New Delhi: The West Asia conflict and weak monsoon pose a downside risk to Indian’s economic growth and may put pressure on inflation, fiscal and external deficits, the finance ministry said in its monthly economic review released on Wednesday.It, however, added that while seeking to sustain economic growth, policy is expected to safeguard medium-term fiscal…
Mumbai: RBI has introduced a new ‘calamity chapter’ in its guidelines, creating a dedicated framework for disaster-related relief that separates such measures from general restructuring and tightens eligibility, accounting, and provisioning norms.Unlike in the past when relief measures were handled under broader restructuring frameworks, the new rules establish a distinct Chapter VI-A for natural calamities…
Mumbai: The rupee fell to a record closing low of 94.85 per dollar on Wednesday, declining by 31 paise from its previous close of 94.54, as rising oil prices, stalled geopolitical developments, and continued foreign outflows weighed on the currency.Pressure on the rupee came amid a broader weakening across Asian currencies, with the Philippine peso…
New Delhi: In good news for patients, Indian Patent Office has refused a patent on MNC firm AbbVie’s blockbuster immunology therapy Rinvoq, paving the way for affordable versions to enter the domestic market. In a recent hearing, the Delhi Patent Office held that the claimed invention was “obvious” and lacked inventive step, a violation of…
Bengaluru: In a bid to strengthen its AI infrastructure capabilities, Cognizant is acquiring Astreya, a tech firm specialising in AI infrastructure and data centre services, in a deal valued at about $600 million – its third-largest acquisition after Trizetto and Belcan. Astreya manages over 500,000 end users and supports nearly 30% of the world’s data…
Mumbai: The RBI has dealt a blow to Tata Sons’ bid to avoid going public, rejecting an argument that would have allowed the Tata conglomerate’s holdco to surrender its financial licence and evade a mandatory stock exchange listing. In directions published on Wednesday, RBI clarified that equity received from group companies with access to capital…
Driven by higher consumption of petroleum products, India’s crude imports in the 2025-26 fiscal increased by nearly 1% but witnessed a 17% fall in purchases in the month of March due to disruption of trade routes amid the West Asia crisis.According to provisional oil and gas data released by the government, India purchased 245.3 million…
New Delhi: With no sight of the Strait of Hormuz (SoH) opening for commercial traffic in near future, shipping ministry has shared a list of around 40 India-bound “priority vessels” with the external affairs ministry, suggesting the option of evacuating them through territorial waters of Oman. Oman’s territorial waters is on the south of SoH…
Crude prices surged to their highest levels since 2022 on Wednesday while investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s policy decision later in the day.Brent crude for June delivery jumped 7.3 per cent to $119.34 a barrel by 1:15 pm Eastern time and touched an intraday high of $119.76. Brent for July delivery, where more active trading…
The government is working on a third edition of the Jan Vishwas Bill that will go beyond decriminalising minor offences and focus on simplifying procedures, reducing compliance burden and making business operations easier, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday.Speaking at the World Bank Group’s workshop on the Business Ready (B-READY) framework, Goyal…