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.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) portal, which on Monday suffered a brief outage, has been restored.

Around 10.40 am, the exchange website did not show any data, and a white screen appeared while logging in.

The website was restored within a few minutes. At 10.48 a.m., the NSE website was working again, and all the information and data on the portal were displaying as usual.

After the brief outage, NSE shared on the social media platform 'X' handle, "the website is accessible now. Incase of any other query, please write to us at nsewebmaster@nse.co.in".

Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V. Anantha Nageswaran has highlighted that current indicators show the Indian economy is continuing on a high growth path despite the global challenges.

Speaking at an event at Ashoka University, Nageswaran said, "India's economy is in good shape despite challenging global environment. While the final number for FY25 will be available in May, current indicators suggest we are progressing well."

The country’s Chief Economic Advisor listed energy affordability and energy transition employment generation with the rise in manufacturing and small and medium enterprises as priority areas for the country. Besides, artificial intelligence, education and skilling of the country’s workforce would drive growth, he added.

He emphasised on the need to maintain macroeconomic stability, which entails keeping inflation in check, while targeting inclusive growth as the country moves ahead.

Public sector mining major NMDC has registered a robust 15 per cent rise in iron ore production in April to 4 million tonnes, from 3.48 million tonnes in the same month last year.

NMDC sold 3.63 million tonnes of iron ore during the month which represents a 3 per cent increase over the corresponding figure of 3.53 million tonnes in April 2024.

NMDC chairman and managing director Amitava Mukherjee said, "Our record-breaking April performance, coupled with best-ever despatch figures from our major iron ore mines -- Kirandul, Bacheli, and Donimalai -- with a growth of 12 per cent, 4 per cent and 88 per cent, respectively over the corresponding period last year, solidifies our leadership position and sets a strong foundation for achieving our ambitious target of becoming 100 million tonnes mining company by 2030."

Global brokerage Morgan Stanley has reaffirmed its positive long-term outlook on Indian equities, highlighting that India is likely to outperform in a global bear market scenario.

According to a note by the brokerage, the opportunity to invest in India’s long-term structural growth story is now, though it will require patience, given the potential.

The global financial services major believes that while near-term volatility may persist, “the long-term reward outweighs short-term noise”.

The firm advises investors to stay focused on India’s domestic growth story and selectively build exposure — particularly in domestically driven sectors —during periods of market stress.

The benign inflationary patterns suggest an aggressive rate cut trajectory by the Reserve Bank of India, with key policy rate likely to breach the ‘Neutral’ rate by March 2026, an SBI Research report said on Monday.

A cumulative rate cut of 125-150 bps is estimated in FY26 in the best case scenario with inflation to breach 3 per cent consistently for next three months barring any food price shock/heatwave, the report mentioned.

“With multi-year low inflation in March and benign inflation expectations going forward, we expect rate cuts of 75 basis points in June and August (H1) and another 50 bps cut in H2 — cumulative cuts of 125 bps going forward while 25 bps rate cut has already been initiated in February (that could put the terminal rate at 5.0-5.25 per cent by March 2026),” the SBI report projected.

“However, we feel, jumbo cuts of 50 bps, could be more effective than secular 25 bps tranches spread over the horizon,” it added.