Business Standard

The Viksit Bharat -- Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act has been framed as a gender-inclusive legislation with several provisions aimed at strengthening the participation and livelihoods of women and women-headed rural households, the government said on Tuesday.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan said that under the VB-G RAM G scheme, at least one-third of all beneficiaries must be women.
Emphasis has been laid on issuance of special job cards to women-headed households and single women.
The Act also focuses on creation of livelihood-related infrastructure such as self-help group buildings, work sheds, training and skill centres, compost and vermi-compost units, nurseries, livestock shelters, fisheries facilities, storage structures and rural haats. These productive assets are intended at directly strengthening women workers and self-help groups, the minister said.
To facilitate women's productive engageme

Labour

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan said that under the VB-G RAM G scheme, at least one-third of all beneficiaries must be women

Press Trust of India

India's unemployment rate eased to a three-quarter low of 4.8% in Q3FY26, helped by higher labour force participation and a decline in youth joblessness, latest PLFS data showed

US jobs, jobs data, US population, job report, unemployment

Mid-tier IT firm Happiest Minds plans to double its AI and GenAI workforce to over 1,000 by next fiscal, investing more to address skill gaps that are leading to lost revenue

Happiest Minds Technologies, Happiest Mind

Accounting for nearly half of India's $22.7 trillion net zero investment needs, the power sector has emerged as the biggest challenge in mobilising long-term climate finance

climate finance, green bonds, climate change, global finance, global fundung, funding

Niti Aayog has proposed a one-time, conditional discom debt takeover and green bond financing for nuclear power, alongside broader power and transport sector reforms to support India's net-zero goals

nuclear reactor, nuclear power reactor

Peak power demand in January touched 245 gigawatt (Gw), surpassing the previous summer peak of 243 Gw recorded in June last year

power, energy

Stellantis and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles marked 20 years of their joint venture by signing a fresh MoU to explore deeper collaboration across manufacturing, engineering and supply chains

Tata Motors

Auto industry executives say lack of charging infrastructure, reliability issues and low consumer confidence continue to slow electric vehicle adoption in India despite rising demand

electric vehicle, ev industry

Passenger vehicle retail sales rose to 5.13 lakh units in January, led by a 14.4 per cent growth in rural markets, while overall automobile retail sales grew 17.6 per cent, Fada said

Automakers, carmakers, auto industry

Overall, automobile retail sales, including passenger vehicles, too increased by 17.6 per cent to 2.72 million units

Automobile retail sales rose nearly 18 per cent year-on-year to over 27 lakh units in January, led by continued post-GST momentum, healthy rural cash flows on the back of harvest and weddings, and sustained demand visibility across freight, dealer's body FADA said on Tuesday.
Overall retail sales last month grew to 27,22,558 units, up 17.61 per cent, as against 23,14,940 units in January 2025.
Passenger vehicle retails stood at 5,13,475 units last month, a growth of 7 per cent, as against 4,78,915 units in the year-ago period.
"The growth story is increasingly being written in non-metro India -- Rural PV grew by 14.43 per cent YoY, significantly ahead of Urban at 2.75 per cent YoY.
"This reinforces the structural expansion of PV demand beyond the top cities, aided by a strong SUV/compact-SUV preference, revival of entry-level cars, product availability and continued schemes," FADA President C S Vigneshwar said in a statement.
Two-wheeler retail sales grew 21 per cent year-on-year 

carmakers, auto industry

On the business outlook for the next three months, Fada stated that dealer confidence remains decisively constructive, with 79.70 per cent of respondents expecting growth

Compared with last year's Budget, the Union Budget 2026-27 builds on the credit framework while moving decisively towards equity funding, market-linked liquidity, and structured compliance support

MSMEs

TNC Rajagopalan answers SME queries related to GST, export and import matters

export

Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy unveiled third round of speciality steel PLI scheme with relaxed thresholds, updated pricing benchmarks, and wider MSME participation to boost steel manufacturing

H D Kumaraswamy (Photo: X/@hd_kumaraswamy)

Base year revised, thresholds relaxed to reflect current market trends

Trade expert cites FTP Para 1.08 and CBIC circulars requiring that export consignments not be detained beyond three days, and clarifies documentation norms under the Advance Authorisation scheme

trade

Banks see strong revival in corporate lending as higher bond yields and improved working capital utilisation push companies back to bank loans in Q3FY26

SBI Chief C S Setty said economic activity picked up in Q3 after GST rationalisation, which led to better utilisation of working capital loans

Sidbi, Nabfid and Hudco will raise Rs 13,500 crore through bond issuances this week, even as higher yields and geopolitical risks continue to weigh on corporate debt fundraising

Bond market, Bond Yield

Led by the country's biggest lender State Bank of India (SBI), public sector banks logged a record cumulative profit of Rs 52,603 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal, reflecting an 18 per cent year-on-year growth.
All 12 public sector banks (PSBs) together made a profit of Rs 44,473 crore in the December quarter of FY25. Thus, the increase in profit in absolute terms was Rs 8,130 crore as compared to the same quarter of the previous financial year.
Market leader SBI alone contributed 40 per cent to the total earnings of Rs 52,603 crore, as per the published numbers on stock exchanges.
SBI posted the highest quarterly net profit of Rs 21,028 crore in Q3 FY26, 24 per cent higher than the same period of the previous fiscal.
In percentage terms, Chennai-based Indian Overseas Bank reported the highest net profit growth of 56 per cent to Rs 1,365 crore, followed by Central Bank of India with a 32 per cent rise to Rs 1,263 crore.
During the quarter, all 12 public sector bank

State Bank of India, SBI history, SBI 70 years, SBI journey, Imperial Bank of India, SBI deposits 2025, SBI branches India, largest Indian bank, SBI data report, SBI mortgage lender

Market leader SBI alone contributed 40 per cent to the total earnings of ₹52,603 crore, as per the published numbers on stock exchanges

Thrissur-based ESAF Small Finance Bank will wait at least two years to seek a universal banking licence as it pivots to secured lending to improve asset quality and profitability

esaf sfb md paul thomas said that the bank would be maintaining the secured book at around 60-65%

Industry News: Find the top news on industry, banking & financial sector, manufacturing industries news, industry trends, corporate news and many more on Business Standard.

Industry

Auto

SME

Banking