The production of India’s indigenous fighter jet Tejas Mark-1A is set to gain momentum with the arrival of the GE-404 jet engine from the United States.

This marks the second engine received from American manufacturer General Electric for the Tejas Mark-1A programme.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the state-run aerospace company responsible for manufacturing the Tejas, is expected to receive a total of 12 GE-404 engines by the end of the current financial year. These engines will power the Tejas Mark-1A fighter jets, which have been ordered by the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The IAF has placed an order for 83 Tejas Mark-1A aircraft, as it looks to strengthen its depleting fleet with homegrown fighter jets. The Air Force currently operates two squadrons of the earlier Mark-1 variant, stationed at the Sulur Airbase in Tamil Nadu.

India’s retail inflation during the last 11 years is averaging at around 5 per cent -- with a steady decline in recent months to touch an over 6-year low of 2.1 per cent in June this year.

The Finance Ministry figures show that the average inflation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tenure stands at 5.1 per cent, compared to 8.1 per cent in the UPA regime.

During the UPA era, between January 2012 and April 2014, retail inflation was over 9 per cent for 22 out of 28 months, as per the official data.

In the UPA’s final three-year stint (2011–2014), India was saddled with an average retail inflation of 9.8 per cent even at a time when global inflation was relatively stable, hovering between 4–5 per cent, the official pointed out.

The Bombay Stock Exchange situated in South Mumbai received a bomb threat via email on Tuesday, following which police immediately swung into action.

Police sources said that the BSE received a threatening email on its official website.

The BSE received the email from an ID named "Comrade Pinayari Vijayan", inviting a prompt security response.

"Four RDX IED bombs have been placed in the BSE's Feroze Tower Building, and they will explode at 3 pm," the threat message read.

Within a few minutes of receiving information, the Mumbai Police and bomb squad reached the spot and launched the search.

A case has been filed with the Mata Ramabai Marg Police Station under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita (BNS).

The Indian equity indices opened in the green due to positive domestic cues like further softening of inflation, as Asian cues in the morning trade were largely positive.

At 9.24 am, Sensex was up 156 points or 0.19 per cent at 82,410 and Nifty was up 55 points or 25,136.

Buying was seen in the midcap and smallcap stocks. Nifty midcap 100 index was up 310 points or 59,363 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was up 145 points or 0.77 per cent at 19,100.

“In the current environment of elevated volatility and mixed cues, traders are advised to maintain a cautious ‘buy-on-dips’ approach, especially when using leverage," said Hardik Matalia from Choice Broking.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is expected to meet soon to review the tax regime. This could be the most significant review since the scheme was announced on July 1, 2017, eight years ago.

According to reports, a sweeping reassessment of tax rates on consumer goods, which are currently taxed at the highest slab, and compensation cess might be among the top agenda items of the forthcoming meeting.

Moving pure term insurance policies from the current 18 per cent rate to a zero-tax bracket can also be a top proposal on the council's table.

The Indian stock market closed the week on a negative note, with Nifty extending its losing streak for the third consecutive session on Friday.

Both the Nifty and Bank Nifty ended in the red, dragged down by weakness in IT stocks following Tata Consultancy Services’ (TCS) Q1 earnings and renewed concerns over global trade disruptions sparked by fresh tariff jitters from the US President.

Recent reductions in income tax burdens, benign inflation, lower interest rates and a favourable outlook for agricultural production are expected to support rural incomes and bolster overall consumption in India, according to a new report.

Given that private final consumption expenditure constitutes nearly 60 per cent of India’s GDP, it has a strong bearing on India’s overall growth outlook.

A sustained recovery in consumption is also vital for a meaningful pick-up in private sector capital expenditure.

The Indian life insurance industry registered new business premiums of Rs 41,117.1 crore in June amid the ongoing impact of the revised surrender value regulations, lower credit life sales, and group single premiums, according to a new report.

CareEdge Ratings expects the life insurance industry to continue to grow at 10 per cent-12 per cent over a three-to-five-year horizon, driven by product innovation along with supportive regulations, rapid digitalisation, effective distribution, and improving customer services.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday that it has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 4.88 lakh on HDFC Bank and Rs 2.70 lakh on Shriram Finance after finding non-compliance with certain directions of the Central Bank.

The penalty on HDFC Bank was levied under the provisions of Section 11(3) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after the private sector lender had ignored the ‘Master Direction – Foreign Investment in India’ while granting a term loan to its client, the Reserve Bank said in a statement.

The country’s gold reserves grew by $342 million during the week, reaching $84.846 billion, according to the latest weekly data released by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday.

Along with gold, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) increased by $39 million to $18.868 billion.

Additionally, India’s reserve position with the IMF also rose by $107 million to $4.735 billion, the data showed.