Reliance Industries Chairman & Managing Director Mukesh Ambani will likely provide an update on the much-awaited initial public offering of telecom major Jio Platforms during the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) scheduled on June 19, ET Now reported.

The AGM will be held through video conferencing and other audio visual means at 2 pm on June 19, the company said in an exchange filing on Wednesday. The company has fixed June 12 as the cut-off date for determining shareholders eligible to vote on AGM resolutions.

What we know about Reliance Jio IPO so far
India’s largest telecom operator by market share, has been preparing for a mega initial public offering (IPO) which could fetch as much as $4 billion, as per reports. Earlier in May, The Economic Times reported citing people familiar with the matter that RIL is reworking the listing structure of Jio from the previously planned offer for sale (OFS) to a fully fresh issue due to differences with existing investors over pricing.Shareholders want to price the IPO to perfection, by selling shares at a higher price band. However, RIL is of the view that this may hurt retail investors in case of a listing day loss, the sources cited by the report said. “There is an inherent conflict of interest, which is unique to Jio,” said one of the persons cited above, who added, “Shareholders want to price the issue as high as possible. But that creates two risks. First, the issue could become too large for markets to absorb.”

A second person familiar with the matter said the promoter’s stance has been consistent. “Mukesh Ambani’s priority from day one has been to protect retail investors. There must be room for upside in the stock price post listing. Therefore, Reliance now plans to let the market determine the price post listing and PE investors can later sell in the open market if they wish,” he said.

A fresh issue would ensure that the company receives the IPO proceeds. “About ₹25,000 crore could be utilised for debt payments, and rest of the funds could be used for other purposes, depending on the requirements,” another person said.

In March, the company had planned an offer for sale, where each of its 14 equity investors would cut 8-8.5% of their holdings, translating into a nearly 2.8% equity dilution, ET reported at the time. None of the shareholders would have made a full exit.

Also read: Businesses and investors of the IPO-bound firm

In its annual report for the financial year 2026 released on Thursday, Reliance Industries said that Jio solidified its leadership in the Indian digital ecosystem, crossing several operational milestones. “The business delivered strong performance led by increasing 5G adoption, higher ARPU and greater traction in broadband offerings,” it added.

Jio represents one of the most significant transformations in India’s corporate history-and its journey is still unfolding, according to RIL. “As Jio evolves into a global technology leader, we are taking deliberate steps to strengthen its institutional framework, enhance transparency, and prepare it for the opportunities ahead. We will continue to evaluate strategic pathways that can broaden stakeholder participation and support Jio’s long- term growth, always guided by the principle of sustainable value creation. Our vision is clear: to position Jio at the forefront of the global digital revolution-driving innovation across connectivity, artificial intelligence, cloud, and digital services. From connecting India to empowering India, Jio is now poised to help lead India into the digital future,” it said.

Reliance Jio Q4 earnings snapshot
Operating revenue for Reliance Jio rose 13% YoY to Rs 44,928 crore in Q4 FY26, driven by strong subscriber additions, improving ARPU and continued traction in digital services. Profit for the quarter increased 13% to Rs 7,935 crore.

EBITDA rose 18% YoY, supported by revenue expansion and margin improvement of 230 basis points, indicating better operating leverage across the business. Average revenue per user (ARPU) improved to Rs 214, aided by higher customer engagement and a better subscriber mix, though partially impacted by fewer days in the quarter. Data consumption remained robust, with per capita usage at 42.3 GB per month and overall data traffic rising about 35% YoY.

Also read: Mukesh Ambani’s $4 billion Jio IPO hits Iran war roadblock

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

The Indian stock market will remain closed on May 1, as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) will be shut for trading on account of Maharashtra Day. This marks the first market holiday of the month and comes during a holiday-shortened week.

India’s largest commodity exchange, the Multi-Commodity Exchange of India (MCX), will remain closed for the first session (9 am to 5 pm) on Maharashtra Day. Trading will resume in the evening session between 5 pm and 11:30 pm, as per its website. The National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX), meanwhile, will remain closed for the entire day.

Upcoming market holidays

In total, 16 stock market holidays are scheduled for 2026, of which seven have already passed. April saw two holidays—April 3 (Good Friday) and April 14 (Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Jayanti). Including the May 1 holiday, trading will be suspended on nine more occasions over the remaining eight months.

The BSE and NSE will next be closed on May 28 for Bakri Id, followed by June 26 (Muharram), September 14 (Ganesh Chaturthi), October 2 (Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti), October 20 (Dussehra), November 10 (Diwali-Balipratipada), November 24 (Guru Nanak Jayanti), and December 25 (Christmas).

Check list of upcoming nine market holidays

Maharashtra Day is observed annually on May 1 to mark the formation of the state in 1960. After India’s independence, the demand for linguistic reorganisation of states gained momentum. The Samyukta Maharashtra movement played a key role in the creation of the state.This led to the enactment of the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960, which bifurcated the erstwhile Bombay state into Maharashtra and Gujarat on May 1, 1960. Mumbai was designated as the capital of Maharashtra. Notably, both the BSE and NSE are headquartered in Mumbai, home to Dalal Street. May 1 is also observed as Labour Day in many parts of the country.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions expressed by experts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Economic Times.)

Over the past year and a half, Alexandra Mislin, professor of workplace diplomacy, has been incorporating AI into her curriculum increasingly each semester. Specifically, she’s guiding students in how to use AI chatbots to prepare for and practice negotiations big and small — both for current circumstances they’re facing now and situations they may encounter later on in business and in their careers. Every student at the school has access to Perplexity Pro, and she’s tapped ChatGPT as well, even creating a custom GPT for building negotiation skills that she continues to tweak and improve.  

“I want my students to think about how these tools can help them to prepare for a negotiation, how they can help them practice their negotiations, and how they can support them when they’re stuck in negotiations,” she said. “It could be for that bigger moment, but a lot of times, it’s all the steps leading up to it.”

Many of the students have jobs or internships outside of the classroom, so Mislin encourages them to use AI to track strategic or important interactions that come up for them. At the same time, they can also keep the chatbot informed of the broader objective they’re trying to achieve, such as getting an offer for a full-time role at the end of the internship. Together, this allows students to keep a running tab of how everyday negotiations—the sort of conversations that build and lead to bigger opportunities—are unfolding, so they can better strategize to achieve their goals. 

Another exercise involves having students use AI to prepare for a specific negotiation, either real, like a job negotiation, or hypothetical, like a major business deal or merger. They can talk through their argument, assumptions they may be making, aspects of the situation they may be overlooking, the pros and cons of responding in different ways, and ask for feedback — similar to how some corporate executives today are prompting AI to offer feedback and poke holes in their logic. Taking it a step further, students can use AI to practice negotiating, giving the chatbot personas and actually playing out different scenarios. 

“[WIth AI], they can be assigned to more counterparts — other hypothetical counterparts than the people in the classroom,” she said, referring to the traditional practice of randomly assigning students to do mock negotiations with each other. “Sometimes in the past, they’ve been able to negotiate with students at other universities or in other cultures, but now you can simulate a fair amount of that.”

This is all in addition to the traditional approach for teaching negotiation techniques, which includes learning theories behind human behavior and interactions, facilitating mock negotiations among students, and analyzing both objective results and subjective feelings about those negotiations. But Mislin does see benefits she believes AI can uniquely offer, in particular AI’s ability to hold a mirror up to student’s negotiation strategies and offer targeted feedback (which she does make clear they should evaluate with critical thinking, and that AI is not always right). 

“Finding where your assumptions fall short, putting yourself into the shoes of the other party, considering where you are missing questions or curiosity—I think [AI] really does help a lot with that,” she said. 

The Ethereum Foundation is realigning its developmental strategy to address core protocol efficiency and user experience challenges, following recent leadership changes earlier this year.

Co-executive director Tomasz Stańczak outlined the updated focus areas in a public statement on X earlier today, emphasizing that the shift is intended to strengthen Ethereum’s long-term scalability while improving near-term usability.

Protocol Upgrades and a Revised Role for Vitalik Buterin

Stańczak described the discussions surrounding Ethereum’s base-layer roadmap as extensive and community-driven, noting that the changes are designed to sharpen focus among researchers and core developers. Stańczak wrote:

Our discussions about the Layer 1 scaling roadmap have been extensive, and the feedback so far suggests that the community appreciates our ambition. Turning that ambition into reality now depends on the focus of the core development teams and researchers.

As part of its strategic transition, the Ethereum Foundation is aiming to give Vitalik Buterin more time to focus on advanced research rather than daily operational oversight.

“We aimed, among other things, to free more of Vitalik’s time for research and exploration,” Stańczak stated, adding that Buterin’s recent writings on topics like RISC-V and zkVMs have been instrumental in directing attention toward potentially “transformative technologies.”

According to Stańczak, these insights have played a significant role in realigning the Ethereum community around long-term priorities, such as privacy, modularity, and decentralized infrastructure.

Stańczak clarified that Buterin’s proposals are not mandates but starting points for community-led exploration:

Vitalik’s proposals will always carry weight, but they are intended to start conversations and encourage progress in difficult research areas.

He also stressed the importance of giving other researchers the same freedom, highlighting ongoing work by contributors like Justin Drake and Tankard Feist.

Overall. the Foundation’s research direction is now geared toward short-term outcomes that include better Layer-1 scaling, enhanced Layer-2 integration, and more “seamless” user experiences—especially in upcoming upgrades like Pectra, Fusaka, and Glamsterdam.

RISC-V Proposal and Developer Flexibility

The Foundation is also assessing the feasibility of moving from the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) to a more modern execution environment powered by RISC-V.

This proposal, initially introduced by Buterin, suggests that RISC-V could streamline execution, improve efficiency, and simplify zero-knowledge proof implementation.

“We are exploring ways to bring forward projects that currently look three to five years away,” Stańczak noted, referencing possible acceleration in next-gen execution and consensus layer development.

RISC-V’s benefits include broader language compatibility and the potential for backward compatibility with existing EVM contracts. Developers could continue using Solidity and Vyper or expand into languages like Rust.

Additionally, RISC-V could improve validator performance through hardware-level customization, while maintaining core Ethereum features such as account models and contract interactions.

As research and experimentation continue, Stańczak emphasized the importance of community input: “Ethereum researchers often ask that readers recognize the exploratory nature of their posts and proposals. Focus remains essential.”

Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView

The Working Committee of the United National Party (UNP) has reportedly approved initiating discussions with the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) on the possibility of the two parties collaborating in the upcoming elections.

The Working Committee of the UNP convened this afternoon (20) at the party headquarters to deliberate on the matter.

Meanwhile, the General Secretary of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), Ranjith Madduma Bandara, confirmed that the first discussion regarding the potential unification of the UNP and the SJB for the upcoming elections will take place in Colombo tonight (20).

Additionally, former Parliamentarian Rajitha Senaratne revealed that the UNP has sent two representatives to participate in the meeting.

Recently, the SJB Working Committee approved a proposal to initiate discussions about uniting the two parties for the elections.

Amidst these developments, a special meeting of the SJB parliamentary group was held this afternoon at the Opposition Leader’s office in Colombo.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a meagdonor and adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, is now seeking to influence Germany’s election, posting an endorsement on X of the country’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

In a post Thursday night, Musk wrote, “Only the AfD can save Germany.”

Musk, who has over 200 million listed followers on the site that he owns, made the comment while sharing a post from far-right influencer, Naomi Seibt, who claimed that Germany’s “presumptive next chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) is horrified by the idea that Germany should follow Elon Musk’s and Javier Milei’s example,” referring to the president of Argentina.

Seibt has a history of promoting white nationalist ideology, The Guardian previously reported, and has denied the validity of scientific consensus around climate change, namely that it’s driven by fossil fuel emissions.

In a post on X, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called Musk an “out of touch billionaire running the incoming Trump Administration” who “enthusiastically supports the neo-Nazi party in Germany.”

“The AfD’s mission is to rehabilitate the image of the Nazi movement,” Murphy wrote. He added that one of the party’s leaders has a license plate that’s “an open tribute to Hitler,” and another “described Judaism as the ‘inner enemy’ in Germany.”

Musk and Tesla’s investor relations team didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a center-left Social Democrat, dismissed Musk’s claim that only the far-right party can “save Germany.”

Under Scholz’s leadership, Germany‘s left-wing coalition collapsed in November, and AfD is currently polling in second place ahead of February elections. Throughout Germany, where the AfD has placed highly in state elections, the other parties have generally refused to form coalitions with it. 

According to Pew Research, “AfD has campaigned against weapon deliveries to Ukraine and called for an end to sanctions on Russia,” a view shared by Musk.

Far right parties have also gained ground in the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and elsewhere. Many cheered Trump’s election, which Musk helped finance through $277 million in contributions to the campaign and related Republican causes.

Tesla’s stock is up about 75% since Trump’s victory, surpassing its prior all-time high from 2021 last week.

AfD has reportedly criticized Tesla and its factory outside of Berlin. The party claimed many of Tesla’s thousands of workers there commute in from Poland or Berlin, limiting the economic benefits to the local community in Brandenburg.

The AfD generally views electric vehicles as part of an ideological climate movement, and not good for Germany’s auto industry.

Europe has been a tough market for Tesla this year. According to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, sales of Tesla cars declined 40.9% in November, exceeding the overall 9.5% dip in sales of battery electric vehicles.

Elsewhere in Euopre, Musk endorsed right-wing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and has voiced support for Nigel Farage in the U.K, a populist politician and head of Reform UK. In South America, Musk endorsed and has a friendship with Argentina’s President Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist.

In Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday, a driver veered his car into crowds of people at a Christmas market, resulting in fatalities and dozens of injuries.

In response to a post on X showing Chancellor Scholz in a press conference after the incident, Musk wrote, “Scholz should resign immediately. Incompetent fool.”

WATCH: Musk’s early influence on government