Oil prices edged higher on Thursday as continuous supply disruptions due to the Iran conflict raised concerns over tightening fuel reserves across the globe. Benchmark oil prices traded marginally higher, with WTI Crude rising 0.58% to $98.83 a barrel and Brent Crude gaining 0.44% to $105.5 a barrel.The recovery comes after a sharp decline on…

MUMBAI: For long, stock market and mutual fund industry analysts have been saying that Indian investors are maturing fast, moving away from trading in direct stocks and investing for the long term through the fund route. Now, a Sebi research paper, using granular data, has bolstered that notion. Using holdings data of households in depositories,…

MUMBAI: The war-led volatility in energy markets coupled with the risk of food inflation amid projections of below-normal monsoon rains this year could weigh on FMCG volume growth, Worldpanel by Numerator (formerly Kantar) said in its update on Wednesday. It estimated volume growth to drop to 3-4% if the situation doesn’t improve, as an unstable…

NEW DELHI: India’s digital transformation has pushed the country into a new era of cybersecurity risk, where traditional, manual defences may no longer be enough to counter increasingly sophisticated and automated cyberattacks, National Cyber Security Coordinator Navin Kumar Singh said on Tuesday. He stressed the need for artificial intelligence-powered security systems to protect critical infrastructure…

NEW DELHI: Grasim Industries reported a nearly 28% increase in its consolidated net profit to Rs 3,802 crore for Q4FY26 driven by its building materials, financial services and cellulosic fibres businesses on Wednesday. It posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,973 crore for the Jan-March quarter a year ago. On a standalone basis, Grasim…

NEW DELHI: Amid the conflict in West Asia, output in India’s eight core infrastructure industries inched up to 1.7% in April from the upwardly revised 1.2% in March, latest official data released Wednesday showed. Notably, as many as four industries linked to energy sector and the fertiliser industry registered a decline in output during the…

MUMBAI: Mobile phone financiers will face restrictions on “mobile lock” practices under RBI’s amended rules for loan recovery. Under the reworked draft regulation, lenders can restrict financed devices only under explicit contractual consent and after a 90-day default cycle with a staged 60-day and 7-day notice regime, while mandating that core functions such as incoming…

Mumbai: Bajaj General Insurance has launched health insurance riders that enable buyers to widen the scope of their basic health plan. The `Age shield’ rider enables buyers of health insurance to ensure that the premium escalation with age will not happen unless there is a claim. The policy is aimed at addressing the complaint of…

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) subscribers will soon be able to withdraw provident fund money directly through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), with testing of the facility already completed, Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Tuesday. The move is part of a broader push by EPFO to improve service delivery and simplify access for over…