Early April will be critical for market sentiment, with key economic data releases providing insights into global manufacturing, employment trends and economic activity, a report showed on Monday.

As April begins, the focus will shift to the United States, with the S&P Global Manufacturing PMI reflecting business sentiment and industrial output.

Auto companies will also release their numbers for the month of March.

“On April 2, India’s S&P Global Manufacturing PMI will indicate domestic manufacturing trends, while the US ADP Non-farm Employment Change report will provide a preview of private-sector job growth ahead of the official labour market data,” said Bajaj Broking Research in a note.

On March 31, China’s Chinese Composite PMI and Manufacturing PMI for March will offer insights into the country’s economic health, manufacturing activity, and demand trends, which could influence global markets, particularly commodities and industrial sectors.

The benchmark index Nifty is expected to post a 8–10 per cent annualised return in the next fiscal (FY26) while Sensex is projected to give 8–12 per cent return, according to a new report.

The domestic-focused companies are well positioned to mitigate risks like US tariff hikes or commodity price inflation.

Large cap private banks are expected to see a credit growth of 14–16 per cent in FY26. The benchmark indices have gained around 7 per cent in FY25, according to the report by GoalFi, a smallcase manager.

The report anticipates a growth of 12–16 per cent from current levels by March 2026, translating to a potential range of 8–10 per cent annualised return over the next 12 months from March 25, 2025.

Of the total 32 lakh defence pensioners, nearly 31 lakh have been onboarded on System for Pension Administration-Raksha (SPARSH) and their pensions are being directly credited into their bank accounts, the government informed on Saturday.

Launched in October 2020, SPARSH is a ‘Digital India’ initiative that aims to provide a comprehensive and efficient solution for managing defence pensions, including sanctioning and disbursing pensions to the Armed Forces personnel and Defence civilians living across the country.

Over 200 Defence Accounts Department (DAD) offices, 16 bank branches and nearly five lakh CSCs are operational to help pensioners, said the Ministry of Defence in a statement.

Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru were among the top 10 logistics markets for growth in the Asia-Pacific region in the second half of 2024, higher than the regional average, according to a report on Saturday.

The Asia-Pacific (APAC) logistics market saw marginal rental growth of 0.2 per cent in year-on-year (YoY) terms but Delhi-NCR at 2.8 per cent, Mumbai at 2.3 per cent and Bengaluru at 1.5 per cent recorded rental growth higher than regional average (year-on-year), according to Knight Frank’s ‘Asia-Pacific Logistics Highlight H2 2024’ report.

Delhi-NCR is positioned sixth in the APAC logistics market based on annual rental growth.

The Indian equity markets had a mixed week, with the Nifty 50 and Sensex 30 indices posting marginal gains, while the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices underperformed and ended in negative territory.

Despite weak global cues and concerns over upcoming US tariffs, the market continued to witness positive sentiment from foreign investors. After persistent selling in recent months, FIIs have turned net buyers over the past few sessions, experts said on Saturday.

On March 28, the first day of the new (April) series, the market remained volatile. The Sensex ended at 77,414.92, down 191.51 points (0.25 per cent), while the Nifty closed at 23,519.35, down 72.60 points (0.31 per cent).

As part of its Act East policy, India sent more than 15 tonnes of relief material to Myanmar on Saturday, following a series of powerful earthquakes that led to widespread death and destruction on Friday, with over 600 people feared killed and the toll expected to climb further.

The official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal said in a post that as part of 'Operation Brahma', India acted as a first responder to assist the people of Myanmar, who were affected by Friday’s massive earthquake.

“Our first tranche of 15 tonnes of relief material, including tents, blankets, sleeping bags, food packets, hygiene kits, generators and essential medicines has landed in Yangon,” Randhir Jaiswal posted on Saturday.

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) has announced a collaboration with Digital India Bhashini to implement a multimodal, multilingual e-Governance solution for the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS).

The move is in pursuance of the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to effect qualitative improvements in Grievance Redressal systems to make them more sensitive, accessible and meaningful.

With the multilingual multimodal solution, it is envisaged that citizens will be able to file grievances on the CPGRAMS portal through 22 regional languages in an intuitive interface that will make grievance lodging much easier.

Citizens can use voice in their regional language to lodge grievances. This solution will also enhance ease of accessibility and navigation on CPGRAMS portal.

The domestic benchmark indices opened flat on Friday amid weak global cues, as selling was seen in the IT and auto sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.28 am, Sensex was trading 102.31 points or 0.13 per cent down at 77,504.12 while the Nifty declined 25.25 points or 0.11 per cent at 23,566.70.

Nifty Bank was up 209.20 points or 0.41 per cent at 51,785.05. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 52,443.65 after adding 604.25 points or 1.17 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 16,335.60 after climbing 215.75 points or 1.34 per cent.

According to market watchers, Nifty witnessed a strong buying of 213 points from lower levels before consolidating sideways, signalling sustainability in the uptrend.

To maintain the vast National Highway (NH) network, the government has approved short-term maintenance contract (STMC) works in 17,884 km length, costing Rs 2,842 crore, and performance-based maintenance contract (PBMC) works in 6,118 km length, costing Rs 6,757 crore, in the current fiscal (FY25), Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, said on Thursday.

In a written statement in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister said the government has prioritised the maintenance of the existing NH network and has evolved a mechanism to ensure the maintenance and repair of all NH sections through an accountable maintenance agency.

At present, 1,310 NH projects in 31,187 km length costing Rs 8.11 lakh crore are under construction in the country.

While STMC works are generally undertaken for a contract period of 1-2 years, PBMC works are undertaken for a contract period of about 5-7 years.

The government encourages the adoption of innovative technologies or methods to enhance the durability and reduce the maintenance requirements of NHs (depending upon factors like rainfall, terrain type, soil category, etc.).

India’s billionaire count has grown to 284, with their combined wealth reaching an astounding Rs 98 lakh crore, a new report said on Thursday.

The ‘Hurun Global Rich List for 2025’ shows that the country’s wealthiest individuals have seen a 10 per cent rise in their total fortune over the past year. Mumbai alone has 90 billionaires.

India remains strong on the global stage, ranking third in the number of billionaires, behind only the United States and China. The US tops the list with 870 billionaires.

The Hurun report also highlights that 175 Indian billionaires have seen their wealth increase, while 109 either experienced a decline or no change in their fortunes.