Electronic visa (e-visas) accounted for 82 per cent of all visa applications in India in 2025, up from 79 per cent in 2024, according to a report on Wednesday.

The report by Atlys, a visa processing platform, showcased the expanding list of countries offering Indians simplified digital entry options with detailed stay durations and validity terms.

The UAE, Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Egypt emerged as the leading e-Visa destinations for Indians this year.

एक नई रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि भारत ने 2025 की पहली छमाही में 3.8 गीगावाट (GW) सौर ओपन-एक्सेस क्षमता और दूसरी तिमाही में 2.7 गीगावाट की वृद्धि की है।

मेरकॉम की एक रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, 2025 की दूसरी तिमाही में सौर ओपन-एक्सेस क्षमता वृद्धि में महाराष्ट्र शीर्ष पर रहा, जिसने कुल स्थापनाओं में 30 प्रतिशत से अधिक का योगदान दिया।

रिपोर्ट में संकेत दिया गया है कि 2024 की पहली छमाही में स्थापनाओं में वृद्धि की संभावना है क्योंकि ओपन-एक्सेस डेवलपर्स ने अनुमोदित मॉडलों और निर्माताओं की सूची को फिर से लागू करने से पहले परियोजनाओं की कमीशनिंग में तेजी लाई। 2025 की पहली छमाही में, परियोजना निष्पादन में थोड़ी गिरावट आई।

India added 3.8 gigawatts (GW) of solar open access capacity in the first half of 2025, and 2.7 GW in the second quarter alone, a new report has said.

Maharashtra topped solar open access capacity additions in Q2 2025, contributing over 30 per cent of total installations, according to a report from Mercom.

The report indicated that the installations in H1 2024 were skewed towards the upside as open access developers expedited project commissioning before the reimposition of the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers. In H1 2025, project execution faced a slight decline.

The Odisha government has released the draft Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy 2025, setting an ambitious roadmap to accelerate green mobility and make the state a national leader in sustainable transportation.

The draft policy aims to achieve 50 per cent electric vehicle adoption in new registrations by 2030, expanding incentives across all vehicle categories -- ranging from two-wheelers and cars to buses, trucks, and construction equipment.

The state government has included several significant promotional measures in the new policy as the state fell short of its earlier target under the 2021 EV Policy, which aimed for 20 per cent adoption by August 2025 but recorded only 9 per cent penetration. The state government has expanded the incentives provided on the purchase of electric two-, three-, and four-wheelers, buses, trucks, and retrofitted vehicles. The subsidies have been linked to performance and efficiency.

Apple, which is stepping up its manufacturing push in India, has spread iPhone 17 production across five local factories, which will be available in the country from September 19. According to analysts on Wednesday, the festive season is set to herald new sales records for the US-based giant.

Apple is also expected to manufacture fewer units of the ‘Pro’ models in India, according to industry sources.

Foxconn has started rolling out iPhone 17 units at its new $2.8 billion facility in Devanahalli, near Bengaluru. The plant, which is Foxconn’s second-largest iPhone factory outside China, is now running alongside its Chennai unit.

Experts view the Bengaluru factory’s launch and the broader manufacturing shift as a major milestone in Apple’s diversification strategy.

Shares of IT giant Infosys Limited rose over 4 per cent on Tuesday after the company announced that its board will consider a proposal on September 11 for an equity share buyback.

Infosys shares were trading at Rs 1,496.30, up Rs 63.40 or 4.42 per cent today. The stock rose by Rs 7 over the last five days, marking a 0.47 per cent increase.

The Bengaluru-based IT company plans to spend Rs 13,560 crore on the buyback, priced at an average premium of 25 per cent per share according to multiple media reports.

With Artificial Intelligence (AI) transforming how Google Search is being used, the tech giant on Tuesday announced the launch of its AI mode in Hindi for users across the globe.

The update, which uses a custom version of Gemini 2.5, enables users to ask longer, more complex, or nuanced questions in Hindi and receive more helpful and personalised answers.

“We recently launched it in English in India and have received great feedback on its ability to handle complex queries. We're thrilled to take the next step: starting today, we're rolling out AI Mode in Hindi for users around the world,” the company said in a blogpost.

Two-wheeler retail sales in India reached 13,73,675 units in August, up 2.18 per cent against 13,44,380 units in the year-ago period, even as as customers postpone purchases till September 22 when GST reforms come into effect.

According to latest data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), passenger vehicle (PV) sales were marginally up at 3,23,256 units last month compared to 3,20,291 units in August 2024.

The commercial vehicle segment witnessed a growth of 8.55 per cent at 75,592 units as compared to 69,635 units in August last year. Three-wheeler retail sales were at 1,03,105 units.

The price of home-cooked vegetarian and non-vegetarian thalis declined 7 per cent and 8 per cent in August (year-on-year), respectively, amid benign commodity prices in India, a report showed on Monday.

The decline in the cost of vegetarian thali was led by a sharp drop in prices of onion, potato and pulses, according to Crisil Intelligence.

Prices of potato and onion declined 31 per cent and 37 per cent on-year, respectively, on a high base. In the year-ago period, potato production had shrunk 5-7 per cent due to blight infestation and weather changes, pushing up the prices.

Sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in South Korea jumped nearly 50 per cent from a year earlier in the first eight months of the year, helped by the release of new models, data showed on Monday.

According to data from the Korea Automobile & Mobility Association (KAMA), accumulated sales of EVs during the January-August period came to 142,456 units, compared with 95,988 units tallied last year, reports news agency.

EVs accounted for 12.7 percent of all cars newly registered in South Korea during the cited period, up 3.8 percentage points from the same period last year, according to KAMA.

The association attributed the sharp increase to the release of new models, including the launch of Tesla's Model Y in May, with Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia, introducing more affordable EVs as well.

Major battery makers reported a continued decrease in factory utilisation rates in the first half due to waning global demand for electric vehicles (EVs), data showed on Friday.

In its semiannual report, industry leader LG Energy Solution Ltd. (LGES) said its production capacity stood at 20.1 trillion won (US$14.5 billion) in the first six months of this year, with an average plant capacity utilisation rate of 51.3 percent.

The figure has steadily declined from 73.6 percent in 2022 to 69.3 percent in 2023 and 57.8 percent last year, reports news agency.

India's merchandise exports registered a 7.29 per cent increase to $37.24 billion in July this year, compared with the corresponding figure of $34.71 billion in the same month last year, according to official data released on Thursday.

"Despite an uncertain global policy environment, India's services and merchandise exports in July and in FY26 so far have grown substantially, and are much higher than the global exports growth," Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal said.

"Major drivers of goods exports in July were engineering goods, electronics goods, drugs and pharma, organic and inorganic chemicals, gems and jewellery,” he pointed out.

The surge in goods exports is also due to stepped-up shipments ahead of the higher US tariffs that will kick in from later in August.

The sales of automobiles in the country posted a "stable performance" in July this year, across all segments including passenger vehicles (cars and utility vehicles), two-wheelers, three-wheelers and quadricycle, to cross a total of 26.98 lakh units during the month, according to a Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) statement released on Thursday.

The two-wheeler segment grew by 8.7 per cent in July 2025, as compared to July 2024, with sales surpassing 15.67 lakh units. Scooter sales grew by 16.2 per cent to 6,43,169 in July as compared with 5,53,642 units in the corresponding month last year. Similarly, motorcycle sales grew by 4.7 per cent to 8,90,107 units during the month as compared with 8,50,489 units in July 2024.

Black Box Limited, a leading provider of digital infrastructure solutions, announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. The Company delivered a resilient performance with year-over-year improvement in both operating profit and net profitability, despite the ongoing global tariff uncertainty that impacted project execution timelines.

Building on the strong operational foundation laid in FY25, when the Company completed its multi-year turnaround and achieved significant margin expansion, Q1 FY26 reflected continued discipline in execution, robust profitability, and an expanding order book.

Revenue for Q1 FY26 stood at Rs 1,387 crore compared to Rs 1,423 crore in Q1 FY25. The delay in equipment procurement by certain clients, because of the prevailing tariff environment, resulted in deference of the service execution and revenue recognition.

Leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin hit a record high of $124,210 on Thursday over increasing expectations for more lenient monetary policy from the US Federal Reserve.

The development, coupled with supportive financial reforms, particularly under the pro-crypto stance of the US President Donald Trump's administration, boosted investor sentiment.

The world's largest crypto asset by market capitalisation climbed over 0.9 per cent to $124,210, surpassing its previous peak in July. But as of 10.30 am, the BTC has dropped to $1,23,036.80. The second-largest crypto-token Ether also hit $4,780.04, the highest level since late 2021.

 In order to address financial fraud, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has directed banks and payment apps to halt all peer-to-peer (P2P) "collect requests" from October 1.

But merchants can continue to submit collect requests. The "collect request" or "pull transaction" feature allows a user to request money from another subscriber through UPI, a facility often misused by fraudsters to trick users into authorising payments.

When a user attempts a UPI payment on Flipkart, Amazon, Swiggy, or IRCTC apps, these merchants send a collect request to the user's application. The request is processed once the user approves and enters the UPI PIN.

Tata Motors, India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer, on Wednesday announced that it has entered the Dominican Republic market through a partnership with Equimax, its authorised distributor in the country.

The move is part of Tata Motors’ global expansion plan and aims to offer a range of commercial vehicles tailored to the region’s logistics, infrastructure, and last-mile delivery needs.

The company has launched several models, including the Tata Super Ace for quick last-mile delivery, the Tata Xenon pickup for heavy-duty utility work, the Ultra series of trucks (T.6, T.7, T.9) for smart urban logistics, and the LPT 613 tipper designed for construction and infrastructure projects.

These vehicles are built to provide strong performance, durability, and lower operating costs -- qualities that have contributed to Tata Motors’ global reputation.

Chennai-based online matchmaking company Matrimony.com on Wednesday reported a 39.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) drop in its profit for the first quarter of the financial year 2025-26 (Q1 FY26).

The company posted a net profit of Rs 8.4 crore in the first quarter of the current financial year, compared to the Rs 13.9 crore it earned in the same period previous year (Q1 FY25), according to its stock exchange filing.

However, compared to the previous quarter (Q4 FY25), profit rose slightly by 2.69 per cent from Rs 8.2 crore.

Revenue during the April–June 2025 quarter stood at Rs 115.3 crore, down 4.83 per cent from Rs 120.59 crore in the year-ago period.

On a sequential basis, revenue grew 6.47 per cent from Rs 108.3 crore in the previous quarter, the company’s exchange filing showed.

Tech giant Apple has denied any foul play, insisting its platform is “fair and free of bias" after Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk accused the iPhone maker of favouritism in App Store rankings.

Musk had claimed that that OpenAI’s ChatGPT ranks first because of Apple’s favouritism, while his apps, X and xAI’s Grok, are being sidelined.

Apple denied allegations that its App Store algorithms or curated lists favour ChatGPT over Musk’s offerings. “The App Store is designed to be fair and free of bias,” the company insisted, adding that recommendations are based on charts, algorithms, and expert editorial curation using objective criteria, according to multiple media reports.

“Our goal is to offer safe discovery for users and valuable opportunities for developers, collaborating with many to increase app visibility in rapidly evolving categories,” the company’s statement continued.

Life sciences company Hikal Limited on Thursday reported a net loss of Rs 22.4 crore for the quarter ended June 30 (Q1 FY26) -- marking a sharp reversal from a net profit of Rs 5.1 crore in the same period previous year (Q1 FY25).

The Mumbai-based company’s revenue from operations dropped by 6.5 per cent to Rs 380.4 crore, down from Rs 406.8 crore in Q1 FY25, according to its stock exchange.

On a sequential basis, revenue also fell from Rs 552.4 crore reported in the previous quarter (Q4 FY25).

Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 381.4 crore, compared to Rs 407.3 crore a year ago and Rs 552.9 crore in the March 2025 quarter.

The production of electronics goods in the country saw six-time growth in the last 11 years -- from Rs 1.9 lakh crore in 2014-15 to Rs 11.3 lakh crore in 2024-25, as exports surged eight times from Rs 38,000 crore to Rs 3.27 lakh crore in the same period, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

India now has 300 mobile manufacturing units, from just two in 2014-15, while production of mobile phones has increased a whopping 28 times in the last 11 years -- from Rs 18,000 crore to Rs 5.45 lakh crore, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The export of mobile phones saw a stupendous 127 per cent growth -- from Rs 1,500 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 2 lakh crore in 2024-25, the minister said.

The daily unified payments interface (UPI)-based transactions have crossed 700 million for the first time, touching 707 million, according to the latest National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data.

The feat was achieved on August 2. Over the past two years, the number of daily transactions has doubled, even though growth has slowed down in comparison to previous years.

In August 2023, UPI was registering around 350 million transactions a day, which increased to 500 million daily transactions in August 2024.

The Adani Group on Monday vehemently denied a media report claiming the Group’s collaboration with Chinese companies BYD and Beijing Welion New Energy Technology.

In a statement, an Adani Group spokesperson said the Bloomberg report is “baseless” and “misleading”.

“We categorically deny Bloomberg's report on 4 Aug 2025 suggesting a tie-up between the Adani Group and Chinese companies BYD and Beijing Welion New Energy Technology,” the spokesperson added.

There has been a significant 65 per cent jump in overall Grade A green-certified office stock across India’s top seven cities since 2019, with global occupiers seeking green certifications in new buildings, according to an Anarock research report released on Monday.

Grade A office developers are increasingly constructing LEED, IGBC or GRIHA-certified stock to stay in sync with the demand. Approximately 530 Mn sq. ft. of Grade A office stock in the top 7 cities out of the total Grade A office stock of 865 Mn sq. ft. is green certified as of the first half of (H1) 2025 across cities. Back in 2019, approximately 322 Mn sq. ft. had such certification, the report states.

At approx. 163 Mn sq. ft., Bengaluru has the maximum stock of green-certified office stock among these cities in H1 2025 -- a 31 per cent share of the total, green-certified inventory in the top 7 cities.

Government-owned MOIL has achieved manganese ore production of 1.45 lakh tonnes in July, marking an impressive growth of 12 per cent over the corresponding period last year (CPLY), despite adverse weather conditions, it was announced on Monday.

Despite heavy rainfall, MOIL demonstrated strong operational momentum during April–July 2025, with production at 6.47 lakh tonnes (7.8 per cent growth), sales of 5.01 lakh tonnes (10.7 per cent higher than CPLY), and exploratory drilling of 43,215 meters (up 11.4 per cent over CPLY), according to the Steel Ministry.

MOIL chairman and managing director Ajit Kumar Saxena congratulated the MOIL team for this remarkable performance and appreciated the continued efforts to enhance production & sales even under challenging weather conditions.

The smartphone revenues worldwide grew 10 per cent (year-on-year) in the April-June quarter (Q2 2025) to exceed $100 billion (more than Rs 8.7 lakh crore) -- the highest level in a second calendar quarter to date, according to a new report.

In contrast, global shipments saw a meagre 3 per cent (on-year) rise during the quarter, according to Counterpoint Research’s latest Market Monitor service.

Meanwhile, the global average selling price (ASP) also hit a second-quarter peak, rising 7 per cent YoY in Q2 to approach $350.

The government has informed that 1,97,932 entities are registered under the ‘startup’ category on the BHASKAR platform.

The Bharat Startup Knowledge Access Registry (BHASKAR) enables collaboration among the entrepreneurial ecosystem including startups.

BHASKAR is currently in the pilot phase, wherein key features are being tested including peer-to-peer interaction, partnerships, and collaborative engagements, generation of unique personalised identification for stakeholder categories and integration of micro-sites in place for implementation of various Schemes under ‘Startup India’.

The government is undertaking various outreach and awareness measures for BHASKAR across States/UTs to understand the requirement and experience of key user stakeholders including small and micro-enterprises, said Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Jitin Prasada, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

Fintech company One MobiKwik Systems reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 41.9 crore for the April-June quarter(Q1 FY26), surging over 6 times from the Rs 6.6 crore loss reported during the same period the previous year.

According to its regulatory filing, the company's operating revenue was Rs 271.3 crore, around a 21 per cent decrease from the Rs 342.2 crore recorded in Q1 FY25.

However, MobiKwik demonstrated some improvement on a sequential basis, with revenue rising marginally by 1.3 per cent from Rs 267.7 crore. The losses have also decreased from Rs 56 crore in the previous quarter (Q4 FY25).

Ola Electric, once the leader in India’s electric two-wheeler market, is seeing its dominance fade fast as the company sold 17,848 units in July -- a steep 57.29 per cent drop from 41,802 units sold a year ago, the government’s VAHAN data showed on Friday.

The Bhavish Aggarwal-led company’s market share dropped to 17.35 per cent in July, compared to 38.83 per cent in the same month previous year.

This decline has badly hit Ola Electric’s market value. Its market capitalisation has fallen by more than 45 per cent, from Rs 33,521 crore ($3.95 billion) to Rs 18,190.2 crore ($2.14 billion).

After the PNB Housing Finance board approved resignation of its MD and CEO Girish Kousgi, the company's shares fell by 16 per cent during the intra-day trade on Friday.

The shares touched the lower band at Rs 838.3 per share on BSE and got locked in the lower circuit. At 9.28 am, PNB Housing shares were trading 10 per cent lower at Rs 887.6 per share.

In the earnings call after the June quarter results, Kousgi said PNB Housing Finance was confident in achieving a higher NIM guidance of 3.7 per cent in ongoing fiscal, up from 3.6–3.65 per cent, with affordable and emerging segments adding to margins.

Already, in Q1 FY26, PNB Housing Finance had a 23 per cent year-on-year growth in net profit to Rs 534 crore. Strong loan expansion, a 3.74 per cent net interest margin (NIM), and improved asset quality drove this growth.

Vedanta Limited on Thursday reported a fall of 12.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ended June 30 (Q1 FY26), at Rs 4,457 crore compared to Rs 5,095 crore in the same quarter previous year (Q1 FY25).

Despite the drop in profit, the company’s revenue from operations rose 5.8 per cent to Rs 37,824 crore in the April–June quarter, up from Rs 35,764 crore in the year-ago period, according to a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Total income also grew 5.7 per cent to Rs 38,809 crore from Rs 36,698 crore a year earlier.

Ambuja Cements, part of the diversified Adani Portfolio, on Thursday reported 24 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 970 crore in the April-June quarter (Q1 FY26) — up from Rs 783 crore in the same quarter last fiscal (Q1 FY25).

The quarterly revenue crossed the Rs 10,000 crore mark, also up 23 per cent (year-on-year).

Starting FY26 on a robust note, the company recorded the highest quarterly sales of 18.4 million tonnes (MnT), up 20 per cent (on-year), along with the highest quarterly EBITDA at Rs 1,961 crore, up 53 per cent (on-year).

The company said its present cement capacity of 104.5 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) is well poised to achieve the planned capacity of 118 MTPA by March 2026.

Job creation across India’s formal sector remained stable in June, with job postings rising modestly by 0.6 per cent, building on strong gains in May, a report said on Thursday.

Despite a 4.8 per cent decline year-on-year, job postings are still 80 per cent above pre-pandemic levels, underscoring the resilience of formal hiring activity, Indeed Hiring Lab said in a report.

According to the report, despite efforts by some employers to return to office routines, remote work continues to attract job seeker interest.

In June, 8.7 per cent of job postings included keywords like “work from home” or ‘hybrid work’ in their job descriptions.

This has increased by 1 percentage point over the past year but remains well below its peak of 11.3 per cent in 2020, the report stated.

Samsung Electronics said on Thursday that its net income plunged nearly 50 per cent in the second quarter (Q2), as its semiconductor division logged its lowest earnings in over a year due to sluggish demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM).

In a regulatory filing, the company reported a net income of 5.11 trillion won (US$3.7 billion) for the April-June period, down 48 percent from 9.84 trillion won a year earlier, reports news agency.

The earnings fell short of market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 7.29 trillion won, according to a survey.

Operating profit stood at 4.67 trillion won, down 55.2 percent from a year ago, while revenue rose 0.7 percent to 74.56 trillion won.

Samsung India on Thursday said that its newly-launched, ‘Made in India’ Galaxy Z Fold7, is surprisingly gaining significant traction from not only tier 3 markets, but also tier 4 and beyond, amid a resilient economy and rising aspirations across the country.

“The unprecedented demand has made us allocate stocks of the Galaxy Z Fold7 across the deeper pockets of Bharat. We are immensely encouraged by the new demand surfacing from tier 4 and beyond and will continue to serve these markets in the best possible manner,” said Raju Pullan, Senior Vice President and Head at Samsung India.

Primarily, the design aesthetics of the new Galaxy Z Fold7 – in a sleek, lightweight form factor – have drawn significant interest. The new colours, flagship processing power, along with Galaxy AI have further sweetened the experience for consumers, he added.