Denemek ALTIN - Özgür

Artificial intelligence, innovation and a lot of second guessing

Hindustan Times Lucknow

|

December 31, 2025

Things moved fast in 2025.

- Vishal Mathur

From artificial intelligence (AI) companies insisting — albeit, fallaciously - that Al agents can replace humans in the workplace, to a true arrival of ultra-slim yet powerful smartphones, significant photography performance evolutions, the adoption of an advanced silicon carbide battery composition for phones and tablets, to your earphones delivering live translation when needed, it’s been a mixed bag. In India’s context, there are finer nuances to assess, also as foundations for next year.Digital transactions, to the moon

India’s digital transactions continued their steep upward climb. October marked 2025's highest monthly tally (NPCI data till November), with 20,700.92 million transactions worth ₹27,27,790.68 crore. PhonePe led with 9,412.07 million transactions valued at ₹13,06,401.9 crore, followed by Google Pay with 7,165.80 million worth ₹9,54,186.1 crore. Platforms are evolving quickly. For instance, Google Pay added a Pocket Money feature, that allows parents to enable access to digital payments for their children, with a layer of supervision. Amazon Pay led with UPI Biometric Authentication to approve payments via fingerprint or face scan, instead of a code.

Xbox and Windows, in a mess

Hindustan Times Lucknow'den DAHA FAZLA HİKAYE

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Govt to make silver hallmarking mandatory soon

After making gold hallmarking mandatory, the government is now preparing to extend it to silver, beginning with a pilot project in select districts, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

time to read

2 mins

January 07, 2026

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Trump asks Rubio to lead Venezuela overhaul

President Donald Trump has asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to lead the process to implement economic and political reforms in Venezuela and the US believes it is getting “full, complete and total” cooperation from the government in Caracas after the capture of Nicolas Maduro, White House senior adviser Stephen Miller said on Monday.

time to read

2 mins

January 07, 2026

Hindustan Times Lucknow

RJD prescribes return to basics after ’25 rout

The Rashtriya Janata Dal's postmortem of its dismal performance in the Bihar assembly elections of late 2025 — it won only 25 seats in the 243-member assembly, down from 75 in 2020 -- has recommended a return to basics, interms of both the rehabilitation of senior leaders associated with party supremo Lalu Prasad who have since been sidelined and the partyt’s election strategy itself.

time to read

1 mins

January 07, 2026

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Indian languages our priority: Min

Indian languages have endured centuries of historical disruptions while continuing to shape the country’s civilisation, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Tuesday and asserted that promotion of Indian and classical languages is a priority of the government.

time to read

1 min

January 07, 2026

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Hindustan Times Lucknow

India’s services sector activity eases in Dec, shows PMI survey

Growth in India’s services sector moderated in December as softer expansion in new business weighed on output growth towards the end of 2025, according to a release from S&P Global on Tuesday.

time to read

1 mins

January 07, 2026

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Switzerland bar fire: Inspections last done in 2019

Swiss authorities admitted on Tuesday that fire safety inspections had not been carried out for the past five years at a bar where 40 people died and dozens were injured in a New Year blaze.

time to read

1 min

January 07, 2026

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Intra-family property transfer made easier

The Uttar Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal for a major reform simplifying intra-family transfers by extending the stamp duty relief to gift deeds among family members even for commercial and industrial properties.

time to read

1 min

January 07, 2026

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Jemimah ready for DC, with vital tip from Lanning

For the last three Women’s Premier League (WPL) seasons, Delhi Capitals did everything right— having a serial winner like Meg Lanning as skipper, assembling a match-winning squad and solid coaching staff.

time to read

2 mins

January 07, 2026

Hindustan Times Lucknow

2026, WHY SO DRY ON THE BIG SCREEN?

While big stars dominate releases till April, the months after remain sparse. From cautious small-budget filmmakers to the lingering 'Dhurandhar effect,' we unravel the reasons behind the lull

time to read

1 mins

January 07, 2026

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Hindustan Times Lucknow

Centre weighs credit guarantee for microlenders’ bank borrowings

The finance ministry is weighing a plan to guarantee bank borrowings by non-bank lenders to help them ramp up their microfinance operations, two people familiar with the development said.

time to read

1 mins

January 07, 2026

Listen

Translate

Share

-
+

Change font size