Business

NEW DELHI: Sales of smartwatches may be struggling, but luxury watches are seeing record demand, not just in the metro markets but also in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.Most luxury watch brands, whose prices start from a few lakh of rupees and top the crore mark, have seen sales in India grow substantially in 2024, although the base remains low. The …

NEW DELHI: Around a year ago, the plywood and MDF board industry had approached the govt, vehemently opposing the move to impose quality control order (QCO), providing specifications that domestic and industry players would have to follow.Late last month, when an industry delegation met commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, they were keen that the govt rolled it out by …

NEW DELHI: Manufacturing activity in the country slowed to 12-month low in December as factory orders and production expanded at a softer rate.December data showed the sector improving to the least extent in 2024, amid softer increases in output, new orders and stocks of purchases. Rates of growth remained substantial, however, underpinning further expansions in buying levels and employment. The …

MUMBAI: Retail borrowers will find it difficult to over-leverage by obtaining multiple personal loans in the new year. A new norm, that requires lenders to update credit bureau records within 15 days instead of one month earlier, is kicking in. With records being updated every two weeks, fewer borrowers will qualify for multiple loans.The directive to lenders and credit bureaus …

MUMBAI: Ketan Parekh, the infamous market operator who was once jailed for stock exchange-related manipulations, is in Sebi‘s net again. The markets regulator has unearthed a front-running scheme in which Parekh (also nicknamed KP) was one of the main brains. Along with Rohit Salgaocar – a Singapore citizen of Indian origin – KP orchestrated a scheme to front-run the trades …

MUMBAI: Across-the-board buying lifted the sensex by nearly 2% on Thursday to above the psychologically important 80K mark again. It closed slightly lower, however, at 79,944 – up 1,436 points on the day. An absence of most foreign funds during the ensuing holiday season helped the day’s rally, market players said. Over the last three months, foreign portfolio investors have …

A recent report by financial services firm Jefferies suggests that the government should raise capital expenditure (capex) by 10-12 per cent in the union budget 2025-26 to maintain its focus on infrastructure development and ensure confidence among stakeholders.“10-12 per cent YoY capex growth in Feb budget, based on broadly maintaining capex to GDP ratio, is needed for confidence that government …

NEW DELHI: Unified Payments Interface (UPI) achieved unprecedented record of 16.73 billion in December, showing an 8 per cent increase compared to the previous month’s figure of 15.48 billion, according to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).UPI transaction count was 15.48 billion in the month of November, according to news agency PTI.The transaction value reached Rs 23.25 lakh crore …

For the first time in at least nine years, Tesla’s global annual sales have recorded a decline, dropping by 1.1 per cent compared to 2023. The electric vehicle (EV) giant delivered 1.79 million vehicles in 2024, a slight decrease from the 1.81 million sold the previous year. A 2.3 per cent hike in fourth-quarter sales, reaching 495,570 vehicles, was insufficient …

NEW DELHI: Two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorp on Thursday reported a 7.5 per cent rise in total sales at 59,11,065 units on 2024 as compared to 54,99,524 units in 2023. The company posted a 49 per cent growth in global business sales during CY24 and launched eight new models globally, each designed to cater to region-specific customer preferences, Hero MotoCorp said …