The Centre has fast-tracked 17 mega projects being carried out with an investment of Rs 14,096 crore across the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, and Uttarakhand.

A high-level meeting headed by Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Amardeep Bhatia, took stock of as many as 19 issues related to the these projects with a focus on fast-tracking resolution of implementation challenges through enhanced inter-ministerial and inter-state coordination, according to an official statement issued on Wednesday.

The review meeting, conducted under the aegis of the Project Monitoring Group (PMG), was attended by senior officials from Central ministries, state governments, and project proponents.

Among the major projects reviewed was the four-laning of the Jaunpur-Akbarpur road project, valued at Rs 3,164.72 crore. The project involves two key issues across two work packages, and is crucial for improving regional connectivity and road infrastructure.

The Secondary Market Advisory Committee of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is likely to meet on May 7 to review the recent changes made to the futures and options segment.

According to a report, the committee is likely to discuss whether the curbs introduced in the past few months have had the desired effect on market activity.

While the full agenda of the meeting is not yet public, the report said that some of the goals of the new rules have already started showing results.

Therefore, they believe that SEBI is unlikely to introduce any further curbs or strict regulations in the futures and options space for now.

One of the key proposals that SEBI had made on February 25 was to change the way open interest (OI) is calculated in the equity derivatives market.

The regulator had suggested moving from the traditional notional value-based method to a 'Future Equivalent' method.

India’s office real estate market maintained its upward trajectory in Q1, driven by robust leasing and tight new supply, pushing overall vacancy down for the seventh consecutive quarter to 15.7 per cent — a cumulatively steep drop of 275 basis points (bps) from 18.45 per cent in Q2 2023, a report showed on Wednesday.

Supply constraints and strong occupier demand in the first quarter of the year across India’s top eight office markets have resulted in a drop-in vacancy rate by 55 basis points (bps) to 15.7 per cent from 16.25 per cent in Q4 2024, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest Q1 2025 Office Market Report.

The total new office completions in Q1 2025 stood at 10.7 million square feet (MSF).

Bengaluru (3.28 MSF), Pune (3.21 MSF), and Delhi-NCR (2.71 MSF) contributed a combined 86 per cent (9.2 MSF) of this new supply.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha arrived at Srinagar Police Control Room on Wednesday to pay tributes to the tourists killed in the Pahalgam terror attack in which 16 people were killed.

The bodies of the tourists killed in Tuesday’s terror attack were brought to the Police Control Room in Srinagar on Wednesday morning.

After paying tributes to the slain tourists, the Home Minister is scheduled to visit GMC Anantnag to meet those injured in the attack.

He is also likely to conduct an aerial survey of the attack site in Baisaran, Pahalgam, where 16 lives were tragically lost.

The bodies of tourists killed by terrorists in Pahalgam were brought to Srinagar on Wednesday as authorities are making arrangements for their return to their native places.

Industrial and warehousing demand across the top eight cities in India remained robust at 9 million square feet (sq ft) in Q1 2025 with 15 per cent annual growth, a report showed on Wednesday.

Delhi-NCR and Chennai led the demand, cumulatively accounting for around 57 per cent of the overall leasing in Q1. The demand for Grade A industrial & warehousing space was particularly impressive in Delhi-NCR, according to a Colliers report.

Across the top eight cities, engineering sector drove demand this quarter, contributing to about 25 per cent of the overall industrial and warehousing space uptake, followed by e-commerce with 21 per cent share.

Both these sectors have surpassed the demand from Third Party Logistics (3PL) players, the usual frontrunner. While Chennai and Bengaluru saw strong traction from occupiers in the engineering space, demand from e-commerce players remained significant in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai, the report mentioned.

The domestic benchmark indices opened in green on Wednesday amid positive global cues, as buying was seen in the IT and auto sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.32 am, Sensex was trading 536.4 points or 0.67 per cent up at 80,132.01 while the Nifty added 150.10 points or 0.62 per cent at 24,317.35.

Nifty Bank was up 187.10 points or 0.34 per cent at 55,834.30. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 54,756.85 after adding 359.70 points or 0.66 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 17,013.20 after climbing 109.55 points or 0.71 per cent.

According to market watchers, despite speculation surrounding US President Donald Trump's influence on Federal Reserve policies, Nifty's technical outlook remains robust above its 200-DMA at 24,051.

The National Pension System (NPS) has achieved significant growth of private sector subscriber enrolment of over 12 lakh during 2024-25, taking total subscriber number to over 165 lakh by March 2025, according to the government.

NPS Vatsalya , a scheme specifically designed for minors, introduced in September 2024 has registered over one lakh subscribers, according to a Ministry of Finance statement.

The assets under management (AUM) for both NPS and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) expanded by 23 per cent during 2024-25 to Rs 14.43 lakh crore by end-March 2025.

NPS has emerged as a cornerstone of India's pension sector with an accumulated corpus of Rs 14.4 lakh crore and 8.4 crore subscribers under NPS and the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), PFRDA chairman Deepak Mohanty said earlier this month.

In a pioneering move towards improving the cleanliness of train coaches and Railway stations, the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) on Tuesday conducted its first-ever experimental drone-based cleaning operation at Kamakhya railway station, officials said.

The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) Kapinjal Kishore Sharma said that Tuesday’s demonstration specifically targeted the cleaning of high rise and difficult to reach structures within the station premises, as well as roof and outer areas of train coaches, showcasing the potential of drone technology in enhancing cleanliness and hygiene.

The RBI has issued new Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) guidelines which will require a bank to assign additional run-off rates of 2.5 per cent to internet and mobile banking-enabled retail and small business customer deposits with effect from April 1, 2026.

Banks will also have to adjust the market value of Government Securities (Level 1 HQLA) with haircuts in line with margin requirements under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) and Marginal Standing Facility (MSF).

In addition, the final guidelines also rationalise the composition of wholesale funding from "other legal entities". Consequently, funding from non-financial entities like trusts (educational, charitable and religious), partnerships, LLPs, etc., shall attract a lower run-off rate of 40 per cent as against 100 per cent currently.

Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman said on Monday that India has become the fastest-growing economy, driven by the "visionary leadership" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the stability provided by a continuing government.

Addressing the Indian diaspora in the US, the Finance Minister said, “When we say that India is the fastest-growing economy and when the IMF and World Bank recognise that India can be the engine driving global trade, what they are recognising is the immense potential that exists in India.”

Highlighting the steps to strengthen the Indian economy, Sitharaman said, "During the Covid-19 pandemic, our fiscal deficit went up. But in 2021, we came up with a clear signal as to how we wanted to manage our fiscal deficit. We set year-on-year targets and committed to bringing the fiscal deficit below 4.5 per cent by 2026. And that's what we have been following each year without fail."