Technology sector anchors 40 pc office leasing in India: Report

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New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) The technology sector continues to anchor office space demand, sustaining its role as one of the dominant demand drivers across the top 7 Indian cities, a report said on Thursday. In the first half of 2025 (H1 2025), the sector accounted for more than 10 million sq ft of grade A space uptake across the top 7 cities, nearly 40 per cent of the overall conventional leasing, Colliers India said in its report.According to the report, the technology sector, in particular, rema…

India clocks rapid progress in food, energy and defence sectors over last 10 years: Report

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New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) India has undergone a profound transformation in the three pillars of national security – food security, energy security, and defence security over the last 10 years, driven by a clear vision in policymaking, strategic investments, and rapid technological adoption, according to an article in India Narrative. The country has emerged as the second-largest producer of rice and wheat, and the largest producer of pulses and sugar. Foodgrain output surged from 256.4 million to…

Black Box reports 28 pc YoY growth in PAT for Q1 FY26

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Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS) Black Box Limited, a leading provider of digital infrastructure solutions, announced its unaudited financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. The Company delivered a resilient performance with year-over-year improvement in both operating profit and net profitability, despite the ongoing global tariff uncertainty that impacted project execution timelines.Building on the strong operational foundation laid in FY25, when the Company completed its multi-year turnarou…

Need to transform India’s research institutions into globally competitive entities: NITI Aayog

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New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) Dr VK Saraswat, Member, NITI Aayog, has underscored the urgency of transforming India’s research institutions into globally competitive entities, it was announced on Thursday.He called for institutional benchmarking, simplification of compliance procedures, and stronger academia-industry linkages to enable a high-impact research culture, emphasising that reducing friction across the research lifecycle is central to advancing national scientific goals and achieving self…

Bitcoin touches record high on hopes of US Fed rate cut

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Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS) Leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin hit a record high of $124,210 on Thursday over increasing expectations for more lenient monetary policy from the US Federal Reserve.The development, coupled with supportive financial reforms, particularly under the pro-crypto stance of the US President Donald Trump’s administration, boosted investor sentiment.The world’s largest crypto asset by market capitalisation climbed over 0.9 per cent to $124,210, surpassing its previous peak in July. B…

Banks to clear cheques within few hours starting October 4: RBI

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Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that bank cheques must be cleared within a few hours from October 4 — down from the current clearance time of up to two working days.Under the new mechanism, the banks will scan, present and pass cheques within a few hours and on a continuous basis during the business hours, cutting the clearing cycle down from the present T+1 days, a circular from central bank said.The current Cheque Truncation System (CTS) processes cheques w…

Nifty, Sensex open flat; IT, pharma stocks rally

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Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS) The Indian benchmark indices opened flat on Thursday, as IT and pharma stocks showed considerable gains.The BSE Sensex advanced 0.15 per cent to 80,657 points. The Nifty 50 inched up to 24,638, up 21 points or 0.08 per cent.Among the broader market indices BSE SmallCap added 0.12 per cent and the BSE MidCap climbed 0.30 per cent.Sectorally, Nifty Metal lost 1.05 per cent while Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma surged 0.76 per cent and 0.93 per cent, respectively. The majority of ot…

Rural demand remains robust in India in April-June, outlook optimistic: Report

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New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) Easing inflation and favourable monsoon boosted rural demand in India in the April-June period this year, outpacing urban consumption once again, according to a new report.According to the report by global research firm NielsenIQ, rural markets and small manufacturers propelled the packaged consumer goods sector in Q2 2025.Rural markets grew twice as fast as cities, as urban areas showed signs of recovery, particularly in smaller towns.According to the report, e-commerce…

AI-driven tool to fast track Gram Sabha meeting summaries

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New Delhi, Aug 14 (IANS) The government was set to launch an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven tool on Thursday that will automatically generate structured minutes of meeting (MoM) from Gram Sabha or other Panchayat meetings’ audio and video recordings.The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) was set to launch ‘SabhaSaar’, an AI-powered meeting summarization tool, in the presence of Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh and Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, Professor SP Singh Baghel i…