Page 5 - India

Early conclusion of India-EU FTA can make big difference: Jaishankar

An early conclusion of the proposed free trade agreement between India and the European Union can make a "big difference" in terms of stabilising the global economy and strengthening democratic forces, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday. He said this after meeting a high-powered trade delegation from the 27-nation bloc. The seven-member delegation is in India to push for finalisation of the long-awaited bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the two sides. "Discussed how India & the European Union can maximize convergences and deepen cooperation. This can stabilize the global economy and strengthen democratic forces," Jaishankar said on X. "The early conclusion of the India-EU FTA can make a big difference to these objectives," he said. Jaishankar remarks came as the two sides looked to wrap up negotiations for the mega trade pact. In September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reaffirmed their ...

India's growth at 6.5% allows scope for policy easing: RBI Dy Guv Gupta | BFSI Summit 2025

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Deputy Governor Poonam Gupta on Wednesday said that India is growing steadily at 6.5 per cent, with a forecast of 6.8 per cent for the year.

India needs bigger, more global-scale banks for 2047 goal: Banking leaders | BFSI Summit 2025

India needs more globally-competitive banks with strong financial foundations, skilled talent, and advanced technology to finance large-scale projects, create jobs

US cracks down on illegal migrants: 54 Indians sent back | What is the ‘donkey route’? | Trump

The United States has deported 54 Indians, mostly from Haryana, for entering the country illegally through the so-called “donkey route”. The case underscores the growing risks of illegal migration

Can Indian equities still deliver big returns this year? | Samvat 2082 | Investment tips | Stocks

Samvat 2082 is here, but what does it mean for Indian equities? From cautious optimism to sector-wise opportunities, we break down what investors can realistically expect this year.

India to host four-day Asia Pacific aircraft accident investigators meet

India will host the Asia-Pacific region's aircraft accident investigators' meeting for the first time in the national capital from October 28-31. Around 90 aircraft accident investigators are expected to participate in the Asia Pacific Accident Investigation Group (APAC-AIG), an official release said on Sunday. The meeting will be hosted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on behalf of the Civil Aviation Ministry. Representatives of ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) member states in the Asia Pacific region, along with various international organisations, participate in the meeting that is held annually. "India will be hosting the APAC-AIG meeting for the first time. There will be participation of approximately 90 representatives from aircraft accident investigation authorities of Asia Pacific countries, as well as from the ICAO," the release said. The meeting is generally hosted by any one of the ICAO member states in the APAC region. Civil Aviatio

High-level EU trade delegation to visit India next week to push FTA talks

A seven-member high-powered trade delegation of the European Union (EU) will visit India next week to push for finalising the long-awaited bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the two sides. The delegation of the EU Committee on International Trade will be in India from October 27 to 29 to discuss trade, economic and investment relations. It will be led by Cristina Maestre, the committee's standing rapporteur for India, and Brando Benifei. "The main objective of this visit is to contribute to increasing our mutual understanding amid intensive trade negotiations between the EU and India," Maestre and Benifei said in a statement. "The mission is timely taking place just a few months ahead of the deadline to conclude negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) by the end of 2025," they said. "We look forward to discussing the issues at stake as both sides have a mutual interest in reaching a meaningful bilateral agreement and in protecting the rules-based multilateral trad

India among top 10 nations with largest forest carbon sinks: Report

India ranked among the world's top ten countries with the largest forest carbon sinks, absorbing about 150 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year between 2021 and 2025, according to a new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The report, released on Tuesday, said that globally, forests acted as a net carbon sink during this period, removing about 0.8 billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere annually. The FAO report titled "Forest Emissions and Removals - Global, Regional and Country Trends 1990-2025" said that during 2021-2025, global forests sequestered 3.6 billion tonnes of CO2 per year on forest land. However, this was partially offset by emissions from net forest conversion (a proxy for deforestation), estimated at 2.8 billion tonnes annually. As a result, global forests removed 0.8 billion tonnes of CO2 per year from the atmosphere during this period. The report said that a decade earlier, these net removals were nearly twice as large, at 1.4 billion

SC to hear contempt plea on Oct 27 against lawyer who threw shoe at CJI

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on October 27 a petition seeking contempt action against advocate Rakesh Kishore, who hurled a shoe towards Chief Justice of India B R Gavai during court proceedings earlier this month. According to the cause list of October 27 uploaded on the apex court's website, the plea filed by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) will come up for hearing before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi. On October 6, in a shocking security breach, 71-year-old Kishore hurled a shoe towards the CJI in his courtroom, which prompted the Bar Council of India to suspend his licence with immediate effect. The CJI, who remained unfazed during and after the unprecedented incident, asked the court officials and security personnel present to "just ignore" it and let off the errant lawyer with a warning. The incident sparked widespread condemnation from different sections of the society, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking to the CJI and calling

UPS moves court to block publishers from quizzing India executive

An Indian antitrust investigation report last year found "no evidence" that FedEx, UPS, Aramex and DHL indulged in price collusion, as alleged by a book publishers' body

Willing to pay extra to build resilience in our supply chains: Goyal

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said the government is addressing supply chain issues across all sectors to build resilience, even if it involves spending "extra buck". Addressing UNCTAD's Ministerial Roundtable on 'Towards Resilient, Sustainable, and Inclusive Supply Chains and Trade Logistics' in Geneva, Goyal said India has launched the 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative to make the country self-reliant. "We are addressing each and every supply chain sectorally to see where our vulnerabilities are, where we need to expand capacity, and we are willing to pay that extra buck to be able to have resilience in our supply chains," Goyal said. The government has launched initiatives, like a production-linked incentive scheme to boost domestic manufacturing, and a policy to promote semiconductor production in the country. To boost infrastructure development, he said, India has launched a trillion-dollar national master plan. The government itself spends about USD

Goyal to meet German leaders, businesses to boost trade and investment

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will visit Berlin, Germany this week to meet government officials and businesses to discuss ways to boost trade and investments between the two countries, an official statement said on Wednesday. During the visit on October 23, Goyal will hold bilateral meetings with German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Katherina Reiche, and Economic and Financial Policy Advisor at the Federal Chancellery and Germany's G7 and G20 Sherpa Levin Holle. "Discussions during the meeting will focus on further strengthening the dynamic Indo-German economic partnership and exploring new avenues for enhanced trade and investment cooperation," the commerce ministry said. He will also participate in the third Berlin Global Dialogue (BGD) -- an annual summit that brings together leaders from business, government, and academia to deliberate on issues shaping the global economy. The minister will hold bilateral meetings with CEOs of leading German ...

London's British Museum rolls out pink carpet in nod to colours of India

British Museum said its inaugural fundraising ball not only celebrated London's status as one of the world's leading cultural capitals but also the colours and light of India, rolling out the pink carpet to hundreds of celebrities from around the world. The glittering gala over the weekend, co-chaired by Reliance Group's Isha Ambani, was presented in conjunction with the museum's Ancient India: Living Traditions' exhibition that explored how Hindu, Jain and Buddhist sacred art lives on for thousands of years. Ticket sales to the so-called Pink Ball alone are believed to have raised around 1.6 million pounds, with the museum set to unveil the full extent of the fundraising efforts in the coming weeks. In India, pink is the colour of warmth, welcome and joy. It evokes a spirit of openness and grace integral to our culture, said Isha Ambani, who showcased Indian artisanship in a custom-made gown by design duo Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla. Isha was supported at the event by her mother N

India's smartphone market rises 3% to 48.4 mn units in Jul-Sep quarter

India's smartphone market grew 3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the third quarter of the calendar year 2025, reaching 48.4 million units shipped, as per the latest research from Omdia, which cautioned that despite early momentum, gains are unlikely to sustain into a strong year-end. The modest growth was driven by a wave of new launches in July and August, retail incentivisation and an earlier festive season that pulled forward inventory flows, Omdia said. Vendors filled the channels with new stocks in expectation of a high-demand festive period. India's smartphone market rose 3 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in Q3 2025, touching 48.4 million units shipped, Omdia said in a release. Put simply, shipped units refer to devices that have left the factory premises and been sent to channel or distributors, for sale in the market. "With limited organic demand, Q3's momentum was largely sustained through incentive-led channel push rather than pure consumer recovery," Sanyam Chaurasia, Princi

EU member nations back EU-India strategic agenda to boost ties, cooperation

All the 27 member nations of the European Union have unanimously backed the block's new strategic agenda with India that seeks to significantly ramp up two-way ties in several key sectors such as defence, trade and technology. The new document was released by the European Commission and the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy Kaja Kallas last month. The European Council comprising representatives of all the EU member nations unanimously supported it on Monday, according to EU officials. The new strategic agenda is expected to be adopted at the India-EU summit that is expected to be held in New Delhi early next year. The new strategic agenda identifies five areas of shared interest that include security and defence, connectivity and global issues, prosperity, sustainability, technology and innovation. Beyond the bilateral dimension, the new strategic agenda highlights EU-India joint engagement on global issues and with third partners, reflecting India's .

No more ‘ORS’ drinks: Why did FSSAI ban the use of ‘ORS’ tag?

India’s food regulator, FSSAI, has banned the use of the term “ORS” on any beverage or food product that doesn’t meet WHO standards. >

India still has a long way to go in curbing toxic cough syrup, says WHO

The children died after taking the Coldrif cough medicine made by Sresan Pharma, which tests showed contained the toxin diethylene glycol in quantities nearly 500 times the permissible limit

RBL Bank's ₹26,853 crore deal with Emirates NBD marks record FDI in banking

The deal is the largest by a Middle Eastern bank in India, and comes months after Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation's move to buy up to 25% of Yes Bank

Regulation on deepfakes soon, two semicon units operational now: Vaishnaw

The government is going to bring a regulation on deepfakes soon that will take help of technology for efficient implementation, Union electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Saturday. Speaking at the NDTV World Summit, the minister said that chips are key for building AI infrastructure and two semiconductor units, CG Semi and Kaynes, have started production in the country. Vaishnaw said that there are six Ai models getting developed in the country, out of which two will use around 120 billion parameters and will be free from biases like western models have. He said that AI in several cases is being used in a positive way and for fun that must be encouraged, but there is need to save the society from the significant harms which can be caused by using deepfakes where one's voice and face can be presented to give out a message which is absolutely disconnected with the person. "It's your right to make sure that your face and your voice should not be used in a harmful way f

Mahindra, Embraer to introduce C-390 Millennium military aircraft in India

Mahindra Group on Friday said it has inked a pact with Embraer Defense & Security for introduction of C-390 Millennium military transport aircraft in India. Embraer Defense & Security and Mahindra Group have signed a landmark strategic cooperation agreement (SCA) to advance the C-390 Millennium solution for the Indian Air Force's Medium Transport Aircraft (MTA) programme, the Mumbai-based Mahindra Group said in a statement. This agreement was inked alongside the inauguration of Embraer's national office in Aerocity, New Delhi. The agreement builds upon the memorandum of understanding signed in February 2024 at the Embassy of Brazil in New Delhi, deepening the scope of cooperation to include joint marketing, industrialisation and developing India as a hub for the C-390 Millennium. Since the signing, the C-390 Millennium aircraft has further increased its operator base globally. Embraer and Mahindra Group will work closely with stakeholders in the country and engage with India's