A proposed 0.4% merchant discount rate on UPI transactions could recover as much as Rs 15,000 crore in the first year, according to NPCI chief Dilip Asbe, reviving debate over how India should fund the country’s fastest-growing digital payments rail. The proposal comes as policymakers weigh the long-term economics of UPI, which has scaled rapidly on the back of zero-cost consumer usage but has left banks, payment firms and infrastructure providers searching for a sustainable revenue model.
Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta has called for a more organised real estate sector in Bengal, arguing that fragmented market structures continue to hold back investment and orderly urban growth. He also urged the scrapping of legacy laws, including the urban land ceiling act, which he described as impediments to development.
India’s gross Goods and Services Tax collections rose 14.7% year-on-year in September to more than ₹2.03 lakh crore, underscoring resilient consumption and firm import-linked demand. Domestic transactions contributed about ₹1.38 lakh crore, while import-related revenues climbed 26% to ₹65,525 crore, signalling broad-based tax buoyancy at the start of the festive quarter.
The Hindu is set to release a new documentary, Gandhi for GenZ, today, positioning Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas within the pressures and aspirations of contemporary Indian youth. The film arrives at a moment when questions of identity, civic responsibility and non-violent dissent are being debated across campuses, workplaces and digital spaces.
Across India’s urban café scene, operators are moving beyond food and beverages to build loyalty through run clubs, live music, book readings, cultural programming and social-first content. The shift reflects a broader battle for repeat footfall in a crowded market where ambience and experience increasingly matter as much as the menu.
A Karnataka BJP MLA has said the party was seeking scrutiny of voter rolls, not the deletion of legitimate names, amid allegations that a large number of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas were illegally added to the electoral list in Belagavi. He accused local Congress leaders of facilitating the alleged inclusion, sharpening the political dispute over voter verification and electoral integrity in the state.
Vishakha Renewables, a solar components company founded by Gautam Adani, has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus as it prepares to raise up to Rs 1,250 crore through an initial public offering. The issue is designed primarily to reduce debt, with Rs 900 crore earmarked for repayment of borrowings, while the balance will support general corporate purposes and an offer-for-sale will allow existing shareholders to monetise part of their holdings.
Indian equities are under sustained pressure as a sharp rise in US bond yields, persistent foreign selling and firmer crude prices combine to weaken risk appetite. The Sensex and Nifty have extended their declines into a historic weekly slump, eclipsing the severity of the Covid-era downturn in duration and underscoring the market’s sensitivity to global macro shocks.
Dhanuka Agritech has introduced Wetcit Neo, a biosolution adjuvant designed to improve spray spreading, coverage and absorption in crop protection applications. The launch targets a persistent agronomic challenge: conventional sprays often struggle to perform effectively on crops with waxy leaf surfaces, limiting uptake and reducing field efficiency.
As the Kalhath Institute in Lucknow marks a decade, co-founder Maximiliano Modesti is reflecting on a project that has helped reposition traditional Indian embroidery within contemporary art, fashion, and design. What began as an effort to preserve craft has evolved into a broader cultural argument: that Indian handwork can travel beyond heritage display and function as a living, modern language.
At Delhi’s Sunder Nursery, director Anuradha Kapur’s Virasat offers a searching reworking of Mahesh Elkunchwar’s Wada trilogy, turning a landmark of Indian theatre into a meditation on inheritance, erosion and the cost of nostalgia. The production argues that modernity is not automatically progress, and that clinging to a fading past can exact a steep human price.
Ladakh has launched an experimental saffron plantation at Spituk Pharka in Leh, with Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena saying 800 kg, or about 90,000 premium Iranian saffron corms, have been planted across 4,000 square metres. The initiative is being watched as a potential high-value diversification play for one of India’s most fragile and arid economies, where agriculture is constrained by extreme climate and limited arable land.
India is likely to receive normal rainfall in the October-December period, even as the southwest monsoon closes with one of its weakest performances in more than a century, according to the latest meteorological assessment. The India Meteorological Department has forecast below-normal rain in October, but expects the southern peninsula to fare better, while 313 of 741 districts recorded deficient precipitation during the monsoon season.
Dhvani Kothari, founder of the National Ballet School of India, is challenging long-held assumptions about who can belong in ballet and how the art form should be taught in India. Her work is aimed at broadening access, widening participation and reframing ballet as a discipline for diverse body types and backgrounds.
The WTA Chennai Open is expected to be relocated to Manila next year, marking a significant change for one of India’s few top-tier women’s tennis events. The move underscores the shifting economics and logistics of hosting international tennis in Asia, while raising questions about India’s ability to retain premium tour properties.
India’s Petroleum Secretary has said no fuel retailer is permitted to cap sales, in a pointed response to reports that private operators including Jio-bp and Nayara Energy have limited diesel dispensing at some outlets. The remarks underscore the government’s intent to keep the retail fuel market functioning normally as the country navigates tight supply conditions and heightened scrutiny of private distribution practices.
India will impose a 0.4% merchant discount rate on UPI payments above Rs 2,000 from October 15, while person-to-person transfers and smaller transactions remain free. The move is aimed at supporting the long-term safety and sustainability of the UPI ecosystem, but it has drawn criticism from opposition parties and is likely to reignite debate over the cost of digital payments.
India’s economy is projected to have expanded 7.3% in the July-September quarter, according to the Finance Ministry’s latest review, underscoring continued momentum in one of the world’s fastest-growing major economies. The ministry, however, warned that elevated oil prices, tighter global financial conditions and uncertainty around US trade policy could temper the outlook in the months ahead.
India’s paneer market is entering a new phase as stricter food safety enforcement and labeling scrutiny raise the bar for unorganised producers. Branded dairy companies are responding by expanding capacity, betting that compliance costs and consumer trust will accelerate a shift toward packaged, traceable products.
HDFC Bank has appointed Anup Bagchi, a long-serving ICICI Bank executive with deep experience across banking, insurance and financial services, as its new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. The appointment, effective October 27, follows Reserve Bank of India approval and comes as Sashidhar Jagdishan’s term ends on October 26.
The Reserve Bank of India’s net short forward position rose sharply to $200 billion in August from $136 billion in July, underscoring the scale of its ongoing intervention in currency markets. The increase, alongside a rise in long dollar positions, points to persistent market adjustments and growing difficulty in managing the central bank’s forward book.
Anish closed India’s campaign with a seventh-place finish after a composed final round in which he struck four of his last five shots, ending on 11 hits from 15. The result capped a productive Indian outing that yielded 15 medals overall, underscoring both the team’s depth and the fine margins that separated a podium challenge from a near-miss in the closing event.
Bengaluru-based music collective The Sadho Project is preparing to stage Songs of the Seeker on September 30, a performance built around the poetry of Kabirdas. The production aims to reframe the 15th-century mystic poet’s verses for contemporary listeners, underscoring the continuing relevance of devotional and philosophical traditions in India’s cultural life.
Three Indian spacetech startups have advanced from terrestrial development to orbital testing after launching payloads aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 mission. The flight marks a notable milestone for India’s venture-backed space sector, which is increasingly focused on AI-enabled computing, Earth observation and in-orbit validation of commercial technologies.
Director Radhakrishna Malineni is marking 26 years in Telugu television with a career retrospective shaped by family storytelling, social values and audience trust. His latest work, 'Seetaramayya Gari Manavaralu' on E TV, continues that arc by centring women’s resilience, intergenerational bonds and the emotional weight of family legacy.
India is confronting a more difficult environment for attracting capital as global trade tensions, volatile crude prices and rapid shifts in artificial intelligence reshape investor priorities, according to a Finance Ministry report. The assessment says the economy must become more competition-friendly rather than merely business-friendly if it is to sustain investment momentum and remain resilient in a more uncertain world.
Cash-flow-based lending is emerging as a critical financing tool for India’s new-age sectors, including automotive technology, electric vehicles and mobility, according to a senior State Bank of India executive. The bank is studying the model closely as traditional collateral structures often do not fit businesses built on software, platforms and fast-scaling revenue streams.
The GST Council is set to review the tax treatment of merchant fees linked to UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 at its October 7 meeting, according to a report. The discussion comes as the government proposes a 0.4% merchant discount rate, capped at Rs 300, from October 15, with the fee treated as a taxable service and merchants allowed to claim input tax credit.
The Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) has filled key vacant posts in a leadership reshuffle, naming actors Asha Aravind and Sijoy Varghese as vice-presidents and Neena Kurup as treasurer. The appointments come after the resignations of Lakshmipriya and Jayan Cherthala, underscoring an effort to restore administrative stability in the crisis-hit body.
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said there is no immediate need for another interest-rate move, stressing that policymakers should wait for clearer evidence from incoming data before acting. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, by contrast, said the timing of the next hike remains uncertain but did not rule out further tightening as the U.S. economy continues to run strong and inflation stays above target.
Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting captured a second Asian Games gold medal on Saturday, defeating China’s Yang Chengyu 5-0 in the women’s 60kg final in Nagoya. The victory adds another major title to Lin’s career and arrives against the backdrop of an intense and long-running gender eligibility debate that has followed her through elite competition.
India’s boxers produced their best-ever Asian Games return, finishing with three gold medals and three bronze to top the sport’s medal table at the 2026 edition. Lovlina Borgohain, Parveen Hooda and Ankushita Boro led a statement performance that underlined India’s growing depth in women’s and men’s boxing alike.
Google has introduced Gemini 4 Argon, describing it as its most advanced AI model to date and a fresh bid to regain momentum in a fiercely contested market. The launch underscores how the company is leaning on larger model capability, tighter product integration and developer reach to defend its position against rivals across the AI stack.
‘Anbil Avan’ arrives with the kind of casting that can make an audience lean in: Preity Mukhundhan and Ashok Selvan are an appealing screen pair, and the film clearly wants their chemistry to carry a romance-thriller set against the hills. But the film is weighed down by thinly drawn characters, predictable plotting and an action stretch that outstays its welcome. The result is a movie that shows intent and polish in moments, yet struggles to turn its visual promise into sustained dramatic payoff.
The Reserve Bank of India has cautioned lenders against using abundant liquidity as a pretext to chase loan growth through aggressive pricing and a move down the credit ladder. The warning reflects concern that short-term attempts to protect margins and deploy surplus funds could eventually translate into sticky assets and weaker balance sheets.
India reached the final in dramatic fashion after surrendering a 3-0 lead and then recovering to win 4-3, leaving coach Fulton relieved but visibly dissatisfied with the team’s late wobble. The result secured progression, but the manner of the victory exposed troubling lapses in control, composure and game management that will concern the camp before the title match.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said he held productive discussions with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on concluding a trade agreement at the earliest. He also said the two sides exchanged views on G20 deliberations under the U.S. presidency, underscoring the broader strategic and economic context of the engagement.
A proposed 0.4% merchant discount rate on UPI transactions could generate as much as Rs 15,000 crore in the first year, according to NPCI chief Dilip Asbe, reviving a long-running debate over how India should fund its fast-growing digital payments infrastructure. The proposal comes as policymakers weigh the trade-off between keeping UPI free for users and ensuring a sustainable revenue model for banks, payment firms and merchants.
Seeds Fincap has secured more than Rs 100 crore in a Series B round led by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, marking a significant capital infusion for the rural-focused lender. The company said it will deploy the funds to expand its branch network, add field staff and strengthen risk-tracking systems as it pushes deeper into rural and semi-urban India.
A new report on Meta’s latest AI advances warns that the company’s tools could accelerate the production of machine-generated content at a scale that reshapes what users see, share and trust online. At the same time, four Indian brands are giving khadi a contemporary commercial edge, underscoring how legacy materials are being reinterpreted for a digital-first consumer economy.
The Hindu is set to release its documentary 'Gandhi for GenZ' today, positioning Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas within the lived realities of young Indians navigating uncertainty, inequality and digital-age pressures. The film aims to test whether the Father of the Nation still speaks meaningfully to a generation shaped by social media, economic anxiety and rapid cultural change.
Christian Medical College has opened a dedicated Paediatric Speciality Centre at its Ranipet campus, adding a focused facility for child health services in Tamil Nadu. The move strengthens tertiary paediatric care access in the region and reflects the continuing expansion of specialised healthcare infrastructure beyond major urban centres.
India’s finance ministry has asked banks to share details of their use of artificial intelligence in loan collection, signalling a closer review of how lenders are deploying automation and whether customer-protection safeguards are keeping pace. Early indications suggest most banks are using AI to support borrower engagement and repayment reminders, while only a limited number have moved to conversational AI for collections.
India’s men’s sepaktakraw team bowed out in the semifinals after a defeat to Japan, but still secured a bronze medal in the competition. The result underlined both India’s growing presence in the sport and the gap that remains between emerging contenders and Asia’s more established powers.
The Congress has appointed former minister Pargat Singh as the new chief of its Punjab unit, bringing an end to months of speculation over the party’s state leadership. Outgoing PPCC chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring has submitted his resignation to Rahul Gandhi, marking a formal transition at a politically sensitive moment for the party in Punjab.
‘Anbil Avan’ arrives with a premise that should have worked: a visually appealing lead pair, a misty hill-country setting, and the promise of romance sharpened by thriller elements. But the film is weighed down by familiar character writing, thin emotional stakes, and an overextended action stretch that blunts its momentum.
Foreign buyers attending the 13th Kerala Travel Mart have signalled strong interest in Kerala’s experiential tourism offerings, citing the state’s cultural depth, wellness ecosystem and immersive travel potential. Their response underscores a broader shift in global tourism demand toward destinations that combine authenticity, sustainability and high-value visitor experiences.
India’s boxers produced their strongest-ever Asian Games campaign, finishing with three gold medals and three bronzes to top the sport’s medal table. Lovlina Borgohain, Parveen Hooda and Ankush each struck gold, underlining a decisive shift in India’s depth and consistency at the continental level.
Two men were shot dead by the Border Security Force after they allegedly attempted to cross into India through paddy fields in Tarn Taran district, Punjab, in the early hours of the morning. Officials said a third man managed to flee, while Pakistan Rangers have agreed to accept the bodies, underscoring the sensitive cross-border coordination that often follows such incidents.
Apple Pay has officially launched in India, enabling Axis Bank credit card holders to make contactless payments using Visa and Mastercard cards on Apple devices. The rollout adds a secure, private payment option that does not require PINs or OTPs, marking a notable expansion in India’s digital payments landscape.
