Mint Mumbai

MUSICIANS AMP UP THEIR STYLE

From stage to street, Indian musicians are turning up the volume on style. As concert culture booms, fashion is no longer an afterthought—it is a crucial part of an artist’s identity, persona and performance.

What led to the creation of Nato?

US President Trump (R) with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte in Davos. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) was created in 1949 as a bulwark against Soviet expansion and communism. It had 12 founding members: the US, Canada, the UK, Belgium,...

What do the Q3 results of IT majors indicate?

The Q3 earnings indicate that pain points persist for IT services companies, which are now staring at a third straight year of glacial growth. Revenue growth has slowed amid macroeconomic headwinds, cautious client spending, and prolonged...

What is the crux of the issue?

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) found that several walkie-talkie listings on platforms such as Meesho and Amazon failed to disclose the frequency band used, whether a government licence was required, and if the product had obtained the...

What is the current condition of discoms?

After over 10 years of losses, discoms reported a cumulative net profit of ₹2,701 crore for FY25 compared with losses of ₹25,553 crore in FY24, shows power ministry data. The sector, however, continues to be been under stress with a cumulative debt of...

Slippery tax slope

Last week’s Supreme Court judgement holding Tiger Global liable for paying tax on capital gains made on its 2018 sale to Walmart of its stake in Flipkart held through entities in Mauritius might have opened a Pandora’s box. It denies Tiger Global...

SNEH RANA’S COMEBACK

Sneh Rana is basking in cricketing glory like never before in her long career. She was part of the squad that won the World Cup and has landed a ₹50-lakh contract with Delhi Capitals. Rana tells Lounge why she’s called a “rebel”.

Why smartphone firms want to guard their source codes

As India moves to tighten mobile phone security, reports that it may seek forcible access to smartphone makers’ source code for official scrutiny have stirred unease, even as the government has denied proposing any such mandate. Mint decodifies the...

Infosys joinspeers as IT sector sees revival

Infosys Ltd reported betterthan-expected results for the December quarter, adding to early signs of a demand recovery in India’s $283-billion information technology (IT) services industry, even as margin pressures persist. After posting modest...

Budget to lay down India’s blueprint for AI, deeptech

Artificial intelligence (AI) may get the pride of place in the upcoming Union budget, with the Centre crafting a long-term blueprint to support the emerging sector against the backdrop of China’s technology ascent. The finance ministry is steering the...

THE POWER OF STORIES

As attention spans shrink and oral traditions fade, festivals like Udaipur Tales are reviving the ancient ways of live storytelling, bringing together folk performers, contemporary voices, children and first-time narrators.

Why crude oil is ignoring the Venezuela shock

Despite regime change in Venezuela, oil prices are range-bound. While lifting sanctions unlocks the world’s largest reserves, traders are wary of Venezuela’s poor infrastructure and supply glut. Mint explains why the market is ignoring the headlines...

Why Indian firms often challenge drug patents

Natco’s revocation patent suit against Novo Nordisk intensifies the battle between domestic generic giants and global innovators over affordability. As we look ahead at another year of high-stakes battles, Mint unpacks the legal landscape and who wins...

Can gig workers form traditional unions in India?

Gig workers’ unions organised a strike on New Years’ Eve demanding better working conditions. Zomato’s founder Deepinder Goyal said that the strike failed because gig work was valuable. But how do Indian labour laws treat gig workers and their unions?...

Why Elon Musk’s Grok made the IT ministry fret

Ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) ordered Elon Musk’s X to remove sexually explicit Grok-generated AI images in 72 hours, mentioning regulatory tension on AI safety, public safety, and platform accountability. Here’s what...

ART BEYOND SOUTH MUMBAI

Mumbai Gallery Weekend 2026, which opens on 8 January, is stepping out of South Mumbai and discovering new locations, giving audiences across the city a chance to be part of the conversation on contemporary art.

What lies ahead for the real estate sector in 2026

Healthy growth in key real estate asset classes—housing, office and logistics—is expected to continue in 2026, with non-residential segments likely to outperform. While the residential sector slowed in 2025, office and logistics offer greater scope for...

Risks loom, but India has buffers, says RBI

The fate of Vodafone Idea Ltd hangs in the balance, with the Union cabinet on Wednesday clearing a relief plan that punctured hopes, hammered its shares, and shook the company’s fundraising hopes. According to officials familiar with the matter, the...

Will jobs perish and data centres flourish?

The boom in India-born AI models and Indian datasets is likely to drive the growth of data centres. Announcements worth over $50 billion were made this year to establish data centres in India; onground implementations will begin in 2026. Homegrown...

Budget may pitch ₹25,000 cr infra risk guarantee fund

The Centre is working on a ₹25,000-crore safety net for infrastructure projects to ease financing bottlenecks and revive stalled projects, two people familiar with the plans said. The fund, proposed on the lines of credit guarantee schemes for small...

Why are countries offering visas to digital nomads?

Last week, Bulgaria joined a growing list of nations offering digital nomad residence permits, underscoring how remote work is being integrated into immigration policy. The pandemic-era experiment has gone mainstream. Mint breaks down how it works: 1...

A SPORTS YEAR IN A PICTURE

Rohit Brijnath goes beyond the byline to celebrate the planning that goes into sports photography. With their masterful perspective and split-second genius, photographers turn moments of athletic chaos into art.

What airline NOCs signal for Indian aviation

Civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu tweeted that three proposed airlines—Shankh Air, Al Hind Air and FlyExpress— have received no-objection certificates (NOCs). Mint explains what the government’s NOC actually signifies. 1 Is this the...

Has homebuying become more affordable now?

Centre mulls plan to energize India’s wind power engine

The Union government is working on a blueprint to revive the once-buoyant wind power sector by addressing key concerns, including land acquisition hurdles and lack of grid connectivity, said three people with knowledge of the development. The Centre...

What pros & cons does this asset class have?

A key advantage is that it enables fractional ownership of highvalue, illiquid assets such as real estate or collectibles. This lowers the entry barrier and broadens access to asset classes traditionally reserved for wealthy individuals or...

Centre weighs compliance relief for MSMEs in budget

The government is considering easing the goods and services tax (GST) compliance burden for small businesses in the Union Budget for the next fiscal, according to two people familiar with the matter, at a time when US tariffs have disproportionately...

THE SPORTING HIGHS OF 2025

The year in sports has been full of ups and downs. Football and hockey have been underwhelming, but it’s been excitement all the way in archery, badminton, tennis and of course, women’s cricket.

New code to overhaul securities market rules

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday tabled the Securities Markets Code 2025 Bill in the Lok Sabha to consolidate and simplify India’s numerous securities rules, enhance the accountability of regulatory officials, and improve grievance...

Rupee at record lows: What could arrest the slide?

The Indian rupee continued to languish near record lows against the US dollar on Wednesday, touching an intraday low of 91.06, before recovering after a likely Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervention that helped it to close at 90.37. It has lost over...

How India aims to rewrite rules for higher education

The Centre is preparing a sweeping reset of India’s higher education regulatory structure through the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, which aims to replace the current regulator-centric model. As a parliamentary panel vets the bill, Mint...

Will water, power trip data centre growth in India?

In 2025, up to $70 billion has been pledged to develop 6 gigawatts (GW) of data centre capacity in India. While this could power India’s AI ambitions, experts warn that limited freshwater supplies and the need for uninterrupted energy may hurt the...

Crypto kings

Tether ranks as the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency by market value, underscoring how central stablecoins are becoming to the global crypto ecosystem. 90,222 3,116 1 895 2 Why are stablecoins seen as ‘stable’? Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies...

ON A LUCKNOW FOOD TRAIL

Think food and Lucknow, and most will say biryani and kebabs, but there’s more to savour in this historic city. From puri-aloo to everyday veggies, chaats, kachoris, and malai paan,there’s a range of foods to taste.

Hostility premium

103 114 98 102 91 90 A hostile bid for a company may sound ominous, but it’s usually a scare only for its management. So too in the case of US-based film studio Paramount’s offer this week to buy all of Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) for $108 billion...

Dirty air trick: How farmers outsmart vigil

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana are burning paddy stubble late in the day after monitoring satellites pass over, says a study by the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iForest), released on 8 December. Mint brings the...

Microsoft steps up India AI game with $17.5 billion

Microsoft Corp. chief executive Satya Nadella on Tuesday marked the year’s second visit to India with a commitment to invest $17.5 billion in data centres, hours after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. That brings Microsoft’s total...

IndiGo crisis: Government vows tough action

The Union government on Monday vowed stringent action against India's largest airline IndiGo, after mass flight cancellations over the past week stranded travellers across the country. However, while the Centre claimed IndiGo had never raised any...

IndiGo to hire 900 pilots, but it’s a tough job ahead

IndiGo is moving to rapidly rebuild its pilot pool after a shortage nearly grounded its network last week, outlining a plan to add 158 pilots by 10 February and 742 more by December next year. Experts, however, say meeting the target will be...

AT HOME WITH MONSTERS

From his earliest films to the new version of ‘Frankenstein’, Mexican director Guillermo del Toro’s work has featured memorable screen monsters. They are often far more humanised than del Toro’s human villains

Falling rupee leaves few Indian winners

The Indian rupee’s recent slide beyond the 90-perdollar mark offers little relief to its exporters, most of which are struggling under the weight of crippling tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration. The only clear winners are the country’s...

What was the thinking behind making the app a must?

Launched in May 2023, Sanchar Saathi, developed and maintained by the department of telecommunications (DoT), allows users to voluntarily report loss or theft of mobile phones and duplication of SIM cards. In March last year, the ministry of...

What are companies offering?

High-frequency trading (HFT) firms such as Quadeye, Graviton Research Capital, NK Securities, Quantbox Research, and Squarepoint Capital are offering performance and joining bonuses to lock in candidates immediately after offers are made during the IIT...

Consumption engine fires up while GST growth cools

India's September tax cuts put the brakes on revenue growth but delivered the consumption boost as intended, government officials said. The Centre and states together collected goods and services tax (GST) revenue of ₹1.7 trillion in November, only...

Is Big Tech’s AGI fixation inflating the AI bubble?

Big Tech is pouring billions into artificial intelligence (AI) in the belief that some form of artificial general intelligence (AGI) or artificial superintelligence (ASI) could emerge by the end of the decade. But critics warn this may be further...

THE DHARAMS WE LOVE

There are so many Dharmendras to love and value, both on and off screen. He had an immense aura but wore it casually, donned many roles and inhabited them all with authenticity. Our tribute to the versatile actor.

TO HOST THE CWG?

Ahmedabad has been chosen as the host of 2030 Commonwealth Games. While it serves as a prestigious moment for India, high costs and overruns have been a major concern in hosting these games. In 2010, when New Delhi hosted the games for the first time,...

Why computers are selling like hot cakes again

Sales of laptops, desktops and tablets had a bad time in India after a pandemic boom. But, since 2024 they are doing brisk business again. Personal computer shipments reached a record high of 4.9 million units in Q2, IDC said. What caused the...

What was the Supreme Court’s order?

In its 19 November order, SC accepted a settlement proposal from the Sterling Biotech promoters Nitin and Chetan Sandesara. SC said all cases filed by Central Bureau of Investigation and by Enforcement Directorate, Serious Fraud Investigation Office,...

Inverted duty fix is next on GST agenda

After slashing goods and services tax (GST) rates in September, the Centre and states are now gearing up to fix the tax system’s next fault line: inverted duty structures. The GST Council has set its eyes upon correcting the anomaly across a range of...

How new labour codes impact your gratuity, PF

The new labour codes have overhauled how wages, gratuity, provident fund (PF), pension and other social security benefits are calculated. These changes impact employees and employers alike. Mint explains who benefits and what happens to take-home...

Major tariff cut for India, says Trump, as trade deal nears

US president Donald Trump said tariffs on India will be lowered “very substantially”, signalling an easing of tensions over New Delhi's Russian oil purchases as the two countries near a trade deal. Mint first reported on 22 September that US tariffs...

RBI current account plan splits private banks, PSBs

Avaliant effort by the central bank to clamp down on fund diversion has pitted India’s private sector banks against their public peers, opening up a rift in the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA). The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last month proposed that...

Centre seeks a cure for real estate pain

India is gearing up for a significant overhaul of its real estate insolvency framework, with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) initiating high-level discussions across government ministries and regulatory agencies aimed at swiftly completing...

READY TO RALLY

On the back of its sterling display in the Asia-Oceania Group I in Pune in April, beating higher ranked teams like Thailand and South Korea, India’s women’s tennis team eyes history as it hosts the Billie Jean King Cup playoffs

Tata Electronics beats Titan’s revenue; Tata Sons bets big

Tata Sons Ltd has ploughed over a billion dollars into its iPhone assembly business since inception, helping it cross watch-and-jewellery brand Titan Ltd in revenue in just four years. The Tata Group holding company last month invested ₹1,499 crore in...

Actis looks to buy Sprng from Shell at $1.5 bn valuation

General Atlantic owned Actis Llp is interested in buying back Sprng Energy group from Shell Plc in a deal having an enterprise value of around $1.55 billion, two people aware of the matter said. If Actis indeed acquires Sprng, the deal would mark a...

Has Kerala really cut out extreme poverty fully?

The Kerala government’s claim that it has eradicated extreme poverty has been met with scepticism among economists and other experts. They have questioned the empirical basis of this declaration and the process that was followed to achieve it. Mint...

Premium users, 5G push lift Airtel Arpu to the top

Bharti Airtel, India’s secondlargest telecom operator by market share, pulled further ahead of its larger peer Reliance Jio in what it earns from each customer during the September quarter, buoyed by premium customers joining its network and a steady...

Ratan Tata’s sisters say future of Trusts troubled him

Sisters of the late industrialist Ratan Tata have voiced distress over the turmoil at Tata Trusts, describing last week’s removal of Mehli Mistry as a retaliatory action by other trustees. In their first media interview, Shireen Jejeebhoy, 73, and...

A CHANGE OF SCENE

WHY DO WE TRAVEL? AS TOURISTS LONG FOR AUTHENTIC EXPERIENCES, HOTELS AND RESORTS ARE INCLUDING COMMUNITY IN THEIR WORK. LOUNGE EXPLORES MINDFUL TRAVEL IDEAS FROM LADAKH AND ELSEWHERE

China opens door to rare earth relief

Four Indian companies have won Beijing's approval to import rare earth magnets, signalling an easing of the Chinese grip that had various local industries in a twist since April. The relaxation comes six months after the northern neighbour clamped down...

Profit squeeze

Intra-day movement in shares of Indian asset management companies. 4 What can be expected next? -5.20 -4.40 -3.08 Sebi has recommended that mutual funds disclose upfront the all-inclusive TER with a clear breakdown of each component. It will...

New Tata-Mistry war likely after Mehli’s Trusts ouster

Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata and vicechairmen Venu Srinivasan and Vijay Singh have not approved the reappointment of Ratan Tata long-time confidant, Mehli Mistry, as a permanent trustee—setting the stage for a 2016-like battle between the Tatas and...

The dominance

China produces more rare earths than all other nations put together. 310 300 13,000 Is the US hunting for rare earth deals? 31,000 Yes. Last week, the US signed an agreement with Australia, which is keen to become a major supplier of rare earth...

Why India’s draft AI norms have sparked worries

The information technology (IT) ministry has proposed amendments to social media intermediary guidelines to crack down on the rising menace of deepfakes. But creators and other industry stakeholders have called for alterations in the draft rules. Mint...

COMEDY’S GREAT TYRANT

Asrani, who made cinematic tyranny hilarious as the jailor, defined a comic era. His relatable everyman characters in a variety of films, helmed by a galaxy of directors, set the standard for Bollywood comedy.

A demure market

A lack of new buyers, and too many roadblocks in the domestic market, mean that the smartphone economy—accounting for 40% of all electronics sales—faces the threat of a long-term stall. 2021 2022 2023 151 155 Why are smartphone sales crucial for...

How AWS-style cloud crashes can hamper AI march

The global outage of Amazon Web Services (AWS) that knocked thousands of websites and apps is a warning for firms rapidly scaling for the artificial intelligence (AI) era, and have moved huge workloads to the cloud. Mint explains why they can’t afford...

Do green crackers really cause less air pollution?

Diwali firecrackers spark a debate every year due to rising air pollution, especially in the Delhi-National Capital Region. The Supreme Court has this year conditionally allowed ‘green crackers’. But are these a genuine solution or mere ‘greenwashing’?...

SLASHER FILMS, ITALIAN STYLE

Giallo, a strain of slasher films that emerged in 1960s Italy, have a cult following, loved for their hyper-stylised visuals and almost fetishised violence. If you’re just getting into giallo, we suggest films to keep you hooked

Infosys, Wipro beat Street, differ on AI

Infosys Ltd put up a better-thanexpected show in the September quarter and raised the lower end of its full-year guidance, even as it cautiously watched a turbulent world. While cross-city rival Wipro Ltd too beat the Street, its performance paled in...

Why does AI need dedicated data centres?

AI is by far the biggest data user, primarily because it consumes and processes vast amounts of information to produce results. Companies require massive, at-scale data centre infrastructure to train AI models, the largest of which are based on...

Why did the mills fail to use up their quota?

Sugar mills prioritized local sales over exports. When the quota was announced in January, the global white sugar price was over $500 a tonne (about ₹44,360 per tonne). On the other hand, domestic exmill prices were lower. But over the last two months,...

HCL Tech has best Q2 in 5 yrs, calls out AI revenue

Defying market uncertainties, HCL Technologies Ltd recorded its strongest second-quarter performance in July-September 2025 in five years. The Noidaheadquartered company also became the first of India’s Big Five IT firms to spell out revenue from...

Dissent aside, Tata Trusts keen to keep Tata Sons private

Tata Trusts remains committed to its decision to keep Tata Sons private, two Tata executives told Mint, hours after the Shapoorji Pallonji Group issued a public statement seeking a public share sale of the Tata Group holding company. An initial public...