Best of the week: IPL returns to a break - is peace the field too? | Mint

He has felt heavy in the past few days in India – slightly, uncertain and deeply emotional. With border voltages increasing and civil lives at risk, the threatening threat of war reminded us how fragile peace can be. But in the midst of all, one thing stood out: the unit. Of course, this tension has also flooded in other parts of our lives. One of the biggest disruptions? The Indian Premier League (IPL). It was stopped to prioritize the safety of players and everyone involved. But now there is a shift in energy. The IPL will resume on May 17, after a week-long interruption that followed the operation Sindoor of India-a military strike on terrorist camps in Pakistan and Kashmir in Pakistan. The season will resume with a collision between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders in M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. With 17 games left, the action now spans six cities – Bengaluru, Jaipur, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Mumbai. To the best of Mint’s work of this week: Visibility of profits with the IPL resumes on May 17 after a short suspension due to the tension of India-Pakistan, the Torrent group new owners of Gujarat Titans-an instant sigh of relief. But for corporate owners like them, IPL team ownership is less about annual profits and more about visibility, brand value and appreciation for assets. The Gujarat Titans, bought at a valuation of £ 7,500 crore, represent an investment in a finite, still appreciation for asset class. With predictable revenue streams and limited costs, IPL teams offer an almost risk-free business model. Now, with Indian owners supporting England’s The Hunred League, the global T20 ecosystem is developing rapidly. Read more. India-American trading agreement is threatening India and the US is likely to sign a prolonged bilateral trade agreement before July 8, before the expiry of a 90-day break at the reciprocal tariff action of the US. Trade Minister Piyush Goyal leads a high level delegation to Washington for personal discussions. Officials believe that discussions are progressing positively, with both sides with the aim of concluding the agreement before the original timeline of the fall 2025. The agreement will help India to avoid steep US rates and bring clarity to trade relations. India is firm on the protection of sensitive sectors such as dairy and agriculture, with selective tariff concessions discussed. Read more. Banking Contrarian Play Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger were a long -standing skeptics of banks because of their high leverage and driving glein, but Berkshire Hathaway invested in some well -managed lenders such as ICICI Bank and Bank of America. Their approach underlines the importance of management quality above valuation. Despite macro -wind winds and delayed credit growth, Indian banks achieved good Q4 results -ICICI and HDFC Bank led with strong profits and deposit growth, while Axis and Kotak had an operational tension. Challenges such as the net interest margin compression, growth in deposit and global uncertainties are on the point. Yet analysts remain positive on large banks with strong retail ranks, stable asset quality and diversified income. Read more. Quick detection of J&K Dual-usage Projects India is quickly detecting infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir to strengthen civil life and military readiness. Important double use projects include new highways with emergency air strips, a rail connection between Jammu and Srinagar, and extensive waterways on the Chenab and Jhelum rivers. A priority is critical-mineral mining-really lithium, with 5.9 million tonnes identified in Reasi-with the following plans for fresh surveys and additional auction blocks. Hydro projects and 810 km of highways over five strategic corridors are also on a fast lane. Experts emphasize deeper geological studies (G2/g1), advanced extraction technologies and international partnerships to make mining viable. Read more. Chandra’s TCS Wake-up call at its annual “Blitz” event in Dubai in February, chaired Tata Sons, Natarajan Chandraca caran, TCs who were chased behind his brother, Tata businesses, on the standings-of which the shares only rose from 2020 to 2020, while TCS only managed 270%. He emphasized the firm’s underwhelming AI leadership and put senior managers under the spotlight, and revised for the first time since 2017 for the first time business heads and appointed two new leaders to promote strategy and operations. Although TCS has surpassed peers with a modest revenue growth and leading margins under CEO, Krithivasan, much of its performance depends on a $ 1.5 billion BSNL contract. Read more. Tax Profit helps Airtel 5x its Q4 -Wins Bharti Airtel achieved a five -fold jump in the net profit to £ 11,022 crore in Q4FY25, increased by a deferred tax profit of £ 5.913. However, the profit was down 25.4% due to one-time profits in the third quarter of the Indus Towers consolidation. Consolidated turnover rose 27.3% year-on-year to £ 47,876, powered by a strong performance in India and Africa, but did not have the £ 49,200 Crore Street estimate. Average revenue per user, or ARPU, remained at £ 245, while rival Reliance JIOs rose to £ 206.2. Airtel Business’s turnover fell 2.7% when the company left Great Margin wholesale services. Ebitda grew by 39.9% to £ 27,404 with a margin of 57.2%. The Telco added 18.2 million subscribers and the use of data increased by 21.2% on the year. Read more. The Hyderabad’s waste management is a lesson for all Hyderabad, emerged as India’s “circular capital”, managing almost all its 9,000 tonnes of daily municipal waste through a highly integrated system built over 25 years. The city’s efforts are led by the sustainability of environmental management services, and include a massive facility at Jawahar Nagar Nagar that turns waste into compost, recycled plastic, RDF fuel and compressed biogas, while also housing the waste-to-energy plants and landfills. In contrast, India processes only 30% of its 62 million tonnes of annual municipal waste. Experts attribute this gap to fragmented regulation, underfunded urban bodies and low public awareness. Recent policy movements – such as extensive producer’s responsibility and the use of recycled materials – are beginning to close the viability gap for private recycling. Read more. Armistice brings rejoice to the Indian markets markets on Monday performed their strongest rally in more than four years as geopolitical and trade tensions were alleviated. The Nifty 50 jumped 3.8% to 24,924,70, while the Sensex rose 3.7% to 82,429.90. The rally, caused by a ceasefire between India and Pakistan and a temporary tariff role of the US China, added £ 16 trillion investors wealth, which forced the BSE market cap to £ 430 trillion. Profits were broadly based, led by IT, finance and heavyweights such as Infosys, Reliance and HDFC Bank. Foreign investors bought just 1.246 crore in shares, while domestic funds added £ 1.448 crore. Read more. Here is how UU can cut UU accounts as demand in India is rising, a new field test near Mumbai has shown super-efficient units with 60% less power, promising great energy and cost savings. These prototypes, developed under the Global Cooling Prize, adapt to real conditions using smarter compressors and sensors. With the use of AC that will rise nine -fold by 2050, traditional cooling techniques can aggravate overwhelming power grids and worse emissions. Greener alternative-like hybrid systems, environmentally friendly coolers and modern air coolers-have a pile, but need a greater adoption. Experts warn that without breakthroughs or systemic changes such as district cooling, India’s comfort -driven surge can heat cities and derail climate goals. Read more. ‘Critical’ deadlines for mineral miners India will impose strict deadlines and fines on the winners of critical mineral blocks to accelerate the domestic production of key elements that are essential for clean energy technologies. The draft minerals (auction) second amendment rules, 2025, suggest that exploration begins within four months of a contract, fines for delays deducted from performance sponsors. The move is aimed at the faster development of minerals such as lithium, cobalt, copper and nickel, for which India remains a lot of import. For example, the country imports 93% of its copper ore and 100% of its lithium, cobalt and nickel needs. Read more. It’s all for this week! If you have any feedback, want to talk about food, or have something else to say about our journalism, write to me at [email protected] or reply to this email. You can also write to [email protected]. The best, Shravani Sinha Senior Correspondent