Leasing of retail space in shopping malls and prominent high streets dropped 1 per cent to 1.63 million square feet during July-September across top eight cities, according to Cushman and Wakefield. The leasing stood at 1.63 million square feet in the year-ago period. Real estate consultant Cushman and Wakefield on Thursday released its Q3-2024 'Retail MarketBeat' report, which highlighted a sustained momentum across India's main streets, leading retail growth across the top 8 cities.

India's fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector grew 5.7 per cent by value and 4.1 per cent by volume in the July-September quarter driven by rural demand, consumer intelligence firm NielsenIQ said in its quarterly update on Thursday. Price-led growth stood at 1.5 per cent. According to NielsenIQ data, rural volume growth outpaced urban markets for the third straight quarter despite consumption softening in both regions.

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Friday said it has advanced the release of macroeconomic data Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates by about 90 mins to 4 pm. As per the current practice, the press releases of GDP are scheduled at 5.30 pm on the specified release dates, a MoSPI statement said.

'Investors looking at the next 6-12 months can be certain that the Fed will maintain its easing cycle, and we expect the overall environment to be conducive for fixed income investments for portfolio diversification.'

Tata Sons will likely choose Singapore as a "key partner" for its semiconductor plans, a senior minister from the city-state said on Friday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran earlier in the day, Singapore's minister for home affairs and law K Shanmugam said semiconductors was a "big discussion" point during the meeting. "If they (Tatas) want to, they can do business with anybody in the world.

Stock markets closed lower for the second straight day on Friday amid relentless foreign fund outflows and losses in blue-chip stocks Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India. Benchmark BSE Sensex declined by 55.47 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 79,486.32. During the day, it tanked 424.42 points or 0.53 per cent to 79,117.37.

A Competition Commission probe has found that food delivery platforms Zomato and Swiggy indulged in unfair business practices, including alleged preferential treatment to some restaurant partners, according to sources. The detailed investigation was ordered by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in April 2022 and the probe report was submitted to the regulator earlier this year. Under the norms, CCI director general's report has been shared with the parties concerned and later, they will be called for hearings by the watchdog.

A host of macroeconomic data announcements, the last batch of September quarter earnings, global trends, and trading activity of foreign investors will be the major driving factors for the equity market this week, according to analysts. Equity markets would remain closed on Friday for Guru Nanak Jayanti. "India is set to release CPI and IIP data on November 12, with WPI data expected on November 14.

India's export of fuels like diesel to the European Union jumped 58 per cent in the first three quarters of 2024, with a bulk of them likely coming from refining discounted Russian oil, according to a monthly tracker report. The EU/G7 countries in December 2022 introduced a price cap and an embargo on the imports of Russian crude oil in a bid to cripple Kremlin's revenue and create a vacuum in its funding for the invasion of Ukraine.

The exodus of foreign investments from Indian equity markets continued unabated, with FPIs pulling out nearly Rs 20,000 crore in the last five trading sessions on higher valuations of domestic stocks and shifting their allocation to China. As a result, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have turned net sellers in the equity market, with total outflows reaching Rs 13,401 crore for 2024 so far. Going ahead, the FPI selling trend is likely to continue in the near term till data indicate the piossibility of a trend reversal.

'The problem is that the bubble may not only be in valuations, but also in investors' minds.'

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has sought a meeting with quick-commerce (qcom) platforms like Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart and Zepto on Tuesday to discuss issues regarding violations of food safety standards, according to sources familiar with the matter. This comes at a time when there have been issues raised about food safety standard violations by qcom platforms for packaged food products, including violations related to expiry and best before dates.

Tata Steel is in the process of filing a curative petition in the Supreme Court in connection with the apex court ruling which said that states have the power to levy cess on mining and mineral-use activities. The petition by the steel manufacturing firm is aimed at seeking remedy to the order, passed by a 9-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on July 25. However, Tata Steel's managing director and chief executive officer T V Narendran told Business Standard that there was no demand note on the firm.

Life insurance companies reported a 13.16 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth in new business premium (NBP), totting up Rs 30,347 crore in October, even as the number of policies sold saw a sharp decline. The growth was largely driven by strong performance from private sector life insurers.

Mutual funds (MFs) reinforced their record monthly inflows in October with an investment of Rs 87,000 crore (up to October 29), softening the downside pressure on domestic markets. Their prior record for monthly inflows was Rs 48,139 crore in May. This unprecedented monthly buying partially countered record monthly sales by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) of Rs 1.1 trillion last month.

Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra and Mahindra, JSW Steel, NTPC, Adani Ports, Bajaj Finserv and Larsen and Toubro were also among the laggards. However, Power Grid, HCL Technologies, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and ICICI Bank were among the gainers.

After trying to make a dent in the cola market with Campa by offering higher trade margins to the supply chain, Reliance Consumer Products is betting on the same strategy to capture the chips, namkeen, and biscuits market in the country's booming snacks sector.

The Reserve Bank of India on Monday issued an operational framework for reclassification of investment made by a foreign portfolio investor to foreign direct investment (FDI) if the entity breaches the prescribed limit. Markets regulator Sebi too has issued a circular on procedure for reclassification of FPI investment to FDI.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by Sebi against a Securities Appellate Tribunal order which set aside the penalty imposed by the market regulator on RIL chairman Mukesh Ambani and two other entities in a case related to alleged manipulative trading in shares of the erstwhile Reliance Petroleum Ltd (RPL) in November 2007. A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said it was not inclined to interfere with the order passed by SAT.

Vistara will be merged with Air India on Monday night, and from Tuesday onward, the Vistara flight code will change from 'UK' to 'AI2XXX'.

Equity mutual funds witnessed a record inflow of Rs 41,887 crore in October, marking a surge of over 21 per cent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis, fuelled by robust investments in thematic funds. This also marks the 44th consecutive month of net inflow in the equity-oriented funds, highlighting the ever-increasing appeal of mutual funds among investors, data with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed on Monday.

State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has realigned its commission structures for its distributors in accordance with new surrender value norms but has no plans to introduce any "clawback", it said in a post-earnings analyst call on Friday. "It depends on our experience because the new products have been filed from October 1," said Siddhartha Mohanty, managing director and chief executive officer. The insurance regulator has revised the surrender value norms, and the revised ones came into effect on October 1.

After experiencing an 11 per cent contraction in exports in 2023-24 (FY24) due to a dip in exports for 10 consecutive months from April to January, the Tiruppur textile industry is back on track in 2024-25 (FY25). The cluster, which contributes 55 per cent of the country's total knitwear exports, posted a 13 per cent increase in the first five months of this financial year (FY25), with August seeing a 22 per cent rise - the highest in over two years.

From the 30-share Sensex pack, NTPC, Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, JSW Steel, Maruti and Power Grid were among the major laggards. On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Infosys and ICICI Bank were the gainers.

Dabur's performance in the July-September quarter of the current financial year (Q2FY25) was weak but in line with consensus. Consolidated revenue declined 5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) due to a temporary adjustment in General Trade (GT) inventory. Indian revenue declined 7.6 per cent, while international business grew 13 per cent Y-o-Y in constant currency (CC) terms.

Retail inflation breached the Reserve Bank's upper tolerance level, soaring to a 14-month high of 6.21 per cent in October mainly on account of rising food prices. Inflation based on the consumer price index (CPI) was 5.49 per cent in September and 4.87 per cent in the year-ago month. Retail inflation trended below the RBI's upper tolerance band of 6 per cent since September last year.

Retail investors have become a force to reckon with in the last 10 years with their ownership of Indian equities rising 800 basis points, or 8 per cent, to 23.4 per cent during this period, suggests a recent note from Morgan Stanley. This number, Morgan Stanley said, is set to rise in the next few years as Indian households are still underinvested in equities. India's demographics, policy framework, investor education and modest positive real rates, it said, will fuel the 'equity cult' in India.

A sharp fall in the equity market made investors poorer by Rs 5.29 lakh crore on Tuesday when the BSE benchmark Sensex tumbled over 800 points. A host of negative triggers -- muted quarterly earnings, continuous foreign fund outflows and weak trends in Asian and European markets -- dragged the benchmark indices lower. The BSE benchmark gauge tumbled 820.97 points or 1.03 per cent to settle at 78,675.18.

The last registration date for the IIT-Joint Entrance Exam Main 2025 Session 1 is November 22, 2024.

The Foundation for Excellence Scholarship for Technical Courses 2024-25 programme provides financial assistance to meritorious students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds who aspire to pursue undergraduate degrees in engineering, medicine or law.

The National Institute of Design (NID) is inviting applications for Design Aptitude Test (DAT) for its Bachelor of Design (BDes) and Master of Design (MDes) programmes.

Western Digital is offering a one-time scholarship of up to Rs 75,000 to persons with disabilities and transgender students pursuing graduation, post-graduation and PhD degrees in STEM-related fields.

Abdullah said if the terrorists think they can establish Pakistani writ in Jammu and Kashmir by indulging in such acts, they are mistaken.

The assailants believed to be Pakistani terrorists, meticulously studied the site layout before executing their plan.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Friday said attacks like the one in Gulmarg would continue to occur until India and Pakistan found a way to be friends and that would end Jammu and Kashmir's troubles.

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong urged that the government should launch a crackdown against all anti-China terrorist groups after two deadly attacks took place in Pakistan within only six months, The Express Tribune reported.

This comes as the neighbouring country strengthens defence ties with Gulf and Western European countries, and its long-standing ally Turkiye, the officials said.

Toxic grey smog has sickened tens of thousands of people, mainly children and elderly people, since last month when the air quality started worsening in Lahore, the city bordering India.

Whenever tenures of army chiefs were extended in the recent past, prime ministers were subsequently eased out of office by the same army chief, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.

'If you can have Rampur flown magically to Pakistan's borders, I might ask the nawab to accede to Pakistan. Else, I'm afraid we have no choice in the matter but to join India.'

The explosion ripped through the provincial capital Quetta's railway station as passengers gathered on the platform before the scheduled departure of the Jaffar Express to Peshawar.

It pays to listen to your heart while making a career choice, feels CEO of ‘I Love Mondays’ Mala Mary Martina

Actor Gautami Tadimalla is now focused on promoting awareness on health, through her foundation and films

Donate your old cycles and watch how they bring smiles to the faces of kids, says Radio City Programming Director Prabu K.

Naseeruddin Shah says it is premature to celebrate the present ‘new wave’ in cinema

Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee Himani Shivpuri on her passion for theatre and more

Geetha Vazhachal, tribal chieftain, talks about life in her ooru and how the Athirapally Hydel Project will impact the lives of tribals forever

The self-defence programme equips girls in rural schools with an extra skill

Welcome to concentrated living, which telescopes the essentials of life into a limited geographical area, writes PRINCE FREDERICK