Alternative credit platform BlackSoil NBFC, an arm of BlackSoil Group, on Friday, said that it raised Rs 208 crore debt in the first half of the year.

Sixty per cent of this funding came from new debt investors, said the company.

BlackSoil's total debt raise reached over Rs 1,570 crore (as of June 30).

"This substantial debt raise, particularly the 60 per cent from new investors, validates our business model and emphasises the trust we have built in the alternative credit space,” said Ankur Bansal, Co-Founder and Director at BlackSoil.

US tech giant Microsoft on Friday experienced a significant outage, affecting its services for users across many countries including India, the US, Japan, and Australia.

According to crowd-sourced website Downdetector, users are experiencing outages across Skype, Office 265, Bing, Azure, Teams, and Xbox.

Users are seeing blue screen of death (BSOD) errors which reportedly are due to a Crowdstrike application update.

"We have widespread reports of BSODs on Windows hosts, occurring on multiple sensor versions. Investigating the cause. Technical alert (TA) will be published shortly," according to a pinned thread on Reddit.

Industry leaders on Friday said that the country must seize the opportunity to create a conducive environment for Global Value Chains (GVCs) to thrive, in order to build a large-scale and globally competitive electronics manufacturing industry.

Reacting to NITI Aayog’s latest report that envisions achieving a $500 billion target in electronics manufacturing by FY2030 and creating 60 lakh jobs, the industry leaders said that true growth potential lies in the global market.

“GVCs not only drive large-scale job creation but also build technology capabilities within the domestic industry. They bring in large-scale manufacturing, driving the scale of production, reducing costs, and enhancing competitiveness,” said Pankaj Mohindroo, Chairman, India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA).

Infosys on Thursday reported 7.1 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 6,368 crore for the April-June quarter of the current financial year compared to the same period of 2023-24.

India's second-largest IT company registered a 3.6 per cent increase in revenue from operations to Rs 39,315 crore during the first quarter, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The IT major has also raised its revenue growth guidance by 3 to 4 per cent for 2024-25.

Infosys retained the guidance for its EBIT (earnings before interest and tax) margin or the operating margin at 20-22 per cent for the current financial year.

India's largest insurance company, LIC's shares railed 78 per cent over the last one year, following strong operational performance or positive sentiment for PSU shares among the investors.

LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) share price was Rs 1,101 at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, which was Rs 620 on July 18, 2023.

The company's revenue in the financial year 2023-24 has been Rs 8.46 lakh crore, which was Rs 7.84 lakh crore in the financial year 2022-23. During this period, the company's profit increased from Rs 35,997 crore to Rs 40,885 crore.

Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has advocated for a carbon dioxide tax to confront the ongoing climate change crisis.

Musk said in a post on social media platform X on Wednesday that a CO2 tax, if properly levied, would provide much leverage in solving the problems of the fast-rising CO2 levels.

He added, "If we do need something to tax, it should be something potentially harmful, instead of something potentially beneficial, as is done for vegetables and fruits, instead of tobacco and liquor."

The consumption of natural gas in India went up 7.1 per cent in June to 5,594 million metric standard cubic metres (MMSCM), this year compared to the same month last year, as more households across the country are using the fuel for cooking; the demand is also rising in the urban transport segment, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

While there was an increase of 2.9 per cent in domestic gas production to 2,993 MMSCM during the month, which helped to meet the rising demand, imports went up by as much as 11.3 per cent during the month.

The gas companies have been expanding their network to meet the rising demand for the green fuel.

The European Commission announced that it will earmark over 7 billion euros (about $7.66 billion) for 134 transport projects across the European Union (EU), to facilitate the delivery of the bloc's climate objectives and improve its transport networks.

The projects will receive funding through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the EU's fund for strategic investment in infrastructure development. The grants are the largest under the current CEF transport programme, according to a press release from the European Commission.

"The selected projects will help transform Europe's transport network, making cleaner transport modes more efficient and attractive for passengers and freight while enhancing safety across the trans-European transport(network) (TEN-T)," said Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra.

Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL) on Thursday joined NHPC Renewable Energy Limited (NHPC-REL) to spearhead the installation of rooftop solar projects on government buildings across the country.

This initiative, under the ambitious PM Surya Ghar Yojna Scheme, aims for 100 per cent solarisation of government-owned buildings by December 2025.

"By leveraging our combined strengths, we are confident in achieving our goal of 100 per cent solarisation by 2025, setting a benchmark for renewable energy projects in the country,” said Deepesh Nanda, CEO and MD of TPREL, a subsidiary of the Tata Power Company Limited.

More than 77 per cent of Indian startups now invest in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), internet of things (IoT) and blockchain, a report showed on Thursday.

The trend underscores the rapid technological adoption and innovation across the Indian startup ecosystem, now ranked third globally, following the US and China, according to the report by SAP India, in collaboration with Dun & Bradstreet.

Another significant finding is the emergence of tier 2 and 3 cities as innovation hubs, where 40 per cent of tech startups originate, leveraging local talent and cost advantages.

Cities like Chandigarh, Jaipur, Madurai, Indore, Kochi, Warangal, Hubli, Raipur, Visakhapatnam and Guwahati, among others, host 15 per cent of the country's tech skill pool.