India does not do trade agreements in a hurry or with a "gun to our head", Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday. He said India is actively negotiating trade pacts with countries and regions, including the European Union (EU) and the US.
'Don't look at Russia only as a place to earn quickly and then leave.' 'Try to build experience in serious companies, skills and certifications that will serve you anywhere in the world.'
The Russians have termed Putin's visit to India, his first to this country since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, as 'Druzhba Dosti', which means 'friendship' in Russian and Hindi respectively.
Russia's state-owned oil firm Rosneft has agreed to supply up to 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to Indian upstream oil and gas major Reliance Industries (RIL) in the largest-ever energy deal between the two countries, Reuters reported on Thursday. The 10-year agreement amounts to 0.5 per cent of global oil supply and is valued at roughly $13 billion per year at current prices, it said.
The cost of any flight from Delhi and Mumbai could rise by up to Rs 3,000 soon unless the airport regulator is able to reverse a court order.
The commerce ministry on Tuesday said the discussions with visiting US Chief Negotiator Brendan Lynch on the proposed bilateral trade agreement were positive and forward looking.
'There are times when India should stand up without hesitation and voice its indignation over the US' pressure tactic. This is one such moment,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The US is strongly placed to expand its crude supplies to India.'
Calling the community note on X "crap", Navarro alleged that Elon Musk is allowing "propaganda" and reiterated his accusations of India purchasing Russian oil only to make profits.
For the first time, the government is likely to dip into the Oil Industry Development Fund (OIDF) to finance part of its fertiliser subsidy programme for 2025-26, according to official sources. The finance ministry has accounted for Rs 23,000 crore in the FY26 Budget as net additional resources to be drawn from dedicated reserve funds, including the OIDF, the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Fund, and the Universal Service Obligation Fund.
India's leading agriculture commodity exchange, the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX), has decided to acquire around a 20 per cent stake in a new commodities and financial derivatives exchange being set up in Sri Lanka, subject to regulatory and governmental approvals. The move aims to deepen NCDEX's footprint in the financial ecosystem of its neighbouring country.
Once a quiet riverside ritual, Dev Deepawali has evolved into UP's largest soft-power spectacle -- merging faith, art, enterprise into a global cultural brand that reflects state's growing confidence.
The comments come ahead of Trump's high-profile meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, scheduled for Friday in Anchorage, Alaska.
Among Sensex firms, State Bank of India, Bharat Electronics, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti, Trent and UltraTech Cement were the major gainers. However, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, ITC and Tata Steel were among the laggards.
The relations between New Delhi and Washington are on a downturn after Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional duties for India's purchase of Russian crude oil.
Notably, US President Donald Trump and his administration have continuously targeted India over its purchase of Russian crude oil. India, on the other hand, has always maintained that India's purchases are based on its domestic needs and economic security.
'Both initiatives are welcome moves and we would commit ourselves with focused attention aligned with the national priorities, and pursue our exploration initiatives.'
With the India-US trade talks moving in the right direction, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal is expected to visit Washington soon, sources said.
India is preoccupied with analysing the US sanctions, which may cut off India's access to discounted Russian crude and force it to buy at market prices.
The Indian team has returned from the US after holding trade talks with their American counterparts in New York, an official said on Thursday. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who led the team, will be back on Friday.
The government on Friday hiked customs duty on crude and refined sunflower oil to 20 per cent and 32.5 per cent, respectively. According to a finance ministry notification, the basic customs duty on crude palm, soybean and sunflower seed oil has been increased from nil to 20 per cent.
There were apprehensions that additional secondary tariffs would have hit India in case the US decided to enforce them.
The company had initially objected to audit by CAG for time barred years as per Production Sharing Contract and had not accepted the 'exceptional circumstances' advanced by the ministry
Saudi Arabia has scrapped its decades-old Kafala system, freeing 13 million migrant workers, including 2.6 million Indians, from restrictive employer control and exit visa rules.
'Modi's a great leader... But I don't understand why he's getting into bed with Putin and Xi Jinping...'
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his upcoming visit to India in December and expressed his intention to address the trade imbalance between the two countries, particularly concerning India's crude oil imports from Russia. He also lauded India's independent stance on international issues and highlighted the strong relationship between the two nations.
India has implemented a number of free trade agreements with developed nations and is in active dialogue for such pacts with nations including the US, Oman, and the EU, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said. India has implemented trade pacts with Australia, the UAE and EFTA bloc. It has also signed an agreement with the UK.
Hours before the blast in Delhi, eight people, including three doctors, were arrested and 2,900 kg of explosives were seized with the uncovering of a "white collar" terror module on Monday.
Cooking gas or Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) price has been raised by Rs 50 per cylinder by distribution companies, Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday.
...on par with oil, power, and defence, and to restrict its storage under foreign control.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday met United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio for bilateral discussions, as the high-level 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) kicks in.
Trump administration's chief negotiator Brendan Lynch is arriving in India to hold talks on the India-US bilateral trade deal, which were impacted after the US imposed 50 per cent import tariffs on Indian goods.
India's exports rose 6.7 per cent to $35.1 billion in August annually, while imports declined 10.12 per cent to $61.59 billion, according to government data released on Monday. Gold imports were down nearly 56 per cent in August, helping to trim merchandise trade deficit to $26.49 billion in August, as against $35.64 billion in the year-ago month.
The petroleum ministry has recommended a hike in the foreign direct investment cap in government-owned refineries to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent.
The ministry stated that for vehicles designed for E10 and calibrated for E20, mileage may drop by just 1-2 per cent, while in other vehicles, it could be around 3-6 per cent.
Stock markets will be driven by RBI's interest rate decision, tariff-related developments, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors in this holiday-shortened week, analysts said.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday deferred the hearing on Vedanta Ltd's proposed demerger to September 17, as market regulator Sebi is yet to complete the scrutiny of the proposal, while the central government has raised certain objections. The matter, which was part-heard earlier, had been adjourned to August 20.
In response to US criticism of India's oil imports from Russia, the Indian Army shared a 1971 news clip highlighting the US's role in arming Pakistan.
United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday said India has not been a good trading partner and announced that he will raise the tariffs on New Delhi 'very substantially' over the next 24 hours because it is buying Russian oil.
Growth in demand for diesel, India's most consumed petroleum product, fell to its lowest since the pandemic in the financial year ended March 31 as the economy expands at a slower pace and consumption shifts to cleaner fuels. Diesel consumption rose 2 per cent to 91.4 million tonnes in 2024-25 (April 2024 to March 2025) fiscal, according to provisional data released by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC) of the Oil Ministry.
