With a confident new generation of innovators, India now has the scale and self-belief to shape its own digital destiny marked by creation, observes Ajay Kumar chairman, UPSC.
Banks and NBFCs are launching festival offers, including lower loan rates, cashback, EMI schemes and GST-linked benefits to tap rising demand ahead of Diwali
'Save the entire chain of e-mail exchanges so that you have documented evidence to show you informed the bank about the issue.'
Dalal Street is buzzing with excitement, as some of the most-awaited IPOs are gearing up to hit the market. While some of these big companies are planning to join the stock exchanges towards the end of 2025, others are likely to be available for trading by the first half of 2026.
'It is a process that takes a certain amount of time and needs to be done keeping legal modalities in mind.'
Several companies across sectors like finance, healthcare, wellness, retail technology, and asset management are bracing up to hit the D-street. With an unprecedented 1.7 lakh crore raised in 2025, the momentum is likely to sustain in 2026.
Almost all banks that issue contactless cards provide users with a 100 per cent liability cover.
Eyewear retailer Lenskart plans to add 450 stores in the current financial year, its fastest expansion in three years, as the company prepares for a public listing that could value it at up to $10 billion. The addition would take Lenskart's store count to more than 3,150 across 14 countries, representing a 34 per cent rise from the 334 stores opened last year.
'Some buyers get carried away by festival offers and purchase higher variants or larger vehicles than they truly need, which impacts running cost and long-term affordability.'
'India needs at least 70,000 to 80,000 eyewear stores; our 2,000 stores are just a drop in the ocean.'
'Illegal gambling operators are systematically exploiting India's advertising and payment infrastructure, siphoning off crores of rupees from outside the country.'
The time taken by the income-tax department to process refunds has dropped sharply from 93 days in 2013.
'The larger and more opaque this shadow economy becomes, especially online, the greater the risk to India's national security.'
We propose an expert group be set up to form a national strategy on digital fraud. This group would bring together skills in financial regulation, security economics, cyber defence, and public communications, and an understanding of the Indian financial and security systems. It should lay the foundations of a coordinated approach by the Indian State in fighting digital fraud, suggest Ajay Shah and Nandkumar Saravade.
As part of the probe, the ED has summoned representatives from both companies to appear before its Delhi headquarters on July 21.
'The focus needs to shift towards the ability to collect payments, particularly in tier-3 to tier-4 areas where acceptance is still lacking.'
Challans worth Rs 10,298 crore were issued, but collections have been a weak 20 per cent.
Fraudsters lure individuals with false promises of recovering bonuses or maturity proceeds from lapsed policies.
During the trip, check your bank account and credit card statements regularly for unauthorised transactions.
In 2025 alone, at least 50 suicides linked to online gambling losses have been reported across India. According to FIRs, the victims were addicted to betting, largely driven by cricket, rummy and poker.
Financial Intelligence Unit-India (FIU-IND) has imposed a Rs 5.49 crore penalty on Paytm Payments Bank for violating anti-money laundering rules, the Finance Ministry said on Friday. FIU-IND initiated a review of Paytm Payments Bank on receipt of specific information from law enforcement agencies in respect of few entities and their network of businesses engaged in a number of illegal acts, including organising and facilitating online gambling.
As quick commerce gains ground, emerging direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands are betting big on digital channels to drive growth. According to Aman Gupta, co-founder of wearables brand BoAt, new-age brands in India have been expanding at a much faster pace than expected, driven by digital channels like quick-commerce. "Investors doubted the potential of D2C brands when we started, but today there are multiple brands in the startup market that are growing on the shoulders of these digital channels," Gupta said while addressing a session at Razorpay's D2C and Retail Summit recently.
Food and grocery delivery major Zomato has pulled the plug on its plan to enter the lending business. Zomato Financial Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Zomato, has withdrawn its application for a non-banking financial company (NBFC) licence with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), stating that the company does not have plans to pursue lending in the future. "There is no material impact on the revenue/operations of the company and this disclosure is being made voluntarily," the Gurgaon-based company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday.
While six of them have been held from Punjab, five were nabbed from neighbouring Haryana, and one from Uttar Pradesh.
Vishal Yadav, an Upper Division Clerk (UDC) in the Directorate of Dockyard at the Navy building, allegedly also shared details on Operation Sindoor -- strikes carried out by the Indian Armed Forces in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the Pahalgam terror attack.
The contrast with the old Income-Tax Act is stark. The 1961 law ran into 512,000 words; the 2025 one pares that down to 259,000. Chapters have been cut from 47 to 23, while sections have reduced from 819 to 536. One of the clearest changes is terminological. The confusing twin concepts of 'assessment year' and 'previous year' have been scrapped.
The official said Sukhvinder's brother Satpal possibly transferred Rs 2.50 lakh from Canada to his cousin Jitu Singh alias Jita in Gwalior to facilitate the November 7 killing.
The software is being developed in association with the Central Record-keeping Agency. It is expected to debut by the end of this year. PFRDA is also looking to have an ombudsman for redressal of investor grievances. To increase liquidity of the scheme, there could also be Tier-II accounts by the end of this year, which would allow investors to withdraw money at any given point of time.
The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday extended the timeline by six months to comply with its guidelines related to recurring online transactions with Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA), but reprimanded players that the non-compliance is a "serious concern". RBI had directed all banks including RRBs, NBFCs, and payment gateways to comply with AFA for automatic recurring payment by March 31, 2021, in order to make digital transaction safe and protect customers from fraudulent transactions. However, some of the players failed to meet the deadline and approached the RBI seeking extension of the deadline.
At a time when the role of corporate boards is once again under the scanner, independent directors on the Paytm Payments Bank board have indicated that red flags were raised over regulatory issues but they may have been late in doing so. "As independent directors, we asked questions and monitored responses to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Many changes were made on compliances. "Obviously, in retrospect, it was not found to be enough," said one of the independent directors on the condition of anonymity.
GST authorities have issued show cause notices worth Rs 1 lakh crore to online gaming companies for tax evasion so far, a senior official said on Wednesday. The official, however, said there is no data yet of foreign gaming companies registering in India since October 1. The government has amended the GST law, making it mandatory for overseas online gaming companies to register in India from October 1.
Doctors found scratch marks on the body of Monojit Mishra, the arrested prime accused in the gang rape of a student at a Kolkata law college, a well-placed police source said on Tuesday.
Under the arrangement, a Reliance India Mobile user with an SBI account will be able to pay the bill amount directly from his account without having to pay any service charges.
Mishra vanished from police radar at that time before resurfacing in 2017 when he took readmission to the college from where he passed out in 2022.
In a significant breakthrough, the Malerkotla Police apprehended two individuals for alleged involvement in espionage activities linked to a Pakistani official posted at the High Commission in New Delhi, said Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) on Sunday.
If you have questions related to online insurance frauds, then Piyush Ranjan, chief technology officer, Coverfox Insurance, will answer your queries.
Targets should avoid panicking and hang up. 'Disconnecting stops the scammers from building psychological pressure.'
Red Square and VDNKh easily rank among the most striking places I've visited -- both for their historical significance and architectural splendour.
My admiration for Russian culture, vision and ambition grew with every step as I clocked the miles, Nitin Sathe tells us after a visit to Moscow and St Petersburg.
WhatsApp on Wednesday announced the expansion of its payments service in India to make it easier for people transacting with businesses to pay for purchases directly in the chat, with a choice of UPI apps, including rival digital payment options, as well as credit and debit cards. Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg asserted that India is leading the world in people and businesses embracing messaging. WhatsApp said it is working with partners Razorpay and PayU "to make paying for something as simple as sending a message", as the Meta-owned platform unveiled a host of new features to woo businesses in India's booming commerce market.
Saurav Ghosh's step-by-step guide will help you understand what bonds are, how they help investors make money, how much money they make and which bonds to invest in.
