest in 11 months, and companies refrained from recruiting additional staff, a monthly survey said on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index fell from 59.8 in November to 58.0 in December, indicating the slowest rate of expansion since January.
'Given that India underperformed emerging markets by 28 per cent in 2025, the worst performance in over 30 years, the timing of the sharp STT hike could have been better.'
The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) has cleared a series of regulatory relaxations to ease operations for fund managers in GIFT City, along with a revamped framework for global in-house centres (GICs) and capital market intermediaries.
India will now face a lower reciprocal tariff of 10 per cent, down from 25 per cent, after US President Donald Trump announced a new global levy on items imported into America in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict against his sweeping duties on several nations.
A new survey indicates that Indian employers are planning to increase hiring in the April-June quarter, driven by strong business confidence and domestic demand. The survey also highlights the impact of AI adoption on workforce strategy and the challenges of talent scarcity.
Macroeconomic data announcements, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors would be major driving factors for market movement this week, analysts said. Unabated capital infusion by domestic institutional investors have supported the positive trend in the stock market last week, traders said.
In which area of Indian life are women not running the show?
India's aviation sector is facing fresh turbulence, with rising fuel costs, the Ministry of Civil Aviation's free-seat directive, and geopolitical disruptions in West Asia clouding near-term earnings visibility.
Foreign investors have remained cautious ahead of the Union Budget amid expectations of limited policy changes.
Delhi Police have dismantled an illegal operation involving the storage of over 600 LPG cylinders and arrested an individual for illegally refilling gas cylinders, highlighting concerns over safety and black market activities.
Indian eateries are adapting to the LPG crisis by cutting menus, increasing prices, and switching to alternative fuels like coal, as LPG supplies are disrupted due to global events. State authorities are cracking down on hoarding and black marketing of LPG cylinders.
A host of macroeconomic data announcements, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors would dictate investors' sentiment in the stock market this week, analysts said. Besides, auto sales data will be closely tracked, experts noted.
Sensex and Nifty post steepest weekly loss in over a year, falling nearly 3 per cent.
'The first time India has seen two consecutive blockbuster IPO years.'
Budget 2026 sticks to fiscal discipline, shuns populist measures despite five key state elections coming up, but ends up rattling stock markets with a higher transaction tax on derivatives trading.
Fears around artificial intelligence (AI) sparked a global selloff in information technology (IT) stocks, dragging down domestic software shares and prompting the heaviest foreign portfolio investor (FPI) outflows since the second half of July 2025.
If the conflict continues for a prolonged period, State-run oil companies may have to review retail fuel prices accordingly.
'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.'
Country's startups are carving a unique path by prioritising local, application-led innovation over the global pursuit of scale.
Stock markets closed higher for the second straight session on Tuesday, driven by gains in bank, IT and capital goods shares.
Two chartered accountants have been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case linked to a cyber fraud involving Rs 641 crore.
India has managed high government debt-to-GDP, a slowing domestic revenue engine, lower household savings and a more hostile geopolitical environment separately in the past. But together, they threaten to undo the growth narrative on which today's optimism rests, warns Debashis Basu.
As the government moves to revamp India's securities legislation, unifying three different laws into the Securities Markets Code (SMC), regulatory experts and market insiders have raised concerns on potential funding challenges for the stock market regulator.
Israel and the United States had a plan. Iran punched back. And now the Gulf is reeling, the world is beginning to feel the pain and, as on date, no one in Washington or Tel Aviv appears willing to admit that the punch has landed, notes Prem Panicker, continuing his must-read blog on the war in the Middle East.
The reason is because there aren't any screens for a large mass of Indians.
The government's Budget announcements providing tax holiday for data centres, setting up of city economic regions (CERs) and funding to improve infrastructure in Tier-II and -III cities may give an indirect boost to India's realty sector, said industry executives.
WPI inflation data, trading activity of foreign investors and global cues would dictate trends in the stock market this week, analysts said.
Domestic equities surged on Tuesday, posting their best single-day gains in more than eight months after a long-awaited trade deal between India and the US. The deal, which lowered tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent, significantly improved investor sentiment and lifted a key overhang for the market.
Textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, engineering goods, gems and jewellery exports will receive a boost from the free trade agreement between India and the 27-nation European Union, according to exporters.
Network scale seen as central to tapping smaller markets.
Macroeconomic data, global market trends and trading activity of foreign investors will be the key drivers for dictating market sentiment this week, analysts said. "This week, volatility may increase ahead of the November derivatives expiry. Domestically, markets will track several high-impact macro releases, including Q2 GDP data and industrial production.
India's $280-billion IT industry heads into 2026, balancing visa-related headwinds and global trade uncertainty against its biggest-ever push into artificial intelligence and the rapid expansion of global capability centres (GCCs). Heightened scrutiny of the US H-1B visa programme - including a proposed $100,000 fee for new visas and concerns over a potential 25 per cent outsourcing tax - has complicated cross-border delivery for Indian firms, even as companies accelerate efforts to reduce reliance on onsite staffing.
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