Showcasing resilient economy amid robust policies, the collective brand value of the top 100 Indian companies reached $236.5 billion in 2025 to date, according to a new report.

The ‘Brand Finance India 100 2025’ ranking results remain stable, reflecting a year of steady gains for major Indian brands across sectors.

Tata Group has once again secured its position as India’s most valuable brand ranked by becoming the first Indian brand to cross the $30 billion threshold. Its brand value is up 10 per cent to $31.6 billion.

As the second most valuable Indian brand, Infosys (brand value up 15 per cent to $16.3 billion) continues to lead in the IT Services sector.

HDFC Group (brand value up 37 per cent to $14.2 billion) is third in the rankings. It has cemented its role as a financial services titan, post-merger with HDFC Ltd.

The Indian benchmark indices opened higher on Friday amid a ‘great’ India-US trade deal possibility, as buying was seen in the PSU bank and IT sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.15 am, Sensex was trading 150.40 points or 0.18 per cent up at 83,906.27 while the Nifty added 54.50 points or 0.21 per cent at 25,603.

US President Donald Trump has hinted at a "very big" trade deal with India, weeks after a team of negotiators from the two countries held four-day closed-door talks on the agreement. Addressing the 'Big Beautiful Event' at the White House, Trump said he has a "great deal" with India.

According to analysts, reports that the July 9th US tariff deadline is likely to be extended are also positive for the market sentiment.

State-run power major NTPC on Thursday announced that its 3,300 MW Barh Super Thermal Power Project in Bihar will become fully commercially operational from July 1.

This development comes as the last remaining unit under Stage I, Unit 3 of 660 MW, is set to begin commercial power supply.

“In terms of Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, we would like to inform you that Unit 3 (660 MW) of Barh Super Thermal Power Project, Stage-I (3x660 MW) is declared on commercial operation w.e.f 00:00 Hrs of 01.07.2025,” the company said in its stock exchange filing.

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) final directions on project financing will help strengthen the guardrails against risk in project financing and harmonise the relevant and extant regulations across regulated entities, according to a Crisil report released on Thursday.

The final directions, released on June 19, come into effect from October 1.

The government has issued a notification authorising the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) to use of Aadhaar authentication, on a voluntary basis, for verifying the identity of candidates appearing in its examinations.

"The notification issued by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, authorises IBPS to use Aadhaar authentication using Yes/No or/ and e-KYC authentication facilities, on a voluntary basis, for verifying the identity of candidates during examinations and recruitment processes conducted by it," said an official statement issued on Thursday.

This initiative aims to promote good governance and strengthen the integrity of the recruitment process in the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector by preventing impersonation and other malpractices during examination, the statement said

The Indian stock markets closed on a strong note on Thursday, with benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty surging over 1 per cent each, led by gains in banking and heavyweight stocks.

The benchmark index reflected strong investor confidence, underpinned by the apparent stability of the Middle East ceasefire, which has eased concerns over potential supply chain disruptions.

The Sensex jumped 1,000.36 points, or 1.21 per cent, to settle at 83,755.87. During the session, the index touched an intra-day high of 83,812.09 and a low of 82,816.26.

The Nifty also gained 304.25 points, or 1.21 per cent, to close at 25,549.00. It hit an intra-day high of 25,565.30 and a low of 25,259.90 during the day.

India’s steel industry is rapidly advancing toward the government’s target of achieving 300 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of crude steel capacity by FY2030-31, according to a private sector report released on Thursday.

The report highlights that the growth rate of steel production in India has outpaced both China and the global average. Between 2016 and 2024, India recorded a CAGR of about 5 per cent, compared to 2.76 per cent for China and 1.77 per cent globally.

Notably, while China’s steel production has been declining since 2020, India witnessed an accelerated CAGR of 8 per cent during this period. This divergence underscores India’s rising prominence in the global steel industry, supported by abundant raw materials, cost-effective labour, and enabling government policies, the report states.

A strategic collaboration in areas including clean and renewable energy, climate finance, Digital Public Infrastructure, trade and supply chain resilience as well as healthcare and pharma will drive a mutually beneficial growth trajectory between India and the G7 advanced countries, according to a study released here on Thursday.

The study released by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry also mentioned the importance of maritime and Indo-Pacific security as a strategic factor that further cements the relationship between India and the G7 countries.

The report highlighted that India's merchandise trade with G7 countries has surged by 61 per cent, rising from $154 billion in FY 2020–21 to $248 billion in FY 2024–25, maintaining a steady trade surplus. This reflects India's growing export competitiveness as indicated by the commodity net export price index, bolstering its external sector resilience, the report pointed out.

Aided by strong collections and delivery lined up for next 2-3 years, the real estate companies in India are estimated to clock 22 per cent CAGR in revenue over FY25-FY27 to Rs 861 billion, a report showed on Thursday.

EBITDA is expected to post a 26 per cent CAGR to Rs 252 billion and blended operating margin is estimated to improve by 168bp to 29 per cent over FY25-27E, according to the sector update report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd.

“With the timely execution of strong project pipeline, companies will achieve robust collections. Collections are expected to clock a 36 per cent CAGR to Rs 1.5 trillion over FY25-27E,” the report mentioned.

India’s production of horticulture crops is estimated to have increased by 3.66 per cent to 367.72 million tonnes (MT) in the 2024-25 crop year (July-June) due to the higher output of fruits and vegetables, according to the second advance estimates released by the Union agriculture ministry.

In 2023-24, the horticulture crops production stood at 3,547.44 lakh tonnes.

The area under the coverage of horticultural crops increased to 292.67 lakh hectares in 2024-25 from 290.86 lakh hectares in the preceding year.

The data shows that the production of fruits is estimated to have risen 1.36 per cent to 1,145.10 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, while the output of vegetables is projected to have increased 6 per cent to 2,196.74 lakh tonnes.

Spice production is estimated at 123.70 lakh tonnes in 2024-25 against 124.84 lakh tonnes in the preceding year.