Shubham Kumar

Micro lenders urged to factor climate risks into rural credit decisions

Bharat Microfinance Report 2026 flags rising climate risks to rural credit as NABARD warns of potential rabi crop stress following a deficient monsoon and urges better underwriting

Muthoot Microfin eyes festive demand with consumer durable loans: CEO

CEO Sadaf Sayeed says the lender plans to diversify beyond group lending, expand digital offerings and target ₹30,000 crore in assets under management by 2030

Telecom leaders call for net neutrality relook, flexibility in 5G slicing

Airtel and Vodafone executives seek flexibility in network slicing to monetise 5G, while MediaNama's Nikhil Pahwa warns that differentiation could hinder innovation

World Bank lifts India FY27 growth view to 7.1% on robust domestic demand

World Bank raises India's FY27 growth forecast to 7.1 per cent from 6.6 per cent but flags risks from high oil prices, El Niño and capital flow volatility

Delays, recoveries and ethics pose key challenges for IBC: IBBI chairperson

IBBI chairperson Jayanti Prasad flagged delays, ethics and realisations, while NCLT President Anupinder Singh Grewal cited vacancies and sought a higher filing threshold.

Govt to launch capital subsidy scheme for textiles soon: Giriraj Singh

The proposed scheme could offer subsidies of up to 25 per cent of upgrade costs in some cases, while another scheme would support infrastructure in legacy textile clusters.

MSME body calls for handholding, support as India signs more FTAs

Laghu Udyog Bharati says smaller firms need marketing, technology and export support to tap new markets and benefit from India's expanding network of free trade agreements

Team up against unilateral action: Shaktikanta Das to Global South

Urges trade and energy diversification as US tariffs and West Asian conflict escalate crude import pressures

Climate risks may widen India's milk demand-supply gap, says CII paper

Milk production growth has slowed to 3.5-3.7 per cent, while climate risks could raise procurement costs, squeeze margins and affect value-added dairy products

Govts have little role in fixing sugar prices in globalised market: Gadkari

He said, "I come from a region where we have seen 10,000 farmer suicides, and working on this (issue) for 15-20 years, the core of this problem is that our agriculture is not economically viable"

IIT Bombay to partner with industry for new semiconductor design course

The proposed Electronic Design Automation programme will rely heavily on industry executives in its initial phase as academia struggles to keep pace with rapidly changing chip-sector skill requirement

Can't keep importing gases for a locally made chip in India: Executive

Semiconductor production requires more than 50 ultra-high-purity industrial gases, but India is yet to develop domestic manufacturing capabilities at the required scale

Chips packaged in India already competitive on global scale: Vaishnaw

Ashwini Vaishnaw says the proposed institute will develop a multi-level skilling model, while Semicon 2.0 will shift focus from chip design towards system design

Chipmakers turn to AI to speed design, verification and defect detection

Industry executives say AI is helping shorten chip-verification cycles, improve hardware-software co-design, detect wafer defects and reduce learning time for engineers

Semiconductor industry flags need for more process and product engineers

Industry representatives say India needs more experienced process and product engineers, stronger STEM education and manufacturing talent as it pushes into advanced packaging.

Antibiotic sales decline, but concerns over inappropriate use remain

Pharmarack data show anti-bacterial unit sales falling since 2023; experts say lower volumes alone do not indicate more appropriate antibiotic use

India's sugar flip-flop highlights fault lines in agri trade policy regime

The decision to import 1 MT of raw sugar after allowing exports earlier in the season has revived questions over crop estimates, policy predictability and the cost of repeated trade interventions

PM Modi to visit Brussels in Dec to attend FTA signing: EU Counsellor

After concluding the negotiations for the trade deal in January, India and the EU last month also completed the legal scrubbing of the agreement's text

AM/NS India ties up with ICAR-IARI to study iron ore tailings in farming

Partnership will study the use of mining byproduct containing silica, iron oxides and other nutrients in crops such as paddy, wheat and vegetables

IMD predicts below-normal September rains; 47% of country rain deficient

September rainfall is expected to be below 91 per cent of the long-period average, while June-August monsoon rains have recorded a deficiency of 13.8 per cent