Business
Big Tech now a quarter of S&P 500 combined market cap

Microsoft is now worth a smidge more than Apple, making the Satya Nadella-led cloud software giant the world’s most valuable company. Both companies are worth about $2.5 trillion, CNN reported.
Google owner Alphabet is worth just a touch less than $2 trillion, while Amazon is valued at $1.7 trillion. Tesla, Elon Musk’s electric car giant recently passed the $ 1 trillion mark and has since surged to a market cap of about $1.25 trillion.
These five companies are now collectively worth almost $10 trillion. That’s nearly a quarter of the combined $41.8 trillion market cap of the entire S&P 500, the report said.
It’s possible that the S&P 500 could have six companies worth at least $1 trillion at the same time if Meta Platforms, the social media giant formerly known as Facebook, continues to rebound. Meta now has a market valuation of about $930 billion.
But given the continued strength in tech, it’s altogether possible that all six of these companies could soon each be worth at least $2 trillion, if not more. After all, Microsoft and Apple are knocking on the door of $3 trillion.
And other techs, such as chip leader Nvidia and China’s Tencent are moving closer to the trillion dollar market valuation mark, the report added.
It seems almost unfathomable that so many companies could be worth this much. But earnings growth for many of the top techs continues to be strong, and that is pushing prices higher, the report added.
Still, the insatiable investor appetite for trillion-dollar techs reminds some market analysts of the Nasdaq froth of the 1990s and early 2000. It could be a warning sign, it said.
“Tesla’s rally is reminiscent of Cisco’s move in 2000, a move that marked the bubble top in 2000,” said Mike O’Rourke, chief market strategist with JonesTrading, in a report this month.
O’Rourke pointed out that Cisco shares soared about 50 per cent in the first three months of 2000 and analysts at Credit Suisse predicted that Cisco would be the world’s first trillion-dollar company, the report said.
It didn’t happen. Cisco, which was worth about $550 billion at the height of tech stock mania two decades ago, is now valued at about $240 billion. Intel, another tech stock leader of the late ’90s, has struggled in the past few years and is nowhere close to its 2000 peak valuation.
It’s proof that becoming a market leader may be easier than staying a market leader. There is no guarantee that the likes of Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and even Tesla will stay at the top, CNN reported.
Business
Indian Railways Introduces Discounted ‘Round Trip Package’ To Ease Festive Season Travel

New Delhi: To avoid rush by ensuring hassle-free ticket booking experience during the upcoming peak festive seasons, the Ministry of Railways on Saturday said that it has decided to formulate a ‘Round Trip Package’ on discounted fare and rebates benefit.
The move will facilitate passengers and redistribute the peak traffic for a larger range during peak festival seasons and ensure both sides utilisation of trains, including special trains.
“It has been decided to formulate an experimental scheme named as Round Trip Package for festival rush on discounted fare,” the Railways Ministry stated.
According to the ministry, the scheme will be applicable for those passengers who choose their return journey during the prescribed period.
Under this scheme, rebates shall be applicable when booked for both the onward and return journey for the same set of passengers.
Passenger details of the return journey will be the same as those of the onward journey. Passengers can book their tickets from August 14 for the advance reservation period (ARP) date of October 13.
“An onward ticket shall be booked first for the train start date between 13th October 2025 and 26th October 2025, and subsequently return journey ticket shall be booked by using the connecting journey feature for the train start date between 17th November and 1st December 2025,” the Ministry stated.
However, advance reservation period will not be applicable for booking of return journey.
Other conditions to avail the benefits of the railway’s new special scheme are the booking shall be permissible only for confirmed tickets in both directions, total rebates of 20 per cent shall be granted on base fare of return journey only, booking under this scheme shall be for the same class and same O-D pair for both onward and return journey.
According to Railways, no refund of fare shall be permissible for the tickets booked under this scheme.
This scheme shall be allowed for all classes and in all trains, including special trains (Trains on demand), except trains having Flexi fare.
In addition, no modification will be allowed on these tickets in either of the journeys, and there will be no discounts, Rail travel coupons, Voucher-based bookings, or Passes be admissible during return journey booking on concessional fare.
Passenger can book their ticket via both online and offline modes; however, both onward and return journey tickets must be booked using the same mode (online or offline).
Business
Sensex crosses 81,000 Mark, Nifty Jumps 157 Points On Strong Metal & Auto Stocks

Mumbai: The Indian stock market ended Monday on a strong note, with the BSE Sensex rising 418.81 points (0.52%) to close at 81,018.72, crossing the key 81,000 mark. During the day, it touched a high of 81,093.19. The NSE Nifty also surged by 157.40 points (0.64%) to end at 24,722.75, after hitting an intraday high of 24,734.65.
Top gainers and losers
Among major gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel, BEL, Adani Ports, TCS, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, Trent, M&M, Reliance Industries, UltraTech Cement and L&T.
On the flip side, Power Grid, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Hindustan Unilever ended the session with losses.
Why the market rallied
The market’s rally was mainly driven by strong performances in the metal and auto sectors. According to experts, a weakening US dollar, strong auto sales, and positive Q1 results from key companies helped boost investor confidence.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said,
“Consumption-driven companies are showing recovery in volume demand. Also, weak US job data may lead to interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.”
Global cues positive
Asian markets mostly ended in the green with Hong Kong, South Korea, and China posting gains. However, Japan’s Nikkei closed in red.
European markets were trading positively, while US markets had ended lower on Friday.
Oil prices also slipped, with Brent crude falling 1.15% to USD 68.87 per barrel.
Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 3,366.40 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.
Business
India Lost ₹22,842 Crore To Cybercriminals & Fraudsters In 2024: DataLEADS

India lost Rs 22,842 crore to cybercriminals and fraudsters in 2024, DataLEADS, a Delhi-based media and tech company, said in its report on widespread digital financial frauds in the country. The amount stolen by digital criminals and fraudsters last year was nearly three times more than the Rs 7,465 crore in 2023 and almost 10 times more than the Rs 2,306 in 2022, DataLEADS said in ‘Contours of Cybercrime: Persistent and Emerging Risk of Online Financial Frauds and Deepfakes in India.
Prediction For Cyber-Crime Frauds
The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, I4C, a federal agency that liaises between state and central law enforcement, predicts Indians will lose over Rs 1.2 lakh crore this year. The number of cybercrime complaints has spiked similarly; nearly twenty lakh were reported in 2024, up from around 15.6 lakh the year before and ten times more than were logged in 2019.
The surge in the number of cybercrime complaints and the volume of money lost points to one inescapable conclusion – India’s digital crooks are getting smarter and more efficient, and, in a country with a staggering nearly 290 lakh unemployed people, their ranks are increasing.
Bank-related frauds have increased dramatically; the Reserve Bank of India reported a nearly eightfold jump in the first half of FY 2025/26 compared to the same period last year. And the amount of money lost was staggering – Rs 2,623 crore to Rs 21,367 crore. Private sector banks accounted for nearly 60 per cent of all such incidents. But it was customers in public sector banks who were worst-hit; they lost Rs 25,667 crore in all.
Why have these numbers jumped so much over the past three years?
Because of the increased use of digital payment modes – i.e., smartphone-enabled services like Paytm and PhonePe – and the sharing and processing of financial details online – via (what many believe are encrypted and fail-safe) messaging platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram.
Federal data says there were over 190 lakh UPI, or unified payment interface, transactions in June 2025 alone, and these were worth a combined Rs 24.03 lakh crore. Digital payments’ value has grown from roughly Rs 162 crore in 2013 to Rs 18,120.82 crore in January 2025, and India accounts for nearly half of all such payments worldwide.
COVID-19
Much of this increase can be attributed to the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.
During COVID-19, the government pushed for a switch to UPI apps like Paytm to ensure social distancing and minimise contact with currency notes, via which the virus could be transmitted.
Digital Payment Tools In Rural Areas
The government also reasoned that digital payment tools would ensure greater penetration of financial services, particularly in rural areas. By 2019, India already had 440 million smartphone users and data rates were among the cheapest in the world – 1 GB cost Rs 200, or less than $3.
Insurance sector scams were also common. These included life, health, vehicle, and general, and are becoming an increasingly lucrative option for cybercriminals, particularly as insurance companies urge customers to opt for app-based services.
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