Monday, March 16
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's director of communications Tim Allan resigned on Monday, a day after Starmer's top aide Morgan McSweeney quit over his role in backing Peter Mandelson over his known links to Jeffrey Epstein.The loss of two senior aides in quick succession comes as Starmer tries to draw a line under the crisis in his government resulting from his appointment of Mandelson as ambassador to the US."I have decided to stand down to allow a new No10 team to be built. I wish the PM and his team every success," Allan said in a statement on Monday.Allan served as an adviser to Tony Blair from 1992 to 1998 and went on to found and lead one of the country's foremost public affairs consultancies in 2001. In September 2025, he
Mumbai: Lenders are seeing a revival in corporate credit growth, led by demand from oil and gas, infrastructure, metals, power and large non-bank financial companies, as India Inc steps up capital expenditure and draws more working capital amid stronger economic activity.Bankers expect the momentum to strengthen further as multiple trade agreements expand export opportunities, encourage capacity additions and boost cross-border supply chains.State Bank of India (SBI) reported a 13.4% year-on-year rise in its ₹13.33 lakh crore corporate loan book for the quarter ended December, accelerating from 7.1% growth in the September quarter. The country’s largest lender has a corporate loan pipeline of about ₹8 lakh crore, of which ₹3.5 lakh crore has already been disbursed, while ₹4.5 lak
Mumbai: India's equity markets may extend late last week's rally into Monday, buoyed by the announcement of the broad contours of the India-US trade deal over the weekend and an upbeat Wall Street on Friday. Analysts said sectors positioned to benefit from the pact could see investor interest early this week, but a runaway rally in the market looks unlikely as further upsides could revive valuations concerns. "Markets are likely to react positively at the start of the week, also thanks to the strong global cues," said Sham Chandak, head of institutional equities at Elios Financial Services. US stocks surged on Friday led by a recovery in technology stocks after the recent selling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2.47%, closing above the 50,000 level for the first time. The S&P 50
After rebounding Friday to nearly erase a brutal mid-week slide, US stocks are facing more selling this week from trend-following algorithmic funds, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s trading desk. The S&P 500 Index has already breached its short-term trigger that prompted Commodity Trading Advisers, or CTAs, to sell stocks. Goldman expects these systematic strategies - which follow the stock market direction rather than fundamental factors - to remain net sellers over the coming week, regardless of market direction. A renewed decline could trigger about $33 billion of selling this week, according to Goldman. If pressure continues and the S&P 500 falls below 6,707, it could unlock up to $80 billion of additional systematic selling over the next month, the bank's data show. In
The proposed merger of Sanghi Industries with Adani-led Ambuja Cements received the National Company Law Tribunal's green light on Monday.In an exchange filing, Ambuja Cements said the tribunal pronounced its order on February 9, 2026, sanctioning the scheme of arrangement between the two companies and their respective shareholders. As per the scheme, April 1, 2024 has been fixed as the appointed date, while the merger is set to take effect after all formalities and steps outlined in the scheme are completed.Ambuja had announced in December 2024 that Sanghi Industries would be merged into the company as part of a broader consolidation plan, which also includes the merger of Penna Cement Industries. According to the arrangement with Sanghi Industries, shareholders will receive 12 shares of
