The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) approved a record number of detailed project reports (DPRs) of six hydro pumped storage projects (PSPs) of about 7.5 GW during FY2024-25, the Ministry of Power said on Saturday, marking a key milestone in India's ongoing commitment to developing advanced and long-term energy storage solutions.

These six projects are Upper Indravati (600 MW) in Odisha; Sharavathy (2,000 MW) in Karnataka; Bhivpuri (1,000 MW) in Maharashtra; Bhavali (1,500 MW) in Maharashtra; MP-30 (1,920 MW) in Madhya Pradesh and Chitravathi (500 MW) in Andhra Pradesh.

The participation of private sector in this segment is quite encouraging and with the help of self-identified PSP, the PSP potential in the country has crossed 200 GW and it is further increasing almost every month.

Digital payments via Unified Payments Interface (UPI) service suffered a nationwide outage on Saturday which affected millions of users.

Digital services on several online payment platforms were disrupted, hindering local shopping, bill payments and business transactions.

According to the outage tracking platform Down Detector, there were 2,358 complaints by 1 pm. Most reported problems were for payments (81 per cent) and fund transfers (17 per cent).

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which operates the UPI services, said the disruptions were due to technical issues.

The Indian stock markets wrapped up the week on a strong note, gaining nearly 2 per cent, as the US decision to defer tariffs for all countries except China eased recession concerns, boosting sentiment and lifting fears of a global slowdown, experts said on Saturday.

As a result, the Nifty index opened with a strong gap-up and tested resistance near the 20-day exponential moving average (DEMA) around 22,900. It then moved in a narrow range before settling at 22,828.55.

Sector-wise, metals, energy, and pharma led the gains, while broader indices also saw a solid rebound, rising between 1.82 per cent and 2.86 per cent.

“The recovery, supported by a continued decline in the volatility index, is a positive sign, though such sharp moves remain challenging to trade. On the index front, a decisive close above 22,900 could pave the way for a retest of the key moving average zone near 23,400,” said Ajit Mishra–SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced that it will conduct an Open Market Operation (OMO) purchase of government bonds worth Rs 40,000 crore on April 17.

The move aims to manage evolving liquidity conditions in the financial system, the central bank said in an official statement.

This bond purchase will be in addition to the Rs 80,000 crore worth of government securities already announced on April 1, which is being conducted in four equal tranches of Rs 20,000 crore each on April 3, 8, 22, and 29.

"In a review of current and evolving liquidity conditions, the Reserve Bank has decided to conduct an OMO purchase auction of Central Government’s securities for an aggregate amount of Rs 40,000 crore to be held on April 17" the RBI stated.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday invited Austrian companies to invest in India and highlighted the huge potential for strengthening bilateral economic ties between the two countries in renewable energy, electric vehicles, innovations and startups.

Addressing a press conference, Sitharaman said the highly successful visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Austria in July 2024 was a milestone in the India-Austria partnership, especially in elevating our economic and commercial linkages to a higher trajectory.

“Prime Minister Modi had emphasised the political will of the Government of India to expand our partnership with Austria. My visit to Vienna is a reaffirmation of the PM's vision to work towards realising the fullest possible potential of our bilateral relationship with Austria,” Sitharaman added.

She highlighted the opportunities for investment and cooperation between startups in India and Austria, particularly in the field of fintech.

Gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) attracted massive investments in FY 2025, with net inflows of Rs 14,852 crore -- nearly three times higher than the Rs 5,248 crore recorded in FY 2024, according to the data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) on Friday.

The sharp surge in inflows reflects rising investor preference for safe-haven assets amid global economic uncertainty, persistent inflation, and escalating geopolitical tensions.

According to the AMFI, the rally in international gold prices and the weakening of major global currencies against the US dollar further strengthened the appeal of gold as a portfolio diversifier during the financial year.

The overall trend for FY25 shows that gold remains a trusted hedge against market volatility and macroeconomic risks.

Nealy half of aspirational districts in the country have seen a quicker drop in multi-dimensional poverty levels, with Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Tamil Nadu leading the pack.

According to data from Niti Aayog’s ‘Multidimensional Poverty Index 2023,’ 46 per cent of the 106 aspirational districts have witnessed a drop in multidimensional poverty.

Traditionally, poverty has been measured by assessing monetary resources available for an individual or household. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is now considered as a more direct and comprehensive measure of people’s deprivation and poverty.

It captures and reveals the outcome of economic growth and development, income and its distribution and various development initiatives of the State.

Besides, it has been globally realised that non-monetary measures complement monetary measures to capture diverse dimensions of poverty.

The total number of investor accounts on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) surpassed 22 crore this month, a sharp increase of more than 2 crore accounts within just six months of crossing the 20-crore mark in October 2024, it was announced on Friday.

Separately, the number of unique registered investors stands at 11.3 crore (as of March 31, 2025), after crossing the 11 crore mark on January 20, 2025.

An investor may maintain accounts with different brokers, resulting in multiple client codes.

Maharashtra leads with the highest number of investor accounts at 3.8 crore, followed by Uttar Pradesh (2.4 crore), Gujarat (1.9 crore), and Rajasthan and West Bengal at approximately 1.3 crore each.

Global brokerage Jefferies has issued an 'overweight' call on India, saying that the country is set to outperform other emerging markets (EMs) amid rising global uncertainties.

In its latest note, Jefferies said while absolute index performance is difficult to predict, “India should emerge as a relative outperformer”.

Jefferies added that India's limited exposure to US and Chinese demand is a key buffer.

India's exports to the US stand at just 2.3 per cent of its GDP, even as the US is its largest export partner. Trade surpluses are equally modest, reducing the impact of a hardline US trade policy,.

Indian equity market opened in the green on Friday after US President Donald Trump announced to pause reciprocal tariffs on the country till July 9.

At around 9:22 am, Sensex was up 1,170 points or 1.58 per cent, at 75,017 and Nifty was up 373 points or 1.67 per cent at 22,772.

Along with the largecaps, buying was seen in the smallcaps and midcaps. Nifty midcap 100 index was down 753 points or 1.52 per cent at 50,335 and Nifty smallcap 100 index was down 278 points or 1.83 per cent at 15,535.

However, most Asian markets were trading low. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Seoul were in the red, while Jakarta and Shanghai were in the green.

The US stock markets fell sharply in Thursday's trading session. The Dow closed down 2.50 per cent and the Nasdaq fell 4.31 per cent.