‘Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You’ turns an ordinary cigarette break into a finely observed study of longing, class-coded routine, and the fragile intimacy that can form in the margins of daily life. The series’ greatest strength is its restraint: it understands that the most affecting romances often begin not with declarations, but with shared silence.
In a crowded field of high-concept streaming titles, the show distinguishes itself through mood, subtext, and emotional precision. It is less interested in spectacle than in the small negotiations of desire, making it one of 2026’s most quietly persuasive culture releases.
Shree Cement is preparing to invest about ₹6,700 crore in Andhra Pradesh, with proposed projects spread across Kadapa, Palnadu and Anakapalli districts, according to the state’s Industries and Commerce Minister. The expansion is expected to generate employment and livelihood opportunities for around 3,000 people, underscoring Andhra Pradesh’s push to attract large industrial commitments.
Non-banking finance companies now account for 50% of India’s new-to-credit borrowers, a sharp rise from 24% in 2016, according to a TransUnion CIBIL-FIDC report covering about 2,000 NBFCs. The findings underscore how NBFCs have become a critical entry point into formal credit, especially as India’s consumer finance and mobility markets expand.
IndusInd Bank shares are drawing close attention in early trade as investors assess the lender’s near-term valuation, broader banking-sector cues, and the market’s appetite for financial stocks. The stock’s movement is being watched as part of a wider read on how private-sector banks are positioned in a volatile macro environment.
With traders parsing liquidity conditions, rate expectations, and sector rotation, IndusInd Bank remains a key name on the domestic market radar. The stock’s current trading status is likely to reflect both company-specific sentiment and the tone across Indian equities.
Singeetham Srinivasa Rao’s career stands as one of Indian cinema’s most inventive and genre-defying bodies of work, shaped by a restless imagination and a willingness to challenge convention. In the Tamil industry, his creative partnership with Kamal Haasan gave him rare artistic freedom and helped produce films that expanded the vocabulary of mainstream entertainment.
India seized the upper hand in the Youth Test after a composed batting effort led by Baloda, even as Green produced a devastating seven-wicket spell to keep the contest alive. The innings swung repeatedly through the day, but India’s ability to absorb pressure and build a usable position gave them the advantage at a critical stage of the match.
Sixteen founders across 10 new-age technology companies earned a combined ₹43.4 crore in fixed remuneration in FY26, marking an 8.2% increase from the previous year, according to the latest founder salaries tracker. The data underscores how compensation at India’s venture-backed firms is increasingly being scrutinised as investors press for capital discipline, even as founders continue to draw salaries that reflect scale, governance and market expectations.
India must strike a careful balance between preserving continuity and giving younger players meaningful exposure in the first T20I against the West Indies, according to bowling coach Morne Morkel. His comments come amid growing attention on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, with Morkel stressing that time around the senior setup can accelerate development even if the teenager does not feature in the playing XI.
Public sector banks and older private lenders have advised customers to complete urgent transactions before a three-day nationwide strike called from September 28 by the United Forum of Bank Unions. The government has already directed public sector banks to remain open on Sunday to reduce disruption and help customers access critical services before the work stoppage begins.
India’s tractor retail market weakened in September, with dealers selling 76,906 units, down from 87,977 in August, according to data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association. The decline points to softer rural sentiment as monsoon-related stress and uneven farm cash flows continue to pressure demand in the country’s key agricultural belt.
Hindalco Industries’ stock is drawing close attention in morning trade as investors weigh the outlook for metals prices, domestic demand, and the broader macroeconomic backdrop. The counter remains sensitive to global commodity trends, currency moves, and any shift in India’s industrial and fiscal environment.
ICICI Bank has received a show cause notice from GST authorities seeking Rs 229.14 crore in tax demand linked to services provided to customers maintaining minimum account balances. The notice, issued on September 30 by the Additional Commissioner at the CGST and Central Excise Division-IV, adds to the lender’s ongoing legal overhang on similar tax matters. The bank said the notice is under review and that it is already contesting comparable demands in litigation.
Punjab National Bank has launched its 2026 festive retail loan campaign, offering concessions across home, car and select other retail loans as it seeks to capture seasonal borrowing demand. The package includes a full waiver of upfront and processing fees on home loans, a 5-basis-point rate concession, and a full fee waiver on car loans.
The Kerala government is set to begin discussions on establishing a dedicated academy for calligraphy, a move aimed at formalising training and protecting the cultural integrity of the art form. The proposed institution would serve as a centre for learning, preservation, and public appreciation, reflecting a broader push to safeguard traditional artistic practices in a rapidly digitising society.
Celebrated muralist, art director and production designer Basanth Peringode is among a select group of eminent artists chosen to create permanent works for the presidential museum at Rashtrapati Bhavan. His inclusion underscores the growing national recognition of Kerala’s distinctive mural tradition as a living artistic language with contemporary relevance. The commission places regional heritage at the centre of one of India’s most visible cultural institutions.
On Gandhi Jayanti 2026, the Mahatma’s image remains one of the most durable and contested symbols in Indian visual culture, spanning nationalist modernism, public memory, and contemporary artistic reinterpretation. From Nandalal Bose’s foundational imagery to Gigi Scaria’s later interventions, artists have continually reshaped Gandhi for new political and cultural eras.
South Korean equities slipped as investors turned cautious ahead of Samsung Electronics’ third-quarter earnings, with the market looking for signs of whether AI-driven chip demand is translating into stronger results. Weakness in automakers, steelmakers and semiconductor shares, along with continued foreign selling, kept pressure on the benchmark KOSPI.
Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary has directed officials to compile a comprehensive report on flood damage across the state, including the cost of rehabilitation and recovery. He instructed the Disaster Management Department to gather assessments from all relevant departments and submit the report at the earliest, signalling an urgent administrative response to the scale of the crisis.
Rahul Gandhi and several senior Congress leaders were released after being detained during a sit-in protest inside Akashvani Bhawan in New Delhi, where they had sought a meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The detention followed a tense confrontation over the party’s objections to the Election Commission’s handling of electoral concerns, turning a procedural dispute into a fresh flashpoint between the opposition and the poll body.
India’s services sector expanded at a faster pace in September, with the headline purchasing managers’ index rising to 55.2 from 54.5 in August, signaling firmer domestic demand and a stronger flow of new business. The latest reading points to continued resilience in the economy, even as weaker export orders and modest employment growth underscore lingering external and labour-market pressures.
IndiGo has revised its fuel charges on domestic tickets in response to rising aviation turbine fuel costs, with the new levy structure applying to bookings made from October 6. The airline’s domestic fuel surcharge now ranges from ₹375 to ₹1,300, underscoring how persistently elevated input costs continue to pressure India’s aviation sector and feed through to passengers.
Flipkart has recorded its highest-ever single-day sales, grossing about $200 million in a milestone that underscores the scale of India’s online retail market. The Bangalore-based company said the result marks its strongest day since launching in 2007, reflecting robust festive demand and the continued deepening of e-commerce consumption across the country.
Former NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar has warned that imposing merchant charges on UPI could slow India’s digital payments momentum and nudge users back toward cash. His remarks come after the government announced a 0.4% merchant discount rate on UPI transactions above Rs 2,000 from October 15, while keeping consumer payments free.
As tributes continue to surface after the death of British novelist Jeffrey Archer, one of the more vivid memories from his long relationship with India has resurfaced: a 2013 Chennai interview that veered sharply from literary conversation into a heated exchange over cricket. The episode captured Archer’s combative wit, his deep engagement with the sport, and the easy volatility that often accompanied his public appearances.
Zoe Kazan’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 'East of Eden' arrives as a visually sumptuous, performance-driven drama that often captures the novel’s emotional scale. Yet the series also inherits the book’s structural sprawl and moral heaviness, leaving it as much an exercise in admiration as in dramatic momentum.
OpenAI is facing renewed scrutiny after the Wikimedia Foundation accused its AI systems of behaving like “rogue” agents while interacting with Wikimedia infrastructure. The episode adds to growing concern over how autonomous AI tools gather, process, and attribute information at scale.
The development lands at a sensitive moment for the startup and venture ecosystem, where investor enthusiasm for agentic AI remains high even as questions intensify around reliability, governance, and platform accountability.
Flipkart will begin its annual Big Billion Days sale on October 9, unveiling a festive commerce campaign that will feature 150 million products and a 60% increase in the number of sellers. The company’s fashion platform Myntra and travel booking arm Cleartrip have also announced similar sales, underscoring how India’s largest e-commerce groups are using the festive season to deepen customer engagement and accelerate marketplace activity.
HDFC Bank has appointed Anup Bagchi as its managing director and chief executive officer, with the Reserve Bank of India approving the move and the transition set for October 27, 2026. Bagchi, a long-time ICICI Group executive who most recently served at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, returns to banking at a pivotal moment for the lender’s post-merger integration and growth strategy.
The US trade deficit widened sharply to $105.6 billion in August as imports rose faster than exports, underscoring persistent demand for foreign goods and a still-elevated external imbalance. Even so, the deficit for the year through August remained 19.9 per cent below the comparable 2025 period, suggesting the broader trade picture has improved despite the monthly deterioration.
India is among the top 10 emerging-market performers on artificial intelligence readiness, according to the World Bank, which said the country is well placed to benefit from AI because of its large technical workforce. The assessment adds to the case that India could turn its digital depth into a productivity advantage, even as policymakers face questions over skills, regulation and the distribution of gains.
ICICI Bank has received a show-cause notice from GST authorities seeking ₹229.14 crore in tax, interest and penalties over services linked to customers maintaining minimum account balances. The notice, issued on September 30 by the Additional Commissioner at the CGST and Central Excise Division-IV, adds to the bank’s existing litigation over similar tax disputes.
Shreyas’ latest campaign has delivered more than a result; it has provided a badly needed reset at a crucial stage of his career. Competing away from intense public scrutiny and with a largely familiar first-choice group around him, he has been able to rebuild rhythm, confidence and continuity in conditions that support reintegration rather than pressure.
Nandini milk prices are set to increase by ₹8 per litre as dairy unions press for relief from sharply higher input costs. The proposed revision reflects mounting pressure from cattle feed, fodder, veterinary medicines, processing, transportation and packaging expenses, which have squeezed margins across the dairy supply chain.
Artificial intelligence is moving beyond recommendations and into transaction-making, a shift that could reshape how Indians buy vehicles, accessories, charging services and mobility subscriptions. For the automotive and EV sector, the change promises convenience and speed, but it also raises urgent questions about consent, liability, pricing power and consumer trust.
Marvell Technology raised its 2028 revenue forecast to about $20 billion, citing robust demand tied to artificial intelligence data centers, sending its shares sharply higher in early trading. The new outlook tops the company’s August projection of $18 billion and underscores how AI infrastructure spending continues to reshape expectations for semiconductor suppliers.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India is preparing proposals to amend the Chartered Accountants Act, in a move aimed at enabling domestic firms to grow larger and compete more effectively with global professional services networks. The initiative follows discussions at the Prime Minister’s Office on regulatory adjustments and will likely include revisions to networking and practice rules that currently limit broader collaboration.
IndusInd Bank has launched a dedicated banking vertical for Global Capability Centres in India, moving to capture a fast-expanding client base that is reshaping corporate services, treasury flows and employee banking demand. The unit combines corporate and employee banking under one relationship and adds foreign-currency account services to support cross-border operations.
Paramount Syntex’s Rs 82-crore initial public offering on the BSE SME platform was subscribed 1.35 times by the second day of bidding, driven overwhelmingly by institutional demand. The qualified institutional buyer portion was subscribed 119.29 times, while retail and non-institutional investor participation remained muted ahead of the October 6 closing.
Railway Protection Force personnel and Nemili police have seized a combined 16 kilograms of ganja in two separate enforcement actions near Nemili and Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu, detaining four people allegedly involved in street-level distribution. Officials said the suspects were reportedly selling small quantities in public places across surrounding villages, underscoring the persistence of low-volume narcotics networks outside major urban centres.
India’s demat account additions eased in September to 2.89 million, down 11.5% from August, as a sharp market selloff dented near-term retail momentum. Even so, the September quarter set a record with 9.04 million new accounts, underscoring the market’s still-strong structural pull, aided by a busy IPO pipeline and a steady base of 135 million unique investors.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s quarter-century in leadership, spanning his rise in Gujarat and his tenure in New Delhi, has become inseparable from India’s own political and economic transformation. As the country marks a period of elevated global ambition, his record reflects both a more assertive state and a more confident national self-image.
Accredited Social Health Activists affiliated to the All India United Trade Union Centre staged a protest outside the Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer’s office in Karwar on Tuesday, joining a State-wide agitation week over pay and delayed dues. The workers are demanding a minimum monthly remuneration of ₹15,000, along with timely payment of incentives and honorarium.
Singapore business leaders have described India as an increasingly compelling investment destination, citing its young workforce, rapid economic expansion and improving policy environment. The Singapore-India Network for Growth Forum 2026 in India underscored how state-level engagement, especially from Haryana and Chhattisgarh, is helping convert broad interest into actionable business opportunities.
US software shares climbed to their strongest levels since 2026 as investors grew more confident that artificial intelligence will augment, rather than upend, the sector’s earnings power. Better-than-expected results from major names including Salesforce and Accenture have reinforced the view that enterprise software demand remains resilient even as AI reshapes product cycles and competitive dynamics.
Meesho shares advanced sharply in Tuesday’s trade after Jefferies reiterated its bullish stance on the e-commerce platform, reinforcing investor confidence in the company’s growth trajectory. The stock closed 5.2% higher at ₹238.40, after rising as much as 6% intraday, as the brokerage’s endorsement added momentum to a broader re-rating of India’s consumer internet names.
Secretary of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Sudhansh Pant, will administer the oath of office to the newly appointed members of the governing body of the Department of Welfare of the Divyangjan and National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (DWBDNC) on Tuesday. The ceremony underscores the government’s continuing focus on institutional leadership and policy delivery for persons with disabilities, a sector that sits at the intersection of rights, welfare, and administrative accountability.
TPG has continued trimming its stake in Shadowfax, offloading additional shares in a bulk transaction valued at about ₹115 crore. The sale adds to a broader pattern of dilution by the private equity investor as the logistics startup remains in focus amid a maturing venture capital market and renewed investor scrutiny of late-stage holdings.
The US Energy Information Administration has raised its oil price outlook, warning that tighter global supplies and conflict-driven disruptions around Iran are keeping crude markets elevated. Brent is now projected to average about $98 a barrel in 2026, while diesel prices are expected to stay high before easing gradually in 2027.
Frontier AI research startup FYDY, also known as Fuzzy Dynamics, is in advanced discussions to raise about $12 million from Lightspeed and General Catalyst, according to people familiar with the matter. The stealth-mode company is positioning itself as part of a new wave of Indian AI research ventures seeking capital to build foundational technology rather than consumer-facing applications.
StockGro, the invest-tech startup that recently pre-filed its draft IPO papers, has raised ₹110 crore in a fresh round led by existing investors. The capital infusion comes as the Bengaluru-based company positions itself for a public-market debut and seeks to strengthen its balance sheet ahead of a potentially demanding listing process. The transaction underscores continued investor support for India’s retail investing and financial education segment even as broader startup funding remains selective.
