The Punjab government has announced a 33% subsidy on BT cotton hybrid seeds recommended by Punjab Agricultural University to promote crop diversification. With INR 20 crore allocated, the scheme aims to ease costs for farmers and boost cotton cultivation to 1.25 lakh hectares. The subsidy is limited to five acres or ten seed packets per farmer. Officials urged farmers to buy only genuine seeds and retain purchase bills to avoid spurious seeds entering from neighbouring states. - PTI

India and the UK are nearing the final stages of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks, with recent meetings focusing on the bilateral investment treaty and dispute resolution. Fourteen rounds have been held since talks began in January 2022. Negotiations on a Double Contribution Convention Agreement are also underway. Meanwhile, India and the EU are considering an early harvest agreement, with the 11th round of FTA talks scheduled for May 12-16 in New Delhi. - PTI

India and the US will hold three-day talks in Washington from April 23 to advance a proposed bilateral trade agreement during the 90-day US tariff pause ending July 9. Led by India's chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal, discussions will cover 19 chapters, including tariffs, services, and customs facilitation. The goal is to finalize an interim deal by fall 2025 and double bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030. In FY25, India had a USD 41.18 billion trade surplus with the US. Talks also aim to balance trade ambitions, with both nations seeking duty concessions in key export sectors like agriculture, EVs, textiles, and pharmaceuticals. - PTI

High tariffs, once criticised by developed nations, are re-emerging in global trade, now being used by those same countries to protect domestic sectors like farming and fishing. Sources noted that developed economies, notably the US, are reviving arguments previously championed by developing nations-such as protecting infant industries and livelihoods. The US recently imposed steep tariffs, including 25% on steel and auto parts, signalling a shift in trade dynamics. Trade talks now increasingly include non-trade issues, while principles like Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) and Duty-Free Tariff Preferences (DFTP) for poorer nations are being sidelined, altering the global trade landscape. - PTI

Real estate firm Oberoi Realty Ltd on Saturday reported a 31 per cent annual increase in sales bookings to INR 5,266 crore during the last financial year on strong housing demand. The Mumbai-based company had sold properties worth INR 4,007 crore in the preceding year. In a regulatory filing, Oberoi Realty informed that it has sold 928 units in 2024-25, as against 705 units in the preceding fiscal. In terms of volumes, the company sold 12,81,446 square feet of carpet area during the last fiscal year, as against 10,76,192 square feet in 2023-24 fiscal. - PTI

Delhivery Ltd has sought CCI approval to acquire a controlling stake in Ecom Express for INR 1,400 crore. The deal, announced on April 5, aims to enhance logistics efficiency and service quality across India’s e-commerce sector. The firms argue the acquisition won’t harm competition, despite overlaps in express delivery, warehousing, and intralogistics services. The move reflects India’s growing need for faster, cost-efficient logistics solutions, with both companies planning further investments in technology, infrastructure, and workforce to strengthen their market presence. - PTI

Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea have told Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation they cannot offer In-Building Solutions (IBS) at the “unviable rates” proposed by MMRCL’s partner, ACES. The telecom firms have instead offered free interim connectivity using their own equipment until formal terms are agreed upon. They clarified that payments for using ACES’ IBS network would begin only after an agreement is signed. The issue pertains to ensuring network access across Mumbai Metro’s underground stations and tunnels. - PTI

​The Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) has proposed increasing the Floor Space Index (FSI) from 1 to 2 in its civil areas, covering approximately 250 acres and impacting around 2,500 properties. This initiative responds to longstanding public demand and aims to facilitate future development. The proposal has been submitted to the Principal Directorate of Defence Estates (PDDE) of Southern Command and awaits final approval from the Directorate General of Defence Estates (DGDE) in New Delhi.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is offering a 5% rebate on property tax payments made in full by April 30, 2025. This incentive encourages timely payments and supports the city's infrastructure funding. Property owners can pay online via the BBMP portal or offline at designated centers. Late payments will incur penalties, so early action is advised.​

​The US President's new tariffs—26% on Indian exports, with a 90-day pause and a 10% baseline—are unsettling India's real estate sector. While services remain untaxed, uncertainty is causing developers and investors to proceed cautiously. Despite this, India's office market showed resilience in Q1 2025, with 15.9 million sq ft absorbed, driven by IT and tech firms expanding operations.​

​India's market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has proposed increasing mutual funds' investment limits in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs). The proposal suggests raising the overall exposure limit from 10% to 20% for equity and hybrid schemes, while maintaining a 10% cap for debt schemes due to the higher risk associated with these instruments. SEBI aims to provide mutual funds with more diversified investment avenues, enhance capital flow into REITs and InvITs, and broaden their market base and liquidity. The regulator is seeking public comments on this proposal until May 11, 2025. ​

The Uttar Pradesh government plans to ban construction within 200 metres of the Ganga River to protect its ecosystem. The draft byelaws permit limited religious structures with strict guidelines and allow repairs to existing buildings. Developers must ensure pollution control and proper waste disposal. This initiative aligns with broader environmental efforts and aims to preserve the river's sanctity.​

The Flat Owners' Federation in Ghaziabad has urged the district administration for greater authority under Section 48 of the UP Apartment Act to oversee Resident Welfare Association (RWA) elections and resolve disputes across 400 housing societies. They also proposed citizen-led monitoring of industrial pollution. The district magistrate has assured that these suggestions will be reviewed.

​The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) has mandated Occupancy and Commencement Certificates for new electricity connections in Bengaluru from April 4, 2025. The move, following a Supreme Court order, aims to curb illegal constructions. Previously allowed temporary connections during construction are now restricted. The sudden enforcement has triggered concerns among residents, especially those on revenue sites lacking formal approvals.

​The Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) has eliminated the requirement for a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the municipal corporation for building map approvals. Announced by LDA Vice Chairperson Prathamesh Kumar and approved in a recent board meeting, this decision aims to streamline the approval process and reduce bureaucratic delays that have affected numerous applicants. Previously, obtaining NOCs involved multiple departments, including the municipal corporation, leading to prolonged file clearances. The LDA will now handle verifications internally, utilizing its own records for properties within municipal limits. For extended areas, necessary NOCs will be acquired from respective tehsil offices.

Amid the ongoing tariff war, Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra has said that the central bank will continuously monitor the rapidly evolving global situation and remain 'agile and proactive' in its policy actions. Observing that the Indian economy and the financial markets have demonstrated remarkable resilience, Malhotra cautioned that they are not immune to the vagaries of an uncertain and volatile global environment. He said the growth-inflation balance has improved significantly and there has been a decisive improvement in headline inflation which is projected to remain aligned to the target of 4 per cent in FY26. - PTI

​IndoSpace has leased 1.27 lakh sq ft of warehousing space in Pune to Steelcase Asia Pacific Holdings for INR 46.42 lakh per month. The five-year lease, starting January 29, 2025, includes a 5% annual rent escalation and a six-month deposit of INR 2.78 crore. This deal highlights the growing demand in India's industrial and logistics real estate sector.

The terms of references (ToRs) finalized by India and the US for the proposed bilateral trade agreement include around 19 chapters covering issues such as goods, services, and customs facilitation, official sources said. To give further impetus to the talks, an Indian official team is visiting Washington next week to iron out differences on certain issues before formally launching negotiations for the proposed India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA). India's chief negotiator, Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce Rajesh Agrawal, will lead the team for the first in-person talks between the two countries. Agrawal was appointed as the next commerce secretary on April 18. He will assume office from October 1. The three-day Indian official team's talks with the US counterparts in Washington will start from Wednesday (April 23), the official said. - PTI

Infosys (NSE: INFY), (BSE: INFY), (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, delivered USD 19,277 million in FY25 revenues, growth of 4.2% in constant currency. Operating margin was at 21.1%, expansion of 0.5% year on year. Free cash flow was the highest ever at USD 4,088 million, an increase of 41.8% year on year. TCV of large deal wins was USD 11.6 billion for the year, with 56% net new. Q4 revenues were USD 4,730 million, an increase of 4.8% year on year in constant currency and 3.6% in reported terms. Operating margin was at 21.0%, an increase of 0.9% year on year. - PTI

Flight operations at the city's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) will remain shut for six hours on May 8, due to runway maintenance work ahead of the onset of the monsoon season, the private airport operator MIAL said on Saturday. The scheduled pre-monsoon maintenance work on both the runways- 09/27 and 14/32-- will be undertaken between 11 am-17 pm, MIAL said. During this period both the primary runway (09/27) and secondary runway (14/32) will be temporarily non-operational, it said. - PTI

The government on Friday clarified that it is not mulling to levy GST on UPI transactions above INR 2,000. Clarifying on reports, which said that the government is considering levying Goods and Services Tax (GST) on UPI transactions over INR 2,000, the finance ministry said they are completely false, misleading, and without any basis. GST is levied on charges, such as the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), relating to payments made using certain instruments. Effective January 2020, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has removed the MDR on person-to-merchant (P2M) UPI transactions. - PTI

NTT DATA, a leading IT services company, and Neysa Networks, an AI-first cloud platform company, on Friday signed a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding with the Telangana government to establish an AI Data Center Cluster in Hyderabad, with an investment of INR 10,500 crore. The MoU was signed in the presence of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy during his ongoing visit to Japan. Senior leadership from Tokyo-headquartered NTT DATA and Neysa Networks participated in the signing ceremony. The upcoming facility in Hyderabad will feature a 400 MW data center cluster, designed to host the country's most powerful AI supercomputing infrastructure with 25,000 GPUs, according to an official release. - PTI

India's forex reserves increased by USD 1.567 billion to USD 677.835 billion for the week ended April 11, the Reserve Bank said on Friday. This is the sixth consecutive week of a rise in the kitty. The overall reserves jumped by USD 10.872 billion to USD 676.268 billion in the previous reporting week ended April 4. The forex reserves touched an all-time high of USD 704.885 billion in September 2024. For the week ended April 11, foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, rose by USD 892 million to USD 574.98 billion, the data released on Friday showed. - PTI

Businesses will be able to get GST registration within 7 days, while applications flagged as risky will be processed within 30 days after physical verification of the premises. Observing that some field officers are seeking various "unwarranted documents" by raising "presumptive queries", the CBIC gave an "indicative list" of the documents which officers can seek online from businesses. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said it has received complaints regarding difficulties being faced in getting a GST registration, mainly on account of nature of clarifications being sought by the officers and seeking of additional documents, which are not prescribed by the Board. - PTI

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty surged more than 6 per cent in the last four trading sessions, as a temporary pause on tariffs by the US, return of foreign investors to the domestic market, and prediction of an above-normal rainfall in the upcoming southwest monsoon season lifted investors' sentiments. Moreover, retail inflation dipping to a nearly six-year low also raised hopes for a third rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), according to market experts. In the last four trading days, the BSE benchmark index jumped 4,706.05 points or 6.37 per cent, and the NSE Nifty surged 1,452.5 points or 6.48 per cent. Accordingly, investors' wealth rallied by INR 25.77 lakh crore to INR 4,19,60,046.14 crore (USD 4.90 trillion) in the past four days. - PTI

Leasing of office space in green-certified buildings rose 20 per cent in 2024 to 492 lakh square feet across six major cities as corporates are focusing more on sustainability, according to a report by CREDAI and Colliers. Realtors' apex body CREDAI and real estate consultant Colliers India on Friday released a report 'Sustainability in Real Estate: Towards a Greener Skyline' here. Leasing of office space in premium green-certified buildings surged annually by 20 per cent in 2024 to 49.2 million (492 lakh) square feet from 41 million (410 lakh) square feet in the preceding year. Green buildings command higher rental. - PTI

India's real estate sector is undergoing a major transformation, with sustainability emerging as a key cornerstone and growth driver across asset classes. Real estate and construction accounts for nearly 40% of the global carbon emissions and thus built environment in India is increasingly stepping up decarbonization efforts to achieve sustainability goals. Overall, green building footprint across asset classes has nearly doubled over the last five years to reach 13 billion sq ft in 2024. As of 2024, more than 2 million residential dwelling units, 6,500 commercial projects and 750 industrial projects were green-certified and sustainability adoption is likely to pick pace across real estate segments in the coming years. - PTI

NTPC has appointed former Indian Foreign Service officer Anil Kumar Trigunayat as an Additional Director (Independent) on its board. The board approved the appointment on April 17 for a one-year term, effective from the Power Ministry's notification or until further orders. Trigunayat has served in Indian missions across several countries, including the US, Russia, and Jordan. Source: PTI

Global companies continued to lead India's office leasing activity in Q1 2025, accounting for a significant share of new transactions. Sectors like IT, BFSI, and professional services remained key demand drivers. The trend reflects India's growing stature as a hub for global operations and flexible workspaces in urban centres.

PNB Housing Finance and Aadhar Housing Finance have jointly inaugurated their first branch in Guwahati. The initiative aims to expand affordable housing loan access in the North-East. The move reflects growing financial inclusion efforts and increased focus on regional markets in India's housing finance ecosystem.

Nagarsheth Group has launched a boutique residential project in Diu, offering premium sea-facing homes with a blend of local architecture and modern design. This development aims to cater to both second-home buyers and long-term investors, capitalising on Diu's emerging potential as a coastal lifestyle destination.

Mahindra Lifespaces has launched 'Mahindra Newhaven', a 60-acre residential project in Bengaluru designed to achieve net-zero energy and waste. Developed under the company's ESG goals, the project features sustainable construction methods, solar power, waste recycling, and green open spaces, aiming to set a benchmark for climate-resilient housing in India.