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The Indian economy is likely to have grown at 5.5 % in the July-September quarter, posing a "difficult situation," the country's federal finance minister, P. Chidambaram, said Saturday. "When growth declines to 5.5% as it has in the first quarter [April-June] of this financial year and when the growth is likely to be around 5.5% in the second quarter of this financial year, it goes without saying we are facing a difficult situation," Mr. Chidambaram told a bankers' conference in the Western Indian city of Pune.

Bharti Airtel's mobile-tower unit plans to raise around $800 million by selling a 10% stake via an initial public offering next month... Bharti Airtel, India's largest mobile-phone-services company by revenue and users, and other investors in the mobile-tower unit are looking to capitalize on improving foreign sentiment toward India. This follows steps announced by the federal government in September, aimed at encouraging foreign investment in sectors like retail and insurance.

The Indian joint venture of Wal-Mart Stores Inc has suspended its chief financial officer and other employees as it investigates alleged violations of U.S. anti-bribery laws, a development that could hamper India's efforts to open its domestic supermarket sector to foreign investment.

India executed the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 terror attack on Mumbai early Wednesday, India's home ministry said.Click to Continue »

At least 14 people were killed on Monday and many more were injured in a stampede during a Hindu festival in the Indian city of Patna, police said. Among the casualties were many children and women, who had come to the banks of the River Ganges in the eastern Indian state of Bihar to enjoy Chhath, the biggest Hindu festival in the state.

India's economic growth is expected to slow to around 6%, dragged by domestic issues, but the government is focused on getting the country back on a growth path, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

India is becoming a critical testing ground for Facebook as it strives to capitalize on growth in emerging markets and better target mobile-phone users—two increasingly pressing goals for the social-networking firm.

Wal-Mart Stores will in the next 45-60 days apply for the Indian government's permission to set up stores in the country, a spokeswoman for the U.S retail company's local joint venture said.

On Friday, the government finally cleared a controversial plan to open up its lucrative retail sector to global supermarket chains in an effort to revive a flagging economy. There has been a massive political kerfuffle over how the supposed invasion of global chains will destroy India's fabled "mom-and-pop" stores, which have a stranglehold on the retail market.

India ushered in the biggest economic reforms in two decades on Friday, allowing big foreign retailers like Walmart, foreign broadcasters and foreign airlines to invest in the country, among other reforms.