Business

New Delhi, March 24 The CEO of Chinese mobile device maker OnePlus India, Robin Liu, has stepped down, the company said on Tuesday.The development comes as the company works to recover from the ongoing decline in shipments."We thank Robin for his contributions to OnePlus India. He is moving on to pursue his personal passions, and we wish him the very best for his future endeavors. OnePlus India operations continue with a local strategy and business continuity ensured," the company said.Under Liu, OnePlus recorded a 32 per cent decline in shipments in 2025, according to Cybermedia Research. IDC estimates a 38.8 per cent decline in the company's shipments in 2025 on a year-over-year basis.The smartphone market looks challenging in...

Thane, March 24 A court in the Thane district granted bail to two co-founders of cryptocurrency exchange CoinDCX, Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal, who were arrested in an alleged case of cheating involving Rs 71.60 lakh, stating that there was no prima facie evidence against them.Magistrate Nilesh Rathod, while granting their bail, ordered their release after they furnished a surety of Rs 50,000 each.Gupta and Khandelwal's legal team argued before the court that they were victims of mistaken identity and fraudulent impersonation.The co-founders, against whom the alleged cheating case was registered at the Mumbra police station in the Thane district, were arrested from Bengaluru last Saturday (March 21). Following their arrest...

Ahmedabad, March 24 The Gujarat government said on Tuesday that there was an adequate supply of petrol and diesel in the state, and that it was also ensuring a better supply of commercial LPG, especially in areas where PNG networks are not available.The government's clarification came as people were seen queuing up at petrol pumps in large numbers to fill petrol or diesel in their vehicles amid rumors about a shortage of petroleum products due to the ongoing crisis in West Asia.Speaking to reporters, Additional Chief Secretary of the Gujarat Food and Civil Supplies Department, Mona Khandhar, said, "The central government has ensured an adequate supply of petrol and diesel in Gujarat. There is also a sufficient stock available. There...

New Delhi, March 24 – Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta presented a ₹1.037 trillion budget for fiscal year 2027, announcing several welfare schemes, including free diagnostic tests for newborn babies, free bicycles for 1.3 lakh girl students, laptops for meritorious students, and a new semiconductor policy, in addition to an "emergency operation center" for disaster management.Presenting the budget for the second time in the Delhi Assembly, Gupta, who also holds the finance portfolio, called it a "Green Budget," highlighting that 21% of the total appropriations are allocated to environmental protection initiatives.For the next financial year, the government has earmarked ₹260 crore to provide a free LPG cylinder each on Holi and...

New Delhi, March 24 Electric commercial vehicle maker Euler Motors announced on Tuesday that it has raised ₹437.5 crore (USD 47 million) in a funding round led by Lightrock, with participation from existing investors Hero MotoCorp and Blume Ventures.The Series E round also included an additional ₹250 crore in debt funding from BlackSoil, Trifecta, InnoVen, and Alteria Capital, the company said in a statement."This round comes at an important stage in Euler Motors' journey. We are moving from early-stage growth to the next phase, where the focus is on building with greater depth and consistency across products, markets, and operations," said Saurav Kumar, Founder and CEO of Euler Motors.The proceeds from the round will support...

New Delhi, March 24 Companies that have undergone the resolution process under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code have shown improvement in their financial and operational performance, with significant gains in sales and asset turnover, according to a study by IIM Ahmedabad.The research study builds upon an earlier study conducted in 2023, which analyzed companies in the post-resolution period for the years 2013–2022.The study aims to update and broaden the analysis by extending the coverage up to 2025 to capture the latest developments. A total of 1194 companies that underwent the resolution process were part of this study, according to a release.The study found that the average sales of resolved companies increased by 89 per...

New Delhi, March 24 NTPC Green Energy Limited (NGEL) has signed an agreement with Nxtra Data to jointly explore opportunities in the area of renewable energy.The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Sarit Maheshwari, CEO of NGEL, a subsidiary of NTPC, and Ashish Arora, CEO of Nxtra, according to an exchange filing."The MoU aims to explore mutually beneficial business opportunities for the development of renewable energy projects to provide round-the-clock renewable energy power to Nxtra Data centers across India for their captive consumption," it said.

New Delhi, March 24 Amid ongoing scrutiny over its agreement with the Uttar Pradesh government, Puch AI co-founder Siddharth Bhatia issued a detailed clarification on Tuesday, stating that the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the state does not involve any public funds and is designed to attract investment rather than use taxpayer money.In a post on the social media platform X, Bhatia said the partnership is structured as a public-private initiative and will be executed in phases with support from external investors."The company has not received any funding, GPUs, or other support from the government, and instead, citizens will benefit through free access to AI services in local languages via its platform," he stated...

New Delhi, March 24 According to JLL India, the construction cost of real estate projects is likely to increase by 3-5 per cent this calendar year due to higher input prices, including labor.Real estate consultant JLL released 'Construction Cost Guide, India - 2026' on Tuesday, which estimated that construction costs are projected to rise by 3-5 per cent across all asset classes in 2026.In 2025, material costs presented a mixed picture with divergent trends across categories."Prices of cement, steel, and diesel showed a mild decrease of 1-2 per cent, 3-4 per cent, and 5-6 per cent, respectively, while aluminum and copper costs experienced more significant increases of 8-9 per cent and 9-10 per cent, respectively, driven by global...

New Delhi, March 24 Jindal Stainless announced on Tuesday the commissioning of a 1.2 million tonnes stainless steel melting shop (SMS) in Indonesia, as part of its ongoing ₹5,700 crore expansion plan.With this development, the company said its annual melting capacity has increased to 4.2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).Jindal Stainless has a combined melting capacity of 3 MTPA at its plants in Hisar (Haryana) and Jajpur (Odisha). The company has commissioned the 1.2 MTPA stainless steel melting shop (SMS) in Indonesia under a joint venture.The company also announced an additional investment of ₹900 crore towards augmenting cold rolled capacities in India at Hisar and Kharagpur (West Bengal) by the second quarter of 2027-28. The...

New Delhi, March 24 Chief Minister Rekha Gupta announced on Tuesday the allocation of Rs 10 crore for the establishment of a state-of-the-art emergency operation centre (EOC) to handle disaster-like situations in Delhi.Presenting the 2026-27 budget, she said that the EOC will be set up through the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).The DDMA, in its meeting last week following the Palam fire tragedy that claimed nine lives, decided to set up the EOC and an Integrated Command and Control Centre for Delhi.The proposed EOC and the Integrated Command and Control Centre will serve as the central hub for disaster management, enabling real-time coordination, predictive analytics using AI and satellite data.The centre will ensure...

New Delhi, March 24 The government on Tuesday extended the validity of licenses issued for gold imports with quota-based duty concessions under a free trade agreement with the UAE until June 3, amid the West Asian crisis.Under the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), India has granted quota-based duty concessions on gold imports under the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ)."In view of the prevailing geopolitical developments affecting global trade and logistics, and with a view to facilitating importers, the Director General of Foreign Trade hereby extends the validity of TRQ Authorizations issued in the financial year 2025-26, for import of Gold, issued under the India-UAE CEPA, from the existing validity of March...

Thane, March 24 A court in the Thane district granted bail to two co-founders of the cryptocurrency exchange platform CoinDCX, Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal, who were arrested in an alleged case of cheating involving Rs 71.60 lakh, stating that there was no prima facie case against them.Magistrate Nilesh Rathod, while hearing their bail plea, ordered their release after they furnished a surety of Rs 50,000 each.The co-founders, against whom the alleged cheating case was registered at the Mumbra police station in the Thane district, were arrested from Bengaluru last Saturday (March 21). Following their arrest, they were initially remanded to police custody until Monday by a local court.They were subsequently sent to judicial...

New Delhi, March 24 India's urea production reached 275.75 lakh tonnes in the first eleven months of this fiscal, the government said on Tuesday.The country's urea production stood at 306.67 lakh tonnes for the entire 2024-25 fiscal."Currently, there are 33 urea manufacturing units in the country with a total production capacity of 269.42 lakh tonnes per annum," said Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilizers Anupriya Patel in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.The government has taken several steps to boost domestic urea production in the last 11 years, she said.These steps have "facilitated an increase in urea production from a level of 225 lakh tonnes per annum during 2014-15 to a record urea production of 314.07 lakh...

New Delhi, March 24 Delhi traders have called the budget forward-looking, but raised concerns over the lack of concrete policy for market upgrades and the redevelopment of the city.Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented the Budget on Tuesday for the 2026-27 financial year with a total outlay of Rs 1.03 lakh crore.“It is deeply disappointing that the Delhi Budget has once again overlooked the urgent need for redevelopment of our city’s markets. Even last year, an announcement was made regarding the formation of the Delhi Vyapar Kalyan Board, but to date, no concrete steps or declaration have been made,” Nitin Gupta, president of the Kamla Nagar Traders Association, said.He alleged that...

New Delhi, March 24 The initial public offering of Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Ltd, a subsidiary of state-owned Coal India, was fully subscribed on the final day of bidding on Tuesday.The IPO, worth Rs 1,842 crore, received bids for 8,37,16,560 shares, against 7,97,89,500 shares on offer, translating into 1.05 times subscription, according to details available with the NSE.The quota for Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) received 3.48 times subscription, while the category for non-institutional investors received 35 per cent subscription. The portion meant for Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) fetched 33 per cent subscription.Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDIL) has raised Rs 470 crore from anchor...

New Delhi, March 24 The government has generated over 9.20 crore unique Farmer IDs in 19 states under the AgriStack Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) project, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.As of March 19, the maximum number of Farmer IDs were generated in Uttar Pradesh (1.99 crore), Maharashtra (1.31 crore), Madhya Pradesh (1.04 crore) and Rajasthan (83.39 lakh), said the Minister of State for Agriculture in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.The State Farmers Registry under the AgriStack DPI covers all landholding farmers, including women farmers, livestock and fisheries, and provides them with a digital identity called a Farmer ID.The Farmers Registry application also includes provisions for onboarding all landholding...

JICA to Provide 102.48 Billion Yen Loan for Bengaluru Metro Rail Project Phase 3 Bengaluru, March 24 – The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) announced the signing of a loan agreement with the central government to provide an Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan of 102,480 million Japanese Yen for the Bengaluru Metro Rail Project Phase 3 (I).The loan agreement was signed in New Delhi between Alok Tiwari, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, and Takeuchi Takuro, Chief Representative of JICA India Office.The project aims to address the growing traffic demand in the Bengaluru Metropolitan Region in Karnataka by expanding the mass rapid transportation system. It is expected to promote...

Sai Parenteral’s IPO Receives 4% Subscription on First Day New Delhi, March 24 – The initial public offering (IPO) of Sai Parenteral’s Ltd, a diversified pharmaceutical formulation company, received a 4% subscription on Tuesday, the first day of bidding.Initial Bidding Figures According to data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the IPO garnered bids for 3,35,350 shares against a total offer of 75,22,486 shares.Category-Wise Subscription The non-institutional investor category saw a 15% subscription rate, while Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) received a 3% subscription.Anchor Investor Funding Sai Parenteral’s Ltd secured over Rs 122 crore from anchor investors on Monday.IPO Details The public offering, which concludes on...

CoinDCX Fraud Case: Investigation May Expand, Potential for Further Arrests New Delhi, March 24 – The investigation surrounding the Rs 71 lakh cryptocurrency fraud case linked to CoinDCX may broaden, with sources indicating the possibility of additional arrests.Ongoing Investigation and Potential for Arrests Investigators are currently examining the roles of multiple accused individuals named in the First Information Report (FIR). As of now, four of the accused remain at large. The case began following a complaint alleging a fraud involving a cryptocurrency-related scheme.Arrests and Legal Proceedings CoinDCX co-founders Sumit Gupta and Neeraj Khandelwal were arrested by Mumbra police from Bengaluru. The arrests followed a complaint...