Instamart has partnered with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) to launch the first on-demand liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) delivery service in India through its quick commerce platform. Consumers can now order 10 kg HP Navya composite LPG cylinders via the Instamart app, with the service starting in Bengaluru.
According to a report by The Economic Times, customers will not require an active home LPG connection to place an order, making the service accessible to students, working professionals, and small households that may not have an official gas connection.
Initial orders will be processed as purchases of new cylinders, involving identity verification and delivery documentation. Subsequent orders will allow customers to request refills, with the empty cylinder being collected during delivery.
Orders placed through Instamart will be fulfilled using HPCL's existing network of authorized distributors. Delivery will be carried out by trained distributor personnel in accordance with applicable safety protocols and regulations.
Amitesh Jha, CEO of Instamart, commented on the partnership, noting that the platform has expanded beyond simple grocery delivery to become part of consumers' daily lives. He added that the collaboration with HPCL extends this convenience to an essential household service while maintaining high standards of reliability and safety, as reported by The Economic Times.
In the initial phase, the service will only be available in Bengaluru, where users can order both the HP Navya composite LPG cylinder and the existing 5 kg metallic LPG cylinder through the Instamart app. The companies have not yet announced timelines for expanding the service to other cities.
The partnership also marks the commercial launch of HP Navya from HPCL—a next-generation 10 kg LPG cylinder made from composite materials. HPCL stated that this cylinder is lighter and more corrosion-resistant than traditional steel cylinders. It also features a semi-transparent body, allowing consumers to monitor gas levels, and its compact design suits apartments, small families, and households needing a secondary LPG cylinder.
Amit Garg, Marketing Director at HPCL, emphasized that the company is focused on increasing LPG accessibility for Naya Bharat with an emphasis on trust and safety. He also noted that this partnership will enable HPCL to reach customers through a fast, digital platform while improving the overall customer experience.
Oak has emerged from stealth mode, announcing the raising of $60 million in a seed round. These funds are earmarked to accelerate the development of its Artificial Intelligence-based Identity Operating System. The company's goal is to unify identity management and security by replacing disparate legacy tools with a single platform.
The seed round was co-led by Accel, Greylock Partners, and CRV, with participation from Hetz Ventures, AlphaDrive Ventures, and several strategic private investors. The startup plans to use the investment to expand its teams in engineering, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.
Oak was founded by cybersecurity veterans Shay Morag and Tal Marom. The company has already begun commercial deployment of its platform among enterprise clients, believing that identity has become the largest attack surface for organizations.
The Oak platform is designed to provide organizations with a continuously updated level of control that manages every identity throughout its lifecycle. The system supports both human users and machine identities and AI agents, reflecting the growing complexity of enterprise environments.
Instead of relying on static identity records, the platform analyzes raw data from enterprise systems to build a live identity graph. It then assesses actual access usage and automatically identifies unnecessary permissions and potential security threats. Thanks to its AI-driven architecture, the company claims that creating new application connectors takes hours, not months, as often required by traditional identity management platforms.
Tal Marom, Product Director at Oak, noted that discussions with over one hundred information security executives and identity leaders revealed widespread dissatisfaction with fragmented security tools and limited visibility in access management.
Morag brings over two decades of experience in cybersecurity to the business. Before launching Oak, he founded Integrity-Project, Secdo, and Ermetic, all of which were acquired by major cybersecurity companies, including NVIDIA's Mellanox, Palo Alto Networks, and Tenable. After Tenable acquired Ermetic, Morag served as the product director for that company before co-founding Oak with Marom. Marom previously held leadership roles in product at Tenable and Salesforce.
The startup has already formed a team of about 50 employees and plans to continue hiring, especially in the United States, where significant future expansion will be focused. Oak's long-term vision is to replace numerous disconnected identity management tools with a single operating system that provides continuous visibility, automated risk assessment, and real-time issue resolution in the enterprise environment.
Identity management is becoming increasingly critical as organizations adopt more cloud services, connected devices, and AI-powered applications. The company expects the new investments to accelerate product innovation globally. Industry analysts predict that intelligent identity management platforms will become a key element of corporate cybersecurity strategies in the coming years, as enterprises strive for better visibility into who and what has access to critical systems. Oak believes that its AI-centric approach allows it to meet this growing demand by consolidating identity management, risk analysis, and automation into one platform, rather than relying on many separate products.
A bipartisan group of senators in the United States introduced an amended version of the Russia Sanctions Act, which provides for a 100% tariff on imports from five major buyers of Russian oil and gas, including India. The law also allows for the possibility of these sanctions being lifted by presidential decision.
The original bill, promoted by the late Senator Lindsey Graham, proposed a 500% tariff on potentially all buyers of Russian energy. However, the updated version focuses on five primary energy consumers: India, China, Hungary, Slovakia, and Azerbaijan, excluding most European countries.
In June, Russian crude oil imports into India reached a record 2.58 million barrels per day (bpd). This increase was driven by limited supplies from West Asian producers and discounts offered by Moscow. According to the analytical firm Kpler, Russia supplied nearly 50 percent of India's total crude oil imports in June. In July, India's crude oil imports from Russia remain high and may exceed previous month's figures, given supply disruptions caused by recent tensions between the US and Iran.
The revised legislation grants President Donald Trump the authority to lift sanctions if he deems it consistent with the national interests of the United States. The introduction of this bill comes amid ongoing difficulties between India and the US in concluding a temporary trade agreement, with India insisting on receiving a comparative tariff advantage over other nations. Trade Minister Rajesh Agrawal stated on Monday that the deal will be signed when the time is right.
According to an official who wished to remain anonymous, discussions about the bipartisan American bill had not yet been raised during trade negotiations between India and the US. This official added that the trade agreement is expected to cover all tariff-related issues, including this bipartisan bill. Ajay Sirishtava, founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), advised India to continue building its energy policy based on national interests and energy security. He noted that the bill is unlikely to pass, even if it makes it through the Senate, and recommended that India continue purchasing Russian oil, like China, instead of allowing external political pressure to dictate its energy strategy. Sirishtava also warned that any attempt to impose such tariffs would almost certainly provoke retaliatory measures, making enforcement against Beijing much more difficult than the legislation suggests.
Experts point out that secondary tariffs on purchases of Russian crude oil will create serious problems for India, as the country currently sources about 50 percent of its oil needs from Russia. Sumit Ritolia, a leading analyst at Kpler, emphasized that the problem is particularly acute for India because there are few alternative suppliers capable of replacing Russian crude oil on the same scale, reliability, and economic efficiency. He believes that Russian crude oil remains the most practical and competitive source of supply for Indian refineries, and under current market conditions, it is unlikely that these volumes will disappear anytime soon.
Following the escalation of military actions between the US and Iran, Brent crude rose to $85 per barrel on July 15, compared to $75 per barrel a week earlier. Ritolia added that any efforts to reduce Russian oil supplies could further disrupt the global oil market amidst already constrained supplies from West Asia. He also noted that due to limited reserve production capacity, persistent heightened risk around the Strait of Hormuz, and limited alternative supplies, replacing Russian volumes on a large scale would be extremely difficult without a sharp rise in oil prices.
Jana Small Finance Bank reported a significant increase in net profit for the first quarter of fiscal year 27. During the reporting period from April to June, the bank demonstrated a 52% growth in net profit compared to the same period last year, reaching 155 crore rupees. This success was attributed to a strong increase in net interest income, active growth in the loan portfolio, and expansion of the secured loan portfolio.
Net Interest Income (NII) increased by 33.4% year-on-year, amounting to 782 crore rupees. Meanwhile, other incomes slightly decreased, falling to 215 crore rupees from 235 crore rupees the previous year. The bank's Net Interest Margin (NIM) consistently rose by 30 basis points, reaching 7.5% in the first quarter of FY27.
Provisions and unforeseen expenses slightly decreased to 178 crore rupees in Q1 FY27, compared to 187 crore rupees the previous year and 195 crore rupees in Q4 FY26. Write-offs also decreased sequentially by 13%, totaling 291 crore rupees.
The volume of loans disbursed increased by 26% year-on-year and 4% sequentially, reaching 37,612 crore rupees. The secured portfolio grew by 29% year-on-year and 4% sequentially. The gold loan segment showed the fastest growth, increasing by 113% year-on-year, followed by auto loans, which grew by 78%. Growth in the affordable housing segment reached 29%, and MSME loans grew by 27%. Conversely, the growth of the Loan Against Property (LAP) microloan portfolio slowed to 5% year-on-year.
Currently, the secured portfolio accounts for almost 73% of the total outstanding loans. Meanwhile, the unsecured portfolio grew by 18% year-on-year and 3% sequentially, reaching 10,240 crore rupees. Deposits, in turn, increased by 22% year-on-year, totaling 35,756 crore rupees.
For fiscal year 27, the bank forecasts asset growth of 19–21%, deposit growth of 23–25%, and profit increase of over 80%. The bank also clarified that Jana Holdings and Jana Capital, the current promoters, were classified as being in technical default on the payments of Non-Convertible Debentures (NCD) after extending the maturity of these instruments by six months to provide additional time to sell their stake.
Jana Holdings' stake in the bank decreased from a peak of 44% to 16.9%. Both Jana Holdings and Jana Capital plan to seek approval for de-promoterization from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) once their stake falls below 9.99%. It was noted that Jana Holdings has not injected capital into the bank since June 2022, has no representation on the bank's board of directors, and there are no cross-holdings between the entities. The bank also assured that there is no cross-default link between the debt of Jana Small Finance Bank and the debt of Jana Holdings or Jana Capital. Although India Ratings placed the bank under 'watch' following actions against Jana Holdings and Jana Capital, the bank stated that operations continue as usual. Meanwhile, CARE Ratings confirmed the bank's rating without any changes.
