The Indian Air Force (IAF) will carry out intensive aerial operations in Rajasthan as part of its regular operational preparedness efforts. The exercise will begin at 3.30 p.m. on May 7 and continue until 9.30 p.m. on May 8, during which airspace in the region will be restricted to ensure safety and operational integrity.

The move comes in the wake of the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam last month, which claimed the lives of 26 people, most of them civilians. The assault was carried out by four terrorists affiliated with The Resistance Front, a known proxy of the Pakistan-based and banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

GK Energy Limited, a company specialising in solar-powered agricultural water pump systems, is preparing to launch its initial public offering (IPO) after receiving final approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) last month.

However, ahead of the public issue, the company’s financials show that operating losses and expenses increased in the first half of the financial year (FY25).

According to its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), GK Energy's total expenses more than doubled to Rs 352.93 crore for the six months ended September 30, 2024, up from Rs 168.17 crore in the same period the previous year.

This steep rise in costs weighed heavily on the company's operations, with cash used in operating activities plunged by nearly 1,084 per cent to Rs 119.11 crore for the six months ended September 30, 2024, compared to a Rs 10.06 crore in the same period in the previous year.

Indian stock markets ended lower on Tuesday, as escalating geopolitical tensions dampened investor sentiment and triggered broad-based selling across sectors.

The Sensex slipped by 155.77 points, or 0.19 per cent, to settle at 80,641.07. Meanwhile, the Nifty dropped more sharply by 81.55 points, or 0.33 per cent, closing at 24,379.60.

Several major stocks weighed on the indices. Eternal (formerly Zomato), State Bank of India (SBI), Tata Motors and NTPC were the top losers on the Sensex, falling between 1.94 per cent and 3.15 per cent.

On the other hand, some stocks managed to buck the trend. Bharti Airtel, Tata Steel, Mahindra and Mahindra, Hindustan Unilever, and Nestle India were among the ten Sensex gainers, rising by 1.66 per cent.

Moody’s Ratings on Tuesday pegged India's GDP growth at 6.3 per cent for 2025 and expects the economy to pick up momentum in 2026 to record a 6.5 per cent growth rate.

Moody’s forecast is in line with the IMF outlook, which sees India as the only major economy in the world to record an over 6 per cent growth rate in 2025.

"Uncertainty surrounding global economic policies is likely to take a toll on consumer, business and financial activity," Moody’s said in its Global Macro Outlook’s May update. The rating agency had earlier projected a 6.5 per cent growth rate for India.

Despite a pause and reduction in some tariffs, policy uncertainty and trade tensions, especially between the US and China, are likely to dampen global trade and investment with consequences across the G20 countries, Moody’s said.

India is poised to become the world’s fourth-largest economy in 2025 with the country’s nominal GDP rising to $4,187.017 billion during the year to surpass Japan’s GDP pegged at $4,186.431 billion, according to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report.

According to the report, India continues to remain the world’s fastest growing major economy and the only country expected to clock over 6 per cent growth in the next two years.

Japan, on the other hand, is expected to be hard hit by the global trade war with its growth stagnating at 0.6 per cent for 2025 and 2026.

The high rate of growth will see India’s GDP increasing to $5,584.476 billion in 2028 as it overtakes Germany to become the third largest economy.

The IMF has projected a zero growth rate for Germany in 2025 followed by 0.9 per cent in 2026 as it is expected to be hit the hardest among the European countries due to the ongoing global trade war. Germany’s GDP is projected at $5,251.928 in 2028.

India is set to see a notable surge in electric vehicles (EVs), with an estimated 123 million EVs projected to be on the roads by 2032, a report showed on Tuesday.

In a significant move towards sustainable development and to achieve net zero emissions by 2070, there is a need to adopt EVs which can bolster India’s economy while supporting the ambitious target set for 2030 — EV penetration of 30 per cent, according to the report by the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA) and Customised Energy Solutions (CES).

The report estimates that India's cumulative on-road lithium-ion electric vehicle (EV) population increased nearly twelvefold, rising from 0.35 million in 2019 to 4.4 million in 2024.

This rapid growth has been fuelled by supportive government policies, such as the FAME-II scheme, which offers demand incentives for electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and four-wheelers, along with capital subsidies for public charging infrastructure.

UPI QR codes have recorded the fastest growth in digital payments infrastructure in the financial year 2024-25, with a 91.5 per cent jump over the previous financial year to 657.9 million, according to the latest RBI data.

The surge in UPI QR codes was accompanied by a slowdown in the growth rate of credit card transactions to 7.94 per cent year-on-year, while debit card additions registered a mere 2.7 per cent growth to 991 million.

The growth in the number of UPI QR codes has been accelerating with the increasing deployment by platforms like Google Pay, Paytm, and PhonePe.

The number of banks going live on UPI continues to increase, and the total touched 668 in April, which is expected to increase the value of such transactions, according to bank officials.

The government on Tuesday said it has given approval for an off-campus centre of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) at GIFT City in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The centre will be set up in accordance with the UGC (Institutions Deemed to be Universities) Regulations, 2023, according to the Ministry of Education.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, congratulated IIFT on receiving the approval.

“Heartiest congratulations to IIFT on getting approval to open its new off-campus centre in GIFT City, India's global financial hub. This paves the way for training talent in the institute's flagship programme, MBA (International Business), besides short-term training programmes and research in the area of International Trade,” the minister posted on X social media platform.

The approval under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956, comes after IIFT’s successful compliance with the conditions laid out in the Letter of Intent (LoI) issued in January 2025.

Indian equity indices opened on a flat note on Tuesday following mixed global cues and geo-political tensions.

At 9:18 am, Sensex was down 11 points at 80,785 and Nifty was down 8 points at 24,452.

Selling was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks. Nifty midcap 100 index was down 126 points or 0.23 per cent at 54,548 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was down 61 points or 0.37 per cent at 16,547.

From a technical perspective, the Nifty 50 continues to trade in a narrow consolidation range, forming a neutral candlestick pattern on the daily chart, said experts.

The Indian equity markets opened the week with strong gains on Monday, supported by a rally in Adani Group stocks and strength in select auto and banking shares.

Sensex started the day around 160 points higher at 80,662 and climbed to an intra-day high of 81,049.

Although it gave up some of the gains later in the session, the index still ended 295 points up at 80,797.

The Nifty touched a high of 24,526 during the day and eventually closed with a gain of 114 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 24,461.

“Markets started the week on a firm footing, lifted by steady foreign inflows and optimism around an impending India-US trade deal,” said Vikram Kasat of PL Capital.