Retail loans by banks and finance companies in India could triple by 2030, driving household leverage to 34 per cent by fiscal year 2031 from about 23 per cent at the end of 2024, according to a new report.

Finance companies will sustain loan growth stronger than the banking sector, which is expected to grow at 14 per cent, according to the S&P Global Ratings report.

The finance companies' loan book is unseasoned. Strong economic growth has supported retail repayment capacity.

The Indian startup ecosystem continued its growth momentum this week with securing nearly $461 million which included 10 growth-stage deals.

At least 29 startups were part of the funding week, which saw 18 early-stage deals, as one startup kept financial details undisclosed.

Global digital adoption platform (DAP) leader Whatfix secured $125 million in a Series E funding round, led by Warburg Pincus with participation from existing investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The investment will enable Whatfix to expand its category leadership and enhance its integrated product suite through organic growth and strategic acquisitions.

India saw a strong growth in production of some key minerals in the April-August period this fiscal, and iron ore accounted for about 70 per cent of the total mineral production by value, the government said on Saturday.

Robust growth was seen in the production of key minerals and non-ferrous metals, after reaching record production levels in FY24.

As per the Ministry of Mines, production of iron ore was 274 million metric tonnes (MMT) in FY24.

In the first five months this fiscal, production of iron ore reached 116 MMT, showing a healthy 7.4 per cent growth from 108 MMT in the same period in FY24 (as per provisional data).

Production of manganese ore jumped by 15.4 per cent to 1.5 MMT in FY25 (April-August) from 1.3 MMT during the corresponding period of previous year.

India became the second largest steel producer with a capacity of 178 million tonnes and production of 144 million tonnes in FY24, which is projected to reach 300 million tonnes by 2030.

Minister of State for Steel and Heavy Industries, Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma, said that India’s and global demand for steel will continue to grow in times to come.

“The steel sector is at the watershed moment in its life cycle and the future direction will be built be built on digitisation in its processes and around sustainable steel production to minimise the emission levels to reduce its environmental carbon footprints,” the minister said during an event in the national capital.

He lauded the technological innovations and material efficiency in the steel sector that has driven the global steel production close to 2 billion tonnes, and the global capacity has reached close to 2.5 billion tonnes.

As Sam Altman-run OpenAI prepares to close a potential $6.5 billion funding as early as next week, Apple has reportedly pulled out from the latest round.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, the iPhone maker has “fell out of talks to join the funding round”.

Apple’s involvement was surprising as it is rare for the tech giant to invest in external companies. The reports surfaced after Apple announced a ChatGPT integration into Siri.

“Apple is no longer in talks to participate in an OpenAI funding round expected to raise as much as $6.5 billion, an 11th hour end to what would have been a rare investment by the iPhone maker in another major Silicon Valley company,” the report mentioned.

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) on Friday fined Meta 91 million euros (around $101.5 million) for 2019 breach that exposed hundreds of millions of Facebook passwords.

The Irish regulator announced its final decision following an inquiry into Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (MPIL) which was launched in April 2019, after meta said it had inadvertently stored certain passwords of social media users in ‘plaintext’ on its internal systems (without cryptographic protection or encryption).

“It is widely accepted that user passwords should not be stored in plaintext, considering the risks of abuse that arise from persons accessing such data,” said Graham Doyle, deputy commissioner at the DPC.

“It must be borne in mind, that the passwords the subject of consideration in this case, are particularly sensitive, as they would enable access to users’ social media accounts,” Doyle added.

As the strike by more than 1,000 workers at Samsung India’s plant in Sriperumbudur entered its third week, the South Korean electronics major on Friday said the management is willing to negotiate with the workers directly for an amicable resolution of the dispute.

A Samsung India lawyer, representing the company in Madras High Court as well as the Kanchipuram District Court, said in a statement that workers at the factory in Tamil Nadu get all statutory benefits and their wages are far higher than what is prescribed by the government for the electronics industry.

“I want to inform you that the ongoing strike is illegal because, the conciliation process regarding the demands made by workers is in progress and the workers’ union is unregistered till today,” the lawyer said.

He further stated that under such circumstances, the management of Samsung India is justified in imposing appropriate action on the striking workers.

The Indian hospitality sector is witnessing a boom and in FY25, the industry's revenue per available room is estimated to grow by approximately 8-9 per cent, a report showed on Friday.

According to rating agency CareEdge, the industry's revenue per available room registered a strong growth of 14 per cent during fiscal 2024.

For FY25, it is expected to grow by 8-9 per cent, building on the high base set in FY24.

CareEdge expects industry to report average revenue per available room growth to Rs 5,200-Rs 5,400 on a high base of FY24 and followed by a 5-6 per cent rise even in FY26.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday released a consultation paper for the auction of spectrum for satellite-based communication services.

The consultation paper, titled ‘Terms and Conditions for the Assignment of Spectrum for Certain Satellite-Based Commercial Communication Services,’ is seeking comments (by October 13) and counter-comments (by October 25) from stakeholders.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had requested TRAI to provide recommendations on the auction of spectrum for space-based communication services.

The Telecommunication Act, 2023 was enacted in December 2023. In light of the provisions of the Act in respect of certain satellite-based services, TRAI conveyed to DoT that “the DoT’s reference requesting TRAI to provide its recommendations for auction of spectrum for space-based communication services, may require a review by DoT”.

The Indian textiles industry is estimated to grow to $350 billion by 2030, generating 4.5-6 crore jobs, the government said on Friday.

Setting a target of 50,000 metric tonne silk production and employment generation of 1 crore by 2030, Union Textiles Minister Giriraj Singh said cultivation of silk is linked to employment generation of farmers.

The minister further said that the Eri Sericulture Promotional Project launched in Gujarat will be expanded across the country benefitting castor farmers.