Led by global capability centres (GCCs), office space transactions in India reached 19 million square feet in the July-September period (Q3) -- an 18 per cent year-on-year increase, a report showed on Thursday.

This is the highest quarterly absorption since Q1 2018. The year has already registered leasing of 53.7 million square feet, 27 per cent higher YoY, in the first nine months of the year -- set to breach a fresh annual high, according to the report by Knight Frank India.

GCCs accounted for 7.1 million square feet or 37 per cent of the transacted volume during Q3 2024, while India facing businesses took up 6.6 million square feet or 35 per cent of the transacted volumes.

India's sustained economic growth is driven by strong business performance, and the positive sentiment is clearly reflected in the strength of the office market.

UAV startup Amber Wings has unveiled an agricultural drone that will transform Indian farming by offering a faster, more efficient solution for crop management.

The agricultural drone ‘Vihaa’, by the IIT Madras incubatee, was recently certified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

It has been designed to revolutionise the way farmers and agribusinesses operate across the country. It can spray crops with fertilisers, pesticides, and other treatments up to seven times faster than manual methods, helping farmers and businesses save valuable time and resources.

“Introducing ‘Vihaa’ marks a pivotal moment in our journey to enhance agricultural practices in India. Our mission has always been to provide innovative solutions that empower farmers and drive industry growth,” said IIT Madras Prof Satya Chakravarthy, Founder, Chief, and Technical Lead, Ubifly Technologies.

Salaries in India are projected to increase by 9.5 per cent in 2025, compared to an actual increase of 9.3 per cent this year, a report showed on Thursday.

The engineering and manufacturing and retail industries project double-digit increases at 10 per cent, closely followed by financial institutions at 9.9 per cent, indicating the strategic importance employers place on talent in these sectors in the current economic landscape, according to the report by Aon, a leading global professional services firm.

Global capability centres (GCCs) and technology products and platforms expect a more optimistic salary increase at 9.9 per cent and 9.3 per cent, respectively, while the technology consulting and services projected increments at a lower end of 8.1 per cent.

Looking at the attrition analysis, a downward trend is apparent with attrition reported at 16.9 per cent on average this year, compared to 18.7 per cent reported in 2023 and 21.4 percent in 2022.

Cumulative coal production reached 453.01 million tonnes (MT) in the first six months of FY25 as compared to 427.97 MT during the same period last fiscal, registering a growth of 5.85 per cent, the government said on Tuesday.

Coal production in the month of September reached 68.94 million tonnes, exceeding last year's production of 67.26 MT for the same month, reflecting a growth of 2.49 per cent, according to the Ministry of Coal.

Coal dispatch also saw notable growth in September, reaching 73.37 MT, compared to 70.31 MT during the same period in FY24, with a growth of 4.35 per cent.

Retail inflation for industrial workers stood at 2.44 per cent in the month of August, as compared to 6.91 per cent in the same month last year – a significant decrease of about 65 per cent (year-on-year) -- according to the latest data released by the Labour Ministry on Tuesday.

The all-India Consumer Price Index-Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) for August decreased by 0.1 points, and stood at 142.6.

In July, the all-India CPI-IW stood at 142.7, from 141.4 in June.

The latest retail inflation data for industrial workers has been compiled on the basis of retail prices collected from 317 markets spread over 88 industrially important centres in the country, according to the ministry.

The fuel and light, housing and clothing and footwear segments almost remained flat in August as compared to July. The food and beverages group decreased to 149.7 in August from 150.4 in July.

The government on Tuesday launched the PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme that has a financial outlay of Rs 10,900 crore over a period of two years.

The PM-Drive scheme was approved by the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on September 11 to promote electric mobility in the country.

Launching the ambitious scheme, Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, HD Kumaraswamy, said this is a landmark day as we transition from the FAME Scheme and the Electric Vehicle Promotion Scheme (EMPS) to the PM E-DRIVE scheme.

“On the eve of the 155th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, we are contributing not only to ‘Swachh Bharat’ as per the clarion call of PM Modi but also to ‘Swachh Vahan’. Through this initiative, we fulfil the government’s promise to launch the scheme within 100 days,” said the minister.

Leading automaker Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday said it sold 184,727 vehicles in the month of August, up from 181,343 units sold in the same month last year.

The figure included domestic sales of 148,061 units, sales to other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of 8,938 units and exports of 27,728 units, the automaker said in a statement.

In the six months of current fiscal (April-September), Maruti Suzuki India sold 1,063,418 units, up from 1,050,085 in the same period last fiscal.

The export figure for the first six months of FY25 was 148,276 units, up from 132,542 units in the last fiscal for the same period.

Leading credit ratings agencies on Tuesday highlighted the sustained strengthening of India Inc's credit quality, reflecting resilient domestic growth supported by the government's continued policy support.

Crisil Ratings upgraded 506 companies in the first half of the current fiscal compared to 184 downgrades, which is an upgrade-to-downgrade ratio of 2.75 from 1.79 times in the second half of last fiscal.

The annualised upgrade rate of 14.5 per cent outpaced the average of 11 per cent for the past decade, while the downgrade rate of 5.3 per cent was lower than the 10-year average of 6.5 per cent. Notably, the rating reaffirmation rate continued to be stable at 80 per cent.

“Rating upgrades continued to surpass downgrades, reflecting resilient domestic growth, supported by the government’s continued policy support towards infrastructure build, the revival of rural consumption demand and leaner corporate balance sheets,” said Subodh Rai, Managing Director, CRISIL Ratings.

Leading online brokerage Zerodha said on Tuesday it will not charge users after the revised exchange transaction charges (ETC) and securities transaction tax (STT) came into effect from Tuesday. The company, however, said this is a substantial change that will have a significant impact on the financials of all brokers.

Zerodha’s Co-founder and CEO Nithin Kamath said equity delivery will continue to be free at Zerodha. “As of now, we are not making any changes to our brokerage,” he added.

Zerodha earns 10 per cent of its revenue from rebates that would cease to exist with SEBI’s “true-to-label” circular.

For options, STT increases to 0.1 per cent from 0.0625 per cent, and transaction charge decreases to 0.035 per cent from 0.0495 per cent.

The Indian stock exchanges on Tuesday revised their transaction fees for cash and futures and options trading, as other changes related to TDS and government bonds came into effect.

According to the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the transaction fee for the cash market will now be Rs 2.97 per lakh of traded value.

For equity futures, the fee will be Rs 1.73 per lakh of traded value. As per the exchange, the fee for equity options will be Rs 35.03 per lakh of premium value. In the currency derivatives segment, futures will incur a fee of Rs 0.35 per lakh of traded value. Also, options which include interest rate options, will have a fee of Rs 31.10 per lakh of premium value.

In the Union Budget, the government had announced to increase the securities transaction tax (STT) on Futures and Options of securities to 0.02 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively.