खतरे की बज गई घंटी! अगले 5-7 दिनों में बढ़ सकते हैं पेट्रोल-डीजल के दाम, इतनी होगी बढ़ोतरी

by Hansraj Agrawal | May 2, 2026 | Business

Petrol-Diesel Price Hike News: देश में महंगाई का एक ऐसा तूफान आने वाला है जो आपके घर के पूरे गणित को बिगाड़ कर रख देगा. सरकारी गलियारों से ऐसी खबरें छन कर बाहर आ रही हैं, जो सीधे आपकी जेब पर डाका डालने वाली हैं. सूत्रों ने बताया है कि अगले पांच से सात दिनों के भीतर तेल कीमतों पर सरकार एक बड़ा फैसला लेने जा रही है.

सरकारी सूत्रों के मुताबिक, पश्चिम एशिया में बदलते हालातों और वैश्विक ऊर्जा बाजार पर पड़ने वाले इसके असर पर सरकार की पैनी नजर है. अभी भले ही अंतिम मुहर न लगी हो, लेकिन संकेत साफ हैं कि बहुत जल्द पेट्रोल, डीजल की कीमतों में तगड़ी बढ़ोतरी हो सकती है. सिर पर तलवार लटक रही है, क्योंकि आंतरिक चर्चाएं जोरों पर हैं और अधिकारी इस बात का आकलन कर रहे हैं कि आखिर कितना बोझ जनता पर डाला जाए.

एयर इंडिया का बड़ा फैसला, रोजाना 100 फ्लाइट्स की होगी कटौती, महंगाई ने रोकी उड़ान

पेट्रोल-डीजल के दाम में 4 से 5 रुपए तक के उछाल की आशंका

बता दें कि पेट्रोल-डीजल के दाम में 4 से 5 रुपए तक के उछाल की आशंका है. सरकार इस समय ‘दोराहे’ पर खड़ी है. एक तरफ तेल कंपनियों का वित्तीय दबाव है तो दूसरी तरफ बढ़ती महंगाई का डर. लेकिन जनता को अब फूंक-फूंक कर कदम रखने की जरूरत है, क्योंकि अगर ये कीमतें बढ़ीं तो इसका असर सीधे आपकी थाली और आपके सफर पर पड़ेगा.

ईंधन और रसोई गैस की कीमतों में होने वाली किसी भी बढ़ोतरी का व्यापक असर होता है. जब डीजल महंगा होता है तो ट्रकों का किराया बढ़ता है और जब किराया बढ़ता है तो फल-सब्जियों से लेकर हर जरूरत का सामान महंगा हो जाता है. मध्यम वर्ग के लिए यह लोहे के चने चबाने जैसा होने वाला है, क्योंकि घरेलू बजट पहले से ही खिंचा हुआ है.

होटल एसोसिएशन का बड़ा फैसला, ग्राहकों को ही देना होगा महंगे सिलेंडर का पैसा, रेस्टोरेंट्स में बढ़ेंगे दाम

संतुलन बनाने की कोशिश कर रही सरकार- सूत्र

सूत्रों ने बताया कि सरकार फिलहाल संतुलन बनाने की कोशिश कर रही है, ताकि महंगाई बेकाबू न हो, लेकिन वैश्विक अनिश्चितता के इस दौर में यह एक बेहद संवेदनशील नीतिगत फैसला है. खतरे की घंटी बज चुकी है और अगले एक हफ्ते में तस्वीर बिल्कुल साफ होने की उम्मीद है.

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Q4 Results 02nd May Live: Kotak Mahindra Bank, Avenue Supermarts, APL Apollo Tubes, Epigral, Netweb Tech to announce Q4 results

by Hansraj Agrawal | May 2, 2026 | Business

4 Results Today, 02nd May 2026 Live Updates: Find all the latest Q4 results 2026 updates of APL Apollo Tubes, Ashoka Metcast, Bhageria Industries, Avenue Supermarts, Epigral, Family Care Hospitals, Galaxy Bearings, Gujarat Containers, IKIO Technologies, India Shelter Finance Corporation, Kanpur Plastipack, Kotak Mahindra Bank, LG Balakrishnan & Bros, Mitsu Chem Plast, Netweb Technologies India, Nila Infrastructures, Nitta Gelatin India, Omax Autos, Rhetan TMT, Sharp Investments, Shetron, SMC Global Securities, Swastika Investmart, and Tacent Projects.

May 2, 2026 10:20

Square Yards Q4 results live: Square Yards record FY26 Financial results with ₹2,086 crore revenue and EBITDA of ₹176 crore

Revenue Growth: Revenue of ₹ 2,086 crore (~USD 223 million), up 48 per cent Y-Y, achieving a 5-year CAGR of ~53 per cent. Revenue has grown 8.5x from ₹ 246 crore in FY21.

Profitability Milestone: EBITDA of ₹ 176 crore (~USD 19 million), up ~269 per cent Y-Y, with EBITDA margin expanding 504 bps from 3 per cent in FY25 to 8 per cent in FY26 – the third consecutive year of positive EBITDA.

Gross Profit: Gross Profit reached ₹ 476 crore (~USD 51 million), growing 49 per cent Y-Y, with gross margins sustained at 23 per cent on a significantly larger revenue base.

Segmental EBITDA: Segmental EBITDA grew 71 per cent Y-Y to ₹ 314 crore, with margins expanding from 13 per cent to 15 per cent (+206 bps).

India remains the engine: India revenue grew 57 per cent Y-Y vs 48 per cent overall, with India now contributing 88 per cent of total revenue. International (GCC + ROW) contributes the balance 12 per cent.

Q4 Acceleration: Q4 FY26 delivered 53 per cent Y-Y revenue growth, the strongest quarter of the year, setting strong exit momentum for FY27.

FY27 Outlook: Square Yards targets 40 per cent+ revenue growth and double-digit EBITDA margins for FY27.

“We are at an interesting trisection of scale, growth and profitability. And with network flywheel effects and leverage playing out across the ecosystem, this is the best operational phase we have ever been in. Even with the scale, we are still operating at low single digit market share and that allows us room to think beyond the next 5 years of growth.”

— Tanuj Shori, Founder and CEO, Square Yards
May 2, 2026 10:16
Quarterly results

Filatex India Q4 results live: Filatex India posts 37% PAT jump in FY26, margins improve despite revenue dip

Polyester filament yarn maker Filatex India Limited reported a 36.66 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit for FY26, even as annual revenue contracted marginally, the company disclosed in its earnings release on Thursday.

Profit after tax for the full year ended March 31, 2026, came in at ₹183.90 crore, up from ₹134.57 crore in FY25. Revenue from operations fell 2.15 per cent to ₹4,160.52 crore from ₹4,252.52 crore a year ago. EBITDA surged 34.47 per cent to ₹346.52 crore, with margins expanding sharply to 8.33 per cent from 6.06 per cent in FY25.

For the fourth quarter alone, the company posted a PAT of ₹40.25 crore, down slightly from ₹41.38 crore in Q4FY25. Quarterly revenue declined 8.75 per cent to ₹985.49 crore. EBITDA, however, improved 13.89 per cent to ₹86.24 crore with a margin of 8.75 per cent, up from 7.01 per cent a year earlier.

Production volumes were broadly stable at 3,89,027 MT for the year, while sales volumes dipped marginally to 3,88,813 MT.

The company flagged that geopolitical tensions in West Asia pushed up crude-linked raw material costs — specifically PTA and MEG — in March 2026, causing cautious buying and lower operating rates industry-wide. Higher freight and insurance costs compounded the pressure. However, the government’s removal of customs duties on PTA and MEG from April 2, 2026, for an initial three-month period is expected to ease near-term input cost pressures.

On the capital expenditure front, Filatex said its ₹300 crore textile-to-textile recycling project (26,750 TPA capacity) and a ₹235 crore brownfield capacity expansion of roughly 55,000 TPA are both on track for commissioning by September 2026. A renewable energy push — targeting an increase in renewable power share from 26 per cent to 55 per cent — is slated for completion by November 2026.

The company also signed a memorandum of understanding with American & Efird Global, LLC to trial chemically recycled polyester yarn in thread manufacturing, a move aimed at validating its recycled yarn offering in higher-value segments.

Published on May 2, 2026

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20 years on, politics still dictates petrol prices

by Hansraj Agrawal | May 1, 2026 | Business

A screen grab of the report carried by businessline in its edition dated May 4, 2006

Two decades ago, businessline was reporting on the same structural tensions in India’s fuel pricing that continue to surface today, as the government once again opts for a status quo on retail oil prices despite rising global crude.

The persistence of this pattern underscores a central contradiction: While petrol and diesel were formally deregulated by the NDA government in 2002 under Petroleum Minister Ram Naik, pricing freedom has remained constrained by political considerations.

Political optics

Back then, as now, oil marketing companies (OMCs) found themselves absorbing the impact of global price swings when domestic prices were held steady.

The intent of deregulation was to eliminate precisely this burden, freeing companies to adjust prices in line with international markets and reducing the need for subsidies. Yet, in practice, electoral cycles, inflation concerns and political optics have repeatedly intervened, preventing full pass-through of costs to consumers.

The result is a system that operates in a grey zone. When crude prices rise sharply, OMCs act as shock absorbers, delaying increases and accumulating losses. When prices fall, tax adjustments often limit the benefit reaching consumers. This asymmetry distorts market signals and undermines the very rationale of deregulation.

What has evolved is the context, not the core issue. India’s import dependence has deepened, and global energy markets have become more volatile. Still, the underlying dilemma remains unchanged: OMCs are neither fully market-driven nor entirely state-supported.

The continuity is telling. Twenty years on, despite policy shifts and changing global dynamics, India’s fuel pricing regime remains shaped as much by political compulsions as by economic logic, leaving OMCs to grapple with the same unresolved challenges.

Published on May 1, 2026

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We are happy to give up some market share, but not do businesses which are risky, says Star Health and Allied Insurance CFO Nilesh Kambli

by Hansraj Agrawal | May 1, 2026 | Business

Star Health and Allied Insurance, a market leader in the country’s retail health insurance space, is planning to increase annual premium by high single digit in this fiscal, says its Chief Financial Officer Nilesh Kambli. In an interview with businessline, Kambli said the insurer is looking to maintain its market share or improve it marginally in FY27. Edited excerpts:

Star Health and Allied Insurance’s combined ratio for both the last financial year and for the last quarter improved. While the ratio improved 230 basis points at 98.8 per cent for FY26, it improved 270 bps at 95.7 per cent for Q4FY26. What were the reasons?

There was a sharp improvement in the loss ratio. The loss ratio improved by around 200 basis points for the last financial year. If you remember, FY25 was not a good year for us, and it was mainly for two reasons. First was group business — whatever we had written was highly loss making. So, during the last half of FY26, we had given up group businesses. So, in the group segment we saw roughly a 12 per cent improvement in the loss ratio. The proportion of that business is only 5 per cent. The balance loss ratio improvement came from retail business. If you remember, we had been mentioning about multiple things — growth in the new business, the price hikes that we have taken on last year on 65 per cent of the portfolio. Moreover, we had brought up multiple things to improve the claims efficiency to improve customer experiences. Like home healthcare services, telemedicine services, preventive and wellness initiatives. Also, fraud, waste and abuse is something which is very rampant when it comes to retail business. We had done a lot of things to improve that area as well. So, claims efficiency also gave us good benefits. And the last and the least is the underwriting. Also, we have been focusing on quality business. We are happy to give up some market share, but not do businesses which are risky, and where the inflation is higher, incidence of fraud is very high. The portability business is one segment which we have avoided. So, all these things have led to an improvement in the loss ratio.

In the current financial year, what is the combined ratio that you are looking at?

What we have stated is in FY28 we will have a mid teen to high teen return on equity (RoE). We are not giving any quarterly or yearly guidance. We had given long-term guidance of increase in the topline as well as bottomline, and that is what we are focusing on. We are mainly focused on RoE targets because expense ratio and claims ratio depend upon various regulations and various market conditions. So, we don’t want to comment on any individual things, but the combined ratio should continue to improve is what I can mention. We continue to grow our new business. Especially after the GST exemption, we have seen good growth in the new business. We believe, not at the same level, but the momentum should continue, and we should continue to grow our new business, especially in tier three cities where we have a very strong business and the under penetration is there when it comes to health insurance.

What kind of annual insurance premium increase is the company planning for this fiscal?

We will take price increases on an annual basis. So, for the current year also we have planned for certain price increases. Roughly 80 per cent of the portfolio will undergo price increase for FY27. It will help us beat inflation. In the last financial year, the average price increase on portfolio was eight to nine per cent — high single digit. We would take a similar price increase in the current year.

In the retail health segment, Star Health and Allied Insurance’s market share is the highest in the country. What are the company’s plans to increase the market share further in FY27?

Currently, we have 31.4 per cent market share in retail health. It was around 31 per cent for the last three-four years now. In spite of the competition, we do only profitable business. We don’t do businesses in loss making areas, we are still making that market share. So, it is by design, we are happy to let go around 60-70 basis per market share. But as long as we are profitable, we are fine with it. We expect the market to grow 15-18 per cent range going forward, and we are growing at a similar range. So, we should maintain the market share, or may be marginally improve it.

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On-shoring global rupee market: Indian banks will need to evolve as market-makers globally, says RBI Guv Malhotra

by Hansraj Agrawal | May 1, 2026 | Business

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra
| Photo Credit:
ANI

Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Friday said Indian banks will need to evolve as market-makers globally if the global rupee market has to be on-shored.

Indian banks are dealing only with offshore market-makers rather than with end-users, Malhotra said in his key note address at the 25^th FIMMDA-PDAI Annual Conference, in Amsterdam.

The Governor said: “We will also stand prepared to deploy appropriate policy measures, as warranted, to mitigate spillovers and ensure orderly market conditions.”

This observation comes in the backdrop of the rupee breaching the 95 to the dollar mark in intraday on Thursday for the first time since March 30, 2026, and closing at an all time low of 94.91 per US dollar.

The rupee has been buffeted by a host of factors, including global crude oil prices recently touching a four year high amid the ongoing West Asia war and blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, and persistent Dollar outflows due to FPI related sales in the Indian equity markets.

Malhotra emphasised that all banks should facilitate this as a priority, so that retail users get a fair deal. Currently, usage of the FX Retail platform remains limited.

The aforementioned suggestions form part of five areas for further deepening and strengthening India’s financial markets.

The Governor said while Central government securities market is liquid by most standards, there is scope to improve liquidity across all tenors and securities.

Malhotra noted that OTC (over-the-counter) derivatives markets, especially interest rate derivatives, remain concentrated in just one or two few products. He underscored that it needs to improve if efficient interest rate hedging options have to be made available to stakeholders.

He observed that development of credit derivatives, which is largely an underutilised area, is yet to take off in any meaningful way.

The Governor said market participants must acknowledge that while a privilege bestows some benefits, it also entails responsibilities.

The responsibilities include ensuring that every user has easy access to financial markets; every user can transact on fair and transparent terms, irrespective of size and sophistication; broader regulatory objectives are met in letter and spirit even as organisational interests are pursued; and to protect, promote and sustain market integrity.

Published on May 1, 2026

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Maersk levies emergency freight surcharge on Gulf routes amid Hormuz risks

by Hansraj Agrawal | May 1, 2026 | Business

Under the new structure, shippers will pay $1,800 per 20-ft container, $3,000 per 40-ft container, and $3,800 for reefers, special and dangerous cargo.
| Photo Credit:
Hollie Adams

Global shipping major Maersk has introduced an emergency freight surcharge on cargo to and from the Gulf region, significantly increasing logistics costs as security risks persist around the Strait of Hormuz.

Industry sources said that while there are no direct sailings currently operating reliably through the corridor, essential cargo such as pharmaceuticals and perishables are being routed through alternative sea-land combinations to reach destinations.

New structure

Under the new structure announced by Maersk in a trade notice issued on April 27, shippers will pay $1,800 per 20-ft container, $3,000 per 40-ft container, and $3,800 for reefers, special and dangerous cargo. The surcharge applies to cargo originating from, destined for, or transiting through affected Gulf ports. While the line did not specify the effective date of implementation, industry sources said it is with immediate effect.

The fee covers shipments linked to key markets including the UAE, Saudi Arabia (Dammam and Jubail), Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq and parts of Oman. The move comes amid continued avoidance of the Hormuz route and widespread operational disruptions.

Maersk said the surcharge is aimed at addressing the need for alternative logistics arrangements, including rerouting cargo, temporary storage at intermediate ports and deploying additional capacity.

“Due to the volatility of the ongoing situation, there is a need for alternative solutions to bring cargo to final destinations, including finding alternative routing and storage in transit,” the company said in a customer advisory.

The surcharge includes 14 days of storage in transit, after which additional storage and reefer plug-in charges will apply.

Maersk is not alone in imposing such levies. Singapore-based Ocean Network Express had earlier announced an Emergency Surcharge (EMS) on March 4, citing exceptional operational and security challenges in the Middle East, including the effective closure of the Hormuz corridor.

The EMS applies to all imports and exports to and from affected Persian Gulf countries, including Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia (Dammam and Jubail), Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE.

Industry sources said the imposition of such surcharges is expected to raise landed costs, disrupt pricing contracts and compress margins for Indian exporters and importers, particularly in sectors such as petrochemicals, food products and engineering goods.

With major shipping lines continuing to avoid the Hormuz corridor, analysts expect elevated freight rates and longer transit times to persist until stability returns to one of the world’s most critical maritime trade routes, said sources.

Published on May 1, 2026

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