Category: Business

July 15: Indian stock markets ended on a positive note after a volatile trading session, with the Sensex and Nifty closing higher, driven by strong performance in banking and financial sector stocks.

The benchmark indices witnessed fluctuations during the day as investors reacted to market developments and global cues. However, buying interest in key banking and financial stocks helped markets regain momentum and finish in the green.

Banking shares emerged as the major contributors to the market’s recovery, providing support to the broader indices. Investors also tracked sectoral trends and corporate developments while maintaining a cautious approach amid market volatility.

Market analysts said the strength in financial stocks helped offset pressure in some other sectors, allowing the indices to close with gains. The positive movement reflected improved investor sentiment despite intraday fluctuations.

The trading session highlighted continued market resilience as investors balanced domestic economic factors, global trends, and sector-specific developments.

With banking and financial stocks leading the rally, the Indian equity market ended the session on a firm note, offering positive momentum ahead of future trading sessions.

July 15: The Union Cabinet has approved the National Urea Investment Policy 2026, a major initiative aimed at boosting domestic fertiliser production and strengthening India’s agricultural supply chain.

The policy is designed to encourage investment in the urea manufacturing sector, expand production capacity, and reduce the country’s dependence on imported fertilisers. It is expected to support long-term fertiliser security while ensuring a steady supply of urea for farmers.

Officials said the new framework will help create a more favourable environment for investments in the fertiliser industry by promoting modern technologies, improving efficiency, and encouraging expansion of existing facilities.

The initiative comes as part of the government’s broader efforts to enhance self-reliance in critical sectors and ensure timely availability of essential agricultural inputs. Increased domestic production of urea is expected to benefit farmers by improving supply stability and supporting agricultural productivity.

The policy is also expected to generate employment opportunities, promote industrial growth, and contribute to the development of a stronger fertiliser manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

With the approval of the National Urea Investment Policy 2026, the government aims to build a more resilient fertiliser sector and strengthen India’s journey towards greater self-sufficiency in agricultural inputs.

New Delhi, July 15: As organisations navigate rapid technological change and evolving workforce expectations, continuous learning has become essential for long-term growth. On World Youth Skills Day, BLS International, a trusted global AI and technology-enabled services partner for governments and diplomatic missions, highlighted its efforts to strengthen employee capabilities through structured learning, leadership development and digital upskilling.

The company continues to invest in learning and development initiatives. These programmes are designed to equip employees with the skills needed for an increasingly digital workplace. Since January 2026, nearly 60% of the workforce across BLS International has participated in development programmes. The programmes cover technical, functional, digital and leadership competencies. This reflects the organisation’s continued investment in professional growth.

BLS International provided employees with access to more than 21,000 digital courses. The company is also rolling out a global Learning Management System. The platform will deliver a consistent learning experience across its international operations.

The company’s subsidiary, BLS E-Services, supports learning through its in-house platform, Empower-360. The platform is used by employees, partners, Customer Service Points  and Village Level Entrepreneurs . It offers personalised learning, progress tracking and data-driven insights to support skill development.

Leadership development remains an important focus area. BLS International’s LEAP, LEAD and iCOACH programmes are designed to build leadership capabilities and encourage knowledge sharing across the organisation.

World Youth Skills Day serves as a reminder of the importance of lifelong learning in preparing individuals for changing economic and technological landscapes. Through continued investment in learning, leadership and digital capabilities, BLS International are working to build a workforce that is ready to meet the demands of the future while delivering value to governments, businesses and citizens worldwide.

July 15: Cathay Pacific is extending its coverage in Latin America with the addition of new codeshare flights to Fortaleza and Recife in Brazil, Buenos Aires in Argentina and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic via Madrid through its oneworld alliance partner, Iberia. These new codeshare flights will bring Argentina and the Dominican Republic into Cathay’s codeshare network for the first time while strengthening connectivity between Hong Kong and the emerging Belt and Road region of Latin America.

Cathay Pacific currently serves six destinations across four countries in Latin America – Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in Brazil, Mexico City and Guadalajara in Mexico, Lima in Peru and Santiago in Chile – through codeshare partnerships via gateways in Europe, North America and Oceania. The Cathay Group currently flies to 33 destinations in Belt and Road participating countries with close to 600 flights per week, with additional destinations served through codeshare agreements.

To support these new codeshare services, starting 25 October 2026 Cathay Pacific will be adding three more flights per week on its non-stop Hong Kong-Madrid route, bringing the service to a daily frequency.

Cathay Chief Customer and Commercial Officer Lavinia Lau said:

“We are delighted to welcome these new destinations in Latin America to our codeshare network. Furthermore, by increasing our Madrid service to daily, we are reinforcing our position as the only airline offering non-stop connectivity between Hong Kong and Spain. These enhancements underscore our commitment to strengthening connectivity between Asia and markets around the world, offering passengers greater choice and convenience, and enhancing Hong Kong’s status as one of the world’s leading international aviation hubs.”

Cathay Pacific’s Hong Kong-Madrid flights will operate on a staggered schedule, with the three additional flights on Monday, Thursday and Saturday providing customers with the option of a late-night departure out of Europe. Flight schedules are as follows:

The airline’s Madrid route, first launched in 2016 with four flights per week, has become an important link between Asia and Spain for both business and leisure travellers. Cathay Pacific also operates a summer seasonal service to Barcelona with four flights per week.

Cairo, Egypt, July 15 – ManageEngine, a division of Zoho Corporation and a leading provider of enterprise IT management and security solutions, today announced post-deployment automation for TLS certificates in Key Manager Plus, its certificate life cycle and machine identity management solution. Key Manager Plus now automates the final stages of certificate renewal, pushing certificates to the target server, running configured scripts, restarting dependent services, and notifying stakeholders, so the whole certificate life cycle runs without manual intervention.

Historically, most organizations did not have much incentive to automate certificate management. Even the ones that did adopt automation workflows limited it to discovery, periodic expiration alerts, and in some instances, automated renewals. That changed when the CA/Browser Forum voted to reduce the maximum validity of public TLS certificates, phasing down from the legacy 398-day validity period to a 200-day period in March 2026 (current cadence), which will drop to 100 days by March 2027, and finally 47 days by March 2029.

“We’re going from under 200 certificates to over 2,000, across a lot of domains, different server setups, credentials and post-deployment actions for nearly all of it. We’ve had to dedicate significant engineering time to certificate management alone since the change to 200 days. With the 47-day certificate renewals coming up, automation is the only way we can keep up, and Key Manager Plus’ CA-agnostic, certificate life cycle management has helped us automate the whole thing,” said Jonathan Choiniere, infrastructure manager at RevSpring, a payment solutions provider based in Nashville, Tennessee.

Automating the Last Mile of Certificate Renewal

Getting the certificate live is the last step in the renewal process, and this post-deployment task has primarily been handled manually by many teams. While this works when teams are renewing one certificate a year, as certificate lifespans shrink and the same steps repeat roughly eight times as often, manual errors become more likely and the cost of an outage can run into the millions.

“Certificate renewal is rarely the hard part. The work that piles up on teams is what comes after it, at scale: pushing certificates to the server, restarting the services, and confirming they actually went live. End-to-end automation is what turns a 47-day renewal cycle from a scramble into something that runs on its own. With Key Manager Plus, we are eliminating the last manual step in the life cycle management loop,” said Vasudevan Seshadri, director of product management at ManageEngine.

Quantifying the 47-Day Shift

To help organizations assess their own exposure to the reduced certificate validity mandate, ManageEngine has also released a 47-day TLS impact calculator. It lets enterprises quantify what the mandate means for them based on three factors: the size of their certificate estate, their current renewal labor, and their outage exposure. From there, it compares those numbers against what they will look like once their TLS certificate life cycle is fully automated. That automation is what Key Manager Plus delivers, and it runs identically whether teams deploy on-premises or in the cloud.

July 15: The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has partnered with Augmont to strengthen India’s Electronic Gold Receipt (EGR) ecosystem, marking a significant step towards developing a more transparent and organised gold market.

The partnership aims to encourage wider adoption of Electronic Gold Receipts, providing investors with a modern and efficient way to hold and trade gold through digital platforms backed by physical gold.

The initiative is expected to improve transparency, enhance price discovery, and create greater participation in the formal gold market. It will also help bridge the gap between traditional gold ownership and emerging financial market solutions.

Electronic Gold Receipts offer investors the convenience of digital ownership while reducing the challenges associated with storing physical gold. The platform-based approach is designed to provide a secure, efficient, and accessible option for individuals and institutions interested in gold investments.

The collaboration between NSE and Augmont is expected to benefit various stakeholders, including investors, jewellers, traders, and other participants in the gold value chain, by supporting a more structured and transparent trading ecosystem.

The move reflects the growing efforts to modernise India’s gold market and strengthen the role of technology in creating efficient financial solutions. The partnership is expected to contribute towards wider acceptance of digital gold instruments and support the formalisation of gold trading in India.

July 15: The Andhra Pradesh government has reiterated its support for operating Ramayapatnam Port under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, stating that the approach will help accelerate infrastructure development and improve the state’s maritime growth prospects.

Officials said the PPP framework will enable the integration of government support with private sector expertise, bringing advanced technology, efficient management practices, and greater investment into port operations.

The government highlighted that Ramayapatnam Port is a key strategic project aimed at improving cargo movement, strengthening logistics networks, and supporting industries across the region. The port is expected to create new opportunities for trade, commerce, and employment while enhancing Andhra Pradesh’s position in the maritime sector.

Authorities said private participation in infrastructure projects helps ensure faster development, better operational efficiency, and improved services while contributing to long-term economic growth.

The state government reaffirmed its commitment to developing world-class infrastructure and creating a business-friendly environment. The development of Ramayapatnam Port under the PPP model is expected to support industrial expansion and boost economic activity in Andhra Pradesh.

July 15: The Northeast region has the potential to emerge as India’s next major innovation hub, according to NITI Aayog officials, who highlighted the area’s growing strengths in technology, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development.

Officials said the region’s young workforce, rich natural resources, diverse culture, and strategic importance provide a strong foundation for building an innovation-driven economy. With the right support systems, the Northeast can become a key contributor to India’s growth and development journey.

NITI Aayog emphasised the importance of strengthening research and development, promoting startups, improving digital connectivity, and creating an ecosystem that encourages local talent to develop innovative solutions.

The region has already been witnessing growth in areas such as technology, agriculture, tourism, renewable energy, and entrepreneurship. Greater collaboration between government agencies, industries, educational institutions, and local communities can further accelerate this transformation.

Officials noted that empowering young entrepreneurs and expanding opportunities for innovation will play a crucial role in unlocking the Northeast’s full potential.

The focus on innovation-led development aligns with India’s broader vision of inclusive growth, where every region contributes to the country’s economic progress. With continued investment and support, the Northeast is expected to emerge as an important centre for innovation, enterprise, and sustainable development.

“The purpose of innovation should be to deliver world-class, affordable solutions to more people using fewer resources. Excellence, affordability, and inclusivity must define India‘s innovation model.”

“Innovation will determine India‘s economic competitiveness and technological leadership.” Meanwhile, Ankit Mehta, Co-founder and CEO of ideaForge, remarked that “‘More from Less for More’ provides the roadmap for people-centric innovation capable of transforming the lives of millions.”

July 15: A global study of 200 fund managers across Europe and the United States who collectively manage $7.72 trillion in assets, commissioned by Carne Group (Carne), Europe’s largest third-party management company (ManCo), reveals a fundamental shift in the operational architecture of the asset management industry. Faced with a looming regulatory storm and an increasingly difficult recruitment landscape, fund managers are moving rapidly towards a model defined by the aggressive outsourcing of core functions to third-party specialists (please see the attached press release).

The research reveals fund managers are increasingly moving away from a do-it-all-in-house approach in favour of external partnerships that offer the scale, technological sophistication, and jurisdictional reach required to survive in a high-cost, high-scrutiny environment.

The regulatory squeeze and the talent deficit

Central to this transformation is a deepening concern regarding the global regulatory environment. An overwhelming 89% of fund managers surveyed agree that the ability to navigate regulatory complexities will become much harder over the next two years. This sentiment is driving a flight to expertise, as many fund managers realise that internal resources are no longer sufficient to keep pace with evolving transparency requirements and reporting standards.

The data also points to a critical talent gap within the industry. When asked why they are increasing their use of third-party service providers, 35% of respondents ranked the difficulty in recruiting appropriate staff as their top challenge. This was followed by the growing burden of regulation, which was cited by one in five (21%) as being the number one driver.

The outsourcing surge: Middle and back office in focus

In terms of the scale of this planned operational overhaul, 70% of fund managers surveyed expect to increase their use of third-party service providers over the next 12 months alone, with 41% of respondents planning a dramatic increase.

This trend is not a short-term fix but a long-term strategic realignment. Looking ahead over the next five years, 96% of asset managers questioned expect their use of third-party suppliers to increase, with over a third (37%) anticipating a dramatic shift in how they support their fund management businesses.

The willingness to switch

The research also reveals a highly competitive and fluid market for third-party services. Gone are the days of ‘provider for life’ relationships; fund managers are increasingly willing to switch suppliers to find the right fit for their evolving needs.

One in five managers (20%) confirmed they expect to switch to an alternative third-party service provider within the next year. When asked what would trigger such a move, the ability to offer a wider range of services was most frequently ranked top by respondents, followed by wanting higher service levels and then the need for better technological capabilities.

Interestingly, while cost and price remain important, they were cited as the primary reason for switching by only 13% of managers. This suggests that for today’s fund managers, value-add and service depth are now considered more critical than purely competing on price.