Business

CHENNAI: Battery electric vehicle penetration in India’s two-wheeler and passenger vehicle segments lost momentum in 2025 after the reduction in GST rates for petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles from Oct, even as EV volumes saw healthy growth for the year. The narrowed price gap between internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and EVs after GST reduction led…

NEW DELHI: The withdrawal of GST compensation cess on cigarettes from next month will be matched by an increase in excise, and pan masala will face a health and national security cess. While govt had announced the changes earlier, the date for the tax rejig, from Feb 1, was notified late Wednesday, sending cigarette stocks…

Stock market today (AI image) Stock market today: Nifty50 and BSE Sensex, the Indian equity benchmark indices, opened in green on Friday. While Nifty50 was above 261,50, BSE Sensex was up around 100 points. At 9:16 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 26,172.90, up 26 points or 0.10%. BSE Sensex was at 85,282.91, up 94 points…

Top stocks to buy (AI image) Stock market recommendations: According to Bajaj Broking Research, the top stock picks for January 2, 2026 are Canara Bank, and Nykaa. Here’s its view on Nifty and Bank Nifty:Index View: NiftyNifty is expected to remain range-bound with an upward bias, oscillating within the 25,700–26,300 corridor in the near term….

MUMBAI: UPI payments closed 2025 at a new high extending the steady gains seen through the year. UPI transactions grew 5.7% to 2,163 crore in Dec over the previous month, while payments value climbed 6.3% to nearly Rs 28 lakh crore. The previous high was in Oct with 2,070 crore transactions worth Rs 27.3 lakh…

MUMBAI: Soon, banks will be able to independently sponsor funds for managing National Pension System (NPS) assets, as PFRDA on Thursday approved in principle a framework that seeks to remove regulatory constraints that had thus far limited banks’ participation in the pension fund management business. “PFRDA board has approved, in principle, a framework to permit…

NEW DELHI: Helped by tax cuts and a healthy monsoon, the Indian passenger vehicles market is on course to end 2025 with record sales, with companies ranging from Maruti Suzuki, M&M, to Toyota and Kia reporting all-time high demand. In 2025, Tata Motors overtook Hyundai to emerge as the second largest player in the domestic…

NEW DELHI: In a relief for highway commuters, toll on under expansion stretches – from two-lane to four-lane – will soon be halved during construction period and user fee on partially opened expressways such as Delhi-Mumbai and Amritsar-Jamnagar will be same as that of other NHs. At present, the toll on expressways is 1.25 times…

NEW DELHI: An employee who loses a job is set to receive funds for reskilling within 45 days of retrenchment, the draft rules published under Industrial Relations Code, 2020 said. The amount – equivalent to 15 days of the worker’s last drawn wages – has been introduced under the new Industrial Relations Code as a…

The Corporate Affairs Ministry has relaxed compliance requirements for company directors by replacing the mandatory annual KYC filing with a simplified requirement once every three years under the Companies Act, 2013, PTI reported.The change follows a review of Rule 12A of the Companies (Appointment & Qualification of Directors) Rules, 2014, based on recommendations of the…