뉴스

Kash Patel on FBI's defining test: Securing the WC

Odisha govt. alleges two inquiry reports went missing from CMO during Naveen Patnaik tenure

Home Department seeks FIR over disappearance of reports on Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati killing and SUM Hospital fire incident from the Chief Minister’s Office

Kerala rains: Orange alert for two districts on June 12

Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Thrissur, Kannur and Kasaragod districts have been put on yellow alert for Friday

Haryana guest teacher suspended days after joining Cockroach Janta Party protest

A guest teacher in Haryana's Rohtak district has been suspended after participating in a protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar. Sulekha Dalal's suspension, effective June 8, followed a viral video of her addressing the Cockroach Janta Party rally. Dalal stated her participation was due to concerns over recruitment exam irregularities affecting her son.

Three missing Indian seafarers onboard MT Settebello confirmed dead: Sonowal

Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said he has directed officials to ensure immediate repatriation of the rescued crew members and swift return of the mortal remains of the deceased for their final rites

'Trinamool Exodus Reflects Public Dissatisfaction': Minister Jabs Mamata Banerjee

CR Patil alleged that leaders who once projected Mamata Banerjee as politically invincible are now abandoning the party because they fear its declining public support and uncertain future.

New phones, old woes: anganwadi workers struggle with patchy Internet, digital disconnect in U.P. villages

International Day of Yoga: Visakhapatnam gears up with Yogandhra sessions ahead of June 21 RK Beach event

A Yogandhra session at the Naval Dockyard opens the run-up to the International Day of Yoga celebrations at RK Beach on June 21

Saayoni Ghosh, Dev, Yusuf Pathan: Full list of ‘rebels’ in Mamata Banerjee's TMC

Rebel TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar alleged that nearly 20 party MPs had written to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla to convey their support for the BJP-led NDA.

Explained: How SpaceX’s $75 billion IPO could create opportunity for Inox India shareholders

As the world gears up for Elon Musk's SpaceX IPO at a staggering $1.75 trillion valuation, a relatively lesser-known Indian company is emerging as an unlikely beneficiary thousands of miles away. INOX India, a global leader in cryogenic technology, has found itself in the spotlight as investors hunt for domestic companies with exposure to the rapidly expanding global space ecosystem.The excitement around SpaceX's public listing has already spilt over into INOX India's stock. Shares of the company have surged 25% over the past month and have gained in seven of the last eight trading sessions.The frenzy surrounding SpaceX's IPO, which reports suggest was oversubscribed nearly four times, has prompted investors to look beyond the headline-grabbing U.S. listing and identify potential beneficiaries closer home. For many, INOX India appears to fit that bill. But what exactly is the connection?Inox's aerospace pushDuring its Q4 earnings call, the company disclosed that it had secured a significant aerospace order from a leading U.S.-based private space company. The total order value is approximately Rs 200 crore. Management said it expects additional high-value orders in the first quarter of FY27."This order is a direct outcome of our proven execution capabilities and reinforces the growing confidence that global aerospace players have in INOX India's engineering expertise," the company said."Aerospace cryogenic systems are not short-term trends, but a long-term structural opportunity. We believe that INOX India is well-positioned to capitalise on these opportunities through its engineering expertise, diversified capabilities, and expanding global presence and footprint," the company added.Can Inox India shares rally more?According to Sunny Agrawal, Head of Research at SBI Securities, investor interest in INOX India has picked up significantly ahead of the SpaceX listing. Beyond aerospace, the company is also expanding into segments such as data centres, nitrogen supply and distillery kegs, providing additional growth levers."Management has guided for 15-20% growth per year, and after the recent rally, the stock is trading at a relatively rich valuation of about 56 times one-year forward earnings," Agrawal said. He believes investors may be better off waiting for a correction before making fresh purchases. "Investors may consider waiting for a correction before fresh entry, as some profit-taking and a cooling-off in the stock could follow once SpaceX gets listed," he added.SpaceX IPOThe much-anticipated SpaceX IPO is scheduled to be priced on June 11, with trading set to commence on the Nasdaq on June 12. The company is looking to raise $75 billion through the offering, which would value the business at approximately $1.75 trillion.Despite the enormous investor enthusiasm, SpaceX remains loss-making. For 2025, the company reported revenue of $18.67 billion and a net loss of $4.94 billion. Much of the bullishness around the stock is tied to its future opportunities across satellite broadband, launch services, defence contracts and AI-related businesses rather than its current earnings profile.Not everyone is convinced by the valuation, however. Morningstar said in a note published on Monday that the company appears "significantly overvalued" and suggested that investors may find more attractive entry opportunities after the stock begins trading.Inox India Q4 snapshotINOX India reported a strong performance for the fourth quarter of FY26, with revenue rising 24.2% year-on-year to Rs 475 crore. Adjusted EBITDA grew 13.4% to Rs 108 crore, while adjusted profit after tax (PAT) increased 9% to Rs 72 crore compared with the corresponding quarter last year.Exports continued to be a key growth driver, with export revenue standing at Rs 291 crore and contributing 61% of total quarterly revenue. During the quarter, the company secured order inflows worth Rs 504 crore, taking its total order backlog to Rs 1,514 crore.For FY26, INOX India delivered its highest-ever annual revenue of Rs 1,632 crore, up 21.2% year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA rose 20.2% to Rs 388 crore, while adjusted PAT increased 19.3% to Rs 261 crore. Annual export revenue came in at Rs 971 crore, accounting for 59% of total revenue, reflecting sustained strength in international demand throughout the year.INOX India shares have risen 64% since the start of the year.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Asia’s currency fight moves offshore as central banks push back

Asian central banks are increasingly facing currency pressures originating outside their borders. From South Korea to India and the Philippines, policymakers have ramped up efforts to curb offshore forex speculation as high oil prices, foreign fund exodus and a strong dollar pressure regional currencies.South Korea’s finance ministry said on Sunday it will step up oversight of offshore currency derivatives. The Philippines has asked banks to ensure non-deliverable forward contracts are limited to economic purposes, while India has tightened limits on banks’ net open position to $100 million.Indonesia, which unexpectedly raised interest rates on Tuesday, has said its central bank is active in currency markets “around the world, around the clock” to support the rupiah.The warnings underscore concerns among Asian policymakers that offshore trading is adding to pressure on currencies. The oil-price shock from the US-Iran conflict has worsened the problem, hitting the region’s energy-importing nations. Indonesia’s rupiah breached the closely watched 18,000-per-dollar level, the Korean won has fallen to its lowest since the global financial crisis, while the Indian rupee and Philippine peso have hit record lows.The efforts to curb offshore forex trading may help ease some pressure, but analysts doubt they can reverse the trend on their own.“It may have some impact, but ultimately for the measure to be successful there needs to be a shift in the fundamentals as well,” said Michael Wan, senior currency analyst at MUFG Bank Ltd. 131652986Non-deliverable forwards are cash-settled derivative contracts that allow investors to hedge or speculate on currencies outside local markets. They make up for about 4% of the global $10 trillion a day FX market, according to Deutsche Bank AG, though they can play an outsized role in Asia where restrictions on convertibility are common.That means activity driven out of global financial hubs such as Singapore, London and New York can sway local markets.Authorities across the region have tried to reduce this influence during periods of currency stress.India allowed local banks to participate in the NDF market in 2020 and has since tried to attract activity onshore to its finance hub at Gujarat International Finance Tec-City, or GIFT City. South Korea has opened its forex market to overseas investors and extended trading hours, while Thailand has allowed non-resident corporates to access onshore baht liquidity and hedge freely.“The reason the NDF market exists is due to restrictions in the onshore market,” said Khoon Goh, head of Asia research at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group. If those restrictions are eased and there is enough liquidity, the need for NDFs will gradually fade, as seen in the case of the Singapore dollar and Thai baht, he said.Short-Dollar BookYet, the war-induced crisis has left some central banks with little choice but to intervene in those very markets they’ve been warning against. That defense has contributed to the drop in foreign-exchange reserves in the region.The Reserve Bank of India has been particularly active, selling dollars primarily in shorter maturities, traders say. The central bank’s short dollar book, which includes offshore derivative positions, has likely surged to around $115 billion. Bank Indonesia has also sold dollars overseas to stabilize the currency.The interventions have helped reduce outsized spillovers from offshore to local markets. In India’s case, the central bank has often been seen intervening just before onshore open to ease pressure on the rupee.Some investors say currency weakness is the result of economic problems in individual countries rather than offshore trading.India is facing persistent capital outflows, with global funds pulling a record $30 billion from stocks this year, spurring recent efforts to attract overseas capital. In Indonesia, investors are growing wary of the economic outlook and fiscal trajectory under President Prabowo Subianto.The Philippines is facing a renewed inflation shock from high oil prices, while South Korea has seen over $78 billion of net foreign investment exit its stock market so far in 2026 despite a rally to record highs earlier this month fueled by retail craze for artificial-intelligence stocks.The steps central banks have taken, including intervening in offshore markets, are aimed at curbing sharper market moves, said Lavanya Venkateswaran, senior economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. “We still think that policy rate hikes are on the cards” for India, the Philippines and Indonesia, she said.

India’s E85 fuel rollout: what it means for motorists

The Central Government’s E85 fuel push ramps up with 500 outlets planned by December 2026, but vehicle compatibility remains a challenge. The move may reduce imports, but not without costs for vehicle owners

Inside India’s ethanol revolution in reverse

First E20, then E85, now E100 and finally, flex fuel vehicles—India is undertaking an audacious experiment to build a new multi-billion-dollar green mobility ecosystem. But here’s the catch: it’s playing the long game, completely in reverse.In standard industrial transitions, the market responds organically to vehicle demand by slowly introducing fuel infrastructure over time; for example, the way the country’s first electric vehicles were rolled out.However, under a recent order from the Central government, the infrastructure for E100 is essentially arriving first.Also Read | Maruti Suzuki launches India's first flex-fuel car, bets on biofuels to boost energy securityDriven by a pressing need to secure national energy self-reliance and shield the domestic economy from volatile geopolitical crises—particularly the ongoing oil trade disruptions in West Asia—the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, alongside state-run oil marketing companies, has committed to laying down 5,000 dedicated E100 dispensing stations across the country over the next two years.“India imports a large quantity of crude oil every year, and biofuels like ethanol are an important pathway towards reducing this dependence while strengthening our rural economy. Flex-Fuel Vehicles can create a strong and sustainable demand for ethanol, benefiting our farmers, industry, and the environment together,” Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said at an event in New Delhi last week.“Today, we are facing an energy crisis due to the war in West Asia, so it is necessary for us to become self-reliant in the energy sector,” he had said earlier.Also Read | India waives excise duty on petrol with higher ethanolHe also called for the phased-out conversion of existing BS6 vehicles into FFVs. “And lastly, if it is possible, whichever EURO6 emission car you have, you can convert it to flex engine through your service centre.”The physical distribution network is springing up before flex-fuel vehicles have even rolled off assembly lines, and there may be some questions.At the very heart of this systemic transformation sits the domestic sugar and distillation industry. Ethanol is fundamentally a high-purity alcohol. Just as traditional alcohol is created through fermentation, the bio-ethanol used to power cars is produced by capturing the natural chemistry of sugar and microscopic organisms.Deepak Ballani, the Director General of the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), views this massive transition not merely as a temporary patch for the automotive market, but as a structural overhaul of how India generates and consumes energy.According to Ballani, the entire premise of the debate around biofuels needs to change.He points out that looking at ethanol as a mere substitute for petrol misses the larger economic picture. “The premise assumes that ethanol is merely a substitute for petrol, whereas its value extends far beyond fuel price parity,” Ballani said.“Ethanol is a domestically produced renewable fuel that reduces India's dependence on imported crude oil, improves energy security, and creates a stable income stream for farmers and rural economies,” the ISMA chief added.Breaking the chicken-and-egg dilemmaFor decades, the global transition to alternative fuels has been plagued by a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma where automakers refuse to manufacture alternative fuel vehicles because there are no dispensing pumps, and fuel providers refuse to install pumps because there are no vehicles to buy the fuel.India has smashed this deadlock by moving the fuel supply mechanism ahead of the vehicle market.The country has already executed a rise under its Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme, lifting ethanol blending in standard petrol from a meagre 1.5% in 2014 to a ubiquitous 20% today.According to a PIB release this month, that 20% achievement alone has unlocked a staggering Rs 1.84 lakh crore in foreign exchange savings through the substitution of 302 lakh metric tonnes of imported crude oil.However, the leap from E20 to E100, which represents 100% pure ethanol, introduces some technical and structural complexities.Recognising that the infrastructure must act as the primary catalyst, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, announced a hyper-accelerated rollout of 50 to 100 ethanol dispensing stations across the Delhi-NCR region and the Mumbai-Pune-Nagpur corridor.This regional pilot network is targeted to swell to 500 hundred stations by December 2026, culminating in a sprawling web of 5,000 across major cities by the end of 2027.Seeing the plan of physical pumps materialise, within days of E100 pump announcement, market leader Maruti Suzuki took the definitive first step.On June 4, the auto giant officially launched India’s first flex-fuel passenger car, the Wagon R Flex Fuel that is able to operate seamlessly on any blend of petrol and ethanol between E20 and E100."A new chapter in India's energy journey,” is what Hisashi Takeuchi, Managing Director & CEO of Maruti Suzuki India termed the event.However, the Maruti Suzuki head called for some team effort."Large-scale adoption of flex-fuel will take time and effort from all stakeholders. An entire ecosystem needs to be developed – from fuel availability to more model launches, from customer awareness to fuel and vehicle pricing. In the absence of an ecosystem, it is the responsibility of the market leader to take the first step and encourage others,” he said.Once it reaches mainstream adoption, Takeuchi stressed that "Flex-Fuel Vehicles have the potential to cut oil imports, carbon emissions, and local air pollution while enhancing domestic value addition and farmer incomes."Simultaneously, the two-wheeler segment has also entered the space as Hero MotoCorp recently debuted the country's first flex-fuel motorcycles, launching E85-ready variants of its legacy commuter mainstays, the Splendor Plus and the HF Deluxe.Navigating technical realitiesNow, India has a new category in four-wheelers as well as two-wheelers. But what’s new?To the uninitiated, running a vehicle on ethanol sounds like a simple software recalibration. To an automotive engineer, it can be a challenge.According to the International Energy Agency, ethanol possesses distinct mechanical traits that make it highly corrosive, hygroscopic and lower in energy density than standard fossil fuels.The agency reports that because ethanol naturally pulls water out of the air, standard automotive fuel systems left untreated would face internal corrosion, leading to rusted fuel tanks, clogged fuel lines, and disintegrated rubber seals.To bypass this, an auto engineering team has to overhaul the vehicle's internals.For example, the Wagon R Flex would likely feature a completely redesigned architecture including fortified, corrosion-resistant fuel lines, heavy-duty robust seals, completely overhauled fuel injectors, and an advanced, specially calibrated Engine Management System designed to adapt dynamically to the unique chemical properties of varying ethanol concentrations.Moreover, the IEA notes “Ethanol has a significantly lower energy density (Joule per liter), about two‐thirds of that of gasoline, so about 50 percent more fuel (by volume) is needed per kilometer, if a given engine is equally efficient on either fuel.”This means that a vehicle operating on pure E100 or high-blend E85 will require a greater volume of fuel to cover the same distance as a petrol car.However, amid these technical changes, public anxiety around transition readiness, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, in an August 2025 report, said that allegations suggesting specifically E20 affecting insurance and warranty of vehicles are “baseless.”In the same report, the industry body further addressed widespread consumer concerns about mileage loss and called it “misplaced”.“Real-world vehicle mileage depends far more on distinct everyday factors like driving habits, maintenance practices, the age of the vehicle, tyre conditions, and the usage of AC load,” it added.More recently, SIAM said that for E100 or E85 to make financial sense for average Indian consumers, the fuel must be priced at least 30% cheaper at the pump than conventional E20 petrol.On the heels of Maruti’s launch and the E100 pump announcement, the Central government on Wednesday rolled out another initiative that could help tackle this cost concern.India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, abolished central excise duty on petrol blended with higher levels of ethanol.A Ministry of Finance notification extended central excise duty exemptions to petrol blended with 22%, 25%, 27%, and 30% ethanol. The nil excise duty rate will apply to all four blends, provided they conform to Bureau of Indian Standards specification IS 19850.On the other hand, pure E100 opens up structural efficiencies that standard blends cannot offer. Ballani highlights this supply chain advantage.“Hydrous E100 does not require blending with gasoline and can be supplied directly from distilleries to retail outlets, eliminating blending costs and simplifying the supply chain,” he said.How India diverges from brazilTo understand the scale of India's ambition, one must contrast it with the global gold standard of biofuels, which is Brazil.Brazil’s legendary flex-fuel ecosystem, which allows consumers in the country to alternate between different vehicles requiring pure gasoline and pure sugarcane ethanol, was built via a bottom-up approach spanning over five decades.Spurred by the global oil shocks of the 1970s, Brazil's government subsidised massive agricultural expansions, gradually integrated low blends, and allowed the auto industry decades to slowly mature its engine tech.Furthermore, Brazil relies on a massive, highly specific agricultural surplus of sugarcane grown in vast, rain-heavy, non-irrigated zones, making it uniquely isolated from food-versus-fuel debates.India’s model is radically different, marked by speed, agricultural diversity, and technological leapfrogging.While Brazil utilised a slow, evolutionary rollout over fifty years, India is executing a compressed, revolutionary strategy.

Nepal rejects third-party involvement in border issue with India: ‘Firmly committed to bilateral approach’

The clarification comes after Nepal’s Prime Minister Balen Shah said he has sought the participation of China and the UK to address the long-standing issue.

Case filed over disappearance of reports from then Odisha CM Patnaik’s office

One of the reports pertained to the killing of Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, which triggered the 2008 Kandhamal riots

Patients evacuated after fire erupts at Jodhpur hospital, no casualties

A fire broke out at a private hospital here late Wednesday, prompting authorities to evacuate several patients from the affected ward, police said.

Bond over Board: How board game nights are building a community in Visakhapatnam

A growing board game community in Visakhapatnam is creating spaces for friendship, conversation and screen-free fun

Orange alert for Patna and other Bihar districts

Centre Removes Excise Duty On Higher Ethanol Fuel. What It Means For You

Vehicle owners have raised concerns about efficiency and compatibility of ethanol-blended fuel.

Toll rises to 9 in Vizag steel plant accident

The death toll from the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant explosion has risen to nine, prompting an investigation as safety concerns grow among workers.