Microsoft commits USD 17.5 billion investment in India: CEO Satya Nadella

Microsoft plans to invest USD 17.5 billion (around Rs 1.58 lakh crore) in India to help build infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for the country’s AI future, CEO Satya Nadella said on social media platform X.

“To support the country’s ambitions, Microsoft is committing USD17.5B—our largest investment ever in Asia—to help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI-first future,” Nadella said on X after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Microsoft, in a statement, said the company plans to invest USD 17.5 billion in India over the next four years (2026-2029) to drive AI diffusion at a population scale.

This comes on top of Microsoft’s earlier commitment of USD 3 billion announced in January 2025

Govt cuts IndiGo’s flight schedule by 10 per cent: Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu

The Civil Aviation Minister has asked for a 10 per cent cut in planned IndiGo flights to help restore order at India’s biggest airline, which cancelled thousands of flights nationwide after failing to plan for tighter safety regulations.

Posting a picture of IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers, sitting with folded hands in front of him, Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, in a post on X, said that the airline management was summoned to the ministry to provide an update.

The curtailment is double of what the sector regulator DGCA had ordered on Monday.

JioHotstar to invest ₹4,000 crore for South Indian content push

Streaming service JioHotstar has announced that it will be investing ₹4,000 crore over the next five years to strengthen South India’s creative economy.

Sushant Sreeram, Head – SVOD Business & Chief Marketing Officer at JioStar, said the investment forms part of a broader collaboration with the Tamil Nadu government.

He said that “As part of this vision, JioHotstar will invest ₹4,000 crore to nurture creators, strengthen the production ecosystem and build a pipeline of stories that are ready for India and ready for the world,”

On December 9, JioHotstar formalised a Letter of Intent with the Government of Tamil Nadu in the presence of the Chief Minister, MK Stalin.

SBI to hire around 16,000 people each fiscal, open 200-300 branches in FY26: Chairman

India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) will hire 16,000 employees in current financial year and will hire a similar number of employees each fiscal to aid its business expansion plans and beef up its customer service, chairman CS Setty told businessline in an interaction. The bank also intends to fill “white spaces” by opening 200-300 branches this fiscal, he said.

The employee hiring and physical network expansion moves are in-line with the lender’s plan to double its business size to ₹200 lakh crore in 6-7 years from ₹100 lakh crore in Q2FY26, report Piyush Shukla and K Ram Kumar.