The rupee slid to a fresh record low of 89.66 against the US dollar on Friday, giving the Congress party an opportunity to criticize Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The opposition revived Modi’s own 2013 remarks, when he accused the UPA government of mishandling the economy during a similar fall in the currency, using the comparison to question his economic management.Read more…
Pakistan on Sunday sharply objected to comments made by India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who suggested that Sindh could one day “rejoin India.” His remarks, delivered at a Sindhi community event in New Delhi, reignited diplomatic friction between the two countries, already tense after a military clash earlier this year. Singh said Sindh remains culturally tied to India and added that “borders can change,” hinting that the region might return in the future.Read more…
Indian equity markets opened stronger on Monday, reversing Friday’s dip as upbeat global trends and expectations of possible Federal Reserve rate cuts boosted sentiment. The sharp fall in the rupee limited enthusiasm, but both benchmark indices began the day in the green. Nifty 50 started above 26,100, gaining around 33 points (0.13%), while the Sensex added nearly 100 points (0.10%) to reach 85,317. Gift Nifty traded at 26,163 around 7:30 AM, showing a premium of about 78–84 points and hinting at a positive market opening.Read more…
Indian-origin steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has relocated from the UK to Switzerland and Dubai, becoming the latest billionaire to depart Britain ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ budget announcement on Wednesday, which is expected to introduce further tax increases targeting the wealthy. Mittal, worth an estimated £15.4 billion and ranked the UK’s eighth richest person, is now a tax resident of Switzerland and plans to spend most of his time in Dubai, according to The Sunday Times. The 75-year-old executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, who has lived in the UK since 1995, holds a 38% stake in the world’s second-largest steelmaker.Read more…
Delhi faced another day of hazardous air on Sunday, marking the tenth straight day in the “very poor” category. The city’s average AQI rose to 380, worse than Saturday’s 360, according to the CPCB. Several areas slipped into the “severe” zone, with readings above 420. PM2.5 levels touched 312 micrograms per cubic meter—over 20 times the WHO’s safe limit.Read more…
A Delaware bankruptcy court has ordered Byju Raveendran, founder of the embattled edtech company Byju’s, to personally pay more than $1.07 billion after finding him in default for repeatedly failing to comply with court orders in a dispute over alleged fund misappropriation.Read more…
Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin delivered a scathing critique of England’s batting strategy following their dramatic eight-wicket defeat in the first Ashes Test, questioning how far the boundaries of recklessness can be pushed in modern Test cricket.Read more…
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed all district magistrates to establish temporary detention centres for illegal immigrants and launch a crackdown on infiltrators, authorities said Saturday. The directive comes as the Election Commission conducts a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across 12 states, including Uttar Pradesh.Read more…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Johannesburg on Friday for the 20th G20 Leaders’ Summit, marking the first time the gathering of the world’s major economies has convened on African soil. During his visit, Modi met with eight Indian-origin tech entrepreneurs and business leaders to discuss expanding India’s innovation partnerships across sectors.Read more…
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge reached Bengaluru on Friday to calm a growing leadership dispute in Karnataka. Supporters of Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar claim there was a 2023 power-sharing deal and want a change in leadership. The issue surfaced as the Siddaramaiah government completed 2.5 years, with several MLAs in Delhi demanding a rotational chief minister arrangement.Read more…
The Indian rupee opened slightly stronger on Friday at 88.63 against the US dollar, gaining 5 paise despite continued weakness in domestic equity markets driven by global uncertainty and stalled US-India trade discussions. After initially touching 88.67 at the interbank forex market, the rupee recovered on support from softer crude oil prices and steady foreign inflows. It had closed at 88.68 on Thursday. However, the early stability did not last. The rupee later crashed to a record intraday low of 89.50, its sharpest fall in over three months, as reduced RBI intervention and a strengthening dollar pressured sentiment.Read more…
Gold prices dropped for the fourth straight session on Monday as a stronger US dollar and fading hopes of Federal Reserve rate cuts pressured the metal to a four-week low. Spot gold slid 1.5% to $4,019 per ounce on November 17, retreating sharply from its October record of $4,381. Meanwhile, US gold futures for December delivery closed 0.5% lower at $4,074.50. Overall, gold has fallen more than 4.5% from last week’s high of $4,245, signalling a clear shift in market sentiment.Read more…
The death count from the car blast near Delhi’s Red Fort increased to 15 after two more victims died in hospital. Authorities continue investigating the incident, which is being treated as a terror attack.Read more…
Aravind Srinivas’s Perplexity has grown rapidly in recent years, positioning itself as a major challenger to Google in both search and browser technology. However, a recent informal survey at a major San Francisco AI conference painted a less confident picture. According to Business Insider, more than 300 attendees voted Perplexity as the billion-dollar AI startup most likely to fail. Despite its rising prominence, the crowd sentiment suggested doubts about its long-term stability and competitive strength.Read more…
Shares of State Bank of India and other public sector lenders surged as much as 4% on Monday after reports emerged that India’s Finance Ministry is preparing a roadmap for the next round of bank mergers, with an official announcement expected in April or May.Read more…
Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraj Party has accused the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government of diverting Rs 14,000 crore from a World Bank loan to fund cash transfers aimed at influencing voters in the recently concluded assembly elections. The allegation comes a day after the party failed to win a single seat in its electoral debut, while the National Democratic Alliance secured a landslide victory with 202 of 243 seats.Read more…
Oracle has surrendered nearly one-third of its market capitalization over the past two months, erasing the spectacular gains that briefly made founder Larry Ellison the world’s richest person in September.The cloud computing giant’s stock traded around $222.85 on Friday, down sharply from its early September peak above $345. November is shaping up to be Oracle’s worst month since 2011, with shares plunging approximately 25% in the past month alone,nearly twice the decline of the next worst-performing hyperscaler, Meta, according to the Financial Times.Read more…
Japan’s economy shrank at an annualized rate of 1.8% in the July-September quarter, marking the first contraction in six quarters, as US tariffs delivered a blow to the export-reliant nation. The preliminary data released Monday by the Cabinet Office showed the quarter-on-quarter decline of 0.4% was less severe than the 2.5% drop economists had forecast.Read more…
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin congratulated Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the National Democratic Alliance’s decisive victory on Friday, but used the occasion to launch a sharp rebuke of India’s Election Commission, declaring its reputation is “at its lowest point.”
India’s wholesale price inflation turned negative in October, falling to minus 1.21 percent from 0.13 percent in September, driven by sharp declines in food prices and the impact of recent tax cuts, according to government data released Friday.The deflation marks a deeper contraction compared to wholesale price inflation of 2.75 percent in October last year, with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry attributing the drop to decreased prices of food articles, crude petroleum and natural gas, electricity, mineral oils and basic metals. The month-over-month change stood at minus 0.06 percent.
