Business
MSME Exporters May Get 2-3.5 Per Cent Interest Relief
NEW DELHI: The government may offer 2-3.5% interest subvention to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) exporters in a targetted manner, under a revamped interest subvention scheme in the works. The support levels will vary across sectors, depending on the needs of each being assessed. After the 50% additional...
Next NHAI InvIT By Month-End, To Target Rs 8,000-Crore Mop-Up
NEW DELHI: The bidding process for the fifth round of monetisation through infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) route by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will start by the end of this month. The process may yield Rs 7,000-8,000 crore to the NHAI. Following the completion of this round,...
FY26 Growth May Be Near -7 Per Cent: CEA
NEW DELHI: The recent policy measures, including the income tax relief and the goods and services tax (GST) rate rationalization, have improved the economic growth prospect to near-7% for the current financial year, despite global headwinds, chief economic advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said on Wednesday. The Economic Survey tabled...
Early-Stage Funding Rebounds As Investors Regain Conviction
BENGALURU: India’s early-stage venture funding market is showing clear signs of revival after a prolonged funding winter. According to data from Venture Intelligence, pre-seed investment activity surged in 2025, with deal volumes rising 52 per cent year-on-year to 67 and total investment value jumping 74 per cent to $68.5...
GoM Proposes Discom Overhaul With State Debt Takeover, Private Management
NEW DELHI: Flagging the heavy debt burden of Discoms, a Group of Ministers (GoM) has suggested restructuring the outstanding debt, with States absorbing the unsustainable debt, while the management control of the utility will be taken over by a strategic partner. The GoM on the viability of Discoms, which...
India, EU Yet To Work Out Issues Related To Steel, Auto, CBAM: Commerce Ministry
NEW DELHI: India and the EU are yet to settle issues related to steel duties, market access for automobiles and the bloc’s carbon tax legislation and other regulations under the the proposed India-EU free trade agreement (FTA), said the Commerce Ministry. However, substantial progress had been made in the...
RBI Issues Draft Guidelines To Aid Faster Cross-Border Inward Payments
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday introduced draft guidelines for improving the speed of cross-border payments, asking banks to inform their customer of the receipt of cross-border inward transactions immediately on receipt of inward message, among other measures. The RBI said messages received after close of...
Boost Manufacturing To 25% Of GDP For Economic Growth, Says NITI Aayog
NEW DELHI: A robust, globally competitive, and technologically advanced manufacturing sector is required to push up its contribution to the GDP to 25 per cent and generate over 100 million jobs, NITI Aayog said on Wednesday. At present, the manufacturing sector contributes 15-17 per cent to the country’s gross...
India Says Diversifying Oil Sources To Protect National Interests
NEW DELHI: India on Thursday asserted that its energy import decisions are driven solely by national interest and the need to secure affordable supplies, hours after US President Donald Trump claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured him of halting Russian crude oil purchases. Responding to Trump’s remarks,...
India, Brazil Look To Broaden PTA, Eye $20 Billion Bilateral Trade By 2030
NEW DELHI: India and Brazil are looking to broaden the preferential trade agreement (PTA) and are eyeing a bilateral trade target of $20 billion by 2030, up from $12 billion in 2024. India and Brazil have a limited trade agreement, as a part of a part of the PTA...
Centre Plans New Credit Cover For MSME Exporters
NEW DELHI: To aid exporters impacted due to the steep US tariffs and diversify to other markets, the Centre may soon launch a credit guarantee scheme for MSME exporters for loans up to Rs 100 crore. This new scheme exporters could be on the lines of the common Mutual...
RBI May Retain Existing Cap For Deposit Insurance Premiums
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may retain the current 12 paise/Rs 100 cap on deposit insurance premiums, even after it moves towards the new risk-based premium model (RBP) proposed in the October policy, said banking industry sources. However, for well-managed banks, the insurance premium is expected to...
National Minimum Wage Unchanged For Eight Years
NEW DELHI: The non-binding National Floor Level Minimum Wage (NFLMW) has remained unchanged since 2017, a situation that could worsen the income crisis among vast sections of population, mainly daily-wage workers. Proper and timely revision of NFLMW by the Centre, typically conducted once every two years and factoring in...
Trade Deficit Hits 13-Month High As US Exports Fall 12%, Gold Imports Surge
NEW DELHI: India’s trade deficit widened to a 13-month high in September, driven by a sharp rise in bullion imports, even as merchandise exports grew 6.7 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to $36.38 billion, data released by the commerce department on Wednesday showed. This growth came despite shipments to the...
Power Network Sharing Proposal Needs To Address Legacy PPAs: Former Secretary
NEW DELHI: The ambitious proposal by the power ministry to allow network sharing between distribution licensees operating in the same geographical area will face three key challenges, said a former bureaucrat. According to him, they include sharing of fixed cost of legacy power purchase agreements (PPAs), cross-subsidy burden and...
Room Opened For Rate Cut, Time Not Opportune: RBI Governor
MUMBAI: Despite the benign inflation outlook opening up room for a repo rate cut, the timing is not appropriate to reduce the key rate at present, since it would not produce the expected results, Reserve Bank of India governor Sanjay Malhotra wrote in the minutes of the monetary policy...
Centre Announces New Rules To Ensure Timely Pension, Retirement Dues And PPOs For Government Employees
NEW DELHI: In a major relief to government employees, the Centre has issued new comprehensive guidelines to ensure timely payment of pension and retirement benefits. These rules are aimed at ensuring that no government employee has to wait for months for their pension or Pension Payment Order (PPO) after...
Hyundai Bets Big On India With Rs 45,000-Crore Plan
CHENNAI: South Korean auto major Hyundai Motor Co is making its most ambitious move yet in India, committing an investment of Rs 45,000 crore by FY2030 to turn the country into its second-largest market globally, next only to the US. The announcement, which was made at Hyundai Motor India’s...
