Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday said the linkage between India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Singapore’s PayNow will allow people in the two countries to undertake faster and cost-efficient digital transfers, and exuded hope that this "strong partnership" will continue to spawn innovative technology solutions. Prime Minister Lee and his Indian counterpart [...]

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday asked the electrical industry to set and work towards a big exports target as the sector holds huge potential for growth. The sector has touched export of USD 10 billion and is targeting to increase it to USD 25 billion in the next five years. "But I [...]

Pakistan’s National Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a money bill aimed at raising tax revenues to fulfil the demands set by the IMF for seeking a USD 1.1 billion loan facility to avoid an economic meltdown. The Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023 or ‘mini-budget’ was approved in the lower lower house of Parliament days after the [...]

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed hope that digital transactions will soon surpass cash as Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is increasingly becoming the most preferred payment mechanism in the country. Modi after the launch of the cross-border connectivity between the UPI and PayNow of Singapore said about 74 billion transactions amounting to more than [...]

India needs investments to the tune of Rs 33,750 crore to achieve the government PLI target of setting up 50 GWh of lithium-ion cell and battery manufacturing plants, according to a study. The country requires up to 903 GWh of energy storage to decarbonise its mobility and power sectors by 2030, and lithium-ion batteries will [...]

The number of insolvency cases increased 25 per cent in the December 2022 quarter, while recovery of debt through the process remained the lowest at 23.45 per cent during the period, an analysis showed. While the number of insolvency petitions increased by a steep 25 per cent, the overall recovery rate till the third quarter [...]

Capital markets regulator Sebi on Monday came out with a consultation paper on streamlining disclosure requirements by listed entities. In its consultation paper, Sebi is looking to address the challenges faced with regard to submission of the financial result for the first time by newly listed firms and related to timeline to fill up vacancy [...]

The Gujarat government on Monday signed 18 memoranda of understanding (MoU) worth Rs 9,852 crore under the state government's 'Aatmanirbhar Gujarat Schemes for Assistance to Industries', which was announced last year to boost new investment, an official release said. Through these 18 agreements, various firms have pledged to invest Rs 9,852 crore in different parts [...]

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday cancelled licence of Garha Co-operative Bank, Guna in Madhya Pradesh as the lender does not have adequate capital and earning prospects. About 98.4 per cent of the depositors of the co-operative bank are entitled to receive full amount of their deposits from Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee [...]

The central government on Monday again clarified that the funds deposited for National Pension Scheme (NPS) cannot be given to state governments as per the current laws. Both finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and finance secretary Vivek Joshi said that if any state is expecting that the funds deposited for NPS can be returned to them [...]

The value of foreign portfolio investors' (FPI) holdings in the domestic equities reached USD 584 billion at the end of December 2022, which was 11 per cent lower from preceding year, according to a Morningstar report. This was largely on low return given by the Indian equities and exodus of foreign money from the domestic [...]

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that the government is taking a lot of steps to control inflation and will continue to focus on it. For instance, in the case of pulses, the government is encouraging farmers to grow pulses to boost domestic production and has also reduced the import duty on some [...]

The government has extended the enforcement date of its steel and steel products quality control order for a ferronickel grade by another six months till July 23 this year. "The Steel and Steel Products Quality Control Order dated December 22, 2020, and subsequent order dated November 1, 2022, the date of enforcement of Indian Standards [...]

Tony Jesudasan, a key lieutenant of Anil Ambani's Reliance group and one of the finest corporate communications and corporate affairs professionals, died early on Monday morning. He was 71. Earlier this month, Jesudasan had suffered a heart attack just as he took a flight from Bhopal, sources said. He was rushed to Fortis Hospital on [...]

Net interest income of banks grew by a record 25.5 per cent to Rs 1.78 lakh crore in the December 2022 quarter on-year, driven by a healthy credit off-take and higher yield on advances, according to an analysis. The quarter saw banks booking higher yields on advances as the system-wide core profitability metric net interest [...]

The finance ministry has called a meeting of heads of public sector banks and top four private sector lenders to review the progress of the emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS) to help businesses affected by COVID-19. The meeting is scheduled to be held on February 22 to review progress on ECLGS and Loan Guarantee [...]

Strengthening multilateral development banks to address shared global challenges of the 21st century, financing for resilient, inclusive and sustainable 'cities of tomorrow' are some of the key agenda items for first G20 Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors' meeting to be held at Bengaluru later this month. The First Finance Ministers & Central Bank Governors [...]

The government is likely to put on sale six mineral blocks, including four iron ore mines, in the current month. The move would give a boost to mining sector's contribution to the country's gross domestic product. The four iron ore blocks, situated in Chhattisgarh, are likely to be auctioned on Tuesday, according to the mines [...]

Equity benchmark indices climbed in initial trade on Monday amid a positive trend in Asian markets. The BSE Sensex climbed 165.9 points to 61,168.47. The NSE Nifty advanced 35.25 points to 17,979.45. From the Sensex pack, Power Grid, HCL Technologies, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Unilever, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, NTPC and HDFC [...]

The income and profits shown by various BBC group entities are not commensurate with the scale of their operations in India, according to an official statement on Friday, a day after the Income Tax authorities ended a three-day-long survey against the British media organisation. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued a statement without [...]

Kolkata Port, now known as the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, on Friday said it has posted a record cargo handling of 54.254 million tonne in the first 10 months of the current fiscal, registering a 14.75 per cent growth over the same period last year. This achievement helped the riverine port rank fifth among Indian [...]

The Goods and Services Tax Council should consider raising the GST exemption threshold to Rs 1.5 crore annual turnover and also do away with the requirement of state-wise registration, which would help ease compliance, economic think tank GTRI said on Friday. The GST network has over 1.4 crore registered taxpayers, making it the largest global [...]

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty closed down by half a per cent on Friday following losses in IT and banking shares amid overall weak global market trends. The BSE Sensex declined 316.94 points or 0.52 per cent to settle at 61,002.57. During the day, it fell 508.84 points or 0.82 per cent to 60,810.67. The [...]

Neal Mohan, a longtime Indian American YouTube executive, will be the new CEO of the Google-owned video sharing platform. Mohan, a Stanford graduate and a senior advertising and product executive who joined Google in 2008, will join the elite club of global tech chiefs of Indian origin such as Google parent Alphabet's Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s [...]

The modernisation of sugar mills in the last six years has transformed them into "integrated sugar complexes," Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday. Addressing an event on the occasion of 120 years of the sugar industry in the state, he said sugar in the state today is being produced on the same [...]

The country's exports to the UAE, with which India has implemented a free trade agreement on May 1 last year, is expected to cross USD 31 billion during the current fiscal on account of healthy demand for sectors such as gems and jewellery, machinery and auto, an official said on Friday. The government official said [...]

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros believes the turmoil at Gautam Adani's business empire may weaken Prime Minister Narendra Modi's hold on the government - a statement which was strongly countered by BJP as an attack on Indian democracy. Adani group has been under severe pressure since the US short-seller Hindenburg Research on January 24, accused it [...]

With a population of around nine crore and cumulative debt of Rs 5.86 lakh crore, debt per capita in West Bengal stands at a conservative estimate of more than Rs 60,000. When the ruling Trinamool Congress assumed office in 2011, the total debt of the state stood at Rs 1.97 lakh crore. In the budget [...]

Bank of Baroda and Indian Overseas Bank have increased their marginal cost of fund-based lending rates (MCLR), following a hike in the interest rates on loans and deposits by their largest public sector peer SBI. The latest hikes in the interest rates come days after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on February 8 increased [...]

The Union Budget 2023-'24 has been prepared keeping growth in focus and also external economic challenges such as fuel prices, Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman said on Thursday. In an interactive session on the Budget, she said the focus was on the common man and weaker sections and to ensure that their businesses are supported, their [...]

Equity benchmark indices ended marginally higher on Thursday amid volatility faced during the last minutes of trading hours as concerns over rising inflation and fears of monetary tightening worldwide hit the sentiment. The BSE Sensex eked out marginal gains of 44.42 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 61,319.51. During the day, it jumped [...]

India's investment in private wireless network is expected to reach nearly USD 250 million by 2027, according to a report by Nokia that also talked of a three-fold jump in mobile data usage in the country over last five years. Nokia's annual Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) report pointed towards a significant acceleration in enterprise investment, [...]

About 60 per cent of Indian private insurers believe there has been a significant rise in insurance-related frauds, and as risks lurk there is an immediate need to consider a proactive fraud risk management framework, a Deloitte survey said on Thursday. Insurance companies in India have experienced a rise in fraud instances in life and [...]

The inbound shipment of steel is "very minimal", Steel minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia said on Thursday amid industry flagging the issue of "cheap imports". "If you look at the numbers, the rise is very very minimal. Our market is growing tremendously and our domestic producers are supplying well," the minister told PTI in reply to [...]

India's fuel demand witnessed the sharpest rebound in February as petrol and diesel consumption rose by double digits after a winter lull in the previous month, preliminary industry data showed on Thursday. Petrol sales jumped almost 18 per cent to 1.22 million tonnes in the first half of February, as compared to 1.04 million tonnes [...]

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) on Thursday said it has processed 2,767 complaints since coming up with influencer guidelines in May 2021. More than half of the violations have been found on Meta-owned Instagram platform, while Alphabet's Youtube contributed a third of them, the self-regulatory organisation for the advertising industry said. The body [...]

After a year of load-shedding, Sri Lankans will get continuous power from Thursday, albeit with a hike in tariff in line with the conditions set by the IMF. The Sri Lankan government's move comes as the debt-hit country aims to secure a much-needed USD 2.9 billion tranche from the Washington-based global lender. President Ranil Wickremesinghe [...]

Agreements have been signed with 26 companies for 54 applications under the production linked incentive (PLI) for specialty steel, Union Steel Minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia said on Thursday. The minister made the remarks at the Global Zinc Summit 2023 in the national capital where he also urged the stakeholders to explore investment opportunities in India. [...]

The government has cut windfall profit tax on export of diesel and ATF to their lowest while also reducing the levy on domestically-produced crude in line with softening international oil prices, according to an official order. The levy on crude oil produced by companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has been cut [...]