Brokerages expect a further slowdown in Indian firms' revenue and earnings growth in Q4FY25, following low single-digit growth in the preceding three quarters, as factors like weak consumer demand and credit growth linger on.
The fast-growing Indian online gaming sector is facing a significant threat from money laundering, necessitating urgent steps to ensure its sustained success and protect the country's robust digital economy, a report said on Thursday. The essential measures outlined in a report by the Digital India Foundation include forming a dedicated task force for illegal operators, creating a whitelist of legal operators, combating misleading advertisements, and incorporating principles of financial integrity and international cooperation.
With the government clearing the decks for direct listing at the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), issuers will wait for the ecosystem to develop further before firming up their listing plans. In the meantime, most companies may continue to prefer listing in the onshore market, even as the new avenue provides key benefits such as tax waivers and reduced foreign exchange risk. Sources said that a few key things need to be ironed out further.
Kotak Mahindra Bank's net interest margin is likely to swell after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted its restrictions on the private lender that barred it from issuing fresh credit cards and onboarding new customers through digital mode, brokerages said on Thursday. The bank's net interest margin (NIM) has seen a decline of over 35 basis points (bps) since the restrictions were imposed by the regulator in April 2024.
Government is considering setting up an airport economic regulatory authority to deal with tariff and service standards at airports, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel informed the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
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.
State-level reports every quarter for service quality and artificial intelligence-based solutions may be officially mandated as part of a set of more stringent, updated quality-of-service (QoS) norms by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) soon. The new norms will also factor in user experience for 5G networks, officials informed Business Standard. In February, Trai asked telecommunication (telecom) service providers (TSPs) to submit updates on measures taken to reduce call drops and lags and raise the quality of connection.
Religare Enterprises, a financial services firm, has disclosed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) turned down its application to appoint Rakesh Asthana as its whole-time director in May this year without citing any reasons. Asthana is a former top official of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In a notice to the stock exchanges, Religare said that while the company and Asthana were weighing the options of dealing with the letter of refusal by the RBI, it was also busy in preparing for the "herculean task" of making ready multiple applications to regulators.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday debarred Ketan Parekh, the stock market operator involved in the stock market scam of 2000, Singapore-based trader Rohit Salgaocar, and one other individual from the securities market for alleged front-running of trades of a United States (US)-based foreign portfolio investor (FPI). The FPI manages around $2.5 trillion worth of funds globally.
'Every Indian should move to an EV, and the government should not buy any fossil fuel cars. The government should become the first driver of EV adoption.'
Udaan, India's largest business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce company, has received approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) for its internal corporate restructuring plan, according to sources. By consolidating into a single entity, the restructuring will enhance Udaan's agility and pave the way for various financing options, including the ability to pursue an initial public offering (IPO) in India by 2026, according to people familiar with the matter.
Shares of Bajaj Finance surged over 6 per cent on Thursday after the diversified non-banking finance company reported an 18 per cent increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,308 crore for the December quarter. The stock rallied 6.33 per cent intraday to touch Rs 8,249.95 - a 52-week high -- on the BSE.
The Union Finance Ministry on Tuesday said that aggregate business of public sector banks (PSBs) has shown strong growth of 11 per cent in the first half of the financial year 2024-25 (H1FY25) to touch Rs 236 trillion. The operating and net profit were also robust. At Rs 1.5 trillion, operating profit grew by 14.4 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) while the net profit saw an impressive 25.6 per cent jump at Rs 85,520 crore in the first half of FY25.
The time is ideal for a 'Dream Budget' akin to the 1991 reforms that sparked high growth and unlocked significant gains in productivity, points out Rajeswari Sengupta.
While the capital spending is being maintained at 3.1 per cent of the GDP, a little more would have boosted economic growth even further, suggests Rajiv Memani.
'The launch of Nila, our very first satellite was very emotional as well as nerve wracking. We tried to calm ourselves by cracking some poor jokes!'
The government is set to examine concerns over quick commerce companies potentially undermining businesses of local kirana stores, particularly in the context of the draft Digital Competition Bill, according to official sources. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs recently raised the issue with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs during discussions around the proposed legislation. "We need to assess if and how the Bill can address these concerns and explore further steps to include provisions to keep a check," a senior official stated.
Why has the shift from ICE to electric slowed down despite initial enthusiasm?
The $22.8 billion CK Hutchison ports deal intensifies geopolitical tensions between the US and China. Chinese media has already called it 'a betrayal of all Chinese people'. Shyam G Menon explains how the proposed sale will reshapes global trade infrastructure.
'We created war rooms -- from an IT perspective and also a customer war room -- to address any challenges that come up.'
'We are not asking for incentives, but at least taxation can be aligned such that the rupee tax on consumers remains the same.'
In 2024, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) approved 20 third-party Unified Payments Interface (UPI) applications, a record since UPI's launch in 2016. This surge reflects growing interest from financial technology (fintech) companies, driven by the integration of credit products like UPI-linked credit cards and pre-approved credit lines.
The highest-ever goods and services tax (GST) evasion has been done by the online money gaming industry.
The Bill allows stopping of transmission and intercepting messages in case of public emergency, in the interest of the public, to prevent incitement for committing offence.
The Karnataka government is planning to levy a fee of 1-2 per cent on aggregator platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, Flipkart, Amazon, Uber, etc., a government source said on Friday, adding that an announcement in this regard could come following a sub-committee meeting next week. "There is a sub-committee meeting scheduled in the coming week.
The IPO filing-to-approval lapsing ratio this year is the best in three years, underscoring the improvement in the IPO market's buoyancy.
Tech and startup industry bodies have again pushed back against calls by telecom operators to bring over-the-top (OTT) services under a licensing regime similar to telcos, and open them up to taxation. Ahead of public consultations on the issue later this week, the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Nasscom and the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), among others, have written to the government arguing against such efforts.
The US Trade Representative noted that India's average applied tariff rate stood at 17% per cent, the highest of any major world economy.
Leading brokers are expected to increase brokerage rates in the coming weeks, as they navigate a series of regulatory changes that are expected to squeeze profitability. According to industry sources, top brokers may soon begin charging for equity trades and raise the flat fees for intra-day and derivatives trading by 10-30 per cent. Several smaller players have already hiked their brokerage charges, signalling a potential end to the zero-brokerage era that has drawn millions of new investors into the stock market and fuelled active trading.
As nations across the world make reshaping the financial services industry a key priority in their efforts to put the global economy back on track, they are likely to take a leaf out of the regulatory models of countries like India, an Accenture report has said.
TRAI on Wednesday asked service providers to ensure international mobile roaming (IMR) service is kept 'inactive' by default for all subscribers, and is activated only on explicit request by consumer, as the regulator revamped the framework to protect users from unintentional usage and consequent 'bill shocks'.
Numbers could be classified further into (140) marketing and (160 or 161) for service calls to easily identify the purpose of the call in the future.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a defiant tone as he testified in open court for the first time in Tel Aviv in his years-long corruption trial on Sunday.
'Some of the astounding proposals, if translated into statutory provisions, would be suicidal.' 'This would not be a wonder cure for increasing insurance penetration and only result in mushrooming growth of players like paan kiosks with deleterious consequences.'
Latest GDP growth numbers a one-off development and not the beginning of a trend, says CEA V Anantha Nageswaran.
Trump spoke approvingly of his recent telephone conversation with Xi Jinping. This could indicate the possibility of America and China reaching some level of tactical accommodation, which would not be good news for India, points out Ambassador Shyam Saran, a former foreign secretary.
'The global median of whistle-blower complaints is 1.5 per cent of the total employees. India's reporting is far away from this average.'
Co-location attracts institutional investors, which drives volumes for long-dated options, with higher realisations at lower costs.
Ecommerce firm Amazon has infused ~1,600 crore into its India entity Amazon Seller Services, according to its regulatory filings. The funding comes at a time when the company is seeing opportunities in emerging geographies, including India. The regulatory filings are dated April 15. This is the second time in five months that Amazon invested in its India arm Amazon Seller Services. Before this, Amazon had infused over ~1,000 crore into its Indian entity this year.
While Paytm (One97 Communications) is not completely past regulatory hurdles, its share price has gained in the last month or two. The Paytm handle migration is complete along with FDI clearance necessary for the Payment Aggregator (PA) license. UPI consumer data indicates stable market share, and expansion in partner networks in financial distribution. All this implies Paytm could be set to meet guidance of turning Adjusted Ebitda breakeven by Q4FY25 (ex of UPI-incentives).
