Thursday, September 10
On the surface, the new USCIS policy memorandum on Good Moral Character (GMC), issued August 15, 2025, appears to be a welcome return to a more flexible, case-by-case evaluation for naturalization applicants. It rescinds a prior, more rigid policy and speaks of a "holistic and comprehensive" review. However, a closer reading of the text reveals a standard that could be interpreted as more rigorous and fraught with uncertainty for the applicant. There is reason to worry.Also Read| Waiting for US citizenship? Immigration authorities to now scrutinize applicants’ good moral characterThe fundamental shift appears to be this: it may no longer be enough to simply lack a criminal record. The new policy explicitly states that an absence of “bad deeds” does not, by itself, equate to good mora
Anil Ambani-led Reliance Infrastructure and Reliance Power saw their shares surge sharply over the past two sessions, supported by significant project-related announcements that lifted investor sentiment. Reliance Infrastructure’s stock rose 10.28% in two days to hit a high of Rs 289.25 on the BSE on Wednesday, while Reliance Power zoomed 10.2% to a high of Rs 47.70 over the same period.The rally was sparked after Reliance Infrastructure secured a Letter of Award (LoA) from NHPC for a large solar power and battery storage project, while Reliance Power announced its participation in a new joint venture in Bhutan, boosting its clean energy portfolio.Here are the details:Reliance InfrastructureReliance Infrastructure announced that it had received a Letter of Award from NHPC, a Navratna cen
Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Securities has hired an options trader in India this week and plans to add more staff to bolster its operations in the South Asian nation, according to people familiar with the matter.The market-making giant has tapped Prajual Maheshwari to join Citadel Securities India Markets Pvt. in Gurugram from high-frequency trading firm Aakraya Research in Mumbai, one of the people said, asking not to be named discussing private information. The Miami-based company aims to recruit more traders and senior roles at its Indian operations, the people added.Citadel Securities declined to comment on its India hiring plans, while Maheshwari did not respond to an email request for comment.Citadel Securities’ expansion in India comes at a time when high-frequency trading
The National Housing Bank is tightening oversight of housing finance companies for breaching loan-to-value (LTV) norms on high-value home loans, two people aware of the development told ET. Supervisory inspections by the mortgage regulator found cases where loans above ₹s75 lakh were sanctioned at up to 90% LTV, in violation of the 75% cap. The National Housing Bank (NHB) has directed individual lenders to reclassify such advances as non-home loans (NHL)."The regulator has taken cognisance of a few mortgage lenders disbursing higher amounts on loans for high-value residential apartments," said an official aware of the NHB cautions. "The NHB has sent communications to these companies to stop such practices and classify them as non-home loans."As per existing rules, loans of up to ₹30 la
Russian President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet in New Delhi by the end of year, but no dates have been finalised yet, a Russian embassy official in India told news agency Reuters on August 20.The highly-anticipated meeting comes at a critical time for both nations. As geopolitical tensions escalate globally in the wake of Trump's unprecedented unsettling of diplomatic traditions, the war in Ukraine and shifting alliances, the discussions between these two leaders are expected to cover a wide range of issues, likely including trade, defence and energy cooperation.In recent months, India has maintained a delicate balance in its foreign policy, navigating its relationships with major powers like the United States and Russia. The upcoming talks are likely t
