Thanks to a booming market, India now has more than 300 family offices, up from 45 in 2018, according to a PwC report. The number is expected to grow rapidly, with promoters establishing more businesses in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Family businesses play a crucial role in India's booming economy, spanning manufacturing, retail, real estate, healthcare, and finance.
Retail inflation eased to a nearly six-year low of 3.16 per cent in April mainly due to subdued prices of vegetables, fruits, pulses, and other protein-rich items, creating enough room for the Reserve Bank to go for another round of rate cut in the June monetary policy review. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was 3.34 per cent in March and 4.83 per cent in April 2024. It was 3.15 per cent in July 2019.
Competition from Nepalese teas -- which has duty free access to the Indian market -- has emerged as a lower-cost alternative to Darjeeling tea, challenging its viability.
Sri Lanka is currently processing a request by China to allow a research ship to dock in the country, a foreign ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday, a year after a visit by a Chinese spy vessel to the Island nation raised security concerns in India.
Since Sanjay Malhotra took office as governor in December, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has adopted a more accommodative stance, which bodes well for banking and the economy as they navigate a growth slowdown, according to analysts.
There remains a debate on who said this: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, Sir?" Was it the British economist John Maynard Keynes or the American economist Paul Samuelson. Irrespective of who said it, this sentiment appears to have found resonance in ITC's boardroom in recent years.
Gold prices advanced Rs 700 to reach a new lifetime high of Rs 91,950 per 10 grams in the national capital on Wednesday on the back of continued buying by jewellers ahead of wedding season, according to the All India Sarafa Association. Besides, increased tensions in the Middle East and concerns about the US economic slowdown have kept the demand for safe-haven assets intact.
Under its new chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has gravitated towards greater transparency and ease of doing business, setting an objective of "effective and optimum" regulation. On Monday, during its first board meeting under Pandey, the regulator has decided to constitute a high-level committee (HLC) to review conflicts of interest and unveiled initiatives to simplify regulatory processes.
Investors should avoid making drastic changes to their asset allocation during a market correction.
Towards the end of February, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) restored the risk weighting on banks loans to non-banking financial companies (NBFCs; including to microfinance institutions, or MFIs) to 100 - back to its November 2023 position - from 125. It is only a partial relief though. "Higher risk weighting on unsecured lending continues to be in place while the same on bank funding to NBFCs has been done away with. "This is a positive step by RBI," says Rajiv Sabharwal, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), Tata Capital.
The growth was primarily driven by domestic investments, which accounted for 60 per cent of the total inflows during the first quarter of the financial year.
The GDP growth is expected to be about 6.3 per cent in the current fiscal year, a tad lower than the government's estimate of 6.4 per cent, owing to several factors such as weak demand, SBI research report said on Wednesday. According to the first advance estimates (FAE) of National Income for 2024-25 released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), released on Tuesday, India's economic growth rate is estimated to slip to a four-year low of 6.4 per cent in 2024-25, because of poor showing by the manufacturing and subdued investments.
Domestic steel prices have seen an increase over the past couple of months in anticipation of a safeguard duty, but a looming global trade war is likely to weigh as threat of import rises and prospect of export flounders. Data from BigMint showed that in March 2025, hot rolled coil (HRC) prices ex-Mumbai increased by Rs 600 per tonne month-on-month (M-o-M), rising from Rs 48,400 per tonne in February to Rs 49,000 per tonne.
rediffGURU Aasif Ahmed Khan counsels students on the best career options in tech and engineering.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
'Presumption of innocence must guide all formal actions, but transparency must not be mistaken for pre-judgment.' 'The cruel irony, however, is that Justice Varma is a fine judge who enjoys a reputation for writing well-reasoned judgments.'
Indian pharmaceutical companies may have units abroad as part of "distributed manufacturing" across various locations, according to industry veterans. This may come about over the next five to 10 years.
Novice investors must understand that volatility is an inherent part of equity markets and learn to navigate through such phases.
With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
India's demographic advantage and diverse economic landscape position it uniquely to benefit from AI, the Economic Survey for 2024-25 tabled in the Parliament on Friday afternoon asserted. However, achieving these benefits requires significant investments in education and workforce skilling, supported by enabling, insuring, and stewarding institutions, the state of the economy report tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
'Pakistan's only concern has been while they were on the FATF watch list was to distance their State institutions and organs from any direct connection with the actual execution of militancy inside Kashmir.'
'The intensity and frequency of heatwaves will be much higher than in previous years over Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.'
'As negotiations continue, the path forward demands not only diplomatic skill, but also vigilance against legal asymmetries embedded in America's trade playbook.'
A special court in Mumbai has directed the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to register a first information report (FIR) against former Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and five other officials in connection with alleged stock market fraud and regulatory violations.
India's real estate market is poised for growth across categories - residential, commercial, and rental. Currently valued at Rs 24 trillion, or about $300 billion, it is projected to surge to $1.3 trillion by 2034, and then grow further to $5.17 trillion by 2047, indicates a report by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (Credai).
rediffGURU Dr Nagarajan JSK helps students make the right career choices, particularly in the fields of medicine and pharmacy.
The exodus of foreign investments from Indian equity markets continued unabated, with FPIs pulling out nearly Rs 20,000 crore in the last five trading sessions on higher valuations of domestic stocks and shifting their allocation to China. As a result, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have turned net sellers in the equity market, with total outflows reaching Rs 13,401 crore for 2024 so far. Going ahead, the FPI selling trend is likely to continue in the near term till data indicate the piossibility of a trend reversal.
It was a protest which held a mirror to the government of a state taking pride in its commitment to democracy, gender equality and social indices.One person, who in his employed days had known governments and political parties at close quarters, told me that public perception of how the Kerala government handled the ASHA workers' strike had been terrible, reports Shyam G Menon.
The United Kingdom extracted USD 64.82 trillion from India over a century of colonialism between 1765 and 1900 and USD 33.8 trillion of this went to the richest 10 per cent -- enough money to carpet London in notes of 50 British pound almost four times over.
The recent Bitcoin rally, which saw the cryptocurrency surge past the $100,000 mark on Thursday, is drawing Indian investors in droves. Cryptocurrency platforms in India are experiencing a significant uptick in activity and user sign-ups, driven by the optimism surrounding "crypto-friendly" Donald Trump's US presidential election victory.
'He will be remembered more for what he did as finance minister -- as someone who functioned well when the political fallout was taken care of.'
'Historically, many chief financial officers have not been comfortable with investing today for indirect value in the future.' 'This reluctance can skew investment allocation to tactical versus strategic outcomes.'
In 2024, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) implemented significant reforms, focusing on cooling down the derivatives segment, enhancing transparency and accountability in small and midsised enterprise (SME) listings, and deepening the fund management ecosystem.
The project is critical as the region expects huge investments in the automotive, renewable energy, and space sectors.
Rupee depreciation, if it continues, will likely pull the markets down further. Since September 2024, the rupee has declined by 3.1 per cent, the Nifty has dropped by 8.5 per cent during the same period, and the Sensex has fallen by 7.3 per cent. If the decline continues, markets will need to brace for more pain as it could push foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) to exit their positions faster than anticipated.
The growing decline of MTech applicants in Indian colleges is due to multiple factors, including outdated curricula, poor return on investment and lucrative non-engineering alternatives, say experts.
Regularly monitor your account for any suspicious activity. Keep your devices updated with the latest security patches to prevent vulnerabilities. Ensure the physical wallet you use is stored securely to avoid loss or theft.
As regards mid-caps and small-caps, analysts suggest investors buy only those stocks of those companies where there is earnings visibility for at least a few quarters and where the valuations have become reasonable.
Management commentary on demand environment, and forward guidance will be in focus when Indian IT services players declare their September quarter results for financial year 2024-25 (Q2FY25). The industry is exepected to have continued on the path of recovery in Q2, similar to the preceding quarter, rather than sprint towards growth. The top four firms likely grew between 0 per cent and 4 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), according to consensus estimates.
Equity mutual funds witnessed an inflow of Rs 35,943 crore in November, marking a drop of 14 per cent on a month-on-month basis, amid heightened volatility in stock markets driven by various macroeconomic factors, geopolitical events and US election results. Despite this, it marked the 45th consecutive month of net inflows into equity-oriented funds, reflecting the growing popularity of mutual funds among investors, according to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) released on Tuesday.
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