US national average price of gasoline was $2.97 per gallon, a level it last touched in 2021, according to a report from oilprice.com.

The number of US states that now enjoy average gas prices below $3 per gallon rose to about 35, up by seven from a month ago, said Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, on Monday, reports news agency.

"The national average has finally fallen below $3 per gallon, and it couldn't come at a better time for motorists with the holidays upon us," Haan said, citing GasBuddy data compiled from more than 12 million individual price reports covering over 150,000 gas stations across the country.

"One would need to count over 1,300 days since we've seen the national average this low, with the affordability of gasoline at its lowest non-COVID level since 2015," he added.

Oil is the primary factor that determines gasoline prices in the United States, and commodity experts at Standard Chartered have predicted that US oil production will not surge under Donald Trump's second presidency, according to the oilprice.com report.

The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) has granted regulatory approval to SSI Mantra, the first made-in-India surgical robotic system, for telesurgery and teleproctoring, signifying a monumental leap in surgical robotics, the company said on Monday.

Developed by Gurugram-based SS Innovations, the system aims to decentralise and democratise access to surgical expertise. It also addresses critical gaps in healthcare, particularly in remote areas, where access to specialised medical care has often been a challenge.

“Telesurgery and teleproctoring have been a dream in the making for over four decades, and today, it has finally come to life. With the technology and bandwidth available now, we can truly decentralise and democratise surgical expertise, reaching patients and surgeons in the most remote parts of India and the world,” said Dr. Sudhir Srivastava, SS Innovations Founder, Chairman, and CEO.

Air India on Monday confirmed it has placed an order to purchase 100 more Airbus aircraft, comprising 10 widebody A350 and 90 narrowbody A320 aircraft, including A321neo.

These 100 new aircraft are in addition to the firm orders of 470 aircraft that Air India had placed with Airbus and Boeing last year.

The latest order takes the total number of aircraft that Air India ordered with Airbus in 2023 from 250 aircraft, comprising 40 A350 and 210 A320 Family aircraft, to 350, the airline said.

Air India also announced it has selected Airbus’ Flight Hour Services-Component (FHS-C) to support the maintenance requirements of its growing A350 fleet.

Tata Motors on Monday announced to hike prices by up to 3 per cent across its passenger vehicles (PVs) portfolio, including electric vehicles (EVs).

Effective from January, the price increase will vary depending on model and variant, and is being taken to partially offset the rise in input costs and inflation, said the automaker.

Kia India also announced up to 2 per cent price hike across its entire lineup, effective from January 1, “primarily due to rising commodity prices and escalating supply chain-related costs”.

“At Kia, we are committed to delivering exceptional, technologically advanced vehicles of the highest quality to our valued customers. However, due to the persistent rise in commodity prices, unfavourable exchange rates, and increased input costs, a necessary price adjustment has become unavoidable,” said Hardeep Singh Brar, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Kia India.

After the government directed telecom operators to curb the spread of spam calls and messages, Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has flagged 8 billion spam calls and 800 million spam SMSes within two and a half months of launching its AI-powered, spam-fighting solution.

The AI-powered network has successfully identified close to 1 million spammers every day, the company said in a statement.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had asked telecom operators to stop spam calls and messages and comply with its direction regarding the whitelisting of URLs, APKs and OTT links.

In this regard, Airtel in September launched an AI-powered spam detection solution that would alert customers in real time about suspected spam calls and SMSes.

According to the company, in the last 2.5 months, it has alerted close to 252 million unique customers to these suspicious calls and has observed that there has been a 12 per cent decline in the number of customers answering them.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows into India in the period between April 2000 to Sept 2024 have soared to $1,033.40 billion mark, reflecting the increasing investment opportunities in the country’s fast-growing economy, as per figures compiled by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

The main sectors of the economy that benefited from the FDI include automobile, computer software, IT hardware, telecom, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and services as well. The data also show that FDI inflows in the sunrise non-conventional energy sector have recorded a big jump.

FDI inflows lead to higher investments and job creation in the economy and bring in state-of-the-art technology which raises the level of productivity and spurs economic growth.

Anticipating the growing need for quality urban infrastructure in years to come, India is expected to invest over Rs 143 lakh crore in infrastructure by 2030, a report said on Monday, adding that this will led to further land price appreciation.

Rapid infrastructure development driven by nodal authorities is fuelling the growth of satellite townships across the country, said the Colliers report.

Most of this expenditure is to be directed towards urban clusters, driving significant activity in infrastructure-led urban development. Projects under consideration include second airports, inter-city metro connectivity, aero-cities, highways (including quick transit freeways), high-speed rail corridors, IT+ITES zones, large datacenter concentration zones, among others.

The trend is magnified in and around the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), with the planned decongestion of Mumbai and ancillary locations, with potential returns reaching four times over the next decade.

“The growth of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is driven by various infrastructure projects, including the Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL), Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA), Virar-Alibaug Multimodal Corridor, Mumbai-Pune Missing Link Project, and the JNPT extension,” the report mentioned.

The Adani Portfolio of companies appear "most attractive" among Indian corporates, according to Japanese brokerage Nomura, as other Indian corporates stay at “expensive levels” compared to the Group companies.

In a new report, the global brokerage said that the ports-to-power conglomerate will also be able to withstand recent turmoil brought on by allegations in an indictment by the US Department of Justice (DoJ).

“Adani complex looks most attractive among other IG (investment grade) corporates from India. Other Indian IG corporates stay at expensive levels vis a vis Adani complex,” the note read.

Nomura further commented that compared with the Adani-Hindenburg episode in early 2023, “Adani Group’s liquidity management awareness has improved meaningfully and should be able to weather the rainstorm with adequate short-term liquidity position.”

Nomura added that overall, no signs of stress are seen across the Adani Group and its fundamentals/asset quality remain intact.

Driven by the retail sector’s unprecedented growth amid favourable economic factors and rising affluence, mall vacancies in India are now at just 8.3 per cent, down from 15.5 per cent in 2021 as demand continually outstrips supply, according to a report on Monday.

The first half of the current year mirrored the leasing momentum seen in the past two years, with over three million square feet leased across major cities.

The next few years will witness major supply addition across all these cities, with the Delhi-NCR accounting for the majority, according to an Anarock report.

“Vacancy in prominent malls continues to be on the decline owing to limited supply and robust leasing. Superior malls across the country are operating almost full capacity,” said Anuj Kejriwal, CEO and MD–Retail, Industrial and Logistics, Anarock Group.

The Indian startup ecosystem saw its cumulative funding reach $250 million across 18 deals this week, a significant 72 per cent increase.

Domestic startups had raised more than $145 million last week, as investor confidence revived in the country when it came to VC funding.

Global investment group Prosus disclosed it infused $100 million in NBFC Vastu Housing Finance and $80 million in fintech Mintifi.

AI-enabled customer feedback intelligence platform Enterpret raised $20.8 million in Series A funding led by Canaan Partners, a US-based venture capital firm.

The electric two-wheeler maker Ultraviolette raised Rs 130 crore in a fresh round of funding from its existing investors Zoho, Lingotto, Mudhal Partners and Ojas Consultation.