Category: Business & Economy

In New Delhi, shares of fertilizer companies had an interesting day on Monday. Some companies saw their stock prices go up, while others went down.

The top gainers were:
– Bohra Industries Ltd. (increased by 3.51%)
– Krishana Phoschem Ltd. (increased by 0.99%)
– Agro Phos India Ltd. (increased by 0.68%)
– Zuari Agro Chemicals Ltd. (increased by 0.61%)
– Coromandel International Ltd. (increased by 0.42%)
– Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd. (increased by 0.10%)

On the other hand, some companies lost value:
– Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd. (decreased by 3.13%)
– Deepak Fertilisers & Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd. (decreased by 2.98%)
– Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals Ltd. (decreased by 2.68%)
– Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. (decreased by 2.25%)
– Sikko Industries Ltd. (decreased by 2.22%)
– Paradeep Phosphates Ltd. (decreased by 2.16%)
– National Fertilizers Ltd. (decreased by 1.55%)
– Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. (decreased by 1.12%)
– Southern Petrochemicals Industries Corporation Ltd. (decreased by 1.07%)
– Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. (decreased by 0.97%)

The NSE Nifty50 index finished the day at 24,619.0 points, down by 58.8 points, while the BSE Sensex closed lower at 81,508.46 points, down by 200.66 points.

In other stock news, some companies also saw gains:
– Wipro Ltd. (increased by 2.16%)
– Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (increased by 2.09%)
– SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd. (increased by 1.44%)
– Tata Steel Ltd. (increased by 1.08%)
– Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (increased by 1.04%)

Sadly, a few companies had their shares drop:
– Tata Consumer Products Ltd. (decreased by 4.16%)
– Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (decreased by 3.35%)
– Tata Motors Ltd. (decreased by 2.21%)

It was quite a mixed bag for investors today!

NEW DELHI: On Monday, many stocks were traded a lot on the National Stock Exchange. The top ones included ITI Ltd. (Rs. 3,561.24 crore), HDFC Bank (Rs. 2,521.10 crore), and BSE (Rs. 2,240.78 crore). The Nifty index dropped by 58.8 points to finish at 24,619.0, while the BSE Sensex fell by 200.66 points, ending at 81,508.46.

Among the companies doing well, Wipro Ltd. saw a rise of 2.16%, and Larsen & Toubro Ltd. went up by 2.09%. Other gainers included SBI Life Insurance (up 1.44%), Tata Steel (up 1.08%), and Bharat Petroleum (up 1.04%).

However, not all stocks were lucky. Tata Consumer Products dropped by 4.16%, Hindustan Unilever fell by 3.35%, and Tata Motors went down by 2.21%. Other losers included Axis Bank (down 1.80%) and Nestle India (down 1.72%).

NEW DELHI: On Monday morning, many fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) stocks were going down. Some companies like Umang Dairies Ltd. saw a big rise of 15.86%, while others like Euro India Fresh Foods Ltd. and Future Consumer Ltd. also gained between 3% and 5%. However, many big names like Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. and Hindustan Unilever Ltd. faced significant drops, losing up to 9.47% and 4.64%, respectively.

The NSE Nifty50 index was down by 46.9 points, sitting at 24,630.9 points. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was also down by 147.47 points, bringing it to 81,561.65 points.

Not all stocks were falling; some companies did well, like Larsen & Toubro Ltd. and SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd., gaining over 1%. However, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. and Tata Consumer Products Ltd. were among those dropping, with losses around 3.56%.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has caught a high-ranking official from Bridge and Roof Company (a government-owned company) because of a bribery case. They found ₹10 lakh (1 million rupees) in cash in a fancy car he was in while in Bhubaneswar.

The person arrested is Chanchal Mukherjee, the Group General Manager (GGM) of the company. Along with him, two other people were also arrested. One is Santosh Moharana, who runs a private company called Penta A Studio, and the other is Debadutta Mohapatra, a middleman.

The CBI started their investigation after learning that some people were involved in corrupt activities related to work orders and approving bills at the PSU. According to the CBI, Moharana met with Mukherjee in his office on December 6, where Mukherjee asked for ₹10 lakh and promised to adjust this amount for future payments.

The CBI set a trap on Saturday and caught Mukherjee accepting the bribe in a Mercedes Maybach car. They recovered the cash of ₹10 lakh that was given to him. Officials have also searched eight locations in Bhubaneswar and Kolkata, where they found important documents, a vehicle linked to the crime, and digital devices.

Cyril Han is set to become the new CEO of Ant Group, replacing Eric Jing starting March 1, according to an internal memo confirmed by a spokesperson. Eric Jing will stay on as chairman. Han, who was named president in March during a major company restructuring, will still report to Jing. His main job involves overseeing Ant’s digital payment, connectivity, and finance services.

Ant Group is part of Alibaba, a huge online shopping company that owns 33% of it. They run the popular mobile payment app Alipay. In July 2023, Ant was fined $984 million for problems related to how they run the company.

Cyril Han joined Alipay in 2014 and has held various important roles, including chief financial officer and vice president of strategic investment. Recently, Ant reported a net profit of 7.59 billion yuan ($1.04 billion) for the first quarter of the year. Bloomberg was the first to share the news about Han’s new role.

($1 = 7.2700 Chinese yuan)

Meta just announced some cool new features for WhatsApp that will make chatting easier and more fun! One of the biggest updates is the new Typing Indicator. Now, when someone is typing in a chat—whether one-on-one or in a group—you’ll see their profile picture and a “…” on the chat screen. This helps you know who is about to send a message, which is super handy in group chats where it can be hard to tell who’s talking.

WhatsApp is rolling out this Typing Indicator soon for both iPhone and Android users, so everyone can enjoy better conversations in groups.

Another new feature is called Draft Messages. With this, if you start writing a message but can’t finish it right away, you can save it as a “Draft.” This way, you won’t lose your thoughts, and you can easily come back to complete your message later.

WhatsApp is also adding Voice Note Transcription, which means you can read your voice messages instead of listening to them. This is great if you’re busy or in a place where you can’t have the sound on. The app keeps everything private, and the transcripts are made right on your phone, so no worries about your audio being shared.

Additionally, WhatsApp will stop supporting older iPhone versions after May 2025. So, if you have an iPhone that’s older than version 15.1, you’ll need to update to keep using the app. This change will help WhatsApp make the app work better on newer iPhones.

With these updates, WhatsApp is making chatting better, whether you’re talking to one friend or a whole group. Users can look forward to an even better chatting experience soon!

SBI, India’s biggest bank, has lowered its prediction for the country’s economic growth in 2025 to 6.3%. This is less than what the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expects, which is 6.6%. The latest economic report from SBI shows that the Indian economy isn’t growing as quickly as needed, especially after the RBI reduced its own forecast from 7.2% to 6.6%.

Key points from the report include:

– In the first half of 2025, growth was only about 6.05%.
– Although some signs show that the economy is improving, like during festive seasons, the overall growth in the second quarter was just 5.4%, the lowest in almost two years.
– Rising prices, especially for food, are also causing problems.

SBI pointed out that these kinds of downward revisions of growth projections have happened before. In past years, similar downgrades occurred due to various challenges.

The decrease in growth numbers is worrying for many, especially as consumers are buying less. Families are spending less money on both essential goods and fancy items like cars because of falling incomes and high prices.

This slower growth is not just a problem for individuals but for the whole country too. India’s goal of becoming the third-largest economy by 2030 looks harder to achieve. A weaker economy means fewer new jobs and challenges in improving living standards for everyone.

The global economy is also facing troubles, making it even harder for India. Tightened financial conditions in other countries and global uncertainties are affecting investor confidence and how much other countries want to buy from India.

SBI advises policymakers to keep a close watch on economic changes. The RBI plans to help by lowering the cash reserve ratio (CRR), which will give banks more money to lend. This could help support the economy, but it’s essential to fix deeper issues to ensure long-term growth

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made a big change by lowering the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) for the first time since March 2020. This means banks will now have more money to lend to people and businesses. Specifically, the RBI reduced the CRR from 4.5% to 4%, which will add about ₹1.16 lakh crore (that’s a huge amount!) into the banking system.

With this extra money, banks can relax their high deposit rates, which makes borrowing cheaper for everyone. However, interest rates on loans might stay the same for now. Rajiv Anand from Axis Bank explained that this action will help banks improve their earnings by 3 to 5 basis points. A basis point is a way to measure interest rates, and it works like this: 1 basis point is just 0.01%.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das mentioned that although they expect money to get tighter in the future due to tax payments and other reasons, this CRR change is still an important step to keep the banks healthy. While it will help with immediate cash flow, bankers believe that faster growth and lower inflation could lead the RBI to change interest rates down the road.

Although this update is good news for banks, deposit rates for regular savers are unlikely to go up, so people shouldn’t expect higher returns on their savings. Even though inflation is rising, Santosh Kumar from Punjab National Bank said the CRR cut was the best choice for the RBI right now.

The Nothing Gallery app was leaked just before the launch of Nothing’s OS 3.0, revealing some cool features. According to a report from Android Authority, this app will let users decide which folders to display in the Photos section, making a big feed full of images.

At the bottom, there’s an image preview bar for scrolling through your photos. Another toolbar lets you mark a photo as a “Favorite,” share it, delete it, or access more options from a three-dot menu. This menu keeps the main toolbar clear of buttons you don’t use often.

While watching videos, the toolbar has play/pause and volume control buttons too. There’s an Albums view where you can see specific folders, create new albums, and check out recently deleted files. Plus, a Search view lets you look for images easily.

However, the report mentions that some AI features promised by Nothing, like smart image sorting and better search options, are not yet available in the beta version of the app. So, these features may come in future updates, as the company had initially suggested.

If you’re someone looking to invest your money safely, fixed deposits (FDs) are a great choice! Some private sector banks are currently offering really good interest rates on FDs, especially for amounts below Rs 3 crore. Here’s a friendly list of banks that offer interest rates as high as 8.05% for FDs that last one year. This information is perfect for regular people who are younger than 60.

Here’s What You Should Know:

– Bandhan Bank: Offers the highest rate at 8.05%.
– IndusInd Bank: Offers 7.75% interest.
– RBL Bank: Gives you 7.50%.
– Karnataka Bank: Offers 7.25%.
– YES Bank: Also gives 7.25%.
– DCB Bank: Offers 7.10%.
– Kotak Mahindra Bank: Offers 7.10%.

Total Interest Rates Per Bank:
– Bandhan Bank 8.05%
– IndusInd Bank 7.75%
– RBL Bank 7.50%
– Karnataka Bank 7.25%
– YES Bank 7.25%
– DCB Bank 7.10%
– Kotak Mahindra Bank 7.10%

How is FD Interest Taxed?

When you earn money from fixed deposits, it is taxable. You need to share this income on your tax return. If you earn more than Rs 40,000 a year (or Rs 50,000 if you’re a senior citizen), your bank will automatically take out some tax called TDS at 10%.

For example, if your FD interest is Rs 50,000, the bank will take away Rs 5,000 for tax. You’ll need to report the full Rs 50,000 in your tax return and can claim back the Rs 5,000 that was taken out.

If your total income is below Rs 2.5 lakh, the bank won’t take any TDS from you. To avoid TDS when your income is low, just fill out Form 15G or 15H and give it to the bank!