logo
Donald Trump's furious attack on New York mayoral primary winner Zoran Mamdani

Donald Trump's furious attack on New York mayoral primary winner Zoran Mamdani

India Today26-06-2025
1:03
Noshir Gowadia, the Indian-born aerospace engineer who helped design the B-2 stealth bomber, was sentenced to 32 years in prison in 2010.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

8 held in illegal surrogacy racket, 6 fertility clinics under lens
8 held in illegal surrogacy racket, 6 fertility clinics under lens

Time of India

time39 minutes ago

  • Time of India

8 held in illegal surrogacy racket, 6 fertility clinics under lens

Hyderabad: In a major crackdown on a citywide illegal surrogacy and egg donation racket, Petbasheerabad police on Friday arrested eight persons, including a mother-son duo accused of recruiting and exploiting poor women. Investigators said the role of at least six fertility centres in Hyderabad is now under scrutiny. According to police, Narreddula Laxmi Reddy and her son Narender Reddy acted as agents, allegedly luring financially vulnerable women from Bidar in Karnataka and various districts of Andhra Pradesh to become surrogate mothers or egg donors in violation of the law. "Laxmi Reddy had earlier worked as an egg donor and surrogate mother. Using her experience and contacts with other agents, fertility clinics, and IVF centres, she began recruiting women and referring them to different fertility centres," said Medchal DCP N Koti Reddy. You Can Also Check: Hyderabad AQI | Weather in Hyderabad | Bank Holidays in Hyderabad | Public Holidays in Hyderabad | Gold Rates Today in Hyderabad | Silver Rates Today in Hyderabad A search at Laxmi's residence led to the seizure of ₹6.47 lakh in cash, promissory notes, and non-judicial stamp papers from Narender, an engineering graduate who allegedly assisted his mother in running the racket. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Seniors are going crazy for these comfy, stylish, easy-on shoes Ultra-Comfortable Shoes Undo Police also recovered disposable syringes, pregnancy medicines, hormone injections, and case sheets from a private IVF clinic. Investigators allege Laxmi charged couples — referred to her by IVF clinics — between ₹10 lakh and ₹20 lakh depending on the service sought, while the women who carried the pregnancies received no more than ₹2 lakh. Police say she kept the women at her Quthbullapur residence and demanded additional payments from IVF centres for 'providing' them as surrogates. While the donors and surrogates were aware that commercial surrogacy is banned under Indian law, they agreed to participate for monetary gain, officers said. The possible complicity of the six fertility clinics in Banjara Hills, Kondapur, Madhapur, and Somajiguda is still under investigation, police said. The police said the investigation will determine whether the clinics knowingly facilitated illegal surrogacy or merely acted as intermediaries. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Happy Krishna Janmashtami Wishes ,, messages , and quotes !

Taking the bull by its horns
Taking the bull by its horns

The Hindu

time3 hours ago

  • The Hindu

Taking the bull by its horns

Mumbai's finance community often comes together in ballrooms of five-star hotels and valorises the Indian investor. The financially influential community often speaks in words tinged with nationalistic pride about the continuous increase in registered investors. In 2024-2025, up to 2.09 crore Indians were registered as investors. This number was just 38.5 lakh in 2019-20, before the pandemic. That's a five-fold increase. The suit-clad mutual-fund managers and stock analysts say that this is a reflection of the average Indian's trust in the potential of the nation. Terms like 'financial inclusion' and 'economic democratisation' are often used. In July 2025, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which regulates the capital markets, alleged that Jane Street, an American trading firm, had manipulated the derivatives market, a segment of the financial market. Derivatives are a set of financial products that lock the prices of stocks or indices (groups of stocks such as Nifty 50), for a future date. SEBI halted Jane Street's operations until it paid ₹4,843.7 crore, the profit that the firm had allegedly made. Now, the matter is under investigation. India is the largest derivatives market in the world. In June this year, Reuters quoted the Futures Industry Association as saying that the country 'made up nearly 60% of global equity derivative trading volumes of 7.3 billion in April'. It also said that at least six global trading giants 'are ratcheting up their presence' in India. In September 2024, SEBI brought out a report stating that the aggregate losses from 2022-2024 in the derivatives market were to the tune of ₹1.8 lakh crore. 'Despite consecutive years of losses, more than 75% of those who lost continued trading in F&Os (futures and options, a part of the derivatives market),' the report stated. While there are many reasons for this, analysts say that people look at F&Os for quick returns, since the contracts expire on a weekly or monthly basis, unlike stocks, which are long-term investments. Pump and dump Jane Street, which began operations in 2000 in New York, had a net trading revenue of $10.4 billion as of June 2025, as per Bloomberg, the business news network. Its website claims to have five offices and over 3,000 employees, trading in 45 countries (India is not listed). Nuvama Wealth Management was a company executing Jane Street's trade in India. It is now under the scanner of the Income Tax Department. In April 2024, SEBI carried out an analysis of 'the alleged unauthorised use of their (Jane Street) trading strategies in Indian options markets' and asked the National Stock Exchange to monitor it. Later that year, SEBI issued a circular announcing a series of policy steps to address problems in the derivatives market. These included overtrading in index options on expiry days (Thursdays). Options are financial contracts, a type of derivative. The buyer is simply purchasing the 'option' to buy an underlying asset at a fixed date at a certain price. 'Call options' expect prices to rise, and 'put options' expect prices to fall. SEBI alleged that Jane Street pumped up the price of Bank Nifty — which consists of stocks of 12 large banks — by buying them in the morning. Seeing this, other traders would also buy in, further pushing up the price. The company would simultaneously buy put options on the same stocks/index, which other traders were unaware of. Towards the end of the day, Jane Street would dump the stocks, profiting from the resultant fall. Complexity and drive The complexity of the derivatives market makes it difficult to navigate even for professional traders like Preeti K. Chhabra, founder of Surat-based Trade Delta, a trading firm. 'After having studied the entire subject thoroughly, and trading for nearly one and a half years, I realised that this is a game where nobody knows 100%,' says Chhabra, who started her derivatives trading firm in 2018-19 after almost two decades of working in stock brokerages. Ms. Chhabra began with a capital of ₹90 lakh and lost about half of it in the first few months, she says. Following the loss, she took a year's break to understand the instrument better before she got back to it. She is among the many traders in India who execute futures and options trades for their clients. Social media platforms and even messaging apps like Telegram are rife with futures and options courses for children. In fact, on the days when the Bank Nifty dipped, analysts online gave different reasons for this, not citing possible market manipulation, SEBI said, in its order. Financial influencers are major contributors to financial market education and investment. Street oversmart With a spurt in online trading apps, which charge low commissions, during COVID-19 in 2020, many, including the youth, began accessing financial markets. The entry of new investors at this time drove a bull rally that lasted about four years before the slump to current levels began in September 2024. Bodies like the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) say that increasing financial literacy and awareness is the reason behind the proliferation. The awareness of financial instruments, however, does not translate into an understanding of markets. In its 2024 report, SEBI said that 43% of the people who had lost money were below the age of 30, and 93% of the people in this age group lost money trading in derivatives. Akshay Chinchalkar is the head of research at Axis Securities and actively writes on the professional-networking platform LinkedIn about market trends. He feels that there is too much information out there, which makes it difficult to separate the knowledge from the noise. 'It makes us ponder whether the sheer volume of analysis directly leads to consistent, profitable F&O trading for everyone,' he says. The Association of National Exchanges Members of India said in early August that it's studying ways of helping people move away from derivative trading. One of the suggestions they made was to increase the barriers to entry, so that uninformed or undercapitalised traders don't lose on a gamble. Markets like South Korea and Singapore have such barriers, the association said at a media briefing. SEBI has taken certain measures to control the enthusiasm, like doing away with weekly expiries of derivative contracts for all indices except the main Nifty 50 and the 30-stock Sensex, expecting that this would reduce speculatory trading. This means that contracts need to be held for longer periods in all other indices. However, a SEBI study showed that 91% of individual traders continued to lose money even after reforms. This was down from 93% before the Jane Street episode.

Swimmer Bula Chowdhury's Hooghly home robbed; Padma Shri award, medals stolen
Swimmer Bula Chowdhury's Hooghly home robbed; Padma Shri award, medals stolen

India Today

time5 hours ago

  • India Today

Swimmer Bula Chowdhury's Hooghly home robbed; Padma Shri award, medals stolen

Padmashri award of swimmer Bula Chowdhury stolen from her house. Indian swimmer Bula Choudhury's ancestral home in Debaipukur, Hindmotor, Hooghly, was robbed for the fourth thieves broke in through the back door and stole numerous medals, including the Padma Shri award, President's award, gold, silver, and bronze medals, as well as foreign awards. They also damaged household items and stole the tap from the bathroom basin and even the Lakshmi Chowdhury, who currently resides in Kolkata with her family, visits her ancestral home occasionally. Her brother, Dolan Chowdhury, manages the property and stays there with their the robbery, Dolan expressed frustration, stating that the house had been robbed three times before, and despite police complaints, the incidents continued. A police picket was set up earlier but was later withdrawn, leaving the house police have started an investigation, with the North Uttarpara police station's IC, Amitabh Sanyal, visiting the scene. Bula Chowdhury's family feels insecure, and her brother wonders how ordinary people cope with such incident of robbery at the same house. A complaint has been filed with the police in this regard and an investigation has been started to arrest the criminals.- EndsWith inputs from Rahi Haldar

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store