The reduction in goods & services tax (GST) on individual life and health insurance premiums has been called a "landmark step" for making insurance affordable and inclusive. In a panel discussion at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2025, Anup Bagchi, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance; Mahesh Balasubramanian, MD & CEO of Kotak Life Insurance; Tarun Chugh, MD & CEO of Bajaj Life Insurance; and Ratnakar Patnaik, MD of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), listed what else the industry needs to reach more people.
The projections in the cement industry are mixed. Prices and demand remained muted in the third quarter (October & November) and short term uptick doesn't seem likely. However, the second quarter of the financial year 2026 (Q2FY26) was good year-on-year (Y-o-Y) for many cement majors aided by base effect, and some analysts expect acceleration in earnings and volume in the next financial year, again aided by base effect.
What Gambhir Wants: Players who are not playing to the gallery, care for dressing room
The continued MF buying has pushed the equity holding of MFs to over Rs 50 trillion for the first time.
'You have a lot of options if you want to see. You can remove Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill and you can open with Sai Sudharsan and Ruturaj Gaikwad...'
'They are saying that there is a pilot shortage which is not correct, but if it was true, did they suddenly come to know this on December 5?' 'If they didn't have crew, why did they seek approval for a winter schedule? To get the approval, the operator has to show crew strength and also a buffer of crew available.' 'If they had a crew crunch, why did they ask for extra flights? Or was it something else that made them so sure that they would get away with this exemption and bans?'
Jaiswal ticked a box in the third ODI with his maidan ton and Ruturaj Gaikwad chipped in with a hundred at Raipur, leaving Gambhir pleased as punch.
Taking a serious note of the situation, the civil aviation ministry said it has invoked regulatory powers to ensure fair and reasonable fares across all affected routes.
'4 lakh to 5 lakh people graduating in computer science getting jobs in software companies will not happen.'
"Every child should have five friends with whom they can share their feelings and emotions," says AIIMS psychiatrist Dr Nand Kumar.
While GST on ICE vehicles was brought down significantly, for electric cars it remained at 5 per cent.
Batting great Sunil Gavaskar strongly defended India head coach Gautam Gambhir despite the humiliating 0-2 series whitewash at the hands of South Africa.
With demand continuing to be strong post the festive season, leading automakers, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra, saw robust growth in sales in November as compared to the same month last year. Maruti Suzuki India reported the best-ever total sales, including exports, last month at 229,021 units, a year-on-year growth of 26 per cent as compared to November last year.
'I'm feeling strong. I am feeling fit, and I am feeling ready to go,'
Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh finds it a bit unfortunate that the future of legends like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli is being decided by "people who have not achieved much" but he nonetheless expects the duo to carry on till the 2027 ODI World Cup.
'Earnings growth will be the main driver of India's market in 2026, with profits expected to rise 9% to 10% in H2 FY26 and accelerate to 12% to 15% in FY27.'
MCG to Barsapara: Gambhir and Pant might be feeling a sense of deja vu
Bhagwat said India's concept of 'rashtra' is ancient, organic and fundamentally different from the Western idea of a nation.
Tanvi, Unnati, Srikanth reach semifinals of Syed Modi International
Pant's gritty fifty keeps India A together in chase of 275
The country's largest listed auto parts company by market capitalisation, Samvardhana Motherson International, reported a better than expected operating performance in the second quarter (July-September) of 2025-26 (Q2FY26). Though the global passenger vehicle (PV) market is facing multiple headwinds, the company is outperforming on the back of higher content per vehicle and market share gains.
'Audiences are loyal to good content.'
Lionel Messi's much-hyped visit to the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday lasted 22 minutes, just enough to underline everything that is wrong in Indian football and the state administration's mismanagement.
India tops medal table in SAAF Senior C'ships; Lankan star Pathirage clinches javelin gold
Former off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin defended under-fire India head coach Gautam Gambhir after the 0-2 home Test series loss to South Africa.
Shubman Gill's form in the series is a concern for India as he has now gone six games without a half-century.
Under-fire India head coach Gautam Gambhir says it is up to the Board of Control for Cricket in India to decide his future after the Test series whitewash against South Africa, but he reminded everyone of the success the team has achieved during his tenure at the helm.
Kuldeep Yadav compared the 22-yard strip at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati to a "road" due to the benign nature of the pitch.
The Indian banking sector could be due for a rise in profitability after several quarters of net interest margin (NIM) compression. The Q2FY26 results suggest NIMs have bottomed out.
Harmanpreet Kaur's side would become the fourth team to book the semifinal berth if they get the better of the White Ferns here on the familiar mat of the DY Patil Stadium.
The rising tide of Indian nationalism meant that the people of princely states now were keen to become a part of a united and integrated India rather than remain subjects of a princely state. The Congress too supported the people's wish and it fell upon Patel to get the princes to agree. He did so magnificently, using every trick available, whether it was sweet talk or coercion; the rulers buckled and Patel earned the eternal gratitude of the entire nation.
Charith Asalanka's tenure as skipper of the Sri Lanka team was thrown into uncertainty after the southpaw came back home from Pakistan in the middle of the triangular series there.
Importers are rushing to hedge their dollar positions amid the sharp depreciation of the rupee against the American currency and expectations of further volatility even as exporters are holding off after suffering mark-to-market (MTM) losses on earlier hedges.
'Women weavers are hardworking, open to learning, resilient.' 'They finish their cooking, housework, puja, then they come to weave.' 'They care about design. They care about beauty.'
India have been served well by Shreyas Iyer in ODIs at No. 4 but with the Mumbai batter unavailable due to injury, the team management entrusted Gaikwad with the job to build the innings and he did it with aplomb, hitting his maiden century in the second ODI against South Africa on Wednesday.
DGCA provided temporary relief to IndiGo, which is partially owned by Rahul Bhatia, by rolling back the night duty definition to 12 am-5 am from 12 am-6 am earlier, and allowing its pilots to do six night-landings from two earlier, besides other relaxations.
Bihar's opposition Mahagathbandhan is experiencing internal conflict following their defeat in the recent assembly elections. Congress leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with their alliance with the RJD, leading to a blame game and further disarray within the opposition camp.
Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol unveiled a bronze statue of their iconic characters, Raj and Simran, from Aditya Chopra's blockbuster Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge in London on December 4.
With the WPL finding its pride of place in the calendar, India can be at the forefront of where women's cricket can potentially reach, legendary New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine said.
Smriti Mandhana left her fans stunned when she removed all her wedding related posts from her social media accounts on Monday.
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