Maharashtra Assembly Election Result: 'We are fully prepared' - CEO

Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam says, "Voters of Maharashtra, especially women voters, turned out in large numbers to deliver an unprecedented voting percentage of 66%. This has not happened in the last 30 years... You have cast your vote, and now you are awaiting the results. We are fully prepared for this. More than 6,500 tables, including teams for EVM and postal ballot counting, are ready for the task tomorrow morning..."

ISRO Chief S Somanath says, "I'm very happy that they are scaling up their capabilities with a great vision, which must be realized in the coming years. I'm hopeful that this will help India become a leader in optical optoelectronic systems. Equally important is their ability to build systems for other users, not just for space. This is crucial for us, as we need the real capability to build and supply this equipment."

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Mumbai to establish a framework to promote the use of their respective local currencies, the Indian Rupee (INR) and the Maldivian Rufiyaa (MVR).
The MoU was signed in the presence of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das and MMA Governor Ali Hashim on Thursday.
As per an official statement by RBI, the agreement aims to facilitate the use of INR and MVR in various economic and financial transactions between both the countries, said ANI.
 

Union Minister Piyush Goyal announced that India is set to bring in a new legal framework to ensure data privacy while promoting the free flow of data among trusted global partners.
The minister stated this during his address at the UK India Business Council's 'UK-India Technology Futures Conference' held in New Delhi on Thursday.
Highlighting India's capabilities, Goyal stated, "India is the best place in the world to provide sustainable infrastructure to the digital world. In addition to a robust legal system, India is going to bring out a new legal framework to ensure data privacy that will encourage free flow of data among trusted partners., ANI Reports"
 

Mumbai and Delhi have secured spots among the top five cities in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region for annual price growth in luxury residential markets, according to Knight Frank's latest report.
Alongside Vietnam and Thailand, India is highlighted as one of the emerging markets in the region, driven by its strong economy, supportive policies, and improving infrastructure.
Mumbai has emerged as a leader in luxury property growth, ranking third in the APAC region with an 11.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) increase in Q3 2024. This growth is closely linked to the robust performance of Indian stock markets, which have reached record highs, reported by ANI.
 

Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi was, on Thursday, conferred with the prestigious honorary rank of General of the Nepali Army showcasing the close ties between the two countries.

Georgetown, Guyana: While addressing a Special Session of the Guyanese Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "We have never moved forward with the idea of expansionism. We have always stayed away from the idea of resource capturing. I believe whether it is space or sea, this should be the subject of universal cooperation, not universal conflict. For the world also, this is not time for conflict, this is the time to identify the conditions that create conflicts and remove it..."

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday asserted that India's foreign policy emphasises respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity of nations and the primacy of dialogue over conflict and said as wars intensify, the world can learn from the country's age-old principles of harmony and coexistence.

He also stressed the need for nations to focus on strategic security through strong defence capabilities and underlined that a peaceful environment is necessary for growth, as reported by PTI.
 

The Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) ownership in companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) has been steadily declining over the past three years but still they are the major shareholder.
According to an NSE report, by the end of the previous quarter, FPIs holding stood at 36.3 per cent in the NSE-listed floating stocks, despite the seventh consecutive quarterly decline.
From a high of 39.9 per cent in Dec 2021, FPIs holding stands at 36.3 per cent as on September 30 the lowest level of the last three years.
It is to be noted that despite FPIs reducing their ownership over the past three years the Indian indices continued with the upward movement and touched new highs, reported ANI.

Nokia has been awarded a multi-year, multi-billion extension deal by Bharti Airtel to deploy 4G and 5G equipment across key Indian cities and states, the company said in an exchange filing on Thursday.

The presentation of the awards will be made during the Prime Minister's historic visit to Guyana. Guyana will confer its highest national award, 'The Order of Excellence' to PM Modi. Barbados will confer the prestigious 'Honorary Order of Freedom of Barbados' on Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. (ANI)
 

India's consumer durables market holds immense growth potential due to lower penetration of electric appliances compared to the global average, according to a report by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and EY India.
The report highlights significant opportunities for domestic consumption, fueled by rising affluence, changing lifestyles, and evolving consumer preferences.
It said "Lower penetration levels for appliances compared to the global average and per capita spend in India highlight significant growth potential in domestic consumption".
(ANI)

World leaders including PM Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and others posed for a photograph at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. On Wednesday, PM Modi will be visiting the Cooperative Republic of Guyana on a two-day state visit at the invitation of Guyana's  President Mohamed Irfaan Ali. 

Over 100 Air India passengers were stranded in Phuket for more than 80 hours. According to several social media posts, over 100 New Delhi-bound passengers have been stranded in Thailand's Phuket for over 80 hours. According to the posts on X and other microblogging sites, the flight was cancelled due to technical faults.
 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The two sides decided to give impetus to the ongoing political dialogue between Italy and India and said that New Delhi and Rome would continue to push the economic cooperation between the two countries. Among others, Italy and India will continue to hold yearly bilateral consultations between the two Foreign Ministries at the Senior Officials’ level, including Foreign Office Consultations.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the security and prosperity of nations is intimately connected to oceans and the government has taken several transformative steps to bolster India's maritime capabilities.

In his message sent from Camp Office in Nigeria, Modi called for success of 'Sagarmanthan, The Ocean’s Dialogue', being held at the national capital to build consensus for partnerships of a prosperous future of humanity.

Ahead of PM Modi's visit to Guyana, Indian-origin people in the country have expressed their enthusiasm about the 'historic' visit. The oil-rich Caribbean country has 40 per cent Indian origin population, ANI reported.

US President-elect Donald Trump is poised to make import tariffs the cornerstone of his economic and geopolitical agenda, potentially triggering another round of global supply chain restructuring, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Analysts suggest that the policy, continuing a trajectory set during Trump's first term, could create significant uncertainty for global trade and supply chain planning.
During his first term, Trump frequently cited merchandise trade deficits as a rationale for trade actions. While the U.S. trade deficit with mainland China has declined by 18.7 per cent since 2021, reaching USD 287 billion in the 12 months ending September 30, 2024, it remains the largest trade imbalance with any country. 
 

The action plan 2025-29 identified 10 specific pillars for advancing bilateral engagement that included economic cooperation and investments, energy transition, space, defence, security, migration and mobility, people-to-people exchanges.
 

The government has issued revised guidelines for capital restructuring of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), mandating a minimum annual dividend payout of 30 per cent of profit after tax (PAT) or 4 per cent of net worth, whichever is higher. These changes aim to ensure consistent returns for shareholders while enhancing financial flexibility. 
 

After the Competition Commission imposed a Rs 213-crore penalty on Meta in relation to WhatsApp privacy policy, the company said it disagrees with the watchdog's decision and plans to appeal.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday asked WhatsApp to refrain from sharing user data with other applications, owned by Meta, for advertising purposes for a period of five years.

Speaking to ANI, High Commissioner of India to Guyana, Amit S Telang hailed the visit and said," The significance of the visit lies in the fact that our two countries have traditionally shared very warm and, I would say historical relations. And this visit, as it is happening after almost five decades, or 56 years to be precise, is a symbol of the deep friendship, the mutual trust, and the kind of cooperation that our two countries have experienced over the years."
He added that India and Guyana have aimed to strengthen cooperation in key areas, including agriculture, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, renewable energy, information and communication technology, and education.  
 

India underscored the importance of addressing four key areas in global climate action: scaling up innovative actions and technology transfer, prioritising climate finance as central to implementing climate action, enhancing international cooperation, and fostering mutual trust among nations, as reported by PTI
 

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced that trade talks with India would be relaunched in the new year, following a bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Brazil.

The yen got some much-needed respite on Tuesday as it steadied on the stronger side of 155 per dollar thanks to a pullback in the U.S. currency, which ran into profit-taking after a stellar rally that saw it scale a one-year high.

The yen last edged 0.2% higher to 154.40 per dollar, recovering from its fall in the previous session after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda stuck to his usual script and failed to offer any hints on whether a rate hike could come in December.

Boeing (BA.N) will lay off more than 2,500 workers in the US states of Washington, Oregon, South Carolina and Missouri, according to federally required filings posted on Monday and a union official, as part of the debt-heavy U.S. planemaker's plan to cut 17,000 jobs, or 10% of its global workforce.

Buyout firm Blackstone (BX.N) is nearing a deal for Jersey Mike's Subs that would value the U.S. sandwich chain at around $8 billion, including debt, and could be announced as early as this week, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.