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Tamil community in Sri Lanka celebrates Thai Pongal with fervour

Tamil community in Sri Lanka is celebrating Thai Pongal with fervour and gaiety. Observed at the start of the Tamil month Thai, Pongal is a multi-day harvest festival dedicated to Sun God. The festival is named after the ceremonial “Pongal”, which means “to boil, overflow” and refers to the traditional dish prepared from the new harvest of rice boiled in milk with jaggery.

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Tamil community in Sri Lanka celebrates Thai Pongal with fervour

The main purpose of the Thai Pongal festival is to express gratitude to the sun for its role in enhancing the harvest, to acknowledge the contribution of rain in making the land more fertile, and to show appreciation for the cattle and animals that help ensure a better harvest.

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Gaan Ngai festival commemorates end of harvest season in Manipur

The Gaan Ngai festival commemorating the end of the harvest season by the Kabui/Rongmei Naga community is being celebrated in Manipur today. CM Nongthombam Biren Singh along with ministers Awangbow Newmai (Minister Water Resource), MLA Sapam Kunjakeshore, Hill Area Committee Chairman D. Gangmei, MLA J.Panmei, attended the State level Gaan Ngai 2025 held at Sagolband Ramji.

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Gaan Ngai festival commemorates end of harvest season in Manipur

Gaan-ngai is the festival of lights and victory, victory over evil; (Gaan means light and Ngai, festival). Another version of Gaan-ngai is the festival of winter season. Chakaan means season, Gaan also means winter and Ngai, festival. This festival is also described as a New Year festival as it marks the end of the year and beginning of the New Year.

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Blue Origin to launch its first orbital rocket ‘New Glenn’

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s company ‘Blue Origin’ will launch its first orbital rocket ‘New Glenn’ on 10th January from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. New Glenn will carry a payload — Blue Ring Pathfinder, which will test key systems for the Defense Innovation Unit’s Orbital Logistics programme.

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Blue Origin to launch its first orbital rocket ‘New Glenn’

In December, Blue Origin announced that New Glenn successfully completed the crucial hot-fire test. It was the first test of the integrated launch vehicle. New Glenn which is 98 m tall, is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built and launched. It is named after NASA astronaut John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth, completing three orbits in 1962.

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Suryoday Small Finance Bank Partners with Tata Digital to Launch FD Offerings on Tata Neu Platform

Suryoday Small Finance Bank (SSFB), a prominent digital-first small finance bank, has announced a strategic partnership with Tata Digital to extend its fixed deposit (FD) offerings via the Tata Neu platform. This collaboration marks a significant step in SSFB’s mission to revolutionize customer experiences through digital innovation.

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Suryoday Small Finance Bank Partners with Tata Digital to Launch FD Offerings on Tata Neu Platform

The FD product, now accessible on Tata Neu, allows customers to invest in fixed deposits with interest rates of up to 9.1% without requiring a savings account. With a minimum investment amount of just ₹1,000, the process is designed to be quick and efficient, enabling users to complete onboarding within minutes.

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Equitas Small Finance Bank revises SB deposit rates, introduces new slabs

Equitas Small Finance Bank has introduced two new slabs for savings bank (SB) deposit holders. Balances above ₹ 10 lakhs and up to ₹25 lakhs and from ₹25 lakhs to ₹1 crore earn interest of 7 per cent and 7.25 per cent, respectively.

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Equitas Small Finance Bank revises SB deposit rates, introduces new slabs

“Balances up to ₹1 lakh will continue to earn an interest rate of 3.00%, while the extended slab for balances between ₹1 lakh and ₹10 lakhs will provide an interest rate of 5.00 per cent. For balances above ₹25 crore, the existing rate of 7.80 per cent remains unchanged,” the Bank said in a statement.

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Sebi gives nod to JSW Cement's Rs 4,000 cr IPO after 4-month hold-up

India's markets regulator has approved JSW Cement's initial public offering, four months after it put the IPO on hold for reasons it did not disclose. The cement making arm of the steel-to-energy JSW group filed for an IPO worth up to Rs 4,000 crore in September, aiming to capitalise on the country's booming stock market and long-term demand growth expectations.

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Sebi gives nod to JSW Cement's Rs 4,000 cr IPO after 4-month hold-up

In 2024, 91 large firms went public on Indian exchanges and raised a record Rs 1.6 trillion via IPOs, according to analytics firm Prime Database, with the bull run expected to continue in 2025. JSW Cement aims to go public at a time when depressed prices and demand cool-down has weighed on the earnings of listed firms in the sector.

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Manisha Pande's book reveals middle class India as a driver of change

Journalist Manisha Pande’s book Middle Class India: Driving Change in the 21st Century is an excellent companion to have by your side while exploring these questions. It is divided into three parts. Part I looks at the middle class in pre-Independence India, focusing on the period from 1757 to 1947.

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Manisha Pande's book reveals middle class India as a driver of change

Part II concerns itself with the time frame between when India freed itself from the clutches of British colonial rule in 1947 to economic liberalisation in 1991. Part III is about the post-liberalisation scenario, from 1991 until the present day.

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MNRE issues Operational Guidelines for implementation of various components under PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana

Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has notified Scheme Guidelines for implementation of ‘Payment Security Mechanism’ Component and ‘Central Financial Assistance’ Component for RESCO Models/ Utility Led Aggregation Models under PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.

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MNRE issues Operational Guidelines for implementation of various components under PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana

The scheme offers two alternative implementation models for the installation of rooftop solar plants for consumers: the RESCO (Renewable Energy Service Company) model, where third-party entities invest in rooftop solar installations, allowing consumers to pay only for the electricity consumed without bearing the upfront costs; and the Utility-Led Aggregation (ULA) model.

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MNRE issues Operational Guidelines for implementation of various components under PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana

Under this scheme component, ₹100 crore corpus fund has been earmarked for Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) for de-risking investments in RESCO-based grid-connected rooftop solar models in the residential sector, which may be supplemented through other grants, funds and sources after due approval of the Ministry.

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Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal launches National Turmeric Board

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush today inaugurated the National Turmeric Board in New Delhi. Shri Goyal announced Shri Palle Ganga Reddy as its first Chairperson. The headquarters of the Board has been set up at Nizamabad. Representatives from exporters and producers bodies will also be added to the Board.

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Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal launches National Turmeric Board

Shri Goyal said that last year, 2023-24, an area of 3.05 lakh hectare was under turmeric cultivation in India with a production of 10.74 lakh tonnes. India was responsible for over 70% of global turmeric production, he informed. He also shared that there are 30 varieties of turmeric produced in India.

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Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal launches National Turmeric Board

India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of turmeric in the world. India has more than 62% share of world trade. During 2023-24, 1.62 lakh tonnes of turmeric and turmeric products valued at 226.5 million USD was exported. The Board will pay special attention to the welfare of the turmeric farmers spread across 20 states.

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Coal Imports Drop by 3.1% During April-October, 2024

The government's initiatives to reduce coal imports have shown positive results in the first seven months of FY 2024-25 (April-October). Coal imports decreased by 3.1%, totaling 149.39 million tonnes compared to 154.17 MT during the same period in the 2023-24. The Non-Regulated Sector (excluding power sector) saw a more substantial decline, with imports dropping by 8.8 %.

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Coal Imports Drop by 3.1% During April-October, 2024

Despite growth of 3.87% in coal-based power generation from April 2024 to October 2024 compared to the same period last year, coal imports for blending by thermal power plants saw a sharp decrease of 19.5%. On the production side, coal output saw a +ve growth of 6.04%, rising to 537.57 MT in the April-October 2024 period, up from 506.93 MT in the same period of FY 2023-24

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Irdai widens scope of sandbox framework to encourage innovation

Regulator Irdai has expanded the scope of regulatory sandbox framework to encourage proposals that foster innovation, improve efficiency and ease of doing business. The IRDAI (Regulatory Sandbox) Regulations, 2025 is now more of principle-based whereby operational aspects will be issued through a master circular, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India.

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Irdai widens scope of sandbox framework to encourage innovation

Regulatory sandbox usually refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test regulatory environment for which regulators may (or may not) permit certain relaxations for the limited purpose of the testing. Further, regulations on maintenance of information by the regulated entities and sharing of information too have been consolidated by the regulator.

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Irdai widens scope of sandbox framework to encourage innovation

Irdai also notified IRDAI (Meetings)(Amendment) Regulations, 2025; IRDAI (Insurance Advisory Committee) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025; and IRDAI (Re-Insurance Advisory Committee) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025. These changes, the regulator said, align with Irdai's broader move towards a modern, dynamic and principle-based efficient regulatory framework.

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Angel One Names Ambarish Kenghe as Group CEO

Angel One has announced the appointment of Ambarish Kenghe as its Group Chief Executive Officer, effective March 2025. A distinguished technology and product leader, Kenghe brings extensive expertise in fintech, e-commerce, and consumer electronics. Known as “AK” within the fintech community, Kenghe previously served as Vice President and General Manager at Google Pay APAC.

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Angel One Names Ambarish Kenghe as Group CEO

Prior to his tenure at Google, Kenghe was Chief Product Officer at Myntra, where he spearheaded AI/ML innovations that transformed the fashion e-commerce sector. He has also held roles as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company in San Francisco and as an engineer specializing in high-speed switching at Cisco Systems in San Jose.

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Dinesh Thakkar, Chairman and Managing Director of Angel One.