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RBI's MPC starts repo rate deliberations

PM Modi to chair June 11 Niti governing council meet

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead a crucial Niti Aayog governing council meeting on June 11, following a recent restructuring. The agenda includes reviewing chief secretaries' deliberations and actions taken on reforms aimed at boosting manufacturing and self-reliance. This comes as the nation grapples with economic pressures from the West Asia conflict, impacting the rupee and raw material prices.

Siddaramaiah Inducted Into Congress Working Committee Days After Stepping Down As Karnataka CM

Siddaramaiah was in New Delhi on Tuesday to hold deliberations with the top brass of the Congress on giving final shape to the new cabinet in Karnataka.

Noel Tata delays Tata Sons Chairman decision

Mumbai: Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata conveyed to Tata Sons board after the meeting last week that several key issues remained unresolved, rendering any formal discussion on the reappointment of the holding company’s chairman N Chandrasekaran premature, said people familiar with the matter.That could lead to a deadlock between Chandra and Tata, they said. Tata sought greater clarity from Chandrasekaran on the group’s five-year strategic roadmap, the framework for providing an exit option to Shapoorji Pallonji Group that doesn’t involve Tata Sons going public as well as his formal position on the long-debated matter of the listing.Also Read: Adani Group now focused on building assets at scale, says Gautam AdaniThese issues have gained traction amid turbulence at the Trusts and the holding company of the conglomerate over governance and other matters, amid questions over the performance of units such as Air India and BigBasket.Towards the end of the May 26 board meeting, a few directors are learnt to have informally asked whether Chandrasekaran’s reappointment for a third term could be taken up next time.131429115Consensus NeededNoel Tata responded that it was still too soon, pointing to unresolved issues and unanswered questions that require further engagement, said the people cited.Chief executives of Air India, Tata Electronics and Tata Digital made presentations on their respective businesses to the board at the meeting. Noel Tata is learnt to have provided extensive feedback on BigBasket and Air India, executives close to the matter said.Chandrasekaran had called for a special board meeting on May 26 to respond in detail to concerns raised by Noel Tata at the holding company’s previous board meeting on February 24 at which consideration of his reappointment for a third term had been deferred. Tata Trusts controls Tata Sons with a 66% holding. SP Group has an 18% stake that it wants to sell in order to repay debt.Also Read: Infosys CEO Salil Parekh earned Rs 82.6 crore in FY26, up 2.5%Noel Tata had raised concerns over losses at Air India and BigBasket and called for course correction. Tata Sons is slated to hold its next board meeting on June 12 to discuss annual accounts. People aware of the exchanges said Noel Tata also indicated that any timeline or date for considering the reappointment would need to be discussed and arrived at through consensus.Tata Sons and Noel Tata did not comment. According to executives close to Tata Sons, discussions with SP Group on an exit plan do not carry significant weight until clarity emerges from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on the matter of the listing. “The value of Tata group is too high to easily consider a non-listing option to buy back stakes from SP Group. Until there is clarity from RBI on the matter, no one can proceed,” one of them said. As an ‘upperlayer’ non-banking finance company, Tata Sons is required to launch an initial public offering, potentially diluting ownership. It has sought exemption from RBI.Chandrasekaran is also understood to be unwilling to outline any formal five-year growth plan at this stage. He is similarly not in a hurry to raise the matter of reappointment, officials close to the matter said. During Ratan Tata’s tenure, the issue of reappointment was typically brought up a month before a term ended, officials said. It was Tata Trusts that had passed a resolution in 2025 to raise the matter of Chandrasekaran’s reappointment a year before the end of his term to ensure leadership stability.The May 26 meeting saw Chandrasekaran getting chief executives to lead detailed presentations before the board and Tata Trusts chairman Noel Tata, people familiar with the deliberations said. Unlike the previous board meeting, which had been marked by sharper scrutiny and unresolved questions, this session focused extensively on operating businesses.

Iran war: PSBs asked to stay prepared

New Delhi: The Centre on Friday advised state-run banks to remain prepared and adaptable amid the West Asia crisis and evolving global situation. The guidance was issued during a meeting held by the Department of Financial Services under the finance ministry to review the performance of public sector banks (PSBs) in 2025-26.The ministry also launched the Common Landing Portal for Unclaimed Financial Assets to facilitate easier access to information relating to unclaimed financial assets."The discussions also underscored the need for public sector banks to adopt prudent expenditure and austerity measures at all levels while maintaining resilience amid evolving global uncertainties," the finance ministry said, adding that banks were also asked to provide proactive and need-based support to eligible borrowers under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 5.0. The scheme is aimed at providing financial relief to businesses-particularly MSMEs, and airlines-to help them manage short-term liquidity mismatches caused by the West Asia crisis.PSBs were further told to strengthen grievance redressal mechanisms with adequate oversight, improve operational efficiency and explore new business opportunities to sustain profitability and long-term growth, according to the statement."Deliberations also covered strengthening of digital banking ecosystems, enhancement of cyber security frameworks and initiatives for improving access to credit for MSMEs and other productive sectors of the economy," the ministry said. PSBs' aggregate net profit increased to the highest-ever level of about ₹1.98 lakh crore, and aggregate business reached around ₹283.3 lakh crore, as of March 31.In the statement, the ministry said that asset quality also remained robust, with gross non-performing assets reaching a historic low of 1.93% and net non-performing assets declining to 0.39%, reflecting continued strengthening of balance sheets and prudent risk management practices. "Progress under major financial inclusion initiatives, including Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, social security schemes, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, PM Vishwakarma and digital lending initiatives, was also reviewed," the ministry said.

Veteran Congress leader Gade Venkat Reddy passes away at 89

Venkat Reddy will be remembered for his his pivotal role in the Delimitation of Parliament and Assembly constituencies and his contributions during the Telangana statehood deliberations

Inside the new IIP index with new base year

India is undertaking the revision of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and plans to release the new series on June 1, 2026, marking the tenth revision of base year. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has broadened the scope of the index to include 120 new item groups and enhance the granularity by providing separate indices for numerous sectors.The base year of IIP is being shifted to 2022-23 from 2011-12. The new IIP will track several new items such as magnetic stripe cards including debit and credit cards, CCTV cameras, non-woven textile products, aircraft and spacecraft parts, stents, and vaccines.The revised series significantly widens the scope of industrial activity captured in the index by adding emerging and previously underrepresented sectors such as rare earth minerals, gas supply, water management and waste treatment.MoSPI has also overhauled the product basket to better reflect contemporary industrial production patterns, replacing obsolete items with newer commodities and aligning the series with the updated National Industrial Classification (NIC)-2025 framework. The revised basket now comprises 1,042 products mapped to 463 item groups, including 120 new item groups. MoSPI has dropped 64 item groups from the list, which include kerosene, fluorescent tubes and CFLs, tubes for bicycle, tricycle and rickshaw tyres.The new series introduces more granular sub-indices, including separate tracking of renewable and non-renewable electricity generation, allowing policymakers to better monitor India’s evolving energy mix. The mining and quarrying segment has also been split into dedicated indices for fuel minerals, metallic minerals and non-metallic minerals.The revised methodology also allows statistical authorities to replace permanently shut factories with comparable operating units and induct newly commissioned large factories into the sample base during the life of the series. This is expected to improve the representativeness and timeliness of industrial output data.MoSPI will use a geometric mean-based approach to transition from the 2011-12 base series to the new 2022-23 series.Why is the base year being revised?According to a government release, the IIP base year is revised to reflect structural changes in the economy, technological progress, and the growth of new industries and products. “Revising the base year ensures that the index accurately represents current production patterns and provides more reliable data for economic analysis and policy-making,” MoSPI said.A Report of the Technical Advisory Committee for ‘New Series of All India Index ofIndustrial Production 2022-23’ highlighted the need for periodic revision which arises from the dynamic nature of the economy.“The structure of production, the relative importance of industries, and the range of products manufactured undergo continuous change over time,” it said, adding that regular revisions of the base years of economic indicators like IIP are therefore essential to ensure that they remain representative of current industrial activity.The index must continue to accurately reflect evolving economic realities.Citing “significant” advancements in statistical methodologies and computational capabilities over the period, MoSPI report said that the processes that were difficult to execute have now become relatively easier to implement.The new IIP series retains the existing sectors of Mining, Manufacturing, and Electricity. However, it expands the scope by including Gas Supply and Water Supply, Sewerage & Waste Management activities, giving a broader and more accurate picture of industrial production. In the Mining sector, the new IIP series also includes minor minerals and rare earth minerals along with major minerals, making the index more comprehensive.131367884The item basket for sectors, other than Manufacturing, is selected based on the nature of activities and key measurable outputs of each sector. MoSPI, in certain cases, has held consultation with concerned ministries and departments.The new item baskets are as follows:The ‘Mining & Quarrying’ basket includes 34 minerals comprising fuel minerals and metallic & non-metallic minerals regulated, along with 1 rare earth mineral and 9 minor minerals.The ‘Electricity’ basket covers total electricity generation from both renewable and non-renewable sources.The ‘Gas Supply’ basket uses the volume of gas supplied or distributed through mains/pipelines as the item of measurement.Under the ‘Water Supply, Sewerage & Waste Management’, the government tracks water supply through tap connections, sewerage through sewerage/septage connections and waste management through the quantity of waste collected and processed.MoSPI has formed the item groups for IIP by aggregating products based on similarity within the industry group to ensure consistency, comparability, and operational feasibility in monthly data reporting.The government has also kept the revision of substitution of the factories in the new series of IIP to address the challenges of prolonged non-response or closed factory.While the six use-based categories—Primary Goods, Capital Goods, Intermediate goods, Infrastructure/ Construction Goods, Consumer Durable Goods and Consumer Non-Durable Goods—remain the same as the 2011–12 series, individual item classifications have been reviewed in detail and updated.Why is IIP important?The report recognised that the index is “not just a technical statistical indicator, but an important measure” that stakeholders understand the health and direction of the economy.The IIP provides one of the earliest signals of industrial performance, and hence plays a crucial role in economic planning, policymaking, and market analysis.The index plays a pivotal role in tracking cyclical conditions, informing fiscal and monetary policy deliberations, and shaping expectations of businesses and investors, helped by macro and sectoral analysts.MoSPI believes in the idea that economic statistics must keep pace with the economic transformations, and hence new products, emerging technologies, evolving production systems, and changing patterns of industrial activity are being included in the index calculation.“Industrial statistics cannot remain fixed while industries themselves are rapidly changing,” it said in the report cited above.

Speakers at leadership summit emphasise on sustained deliberation on role of AI in critical sectors

Pro Chancellor of KLE Technological University Prof. Ashok Shettar has emphasised the need for a sustained deliberation on the role of Artificial Intelligence and its implications across critical sectors such as education, banking, defence, and healthcare