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On the enforcement front, the Indian govt has intensified its crackdown on undisclosed foreign assets, with both the ED and IT Department tracking high-networth-individuals with offshore holdings. Kotak Mahindra Bank, fresh off RBI’s lifting of restrictions, is strategising to regain lost credit card market share.
Trade data for January painted a concerning picture, with India’s deficit widening to $22.99 billion—a 24.85% YoY surge. In the corporate sphere, Volkswagen is battling a $1.4 billion customs notice, calling the penalty a “matter of life and death.”
Globally, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a rare meeting with tech leaders amid escalating US tensions, while Ukrainian President Zelenskyy dismissed US-Russia talks on the war as futile. Back home, a stampede at New Delhi Railway Station has triggered a high-level inquiry.
In the tech space, Zomato has unveiled Nugget, an AI-powered customer support platform, streamlining service operations for businesses worldwide.
Here are the top 10 buzzing stories from #markets, #business, #economy, and beyond.
Nifty ends marginally higher, ending 8-day losing streak led by financial stocks
The Nifty 50 snapped an eight-day losing streak on the first day of trading this week, led by a surge in financial stocks, with HDFC Bank, Reliance, and IndusInd Bank being the top contributors to the benchmark.
The Sensex gained 58 points to close at 75,997 on Monday, while the Nifty rose 30 points to 22,960.
The Indian equity markets have fallen for eight days in a row, its first such decline in two years. This fall was primarily due to persistent FII outflows and worries regarding potential retaliatory tariffs from the US.
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‘We have completely shaken up the Income Tax Act,’ says FM Sitharaman in post-Budget address
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, speaking to the industry stakeholders in the first post-Budget interaction, said that the government has completely changed and simplified the Income Tax Act with the Bill being reviewed by a select committee of 31 members.
“We have completely shaken up the Income Tax Act. And the 1961 IT Act will now be replaced with a new Act which is in the form of a bill introduced in the parliament. There is a select committee which is appointed. 31 members of the Lok Sabha will be sitting and looking at it in all details,” Sitharaman said.
Read full story here
India activates both ED and IT dept to identify HNIs with assets abroad
In yet another crackdown on black money and undeclared assets, the two investigative and enforcement arms of the revenue department—the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department—are understood to be conducting separate actions against undeclared foreign assets.
According to sources, who wished to remain anonymous, “The two separate actions, one by the Enforcement Directorate and the other by the Income Tax Department, are aimed at identifying High Net-Worth Individuals (HNIs) with assets, especially those held in European and Middle Eastern countries, that do not match government data.”
More deets here
Exclusive | Kotak Mahindra Bank aims to reclaim lost credit card market share, says CEO Vaswani
Kotak Mahindra Bank is gearing up to reclaim its lost market share in the credit card business following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to lift its supervisory restrictions.
In his first interview since the lifting of the restrictions, Managing Director and CEO Ashok Vaswani expressed confidence that the bank would soon recover the 40-50 basis points of spend share it lost due to the embargo.
“Our spend share has fallen, but I think we can get that back. The team has done a remarkable job of increasing the value on our existing cards so that customers still found a lot of value, and our existing customers helped us through the embargo. Now, as we go out and acquire new customers, I’m hoping our market share improves, and at the very least, we claw back our market share,” Vaswani stated.
Full interview here
India’s trade deficit swells to $22.99 billion in January 2025, up 24.85% YoY
India’s trade deficit for January 2025 surged to $22.99 billion, up from $16.56 billion in the same period last year. This marked a 24.85% increase on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. The cumulative trade deficit from April 2024 to January 2025 reached $87.47 billion, up from $70.06 billion during the same period in the previous year.
Exports decreased to $36.43 billion in the current month from $37.32 billion in January 2024, while imports jumped to $59.42 billion, reflecting a significant rise from $37.32 billion in the previous year.
Full story here
Volkswagen seeks quashing of $1.4 billion Customs show cause notice, calls it ‘matter of life and death’
German auto giant Volkswagen approached the Bombay High Court seeking to quash a $1.4 billion show cause notice issued by the Office of the Commissioner of Customs in Maharashtra, which alleges willful tax evasion. The company has warned that if a penalty is levied, its total tax burden could soar to $2.8 billion, a move VW describes as a “matter of life and death.”
The show cause notice, issued by Customs, accuses the automaker of misclassifying imported car parts to avail lower duties of 5-15% instead of the alleged applicable rate of 30-35%. Customs claims this resulted in a substantial loss to the exchequer.
Read here
China’s Xi Jinping holds rare meet with business leaders amid US tech rivalry
President Xi Jinping held a rare, highly choreographed meeting on Monday with some of the biggest names in China’s technology sector, including Alibaba founder Jack Ma, in what analysts saw as a show of support to rally private companies.
The event, a turnaround in Beijing’s approach to its tech giants from a regulatory clampdown four years ago, reflected policymakers’ concern about a slowdown in growth and efforts by the United States to limit China’s technological development.
More details here
Zelenskyy says Ukraine won’t join US-Russia talks, rejects potential outcome
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday his country won’t take part in US-Russia talks this week on ending the war and won’t accept the outcome of the talks if Ukraine doesn’t take part.
Speaking to journalists on a conference call from the United Arab Emirates , Zelenskyy said his government had not been invited to Tuesday’s planned talks in Saudi Arabia.
He said they would “yield no results,” given the absence of any Ukrainian officials.
Full story here
New Delhi Railway Station Stampede: Team set up to investigate the crush
An official inquiry has been launched into the stampede at New Delhi Railway Station which claimed 18 lives and left several others injured. The Indian Railways has constituted a two-member committee to probe the incident and determine the causes behind the tragedy.
The investigation panel includes:
Narsingh Deo, Principal Chief Commercial Manager, Northern Railway
Pankaj Gangwar, Principal Chief Security Commissioner, Northern Railway
More deets here
Zomato unveils Nugget—an AI-powered no-code customer support platform for businesses
Food tech firm Zomato, on Monday (February 17), introduced Nugget, an AI-native, no-code customer support platform designed to help businesses scale support operations efficiently. The platform automates up to 80% of queries, learns and adapts in real-time, and requires no coding expertise, eliminating the need for a dedicated development team.
Developed initially as an internal tool over three years, Nugget now manages over 15 million customer support interactions monthly across Zomato, Blinkit, and Hyperpure. Following its success, Zomato is making the platform available to businesses globally, with 90% of companies that have tested it already signing up.
Read more here
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