Barkha Mathur

Vegetables, pulses, cereals: How a weak monsoon could hit your food bill

Rain can send vegetable prices soaring within days, while the impact on pulses and cereals may take months to emerge. Milk, edible oils and sugar follow very different inflation paths

India Inc revenue growth at 2-year high of 11-11.5%, margins fall: Crisil

Corporate revenue is estimated to have grown 11-11.5 per cent in the June quarter as companies raised prices, but higher fuel and freight costs squeezed margins

Beyond the kurta: Why ethnic-wear brands are chasing the western wardrobe

For decades, Fabindia's identity has been closely tied to kurtas, handwoven fabrics, Indian craft. With Fabels, it is asking whether that identity can travel into a very different part of the wardrobe

Why Flipkart is giving up commission to win more of India's fashion sellers

By removing commission across all fashion price points, Flipkart is betting that better seller economics will bring more brands, products, and shoppers to its platform

Why quick commerce has become a battle no retailer can afford to lose

Quick commerce has moved beyond emergency groceries, forcing Amazon and other retailers to fight to become the first app consumers open whenever they need to buy something

India's deal value more than doubles as companies chase global assets

India's deal value jumped 127% to $36.3 billion in Q2 as large overseas acquisitions lifted M&A to a four-year high, even as overall deal volumes fell 18% from the previous quarter, finds a new report

Can cheaper bank funding spark India's next M&A cycle after RBI move?

Banks can now finance acquisitions under RBI's revised framework; experts say lower borrowing costs may improve deal economics, but valuations and strategic fit will continue to drive M&A decisions

NPCI ties up with HSBC India, JP Morgan to boost overseas UPI payments

NPCI has partnered with HSBC India and JP Morgan Payments to enable real-time foreign exchange conversion and settlement for international UPI transactions, making overseas payments more transparent

The egg debate: Can vegetarian alternatives deliver the same nutrition?

West Bengal's decision to replace eggs in school meals has reignited a nutrition debate; experts explain why protein quality, digestibility, and essential nutrients matter as much as protein content

OMCs cut commercial LPG prices by ₹183.50 as fuel supplies stabilise

Commercial LPG prices have been reduced by ₹183.50 as fuel supplies improve after the West Asia crisis, but there is no change in domestic LPG cylinder prices

GST at 9: Why easier return filing has not meant simpler compliance

Automation has transformed GST compliance, but businesses say the challenge has shifted from filing returns to managing reconciliations, vendor compliance, portal changes, and system-generated notices

Who is Rajiv Kumar? Former CEC named as HDFC Bank's part-time chairman

From leading India's public sector bank clean-up to overseeing the world's biggest election, Rajiv Kumar now takes on one of corporate India's most closely watched boardroom roles

Why Europe's cities are struggling to cope with 40-degree heatwaves

As thousands die during European heatwaves despite advanced healthcare, doctors say buildings, urban planning, ageing populations and inadequate preparedness are turning heat into a silent killer

India's AI race: Why building infrastructure matters more than chatbots

Industry experts say the next stage of AI development in India will depend on investments in compute infrastructure, data centres, energy, and connectivity

Corporate cybercrime: Why businesses are becoming prime targets of hackers

From ransomware and boss scams to AI-powered phishing and data theft, cybercrime is becoming a boardroom concern as companies emerge as the most lucrative targets for organised attackers

World Vitiligo Day: How Michael Jackson brought global attention to vitiligo

Michael Jackson introduced millions to vitiligo, but the autoimmune disease remains widely misunderstood. On World Vitiligo Day, here's what causes it, how it affects people, and why awareness matters

From Innovist to Minimalist: Why India's beauty brands are hot targets

Global beauty majors are increasingly turning to acquisitions as ingredient-led Indian brands reshape how products are developed, marketed, and scaled

From chats to commerce: Why India is WhatsApp's most important market

With hundreds of millions of users, millions of businesses and a rapidly growing digital economy, India has become the most important market for WhatsApp

Reliance's AI strategy bets on compute, power and connectivity at scale

Reliance's AGM showed the conglomerate is shifting from being viewed as an energy-retail giant to an AI infrastructure player built around data centres, compute, connectivity, and power

Fertility puzzle: Why countries can't seem to reverse falling birth rates

From cash incentives to calls for national duty, governments deployed every tool to boost births, but declining fertility proved far harder to reverse than expected