Business Bureau

Personal loans in India are undergoing a significant shift, moving away from their traditional image as tools meant only for emergencies. Increasingly, borrowers with stable jobs, steady incomes and disciplined investment habits are opting for personal loans to fund a wide range of planned needs from education, healthcare and home upgrades to travel, wellness and lifestyle aspirations. Industry trends indicate that post-Covid, many salaried professionals have reassessed what “investment” truly means. While they have continued systematic investments and long-term savings, there is a growing recognition that health, well-being and quality of life also require timely financial commitment. Rather than redeeming…

India’s hiring market remains buoyant, but recruiters are finding it increasingly difficult to match candidates with roles, according to new research released by LinkedIn on February 3, 2026. The study reveals that 74% of recruiters in India now struggle to find qualified candidates, even as hiring activity is running nearly 40% above pre-pandemic levels. The challenge is being driven by a widening volume-quality gap. More than half of recruiters facing hiring difficulties cited a surge in AI-generated applications, while 47% pointed to persistent shortages of in-demand skills. Nearly 48% said identifying genuine applications amid low-quality or misleading profiles has added…

South African Tourism concluded the fifth edition of its flagship corporate engagement initiative, Corporate Think Tank, with Kolkata as the fourth and final stop of the current four-city series. The event brought together over 25 corporate leaders for discussions focused on business travel trends, collaboration opportunities and destination-led experiences. Designed to deepen engagement with India’s corporate sector, the initiative showcased South Africa’s growing strengths as a destination for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE), alongside leisure travel. Through interactive sessions and destination presentations, the programme highlighted the country’s positioning as a value-driven and experience-rich choice for business events. Kolkata has…

Škoda Auto India marked the first anniversary of its compact SUV Kylaq by announcing that the model has crossed the 50,000 sales milestone, underlining its growing footprint in the highly competitive sub-4-metre SUV segment. The automaker also unveiled an expanded variant portfolio and limited-period anniversary benefits for customers. Since its launch, the Škoda Kylaq has emerged as a key growth driver for the brand, contributing significantly to Škoda Auto India’s best-ever sales performance in 2025. To build on this momentum, the company has expanded the Kylaq range from four to six variants, now spread across 11 price points. The new…

The Security Solutions business of Godrej Enterprises Group has announced a strong growth outlook for its home locker business this wedding season, with sales expected to grow by 20%, driven by rising consumer preference for secure, long-term gifting solutions amidst India’s peak marriage period. The wedding season has emerged as a critical consumption period for home security, driven by rising investments in gold, jewellery, cash, and important documents. With gold prices skyrocketing, the risk profile has gone up, and hence the need to secure the jewellery is a pressing need. Weddings are one of those events of household asset creation, and a…

Reacting to the Union Budget, Sunil Kataria, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Godrej Agrovet Ltd, said the proposals place strong emphasis on productivity, resilience and inclusive growth, once again reaffirming agriculture as a key pillar in India’s journey towards Viksit Bharat. Kataria said the targeted focus on livestock, fisheries and allied sectors signals a clear policy shift towards diversified and income-resilient farm systems. He welcomed the introduction of loan-linked capital support for veterinary education, hospitals, diagnostics and breeding infrastructure, noting that the move would expand capacity and improve access to high-quality services across rural India. He said future…

The Union Budget 2026–27 presents a confident roadmap for India’s next phase of growth. I congratulate Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji for his visionary leadership and thank Hon’ble Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman ji for a Budget that balances ambition with inclusion, and reforms with responsibility. This is a truly Yuva Shakti–driven Budget, anchored in the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047. By prioritising productivity, competitiveness and cutting-edge technologies, including AI, it lays a strong foundation for Viksit Bharat through sustained structural reforms and people-centric growth. It reinforces India’s steady economic trajectory through fiscal discipline, sustained growth and strategic…

INDIAWOOD 2026 is set to return to the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) from February 26 to March 2, positioning Bengaluru once again as a global hub for the woodworking and furniture manufacturing industry. Organised by NürnbergMesse India and supported by EUMABOIS, the 26th edition will be the largest in the event’s history. The biennial exhibition will host over 1,000 brands from more than 50 countries, attract upwards of 90,000 industry professionals, and cover 85,000 square metres of exhibition space—registering a 15 per cent increase over the previous edition. The scale of participation reflects growing global confidence in India’s manufacturing…

The Union Budget 2026–27 has positioned education as a critical driver of India’s economic and workforce transformation, with a strong focus on employability, artificial intelligence (AI) integration and industry-aligned skills, industry leaders said. The budget’s emphasis on directly linking education with jobs, entrepreneurship and services-led growth reflects a clear understanding of how careers and talent requirements are evolving. Commenting on the budget, Arjun Nair, Co-founder of Great Learning, said the push to embed AI across learning systems, expand higher education capacity around industrial corridors, and promote modular, industry-designed programmes would significantly strengthen India’s talent pipeline. He noted that repositioning education…

Reacting to the Union Budget FY27, Pinakin Simaria, Head – Agri Business Group, Kotak Mahindra Bank, said the Budget signals a decisive long-term shift in policy stance by simultaneously prioritising innovation, investment-led growth and climate resilience. Simaria said the Budget ensures continued focus on small and marginal farmers (SMFs) through the “Third–Kartavya Framework”, which emphasises productivity enhancement and entrepreneurship. He noted that agriculture is now being treated as a “credible engine of economic growth”, underpinned by a growth rate of 4.45 per cent between FY16 and FY25—the highest recorded in recent decades. Highlighting key policy measures, Simaria pointed to the…