Page 39 - Industry News

HDFC AMC forays into private credit market with ₹2,500 crore fund

HDFC Asset Management Company has forayed into the fast-growing private credit market with its new Structured Credit Fund-I, targeting mid-market companies with alternative debt financing. The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will invest up to Rs 220 crore as an anchor investor in HDFC AMC's Structured Credit Fund-I, the asset management company said in its statement on Monday. The fund has already secured about Rs 1,290 crore in commitments in its first close, and is targeting a total corpus of Rs 1,500 crore, with a green-shoe option of an additional Rs 1,000 crore. The commitment amount includes sponsor commitment from HDFC AMC of up to 14 per cent of the fund corpus. The fund will invest in mid-market companies, and it has already committed Rs 380 crore across three deals spanning various sectors. It will target mid-teen returns over a 4-6 year horizon. HDFC AMC said that the fund will improve access to finance for underserved mid-ma

Bank employees' unions threaten to go on nationwide strike on Jan 27

Bank employees' unions under the aegis of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) have threatened to go on a nationwide strike on January 27, demanding implementation of a 5-day week. If the strike materialises, it would have a significant impact primarily on the operations of public sector banks for three days in a row, as January 25 and 26 are holidays. At present, bank employees get off on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, apart from Sundays. Declaring the remaining two Saturdays as holidays was agreed between the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) and UFBU during the wage revision settlement in March, 2024. "It is unfortunate that the government is not responding to our genuine demand. There would be no loss of man-hours because we have agreed to an extra 40 minutes working per day from Monday to Friday," UFBU said in a statement. Already, RBI, LIC, GIC, etc., are working for 5 days a week, it said, adding that the foreign exchange market, money market, stock exchanges

India becomes world's largest rice producer, surpasses China: Agri minister

India has become the world's largest rice producer, beating China, with a total output of 150.18 million tonnes, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Sunday, as he released 184 new varieties of 25 crops. These new high-yielding seed varieties would boost crop production and enhance farmers' income, he said, while directing the ministry officials to ensure that these new varieties reach farmers quickly. The minister unveiled 184 improved varieties of 25 field crops developed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research at an event held in the national capital, according to an official statement. Addressing the event, Chouhan said the country has achieved great success in the development of high-yielding seeds. Since the gazette notification process began in 1969, a total of 7,205 crop varieties have been notified, including rice, wheat, sorghum, maize, pulses, oilseeds, fiber crops, among others. Chouhan informed that 3,236 high-yielding varieties have been ..

US-Venezuela conflict unlikely to affect India trade: GTRI report

The US-Venezuela conflict will have a negligible impact on India's trade with the South American country, think tank GTRI said on Sunday. On January 4, American forces carried out a large military operation in Venezuela, capturing President Nicolas Maduro and his wife and taking them to the US to face various charges, including narco-terrorism and drug trafficking. "India faces negligible impact, as trade with Venezuela has collapsed under sanctions, with crude imports down 81.3 per cent in FY2025 and overall bilateral trade remaining marginal," the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) Founder Ajay Srivastava said. For India, he said, the Venezuelan disturbance is unlikely to have any material economic or energy impact. Although India was a major buyer of Venezuelan crude in the 2000s and 2010s, bilateral engagement has weakened sharply since 2019 due to US sanctions, which forced India to cut oil imports and scale back commercial activity to avoid secondary sanctions, he added.

Centre to tackle fertiliser misuse, promote balanced use: JP Nadda

Union Fertilisers Minister J P Nadda on Saturday said the government will address issues relating to balanced fertiliser use and diversion of fertilisers for non-agricultural purposes in coordination with various departments. Speaking at a day-long Chintan Shivir in the national capital, Nadda said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has consistently placed farmers at the core of governance, and policies must aim to ease their lives. "Despite various challenging circumstances, the department has successfully met the fertiliser requirements of farmers," he said, highlighting record production and necessary imports this year due to farmer-friendly measures. Minister of State for Fertilizers Anupriya Patel said the brainstorming session will generate ideas to aid in making India a developed nation by 2047, an official statement said. Fertiliser Secretary Rajat Kumar Mishra said the government, PSUs and the private sector have all placed farmers at the centre of deliberations. "We have kept

Andhra Pradesh corners 25.3% of FY26 investments: Bank of Baroda report

The private sector dominated the investment pipeline with a share of 89.7 per cent or ₹23.87 trillion, while government sector investments stood at ₹2.75 trillion

Centre okays 22 more investment proposals worth ₹42K crore under ECMS

The government has approved 22 additional applications under the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme, taking total approvals to 46 companies with cumulative investment of Rs 54,567 crore

Ultra-rich splurge ₹7,186 cr on 51 homes in 2025; Mumbai dominates

Mumbai accounted for 35 of the 51 ultra-luxury home deals in 2025, cornering over ₹5,100 crore in value, as India's wealthy continued to back big-ticket residential assets

Semaglutide patent loss to create ₹5,000 crore opportunity: Report

Patent expiries of blockbuster weight-loss drug semaglutide may create a ₹5,000 crore generic opportunity for Indian pharma firms across India and key emerging and regulated markets

Air India pulls ahead of IndiGo in India's busiest Mumbai-Delhi skies route

Mumbai-Delhi corridor ranks among world's top 10 as competition pushes fares lower

New Year's Eve frenzy: Grapes, biryani, pizzas among most-ordered items

The surge in sales activity, across different platforms, came even as gig worker unions had called a nationwide strike

Car sales zoom 26% in Dec on GST cut, year-end rush lifts wholesale demand

For calendar year 2025, domestic PV wholesales stood at 4.55 million units, marking a 5.7 per cent YoY increase

Coal India posts 4.6% output growth in December, but offtake drops 5.2%

Coal India on Thursday reported a 4.6 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in production and a 5.2 per cent fall in offtake in December. The miner, along with its eight subsidiaries, produced 75.7 million tonnes (MT) of coal in December 2025, higher than 72.4 MT in the same month in 2024. However, the offtake was at 64.9 MT in the month under review, lower than 68.5 MT in December 2024. Coal India's cumulative production fell by 2.6 per cent to 529.2 MT in April-December FY26 from 543.4 MT in the nine-month period of the preceding FY25. Offtake during the period also slipped 2.2 per cent to 544.7 MT from 557 MT in April-December 2024-25. Coal India, under the Ministry of Coal, is India's largest coal mining company.

Power consumption rises 7% to 138.39 billion units in Dec amid cold wave

Power consumption grew nearly 7 per cent to 138.39 billion units (BU) in December from 129.39 BU a year ago, as the use of heating appliances like geysers and blowers increased on account of severe cold in North India. According to the government data, the peak power demand met or the highest supply during December also rose to 241.20 GW from 224.23 GW recorded in December 2024. The peak power demand had touched an all-time high of about 250 GW in May 2024. The previous all-time high peak power demand of 243.27 GW was recorded in September 2023. However, this summer (April onwards), the record peak power demand was 242.77 GW in June. According to government estimate, peak power demand was expected to touch 277 GW in the summer of 2025. Experts said as cold intensified in December, use of heating appliances like geysers and blowers increased. This increased the demand as well as consumption of electricity in various parts of the country, especially North. They said power consumpti

In an AI world, BPM industry embraces AI to rethink the BPO future

Explaining the rationale behind the acquisition, Capgemini chief executive officer Aiman Ezzat said the BPM industry remains one of the fastest-growing segments

Treasury income under pressure for banks in Q3 as yields stay elevated

RBI repo rate cuts fail to ease yields across tenors

Carmakers flex dealer, service networks to drive growth beyond metros

Network scale seen as central to tapping smaller markets

Auto registrations hit record 28 mn in 2025, EV sales steal the spotlight

India's vehicle registrations crossed 28 million in calendar year 2025 for the first time, driven by steady overall demand and strong growth in electric two-wheelers and passenger EVs

India can save $1 bn in crude imports by replacing 10% diesel with LNG

Reducing liquid-fuel demand will lower exposure to global oil price shocks as India remains heavily dependent on imported crude oil, said the country's petroleum regulator

Bharat Taxi to roll out by January-end after successful pilot in Delhi

The cooperatives-backed ride-hailing service Bharat Taxi will be officially launched in Delhi and other cities by the end of January, following an encouraging response during its soft launch, a senior cooperation ministry official said on Thursday. The digital platform, operated by Sahakar Taxi Cooperative Ltd, was introduced in the capital on a pilot basis on December 2, 2024. "We have received a very good response for the Bharat Taxi service during the soft launch. The official launch will be done by month-end," Panjak Kumar Bansal, Additional Secretary in the Cooperation Ministry, told PTI. The service has been recording an average of 5,500 rides daily, including 4,000 from the airport and 1,500 from other locations across cab, auto and bike categories, Bansal said. More than 1.4 lakh drivers have registered on the app so far. Sahakar Taxi Cooperative Ltd is promoted by eight leading cooperative organisations -- Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul), IFFCO, KRIB