Business

Driven by higher consumption of petroleum products, India’s crude imports in the 2025-26 fiscal increased by nearly 1% but witnessed a 17% fall in purchases in the month of March due to disruption of trade routes amid the West Asia crisis.According to provisional oil and gas data released by the government, India purchased 245.3 million…

New Delhi: Desperate times call for desperate measures. Full service Air India is planning to make meals optional on its domestic and short international (under two hour) flights. Once this “unbundling” rolls out in the next month or two, passengers opting out of meals could have upwards of Rs 250 shaved off their ticket price….

New Delhi: With no sight of the Strait of Hormuz (SoH) opening for commercial traffic in near future, shipping ministry has shared a list of around 40 India-bound “priority vessels” with the external affairs ministry, suggesting the option of evacuating them through territorial waters of Oman. Oman’s territorial waters is on the south of SoH…

Jerome Powell (AP file photo) US Fed Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meet: Jerome Powell-led US Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept the interest rates unchanged in the 3.5-3.75% range citing upside risks to inflation in view of the rising global energy prices.“Developments in the Middle East are contributing to a high level of uncertainty about…

US stocks edged lower on Wednesday as investors awaited the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision later in the day, while rising crude prices linked to the Iran war kept pressure on market sentiment.The S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent, a day after retreating from its record high amid weakness in artificial-intelligence stocks and concerns over…

Kevin Warsh (Photo credit-AP) Kevin Warsh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Federal Reserve, moved a step closer to becoming the next US central bank chief after the Senate Banking Committee approved his nomination on Wednesday, AP reported.The committee voted 13-11 along party lines, with all Republican senators backing Warsh and all Democrats opposing…

Banks will be allowed to extend relief measures to borrowers in calamity-hit areas without waiting for individual requests, under revised Reserve Bank of India guidelines that will come into force from July 1, 2026.The RBI on Wednesday issued fresh directions after considering stakeholder feedback on draft norms covering relief measures in areas affected by natural…

Airtel Africa’s initial public offering of its mobile money business could raise between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.London is now the most likely location for the listing of Airtel Money, the people said, asking not be identified as the information is still private. An exchange in the UAE…

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded nearly 1 per cent on Wednesday, helped by bargain buying in FMCG, auto and telecom shares, upbeat earnings sentiment and gains across Asian markets.Traders said signs of possible de-escalation in geopolitical tensions also supported sentiment.In a volatile session, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 609.45 points, or 0.79 per…

Mining conglomerate Vedanta Ltd on Wednesday reported an 89 per cent jump in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 9,352 crore for the quarter ended March 2026, helped by higher sales volumes, rising global metal prices and gains from a weaker rupee.The Anil Agarwal-led company had posted a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 4,961…