Citing economic resilience and sustained fiscal consolidation, global credit ratings agency S&P Global on Thursday upgraded India's long-term unsolicited sovereign credit rating to "BBB" from the earlier "BBB-", ahead of the 79th Independence Day.

In a note, S&P Global said the stable outlook reflects continued policy stability and high infrastructure investment, which are set to boost India’s long-term growth.

"That, along with cautious fiscal and monetary policy that moderates the government's elevated debt and interest burden, will underpin the rating over the next 24 months," the rating agency said.

The short-term rating on India has also been revised to A-2 from A-3 earlier, and the transfer and convertibility assessment has been revised to A- from BBB+.

India's annual rate of inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) fell further in the negative zone to a two-year low of (-) 0.58 in July this year, compared to the same month of the previous year -- primarily due to a decrease in the prices of food articles and fuels such as petrol, diesel and natural gas, according to data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Thursday.

The WPI inflation for July is also lower than the -0.13 per cent that was recorded in the previous month of June. WPI-based inflation has been steadily easing since March and hit a 14-month low of 0.39 per cent in May.

Even as foreign institutional investors (FII) continue to sell Indian equities, the stock markets are holding strong due to significant buying from domestic institutional investors (DIIs) and retail investors.

The secondary market outflows by FIIs in 2025 saw the highest level of foreign selling in India's markets to date. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have pumped in over Rs 4 lakh crore into the Indian stock market this year, the largest inflow by this category in the cash market during the first seven months since 2007.

ਭਾਰਤੀ ਰਿਜ਼ਰਵ ਬੈਂਕ (RBI) ਨੇ ਐਲਾਨ ਕੀਤਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਬੈਂਕ ਚੈੱਕ 4 ਅਕਤੂਬਰ ਤੋਂ ਕੁਝ ਘੰਟਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਅੰਦਰ ਕਲੀਅਰ ਕੀਤੇ ਜਾਣੇ ਚਾਹੀਦੇ ਹਨ - ਮੌਜੂਦਾ ਕਲੀਅਰੈਂਸ ਸਮੇਂ ਤੋਂ ਦੋ ਕੰਮਕਾਜੀ ਦਿਨਾਂ ਤੱਕ।

ਕੇਂਦਰੀ ਬੈਂਕ ਦੇ ਇੱਕ ਸਰਕੂਲਰ ਵਿੱਚ ਕਿਹਾ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਨਵੀਂ ਵਿਧੀ ਦੇ ਤਹਿਤ, ਬੈਂਕ ਕਾਰੋਬਾਰੀ ਘੰਟਿਆਂ ਦੌਰਾਨ ਕੁਝ ਘੰਟਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਅੰਦਰ ਅਤੇ ਨਿਰੰਤਰ ਆਧਾਰ 'ਤੇ ਚੈੱਕ ਸਕੈਨ, ਪੇਸ਼ ਅਤੇ ਪਾਸ ਕਰਨਗੇ, ਜਿਸ ਨਾਲ ਕਲੀਅਰਿੰਗ ਚੱਕਰ ਮੌਜੂਦਾ T+1 ਦਿਨਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਘਟ ਜਾਵੇਗਾ।

ਮੌਜੂਦਾ ਚੈੱਕ ਟ੍ਰੰਕੇਸ਼ਨ ਸਿਸਟਮ (CTS) ਦੋ ਕੰਮਕਾਜੀ ਦਿਨਾਂ ਤੱਕ ਦੇ ਕਲੀਅਰਿੰਗ ਚੱਕਰ ਦੇ ਅੰਦਰ ਚੈੱਕਾਂ ਦੀ ਪ੍ਰਕਿਰਿਆ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ।

RBI ਨੇ ਚੈੱਕ ਕਲੀਅਰਿੰਗ ਦੀ ਕੁਸ਼ਲਤਾ ਨੂੰ ਬਿਹਤਰ ਬਣਾਉਣ, ਭਾਗੀਦਾਰਾਂ ਲਈ ਸੈਟਲਮੈਂਟ ਜੋਖਮ ਨੂੰ ਘਟਾਉਣ ਅਤੇ ਗਾਹਕਾਂ ਦੇ ਅਨੁਭਵ ਨੂੰ ਵਧਾਉਣ ਲਈ CTS ਨੂੰ ਬੈਚ ਪ੍ਰੋਸੈਸਿੰਗ ਤੋਂ 'ਆਨ-ਰਿਐਲਾਈਜ਼ੇਸ਼ਨ-ਸੈਟਲਮੈਂਟ' ਨਾਲ ਨਿਰੰਤਰ ਕਲੀਅਰਿੰਗ ਵਿੱਚ ਤਬਦੀਲ ਕਰਨ ਦਾ ਫੈਸਲਾ ਕੀਤਾ ਹੈ।

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that bank cheques must be cleared within a few hours from October 4 -- down from the current clearance time of up to two working days.

Under the new mechanism, the banks will scan, present and pass cheques within a few hours and on a continuous basis during the business hours, cutting the clearing cycle down from the present T+1 days, a circular from central bank said.

The current Cheque Truncation System (CTS) processes cheques within a clearing cycle of up to two working days.

The RBI decided to transition CTS from batch processing to continuous clearing with 'on-realisation-settlement' to improve the efficiency of cheque clearing, reduce settlement risk for participants, and enhance customer experience.

Easing inflation and favourable monsoon boosted rural demand in India in the April-June period this year, outpacing urban consumption once again, according to a new report.

According to the report by global research firm NielsenIQ, rural markets and small manufacturers propelled the packaged consumer goods sector in Q2 2025.

Rural markets grew twice as fast as cities, as urban areas showed signs of recovery, particularly in smaller towns.

According to the report, e-commerce also rose significantly, led by increased shopper penetration and spending, especially in home and personal care.

The Indian benchmark indices opened flat on Thursday, as IT and pharma stocks showed considerable gains.

The BSE Sensex advanced 0.15 per cent to 80,657 points. The Nifty 50 inched up to 24,638, up 21 points or 0.08 per cent.

Among the broader market indices BSE SmallCap added 0.12 per cent and the BSE MidCap climbed 0.30 per cent.

Sectorally, Nifty Metal lost 1.05 per cent while Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma surged 0.76 per cent and 0.93 per cent, respectively. The majority of other indices were mixed.

In the Nifty pack, Infosys led the gainers, surging 1.29 per cent, followed by HDFC Life, Wipro, Adani Ports, and Apollo Hospitals. Among laggards, Tata Steel declined 1.22 per cent, followed by ONGC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Hindalco.

The market will be in a wait-and-watch mode looking for clues from the Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin summit and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day message, said analysts.

Softer lending rates in the Indian economy due to the transmission of the RBI's repo rate cuts to other rates, such as bank lending rates and deposit rates, continued in July, leading to an improvement in financial conditions during the month, according to a report released on Wednesday.

President Droupadi Murmu will address the nation on Thursday, August 14, on the eve of the 79th Independence Day.

BSE Index Services Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), on Wednesday, announced the launch of a new index - BSE India Defence.