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.
Once the might of the Indian establishment turned completely against the Maoists, there was no way they could survive -- either in Gadchiroli or anywhere else, points out M R Narayan Swamy.
The share of first-time luxury customers in BMW's portfolio has risen sharply -- from around 43 per cent in 2024 to nearly 49 per cent in 2025. In some models, the figure is even higher.
A national rollout will take place after the pilot test in which SBI, PNB, Axis Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank are participating.
The Indian government has directed app-based communication services like WhatsApp and Telegram to ensure continuous linkage to a user's active SIM card to combat cyber fraud. Non-compliance will result in penalties under the Telecommunications Act, 2023.
India's shopping carts on Blinkit turned into quiet storytellers this year.
'We kept this Budget on a larger plank, rather than on one incident, however serious.'
BusinessWeek's first-ever ranking of 25 client-pleasing brands included JetBlue, until it got stuck on the runway.
Microsoft Corp has restored all services -- including email access -- to Russian oil giant Rosneft-backed Nayara Energy, just before a scheduled hearing in the Delhi high court over the service suspension.
In order to optimise branch efficiency, public sector banks (PSBs) are reworking their strategies to streamline operations and reduce cost amid changing customer behaviour. The strategies include closing or merging low traffic branches and reducing their size in smaller centres.
India on Monday announced closure of negotiations for a free trade agreement signed with New Zealand, its 18th deal so far as the country aims to boost bilateral trade and investments. The India-New Zealand FTA is expected to be signed in the next three months and it is likely to come into force next year.
Eternal-owned quick-commerce firm Blinkit has dropped its '10-minute' delivery claim after intervention by the Labour Ministry amid growing concerns over the welfare and safety of delivery workers.
'IndiGo abruptly cancelled our Kolkata-Purnea flight citing bad weather, despite clear conditions and another airline operating the same route, causing severe inconvenience.'
Maruti Suzuki India plans to localise battery production and other critical components over the next few years as part of strengthening the overall EV ecosystem in the country. The company, which plans to launch its first electric vehicle - e VITARA in the domestic market next year, is looking to instill confidence in the buyers as it looks to strengthen the overall EV ecosystem.
NPS Vatsalya offers a disciplined investment avenue that parents can use to create intergenerational wealth by contributing even small sums.
Moving beyond digital payments, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the operator of Unified Payments Interface, is planning to add more muscle to the country's digital infrastructure by setting up a fourth subsidiary, NPCI Tech Solutions Ltd (NTSL).
IT services firm HCLTech on Monday reported a 11.2 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,076 crore in the October-December quarter of FY26.
The Bharat Taxi platform is already positioning itself as the world's largest driver-owned mobility network, with more than 51,000 drivers across cars, autos, and bikes registered in New Delhi and Saurashtra, Gujarat.
The committee formed under the Life Insurance Council to review the commission structure in the life insurance sector has recommended capping distributor commissions or deferring them to ease acquisition costs. The recommendations will be sent to the insurance regulator -- Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai).
Leading non-banking financial company (NBFC) Shriram Finance on Friday said Japan-based MUFG Bank would invest Rs 39,618 crore, or $4.4 billion, to acquire a 20 per cent stake on a fully diluted basis through a preferential issue of equity shares.
'Headcount expansion is more likely in revenue-linked and product-critical teams than in broad based hiring.'
India has been on an FTA-signing spree of late. Since 2021, it has signed eight trade agreements, three of which -- with the UK, Oman and New Zealand -- were finalised in 2025 alone.
Ask rediffGURU Naveenn Kummar your insurance mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
Bajaj Auto is planning a slow, calibrated push to take the Chetak, its electric scooter, to more than 100 countries on the strength of its distributor network and market-specific localisation rather than an aggressive global rollout, reports Sohini Das.
India's leading real estate developers are accelerating their push into plotted development, a segment once dominated by unorganised players but now reshaped by branded offerings, faster cash flows and evolving buyer preferences. This strategic shift is visible across markets such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Gurugram, peripheries of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and even Tier-II cities.
Usually, in the western view, corporate success is attributed to efficiency, organisational structure, and scale. R Gopalakrishnan and Harish Bhat argue that philosophy, culture, and the transmission of values are more important for sustaining growth and profitability of an enterprise over a period of time.
Mirroring the traditional hawala system, where money is sent through non-banking channels, this digital version uses the anonymity of unregulated cryptocurrency to erase the financial trail and inject cash into the domestic economy.
India's housing finance sector is riding a wave of post-pandemic revival, driven by policy support, digital innovation, and growing demand from younger homebuyers in emerging cities.
Rural India outpaced urban centres in passenger vehicle sales in 2025, recording a growth of 12 per cent compared with 8 per cent in cities.
Sustaining 8 per cent-plus growth rates is necessary if we are to reach high-income status by 2047, points out Amitabh Kant.
As many as 140 million customers of HDFC Bank and Axis Bank are expected to face interruption in banking services in the weekend due to the former's system upgrade and the transition of Citi India business to the latter. Both the banks have notified their customers about the interruption in services. HDFC Bank - the country's largest private sector lender with 93.2 million customers - had announced that it will undertake a system upgrade on July 13, wherein it will migrate its core banking system (CBS) to a new engineered platform to enhance customer experience.
The US Department of State highlighted a mission-defining challenge during External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's visit in November amid the US government shutdown, detailing the security measures taken to ensure his protection.
New Delhi will substantially reduce tariffs on industrial and agricultural goods while continuing to protect sensitive sectors. Tariffs on some agricultural products that are not traditionally considered sensitive will be brought down to zero, while in the case of relatively sensitive items, duties will be reduced in a graded manner and quotas will be imposed.
Operation Sindoor compelled Pakistan to undertake constitutional amendments, which is an acknowledgement that things did not go well for the neighbouring nation, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan has said.
'The impact will be minimal and it will only increase compliance cost on consent, data flows, localisation timelines, internal audits, data mapping, and new tooling.'
Eighteen new-age technology firms went public during the year, a near triple increase from the five firms that debuted in 2023 and 38 per cent more than 2024's tally of 13.
Banking sector has witnessed healthy growth in advances in the third quarter of financial year 2026 (Q3FY26) against the same period last year, as the full impact of goods and service tax (GST) rate cuts drove growth. Most of the lenders saw their credit growth outpace the deposit growth in the quarter.
Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday exhorted the fledgling fintech ecosystem to focus on the underserved sections of the society to deepen financial inclusion. Speaking at the annual Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai, Malhotra accepted that serving the "privileged" will be a lucrative business, but urged the smaller companies to focus on the underserved.
Most MNCs do not deliver their lofty 'customer service' promises in India.
SBI customers faced difficulties in accessing UPI and mobile banking services for more than four hours on Tuesday due to some "technical issues". The country's largest lender later said the technical issues have been fully resolved.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances