Hyderabad: Riding on its success in the recent Legislative Assembly polls, the ruling Congress in Telangana is banking on the implementation of its poll ‘guarantees’ to score big in the Lok Sabha elections, being held on May 13. An Assembly bypoll will also be held on that day in this southern state.

The morale of Congress cadre is high following the 2023 win.

The BJP, riding high on its growing voter base in Telangana, is now aiming to win over 12 out of the total 17 seats and 35 per cent vote share, in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The party doubled its vote share to nearly 14 per cent resulting in eight seats in the assembly elections held on November 30, last year. BRS, which ruled the state for about a decade since its emergence, is low on morale following the defeat, even as its founder and former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao‘s daughter K Kavitha was arrested on the eve of poll dates announcement, adding insult to the injury.

A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of political parties in Telangana.

CONGRESS STRENGTHS: -Congress is in power following its victory in the Assembly polls and momentum is on its side. -The implementation of the ‘guarantees’ announced before the Assembly elections by the Revanth Reddy government has generated goodwill for the party. -The popularity of CM Reddy. -Since it is in power, it has more access to resources to fight the polls. -Regarded as a secular party and minorities are believed to have voted for the party in the Assembly elections. -The BRS which was in power for 10 years is demoralised following its rout in the Assembly polls. The contest is mainly seen to be between Congress and BJP in the parliament elections. -Strong cadre at the grassroots level. -The party has already announced candidates for some seats.

WEAKNESSES: -The construction of Lord Ram temple at Ayodhya may swing devout Hindutva voters in favour of BJP. -The popularity of PM Narendra Modi would help the BJP and Congress may not be able to address this fully. OPPORTUNITIES: -Decline of BRS, and BJP lacking organisational strength in some constituencies. – CM Revanth Reddy, who is also PCC president, is regarded as an intelligent strategist. – Key issues like Ram temple and CAA may help the party get votes of minorities.

THREATS: -BJP’s aggressive campaign -Though BRS is down, it has announced that it will have an alliance with BSP for the Lok Sabha polls. In view of this, Congress needs to ensure that it gets the votes of Dalits and other backward sections in bulk.

BJP STRENGTHS: -Consecration of Ram temple at Ayodhya created a spiritual ambience among certain sections which can be transformed into electoral benefits. -Party’s clean image with respect to corruption -Strong leadership at the centre and their political shrewdness -Support from Sangh Pariwar, RSS affiliates like Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal -Ability to polarise votes on a “communal” basis.

WEAKNESSES: -The party had to pitch turncoats at some segments -For every decision, the local leadership will have to look up to the central leadership. -There is a strong feeling among people that the BJP and BRS have a tacit understanding. -The removal of Bandi Sanjay as state president is still seen as a weakness of the party.

OPPORTUNITIES: -The party can claim some of the achievements, such as the Women Reservation Bill and the September 17 official celebration of Hyderabad Liberation Day, to its credit. -BJP may focus on negative aspects of Congress government’s “Six guarantees”.

THREATS: -After the Assembly polls, Congress formed the government in Telangana very recently and emerged as an alternative to BRS. So the positive feeling towards Congress still remains -Congress’ campaign may centre around the BJP and BRS’s alleged understanding. The BJP needs to counter it effectively. Congress may use it as one of the major poll issues. -Barring a few, there are hardly any crowd-pullers in the party locally.

The number of adults in Britain with a net worth of at least £1 million fell 7 per cent to 442,000 in 2025, the lowest level since 2008, according to analysis published by the Adam Smith Institute.

The centre-right think tank’s millionaire tracker counts adult British residents with at least £1 million in individual net worth across all real and financial asset classes, including property and pensions, measured in constant prices. It is built by applying a statistical model to Office for National Statistics household wealth data, which the institute puts at about £10.75 trillion in 2024.

The count passed one million in 2020 and reached 1.07 million in 2021. It has fallen in each of the four years since.

The institute attributes the decline to higher interest rates and a lack of confidence in the British economy reducing the inflation-adjusted value of pension pots and high-end London property, a low household savings rate, and the emigration of high net-worth individuals.

In its report, the Adam Smith Institute said: “There has [also] been a well-documented trend of high net-worth individuals either leaving Britain or no longer choosing to move here. Millionaires are leaving the country for a number of reasons, including the abolition of non-dom tax status, high levels of general taxation, and a hostile culture for wealth creators.”

HM Revenue & Customs data does not show a sharp fall in the non-dom population before the regime was scrapped. Its latest statistics put the number of individuals claiming non-domiciled status at 73,700 in the tax year ending April 2024, down 400, or 0.5 per cent, on the previous year. Those figures cover the period before April 2025, when the remittance basis was replaced with a residence-based regime exempting foreign income and gains for up to four years for new arrivals and for those returning after a decade abroad.

Business Matters reported in October that consultancy Chamberlain Walker estimated 1,800 non-doms had left Britain since the April 2025 change, a figure the Treasury said was “based on anecdotal evidence we don’t recognise”.

The ONS measures household assets every two years, so there is no official count of individual millionaires. Its latest data records 3.7 million households with net wealth above £1 million, most of it accounted for by house prices.

The Adam Smith Institute is calling on the government to abolish inheritance tax, cut capital gains tax and commission an international competitiveness assessment of the UK’s tax and regulatory treatment of non-doms and high net-worth individuals. It made a similar argument in 2024, when it forecast that Britain would see the largest exodus of millionaires globally.

HMRC data shows 31,500 estates paid inheritance tax on death in the tax year ending April 2023, about 4.5 per cent of people who died. Capital gains tax is charged at the point of sale on assets such as shares, at 18 per cent for basic rate taxpayers and 24 per cent for higher and additional rate payers. Income tax bands are 20 per cent, 40 per cent and 45 per cent.

Allies of Andy Burnham have called on the prime minister to equalise capital gains tax with income tax. Burnham has said he will “look in detail” at equalisation but has made no policy commitment. He has previously suggested abolishing inheritance tax and replacing it with a “care levy” to fund social care reform. He has also declined to rule out a wealth tax, prompting warnings from advisers that speculation alone is pushing capital out of Britain.

Andrew Griffith, the shadow business and trade secretary, said: “Whatever their personal finances, everyone should care about Britain having fewer millionaires to contribute to the tax pot and creating jobs and businesses here. It’s a competitive world and when young and ambitious people are voting with their feet and leaving your country that’s a shameful sign.”

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An organisation that rescues hundreds of tonnes of surplus food from going to waste wants to expand its work.

Food in Community, a Dartington-based community interest company, has been collecting unwanted and extra crops from local growers and farmers for 14 years in a bid to reduce waste and improve access to sustainably produced food.

The food is packed into boxes for free doorstep deliveries to people, with any leftover produce given to food banks, community fridges, lunch clubs and youth groups.

The group, who work mainly in Devon but also send items to Cornwall, said it wanted to work with more farmers, volunteers and business partners in a bid to save more food.

Chantelle Norton, a director at Food in Community, said research done by World Wide Fund for Nature and Tesco in 2022, external estimated 2.9 million tonnes of edible food is lost or wasted annually every year on UK farms.

As more Americans bristle at the idea of paying $50,000 on average for a new car, Carvana CVNA -7.36%decrease; down pointing triangle is capitalizing on the growing demand for used cars.

The online used-car retailer Wednesday reported record sales and profit in the second quarter. Carvana said it sold about 197,000 vehicles—up nearly 40% year-over-year—with a profit of $310 million, up from $183 million a year earlier. Revenue also rose 52% to $7.38 billion.

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Brokerages reiterated their bullish calls on the shares of Vedanta Aluminium Metal after the recently-listed company reported a more than threefold year-on-year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 5,629 crore for the first quarter of FY27.

Vedanta Aluminium Metal, which debuted on stock exchanges last month after spinning out of Vedanta during the mega demerger, saw its share price rise nearly 2% on Friday morning to trade at Rs 465 apiece after the company on Thursday reported a 46% YoY surge in revenue from operations to Rs 21,393 crore during the April-June quarter of FY27.

Vedanta Aluminium’s total income rose more than 46% YoY to Rs 21,702 crore, while total expenses increased over 7.5% YoY to Rs 12,870 crore during the quarter under review. Vedanta Aluminium’s net profit margin more than doubled to 31% in Q1 FY27 from 15% in Q1 FY26, while its operating profit margin improved to 45% from 26% in the corresponding quarter last year. The company’s net worth surged more than 86% YoY to Rs 30,441 crore at the end of the first quarter.

Along with its Q1 results, Vedanta Aluminium Metal announced its first interim dividend of Rs 8 per share on a face value of Re 1 for FY27. The company has fixed August 5 (Wednesday) as the record date to determine shareholders’ eligibility for the dividend.

Also read | Vedanta Aluminium Q1 Results: Net profit soars 3x YoY to Rs 5,629 crore; Rs 8/share dividend declared

CLSA on Vedanta Aluminium share price

CLSA maintained its ‘Outperform’ rating on the shares of Vedanta Aluminium, with a target price of Rs 540 apiece, implying more than 18% upside potential from the stock’s previous closing price of Rs 457.05 apiece on NSE.

The international brokerage said that the company’s Q1 performance came in largely in line with estimates, with cost of production falling by $20 per tonne despite the impact of the Middle East conflict. Key projects (capacity expansion guidance and coal and bauxite mine commissioning) were largely on track, which could drive $175-200 per tonne in cost savings, it added.

Citi on Vedanta Aluminium share price

Citi has a ‘Buy’ call on the shares of Vedanta Aluminium, with a target price of Rs 525 apiece, implying around 15% upside potential. It said that the company’s EBITDA was 4% ahead of estimates.
This came on the back of rising aluminium prices and lower costs.

Nuvama on Vedanta Aluminium share price

Nuvama has a ‘Buy’ call on the stock with a target price of Rs 540 apiece. The brokerage highlighted that the firm’s Q1 EBITDA was in line with estimates, driven by higher aluminium prices and lower cost of production.“We expect Q2 FY27 EBITDA to be 5-8% lower QoQ due to lower aluminium price and higher CoP, partly offset by higher volume. Start of its captive bauxite and coal mine in H2 FY27 is likely to reduce its hot metal CoP below $1,600/t in FY28,” it added.

Emkay on Vedanta Aluminium share price

Emkay said Vedanta Aluminium delivered a strong Q1 FY27 earnings print, reporting record-high EBITDA, broadly in line with estimates and driven by firmer aluminium prices and sustained cost discipline.

“We believe the medium-term cost reduction story is intact, supported by higher captive alumina integration, commencement of captive bauxite and coal mines, and the BALCO expansion, which should drive margin expansion. Q2 earnings are likely to soften sequentially due to cost-related headwinds, the lower Al prices, and the impact of hedges, these should be partly offset by higher BALCO volumes,” the brokerage said.

Emkay has a ‘Buy’ call on the shares of Vedanta Aluminium, with a target price of Rs 550 apiece, implying an upside potential of more than 20% from the stock’s previous closing price.

Vedanta Aluminium share price

Vedanta Aluminium was the only large-cap stock among the four companies spun off from Vedanta under its mega demerger and debuted in June. It debuted at Rs 522 apiece on the NSE, surpassing its parent company in terms of market capitalisation.

The shares have gained around 6% in one week and 3% in a month, but are overall down more than 7% since listing.

Also read | Vedanta share price target: Why brokerages see up to 24% upside after Q1 earnings?

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