New Delhi: India’s deeptech sector is likely to witness exponential growth, with its market opportunity projected to reach USD 30 billion by 2030, driven by defence innovation and a surge in global robotics, according to a report by Redseer Strategy Consultants.
India has observed a significant shift in spending towards defence deeptech, with the national defence budget doubling over the past decade to USD 80 billion. This expansion surpasses growth rates recorded by top global spenders, such as the US and China, during the same period.
“India’s deep tech opportunity has grown 2.5 times in the past 5 years and is poised to be a USD 30 billion juggernaut by 2030. India is emerging as the only trusted, low-cost scale hub outside China. Its deeptech base, i.e. USD 9-12 billion as of FY2025, is being pulled forward by spending in India’s defence deeptech and global robotics,” the report noted.
India’s emerging status as a trusted, low-cost global hub outside China is being cemented by deeptech advancements in robotics. The global robotic machines market, valued at USD 60 billion, is anticipated to surge to nearly USD 230 billion by 2030, with humanoids, representing a breakout category and an estimated USD 10 billion opportunity in the same period.
India enjoys a substantial cost advantage, with production costs for humanoid robots about 73 per cent lower than in the US, attributed to efficient local integration, comparatively low labour costs, and cost-optimised sourcing.
Immediate opportunities identified by Redseer lie in autonomous systems, AI-enabled training, and energy propulsion technologies, particularly in the development and deployment of intelligent and resilient drones.
“Deeptech is no longer tomorrow’s bet — it’s the next economic engine. India’s defence-deeptech flywheel is turning and creating investible, predictable returns,” the report said.
New Delhi: The Ministry of Electronics and IT on Saturday announced plans for AI-based eKYC and global credential verification in the DigiLocker platform.
The platform has evolved from a secure document storage service into a trust layer that connects citizens with ministries and departments, according to an official statement.
National e-Governance Division (NeGD), Ministry of Electronics and IT organised the National Conference on DigiLocker to discuss and showcase how DigiLocker evolves into a cornerstone of trust, convenience, and efficiency across government, education, and industry sectors.
The conference underscored the transformative role of DigiLocker in facilitating paperless governance, inclusive education, and secure digital services.
“DigiLocker serves as the trust layer connecting citizens, ministries, and departments—enabling secure, interoperable, and accountable digital governance. Our vision is a future where every digital interaction is trusted, every citizen empowered, and every institution accountable” said S. Krishnan, Secretary of MeitY, who chaired the conference.
Krishnan said that the platform advances India’s digital journey from connectivity to capability, service delivery to self-reliance and now from digitalisation towards trust.
Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and IT, outlined the future of DigiLocker with AI-based eKYC and global credential verification, positioning it as a global model for paperless governance.
Presentations were made on integration of Digi Locker with Pension and Treasury systems in Maharashtra and with over 500 services through Sewa Setu Portal in Assam, the statement noted.
Seven states, including Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Mizoram, have been recognised as “DigiLocker Accelerators” for their distinct achievements.
DigiLocker allows citizens to access, verify, and share IDs, financial credentials and certificates securely.
New Delhi: ChatGPT maker OpenAI is facing more lawsuits from families who claim that the AI company’s GPT-4o model was released prematurely, which allegedly contributed to suicides and psychological harm, according to reports.
US-based OpenAI released the GPT-4o model in May 2024, when it became the default model for all users.
In August, OpenAI launched GPT-5 as the successor to GPT-4o, but “these lawsuits particularly concern the 4o model, which had known issues with being overly sycophantic or excessively agreeable, even when users expressed harmful intentions,” according to a report in TechCrunch.
The report said that while four of the lawsuits address ChatGPT’s alleged role in family members’ suicides, three claim that ChatGPT reinforced harmful delusions that in some cases resulted in inpatient psychiatric care.
According to the report, the lawsuits also claim that OpenAI rushed safety testing to beat Google’s Gemini to market.
OpenAI was yet to comment on the report.
Recent legal filings allege that ChatGPT can encourage suicidal people to act on their plans and inspire dangerous delusions.
“OpenAI recently released data stating that over one million people talk to ChatGPT about suicide weekly,” the report mentioned.
In a recent blog post, OpenAI said that it worked with more than 170 mental health experts to help ChatGPT more reliably recognise signs of distress, respond with care, and guide people toward real-world support–reducing responses that fall short of our desired behaviour by 65-80 per cent.
“We believe ChatGPT can provide a supportive space for people to process what they’re feeling, and guide them to reach out to friends, family, or a mental health professional when appropriate,” it noted.
“Going forward, in addition to our longstanding baseline safety metrics for suicide and self-harm, we are adding emotional reliance and non-suicidal mental health emergencies to our standard set of baseline safety testing for future model releases,” OpenAI added.
Mumbai: The rupee slipped 2 paise to 88.65 against the US dollar on Friday amid a strong American currency against major crosses overseas and rising crude oil prices.
A weak trend in domestic equity markets also weighed on the domestic currency, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 88.61 and tumbled to the intraday low of 88.72 against the greenback. The unit ended the session at 88.65, registering a loss of 2 paise from its previous closing level.
The domestic unit had appreciated 7 paise to close at 88.63 against the dollar on Thursday.
“The recent weakness in the domestic currency was further compounded by a minor rebound in crude oil prices and a stronger dollar index, which moved closer to the 100 mark.
“Despite intermittent buying support, rupee sentiment remained fragile amid global uncertainty and sustained foreign outflows. Going into next week, rupee movement is expected to remain volatile, with the broader trading range seen between 88.25-88.90,” Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst – Commodity and Currency, LKP Securities, said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.14 per cent to 99.72.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was higher by 1.09 per cent at USD 64.07 per barrel in futures trade.
The rupee weakened on risk-off sentiments in the global market and a strong US dollar. Overnight recovery in crude oil prices also pressurised the rupee; however, reports of sale of US dollar by state-run banks cushioned the downside, said Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan.
“We expect the rupee to trade with a slight negative bias on weak global markets amid worries over the weakening US labour market and a strong US dollar. Importer demand may also weigh on the rupee. However, any further intervention by the RBI may support the rupee at lower levels. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 88.45 to Rs 89,” Choudhary said.
On the domestic equity markets front, the Sensex fell 94.73 points or 0.11 per cent to settle at 83,216.28, while the Nifty dropped 17.40 points or 0.07 per cent to end at 25,492.30.
Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 4,581.34 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
A monthly survey released on Thursday showed India’s services sector growth witnessed the slowest pace of expansion in five months in October, as competitive pressures and heavy rains in parts of the country led to a slower increase in output.
The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index fell from 60.9 in September to 58.9 in October, indicating the slowest pace of expansion since May.
Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh’s 12th State Investment Promotion Board meeting led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday approved investments to the tune of over Rs 1 lakh crore.
These approvals spanning 26 industries have the potential to create 85,870 jobs.
“The 12th State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) meeting led by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today approved investments to the tune of Rs 1,01,899 crore,” said an official press release.
With the latest approvals, the state has so far attracted total investments to the tune of over Rs 8 lakh crore, ‘providing employment opportunities to over 7 lakh people’, said the press release.
The Chief Minister directed officials to ensure that these industries are grounded as per schedule. Naidu observed that 15 industrial zones should be formed in the state for cluster-wise industrial development.
He instructed officials to focus on utilizing Central Government incentives to promote industries.
Stressing the need for a land bank to promote industries, Nadiu noted that “if any one comes forward to offer their land to companies, officials should encourage them to pave the way for industrialisation.”
Calling for the development of Visakhapatnam as a mega city merging areas up to Vizianagaram and Anakapalli, Naidu said Amaravati and Tirupati should also be developed to promote tourism and IT.
The chief minister directed officials to make the forthcoming CII Partnership Summit at Visakhapatnam on November 14 and 15 a success.
Mumbai: SBI’s chairman CS Setty on Friday said the country’s largest state-owned bank and two other private sector lenders will be among the top-10 banks globally by market capitalisation by 2030.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event organised by the lender here, Setty said SBI’s market capitalisation has touched USD 100 billion, and there are two other Indian private sector lenders having significant valuations.
“It may not be SBI alone. We have two major private sector banks, where market capitalisation is significant. So, I think they will also move along with us,” Setty said.
Setty reiterated that SBI had spelt out its aim to be among the top-10 lenders by market capitalisation by 2030, initially.
The SBI chairman did not name the other two banks.
Largest private sector lender HDFC Bank is the most valuable with Rs 15.11 lakh crore market capitalisation, followed by ICICI Bank at Rs 9.59 lakh crore m-cap. SBI is valued at Rs 8.82 lakh crore.
SBI is the largest Indian lender by asset size, and stands at the 43rd position globally. The comments also come at a time when the government is undertaking efforts to create big banks by size through consolidation.
Setty said that while the Rs 25,000 crore core capital raise may not move the needle by much, and is not growth capital for SBI, which never faced any challenges on the capital front, it is aimed more at giving comfort to the industry that the buffers are at a reasonable level.
Now that the capital ratios have improved, Setty said the overall capital adequacy will touch over 15 per cent by the end of the year, with the core level at 12 per cent, and is committed to always maintaining the tier-I level above the 12 per cent mark.
High interest among engineering graduates in joining the bank has helped the country’s largest lender reduce the time spent on imbibing technology into the staff, which has supported them in deploying talent much faster to the floor.
He said the amount of training that the bank provides to staff is among the highest in the industry.
Mumbai: The rupee appreciated 7 paise to 88.63 against the US dollar on Thursday, supported by a weak American currency against major rivals overseas and lower global crude oil prices.
However, subdued sentiment in domestic equity markets and continued outflow of foreign capital prevented a sharp gain in the Indian currency, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 88.51 and touched the intra-day high of 88.49 against the greenback. The unit also hit the intra-day low of 88.66 before ending the session at 88.63, up 7 paise from its previous closing level.
The domestic unit had settled with a gain of 7 paise at 88.70 against the dollar on Tuesday.
The foreign exchange markets were closed on Wednesday on account of the Prakash Gurpurab holiday.
“Indian Rupee gained some ground today on softening global crude oil prices and improved global risk sentiments. However, importer demand for Dollars capped sharp gains.
“We expect the Indian Rupee to trade with a slight negative bias on importer demand and weak domestic markets. However, weak crude oil prices may support the rupee at lower levels. We expect USDINR to trade in the range of 88.40-88.85,” Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan, said.
The rupee was supported by weakness in the dollar index; however, “persistent FII selling limited the rupee’s upside momentum, keeping the domestic currency under mild pressure”, said Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst – Commodity and Currency at LKP Securities.
“Market participants are now focused on key US economic data releases this week, including the ISM Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing PMI, which could influence dollar movement and global risk sentiment. The rupee is expected to remain range-bound in the near term, with a trading band seen between 88.40-88.90,” Trivedi said.
According to a monthly survey released on Thursday, India’s services sector growth witnessed the slowest pace of expansion in five months in October, as competitive pressures and heavy rains in parts of the country led to a slower increase in output.
The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index fell from 60.9 in September to 58.9 in October, indicating the slowest pace of expansion since May.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.23 per cent to 99.83.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose by 1.10 per cent to USD 64.22 per barrel in futures trading.
On the domestic equity markets front, the Sensex declined 148.14 points or 0.18 per cent to settle at 83,311.01, while the Nifty fell 87.95 points or 0.34 per cent to end at 25,509.70.
Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 3,263.21 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Bangkok: Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index dipped more than 4 per cent on Wednesday, and other shares in Asia also were mostly lower after a retreat on Wall Street spurred by selling of Big Tech shares.
US futures were mixed, and oil prices also fell.
The Nikkei fell nearly 5 per cent early in the session but was down 2.8 per cent by mid-afternoon, at 50,090.33.
Shares in energy and tech giant SoftBank Group sank 9.8 per cent on jitters over its investments in artificial intelligence. Computer chip maker Tokyo Electron dropped 4.1 per cent, while stock in Advantest Corp., a maker of semiconductor testing equipment, lost 7.2 per cent.
South Korea’s Kospi declined 3 per cent to 3,997.71 as Samsung Electronics shed 4.9 per cent. SK Hynix, which had logged major gains thanks to plans to develop artificial intelligence with chip maker Nvidia, lost 2.9 per cent.
Chinese markets were less affected. The Shanghai Composite index recovered from modest earlier losses to edge 0.2 per cent higher, to 3,967.53. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 0.3 per cent to 25,888.16.
Investors took fright from the heavy selling of high-tech related shares overnight on Wall Street. The technology sector has been driving gains this year, and huge values for companies including Nvidia and Microsoft give them outsized influence over the broader market’s direction.
“The rally that began in April is finally feeling its age. What we are seeing today wasn’t just a dip; it was a full-scale reality check,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
“This wasn’t the usual intraday shake-out. It felt more like the oxygen suddenly thinning at the top of a mountain that everyone assumed had no summit,” he said.
Palantir Technologies, which had more than doubled so far this year, fell 7.9 per cent despite reporting results that beat analysts’ forecasts. Nvidia also reversed course from a day earlier, falling 4 per cent, while Microsoft fell 0.5 per cent.
Other sectors also declined, leading the S&P 500 to fall 1.2 per cent to 6,771.55. The index set its most recent all-time high last week, and is still up more than 15 per cent for the year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5 per cent to 47,085.24. The technology-heavy Nasdaq fell 2 per cent to 23,348.64.
Wall Street remains focused on corporate earnings. Roughly three out of every four companies within the S&P 500 have reported their latest results, and most have been better than analysts expected.
Uber slumped 5.1 per cent despite reporting financial results that beat analysts’ expectations.
Several big companies will report their latest financial results later this week, including McDonald’s, Expedia Group and Qualcomm.
The latest round of corporate profit reports and forecasts has taken on more significance for Wall Street due to the US government shutdown. Investors and economists are trying to gauge the health and direction of the US economy without the latest economic updates on inflation and employment.
The lack of timely economic data has also left the Federal Reserve without many of the resources it needs to make decisions on interest rate policy. The latest data showed consumer prices rose 3 per cent in September, the highest increase since January. At the same time, hiring has stalled. That mix of conditions puts the US Federal Reserve in a tough position. Cutting rates to help the economy endure a weakening job market could also result in hotter inflation.
Outside of earnings, Tesla fell 5.1 per cent after Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, one of the electric car maker’s biggest investors, said Tuesday that it will vote against a proposed compensation package that could pay CEO Elon Musk as much as USD 1 trillion over a decade.
Yum Brands jumped 7.3 per cent after the company said it is considering selling its Pizza Hut unit, which has struggled to compete in a crowded pizza market.
Novo Nordisk slipped 1.8 per cent after it raised its offer to buy drugmaker Metsera, which jumped 20.5 per cent. Novo Nordisk is trying to outbid rival Pfizer, which fell 1.5 per cent.
In other dealings early Wednesday, US benchmark crude oil lost 31 cents to USD 60.25 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 28 cents to USD 64.16 per barrel.
The dollar fell to 153.33 Japanese yen from 153.63 yen. The euro rose to USD 1.1493 from USD 1.1488.
New Delhi: Anil Ambani’s Reliance Group on Tuesday said there is no impact on business operations of the group’s listed companies because of the ED’s attachment of Rs 7,500 crore worth of properties, which is linked to a money-laundering probe.
The majority of the assets attached by the Enforcement Directorate belong to Reliance Communications, which is under the control of the Resolution Professional (RP) and the committee of creditors (CoC), led by State Bank of India, the group’s listed firms said in stock exchange filings.
The federal probe agency issued four separate provisional orders under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on October 31 for attaching 42 properties, including the 66-year-old Ambani’s family home in Pali Hill, Mumbai, apart from other residential and commercial properties of his group companies.
The attachment relates to cases involving Reliance Communications and its affiliates over the alleged diversion of loans taken from YES Bank between 2017 and 2019.
“Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Reliance Power Limited wish to clarify that there is no material impact on the operations, performance, or future prospects of either company,” the firms said in a stock exchange filing.
Both Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power, the filing said, continue to operate as usual, maintaining their focus on growth, operational excellence, and their commitment to all stakeholders, especially the over 50 lakh strong shareholder family.
“The largest value of assets attached belongs to Reliance Communications, which has not been a part of the Reliance Group since 2019 – i.e. for the last six years. The company has been undergoing the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) for over six years. All matters relating to its resolution are currently sub judice before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and the Supreme Court of India,” it said.
The firms said Anil D Ambani is in “no way involved with Reliance Communications, and has resigned six years ago in 2019”.
“Anil D Ambani has also not served on the Board of Directors of either Reliance Infrastructure or Reliance Power for over three and a half years,” it said.
“The repeated inclusion of Anil D Ambani in successive versions of all reports is unfortunately unwarranted and blatantly unfair.”
The filing said Reliance Infrastructure is a zero-bank-debt company. The company has assets worth Rs 65,840 crore, a net worth of Rs 14,287 crore, as of March 31, 2025, and a strong retail shareholding family of over 7 lakh investors.
Reliance Power is a zero bank debt company and has assets worth Rs 41,282 crore, and a net worth of Rs 16,337 crore as of March 31, 2025.
“Both Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Reliance Power Limited have filed a formal complaint with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on October 29, 2025, against a systematic campaign of price hammering and market manipulation by an illegal bear cartel and vested interests,” it added.
Reliance Group’s two flagship companies – Reliance Infrastructure Limited and Reliance Power Limited – are entirely debt-free, with no outstanding loans from any bank or financial institution.
New Delhi: Assets worth more than Rs 3,000 crore linked to Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani, his group companies and linked entities have been attached as part of a money laundering investigation, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said on Monday.
The federal probe agency issued four provisional orders under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on October 31 for attaching 42 properties, including the 66-year-old Ambani’s family home in Pali Hill, Mumbai, apart from other residential and commercial properties of his group companies, it said.
A plot of land belonging to the Reliance Centre on Maharaja Ranjit Singh Marg in Delhi and multiple other assets of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd., certain linked entities like Adhar Property Consultancy Private Limited, Mohanbir Hi-tech Build Private Limited, Gamesa Investment Management Private Limited, Vihaan43 Realty Private Limited (earlier known as Kunjbihari Developers Private Limited) and that of Campion Properties Limited have been attached.
These properties are located in the national capital, Noida, Ghaziabad, Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Hyderabad, Chennai and East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.
Offices in the ‘Nagin Mahal’ building at Churchgate in Mumbai, flats in BHA Millenium apartments in Noida and Camus Capri Apartments in Hyderabad are among those provisionally attached by the ED.
The total value of the attached assets is more than Rs 3,083 crore, the agency said in a statement.
There was no immediate response from Ambani or his group on the ED action.
The agency said, so far, ED has detected “fraudulent” diversion of public money by various Reliance Anil Ambani group companies, including Reliance Communications Ltd (RCOM), Reliance Home Finance Ltd (RHFL), Reliance Commercial Finance Ltd (RCFL), Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (R-Infra) and Reliance Power Ltd.
The statement said a separate search action was carried out by the agency under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against R-Infra and it was found that Rs 40 crore was “siphoned” from the Jaipur-Reengus highway project.
“Funds moved through Surat-based shell companies to Dubai. The trail has unearthed a wider international hawala network exceeding Rs 600 crore,” it said.
The agency alleged that around 2010-12 onwards, RCOM and its group companies raised thousands of crores from Indian banks, of which Rs 19,694 crore remains outstanding. These assets turned into non-performing assets (NPA), with five banks declaring RCOM’s loan accounts as fraud, it said.
“Loans taken by one entity from one bank were utilised for repayment of loans taken by other entities from other banks, transfer to related parties, and investments in mutual funds, which was in contravention of the terms and conditions of the sanction letter of the loans.”
“In particular, RCOM and its group companies diverted over Rs 13,600 crore used in evergreening loans, over Rs 12,600 crore was diverted to connected parties and over Rs 1,800 crore was invested in fixed deposits and mutual funds, etc.,” it said.
The agency claimed certain loans were “siphoned off” outside India through foreign outward remittances.
It said that during 2017-2019, Yes Bank invested Rs 2,965 crore in RHFL instruments and Rs 2,045 crore in RCFL instruments. By December 2019, these became “non-performing” investments, it claimed.
The “outstanding” was Rs 1,353.50 crore for RHFL and Rs 1,984 crore for RCFL.
The agency added that RHFL and RCFL received public funds of more than Rs 10,000 crore and a large amount of this fund came from Yes Bank.
“Before Yes Bank invested this money in Reliance Anil Ambani group companies, it received huge funds from the erstwhile Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund.
“As per SEBI regulations, Reliance Nippon Mutual Fund could not invest/divert funds directly in Anil Ambani group finance companies due to conflict-of-interest rules,” the agency said.
The ED said it has “detected a pattern of mala fide in this case like pre-decided beneficiaries, manufactured paperwork, waived controls, and disbursals ahead of approvals, followed by swift routing to related entities”.
“This conduct enabled siphoning of public funds,” it said.
The ED, it said, continues to trace the proceeds of crime.
“The recoveries by ED, after following due process of law, are aimed at restoring losses to lenders and, ultimately, benefitting the general public,” it said, hinting at restoring or restituting the assets with “victim” banks, a provision available under the PMLA.
Ambani was questioned in the case by the ED in August.
This came after the agency searched 35 premises of 50 companies and 25 people, including executives of his business group, in Mumbai on July 24.
The ED’s money laundering case stems from a Central Bureau of Investigation FIR.
