India is rapidly embracing the power of agentic artificial intelligence (AI), with over 80 per cent of businesses actively exploring the development of autonomous agents, a new report said on Wednesday.

This shift towards agentic AI signals a significant transformation in how businesses are adopting AI technologies, as they look for ways to streamline operations and increase efficiency, according to a Deloitte’s report.

Agentic AI refers to AI systems that operate independently, making decisions and taking actions with little to no human input. These systems are typically designed to focus on achieving specific goals and can adapt to changing circumstances.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions soared by 42 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the second half of 2024, totalling a remarkable 93.23 billion transactions, a new report said on Wednesday.

India’s digital payments ecosystem continues to experience rapid growth, with significant milestones reached in the second half last year, according to a report by Worldline, a financial service provider.

The total value of UPI transactions also saw a notable increase, rising by 31 per cent to Rs 130.19 trillion.

Ride-hailing major Uber on Wednesday announced the launch of a new service called ‘Uber for Teens’ in India, which, the company claimed, is designed to offer safe and reliable transportation options for teenagers aged 13 to 17 years in the country.

This service has been rolled out across 37 cities in the country, including Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata, among others.

The service comes with a set of strict safety protocols, including GPS tracking, real-time ride tracking, and an in-app emergency button. “This is to ensure that both teens and their parents feel secure while using the service,” claimed the company.

The government has received a record Rs 74,016 crore as dividends from Central public sector enterprises in financial year 2024-25 which is 16 per cent higher than the corresponding figure of Rs 63,749.3 crore in 2023-24, according to the latest data compiled by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management.

The total dividend that has accrued to the Centre in the financial year ended on March 31, 2025, has also shot past the Budget's revised estimate of Rs 55,000 crore.

The highest contributors were Coal India Ltd at Rs 10,252 crore, followed by upstream giant Oil and Natural Gas Corp with a payment of Rs 10,002 crore and downstream oil marketing company Bharat Petroleum Corp with Rs 3,562.47 crore at the third position.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Tuesday said that it has extended the deadline for implementing new regulations governing retail investors' entry into algorithmic (algo) trading.

The new rules, which were initially set to take effect on April 1, will now come into force on August 1.

This extension follows requests from stock exchanges, who asked for more time to fully implement the new standards in consultation with the Brokers’ Industry Standards Forum (ISF).

The SEBI had first introduced these guidelines on February 4, aiming to regulate how retail investors can access and use algo trading.

Zomato, the popular online food delivery platform, has reportedly laid off up to 600 customer support employees, just a year after hiring them.

The reported layoffs came as the company faces challenges in its core food delivery business and rising losses in its quick commerce subsidiary, Blinkit.

According to reports, the company had hired nearly 1,500 employees last year through its Zomato Associate Accelerator Program (ZAAP) to fill customer support roles.

However, in recent weeks, many of these employees have been let go without any prior notice or opportunity to improve their performance, the report added.

The employees who were fired received one month's salary as compensation, but the layoffs were reportedly based on issues like poor performance and punctuality.

WhatsApp on Tuesday said that it has banned over 9.7 million accounts in India during February 2025, citing violations of its Terms of Service.

According to its latest monthly safety report, a significant portion of these bans, over 1.4 million accounts, were proactively removed by WhatsApp before any user complaints were even made.

The company, which has more than 500 million users in India, explained that the bans were the result of its ongoing investment in AI-driven moderation and advanced reporting tools.

"Over the years, WhatsApp has consistently invested in Artificial Intelligence and other state-of-the-art technology, data scientists and experts, and in processes, in order to keep our users safe on our platform," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement.

India’s motorcycle industry witnessed strong growth in the final month of the just-concluded fiscal year 2024-25, with leading manufacturers reporting impressive sales figures.

Royal Enfield and Suzuki Motorcycle India Private Limited (SMIPL) showcased remarkable achievements in March, according to their sales data.

Royal Enfield, the world’s largest maker of middleweight motorcycles, marked a significant milestone by selling over one million units for the first time in a financial year.

In FY 2024-25, the Bullet maker sold a total of 10,09,900 units, an 11 per cent increase compared to the previous year. Of this, domestic sales stood at 9,02,757 units, while exports surged by 37 per cent, reaching 1,07,143 units, according to the company.

The Indian automakers on Tuesday reported strong sales figures for the month of March, particularly in the SUV segment, driven by increasing private consumption and a resilient economy.

Among the top performers, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Kia India showcased impressive growth in their SUV sales.

Maruti Suzuki India, the largest car manufacturer in India, saw a growth of nearly 4.5 per cent in its SUV sales in March 2025, with 61,097 units sold compared to 58,436 units during the same month last year.

The overall sales of Maruti Suzuki in March 2025 rose by 3.1 per cent year-on-year (YoY), totalling 192,984 units, up from 1,87,196 units in March 2024.

The company also posted its highest-ever annual sales of 22,34,266 units for FY25, which includes its highest-ever domestic sales of 17,95,259 units and exports of 3,32,585 units.

Hyundai Steel, South Korea's second-biggest steelmaker, said on Tuesday it has temporarily shut down one of its three domestic steel reinforcement bar (rebar) plants due to low demand.

The rebar plant in Incheon, just west of Seoul, will be suspended for the entire month of April, a company spokesperson said, adding the other two plants remain operational, reports news agency.

The company expects the plant's one-month suspension will help ease an oversupply in the market where steelmakers suffer from declining product prices amid tougher competition.

On March 14, Hyundai Steel entered an emergency management mode in response to growing challenges, including the recent imposition of steel tariffs by the Donald Trump administration and ongoing strife with unionised workers.