India's retail credit growth moderated in the June quarter as financial institutions tightened the supply of credit, particularly on consumption-led products like credit cards, consumer durable loans, and personal loans, a report said on Monday.

A TransUnion CIBIL Credit Market Indicator (CMI)1 report said that there was a "continued decline in new-to-credit (NTC) volumes, especially when younger consumers are entering the credit marketplace for the first time".

The share of originations for NTC consumers has declined consistently over the past five years. The share of NTC consumers in originations dropped from 16 per cent in the quarter ending June 2023 to 12 per cent in the June quarter. The report showed overall originations continued to grow at a moderated rate, home loan originations dropped by 9 per cent in volume, while credit card originations declined by 30 per cent YoY. Two-wheeler loans were the only credit product that had double-digit growth in volume and value originations.

Degree of returns, regularity of returns, and tax benefits are the significant factors influencing post-Covid investment decisions, according to a report on Monday.

The report, jointly made by the PHD Research Bureau, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Jagan Institute of Management Studies (JIIMS), Rohini, aims to analyse the factors influencing individual investments across various financial instruments and to compare the investor behaviours towards selected financial instruments in pre and post-Covid years.

“India’s capital market has witnessed a robust performance during the post-Covid years supported by the strong regulatory environment, high growth of the economy, and investors’ confidence in India’s growth story,” said Sanjeev Agrawal, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Struggling low-cost carrier SpiceJet on Saturday said its board has approved the issuance and allotment of 48.70 crore equity shares to qualified institutional buyers at Rs 61.60 per share.

The total amount raised from the issue will be Rs 2,999.99 crore. The low-cost airline is seeking to raise funds to address operational challenges, including a reduced fleet and various legal and financial hurdles.

In a regulatory filing, the airline said the fund-raising committee has “approved the issue and allotment of 48,70,12,986 Equity Shares to eligible qualified institutional buyers at the issue price of Rs 61.60 per Equity Share at a premium of Rs 51.60 (which includes a discount of Rs 3.19 per Equity Share (4.92 per cent of the floor price… aggregating to Rs 2,999,99,99,937.60.”

As Indian stock markets remain resilient amid global challenges, September is set to be the busiest month for initial public offerings (IPOs) in 14 years, with over 28 companies entering the market so far, according to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Financial markets are undergoing shifts. In the primary equity market, there is a surge of interest in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) IPOs, including from domestic mutual funds, with massive oversubscriptions.

About 54 per cent of IPO shares allotted to investors were sold within a week of listing, according to the Central Bank’s monthly bulletin.

“A growing number of listed companies are turning to qualified institutional placements (QIPs) for raising capital, estimated at around Rs 60,000 crore in the first eight months of 2024,” it read.

With intermittent corrections on global cues, benchmark indices in the secondary market have moved up, and the outlook remains bullish, said the RBI.

Microsoft and Constellation Energy announced a groundbreaking deal to reopen the partially melted-down Three Mile Island nuclear plant, with the tech giant purchasing all the power for 20 years after the restart.

The deal marked the first time a decommissioned US nuclear plant had been brought back into service and the first time a commercial nuclear power plant's entire output had been allocated to one customer, news agency reported.

The agreement aimed to feed the growing energy needs of Microsoft's artificial intelligence (AI) operations while restarting the infamous Pennsylvania facility, the site of the worst nuclear accident in US history.

Driven by strong GDP growth and robust manufacturing and emphasis on building infrastructure, India is on its way to becoming the third largest economy soon and has the potential to add $1 trillion to its GDP every 1.5 years to reach the $10 trillion economy mark by 2032, a new report showed on Saturday.

The country is expected to become a $4 trillion economy in 2024–2025, which would make it the world's fourth-largest economy.

According to a report by IDBI Capital, the country is on track to become a $10 trillion economy by 2032, positioning itself as the world’s third-largest economy by 2030.

In a first, scientists at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have discovered interaction between a radio jet from a dwarf galaxy and interstellar gas causing shock waves.

The team found that the radio jet emitted from the Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) -- a black hole -- from the centre of the galaxy NGC 4395. AGN is known to emit bright jets and winds and shape their galaxies.

The bright jet interacted with the surrounding interstellar medium at a small spatial scale of about or about 30 light years. The dwarf galaxy is situated at a distance of about 14 million light years.

The Indian startup ecosystem saw massive funding flow this week at more than $628.24 million raised by 36 startups -- a whopping 174.5 per cent surge from last week.

The funding momentum was led by edtech company Physics Wallah (PW) which secured $210 billion in its Series B funding round and took the company’s valuation to $2.8 billion. The round was led by Hornbill Capital, with significant participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, and existing investors GSV and WestBridge.

The week saw 14 growth-stage deals and 17 early-stage deals amid the positive investment environment in the country.

As per an Entrackr report, SaaS-based digital adoption solution provider Whatfix raised $100 million. The company, however, is yet to make the funding public.

The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has announced to spend Rs 13.10 crore for welfare of its 15,529 employees across 145 offices in FY25, which includes Rs 74.37 lakh for holiday homes.

According to an EPFO circular, Rs 2 crore has been allocated as central pool (death relief fund).

The budget includes Rs 94.25 lakh towards scholarship. whereas 1.88 crore towards other activities fund. The welfare fund allocated for OA-medical checkup comprises Rs 3.97 crore on employees over age 40 and Rs 1.27 crore towards employees who are less than 40 years.

Investors from smaller cities in India are embracing mutual funds like never before and the share of such investors in cities beyond the top 15 have risen significantly in the last four years, a new report showed on Saturday.

While Mumbai and Delhi continue to hold their place with most number of investors, accounting for 39 per cent investors as of June 2024, other cities have steadily contributed over 30 per cent of investors since March 2021, according to a Franklin Templeton report.

Mumbai and Delhi also contributed over 40 per cent investors till December 2023 but the contribution of these metros slipped to 39 per cent in March this year, the report mentioned.

Also, the assets under management (AUM) of investors in below 30 cities outpaced the top growth in the AUM of the top 30 cities in the country.