ePaper | THE ECONOMIC TIMES

  • The Economic Times
  • The Times of India
  • Mirror
  • Maharashtra Times
Front PagePure PoliticsET MarketsThe Edit PageSmart InvestingBrands & CompaniesDisruption: Startups & Tech
More
Sports World PlayEconomy: Macro, Micro & MoreET PanacheAround the World
Sports World PlayEconomy: Macro, Micro & MoreET PanacheAround the World

1Front Page

The capital market regulator wants credit rating agencies (CRAs) to play a larger role to restrain dodgy companies from raising money in the equity market.

Reliance Retail’s top deck has given an express direction that all new stores must break even within 6-12 months, failing which they will either be shut down or replaced with another retail format, executives aware of the details told ET.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have surpassed foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in ownership of companies listed on the National Stock Exchange for the first time in more than 22 years, underscoring the growing appetite of Indians for equities.
Super-specialists had replaced general physicians at the top of the healthcare pyramid decades ago. In the world of pin-striped suits, too, they are making their presence count—right at the very top of the hierarchy.
India reactivated its Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) fleet that had been grounded since January to identify possible technical defects as border tensions simmered, with significant military movement observed across the Line of Control (LoC).
Gross goods and services tax (GST) collection surged 12.6% year-on-year in April to a record ₹2.37 lakh crore, in a buoyant start to this financial year. The surge reflects strong domestic consumption, greater formalisation of the economy and improved compliance.
India may insist on local ownership of certain intellectual property (IP) rights as a precondition for private investors looking to set up nuclear power plants as the government seeks to increase the country’s atomic energy capacity, officials working on the policy told ET.

2Pure Politics

The Supreme Court has underscored the need for Indians to unite and fight terrorism at this “crucial hour”. The top court passed verbal remarks while adjudicating on a PIL seeking probe by a judicial commission headed by a retired SC judge into the recent terror attack on tourists in Pahalgam.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar reiterated India’s resolve to bring the perpetrators and backers of the Pahalgam terrorist attack to justice when the US secretary of state Marco Rubio held separate talks with his Indian counterpart and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday to encourage the two sides to work together to “de-escalate tensions” and “maintain peace and security in South Asia”.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday said that the April 22 terrorist attack in Kashmir did not reflect the teachings of Islam practised in Indonesia and that any system influenced by the military does not produce desired results.
Union Minister and Apna Dal (S) chief Anupriya Patel feels caste census will help formulate data-driven policies for the intended beneficiaries. In an interview to Rakesh Mohan Chaturvedi, she hit out at Rahul Gandhi and the Congress for trying to claim credit. Excerpts:
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu has sought a legal sanctity through an Act of Parliament for Amaravati, the state’s new capital city which had been scrapped by his predecessor and bete noire YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Having put the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, India may soon give the go-ahead for ‘flushing’ or desilting of key hydel plants in J&K instead of waiting for the monsoons, ET has learnt.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday called the Centre’s announcement on caste census an “eyewash” and said the Modi regime had no intention of conducting a genuine exercise.
Pakistan army chief Gen Asim Munir has taken firm control over civilian authority with the first appointment of a serving military general, in this case DG ISI Lt Gen Asim Malik, as Pakistan’s national security adviser. Put simply, the Pakistan NSA will follow the DG ISI’s military chain of command and report directly to the army chief.
Pakistani FM radio stations on Thursday stopped airing Indian songs following tensions between the two countries over the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 people were killed. "The Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) has stopped airing Indian songs on Pakistani FM radio stations across the country with immediate effect," PBA Secretary General Shakeel Masood said.
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday hailed the government’s decision to conduct a nationwide caste census as a “game changer” and, targeting the opposition, said it had exposed the difference between “true intentions and empty sloganeering”.
India is considering a ban on postal services and access to Pakistani websites as part of its broader diplomatic offensive against Islamabad, people aware of the developments told ET.
Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that “every person responsible for terrorism (Pahalgam attack) will be answered and will be made answerable”.
Union minister and LJP (RV) leader Chirag Paswan on Thursday heaped praises on PM Narendra Modi for announcing the caste census. Paswan slammed the Opposition parties for claiming credit for the decision and said the Opposition only used it as a political weapon while PM Modi took the right decision at the right time.
The NIA court in Budgam district of central Kashmir on Wednesday declared US-based Ghulam Nabi Fai as a proclaimed offender in an Unlawful Activities Prevention (Act) case registered in 2020. This was after the police filed a plea highlighting Fai’s persistent non-cooperation.
Terming Pak a “failed state”, NC chief Farooq Abdullah on Thursday said ties between New Delhi and Islamabad will never improve until a people’s government is elected there.
After the Indian Government cancelled all kinds of visas of Pakistani nationals currently in India, Minal Khan, a Pakistani national who was married to a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) constable in Jammu was granted a last-minute relief by the J&K High Court.
The caste census, a long-standing demand of socialist parties and more recently the Congress, is now officially on the national agenda. On Wednesday, the NDA government at the Centre announced that caste enumeration would be included in the upcoming census. The timing of this decision is politically significant, reflecting deeper strategic calculations by the BJP.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh called out Pakistan as a rogue state that has been fuelling global terrorism in a phone conversation with the US secretary of defence Pete Hegseth on Thursday.
The Congress leadership is faced with a twin task: First, in finding ways to deal with the Modi government’s attempt to walk away with the caste census plank from the Opposition party, particularly Rahul Gandhi who, of late, latched on to it for yet another make-over attempt.

3ET Markets

Among the oldest Wall Street adages is “Sell in May and go away,” although stocks haven’t really stuck to that predictably dystopian script lately. Instead, risk assets have often advanced in value through the month.

Chhattisgarh based Jinkushal Industries has filed a draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities & Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for an initial public offering (IPO) on Thursday.

Microsoft and Meta Platforms pushed Wall Street higher on Thursday after reporting profits for the start of the year that were even bigger than analysts expected.
FPIs were net buyers of Indian equities in April, driven by a shift in their stance in the middle of the month. It was in response to the rising optimism that the country would benefit more from the US tariffs among emerging markets.
Oil held steady on Thursday after strong earnings from Meta and Microsoft supported US equities and postponement of US-Iran talks offset concerns about the US economy and the prospect of higher OPEC+ oil output.
Gold dipped to a two-week low on Thursday, pressured by signals of softening trade tensions and a holiday in top consumer China, while focus was also on Friday's U.S. payrolls report to gauge the economic outlook.
US-based private equity giant Carlyle is looking to offload its entire remaining stake in PNB Housing Finance through a $308 million — or ₹2,604 crore — block trade on Friday, according to a term sheet issued by IIFL Capital.

4The Edit Page

India’s strategic retaliatory measure against Pakistan, pledging to ring-fence it on multiple fronts for its active patronage and sustenance of terrorists, signals the return of an iron-fist approach. In this context, GoI’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), signed in 1960 in Karachi with mediation by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), is important.

Some of us may be following the news to figure out who the next pope will be. Trump has joked that he’s his first choice, a matter not to be taken lightly since he once said something similar about the American presidency.

The US has retained India among the priority watch list of jurisdictions that it claims do not provide adequate safeguards to intellectual property. The Indian response has, on earlier occasions, highlighted that its IPR regime is compliant with WTO rules.
In the 2000s, China recognised that technological dependence was a strategic liability because it relied on US chips, Western operating systems and telecom infra. This triggered a strategy rooted in constructive paranoia, and the launch of mission-driven policies:
The humble saunf embodies a world of simple, yet profound, pleasures. A staple in households and after-meal entries at restaurants, this heap of ‘seed-like’ herb doesn’t merely tantalise the taste buds, it evokes a sensory celebration, a quiet poetry that dances across the palate, both cleansing it and enriching it at the same time.
I like to listen. I have learnt a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen — Ernest Hemingway is spot on. As humans, we possess the unique ability to truly understand and empathise with someone when we listen.
India has been working the phones, reaching out to UNSC non-permanent members in the wake of difficult negotiations over the statement condemning the Pahalgam terror attack.

5Smart Investing

Private banks counter-intuitively charged more on fresh rupee loans in March—the highest for five months despite a quarter percentage point cut in policy rates three weeks before—as tight liquidity and high funding costs prevented such lenders from lowering the borrowing rate for the average loan customer.

European and Asian money managers are showing signs of losing some of their appetite for lending to US companies as trade wars heat up, in a potentially worrying sign for corporate America.

Adani Enterprises on Thursday posted a more than seven-fold jump in consolidated net profit for the fiscal fourth quarter at ₹3,845 crore, boosted by an exceptional gain from the sale of its stake in Adani Wilmar.
Bond purchases by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to help infuse liquidity into the system via open market operations (OMO) is likely to eclipse such measures through the Covid period.
Two key management persons — chief risk officer and chief operations officer — have resigned from SBFC Finance Company for personal reasons, the company informed exchanges.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone clocked in a 50% year-on-year growth in its consolidated profit for the March quarter at ₹3,023 crore, aided by a 23% jump in revenue to ₹8,488 crore.
The General Insurance Council (GIC) has begun rolling out the regulator’s common empanelment of hospitals, with a target to onboard 4,000-5,000 hospitals in the coming months, which will have uniform pricing terms.

6Brands & Companies

Oyo on Thursday announced plans to enter the F&B business with in-house kitchens and Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) carts/lobby stores at its company serviced hotels, with a focus on its Townhouse-branded properties.

A well-known Bengaluru-based venture capitalist, known for his early Sunday morning walks with fellow startup veterans, was recently approached by a tech-savvy politician keen to join the group.

The US Food and Drug Administration will require all new vaccines to undergo placebo-controlled trials before approval — a policy shift that could reshape how immunisations are developed. The change will bring “radical transparency to the American public,” said Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Homegrown auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) pipped rivals Hyundai Motor India and Tata Motors to grab the second spot in the passenger vehicle segment last month, powered by demand for its range of SUVs.
The government is considering bringing the controversial opioid Tapentadol under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act following allegations of unbridled exports of the drug to West African nations causing an opioid addiction crisis there.
Mumbai Airport on Thursday refuted a global airlines group’s claim that its plan to halt cargo flights and cut historic passenger slots was aimed at pushing airlines toward the upcoming Navi Mumbai Airport.
Patanjali Ayurveda co-founder and yoga guru, Ramdev, Thursday promised to take down his new video containing objectionable remarks against Hamdard’s popular drink Rooh Afza in 24 hours, after the Delhi High Court warned him of initiating contempt of court proceedings for disobeying its earlier orders.
The civil aviation regulator has exempted Air India from complying with the rules on pilot rest and duty timings for ultra-long-haul flights to manage the disruption caused by Pakistan’s airspace closure, according to an internal note at the airline.
Incoming CEOs are actively negotiating job contracts to secure their interests, as a growing perform-or-perish culture raises the stakes for India Inc’s top leadership.
Affiliates of the Big Six professional services firms—Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG, Grant Thornton, and BDO—handled 326 of the 483 Nifty-500 company audits as of March 31, accounting for more than two-thirds of all mandates and reinforcing their dominant hold on India’s largest listed companies, showed the latest data from a research company on the capital markets.

7Disruption: Startups & Tech

Meta Platforms rode strong advertising performance to beat analysts’ estimates for the first quarter and match expectations for next quarter, assuaging concerns from investors over tariff-related growth fears

Google’s ad network has begun showing advertising within the flow of conversations with chatbots — part of Alphabet Inc.’s efforts to keep its edge in digital advertising as generative artificial intelligence takes off.

The Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) has postponed implementation of a network infrastructure development and services fee it had proposed to levy on seller apps on the government-backed ecommerce network.
Eternal, the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit, on Thursday reported a steep 78% year-on-year decline in its net profit for the January-March quarter at ₹39 crore, as mounting losses from quick commerce continued to drag down its overall earnings.
Karnataka has no plans to review its ban on bike taxis, official sources said, as app-based aggregators and hundreds of bike taxi operators pursue their demand hoping for a favourable outcome.
In a breakthrough that can transform pollution control and clean tech, researchers at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT-G) have developed a low-cost material that can clean industrial wastewater, separate oil spills, and potentially even power wearable sensors.
As the Reserve Bank of India strengthens its rules of governance around the gold loan sector, new-age fintech firms are sensing an opportunity either through partnerships with banks and non-banking lenders or by scaling up on their own.
The setting up of new global capability centres (GCCs) and expansion of existing ones are facing some short-term pauses and delayed decision-making – particularly in tariff-sensitive sectors like automotive – amid uncertainty over proposed US tariffs, experts tracking the space told ET.
With Vodafone Idea clearing its large overdues to Indus Towers, the tower company said it plans to aggressively expand its market share using both organic and acquisition means.
In a major loss for Karnataka, Zoho chief scientist Sridhar Vembu announced on Thursday that his company was shelving its semiconductor fabrication investment plan “since this business is so capital intensive, it requires government backing.”
Cognizant Technology Solutions reported a more than 21% year-on-year as well as sequential increase in net profit to $663 million for the first quarter ended March, helped by a land sale gain and a low base.

8Companies: Pursuit of Profit

YouTube has paid more than ₹21,000 crore to Indian creators, artists, and media companies in the past three years, and is set to invest over ₹850 crore in the next two years to accelerate the growth of India's thriving creator economy, CEO Neal Mohan announced on Thursday.

Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the most effective path for building economic resilience is to build domestic efficiencies and competitiveness.

India’s next phase of economic growth will be “driven by creativity, not code”, as generative artificial intelligence reshapes storytelling, content creation and digital production, said Adobe Systems chief executive Shantanu Narayen.
Power consumption rose marginally by 2.2 % to 147.48 billion units (BU) in April compared to 144.28 BU in the same month last year, according to official data.
The ministry of road transport and highways has imposed additional performance security on bidders of road projects for bids lower than the estimated cost of the project while doing away with the earlier criteria of imposing additional security on a case-to-case basis.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) Thursday approved Jubilant Beverages' (JBL) acquisition of a 40% stake in Hindustan Coca-Cola Holdings and private equity firm KKR’s purchase of HealthCare Global Enterprises.
Petrol sales grew 4.6% and diesel 4% in April over the same month last year, according to the provisional consumption data released by the oil ministry.
India’s media and entertainment sector could grow to more than $100 billion in the next 10 years from $28 billion now, provided the country makes focused investments in infrastructure, talent and technology, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani said Thursday.
The labour ministry has exempted a coal block allotted to Vedanta Ltd from provisions relating to using contract labour at its Jamkhani coal mines, Bileimunda, in Odisha’s Sundargarh district, for three years.
India is entering an era of orange economy, or creative economy, with the country emerging as a global hub for film production, digital content, gaming, fashion, music, and live concerts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Thursday.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will prioritise the swift completion of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) investigations, aiming for quicker filing of final prosecution complaints (chargesheets) to expedite trials, ED Director Rahul Navin announced Thursday during the agency's foundation day address.

9Sports World Play

As Inter Milan defenders trooped off the Barcelona pitch, exhausted, they were still able to gather themselves for a common sentiment.

Mumbai Indians extended their remarkable winning streak to six matches with a 100-run rout of Rajasthan Royals on Thursday, pushing the home team out of the playoffs race.

10Economy: Macro, Micro & More

Improved economic activities that generate more profitable work has seen fewer people seeking work under the government’s flagship rural employment programme for the first time in six months in April from a year before.

The government has asked imported coal-based power plants to continue running at full capacity till June-end, two people aware of the development said.

Only three foreign manufacturing companies set up operations in India in 2024-25 despite the government’s push to turn the country into a global manufacturing hub, according to data from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).
The Indian Railways is evaluating globally available technologies for an end-to-end overhaul of operations and services, officials said.

11ET Panache

The conscious luxury home furnishings brand by D’Decor, recently hosted its most expansive and visionary showcase yet, unveiling a new product line for bedding and debuting new collections of curtains and upholstery. Brand ambassador Ranveer Singh brought his signature, infectious energy to t he showcase.

The amount that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) had invested in CloudKitchens, a startup run by former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, in 2019.

Golfers teeing off at the Trump Turnberry course in Scotland on April 30 would have been oblivious to Greenpeace’s ‘sandy’ protest against US President Donald Trump a few hundred metres away, which was only properly visible from the air.
Instead of a typical tourist trail, she opted for a curated itinerary to explore the best of Brisbane and Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia

12Around the World

A US judge on Wednesday accused Apple of defying an order to loosen its grip on the App Store payment system to the point that criminal charges could be warranted.

Senate Republicans narrowly voted down a Democratic resolution that would have blocked global tariffs announced by President Donald Trump earlier this month, giving the president a modest win as lawmakers in both parties have remained skeptical of his trade agenda.

Billionaire Elon Musk said he is considering sending his government efficiency team to the Federal Reserve, citing a costly renovation of the central bank’s Washington, DC, headquarters as an example of potential government waste.
U.S. President Donald Trump ousted his national security adviser Mike Waltz on Thursday and named Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his interim replacement in the first major shakeup of Trump's inner circle since he took office in January.
HSBC Holdings’ chairman Mark Tucker said he would stand down by the end of the year after a turbulent eight-year tenure that has seen him oversee three changes of CEO, a clash with one of the bank’s largest shareholders, and a public slapdown from the US government.
At least 73 people have been killed in two days of sectarian clashes in Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday.
Bushfires that erupted near Jerusalem were largely brought under control on Thursday, authorities said, with major roads reopened and firefighting teams still tackling lingering hotspots.
The Bank of Japan pushed back the timing for when it expects to reach its inflation target and slashed its growth forecasts as the global trade war initiated by US President Donald Trump darkens the economic outlook.
Iran condemned as “economic terrorism” Thursday a decision by its longtime foe the United States to impose new sanctions in the midst of negotiations for a new nuclear deal.
The fortunes of Big Tech are diverging in a rapidly changing business landscape, as demand for artificial intelligence fuels growth in cloud and digital ads while consumer electronics take a battering from President Donald Trump's global trade war.
South Korea’s technology exports soared last month, trade data showed Thursday, with experts pointing to stockpiling in anticipation of US President Donald Trump potentially imposing steep tariffs.
The US and Ukraine reached a deal over access to the country’s natural resources, offering a measure of assurance to officials in Kyiv who had feared that President Donald Trump would pull back his support in peace talks with Russia.
ET Print Edition: All you need to know
In today’s fast-paced world, reading a newspaper while having a cup of tea is a distant dream. Realising the hardship faced by newspaper lovers nowadays, Economic Times has come up with a unique initiative called ET Print Edition.

The ET Print Edition is a digital experience of the Economic Times newspaper, which is published daily. It helps you get the enormous amount of valuable information published in the newspaper daily in the digital form.

So, you get acquainted with all national and international affairs of the world while you are on the go. The best part is you can access the digital copies of our daily published stories in the print, anytime, anywhere.

What is ET Print Edition?

  • ET Print Edition is a replica of the Economic Times newspaper in the digital form. All the ET newspaper stories are presented in a format that is easy to read. The vital news from India and around the world is just a click away.
  • It has a toolbar that helps you jump from one page to the other without scrolling. The site opens up with a 'Front Page' followed by 'Pure Politics', and so on. It gives you all the important news of the day.

How can you access ET Print Edition?

  • All the Economic Times Prime members can access the ET Print Edition for free and enjoy its benefits
  • Free users on the Economic Times website can access limited content of the ET Print Edition. To get complete access to ET Print Edition, the users need to become a ET Prime Member.

What are the most significant features of ET Print Edition?

ET Print Edition is a digital avatar of the Economic Times newspaper. It has gained immense popularity amongst avid readers in no time. Here’s why it’s being loved by several readers.

  • Delivered to Your Email Inbox Every Morning: The Print Edition in digital form is sent to your email inbox at around 7 am in the morning when the subscribers of the print copy of the newspaper receive it. You can go through the daily news while having breakfast!
  • Accessible on Different Devices: No matter what gadget you are more comfortable with, ET Print Edition will be available on it. Whether it is a laptop or your smartphone, you can access the ET Print Edition with ease.
  • Archive Option Available: There is a specific feature, which can help you read the stories published in the past weeks. The 'Archive' option lets you read all the news published after April 25, 2022.
  • Sharp, Interactive Design For Better User Experience: The news stories come in a properly formatted design, which is not only easy to browse but convenient to read on all devices.

The Economic Times