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Petrol pump dealers across 24 states to go for ‘No Purchase’ on Tuesday

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Petrol pump dealers across 24 states have decided not to purchase diesel and petrol from oil companies on Tuesday to mark their protest against dealers’ commission which has not been revised since long, it was announced on Monday.

Around 70,000 outlets across 24 states will not buy fuel from oil marketing companies.

“Dealers across 24 states will join ‘No Purchase Petrol and Diesel’ campaign tomorrow to highlight the financial distress of the petrol pump owners across the country,” Delhi Petrol Dealers Association President Anurag Narayan.

At a media briefing by the Petrol Pump Dealers Association, he said that the campaign to not purchase fuel from oil companies on Tuesday will be taken over the non-increase of dealer margins over the past 5 years and the issues with losses incurred from excise duty revisions by the government.

The dealers association claimed that there was an agreement between OMCs and the dealers association that the dealers’ margins will be revised every six months, but this has not been done since 2017.

The prices of fuel have almost doubled since 2017, hence the working capital in business has also doubled leading to additional loans and bank interest and the evaporation losses have also increased proportionately, it said.

“The dealer commission is essentially a reimbursement of our expenses like salaries, electricity bills, and others which have increased manifold during the last five years. Our demand is to revise dealer commission which has been overlooked by OMCs,” said Narayan.

The association demanded that the losses on account of excise reduction should be reimbursed by the OMCs and future price change should happen in line with Dynamic Pricing Mechanism.

“A mechanism should be in place to isolate dealers from excise duty changes. Dealers should not make profit due to increase in excise duty, neither should they be burdened with loss due to reduction,” it demanded.

The 24 states where dealers will join the protest are Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim, the North Bengal Dealers Association, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.

Business

Sensex crosses 81,000 Mark, Nifty Jumps 157 Points On Strong Metal & Auto Stocks

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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.

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Business

India Lost ₹22,842 Crore To Cybercriminals & Fraudsters In 2024: DataLEADS

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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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Mukesh Ambani Planning To Introduce ₹52,200 Crore Worth IPO, Reliance To List Jio Infocomm In Stock Market

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Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), led by the country’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, is planning to bring the biggest IPO ever. RIL is preparing to list its telecom business, Jio Infocomm, in the stock market. This IPO can be worth Rs 52,200 crore (about $6 billion).

Reliance Starts Informal Talks With SEBI

According to a Bloomberg report, Reliance has started informal talks with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to get approval to sell just 5% stake in Jio. If this approval is received, this IPO will break the record of Hyundai Motor India’s Rs 28,000 crore IPO.

Actually, under the current rules of SEBI, companies have to sell at least a 25% stake for public float. But Reliance has told SEBI that the Indian market does not have the capacity to bear such a big offer. Therefore, the company is seeking an exemption to sell 5% stake.

When Will The IPO Launch?

According to Bloomberg sources, this IPO can be launched in the early months of next year, although its size and timing will depend on the market situation. If this plan is successful, it will be the country’s largest IPO.

Jio’s IPO will give an opportunity to big foreign investors like Meta Platforms and Alphabet Inc. (Google) to sell their stake. In 2020, both these companies invested more than $20 billion in Jio Platforms. During this period, Jio’s valuation was $58 billion.

Which Other Investors Have Invested In Jio?

Apart from this, investors like KKR, General Atlantic, and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority have also invested heavily in Jio. Market experts say that Jio’s valuation can be more than $100 billion. However, Reliance wants to increase its income and subscriber base further before the IPO so that the valuation can be increased further.

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