Iran's ambassador to India, Iraj Ilahi, expressed concern about the stability and security of the "whole region" following the collapse of the Syrian government, highlighting Tehran's worries about the potential wider ramifications of the situation. Ilahi also emphasized the importance of promoting tourism between India and Iran, citing their shared cultural heritage and the recent easing of visa restrictions.
Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani on Thursday said his oil-to-telecom-and-retail conglomerate is not seeking short-term profit but is in the business of creating wealth for the nation. Speaking at the company's annual shareholder meeting, he said all businesses of Reliance Industries Ltd continue to be key drivers of the Indian economy and have become a success story. "We are not in the business of pursuing short-term profit and hoarding wealth. "We are in the business of creating wealth for India," he said.
Basu said there are a couple of big ticket items on the agenda.
Tata Sons will likely choose Singapore as a "key partner" for its semiconductor plans, a senior minister from the city-state said on Friday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran earlier in the day, Singapore's minister for home affairs and law K Shanmugam said semiconductors was a "big discussion" point during the meeting. "If they (Tatas) want to, they can do business with anybody in the world.
With India's gig economy projected to double in size, reaching over 10 million workers in the coming years, Ola Electric unveiled its new line of budget-friendly e-scooters, starting at under Rs 40,000. The market responded positively, with Ola Electric's stock rising by 5.67 per cent, closing at Rs 73.47 on the BSE.
India's consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation could ease in the coming months thanks to the arrival of kharif crops, lower international commodity prices, and a pass through of lower input costs to consumers, the finance ministry said in its Monthly Economic Review (MER) for October, which was released on Thursday. The MER, however, warned that the global macroeconomic situation remained precarious and a recession in many advanced economies would impact India's exports. "Easing international commodity prices and new Kharif arrival are set to dampen inflationary pressures in the coming months.
'Investors with foreign currency-denominated goals, such as foreign education or foreign travel, should go for US equity funds.'
'Election funding needs a little more transparency.'
Goldman Sachs expects gold to reach $3,150 per ounce in the international market by December 2025, up around 19.1 per cent from its current level of $2,645, according to a recent report in Business Standard. Domestically, gold is trading at Rs 76,018 per 10 grams after delivering a remarkable 21.9 per cent return in the past year.
'Consider 40% to 50% in equities, 10% in gold as a hedge, and the remaining 30% to 40% split between multi-asset funds and hybrid funds.'
A group comprising top tech startups and unicorns has raised several "serious concerns" over a platform-based gig workers Bill proposed by the Karnataka government, saying it would hurt the ease of doing business. They told the state government the Bill in its current form would hamper operations and increase regulatory and compliance burden on the nascent gig and startup economy, according to sources.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Deputy Managing Director (MD) Gita Gopinath has condemned the "terrible and disturbing" incident of rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata. "Personally, it is terrible to have any event of this kind. It is disturbing," she told Business Standard in New Delhi.
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.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday wooed Indian industry leaders to invest more in America, promising to reduce more regulations in his country as he looked for overseas investment to boost the economy there. Speaking at a high-profile CEO round-table which included captains of the Indian industry such as Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran and Aditya Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, Trump reassured that regulations "will only get better" for investment in the US.
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.
After a tumultuous past few days that almost halved value of the Adani group, embattled tycoon Gautam Adani-led conglomerate had some pressure eased on Friday as two global rating firms stuck with their calls on its credit profile and its French partner backed its investments in the group firms. Also for the first time since January 24, shares of the group's flagship firm Adani Enterprises ended in positive territory after erasing an intraday loss of 35 per cent. Adani Ports and SEZ also ended 8 per cent higher. This is after a over $100-billion rout in value of group stock since the US short seller Hindenburg Research accused Adani group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.
The government is likely to introduce a bill seeking amendments to the Insurance Act, 1938, during the upcoming Budget session to achieve 'Insurance for All by 2047'. Some of the provisions, which could be part of the amendment bill, include composite license, differential capital, reduction in solvency norms, issuing captive license, change in investment regulations, one-time registration for intermediaries and allowing insurers to distribute other financial products, sources said.
Even as the high inflation figure for October has ruled out any possibility of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) monetary policy committee (MPC) in December, a rate cut in February also looks uncertain due to global uncertainties. Economists told Business Standard that unless domestic growth slows markedly, the outlook on rate cut remains unclear. India's headline inflation touched a 14-month high of 6.2 per cent in October, breaching the MPC's upper tolerance band of 6 per cent.
'After his warm and affectionate farewell speech, the Chief of Staff of the formation asked me, "So, now you are off to Coorg to look after your coffee estates?"' For the last time, in Army uniform and much to his surprise, I replied, "Sir, I am not from Kodagu.".'
India's manufacturing sector growth fell to an eight-month low in September amid softer increase in factory production, sales and new export orders, a monthly survey said on Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell from 57.5 in August to 56.5 in September, registering the weakest pace of growth since January.
The govt plans to seek Centre's help for a re-assessment by the World Bank.
The new guidelines, effective from August 1, aim to expedite visa approvals for nationals from China and other countries sharing land borders with India.
The state has allowed industrial units in special economic zones (SEZs) to lay off workers without government's sanction, regardless of the number of workers
'Volumes in F&O trading had gone up rapidly and, in a way, the increase in STT on F&O will protect investor interest.'
The biggest focus area turned out to be 'investment'.
India's economy is likely to grow by 6.5 per cent in the current and the next financial year, an EY report said, attributing lower than anticipated expansion in the September quarter to fall in private consumption expenditure and gross fixed capital formation. Real GDP growth eased to a seven-quarter low of 5.4 per cent in July-September -- the second quarter of the current 2024-25 fiscal year.
Telangana and Haryana are at the second and third positions. Others in the top ten are Jharkhand (4), Gujarat (5), Chhattisgarh (6), Madhya Pradesh (7), Karnataka (8), Rajasthan (9) and West Bengal (10).
IndiGo has delivered impressive operating performance in the past six quarters as it navigated cost and capacity challenges. It has managed to mitigate the impact of faulty engine-related groundings. The airline has also managed costs related to grounding, expensive secondary leasing, increasing airport charges, and pilot compensation inflation and delivered stronger yields and spreads.
'Investors looking at the next 6-12 months can be certain that the Fed will maintain its easing cycle, and we expect the overall environment to be conducive for fixed income investments for portfolio diversification.'
New investors should gradually build a 5 to 10 per cent allocation to gold.
'Trump has no more elections to fight and his soaring ambition, which is no secret, will be to carve out a presidential legacy that outshines by far all his mediocre predecessors.' 'Trump's turnaround on the H-1B visa debate shows that he can take tough decisions and there are no holy cows in his domain,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Manufacturing sector activities in India moderated in June from a 31-month high in May, but output remained in the growth territory, as new work orders expanded sharply amid favourable demand conditions, a monthly survey said on Monday. The seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell from 58.7 in May to 57.8 in June. Despite the fall, the headline figure pointed to a considerable improvement in operating conditions, the survey said, adding that the demand strength positively impacted several other measures such as sales, production, stock building and employment.
Truck movements across the India-Bangladesh border are on the rise, with increasing rentals signalling a trade recovery between the two South Asian nations. Yet, geopolitical tension looms large, with Bangladesh now under an interim government for nearly two months.
The government-backed Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is likely to start levying user charges in the current financial year.
The gross GST collection increased 8 per cent to Rs 1.74 lakh crore in June, sources said on Monday. The government, however, has discontinued the official release of monthly GST collection data, they added. Sources said the gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection so far this fiscal (April-June) stood at Rs 5.57 lakh crore.
'We can hope to see a lot of creation of jobs in the days to come.'
State-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has committed Rs 600 crore for its digital transformation journey, Sunder Krishnan, chief risk officer said on Wednesday. The insurance giant is also aiming to become completely "paperless" in two years. "We have hired a large system integrator for more than Rs 400 crore, a consultant for digital transformation for Rs 100 crore, and Rs 100 crore for agency transformation.
Business activity resumption continued for the fifth consecutive week as the second wave of infections and restrictions continued getting subsided, a Japanese brokerage said on Monday. The business activity now is only 13 percentage points lower than levels observed before the onset of pandemic in March 2020, Nomura said, citing the movement in a proprietary index of business activity resumption. The index had fallen to a trough of nearly 40 percentage point (pp) below the pre-pandemic levels for the week ended May 23 this year because of the impact of the second wave of the pandemic.
The government is planning to introduce legislative changes to the Foreign Exchange Management Act (Fema) regulations, with a focus on easing the pathway for inflows from a foreign portfolio investor to transition seamlessly into foreign direct investments (FDI) once the FPI surpasses the 10 per cent ownership threshold in a company. This move stems from multiple requests by foreign investors seeking to streamline the reporting requirements that arise when their stakes in Indian firms cross the 10 per cent mark.
