Mobile phone sales in India plunged 30-35% by volume in May 2026, according to retailer feedback, marking one of the sharpest declines seen in recent years. The slowdown is being driven primarily by continuous price hikes since November 2025, as smartphone brands pass on rising memory chip and component costs to consumers. Smartphone shipments across online and offline channels fell 15-20% year-on-year in May, with June expected to see a similar decline. Average smartphone prices have increased by about 20% between January and May 2026, adding to last year's price increases.

Apple App Store Review Guidelines have been updated to warn developers that certain low-value or overcrowded apps may be removed from the App Store. Previously, Apple mainly rejected new copycat apps or apps in saturated categories unless they offered a unique, high-quality experience. Under the new policy, Apple may remove existing apps if they are not regularly updated, improved, or attracting users. Categories specifically highlighted include wallpaper apps, simple timer apps, sound-effect apps, flashlight apps, dating apps, fortune-telling apps, drinking games, and other low-effort utility apps. Developers who repeatedly submit such apps risk not only rejection but potentially losing access to the Apple Developer Program.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has argued that AI-generated code does not automatically make software developers more productive. The company said writing code is only one small part of the overall software engineering process. AWS warned that AI can sometimes create more code than teams can effectively review, test, and maintain. Majors, who advocates using AI to improve engineering workflows while maintaining strict quality standards. AWS's conclusion can be summarized in one line: "Quality first, quantity second."

Global urea prices have surged by roughly 141%, driven by supply disruptions, higher natural-gas costs, and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. India, one of the world's largest fertilizer importers, has been hit particularly hard. India's urea import prices have nearly doubled in recent tenders, rising from around $510 per tonne earlier in the year to as much as $935–$1,000 per tonne. Fertiliser Ministry has reportedly sought to double the fertilizer subsidy allocation as rising import costs threaten to exhaust the budget only a few months into fiscal year. To secure supplies, India has issued a record tender for 2.5 million tonnes of urea, equivalent to roughly one-quarter of its annual imports.

U.S. President Donald Trump accused Iran of carrying out a drone attack on Indian ships leaving the Strait of Hormuz, calling the alleged action "totally unacceptable." Trump claimed the attack was "rebuffed" and made the accusation while also criticizing Iran over leaked details of a proposed U.S.-Iran peace agreement. Iran strongly denied the allegation, with its mission in India calling the claim "simply baseless." India has reportedly lodged a strong protest with U.S. authorities and described attacks on commercial vessels carrying Indian nationals as deeply concerning.

Anthropic says the U.S. government has ordered it to suspend access to its newest AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, for all foreign nationals over national security concerns. The company claims it received only verbal evidence of a potential "jailbreak" that could allow the model to assist in identifying software vulnerabilities. To comply with the directive, Anthropic says it will disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all users, while older Claude models remain available. The move marks a major escalation in U.S. AI controls, shifting from restricting AI chips to restricting access to advanced AI models themselves.

Google is reportedly in talks with Samsung Electronics to manufacture part of its next-generation AI chip project, codenamed "Icefish." The chip is still in the design stage, with mass production potentially starting around 2028. Under the reported plan, TSMC would manufacture the main computing portion of Google's TPU (Tensor Processing Unit), while Samsung would produce a key memory-interconnect component using its advanced 2-nanometer process technology. The move would help Google diversify its chip supply chain and reduce dependence on a single manufacturer as AI infrastructure demand continues to surge.

SpaceX's IPO create around 4,400 employee millionaires through stock holdings and stock options. Thousands of current and former employees who received equity compensation are set to see the value of their shares rise dramatically. Many early employees who joined when SpaceX was a startup are expected to become multi-millionaires. 400 employees are now holding stock portfolios valued at $100 million or more. SpaceX has used stock options and equity grants extensively to attract and retain talent over the years.

Elon Becomes First Trillionaire, SpaceX IPO Creates Billionaires, Zepto Faces Cash Crunch, Cancer Drugs Get Costlier, Jobs Disappearing, Jeff Bezos, Zerodha, YouTube : Business News

Elon Musk has reportedly become the world's first trillionaire on paper, driven by a surge in the valuation of SpaceX following its IPO and strong private-market demand. Elon Musk's net worth has reportedly climbed to around $982 billion after IPO price band The achievement marks a historic milestone, as no individual had previously reached a trillion-dollar net worth, even on paper. Like all stock-based fortunes, the figure can change significantly based on share-price movements and company valuations.

SpaceX's IPO was oversubscribed by more than 4 times, making it one of the most sought-after public offerings ever. The company raised $75 billion, the largest IPO in history. Investor demand reportedly exceeded $300 billion. Retail investors alone placed orders worth more than $100 billion. The company is now among the 10 most valuable public companies globally. Strong demand was driven by optimism around Starlink, rocket launches, AI infrastructure, and future space technology

A German court ruled that Google is responsible for errors in its AI-generated Search Overviews. The case involved two Munich publishers who said Google's AI wrongly linked them to scams. Judges said AI Overviews are Google's own content, not just summaries of external sources. The court found the AI created connections and claims that were not supported by the cited sources. Google's argument that users can verify information through links was rejected. The ruling could increase legal liability for AI-generated search results.

Google AI Plus has reduced the price of its entry-level AI subscription in the US from $7.99 per month to $4.99 per month. Along with the price cut, Google is doubling cloud storage in the plan from 200 GB to 400 GB. The subscription includes access to Gemini AI, video generation tools, Google Flow, and NotebookLM. The move makes Google one of the cheapest major AI subscription providers in the US market. Analysts see the move as the start of a broader AI subscription price war among major AI companies.

Nithin Kamath said that 30% of Zerodha accounts now belong to women investors. The share of women investors on the platform has doubled since the Covid-19 pandemic, reflecting growing participation by women in India's capital markets. According to Kamath, the trend highlights increasing financial awareness among women across the country. Despite the improvement, men still account for around 70% of Zerodha's user base, indicating there remains significant room for further growth. Industry-wide data has also shown a steady increase in women opening demat accounts and participating in equity and mutual fund investments.

India Falls From EM Top 10, TCS Won’t Hire Like Before, Opendoor Layoffs, China Receives 8X Subsidies, GCCs add 200,000 net employees, Mahindra, Meesho, Rapido : Business News

Natarajan Chandrasekaran said Tata Consultancy Services will not hire at the same pace as in the past, as AI increasingly automates software development and business processes. He indicated that future growth will rely more on AI agents and productivity gains rather than simply adding more employees. TCS currently employs over 600,000 people, making it one of the world's largest IT services employers. According to Chandrasekaran, AI is changing the economics of the IT services industry by allowing the same amount of work to be completed with fewer people.

Indian government has restored the royalty rate on crude oil production from nomination blocks to 16.66%, reversing the temporary reduction introduced during the recent energy market disruption. Nomination blocks are oil and gas fields allotted to state-owned producers without competitive bidding, primarily benefiting Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Oil India Limited (OIL). The royalty is a payment made by producers to the government for extracting crude oil from national resources. The earlier reduction was intended to support domestic producers during a period of volatility in global energy markets.

Scientists at University of California San Diego have developed a method that could allow astronauts to produce medicines in space using plants. The research addresses a major challenge for long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars: many medicines degrade over time due to storage limitations and exposure to cosmic radiation. Studies have shown that more than half of the medicines sent to the International Space Station could expire within three years, making resupply difficult for deep-space missions. The team used fast-growing plants such as black-eyed peas as biological factories to produce medicinal compounds.

Anthropic has launched Claude Fable 5, describing it as a new "Mythos-class" AI model focused on advanced reasoning, agentic coding, and long-horizon task execution. The company claims the model achieved 80.3% on SWE-Bench Pro, a widely followed benchmark that measures an AI's ability to solve real-world software engineering problems. Claude Fable 5 is designed to handle complex, multi-step tasks more effectively than previous Claude models, with improvements in planning, debugging, and self-verification. Early developer feedback highlights stronger performance in coding workflows, including identifying bugs, validating solutions, and maintaining context across lengthy projects.

The government has fully waived central excise duty on petrol blends containing more than 20% ethanol (E22, E25, E27, E30). Based on current excise duty structures, analysts estimate that if entire tax benefit is passed on to consumers, E30 fuel could be ₹11-12/L cheaper than regular petrol However, this is a theoretical maximum benefit. The actual retail price difference will depend on: Ethanol procurement costs Oil marketing company pricing decisions State VAT structures The move is a major boost for India's ethanol-blending programme and signals that the government is preparing for ethanol blends beyond the current E20 rollout.