New Delhi: The central government's fiscal deficit for 2026-27 stood at 26.8 per cent of the full-year target at the end of July, according to data released by the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) Monday. The deficit was at 29.9 per cent of Budget Estimates (BE) of 2025-26 for the first four months of the previous financial...

New Delhi: The NPCI International (NPIL) has paved the way for Indian tourists, business travellers and students to use UPI for making instant cross-border merchant payments by scanning Uzbekistan’s national interoperable QR code, UZQR, according to a Finance Ministry statement issued Monday. The NIPL, the international arm of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), entered into...

Tel Aviv: Israel signed a multi-billion-dollar weapons deal with Greece, the largest between the two Mediterranean countries, as Israeli defence exports soar. Israel's Defence Ministry said Monday the nearly 3 billion Euro (USD 3.5 billion) defence export deal, coined Achilles Shield, is one of the country's largest and includes a multilayered air defence system for Greece using...

New Delhi: Supreme Court agreed to hear Tuesday a plea filed by the Centre seeking to quash the FIRs registered against students who participated in the NEET examination paper leak protests. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana took note of the submission by Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta...

Bishkek: Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Kyrgyzstan's Bishkek Monday. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi and other top Iranian officials were also present during the meeting. During the meeting, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that the two sides...

New Delhi: Delhi's draft electoral roll was published Monday with more than 47 lakh out of 1.45 crore voters, one in each three, excluded from the list. Those excluded can file their claims till September 30 through Form 6 and supporting documents. The final roll is due November 4, officials at Delhi CEO office said. Claims and...

Sambalpur/Kendujhar: Two persons, including a two-year-old boy, were killed in separate wall-collapse incidents as heavy rain lashed several parts of Odisha over the past 24 hours, with four places recording more than 100 mm of rainfall, officials said. The rain was triggered by a well-marked low-pressure area over Gangetic West Bengal and adjoining areas of north coastal...

Mumbai: Stock markets closed lower Monday amid selling in utilities, IT, and FMCG shares, as renewed tensions in West Asia pushed crude oil higher and fanned fears of a higher-interest-rate environment. The 30-share BSE Sensex declined 307.24 points, or 0.40 per cent, to settle at 76,957.27 with 20 of its constituents ending lower and 10 with gains....

Baleshwar: The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Odisha police arrested a bank officer for his alleged involvement in fraudulent sanction of gold loans and misappropriation of Rs 2.12 crore, officials said Monday. The accused, identified as Satyabrata Bhoi, the then branch manager of a public sector bank, Joda branch, was arrested based on a case registered by...

New Delhi: India's economy grew at a faster-than-expected 7.8 per cent in the April-June quarter, showing resilience in the face of concerns that the war in Iran and resulting global economic uncertainty could weigh on growth. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first quarter of the 2026-27 fiscal year slowed from a barnstorming 8.6 per cent...