India’s airlines have asked state-run oil refiners to hold off on hiking jet fuel prices for domestic flights until the conflict in the West Asia ends, people familiar with the matter said, in a bid to alleviate their rising cost pressures and mounting losses.

The proposal floated by airlines including Air India Ltd., IndiGo and SpiceJet Ltd. is being considered by the refiners.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Friday sought to clarify its recent guidance on green card applications, saying “immigrants would not automatically be required to leave the United States” and await approval from their home countries.

The clarification follows widespread concern over a US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announcement last week.

India's retail inflation could rise as a result of recent ​fuel price hikes and weaker-than-normal monsoon ​rains, the country's finance ministry said in ‌a report on Saturday, as energy supply disruptions continue because of the West Asia conflict.

The duration of the Strait of Hormuz disruption remains the "single most consequential variable" for India's external and price outlook, the report said.

In a major boost to India's social stock exchange (SSE) ecosystem, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has allowed companies to channel a portion of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending towards not-for-profit organisations (NPOs) listed on SSEs.

In a notification issued on Friday, the MCA recognised investments through 'zero coupon, zero principal' (ZCZP) instruments listed on SSEs as an eligible CSR activity.

Asian Paints, India's largest paint-maker by market share, beat quarterly profit estimates on Friday, helped by domestic volume growth in its ​core decorative paints segment.

Consolidated net profit rose 69 per cent to ​₹1,172 crore ($123.1 million) for the quarter ended March 31, topping the ‌LSEG-compiled analysts' average estimate of ₹1,116 crore.

Banks in the country reported fewer fraud cases in FY26 but the total amount involved rose to its highest in three years, driven by cheating in loans and advances and concentrated in state-owned lenders.

The industry reported frauds worth ₹48,021 crore in FY26, up 46.4 per cent from ₹32,803 crore in FY25, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its latest annual report.

State refiner Indian Oil Corp (IOC) ​bought 5 million barrels of ​crude oil from West Africa ‌and Middle East via a tender this week, trade sources said on Friday.

IOC purchased Angola's Kissanje and Nemba crude for delivery to its Paradip refinery, the sources said.

The ongoing geopolitical tension, which has resulted in elevated energy prices, poses a risk to growth and inflation in the short run, even as the growth outlook remains positive, the Reserve Bank of India's annual report for 2025-26 said.

Furthermore, even if the Indian banking system is expected to remain resilient, lingering geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions may pose near-term risks to corporate earnings and the performance of loan portfolios.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revived the idea of printing polymer banknotes for circulation to meet the surge in demand for currency notes in the last few years.

According to multiple sources aware of the development, the issue of introducing polymer or plastic notes was discussed in the last two board meeting of the central bank, held in Patna and Mumbai.

India forecast an El Nino-weakened monsoon in 2026 that will bring the lowest rainfall in 11 years, fuelling concerns over crops, food prices and growth in the world's fifth-largest economy, battling inflationary pressures from the Iran war.

The monsoon delivers about 70 per cent of annual rains to replenish crucial water sources in a nearly $4-trillion economy where nearly half of farmland lacks irrigation and about half the population earns its livelihood from farming.

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