IPA Staff
16480 stories by IPA Staff
Crisil To Icra: Rating Upgrades Tempered In FY26 As Downgrades Edged Up
MUMBAI: Rating agencies like Crisil and CareEdge reported a moderation in rating ratios during the second half (H2) of 2025-26 (FY26) compared with the first half (H1), while India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) said the upgrade-to-downgrade (U/D) ratio dipped in FY26 relative to 2024-25 (FY25). Icra, however, said that...
RBI Bars Banks From Offering NDF Contracts To Corporates To Stabilise Rupee
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday tightened oversight of the foreign exchange market by prohibiting banks from offering rupee non-deliverable forward (NDF) contracts to resident and non-resident corporate clients, as it seeks to curb speculative activity and stabilise the currency amid ongoing volatility. The move comes...
RoW, Clearance Hurdles Slow Grid Expansion Amid Rising Power Demand
NEW DELHI: Persistent execution bottlenecks — ranging from right-of-way (RoW) issues to forest clearances — are threatening to slow India’s ambitious ₹9.16 lakh crore power transmission expansion plan, even as electricity demand surges and renewable capacity scales up, a CareEdge Ratings report said. The stress is already visible in...
New Supreme Court Order Brings Hope For Deleted Electors In West Bengal
By Dr. Gyan Pathak By modifying its own order on April 1, 2026, to allow new documents to be submitted before the Tribunals established to hear appeal against deletion of names from the Final Electoral Roll of West Bengal, the Supreme Court of India has brought a new hope...
India’s Iran War Fears Are Turning Real, One By One
By K Raveendran India’s darkest economic anxieties over the Iran war are no longer hypothetical. They are unfolding in layers, and in a sequence that policymakers had feared from the outset. What began as a geopolitical conflict in a distant but energy-critical region has now entered Indian kitchens, factory...
Pope Leo Refusing Pete Hegseth’s Prayers Is A Major Jolt To Trump’s War
By Nitya Chakraborty In a major development in the present period of US-Israel war in West Asia, Pope Leo launched the beginning of the holiest week on Christian calendar with a sharp attack on US defence secretary Pete Hegseth saying “ God refuses the prayers of leaders who have...
BJP’s Christian Outreach Programme Suffers A Setback
By P. Sreekumaran THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Union Government’s decision to amend the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) has caused a severe setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) much-hyped Christian outreach programme in Kerala. The decision, which has come at a most inopportune time, has upset the BJP’s calculations, especially...
Four Labour Codes – Why April 1, 2026 Is Too Soon To Implement
By K R Shyam Sundar The Union Government is reportedly set to implement the four Labour Codes — the Code on Wages, 2019 (‘CoW’), the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (‘IRC’), the Occupational Safety and Health and Working Conditions Code (‘OSH’), and the Code on Social Security, 2020 (‘CSS’) —...
Delhi Reclaims Its Crown As A Film Festival Venue Lost To Goa In 2004
By T N Ashok After two decades of cultural exile, India’s capital has wrestled its international film festival back from Goa — and in doing so, made an argument about what serious cinema requires of a city. For seventy years, the story of India’s great international film festival has...
CAG Pulls Up Odisha Govt For PSU Dues, Flags Poor Budget Utilisation
BHUBANESWAR: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has pulled up the Odisha government for inefficiency in revenue realisation from state public sector undertakings (SPSUs), leading to non-remittance of over Rs 5,000 crore. As per the latest CAG report on state finances for 2024–25, tabled in the Assembly...
India’s Bioeconomy To Hit $300 Billion By 2033 On Innovation Demand: Report
MUMBAI: India’s biotech sector is entering a new phase of global relevance, with the country’s bioeconomy expanding from $10 billion in 2014 to $195 billion in 2026, and projected to touch nearly $300 billion by 2033, according to a report by Endiya Partners. The report, India’s Biopharma Moment: Perspectives...
Draft IT Rule Changes Widen Scope, Raise Overreach Concerns
NEW DELHI: The proposed amendments to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 are drawing concern from policy and legal experts, who say the changes could expand government oversight over online content while stretching the scope of the parent Information Technology Act, 2000. At...
Consumer Goods Firms Brace For Input Cost Challenges In FY27
MUMBAI: India’s consumer goods makers have stepped into FY27 with a familiar worry — rising input costs — as the conflict in West Asia disrupts supply chains and drives up crude prices. After a brief period of stability, inflation in key raw materials — along with higher packaging and...
After Resilient FY26, War Clouds India’s FY27 Growth Outlook
NEW DELHI: The Indian economy demonstrated resilience in FY26 amidst high US tariffs and geopolitical developments, with estimates indicating a robust real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 7.6%, according to official advance estimates. Upward revisions of growth estimates for FY26 and FY27 by major rating agencies boosted confidence....
BJP’s Election Manifesto For Assam Tries To Outshine The Congress
By Dr. Gyan Pathak The Congress announced five guarantees to Assam voters on Sunday March 29, and two days later on March 31, BJP has released its manifesto and gave 31 promises. A special feature of the BJP’s manifesto is its comparison of achievement of NDA and UPA rule...
Delhi’s Cinematic Homecoming: Caught Between Ambition And History
By T N Ashok There is a particular irony embedded in the story of film festivals and India’s capital. For decades, Delhi was the centre-piece of the nation’s most prestigious cinematic gathering. The Vigyan Bhavan echoed with the chatter of international directors. The Siri Fort Auditorium complex, built in...
UP Congress Leaders Reach Out To Jailed Mohd Azam Khan’s Family
By Pradeep Kapoor LUCKNOW: Is Congress trying to win over the support from Samajwadi Party leader Mohd Azam Khan and his followers in Rampur and other neighbouring areas? The recent meeting of UPCC president Ajay Rai and other leaders with Tanzeen Khan, the wife of the incarcerated Mohd Azam...
Government On A Razor’s Edge In Denmark
By Tirthankar Mitra An election result can be numerically decisive, it can also be hollow. The recent election result in Denmark is a case in point. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen remains at the centre of power. But the authority that once underpinned her leadership has visibly thinned. She leads...
