Business Standard
Road map for making India future-ready
At the third edition of the Business Standard summit, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Renewable Energy Minister...
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Novartis AG to exit listed India unit in $159 mn deal with Chryscapital
Multinational pharmaceutical company Novartis AG is exiting its listed local arm Novartis India Ltd (NIL) as part of its strategy to sharpen its focus on highmargin, innovation-led medicines. This draws the curtain on its presence in India’s public...
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₹10 trn over 7 yrs: RIL makes bold bet on AI
Reliance Industries Limited Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani on Thursday said RIL and Jio would invest ~10 trillion over the next seven years in India’s artificial intelligence (AI) to lower the cost of intelligence and create sovereign...
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Data centres to subsea cables: India draws mega AI infra bets
Tech majors took centre stage on day three of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi with their announcements on infrastructure scale-up, cross-border partnerships and capital commitments complementing the Global South narrative. From Microsoft to Nvidia...
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Age-based social media curbs on table: Vaishnaw AI investments in India expected to exceed $200 bn in two years
The government has initiated discussions with social media intermediaries on enforcing a blanket, age-based ban preventing children below a specified threshold from accessing social media, said Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union minister for electronics and...
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India’s AI moment gets real as celebrities, robots share space
Bharat Mandapam, the 125-acre prime convention arena in New Delhi, transformed into the most sought-after address as the AI Impact Summit 2026 kicked off in New Delhi on Monday. The Day One of the fourth edition of the artificial intelligence summit —...
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OMCS, banks drove India Inc’s steepest profit rise in 8 qtrs
Corporate earnings in October-december 2025 (Q3FY26) were better than expected owing to a surge in the profits of public-sector oil-marketing companies (OMCS), banks, non-bank lenders, and firms in the business of metals and mining. The net profits...
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Friday the 13th caps a week of Ai-sparked horror in IT stocks
The selloff in domestic information technology stocks intensified on Friday, with the Nifty IT index sliding as much as 5.2 per cent during the session before paring losses to close 1.44 per cent lower. Despite this late recovery, the index ended the...
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New consumer inflation data to bolster policy responses: CEA
India’s new Consumer Price Index (CPI) series using 2024 as a base year, unveiled on Thursday, captures the transition in household consumption trends over the past decade with greater spends going towards services even as the share of food in domestic...
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RBI looks to ban sales incentive to bank staffers from third party
In a move aimed at curbing the misselling of financial products, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed banning incentives paid to bank staffers by third parties such as insurance companies and mutual fund houses for selling their products and...
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Sebi may tighten scrutiny of IPO, QIP proceeds
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is considering tightening rules governing the monitoring of funds raised by companies through initial public offerings (IPOS), qualified institutional placements (QIPS) and rights issues, amid concerns...
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~30 lakh a night: Luxury hotel rates soar as Delhi awaits global AI elite
Delhi’s top luxury hotels are heading for a windfall, powered by the government’s India AI Impact Summit 2026 on February 19-20. The event will bring some of the biggest names in artificial intelligence to the city, including Meta’s Alexander Wang,...
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Goyal: Negotiating trade deals from a position of strength
India is negotiating trade agreements from a position of growing economic strength, confidence and scale, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday. He said the country, with its fast economic expansion, is offering a future...
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RBI Guv signals lower rates for longer, trade deal growth boost
The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unanimously decided to keep the policy repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent on Friday, adding that evolving macroeconomic conditions and outlook based on new growth and...
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18% US tariff to kick in after joint statement in 4-5 days
India and the United States (US) plan to issue a joint statement in the next four to five days finalising the first tranche of their trade agreement, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. This will be followed by a White House...
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Headwinds may be turning into tailwinds for foreign inflows: FM
The headwinds may finally be turning into tailwinds for foreign investment flows into India with the announcement of a trade deal between New Delhi and Washington, Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday,...
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Agri, dairy interests ‘protected’ in US trade deal
India has protected its sensitive agriculture and dairy sectors in the just-concluded trade deal with the US, said Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday. He said both sides were working towards soon issuing a joint statement that...
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With FTA, India’s exports to EU can double in 5 yrs: Goyal
India’s exports to the European Union (EU) could double within five years of a free-trade agreement (FTA) taking effect, with bilateral goods trade projected to reach $150 billion. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, in an interview with...
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Only native EU carmakers may get import tariff relief
India has reserved the right to restrict the gains from lower import tariffs and quotas for European automobiles, offered under its free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) finalised on Tuesday, for eight EU native automakers. This is...
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India, EU unlock trade corridors with FTA
India and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday announced a much-awaited trade deal, drawing the curtain on nearly two decades of stop-start negotiations and binding together two billion people in a combined market worth more than $24 trillion. Under the...
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Negotiations over, India-eu FTA set for rollout in 2027
India and the European Union (EU) have concluded negotiations on the muchawaited free-trade agreement (FTA), with a formal announcement slated for Tuesday, said government officials. They said ratification of the pact is likely to take another six...
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~ may trade around 92.50/$ by Mar-end
The rupee, which has depreciated 7.05 per cent against the dollar in the current financial year (FY26) so far, is expected to trade around 92.50 per dollar by the end of March, according to a majority of respondents to a Business Standard poll. The...
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Market selloff on FPI exodus erases ~16 trn mcap in a week
Indian equities declined on Friday, with the benchmark Nifty posting its worst weekly fall since September, as foreign investor sentiment remained weak amid tepid earnings growth and little progress on the Indiaus trade front. The Sensex ended the...
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Record $32 bn raised in 2025 via overseas syndicated loans
Indian companies, including lenders, raised a record $32.5 billion overseas through syndicated loans last year, which were largely on account of sponsor financing, demand from financial firms, increased activities in the mid-market, and large...
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Sensex EPS growth at its lowest in nearly 5 years
The current earnings season has been the weakest for the BSE Sensex companies in the past five years. The benchmark index trailing earnings per share (EPS) of the BSE Sensex was up just 1.3 per cent year-on-year (Y-O-Y) so far — the lowest since April...
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Greenland standoff pushes mkts into red
Domestic equity benchmarks logged their steepest single-day decline in eight months on Tuesday, as an escalating standoff between the US and Europe over Greenland compounded investor unease. Sluggish corporate earnings and the absence of progress on...
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Early-bird results show worst earnings growth in 17 quarters
The results of early-bird companies in October-december 2025 (Q3FY26) have shown just single-digit growth in revenue despite gains from cuts in goods and services tax (GST) rates. They also clocked a sharp deceleration in earnings growth. Reliance...
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Nominal GDP growth for FY27 seen at 10-10.5%
The upcoming Union Budget, to be presented on February 1, is likely to assume nominal gross domestic product (GDP) growth between 10 and 10.5 per cent for the financial year 2026-2027 (FY27), a Business Standard poll of economists showed. The first...
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India’s top 20 startups dominated valuations, fundraising in 2025
India’s top 20 startups by valuation accounted for over half of the combined valuation of $69.3 billion of the top 100 startups in calendar year 2025 (CY25), according to an analysis of Tracxn data. The valuation of the top 20 startups stood at $35.7...
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Tiger Global liable to pay tax on gains from 2018 Flipkart deal: SC
Capital gains arising from American investment firm Tiger Global’s Mauritius-based entities leaving ecommerce player Flipkart in 2018 are taxable in India because the nature of their transactions did not permit payment avoidance, the Supreme Court held...
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FinMin in talks with Sebi, RBI on crypto exchanges
The Ministry of Finance (Finmin) is in discussions with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) ahead of the Union Budget 2026-27 to firm up a regulatory framework for crypto exchanges, official sources...
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Unlisted firms’ debt burden at 35-yr low
Unlisted Indian companies have lower borrowings relative to their size and operations than at any point since liberalisation. The debt-to-equity ratio is 1.01 for 2024-25 (FY25), according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy...
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India may face 500% US tariff over purchase of Russian oil
India faces the risk of a tariff of at least 500 per cent on its export of goods and services to the United States (US), with President Donald Trump backing a bipartisan Bill aimed at punishing countries that buy cheap crude oil from Russia. The...
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Leading steelmakers colluded to fix prices, finds antitrust probe
An investigation by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has found that Tata Steel, JSW Steel and the state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), along with several other steelmakers, allegedly entered into anti-competitive agreements to...
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Trump warns India of even higher tariffs over Russia oil
United States President Donald Trump has warned that Washington could raise further tariffs on Indian exports if New Delhi does not stop buying Russian oil, adding fresh uncertainty to efforts to strike a trade deal between the two countries. “They...
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South India back on aviation runway
In the early 1990s, when India opened its skies to the private sector, the first airline to become operational was Thiruvananthapuram-based East-west Airlines. Over the years, South India witnessed the rise and fade-out of several carriers — including...
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Govt rolls out ~7.3K cr schemes to boost MSME financing
The government on Friday launched two measures — on interest subvention and collateral support — with an allocation of ~7,295 crore for a six-year period (FY26-31) to give small exporters better access to trade finance. The scheme titled “Interest...
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Weakness in ~, broader equity market shrinks India’s billionaire club in 2025
India’s billionaire promoters’ club shrank in 2025 for the first time in three years, as a selloff in mid and smallcap stocks eroded market capitalisations and a weaker rupee reduced dollar-denominated wealth. The number of dollar billionaire promoters...
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When India chose direct action over deterrence
“Policymakers told us last year that South Asia — historically defined by conflict — had become more stable than Europe, where the long postsecond World War peace was broken by the war in Ukraine. I wonder how they view that assessment now,” a European...
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How energy flowed between hiccups and hope
The year 2025 will go down as a period defined by hiccups and hope for India’s energy sector. This trend played out with surprising similarity for renewable energy, oil imports, and climate change, among other areas, with possible ramifications for...
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Centre may set 54.5-55% debt-to-gdp goal for FY27
The central government is likely to target a reduction in the debt-to-gdp (gross domestic product) ratio to 54.555 per cent for FY27 in the forthcoming Union Budget, down from the 56.1 per cent budgeted for FY26, an official said. “The government is...
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The economy sailed through, but the waters are uncertain
The Indian economy has weathered the onslaught of adverse external developments, such as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, this year, but the immediate future could be bumpy. Few would have expected the economy to grow in the 7.4–8.2 per cent range...
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The great trade balancing act
Hours before his scheduled bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Washington in February, newly elected US President Donald Trump stunned trade partners by announcing plans to impose sweeping “reciprocal tariffs”, including on...
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The year the world wobbled, and India adjusted
World events dominated, like never before, the front pages of newspapers in 2025: From the wars in Gaza and Ukraine to Donald Trump’s tariffs and the turmoil in Bangladesh. So did the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 and the subsequent Operation...
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0% duty on 100% exports: India secures NZ trade deal
India and New Zealand on Monday announced the conclusion of talks on a free-trade agreement (FTA), under which Wellington will grant zero-duty access to 100 per cent of Indian exports and commit $20 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) over the...
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~ may trade around 90 vs $ by Dec-end
After depreciating 4.1 per cent against the US dollar so far in the current calendar year (CY25), the rupee is expected to settle around 90 per dollar by year-end, according to a majority of respondents in a Business Standard poll. However, the poll...
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Tejas Networks’ direct-to-mobile tech gaining ground
Tejas Networks, a telecom gear maker backed by the Tata group, is in talks with international players for providing its direct-to-mobile (D2M) technology, which it has built in-house, even as it looks to commercially launch the service with Prasar...
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Sebi overhauls MF cost framework, stockbroking rules
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Wednesday overhauled the cost framework for the ~80 trillion domestic mutual fund (MF) industry, introducing a simplified structure aimed at improving transparency for investors while balancing the...
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₹ slips past 91/$ amid FPI outflows, riskoff trade
The rupee breached the 91-per-dollar mark to hit a fresh low of 91.09 on Tuesday, pressured by persistent foreign outflow, riskoff trade in global markets, and delay in India-us trade agreement, dealers said. It strengthened marginally towards the end...
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States may shoulder 40% of rural job plan funding
The Union government has decided to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the flagship social-welfare scheme, 20 years after it was enacted, providing for a piece of legislation with a higher number of mandatory...
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Banks asked to offer basic services at all branches
Commercial banks have been asked to offer basic services to customers from all branches, and not just home branches, said a senior banker aware of the development. Also, the lenders have been prodded to cut service charges levied by them and maintain...
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Cabinet okays Bill for pvt foray in N-power
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday approved the nuclear energy Bill that seeks to introduce legislative amendments for opening up the civil nuclear power sector for private participation, according to sources. The Bill...
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Mexico slaps up to 50% tariff on imports from India, China
Mexico on Thursday imposed a tariff of up to 50 per cent on imports from its non-preferential trade partners, including India, a move that might hit New Delhi’s annual $5.75 billion shipments to its third-largest car export market. The escalation by...
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$70 bn and rising: Amazon’s $35 bn bet lifts India’s AI tide
In 2014, a year after Amazon had commercially launched its online marketplace business in India, the image of founder and then CEO Jeff Bezos posing in a sherwani hanging out of a truck in Bengaluru, holding a $2 billion cheque to symbolise the Seattle...
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AI, LLM training: DPIIT proposes govt-fixed royalty rates for content creators
The government has proposed that technology companies using content creators’ data to train their artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMS) pay royalties to these creators at a rate set by the government or a court. The new...
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Not possible to pinpoint disruption cause: Indigo
As the Indigo crisis entered its seventh day with hundreds of flights grounded, the impact was felt beyond just the airports. In Parliament, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said on Monday that the government would take ‘’strict’’ action in the...
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Indigo board steps in, forms crisis mgmt group
The board of directors of Interglobe Aviation Limited, which operates Indigo, has set up a crisis management group (CMG) to help normalise operations and ensure refunds for the large number of flight cancellations over the past several days, the...
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RBI’S MPC delivers again, takes 2025 rate cut tally to 125 bps
With the conviction that headline inflation will stay benign for the next six to nine months, the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unanimously decided to lower the policy repo rate by another 25 basis points...
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SBI seeks tax break extension for GIFT City unit
State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, has approached the Centre, seeking an extension of its 10-year tax holiday for its GIFT City unit, according to people familiar with the development. The tax holiday ends next year. SBI was...
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₹ breaches 90/$, down 5% this yr
The rupee slipped through the psychological and technical barrier of 90 per dollar on Wednesday, pressured by steady capital outflows, persistent uncertainty over trade negotiations with the US and firm dollar demand through the past week, amid what...
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Sanchar Saathi can be deleted, says govt; OEMS still reluctant
Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Tuesday sought to allay mounting concerns around the government’s Sanchar Saathi app, saying users will be free to delete it and insisting there will be no surveillance or monitoring of devices. His comments...
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Revenues take a hit in 1st full month of GST 2.0
Net revenues from the goods and services tax (GST) crawled up 1.3 per cent year-on-year in November to ~1.52 trillion, without factoring in GST compensation cess receipts, marking a sharp sequential moderation in revenues from the indirect tax in the...
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MPC likely to hold steady on rate, keep neutral stance
The six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India is expected to maintain the status quo on its stance at the December policy meeting, scheduled for December 3-5, according to a Business Standard poll of economists from 12...
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Manufacturing muscle lifts Q2 GDP growth to 6-qtr high of 8.2%
India’s economy expanded at its fastest pace in six quarters, growing 8.2 per cent during the July-september period of FY26, outstripping both official and private forecasts by a signifiant margin. Data released by the statistics ministry on Friday...
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Sensex, Nifty scale fresh highs, but end flat on profit booking
Indian equity benchmarks on Thursday hit new highs after 14 months, but ended the day flat amid profit booking. The benchmark Sensex rose to 86,056 to hit a record high, but ended the session at 85,720, a gain of 111 points or 0.1 per cent. The Nifty...
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Rate-cut hopes lift benchmark indices to near peak levels
The benchmark equity indices staged their strongest single-session rally in five months on Wednesday, powered by a resurgence in expectations that both US Federal Reserve and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could cut interest rates as early as next...
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State-run firms taper debt fundraise on rate-cut hopes
Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi), PFC, Axis Bank, and Sundaram Finance together raised ~14,735 crore in the domestic debt capital market on Tuesday, well below the roughly ~25,000 crore that had been expected, after issuers including...
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India, Canada to reboot trade deal talks after 2 yrs
After a gap of more than two years amid a tumultuous bilateral relationship, India and Canada have finalised a broad framework and agreed to restart negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (Cepa). Prime Minister Narendra Modi...
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~ may drop to 90 vs $ by Dec-end, regain by Mar
After declining almost 4.5 per cent this year, the rupee is expected to touch 90 a dollar in the coming weeks before regaining some ground to settle around 88.50 by the end of December on the back of a possible trade deal with the United States (US),...
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TCS loses valuation premium to peers after 14 years on top
After being the industry bellwether for more than a decade, information-technology (IT) major Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS’) equity valuation has slipped below that of peers such as Infosys and HCLTECH. TCS is trading at a trailing...
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Trump says deal near; no need for more talks: India
Hours after United States (US) President Donald Trump said Washington and New Delhi were “pretty close” to reaching a fair trade deal, a senior Indian official on Tuesday echoed the optimism, indicating that another round of negotiations might not be...
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No consensus on CAFE relief, Siam tells BEE
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) submitted its final comments to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) last weekend on the draft CAFE-III and CAFE-IV norms, acknowledging that its members could not reach a consensus on a proposed...
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Telcos ask govt for entire 6GHZ band
Telecom operators Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, and the Cellular Operators Association of India have made a pitch to the government, demanding that the entire 6GHZ band, with 1200MHZ of spectrum, be allocated through auction for mobile...
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Indian cinema shines brighter at box office Down Under
Over the last three years, Indian films have outperformed Australian ones at the Australian box office. They are expected to end 2025 with Australian dollar (A$) 39 million, or ~224 crore, in gross box-office revenues, compared with A$13 million (~75...
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