Fintech firm Pine Labs on Friday said that the RBI had imposed a penalty of ₹3.1 lakh on it for lapses in KYC related to prepaid payment instruments (PPIs). RBI said it found that Pine Labs issued several full-KYC PPIs without completing the know-your-customer formalities of holders. "The action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance," RBI added.

Japanese investment firm SoftBank Group said it has secured a $40 billion bridge loan to boost investments into OpenAI and for general corporate purposes. The investor previously agreed to invest $30 billion into OpenAI through its fund. SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and US President Donald Trump, in December 2024, announced a $100 billion investment in the US by the firm.

OpenAI had upgraded its agentic coding app Codex with plugins to let users bundle skills, resources and connectors into packages. "They [plugins] make it easier to share the same setup across projects or teams," OpenAI said. This comes as Anthropic has been updating its Claude Code with various plugins, most recently for business functions.

Russia has begun selling physical gold from its central bank reserves for the first time in 25 years, according to a report by bne Intellinews. The move aims to plug a widening budget deficit driven by sustained military spending. Russia sold around RUB 3.5 trillion ($35 billion) worth of reserves in the first two months of 2026, the report added.

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, on Friday held a meeting with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of the WTO Ministerial Conference. Sharing pictures of the meeting on X, Goyal wrote, "Exchanged views on the #WTOMC14 agenda [and] next steps in the India-US BTA negotiations." Goyal added, "Explored ways to further deepen our economic cooperation."

Sony Group is raising global prices of its PlayStation 5 consoles from April 2, including a $100 (nearly ₹9,500) increase in the US, marking its second hike in less than a year. The firm cited "continued pressures in the global economic landscape" as the reason. The updated US price will put the standard PS5 at $649.99, up from $549.99.

Petrol and diesel rates will be reviewed every 15 days amid West Asia conflict, the government said. This comes after Centre cut special additional excise duty on petrol from ₹13/litre to ₹3/litre and on diesel to zero. The decision to cut excise duty will result in revenue loss of around ₹7,000 crore within 15 days, CBIC Chairman Vivek Chaturvedi said.

Days after being booked for performing dangerous stunts in Bengaluru with his Lamborghini, Ricky Rai, son of late underworld figure Muthappa Rai, has been booked in a fresh case over fake number plate. Police said the car's registration KA-05-NR-0009 doesn't exist in Karnataka records. He allegedly bought the Delhi-registered vehicle and used a fake fancy plate to evade traffic penalties.

In 2025, India's unemployment rate declined to 2.4% in rural areas and 4.8% in urban areas, down from 2.5% and 5%, respectively, a year earlier, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey. The improvement was broad-based, with unemployment among educated persons (secondary and above) easing to 6.5% from 7%. The youth unemployment rate (15-29 years) fell to 9.9% from 10.3%.

Pavestone has invested $3 million in Hyderabad-based Uncia, an AI-powered lending platform. The funding will support its expansion in India and entry into global markets, including MENA and North America. Uncia, built without external capital initially, provides AI-driven lending solutions to financial institutions and plans to pursue a public listing in the coming years.