NEW DELHI: If Congress-led INDIA alliance comes to power, it will lead to de-rating in markets and in specific sectors such as defence, capital goods, tourism, PSUs (including banks), drones, AMC, wires and cables, plastic pipes and EMS, said brokerage firm Prabhudas Lilladher in its India Strategy Report Mandate 2024, Brace of Volatility report on Friday. The report comes as India completes the 4th phase of what it calls the most hotly contested Lok Sabha elections in its history. It added tha

NEW DELHI: Even as other telecom service providers have been rolling out 5G, Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi), the countrys third-largest telecom operator, is still prioritising expanding its 4G networks. The telco on Friday announced that it will spend Rs 55,000 crore in the next three years in capex, and focus on 4G expansion. The capex will be spent on expansion of 4G coverage by rolling out more sites, capacity growth in 4G where sites have been deployed already. The third will be 5G where rollou

BENGALURU: Former Tech Mahindra vice chairman Vineet Nayyar, 85, passed away on Thursday. A civil servant turned corporate professional; he was one of the doyens of the Indian tech industry. He worked with the World Bank and then went on to serve state-owned energy corporation GAIL as its inaugural chairman and MD. He later joined HCL Corporation as its MD and became vice chairman of HCL Technologies. Anand Mahindra, chairman of Mahindra Group, wrote on X, Vineet was a larger than life figure in

NEW DELHI: State-owned gas utility GAIL (India) on Thursday reported more than tripling of its fourth quarter net profit as its natural gas transmission and petrochemical business saw a turnaround. Its standalone net profit of Rs 2,176.97 crore in the fourth quarter of 2023-24 - was 261% more than Rs 603.52 crore net profit in the same period last year, according to stock exchange filing by the company. The net profit was, however, 26 per cent lower than Rs 2,842.62 crore earning in the precedin

NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has projected Indias share in global growth for the next five years to be at 18%. She conveyed optimism that the BJP government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi will secure victory in the Lok Sabha poll 2024 on June 4. We are confident that PM Modi is coming back with a good majority... We are looking at an India, which is going to be dynamic, contributing 18% to the global growth, Sitharaman said while addressing the Confederation of Indian Indus

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is in the process of finalising its recommendations on whether over-the-top (OTT) communication apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal need to be regulated. The regulatory body announced an open house discussion in next two to three months over the regulation of OTT communication apps. TRAI chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti, on the sidelines of an event on Friday, dismissed that current OTT paper has become infructuous in the wake of notific

NEW DELHI: JSW Steel has reported a 62% drop in consolidated net profit in the quarter ended March 2024. The consolidated net profit fell from Rs 3,446 crore in the fourth quarter of FY23 to Rs 1,322 crore in the same quarter in FY24. Total income during the quarter also fell 2% to Rs 46,511. Operating EBITDA of the company during the quarter was Rs 6,124 crore. The company in a press statement said that crude steel production during the quarter was 6.79 million tonne, and recorded the highest-e

NEW DELHI: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet received a major relief on Friday as a division bench of the Delhi High Court overturned its previous ruling that directed the airline to refund over Rs 270 crore to its former promoter Kalanithi Maran of the Sun Group. A bench of Justices Yashwant Varma and Ravinder Dudeja allowed the appeals filed by SpiceJet and its managing director Ajay Singh challenging the single judges July 31, 2023 order. The appeals stand allowed. Consequently, the July 31, 2023 ord

BENGALURU: Infosys co-founder SD Shibulals daughter-in-law Bhairavi Madhusudhan Shibulal has sold a portion of her holding in the company on the stock exchanges. She held 60,21,716 shares, amounting to 0.15% of the total shareholding. In a regulatory filing, she said, In terms of Regulation 29(2) of the Takeover Regulations, we are hereby informing you about the Sale of 3,61,302 equity shares (representing 0.01%) of Infosys Limited by way of Sale on the platform of the Stock Exchange on 15th May

India's fiscal policy seems to have the virtues of both a Swabian housewife and the Japanese Mrs Watanabe. If the government's fiscal prudence, even in the face of a once-in-a-century pandemic, is symptomatic of Southern Germany's Swabian housewives known for their pragmatic ways of handling money, the decisive increase in capital expenditure over the past five years illustrates the financial acuity of Mrs Watanabe -- an archetypal housewife, who raked in substantial profits from currency tradin

KATHMANDU: Nepal has become the latest country to ban the import and sale of two popular Indian spice brands after reports that some of their products contained a cancer-causing pesticide, officials said Friday. Hong Kong and Singapore last month banned products from Everest and MDH -- two brands popular in India and exported worldwide -- after tests detected the presence of ethylene oxide, according to media reports. Besides its use as a pesticide, ethylene oxide is used to sterilise medical eq

BRUSSELS: The EU on Friday told Microsoft to hand over internal documents or face fines as it examines generative AI risks on the company's search engine Bing ahead of elections. The EU has identified generative artificial intelligence as one of the main threats to elections being held across the 27-country bloc June 6-9. Brussels in March pressed Bing, alongside several big digital platforms including Google Search, TikTok and YouTube, about action they have taken to mitigate AI risks. But Micr

MUMBAI: Signalling better returns for depositors going forward, the nations largest lender State Bank of India has increased the pricing on short-term retail fixed deposits (FDs) by 25-75 basis points, taking the peak offering to 6.25 per cent, a move other banks also likely to follow amidst rising credit demand and falling liquidity. This is the first interest rate hike on deposits since December last by the bank that controls over a fifth of the system wide funds and liabilities, when it had j

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Friday issued a show-cause notice to former high court judge and BJP Lok Sabha candidate Abhijit Gangopadhyay for his improper, injudicious and undignified remarks against Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The poll panel acted on a complaint by the Trinamool Congress against Gangopadhyay for his remarks against Banerjee while addressing a public meeting held on May 15 in Haldia. Purported video clip of BJP nominee Abhijit Gangopadhyay's remark on Mamata

NEW DELHI: Brookfield India Real Estate Trust (BIRET) has inked biding agreements to acquire a 50% stake in four Grade A assets from Bharti Enterprises. The acquisition includes marquee commercial properties of 3.3 million square feet, at an enterprise value (EV) of Rs 6,000 crore. The total equity consideration for the 50% stake will be fulfilled via a preferential allotment of units in BIRET to Bharti, at Rs 300 per unit. Following this, Bharti will become the second-largest unitholder in BIRE

NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio, Indias largest telecom service provider submitted the maximum earnest money deposit (EMD) of Rs 3,000 crore for the upcoming spectrum auction on June 6. This is despite none of Jios licences need renewal. In contrast, competitors Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) require spectrum renewals in some circles during the auction. Bharti Airtel deposited Rs 1,050 crore, while Vi deposited Rs 300 crore. All three private companies will compete for Rs 96,317.65 crore worth of

NEW DELHI: Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Ltd announced on Thursday raising funds of up to Rs 8,500 crore by issuing equity shares. The company, in an exchange filing, also said that its board approved a dividend payment of Rs 11 per share for the financial year 2024-25, amounting to a total payout of nearly Rs4,089 crore. The record date for the dividend payment has been set at May 25, the company said in an exchange filing. The purpose of raising cash through the issue of equity shares (or via furth

MUMBAI: The Mahindra & Mahindra Group, which on Thursday reported a 32% jump in standalone net profit at Rs 2,038 crore for the March quarter, has earmarked Rs 34,000 crore of capital investment by FY27. Most of the money will go into the automotive business to develop new models in the traditional fossil fuel-driven vehicles and into electric mobility space. As much as Rs 27,000 crore of the planned Rs 34,000 crore capex and investment will go into the mobility segment, as the company is lining

BENGALURU: With a proposed investment of $700 million, homegrown SaaS unicorn Zoho is planning a new venture into chipmaking. Though the company did not comment on the development, reports suggest that Zoho has been seeking incentives from the government. It is also said the proposal is being reviewed by a panel and that the IT ministry has reportedly asked the firm to provide more clarity on the same. Earlier in March, the companys founder and CEO Sridhar Vembu had announced on X his plans for

NEW DELHI: Biotech company Biocon on Thursday reported a 57% fall in its consolidated net profit at Rs 136 crore for the fourth quarter ending March 2024 on account of higher expenses. It had reported a net profit of Rs 313 crore in the same quarter of the last fiscal. The companys total revenue increased marginally to Rs 3,966 crore in the said quarter compared with Rs 3,929 crore in the year-ago period, Biocon said in a statement. Total expenses surged to Rs 3,635 crore in the fourth quarter f

NEW DELHI: Telecom service provider Vodafone Idea reported a net loss of Rs 7,674 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2024. The companys loss widened in the quarter under review from Rs 6,418.9 crore in the year-ago period. The telcos revenue from operations increased to Rs 10,606 crore from Rs 10,531 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. The EBITDA of the company stood at Rs 4,336 crore in the fourth quarter of this fiscal over Rs 4,210.30 crore in the previous year. We are pleased to repor

NEW DELHI: In another high-profile exit at ride-hailing major Ola Cabs, Karthik Gupta, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of ANI Technologies, the parent company of Ola Cabs, has stepped down. The CFOs departure comes just two weeks after Ola Cabs CEO Hemant Bakshi decided to leave the company. Bakshi, who had joined Ola in September 2023, quit barely four months into the role. Gupta had joined Ola Cabs seven months ago and held responsibilities across financial strategy, growth, regulatory complianc

NEW DELHI: Domestic equity market made a swift recovery from last weeks aggressive sell-off which was triggered by concerns related to the outcome of 2024 General Elections. The local benchmark indices - BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty - extended this weeks gain and ended higher by nearly 1% each on Thursday, all thanks to robust buying across sectors during fag-end of the session. Experts say the buying was driven by strong global trends as lower-than-expected US consumer inflation figures have again

BENGALURU: Networking technology company Netgear sees growth momentum in the Indian market and aims to expand its presence here. The Nasdaq-listed firm also plans to invest in engineering, sales and customer support. At a media briefing on Thursday, the company's CEO Charles Prober said India is one of the high-growth nations for Netgear. The country contributes 10% of the total revenues. In the March quarter, its net revenue stood at $164.6 million. Present in 20 cities currently, the company w

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank has asked the urban cooperative banks to identify and manage emerging risks as well as the changing dynamics of the traditional risks for which the internal control systems should be continuously updated and strengthened and warned them that the central bank will continue to follow its zero-tolerance policy towards poor governance practices. Addressing a conference of the heads of assurance functions at urban co-operative banks, deputy governors M Rajeshwar Rao and Swami

MUMBAI: The country's largest fund house SBI Mutual Fund, which manages an AUM of over Rs 9.14 trillion, is eyeing Rs 4,000-5,000 crore from the automotive opportunities fund during the primary subscription period that opens Friday. The open-ended equity scheme tracking automotive and allied business activities theme, offers to generate long-term capital appreciation to unit-holders from a portfolio of equity and equity-related instruments of companies engaged in the automotive and allied busine

NEW DELHI: Privatisation of healthcare was found to almost never have a positive effect on the quality of care, and was associated with higher profits, a research that reviewed previous studies of high-income countries (HICs) such as the US, Germany, Canada, and South Korea has claimed. Researchers said the findings, published in The Lancet Public Health journal, challenged the theory that privatisation can improve the quality of healthcare through increased market competition, and by enabling a

MUMBAI: The Mahindra & Mahindra Group, which on Thursday reported a 32 percent jump in standalone net profit at Rs 2,038 crore for the March quarter, has earmarked Rs 34,000 crore of capital investment by FY27, most of which will go into the automotive business to develop new models in the traditional fossil fuel-driven vehicles and into electric mobility space. As much as Rs 27,000 crore of the planned Rs 34,000 crore capex and investment will go into the mobility segment, with the company lini

NEW YORK: White men are most likely to lead the largest, best-funded nonprofits, while women of color tend to lead the organizations with the fewest financial resources, according to a study from the nonprofit data research organization Candid. The State of Diversity in the US Nonprofit Sector report released by Candid on Thursday is the largest demographic study of the nonprofit sector, based on diversity information provided by nearly 60,000 public charities. According to the study, white CEO

NEW DELHI: India's diesel sales continued to slide in May while petrol consumption was almost flat despite election campaigns for the general elections hitting a peak, preliminary data of state-owned firms showed on Thursday. Electioneering for general elections traditionally has led to a surge in fuel demand as candidates extensively use automobiles to reach voters.But the trend in sales by PSUs so far does not reflect that. Petrol sales of three state-owned firms, which control 90 per cent of

MUMBAI: The national insurer, Life Insurance Corporation, Wednesday said it has received regulatory approval to continue to have higher promoter holding at 96.5% as against the mandated 75% for three more years, giving a big boost to the stock, which rallied 6.3% to close at Rs 989.8. In an exchange filing, the insurer said the revised timeline to achieve 10% public shareholding is on or before May 16, 2027. Which means the government has time to divest 6.5% more over the next three years to ach

NEW DELHI: Indias merchandise trade deficit increased to $19.1 billion in April from $15.6 billion recorded in March, due to significant decline in exports, the government data showed on Wednesday. Exports in April, on year-on-year (YoY) basis, saw a slight increase of 1.06%, reaching $34.99 billion compared to $34.62 billion in the corresponding period last year. In March 2024, the exports stood at $41.68 billion. Imports in April amounted to $54.09 billion, reflecting a 10% rise from $49.06 bi

NEW DELHI: Air India-Vistara merger will strengthen Singapore International Airlines (SIA) multi-hub strategy and allow it to continue participating directly in the fast-growing aviation market, said SIA on Wednesday while announcing its March quarter results. SIA added that the merger is pending foreign direct investment and other regulatory approvals Once completed, it will give SIA a 25.1% stake in an enlarged Air India Group with a major presence in all key Indian airline market segments, in

NEW DELHI: US President Joe Bidens proposal to increase tariffs on various Chinese goods such as electric vehicles, batteries, and medical supplies could potentially be advantageous for Indian exporters, according to a top government official who didnt want to be named. This move might open up new opportunities for Indian businesses to expand their export market and increase their competitiveness in these sectors, benefiting from shifts in global trade dynamics, he said. Meanwhile, on reports th

NEW DELHI: Highlighting the ever-increasing shift of consumers towards sports utility vehicles (SUVs), Mahindra & Mahindras (M&M) recently launched compact SUV, the XUV 3XO, clocked 50,000 bookings in only 60 minutes, outpacing bookings received new Maruti Suzukis fourth generation Swift hatchback by a wide margin (just 10,000 booking in 10 days). The sharp contrast in the interest generated by the two models comes despite Swift dominating Indian roads for nearly two decades. The XUV 3XO predece

NEW DELHI: The quick commerce segment is heating up as many firms are now entering quick delivery and looking beyond groceries and food delivery. Earlier this month, Swiggy Instamart started delivering movie merchandise, marking a new category in the quick commerce industry. Many quick commerce platforms recently tied up with jewellery brands to deliver silver and gold coins in 10 minutes on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya. When players such as Zepto and Blinkit (formerly Grofers) pivoted the qu

NEW DELHI: Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel on Wednesday made a pitch for removal of unlimited plans and a revision of tariffs as they are absurdly low in the country. Gopal Vittal, managing director of Bharti Airtel, during the Q4 earnings call, urged both of its competitors to address the issue of unlimited plans and called for participation from all telcos in raising tariffs. The architecture of pricing in India is quite broken because people who can afford to pay a lot more are paying

Eight TikTok content creators sued the US government on Tuesday, issuing another challenge to the new federal law that would ban the popular social media platform nationwide if its China-based parent company doesnt sell its stakes within a year. Attorneys for the creators argue in the lawsuit that the law violates users First Amendment rights to free speech, echoing arguments made by TikTok in a separate lawsuit filed by the company last week. The legal challenge could end up before the Supreme

NEW DELHI: Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) on Wednesday said markets regulator Sebi has granted an additional 3 years time till May 16, 2027 to comply with the 10 per cent public shareholding norm. Currently, Government holding in LIC is 96.50 per cent, while public holding is 3.50 per cent. Securities and Exchange Board of India vide its letter dated May 14, 2024 has conveyed its decision, to grant additional time of 3 years to Life Insurance Corporation of India to achieve 10 per cent public

NEW DELHI: India's defence capabilities have gone up substantially during the past decade of the Modi government and now the country is dependent on arms import only for immediate requirements of the armed forces, NITI Aayog member VK Saraswat said on Wednesday. Saraswat, a former Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) chief further said at present 60 per cent of India's total arms and ammunition are indigenous. Indian defence capabilities in the last 10 years have gone up substantia

NEW DELHI: Samsung lost nearly 13% of its market share in India in the first quarter of 2024 (calendar year) compared to the same period last year, while Apple increased its market share by 19% during the same period. According to a report by IDC, South-Korean Samsungs market share decreased from 20.1% to 15.6%, while iPhone maker Apple increased its market share from 6.8% to 7.3% in the first quarter. However, globally, Samsung still dominates, holding the top position with a 20.8% market share

BENGALURU: Artificial Intelligence (AI) spending in India is set to undergo the swiftest expansion among the eight markets Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan, with an estimated Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 31.5% from 2023, forecasted to reach $5.1 billion by 2027. Intel at its AI for India Conference on Tuesday, unveiled a joint report assessing the AI maturity level across eight markets, including India. Boasting 20% of the worlds data and AI ta

BENGALURU: Amazon has infused Rs 1,660 crore into its India entity and this is the second time that the company has invested money in the last few months. Earlier in February, Amazon Seller Services said its US parent pumped in Rs 830 crore into the company. The investment comes at a time when Walmart has invested about $600 million in Flipkart. SoftBank-backed Meesho, also in a regulatory filing, has revealed its fresh fund raising. As per reports, the company has raised $275 million. The India

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, countrys second largest telecom service provider, reported a dip of 31.1% year-on-year (YoY) in its consolidated net profit to Rs 2,072 crore for the March quarter of the financial year 2023-24. The telco attributed the drop in net profit to the devaluation of African currencies during the period, particularly the Nigerian Naira. Its consolidated revenue grew by 4.4% annually to Rs 37,599 crore for Q4FY24. However, its India revenues are up by nearly 13% to Rs 28,513 cr

NEW DELHI: Liquor maker Allied Blenders and Distillers has received a nod from the capital markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to raise Rs 1,500 crore through an initial public offering (IPO). The company had refiled its IPO papers with Sebi on January 15, 2024. The shares are offered at a face value of Rs 2 and is a mix of fresh issue of up to Rs 1,000 crore and an offer for sale (OFS) of up to Rs 500 crore by Promoters and Promoter Group. The OFS comprises up

NEW DELHI: Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli-backed Go Digit is all set to launch its Rs 2,600 crore initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday. Hitting the market in the middle of an election season when the stock market is going through extreme volatility, the initial issue of Go Digit has received a subscribe call from multiple brokerage firms. At the upper price band, the company is valued at P/GWP (gross written premium) of 3.44x with a market cap of Rs 24,949 crore post issue of equity shares

NEW DELHI: In an election-year move, US President Joe Biden-led administration has decided to slap new and increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, semiconductors, lithium batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminium and medical equipment to appeal to US voters. This move, aimed at creating manufacturing jobs in the US and improving its competitive advantage, may spark a fresh trade war between the two economies. Biden is directing his Trade Representative to increase tariffs under Section 30

MUMBAI: Unchecked explosion in the riskier futures & options market by retail investors can create problems for their household finances, warned outgoing finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman who also assured Dalal Street about the stability and majority of the next Modi government. Discounting the recent volatility in the market and the heavy selloff by foreign investors, the minster, addressing business editors here on Tuesday said, I inherently believe that the stock market and its conduct is o