Recent 6 months news in Business

The Competition Commission of India (CCI), under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), has approved two major acquisition proposals.

Germany-based DWS Group has received approval to acquire a 40% stake in Nippon Life India Alternative Investment Fund (AIF) Management Limited (NIAIF) for approximately ₹733 crore.

An Aditya Birla Group-led consortium has acquired a 100% stake in Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd (RCSPL), the owner of the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) franchise, from United Spirits Ltd (USL) in an all-cash deal worth ₹16,660 crore. Following the acquisition, Aryaman Vikram Birla, Director at the Aditya Birla Group, has been appointed as the Chairman of the RCB franchise.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the proposal of Honda Motor Co Ltd to acquire an additional 21% stake in Astemo Ltd from Hitachi. With this, the stake of Honda in Astemo Ltd will increase to 61%, making it a subsidiary, while Hitachi and JIC Capital will retain 19% and 20% stakes, respectively.

In another acquisition, Bharti Airtel has acquired a 16.3% stake in Airtel Africa from ICIL for ₹28,200 crore. This transaction increases the total shareholding of Bharti Airtel in Airtel Africa to 79%.

Shankh Mitra, CEO of Welltower Inc., has been ranked as the second-highest-paid CEO in the world for FY25.

According to The Wall Street Journal, he received a compensation package of $821 million (₹7,744 crore). Tesla chief Elon Musk topped the list with a compensation of $158 billion.

Herbalife International India, in collaboration with the IIT Madras, has launched the first Centre of Excellence (CoE) on plant cell fermentation technology in India at the IIT-M Research Park.

The Board of Directors of Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) and REC Ltd (REC) have approved a merger scheme to integrate REC into PFC under Sections 230 to 232 of the Companies Act, 2013.

This consolidation will create a financing entity with an aggregate loan book exceeding ₹11 lakh crore.

Maruti Suzuki India has partnered with 5 startups under the fifth cohort of the Maruti Suzuki Incubation Program (MSIP).

The selected startups are MiniMines, Easework AI, Sarvam AI, Siftly, and CodeMate AI. These startups will develop solutions focused on operational efficiency, customer experience, and recycling of end-of-life electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The MSIP is conducted in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group (WBG), has pledged $371 million to Sify Infinit Spaces Ltd (SISL), a subsidiary of Sify Technologies Ltd.

The financing will support the development of AI-ready, energy-efficient Data Centre (DC) infrastructure in Navi Mumbai and Chennai.

SpaceX has agreed to acquire Anysphere, the parent company of the AI coding assistant Cursor, in an all-stock transaction worth $60 billion.

Meta has acquired a minority stake of 20% in the Indian financial technology (fintech) startup CRED.

The acquisition was completed through a Series H funding round worth $900 million (₹8,550 crore), which values the company at $4.5 billion.

Jeh Aerospace Pvt Ltd has signed a multi-year, multi-million-dollar agreement with the USA-based Solestra Group to establish a dedicated Global Manufacturing Centre (GMC) at the former's facility in Hyderabad.

The Essar Group has signed a $500 million crude oil sourcing and product supply agreement with the Abu Dhabi-based International Resources Holding (IRH).

The agreement aims to support procurement, supply chain optimization, and energy trading in global markets.

NSE Indices Ltd, a subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), has introduced 11 new sector-specific indices, taking the total number of indices managed by the entity to 34.

These indices cover sectors such as power, capital goods, telecommunications, construction, consumer services, retail, healthcare, and financial services.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in the presence of Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, has inaugurated the advanced manufacturing facility of Jabil Inc. at the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) in Ranjangaon, Pune.

The facility aims to create an export-centric ecosystem for manufacturing next-generation hardware for AI data centres.

Jio Platforms (JPL), the technology arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has entered the global top 20 in the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) rankings for 2025 released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO).

JPL is the only Indian technology innovator to secure a position in the top 20 list. China leads the world in 2025 PCT filings with 73.7 thousand applications, while India ranked 12th globally with 3.07 thousand PCT applications.

President Droupadi Murmu has approved the merger of REC Ltd (REC) into the Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC). The merger aims to create a larger and more efficient public sector power financing institution.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the subscription of equity shareholding in Axis Finance Ltd by Kedaara Pearl Holding and Kedaara Capital Fund IV AIF.

The CCI has also approved the acquisition of PGIM India Asset Management Pvt Ltd and PGIM India Trustees Pvt Ltd by TVS Emerald Ltd and TVS Venu Management and Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd.

Sarvam AI, an Indian full-stack sovereign AI startup, has become the 130th unicorn of India. The company raised $234 million as part of its $300 million Series B funding round.

With this, the valuation of the company has reached $1.5 billion, making it the only AI startup in India to achieve this valuation.

Elon Musk, CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), became the world’s first trillionaire on paper following the Initial Public Offering (IPO) of the company.

SpaceX raised $75 billion through the IPO, surpassing the 2019 Saudi Aramco IPO to become the largest public offering in history.

Platinum Jasmine A 2018 Trust, an investment vehicle backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), has announced plans to reduce its 2.3% stake in Lenskart Solutions Ltd through a block deal.

Nuvama Wealth Management Ltd has received final approval from the SEBI to commence mutual fund (MF) operations. The company will conduct these operations through its asset management arm, Nuvama Asset Management Ltd.