Explore Business Standard
Associate Sponsors
Business
Rising for the third consecutive quarter, CII's Business Confidence Index climbed to a five-quarter high of 66.5 in Q3 FY26, driven by optimism around demand, profitability, and investment conditions, the industry lobby said on Sunday. Domestic demand remains the key driver, with two-thirds of firms reporting higher demand in Q2 FY26 and 72 per cent expecting further growth in Q3 FY26, aided by GST rate cuts and festive consumption, the industry body said in the survey. CII-Business Confidence Index (BCI) is based on a sample survey of firms covering all industry sectors, including micro, small, medium, and large enterprises, from different regions. The survey also enumerated responses across industry groups, both in the public and private sectors, engaged in the manufacturing and services sectors. It was conducted during the first to third week of December 2025, covering more than 175 firms of varying sizes. Moreover, investment and hiring intentions remain robust. Notably, 69 pe
With India making a power-packed presence here for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, consultancy major BCG's India Head Rahul Jain has said the Davos takeaway for the Indian business leaders is very clear that the competitiveness now comes from combining cost, scale and resilience. Jain also said that India is very likely to become the world's third-largest economy by around 2030, which is a key India-related topic of discussion here during the summit. "The key question is whether growth can be further accelerated to reach this milestone as early as 2028, and achieving this faster trajectory will depend largely on accelerating the manufacturing sector further from roughly 15-17 per cent of GDP today to 20 per cent and beyond," Jain told PTI. "In that sense, the issue is less about if and more about when," he said. Jain, who is here for the five-day WEF Annual Meeting beginning Monday, said investments in sunrise sectors, such as clean energy, electronics, and semiconductors,
Nearly 93 per cent of Indian organisations surveyed expect positive returns on their AI investments in less than three years, underlining the rising confidence of businesses in value and potential of Artificial Intelligence, according to SAP Value of AI Report 2025. Driving the AI momentum, businesses across the country are investing an estimated USD 31 million in AI this year - ahead of global average - with focussed spending on software, infrastructure, talent, and consulting, SAP said. "Indian businesses are investing USD 31 million in AI across IT, infrastructure, talent, and consulting, ahead of the USD 26.7 million global average," said the report released by enterprise application software and business AI firm. Unveiled at SAP's flagship event, TechEd 2025, the Value of AI Report 2025, in collaboration with Oxford Economics, surveyed 1,600 senior business leaders across eight countries, including 200 respondents from India, according to a release. The AI adoption study relea
Seven NDA-ruled states are pushing for reforms on the lines of the Jan Vishwas Act, which de-criminalises minor offences by replacing prison terms with fines, to make investment climates more predictable and business-friendly, officials said on Friday. This year, the seven states, including Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, passed their own legislations or promulgated ordinances on the lines of the Jan Vishwas Act, making it the largest coordinated deregulation push undertaken at the state level to date, they said. "Together, these reforms represent a structural shift toward trust-based governance, cutting down on criminalisation for routine, technical, or procedural non-compliances," the officials said. They said the combined effect of the states is expected to boost entrepreneurship, reduce litigation, provide regulatory clarity and make state-level investment climates more predictable and business-friendly. Maharashtra has approved the Jan Vishwas Ordinance, 2025, amending seven .
Vedanta's second-quarter results met street expectations on robust operational performance, with analysts viewing the miner as well-positioned to benefit from the commodity rebound while advancing its deleveraging strategy. Brokerages Nuvama, Citi, ICICI Securities and Investec maintained a strong bullish stance on metals and natural resources major Vedanta Ltd. They cited factors such as Vedanta Resources' leverage being at comfortable levels, potential medium-term upside in aluminium on the London Metal Exchange (LME), volume growth, likely lower costs, and the likely completion of the demerger process as reasons for the bullish call. Nuvama said Vedanta's focus on demerger and delivery is on the verge of paying off, supported by tailwinds from commodity prices. The brokerage expects this to contribute to higher third-quarter earnings. "Q3 FY26 EBITDA is likely to jump 20 per cent QoQ led by higher prices, volume, and lower aluminium cost of production," Nuvama said. It increase