Mumbai: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Wednesday amid persistent foreign fund outflows and profit-taking by investors.
Falling for the fourth day in a row, the 30-share BSE Sensex dropped 165.35 points to 84,972.92 in early trade. The 50-share NSE Nifty declined 77.85 points to 25,954.35.
From the Sensex firms, Hindustan Unilever, Bharat Electronics, Titan, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, NTPC, and State Bank of India were among the major laggards.
However, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and ICICI Bank were gainers.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,642.30 crore on Tuesday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 4,645.94 crore, according to exchange data.
FII outflows, a record-weak rupee, and pressure on banking stocks keep sentiment fragile, Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.
The rupee fell 6 paise to a record low of 90.05 against US dollar in early trade.
In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index quoted in positive territory, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index traded lower.
US markets ended higher on Tuesday.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, quoted 0.03 per cent down at USD 62.43 per barrel.
Falling for the third straight session on Tuesday, the Sensex tumbled 503.63 points, or 0.59 per cent, to settle at 85,138.27. The Nifty declined 143.55 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 26,032.20.
San Francisco: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has set off a “code red” alert to employees to improve its flagship product, ChatGPT, and delay other product developments, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper reported that Altman sent an internal memo to staff Monday saying more work was needed to enhance the artificial intelligence chatbot’s speed, reliability and personalisation features.
This week marks three years since OpenAI first released ChatGPT, helping to spark global fascination and a commercial boom in generative AI technology. But the company faces increased competition with rivals, including Google, which last month unleashed Gemini 3, the latest version of its own AI assistant.
OpenAI didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Tech news outlet The Information also reported on the memo.
New Delhi: Samsung Electronics on Tuesday unveiled the Galaxy Z TriFold, a new foldable smartphone that opens twice to reveal a large 10-inch display.
With this launch, Samsung has expanded its leadership in innovative phone designs for the AI-driven mobile era.
The company said the TriFold builds on a decade of experience in the foldable category and introduces its most advanced engineering yet.
TM Roh, CEO and Head of the Device eXperience Division at Samsung Electronics, said the company continues to push boundaries to shape the future of mobile technology.
He added that the Galaxy Z TriFold solves one of the industry’s biggest challenges by combining portability, premium performance, and productivity in a single device.
Samsung said the TriFold was designed using insights from how people use their devices.
The unique multi-folding design uses an inward-folding mechanism that protects the main screen and includes an auto-alert feature that notifies users if the phone is folded incorrectly.
Samsung Electronics on Tuesday unveiled the Galaxy Z TriFold, a new foldable smartphone that opens twice to reveal a large 10-inch display.
With this launch, Samsung has expanded its leadership in innovative phone designs for the AI-driven mobile era. pic.twitter.com/yzjTzfC8NW
The device is extremely slim at just 3.9 mm at its thinnest point and is powered by the customised Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform for Galaxy.
It also features a 200 MP camera and the largest battery ever used in a Samsung foldable, a 5,600 mAh three-cell system spread across its panels.
To keep the phone thin and durable, Samsung re-engineered key components. The Armor FlexHinge has been strengthened with two differently sized hinges that provide smoother folding.
The 10-inch folding display has been reinforced with a shock-absorbing layer, and the exterior uses advanced materials, including titanium hinge housing and high-strength aluminum.
Each unit undergoes strict quality checks, such as CT and laser scanning, to ensure precision and durability.
With its large 10-inch screen, the Galaxy Z TriFold is designed for high productivity and powerful AI experiences.
When fully opened, it works like three 6.5-inch smartphone screens combined, allowing users to multitask with up to three apps side-by-side.
Apps such as My Files and Samsung Health have been optimised for the larger display, and a taskbar makes it easy to switch between recently used apps.
Kolkata: The RBI could announce a 25-basis point repo rate cut in its upcoming December monetary policy meeting, driven by a sharp decline in inflation and strong growth momentum, a report by credit rating agency CareEdge said on Tuesday.
It said inflation has eased to a decadal low of 0.3 per cent in October, well below the RBI’s 4 per cent target threshold, creating policy space for rate cuts.
The current repo rate stands at 5.5 per cent.
“Factors such as stable Brent crude prices, healthy reservoir levels supporting rabi sowing, and muted price pressures arising from excess capacity in China should help prevent any sharp rise in inflation,” the report stated.
While GDP growth has accelerated to 8.2 per cent in the second quarter of the 2025-26 fiscal, CareEdge projects a moderation to around 7 per cent in the second half of the financial year, as the boost from front-loaded exports fades and post-festival consumption moderates.
For the full fiscal, the report forecasts GDP growth at 7.5 per cent.
It said that with CPI inflation expected to average around 3.7 per cent over the next 12 months, the real policy rate at current levels would be roughly 1.8 per cent – above the estimated neutral range of 1-1.5 per cent – indicating scope for a rate cut.
Despite external headwinds, including prolonged trade negotiations with the US and geopolitical tensions, India’s external sector remains resilient with foreign exchange reserves rising by USD 27 billion to USD 693 billion as of mid-November, it noted.
CareEdge expects the RBI to revise its FY’26 inflation projections to around 2.1 per cent and growth forecast to around 7.5 per cent in the December policy meeting.
Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade on Tuesday dragged by blue-chip bank stocks and persistent foreign fund outflows.
After scaling record high level in the previous intra-day session, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell by 380.02 points to 85,261.88 during initial trade.
The 50-share NSE Nifty declined by 98.3 points to 26,077.45. From the Sensex firms, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Adani Ports, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Eternal were among the biggest laggards.
However, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, Infosys and Bajaj Finance were among the gainers.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,171.31 crore on Monday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought stocks worth Rs 2,558.93 crore, according to exchange data.
In Asian markets, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index traded lower while South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index quoted in positive territory.
US markets ended lower on Monday. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, dipped 0.03 per cent to USD 63.15 per barrel.
On Monday, the Sensex pared early gains and ended 64.77 points or 0.08 per cent lower at 85,641.90. During the day, the benchmark jumped 452.35 points or 0.52 per cent to hit a record intra-day high of 86,159.02.
The Nifty dipped 27.20 points or 0.10 per cent to settle at 26,175.75. During the day, it climbed 122.85 points or 0.46 per cent to hit a lifetime high of 26,325.80.
London: The UK has secured a 0 per cent tariff rate for all UK medicines exported to the US for at least three years, officials have said, in return for the UK spending more on new medicines.
Under the deal, the US agreed to exempt UK-origin pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical ingredients, and medical technology from import taxes, the officials said on Monday.
The Trump administration said in return UK drugs firms committed to invest more in the US and create more jobs.
The UK government said the 0 per cent rate on all of its pharmaceuticals exports was the lowest offered to any country. As part of the deal, it said the country’s National Health Service will spend around 25 per cent more in new and effective treatments — the first major increase in such spending in over two decades.
Officials said that means UK health authorities will now be able to approve medicines that deliver significant health improvements but might have previously been declined purely on cost-effectiveness grounds, including breakthrough cancer treatments or therapies for rare diseases.
“This vital deal will ensure UK patients get the cutting-edge medicines they need sooner, and our world-leading UK firms keep developing the treatments that can change lives,” said Science and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall.
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry said the deal was “an important step towards ensuring patients can access innovative medicines needed to improve wider NHS health outcomes”.
“It should also put the UK in a stronger position to attract and retain global life science investment and advanced medicinal research,” said ABPI chief executive Richard Torbett.
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the agreement “strengthens the global environment for innovative medicines and brings long-overdue balance to US-UK pharmaceutical trade”.
AstraZeneca is among pharmaceutical giants that have cancelled or paused their investments in the UK in recent months. US ambassador Warren Stephens recently warned said American businesses will cut future investments if “there are not changes made and fast”.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed on a framework for a trade pact that would slash US import taxes on British cars, steel and aluminum in return for greater access to the British market for US products, including beef and ethanol.
Cupertino: Apple has announced to appoint renowned AI researcher Amar Subramanya as vice president of AI, reporting to Craig Federighi.
The company said that John Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice president for Machine Learning and AI Strategy, is stepping down from his position and will serve as an advisor to the company before retiring in the spring of 2026.
“Subramanya will be leading critical areas, including Apple Foundation Models, ML research, and AI Safety and Evaluation. The balance of Giannandrea’s organisation will shift to Sabih Khan and Eddy Cue to align closer with similar organisations,” Apple announced.
Subramanya brings a wealth of experience to Apple, having most recently served as corporate vice president of AI at Microsoft, and previously spent 16 years at Google, where he was head of engineering for Google’s Gemini Assistant prior to his departure.
His deep expertise in both AI and ML research and in integrating that research into products and features will be important to Apple’s ongoing innovation and future Apple Intelligence features, said the tech giant.
“We are thankful for the role John played in building and advancing our AI work, helping Apple continue to innovate and enrich the lives of our users,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
AI has long been central to Apple’s strategy, and “we are pleased to welcome Amar to Craig’s leadership team and to bring his extraordinary AI expertise to Apple,” said Cook.
In addition to growing his leadership team and AI responsibilities with Amar’s joining, Craig has been instrumental in driving our AI efforts, including overseeing our work to bring a more personalised Siri to users next year,” Cook further stated.
According to the iPhone maker, since joining Apple in 2018, Giannandrea has played a key role in the company’s AI and ML strategy, building a world-class team and leading them to develop and deploy critical AI technologies.
This team is currently responsible for Apple Foundation Models, Search and Knowledge, ML Research, and AI Infrastructure.
With Giannandrea’s contributions as a foundation, Federighi’s expanded oversight and Subramanya’s deep expertise guiding the next generation of AI technologies, Apple is poised to accelerate its work in delivering intelligent, trusted, and profoundly personal experiences.
New Delhi: India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections slipped to a year-low of Rs 1.70 lakh crore in November, growing at a meagre 0.7 per cent year-on-year on a base lowered by the exclusion of proceeds from cess on sin and luxury goods, the official data released on Monday showed.
While tepid collections were attributed to a major reduction in tax rates on most goods and services, the silver lining was the spurt in consumption across the economy, as evident from the rise in turnover of most companies, giving hope of a multiplier effect of the rate cut in the medium term.
In a major reform aimed at spurring domestic consumption and fireproofing the economy from global trade winds, the government had rationalised GST tax rates to just two rates of 5 per cent and 18 per cent with effect from September 22, from 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent previously. A separate 40 per cent rate has been fixed on ultra-luxury and demerit goods.
The consumption rise, due to most products being brought into the lower tax bracket and festival buying, helped prop up GST collection in October. November was considered a test month to see how deep the consumption revival was.
Gross GST collections (excluding cess) in November were Rs 1.70 lakh crore against Rs 1.69 lakh crore in the same month last year, according to data released by the government.
Month-on-month, the collections were lower than the Rs 1.96 lakh crore in October 2025. The October collections include compensation cess.
The November 2024 GST collection of Rs 1.69 lakh crore, as the official data cited, excluded Rs 12,950 crore of collections from cess.
With the cess, which was always part of the official GST collection numbers released previously, the November 2024 number was about Rs 1.82 lakh crore.
This, compared to November 2025 proceeds of Rs 1.74 lakh crore (after including cess proceeds of Rs 4,006 crore), was lower by 4.22 per cent.
Effective September 22, GST compensation cess is levied only on tobacco and pan masala, unlike earlier, when it was levied at varied rates on luxury, sin and demerit goods.
Government sources said that cess has not been included in calculating gross GST collections, as compensation cess is now a transitory arrangement till loans taken during the Covid period to compensate states for revenue loss are repaid.
With regard to the November GST revenues, sources said that even though tax collection has come down, the turnover or the value of taxable supplies reported by companies in GST returns has gone up year-on-year.
“The November GST revenue number gives us optimism. The response that the economy has given us in terms of higher taxable supply value, which is a sign of consumption, gives us confidence that the GST reform can be sustained in the short term to give a much bigger multiplier effect in the medium term,” a source said.
Gross domestic revenue, which is an indicator of tax revenues from domestic sales, declined 2.3 per cent to over Rs 1.24 lakh crore in November. Gross import revenues grew 10.2 per cent to Rs 45,976 crore.
Refunds dipped 4 per cent to Rs 18,196 crore during November 2025.
After adjusting refunds, net GST revenues in November stood at Rs 1.52 lakh crore, a 1.3 per cent growth year-on-year.
Icra Chief Economist Aditi Nayar said gross GST collections were marginally higher in November 2025, as increased consumption likely offset the impact of the rate cuts across a large number of items.
“However, based on the CGA data, the asking rate for CGST collections during the rest of the year is quite high, and a miss on this account seems inevitable. While we believe that taxes will fall short of the FY2026 BE, higher-than-budgeted non-tax revenues would absorb a part of this shortfall. Overall, we do not expect a material fiscal slippage at the current juncture,” Nayar said.
Deloitte India Partner MS Mani noted that the Gross GST collections (excluding cess) have largely remained the same as the same month last year, indicating that the loss on account of rate reductions has been compensated by higher consumption, although not at the expected scale.
“There is wide divergence in the state-wise collections, and a sectoral causative analysis is essential at this stage to enhance the collections with necessary policy measures,” Mani said.
While Haryana, Assam and Kerala reported a 17, 18 and 8 per cent growth in GST revenues, respectively, states like Madhya Pradesh and Odisha saw a decline of 17 and 18 per cent.
Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan saw their revenues decline 4 per cent during November.
New Delhi: E-commerce firm Amazon plans to be aggressive in the quick-commerce business, Amazon Now, with plans to open two new dark stores every day and take the total count to over 300 by year-end, the company said on Monday.
The company plans to deepen penetration in Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai to step up competition with rival Flipkart and incumbents like Blinkit, Zepto, Instamart etc.
“We’re excited to see customer response to Amazon Now and have accelerated our expansion plans. We will end the year at well over 300 micro-fulfillment centres and are not slowing down – opening two such centres a day across Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai,” Amazon India, Country Manager, Samir Kumar said in a statement.
Amazon Now is estimated to have around 250 fulfillment centres at present.
“This rapid scale-up reflects our commitment to serving more neighbourhoods with the speed and selection customers expect from Amazon – from essentials in minutes through Amazon Now and a broader selection with deliveries in a few hours, the same day or next day,” Kumar said.
Amazon Now at present promises to deliver essentials in minutes, full grocery assortment and additional 40,000 items in hours, over a million items same day, and another 4 million the next day.
Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday, December 1 urged the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Limited(HUDCO) chairman Sanjay Kulshrestha, to provide loans at lower interest rates for the prestigious development projects launched by the Telangana government.
Kulshrestha met Reddy in Hyderabad, and they discussed projects including Bharat Future City, Hyderabad Metro Rail extension, Regional Ring Road (RRR) and Radial Roads. The chief minister briefed Kulshrestha regarding the construction of greenfield roads from the Bharat Future City to Chennai via Bengaluru and Amaravati, the greenfield highway to Bandar Port and the bullet train.
Reddy also brought loan reconstruction to the HUDCO chairman’s attention and the high interest rates taken by the Telangana government in the past. Kulshrestha said that the issue would be resolved. He further informed the Telangana CM that loans have been sanctioned for the Indiramma housing scheme.
Kulshreshtha further said that the corporation will release funds for the construction of 10 lakh houses under the Indiramma Indlu scheme. Following the meeting, Reddy invited the HUDCO chairman to attend the Global Summit to be held at Bharat Future City on December 8 and 9.
