Business

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) standalone net profit rose 5% to ₹10,986 crore in the first quarter of FY26, as against ₹10,461.05 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous year, on increase in premium income.

The company’s net income from premiums rose 5% to ₹1.19 lakh crore from ₹1.14 lakh crore in the year-earlier period.

“A total of 30,39,709 policies were sold in the individual segment during the quarter ended June 30, 2025 as compared with 35,65,519 policies sold during the quarter ended June 30, 2024, registering a decline of 14.75%,” according to a statement from the insurer.

On the liquidity and solvency front, too, LIC performed better in the reporting quarter as compared with the same quarter last year. The solvency ratio improved to 2.17% in the reporting quarter as against 1.99% in the year-ago period. Gross non-performing assets (NPA) ratio was 1.42% in the reporting quarter, which reduced from 1.95% in the year ago period. Net NPA ratio remained flat.

“During the first quarter of this financial year, our overall market share by first-year premium income was 63.51% and we maintained our leadership in both individual and group businesses,” said Doraiswamy, CEO and MD of LIC.

Overall all auto mobile retail sales in July 2025 fell 4.31% from the same period last year indicating the sluggishness in the market.

As per data released by Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), while two wheelers (2W) category fell 6.48% year on year (YoY), passenger vehicles (PV) and construction equipment (CE) segments fell 0.81% and 33.28% respectively.

On the other hand, three wheelers (3W), tractors and commercial vehicles (CV) grew 0.83%, 10.96% and 0.23% YoY respectively.

FADA President C.S. Vigneshwar said, “After three consecutive months of growth, India’s auto retail sector applied the brakes in July, with overall retails declining by 4.31% YoY.”

“This pullback largely stems from a high-base effect in July 2024, when an extreme heat wave was immediately followed by excessive rainfall, constraining volumes before a rebound later that month,” he said.

In the 2W space, July saw a decline as crop-sowing activities and prolonged heavy rains dampened rural footfalls more sharply than urban demand,” he said. 

“Dealers are nevertheless confident of a post-monsoon uptick, with several purchase decisions deferred to August ahead of the festive season — making strategic stock alignment and focused rural-urban engagement imperative for reviving momentum,” he added.

The PV segment contracted due to Aashaada period and despite rural markets doing well.  Urban demand remained muted due to low enquiry and restrained customer sentiment. 

“With inventory levels steady at around 55 days, calibrated discounting, streamlined finance facilitation and intensified urban outreach will be crucial for sustaining festive-season growth,” the FADA president said.

CV posted a modest increase in sales led by urban momentum. Dealers cited new-model launches, aggressive marketing support, bulk institutional orders and timely stock availability as key drivers, alongside targeted schemes that bolstered school-bus volumes. 

In contrast, rural haulage demand remained fragmented amid heavy rainfall, seasonal softness in cement, coal and construction logistics, and slower financier disbursements, prompting many buyers to defer purchases to the post-monsoon period, he said. 

Finally, the tractors segment delivered robust performance due to timely release of enhanced agricultural subsidies and favourable monsoon rains which spurred a marked increase in purchase intent, he added.

The Reserve Bank has granted ‘in-principle’ approval to AU Small Finance Bank Ltd. (AUSFB) for transitioning from a small finance bank (SFB) to a universal bank.

This is the first time after 11 years that an entity has been granted a universal bank licence by the regulator. Last time, the universal banking licences were granted in 2014 to Bandhan Bank and IDFC Bank, which later became IDFC First Bank.  

Sanjay Agarwal, a Chartered Accountant and a first-generation entrepreneur established Au Financiers established in 1996. Headquartered in Jaipur, Rajasthan, the retail-focused non-banking finance company bagged the SFB licence in 2015 and Au Financiers commenced its journey as an SFB on April 19, 2017.

In the same year, it got the scheduled bank status on November 1. In 2021, it became the largest SFB of the country.

Its footprint expanded from 403 touchpoints in 8 States and 2 Union Territories to 2,505 banking touchpoints across 21 States and 4 Union Territories as on 30 June 25, according to its website. 

Guidelines for licensing of SFBs in private sector dated November 27, 2014 had provided a transition path for SFBs to convert into Universal Banks subject to the SFB’s fulfilling minimum paid-up capital/ net worth requirement as applicable to Universal Banks, satisfactory track record of performance as an SFB for a minimum period of five years and RBI’s due diligence exercise.

Further, with the objective of bringing better clarity, the eligibility criteria for an SFB to transition into a universal bank were detailed in a circular issued in April 2024.

Beginning August 1, Coal India Ltd. (CIL) said it is allowing thermal power plants (TPP) that use its linkage coal under long and medium term fuel supply agreements (FSAs), to sell un-requisitioned surplus (URS) power generated by them, in the power market and exchanges, a move that could benefit end-consumers.

Earlier, TPPs serving power purchase agreements (PPAs) using CIL’s linkage coal could sell the electricity generated only within the confines of the PPAs as the provisions disallowed the sale of power generated from long and medium term FSAs in the power market and exchanges.

As per the revised SHAKTI policy, CIL said it has done away with the earlier provision of restricting the sale of power in the open market. This applies evenly to all existing as well as future long and medium term power FSAs and extends to all the power generators – Central and State gencos, and independent power plants, a senior company official said.

“We have been cementing our relations with consumers consistently and the policy facilitates the power sector to meet consistent demand of affordable power,” the official said.

With the surplus power availability in the exchanges the spot prices are expected to come under check, leading to affordable power supply to end consumers.

In August last year, CIL allowed supplies beyond Annual Contracted Quantity (ACQ) to TPPs of the country including IPPS, doing away a provision which allowed coal supplies up to a maximum of 120% of ACQ.

For the current fiscal year, CIL has about 650 million tonnes of FSAs in place for the power sector.

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty staged a comeback on Thursday (August 7, 2025), mainly due to buying in the last hour of trade, even as U.S. President Donald Trump slapped an additional 25% duty on Indian goods, which weighed on investor sentiment.

Rebounding around 926 points from the day’s low, the 30-share BSE Sensex edged higher by 79.27 points or 0.10% to settle at 80,623.26. The index traded in the red for most of the session and hit a low of 79,811.29. However, fag-end buying helped recover losses and touch a high of 80,737.55.

The 50-share NSE Nifty went up by 21.95 points or 0.09% to 24,596.15.

The latest U.S. tariff action, imposition of an additional 25% duty to take overall tariffs to 50% on Indian goods over New Delhi’s continued imports of Russian oil, is likely to hit sectors such as textiles, marine and leather exports hard. India has slammed the action calling it as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.

India will attract the highest U.S. tariff of 50% along with Brazil.

Among Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Eternal, Axis Bank, Maruti, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank and Asian Paints were the gainers.

However, Adani Ports, Trent, Tata Motors, Hindustan Unilever and NTPC were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai’s SSE Composite index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng settled in positive territory.

Markets in Europe were trading in the green.

The U.S. markets ended higher on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹4,999.10 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.72% to $67.37 a barrel.

On Wednesday, the Sensex fell 166.26 points or 0.21% to settle at 80,543.99. The Nifty dipped 75.35 points or 0.31% to close at 24,574.20.

The rupee consolidated in a narrow range and settled for the day higher by just 3 paise at 87.69 (provisional) against the U.S. dollar on Thursday (August 7, 2025), after U.S. President Donald Trump slapped an additional 25% duty — doubling it to 50% — on Indian goods, denting market sentiments.

Forex traders said weak crude oil prices and a decline in the U.S. Dollar index supported the rupee. However, muted domestic markets and foreign fund outflows capped sharp gains.

Moreover, Mr. Trump’s aggressive move, which kicks in 21 days, threatens to raise total duties on select Indian exports to as high as 50% — making them among the most heavily taxed U.S. imports globally, further dented market sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 87.69 and moved in a range of 87.67-87.77 during the day before settling at 87.69 (provisional), rising 3 paise from its previous close.

On Wednesday (August 6, 2025), the rupee rebounded from a record low level and closed 16 paise higher at 87.72 against the U.S. dollar.

Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Indian exports are likely to hit sectors such as textiles, marine and leather exports hard and were slammed by India as “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable”.

With this action singling out New Delhi for the Russian oil imports, India will attract the highest US tariff of 50% along with Brazil.

The United States has imposed this additional tariff or penalty for Russian imports only on India, while other buyers such as China and Turkey have so far escaped such harsh measures. The 30% tariff on China and 15% on Turkey is lower than India’s 50%.

“We expect the rupee to slide as the trade tariff deal continues to linger with U.S. President Donald Trump doubling tariff on India to 50%, denting market sentiments. A weak tone in the domestic equities and selling by foreign investors may also pressurise the rupee.

“However, weakness in the U.S. dollar and falling global oil prices may support the rupee at lower levels. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 87.50 to 88,” Anuj Choudhary – Research Analyst, commodities and currencies, Mirae Asset Sharekhan.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday (August 6, 2025) decided to keep the policy rate unchanged at 5.5% and retained the neutral stance, amid concerns over tariff uncertainties.

Announcing the third bi-monthly monetary policy of the current fiscal, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the growth rate projection for FY26 has been retained at 6.5%.

Meanwhile, Brent crude prices rose 0.52% to $67.24 per barrel in futures trade.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.10% to 98.08.

In the domestic equity market, the Sensex advanced 79.27 points to settle at 80,623.26, while Nifty was up 21.95 points to 24,596.15.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹4,999.10 crore on a net basis on Wednesday(August 6, 2025), according to exchange data.

The increasingly inward looking attitude of countries around the world didn’t happen overnight, and is a result of the unequal growth that emerged from the ‘golden’ period of globalisation in the 1990s and 2000s, according to Scott Wang, Vice President, Asia Pacific, for the World Trade Centres’ Association.

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Wang acknowledged that the world is becoming more divided and that the international trade landscape was becoming more fragmented. However, he also noted that this was a transition period towards a more inclusive and well-rounded growth model.  

“There is a rise of unilateralism, protectionism, and nationalism,” Mr. Wang explained. “These are all sort of inward looking. Tariffs are the same thing. It’s to protect domestic manufacturers.” 

He added that inward-looking doesn’t necessarily mean focussing exclusively on domestic markets, but that international policy is also becoming increasingly region-based or block-based, resulting in trends like near-shoring and friend-shoring.

However, he also explained that the current situation was not something that emerged suddenly, or as a result of any particular person. Rather, it is a result of the kind of globalisation that took place in the 1990s and 2000s.

“If you look at the situation right now, it didn’t happen overnight,” Mr. Wang explained. “It has kind of been evolving over the past decade at least.”

“When you’re talking about the “golden era” [the 1990s and 2000s] of globalisation, it brought prosperity and growth on a global scale, but there were also issues,” he added. “The issue was that the distribution of wealth was very uneven among countries and among classes inside a country.” 

This, he said, began to create problems as people began to realise that the benefits of globalisation were accruing to a few. As a result, people began to use their votes and voices against this trend, which began to have a significant impact on trade policy and immigration laws.

“So, you see the rise of nationalism, sometimes you see anti-immigration, things like that,” he explained. “These are all kind of because of some of the issues with that “golden” version of globalisation. So, the World Trade Organisation’s position is that we’re moving towards a more inclusive, more sustainable, more common prosperity type of globalisation, but we’re not there yet.” 

“We’re probably in a transitional period where you see a lot of uncertainty, a lot of turmoil,” he added.

Mr. Wang also spoke about the annual Geopolitical Annual Trade Risk Index (GATRI) that has been developed by the WTCA and the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies. This index seeks to quantify the influence of geopolitical developments on global trade.

The index uses open-source data across three verticals — diplomatic, military, and economic — to judge how things like trade interventions, conflicts, and diplomatic behaviour such as state visits rhetoric and voting patterns in bodies like the United Nations affect trade relationships.

The latest reading in the index, for the year 2024, shows that trade risks were at the highest that year since 2019, the earliest year for which the Index has data.

Japanese entertainment and electronics company Sony said Thursday that its profit surged 23% in the last quarter from the year before, as damage from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs was less than it had expected.

The Tokyo-based manufacturer reported its April-June profit totalled 259 billion yen, or $1.8 billion, up from 210 billion yen. Quarterly sales edged up 2% to 2.6 trillion yen ($17.7 billion) as demand grew for games and network services, imaging solutions and sensors.

The maker of PlayStation game machines, digital cameras, Walkman audio players and Spider-Man movies said those positive factors offset the negative impact from unfavourable exchanges rates. Sony said its network business also was drawing more subscribers to its online services.

Sony raised its forecast for its profit in the full fiscal year until March 2026 to 970 billion yen ($6.6 billion), from an earlier forecast of 930 billion yen ($6.3 billion). The revised projection is still lower than what it earned in the previous fiscal year at 1 trillion yen.

Sony now estimates the impact of the additional U.S. tariffs on its operating income at 70 billion yen ($476 million), much better than the initial estimate of 100 billion yen ($680 million).

One of the successes among Sony’s entertainment franchises was the latest “Demon Slayer” animation movie, which is part of a hit series and is doing well at the box office.