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.

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%.

Goldman Sachs has downgraded Indian equities to "marketweight" from "overweight" and cut its Nifty 50 target, citing deteriorating macro conditions and a looming earnings downgrade cycle. The US-based investment bank now expects the index to be in the 25,300-25,900 range over 12 months. This is down from its earlier projection of 29,300-29,500, a cut of roughly 14%.

The National Stock Exchange will implement its semi-annual index rebalancing on Friday, according to reports. Bharti Airtel is reportedly expected to attract the highest passive inflows of $246 million following a weightage increase. While the Nifty 50 will see no inclusions, HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries are projected to witness passive outflows during this reshuffle.

OpenAI's ads pilot has crossed $100 million in annualised revenue in six weeks in the United States, a spokesperson said on Thursday. OpenAI, which in January said it would roll out ads to some users, has expanded to over 600 advertisers, the spokesperson added. "We're seeing no impact on consumer trust metrics, low ‌dismissal ⁠rates of ads," OpenAI said.