India’s annual rate of inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) eased to 1.89 per cent in November compared to 2.36 per cent in October as the rise in food prices slowed during the month with the fresh crop arriving in the market, data released by the Commerce and Industry Ministry on Monday showed.

“The positive rate of inflation in November 2024 is primarily due to an increase in prices of food articles, food products, other manufacturing, textiles, machinery & equipment,” according to an official statement.

Food inflation slowed to 8.29 per cent from 11.59 per cent in October as vegetable prices, which had skyrocketed by as much as 63 per cent, went up by a lower 28.57 per cent during the month. Onion prices, for instance, rose by a mere 2.85 per cent in November, compared to 39.25 per cent in October.

Fuel prices declined by (-) 5.83 per cent during the month slowing the overall rise in inflation.

India has seen a record smartphone exports in November this year, surpassing the Rs 20,000 crore mark for the first time in a month, which was led by Apple.

According to industry data, smartphone exports crossed Rs 20,300 crore, a more than 90 per cent rise from the same period last year. Apple led the exports last month, followed by Samsung.

In November last year, the smartphone exports from the country was over Rs 10,600 crore, as per the industry data.

The smartphone market in the country is expected to exit 2024 with a single-digit annual growth.

Meanwhile, riding on the government's production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, Apple’s iPhone production in the country reached $10 billion in the seven months of this fiscal (FY25), with $7 billion in exports alone which is a record.

The tech giant manufactured/assembled $14 billion of iPhones in India last fiscal (FY24), with exporting more than $10 billion worth of iPhones.

Hyundai AutoEver, the information technology affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, said on Monday it has established a joint venture in Indonesia to develop navigation maps for the Southeast Asian country and many others in the region.

The new firm, named Terra Link Technologies, has been jointly established with India's MapmyIndia, according to the South Korean company.

The joint venture will focus on developing high-quality automotive navigation maps for Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore, reports news agency.

Tech giant Apple’s chipset shipments increased to 18 per cent globally in the third quarter this year (from 13 per cent in Q2 2024), due to the launch of its A18 chipset.

According to a Counterpoint Research report, the Cupertino (California)-based tech giant recently launched two chipsets – A18 and A18 Pro.

The iPhone 16 base models come with A18, while the iPhone 16 Pro models house the A18 Pro. A18 Pro delivers unprecedented efficiency. The new 16-core Neural Engine is faster and more efficient than the previous generation, powering remarkable on-device performance for Apple Intelligence.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has achieved 15,547 crore transactions worth Rs 223 lakh crore from January to November this year, ‘showcasing its transformative impact on financial transactions’ in India, the Finance Ministry said on Saturday.

The Finance Ministry also said that UPI is now accepted in seven countries including France, UAE, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Bhutan and Nepal. The UPI system provides a cheaper and quicker alternative to the available channels of cross-border remittances.

UPI has succeeded in increasing financial inclusion and promoting equitable economic growth by enabling underserved groups, including subprime and new-to-credit borrowers to access formal credit for the first time, according to a new study by IIM and ISB professors.

India's economic growth will continue to hold steady in FY25 despite global uncertainties, with a projected GDP at 6.7 per cent in FY26, a report showed on Friday.

CareEdge Ratings said that it expects Indian government to continue on the path of fiscal consolidation and projects India's GDP growth to remain healthy at 6.5 per cent in FY25 and 6.7 per cent in FY26.

“We expect to see improvement in private investment in 2025, supported by anticipated monetary policy easing,” said Sachin Gupta, Chief Rating Officer and ED, CareEdge Ratings.

The report said that CPI inflation is expected to moderate in the coming quarters. It expects food inflation to moderate, driven by a strong kharif harvest and favourable conditions for rabi sowing.

Travellers in Australia were warned to expect flight delays on Friday after hundreds of Qantas engineers across the country began strike action over a pay dispute with the airline.

Around 500 engineers at Australia's five busiest airports, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, began walking off the job at 3:30 a.m. local time on Friday and would not return until 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.

It came after pay negotiations between Qantas and several trade unions representing the engineers broke down, news agency reported.

The unions said it was likely the strike would have an immediate impact on flights at the five airports.

Passenger vehicles in India saw their highest-ever November sales at 3.48 lakh units, with a growth of 4.1 per cent as compared to the same month last year, according to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Friday.

Though the Diwali festival did not fall in the month of November, the two-wheeler segment posted sales of 16.05 lakh units, crossing the 16 lakh units mark for the first time in a non-Diwali November, the figures showed.

The total production of automobiles during the month including of passenger vehicles, three wheelers, two wheelers, and quadricycle in November 2024 was 24,07,351 units.

“The demand momentum which was seen in October during the festive period has continued in November for the industry as a whole,” said Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM.

Food delivery and quick commerce services provider Zomato has received a tax demand notice of Rs 803 crore from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) department.

In a stock exchange filing, the company said this notice has been given by the Joint Commissioner of CGST and Central Excise in Thane. This tax notice includes GST demand and interest and penalty.

“This tax demand notice is for not paying GST on delivery charges. The total amount of Rs 803 crore includes GST demand of Rs 401.7 crore and interest/penalty of the same amount," according to the exchange filling.

The company further said, "We believe that we have a strong case on merits, supported by the opinion of our external legal and tax advisors. The company will file an appeal against the order before the appropriate authority."

There seems to be no respite for the consumers in West Bengal from the skyrocketing prices of essential vegetables in the retail markets of the state.

The common people are feeling the maximum pinch due to the skyrocketing price of potatoes, the staple vegetable used in almost all varieties of Bengali dishes.

While the “Jyoti” variety of potato is selling between Rs 36 and Rs 38 a kilogram in most retail markets, the better variety of “Chandramukhi” is selling at Rs 40 a kilogram, with the second variety not being available in a number of retail markets.

It was being said that with the arrival of winter, the prices may ease. However, the prices continue to be rising.