Direct plans of mutual fund schemes added nearly 21 million individual investor folios in FY26 (as of February), surpassing regular plans' 15 million net additions, marking only the second time direct plans have outpaced regular plans in annual folio growth, despite turbulent equity markets.
What is the reason behind this drying up of talent for the top post in private banks?
After years of rapid expansion, the Centre's capital spending growth eases as private investment shows early signs of revival, points out A K Bhattacharya.
The surge has come alongside a decline in average issue sizes and more muted listing-day returns compared with last year.
The post-Covid euphoria surrounding direct equity investing has ebbed in 2025. Individual investors have turned net sellers in the domestic equity market, pulling out about 8,461 crore so far this year - a sharp reversal from the record purchases seen in 2024, according to a report by the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).
The continued MF buying has pushed the equity holding of MFs to over Rs 50 trillion for the first time.
'The momentum is driven by rising affluence, strong demand from HNIs (high net worth individuals) and NRIs (non-resident Indians), an increased appetite for larger, well-located homes by branded developers, and support from the economy.'
Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) poured in Rs 94,829 crore of fresh money into Indian equities in August, the second-highest monthly inflow after record Rs 1.07 trillion influx in October 2024.
South Indian filmmakers have kept their focus on the single-screen cinemagoer. They have kept their finger on the pulse of the single-screen cinema fan, who goes to movies once a month or more, to forget his weekly chores, explains Ambi Parameswaran.
Mumbai -- home to industry titans and Bollywood stars -- is witnessing a slow offtake of houses priced between Rs 10 crore and Rs 50 crore. Industry insiders and real estate watchers explain why.
In response to the panic triggered by Trump's trade policies, the RBI net sold approximately $43 billion in the second half of FY25 to curb volatility, as the rupee plunged to a low of 87.95 per dollar in February this year.
India's used car market, which has been growing steadily at 10-12 per cent over the last 2-3 years, is expected to reach $40 billion in FY26.
'Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll, and Disney+ Hotstar are continuously expanding their Anime libraries.'
The share of companies where it would take over 100 years for a median employee to earn the equivalent of their top executive's annual salary rose to 65 per cent in FY24 from 61 per cent in FY19.
Nestle surged 4.25 per cent after the FMCG major reported 4.94 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 688.01 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2024. IndusInd Bank, Titan, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, ITC and Maruti were the other major gainers. ITC Hotels, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, Bajaj Finance and ICICI Bank were among the laggards.
'These beach shacks were meant to protect the employment of local Goans who in turn would showcase Goan cuisine and culture on the beaches of Goa.'
Allocation to bank deposits -- fixed deposits, savings account deposits, and current account deposits -- came down.
The consumer buying patterns and preferences have changed significantly with categories like health and pharma, FMCG and agriculture seeing a surge and exponential growth along with the rising number of first-time online shoppers.
It is similar to top-up health insurance plan, but provides for one or more claims cumulatively crossing the threshold limit.
In December 2020, as economists debated the shape the global economic recovery might take - Z, V, U, W or L - JP Morgan came up with the concept of the K-shaped curve. The investment bank used the shape of the letter K to illustrate the growing difference between large and small businesses in the United States. Since then, as the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the gap between the rich and poor, the term has gained a larger connotation to embody the characteristics of development across economies.
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.
Ambrish Sinha, CEO, MeritTrac Services, identifies 6 future-ready skills that a post-COVID-19 workplace will require.
'Developers are into profit-making. And there's not too much money in the affordable segment.' 'So, they don't do affordable housing.'
Can this growth in GST collection be sustained in the coming years? asks A K Bhattacharya.
Private equity players said their research had shown that the PE share after COVID-19 could go up to 8-10 per cent.
Credit outstanding to the housing sector rose by nearly Rs 10 lakh crore in the last two fiscals to reach a record Rs 27.23 lakh crore in March this year, according to RBI's data on 'Sectoral Deployment of Bank Credit'. Experts from banking and real estate sectors attributed this growth in housing credit outstanding to a strong revival in the residential property market post-COVID pandemic on pent-up demand. According to the data of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on sectoral deployment of bank credit for March 2024, the credit outstanding to the housing (including priority sector housing') stood at Rs 27,22,720 crore in March 2024, up from Rs 19,88,532 crore in March 2023, and Rs 17,26,697 crore in March 2022.
Looking under the hood, I see India on the terrible, but commonplace, road to prosperity failure, warns Rathin Roy.
There was no smooth surge in middle class prosperity for foreign businesses to tap into because of the Indian economy was mismanaged, argues Debashis Basu.
The focus will definitely shift towards more meaningful trips than the kind of micro trips we were into before, says Varun Arora.
EV players suggest a reduction in the goods and services tax on batteries from 18 to 5 per cent as it would help push demand.
The hospitality industry has seen plenty of interest since the catastrophic impact of the pandemic, which led to losses in FY21. The hotel industry market cap has more than tripled since 2019 on the combination of a strong earnings rebound and positive surprises, as well as three recent listings. The industry has good tailwinds. The anticipation is, demand for rooms will outrun supply for a few years despite capacity expansions.
'There is not any negative connotation associated with it.'
Spain and Liverpool legend Luis Garcia believes that Indian football can touch global heights if the players are given exposure to different leagues abroad and nourish young talents and coaches methodically.
Which sectors will bounce back fast? Which will lag? Has the consumer changed forever? Here are some answers.
In contrast with their strong performance in 2020 and 2021, pharmaceutical and healthcare funds experienced a decline in 2022, with returns plummeting by an average 9.8 per cent. This trend has continued in the current year, with year-to-date return remaining in the negative (-4.9 per cent). In the past three months, pharma funds have been hit hard, experiencing a 7.9 per cent decline.
Only the top 5 per cent profit makers account for 75 per cent of profits.
HUL believes that post Covid, the awareness about health and wellbeing and selfcare, has exploded and there is a mindset change from health as absence of disease, to health as a part of lifestyle.
Monochrome is eternal, as are prints. Have fun with both.
The stock of the retail chain Avenue Supermarts (Dmart) was the biggest loser in the BSE 100 Index shedding 4.35 per cent on Thursday and added to these losses on Monday by falling an additional 1.3 per cent. The Street was reacting to lower than expected operational performance by the company in the March quarter. The country's largest listed retailer by market capitalisation reported a 20 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in its top line to Rs 10,337 crore.
'Akshay Kumar may not like what's being done to Mission Cinderella. But he has no control over its final shape and format.'
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