A Surrey council is poised to set aside £150,000 to support its most vulnerable residents through the winter months.

Tandridge District Council plans to run its winter support scheme for another year, giving eligible residents money to help with essentials and bills.

Councillors on the strategy and resources committee are due to consider the proposals this week, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“Each past scheme has helped nearly 500 households,” a report issued ahead of Thursday’s meeting says.

Those applying for the support must be a householder aged 16 or over, have their primary residence in the Tandridge District Council area and be struggling to meet their essential short-term needs.

Several categories of residents will be prioritised for aid, including those with dependent children, those with disabilities, pensioners, carers, those at risk of homelessness and victims of domestic abuse.

Council officers will assess any application for support and decide on each case based on “local economic factors and arrangements in place with other agencies”.

The report adds the scheme will be fully funded by Tandridge District Council using allocated funds.

Applications would open on 9 November if the renewed programme is approved.

“Awards will not normally exceed £150 for households without children and £250 for households containing children,” the report adds.

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Shares of Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy rallied nearly 8% on Tuesday to a day’s high of Rs 186.66 on the NSE after the company secured domestic and international orders totaling over Rs 985 crore.

According to an exchange filing, the company announced that it has secured one order in Rajasthan totaling 534.3 MWp from a leading IPP in India and another order for two BESS projects totaling 616 MWh energy storage capacity in South Africa from a leading Middle East-based renewable energy projects developer.

The company further said that the Rajasthan order is from a new customer, which reaffirms the industry’s trust in SWREL’s project execution capabilities, whereas the South African order is from a repeat customer, giving them the confidence to award this marquee project’s execution to the company.

Also Read | Pine Labs shares rise after Rs 934 crore block deal; Mastercard likely sells stake

The Rajasthan project involves the Balance of System (BOS) package and the South Africa order is for a BESS turnkey EPC wrap project. The Rajasthan project’s capacity is estimated to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 0.80 million tonnes upon commissioning.

The company also informed that the South African order is the second largest utility-scale BESS project to be undertaken by SWREL.
These new order wins further reinforce the company’s position as one of the foremost players in the global renewable energy sector.“We are delighted to have received two prestigious orders each in Rajasthan and South Africa. Together, these orders reinforce the momentum in our business and the confidence customers place in our capabilities. They also demonstrate the strength of our customer relationships, built on consistent project execution, domain expertise and the skilled manpower we have developed over the years,” said Chandra Kishore Thakur, Global CEO, Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy.

Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy share price movement

In the last one month, shares of Sterling and Wilson Renewable Energy were down 4.53% and nearly 14.67% in the current calendar year so far. In the last one year, the stock was down 30.85%.

The stock was down 48.88% in the last three years and nearly 50.49% in the last five years.

Disclaimer: This article has been written by Surbhi Khanna, who is not a SEBI-registered Research Analyst or an investment advisor. Surbhi Khanna does not hold any financial interest in Economic Times as of the date of publication. The views/recommendations mentioned in this article, wherever applicable, are those of the respective SEBI-registered Research Analyst/brokerage and have been reproduced/reported with due attribution. They should not be construed as the views or recommendations of Economic Times Digital or the journalist. Readers are advised to consider the original research report and make their investment decisions based on their own assessment.

Small businesses are bearing the brunt of rising fuel prices, the owner of a haulage company has said.

Noel Lewis, who runs Lewis Light Haulage & Storage in Stourport-on-Severn, Worcestershire, said he was having to absorb thousands of pounds a month in extra costs due to the price of fuel.

His comments come as fuel prices – driven by conflict in the Middle East – reach their highest point since 2022, with diesel averaging at £1.92 per litre according to the RAC.

A Treasury spokesperson said the government continued “to protect the British people and businesses from this crisis”.

“This means drivers benefit from the extension of the 5p fuel duty cut, with diesel 11p per litre cheaper until the end of the year than it would have been compared to plans inherited from the previous government,” they added.

Hauliers would also benefit from a 12-month road tax “holiday”, the spokesperson said.

With six vehicles run by his company, Lewis said he was now facing around £1,200 in extra fuel costs per week.

Smaller businesses like his, he said, were now struggling to compete with larger firms with “bigger buying power on their fuel”.

“They have the economies of scale working in their favour […] if you put your prices up somebody might come in and be able to suffer that cost for a few weeks, just to knock you out the game,” he said.

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Kolkata: Bandhan Financial Services, the promoter of Bandhan Bank, is likely to offload stakes in the bank in small bouts to conform to the regulations of bringing down its shareholding to 26%, instead of a lump sale.

As per the bank’s licensing agreement with the Reserve Bank of India, the promoter must reduce the stake to 26% by 2030.

“There is sufficient time. We have no plans for a bulk offloading in one go,” chairman Chandra Shekhar Ghosh told ET. The promoter brought down its holdings in the bank to 37.54% as of end June from 38.98% three months prior. The holding was 39.74% at the end of 2025. The recent share sales likely occurred on the open market.

Also Read | Profit up 35%, shares down 15%: What went wrong at Bandhan Bank?

The main business of Bandhan Financial Services is managing its investments. It has two subsidiaries – Bandhan Financial Holdings and Bandhan Technologies. The first one is the holding company for Bandhan Bank, Bandhan AMC, Bandhan Mutual Fund Trustee, Bandhan Investment Managers (Mauritius) and Bandhan Life Insurance.

Bandhan Financial Services owned 59.98% in Bandhan AMC and 97.16% in Bandhan Life Insurance Company as of March 31, 2026.
Meanwhile, the promoter has proposed a stock split. As per the plan, each existing equity share of face value ₹10 would be divided into five shares having a face value of ₹2 each. Its shareholders would review this plan at the annual general meeting scheduled on September 22. A stock split would likely help the company at the time of going public, making the share price attractive for retail investors.

Mumbai: About two dozen companies have days left to launch their initial public offerings (IPOs) before regulatory approvals expire. They will need to start the share sale process by the September 30 deadline or refile offer documents, potentially delaying fundraising plans.

Approvals by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for at least 23 companies, collectively looking to raise ₹40,775 crore, are set to expire by the end of the month, Prime Database data showed.

Among the larger IPOs in the pipeline are Mumbai-based Credila Financial Services and Kachchh-based specialty chemicals maker Dorf-Ketal Chemicals India, with proposed issue sizes of ₹5,000 crore each. Both received Sebi approval in May 2025, according to Prime Database.

Read more: Landmark NSE IPO threatens to hollow out Dalal Street’s shadow market

Pranav Haldea, managing director of Prime Database, said some of these companies may choose to refile at a later stage when they feel valuations are more conducive. Companies have a year from the date of regulatory approval to launch their issues. In April, Sebi granted a one-time relaxation to issuers whose observation letters were due to expire between April 1 and September 30, giving them until this month end to launch their IPOs. The relief was aimed at helping IPO-bound companies ride out the risk aversion in equities following the West Asian crisis and the surge in oil prices.

Read more: Pine Labs block deal: Mastercard Asia may divest 4.3% equity worth Rs 892 crore
Sebi also allowed companies to increase or reduce their issue size by up to 50% without filing fresh draft papers, compared with the earlier threshold of 20%.Under the existing framework, Sebi observations are generally valid for 12 months, while certain issues, including those under the confidential pre-filing route, can have a validity of up to 18 months. Since these are one-time extensions granted by Sebi, companies unable to launch their IPOs by September 30 would be expected to refile their draft red herring prospectuses (DRHPs), according to Adeepto Saha, associate partner, Deloitte India. “A fresh filing would nevertheless add several months to the overall execution timeline,” said Saha.

Other sizeable issues include renewable power producer Continuum Green Energy (Rs 3,650 crore, approved in April 2025), New Delhi-based NBFC Hero FinCorp (Rs 3,600 crore, May 2025), hotel ownership and development firm Prestige Hospitality Ventures (Rs 2,700 crore, August 2025) and technology-driven solutions provider Innovatiview India (Rs 2,000 crore, August 2025).

So far this year, 87 IPOs have raised Rs 1.08 lakh crore. That makes 2026 only the fourth year in history in which IPO fundraising has crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore mark. This excludes the ongoing National Stock Exchange IPO, which aims to raise Rs 22,561 crore.

Mouri Tech, Ravi Infrabuild Projects, Ajay Poly, Jesons Industries, Vinir Engineering, Kent RO Systems, Veeda Clinical Research, Seedworks International, Allchem Lifesciences, SIS Cash Services, Neilsoft, Runwal Enterprises, Prozeal Green Energy, Ardee Engineering and SSF Plastics India are among the other companies that have IPO approvals set to expire by September 30.

“Companies whose approvals expire this September will have to go back to the starting point and initiate work on and refile their DRHPs,” said Nikhil Naredi, partner, capital markets, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co.

Refiling a fresh DRHP is typically not the preferred option, as it could entail Rs 3-5 crore in additional costs, fresh Sebi filing fees, updated audited financials and legal due diligence, besides another 60-90 day regulatory review.

For companies still weighing a market debut, the decision is likely to depend on the urgency of fundraising, expectations of selling shareholders and the valuation available in the market.

“Private equity and venture capital-backed companies could face greater pressure where investors are looking for an exit within a defined investment horizon,” Saha said.