French energy major TotalEnergies has announced that it will not make any new investments in Adani Group companies till the latter has been cleared against its alleged allegation of corruption.

In an official statement, TotalEnergies said it learned through public announcements made by the US authorities of the indictment of certain individual Adani group executives in relation to an alleged corruption scheme linked to the business of Adani Green Energy (AGEL).

The French company said that is not targeted nor involved in the facts described by such indictment, but it will take all relevant actions to protect its interests as a minority (19.75 percent) shareholder of AGEL and as a joint-venture partner (50 percent) in project companies with AGEL.

Until such time when the accusations against the Adani group individuals and their consequences have been clarified, TotalEnergies has said it will not make any new financial contribution as part of its investments in the Adani group of companies.

It further clarified that its earlier investments in Adani’s entities were undertaken in full compliance with applicable laws, and with TotalEnergies’ own internal governance processes pursuant to due diligence and representations made by the sellers. The company said it was not made aware of the existence of an investigation into the alleged corruption scheme.

In January 2021, TotalEnergies acquired a minority interest in Adani Green Energy of which it now owns 19,75 percent. As part of its strategy to enhance its development in renewables in India through direct access to a portfolio of assets, TotalEnergies also has acquired 50 percent stake in 3 JVs operating renewable assets (AGEL23 in 2020, AREL9 in 2023, AREL64 in 2024).

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India's automobile retail market maintained its growth momentum in May 2026 despite headwinds from an intense heatwave, higher fuel prices and geopolitical uncertainties in West Asia. According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), overall vehicle registrations rose 9.55% year-on-year to 2.53 million units, marking the best-ever May performance across passenger vehicles, three-wheelers, tractors and overall retail sales.

In terms of segment-wise performance, two-wheeler sales came at 1.84 million units, up 7.54 percent YoY, as against 1.71 million units sold last year. Three-wheeler sales grew 3.56 percent YoY at 111,526 units.

On the other hand, the passenger vehicle segment reported robust retail sales of 402,591 units, which marked a 23.25 percent YoY growth, as compared to 326,656 units a year ago. FADA President, C S Vigneshwar, attributed the performance to robust rural demand, healthy booking pipelines, new product launches and growing adoption of alternative fuel vehicles.  

Tractor sales came at 83,092 units, up 11.17 percent, construction equipment was in the red with sales of 5,088 units, while commercial vehicle retails came at 83,823 units, up 5.29 percent YoY.

Vigneshwar said the “industry had successfully navigated multiple challenges that were flagged earlier, including heatwave conditions, fuel-price pressures and the evolving West Asia situation. While retail volumes declined 6.75 percent sequentially from April due to seasonal factors and a delayed onset of monsoon-linked agricultural activity, he noted that demand remained resilient across segments.”

The shift towards fuel-efficient and alternative powertrains gained momentum during the month. Dealers reported increased customer interest in electric vehicles following the fuel-price revision, with EV penetration in the two-wheeler segment rising to 9.25 percent from 6.11 percent a year ago. In passenger vehicles, alternative fuel models accounted for more than 38 percent of sales, supported by higher CNG and EV adoption.

Looking ahead, dealers remain cautiously optimistic. For June, over half of dealers expect growth, supported by the progress of the southwest monsoon, Kharif sowing preparations, the tail-end of the marriage season and a stable interest-rate environment. Passenger vehicle demand is expected to remain supported by strong bookings and EV launches, while commercial vehicles are likely to benefit from steady goods movement and infrastructure activity.

Confidence improves further for the June-August period, with nearly 60 percent of dealers anticipating growth as monsoon-driven rural incomes strengthen and agricultural activity gathers pace. While fuel prices, financing turnaround times and developments in West Asia remain key risks, the industry expects demand to gradually strengthen through the second quarter, supported by rural recovery, economic growth and continued consumer preference for fuel-efficient vehicles.

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Kiwi General Insurance, a digital-native non-life insurer, has officially commenced operations in India's non-life insurance market. Backed by private equity firm WestBridge Capital, which holds approximately a 70 percent stake, the company begins its rollout targeting the private car motor insurance segment.

Co-founded by industry veterans Neelesh Garg (Former MD & CEO of Tata AIG General Insurance) and Saurav Jaiswal, Kiwi received its regulatory certificate of registration from the IRDAI in March 2026

The company is operating under the brand philosophy ‘Your Peace, Our Policy,’ the insurer aims to leverage a completely in-house, proprietary technology stack and AI to dismantle legacy pain points, targeting a gross written premium (GWP) of INR 2 billion to INR 3 billion in FY2027.

Kiwi General Insurance’s core operating model signals a structural shift away from traditional asset-based pricing toward personalised customer pricing, allowing it to reward safer drivers with lower premiums.

By starting with motor insurance – a mass product category historically tied to low consumer trust and complex claim friction – Kiwi said it has engineered its product ecosystem directly around minimising the anxiety associated with repair cycles and policy updates.

To address the hesitation consumers face when deciding whether to file an insurance claim, Kiwi has introduced several proprietary features designed to eliminate out-of-pocket stress and administrative delays:

• Super NCB (No Claim Bonus): Protects a customer's accumulated renewal discounts if they file a claim. Instead of resetting to zero, the driver drops only one level down on the bonus scale. The architecture allows policyholders to earn up to 40 percent higher discounts than standard market NCB structures.
• Flexi Repair: Allows policyholders to digitally ‘bank’ minor aesthetic or physical damages from minor incidents over time, later combining them into a single, comprehensive claim. This shields the customer from paying a compulsory deductible for multiple separate micro-claims, allowing them to wait until a complete workshop repair event is worthwhile.
• InstaCash: Provides instant cash support transferred directly to the customer’s bank account on the exact day their vehicle is checked into a workshop for repairs, removing the burden of managing upfront out-of-pocket expenses.
• ‘PayFirst’ Outside-Network Experience: If a customer prefers to utilise a trusted vehicle repair shop that falls entirely outside of Kiwi’s extensive cashless garage network, the PayFirst protocol triggers an instant digital payout directly to the user to maintain total freedom of choice.

Kiwi's simplified operating architecture extends across its hybrid distribution networks to empower its field partners and independent agents for same-day digital onboarding for new distributors, instant premium reconciliation & real-time performance dashboards and shared, interactive claim trackers that provide single-point ownership, completely removing internal communication bottlenecks between the client, agent and repair facility.

Neelesh Garg said, “The insurance industry has long been shaped by legacy processes that create customer apprehension. Our goal is to rebuild it from first principles using technology, data, and disciplined execution. We are focused on making insurance simple, fast and consistent. With Kiwi, we are building an institution that customers and partners can truly rely on.”

Saurav Jaiswal, Managing Director & CEO, Kiwi General Insurance, added, “Indian consumers have a real trust deficit in insurance. If someone has to make a claim, they are already having a bad day. We are building Kiwi to get them through it as fast as possible. Customers today expect clarity, speed, and reliability, especially in moments that matter. From instant policy issuance and real-time claim tracking to faster decisions and single-point ownership, every element is designed to reduce ambiguity.”

Image credit: Pexels Mikhail Nilov

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Palmer Energy Technology (PETL), a UK clean energy and battery technology group led by former Aston Martin CEO Dr Andy Palmer CMG, has confirmed its acquisition of Kleandrive’s business and assets as a going concern through administration. The acquisition preserves a specialist British engineering capability focused on heavy vehicle decarbonisation.

Based in Essex, Kleandrive specialises in retrofitting traditional diesel vehicles – specifically legacy diesel buses – by replacing their internal combustion engines with fully electric drivetrains. This approach allows fleet operators to transition to zero-emission running without the embedded carbon costs or high capital outlay associated with new electric bus procurement.

The acquisition integrates Kleandrive's repowering workflows into the PETL group's broader clean propulsion portfolio. PETL is a leading developer of battery and battery management system (BMS) technology, utilising capabilities from its wholly-owned subsidiary Brill Power, a University of Oxford spin-out.

The combined business establishes a vertically integrated structure with reach across multiple development phases:

• Battery cell selection and advanced management systems.
• Powertrain integration and heavy-duty electric vehicle (EV) conversion.
• Fleet deployment, live commercial relationships with major UK bus operators and aftermarket support.

This architecture provides PETL with a direct application channel for its proprietary battery and energy management technology in a high-impact segment of UK transit. Furthermore, it creates a foundation for future retrofit expansion into adjacent commercial sectors where the economics of repowering are increasingly favourable, including coaches, heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and specialist commercial vehicles.

Heavy-duty buses represent an immediate opportunity within UK fleet electrification. Despite the UK government's end-of-sale date for new diesel buses and widespread operator commitments to zero-emission running, a significant portion of the national bus fleet remains heavily diesel-powered.

Repowering serves as a critical bridge for local authorities and regional operators working under strict capital constraints and decarbonisation targets. By converting existing assets, operators can lower capital costs compared to buying new vehicles, extend the useful life of their fleets and eliminate the manufacturing emissions of new vehicle fabrication.

Palmer Energy Technology intends to invest in the newly acquired capability as part of its wider clean energy portfolio. Decisions regarding the future operating structure, long-term asset deployment, and brand identity of the acquired business will be finalised and communicated in due course.

Dr Andy Palmer CMG said, “Britain keeps losing its industrial base one company at a time. I have spent years making the public argument that the UK cannot meet its decarbonisation targets or build a credible clean transport sector without homegrown businesses leading the way. This acquisition of Kleandrive’s business and assets as a going concern is a small but practical example of acting on that argument. Repowering existing diesel buses is one of the most cost-effective ways for operators to decarbonise their fleets. It deserves to be built here, by British engineers and we intend to make sure it is.”

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The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) organised the 6th International Conference on ‘Climate Action: Accelerating India’s Transition to a Low-Carbon Future’, to mark World Environment Day.

The forum brought together automobile policymakers, industry CEOs, academic researchers and sustainability experts to detail decarbonisation pathways across the entire automotive value chain.

The conference emphasised that for a market as diverse as India, no single technology will satisfy the country's net-zero roadmap. Instead, progress relies on the parallel maturation of vehicle electrification, alternative bio-fuels, circular material economies and green factory manufacturing.

The transport sector was highlighted as a focal point for reinforcing India's domestic energy security and reducing its macro-economic reliance on volatile fuel imports. Government and industry speakers mapped out a multi-fuel ecosystem designed to transition the country toward localised and clean energy pathways.

While the three-wheeler category is experiencing a fast transition driven by favourable unit economics, panellists called for accelerated adoption curves within the four-wheeler and public transport segments, specifically via electric buses.

India is actively advancing a wide range of low-carbon fuel alternatives, including biofuels, ethanol and isobutanol blends, flex-fuel configurations, compressed biogas (CBG), liquefied natural gas (LNG/CNG), green hydrogen and synthetic fuels.

Technical pathways involving coal gasification-based fuels are being structurally explored to further diversify domestic supply lines.

Experts noted that tech adoption cannot be driven by immediate costs alone; long-term scale will naturally deflate pricing over the next decade. Crucially, vehicle deployment and localised charging/refuelling networks must expand in tandem.

The conference was segmented into three core technical tracks, evaluating circularity, fuel diversification and manufacturing supply chains.

The first thematic session, ‘Circularity in the Automotive Sector: From Materials to End-of-Life Vehicles,’ focused on circular economy practices across the automotive value chain, including sustainable sourcing, recycling, resource efficiency, and end-of-life vehicle management was addressed by Guest of Honour Dr. Virender Sharma, Member Technical (Additional Secretary to Government of India level), Commission for Air Quality management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas. The session was chaired by M S Anand Kumar, Chairperson, SIAM Recycling & Material Groups, and Assistant Vice-President, TVS Motor Company, the session included presentations by Dr. Rashi Gupta, Founder & Managing Director, Vision Mechatronics; Bhuwan Purohit, Executive Director, Rubamin; Dr Swati Singh, Head of Regional Standards, South Asia (UL Standards and Engagements) and Abhijit Sen Roy, General Manager (TS), Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL), who shared perspectives on sustainable technologies, EPR frameworks, and circular resource recovery.

The session also included a panel discussion on ‘Building a Circular Automotive Value Chain,’ moderated by Sandeep Kumar Mohanty, Partner, PwC.

The second thematic session, ‘Alternate Fuels for Sustainable Mobility – Diversifying the Energy Mix: Pathways for Low-Carbon Fuels,’ focused on the role of alternate fuels in reducing transport emissions and supporting India’s mobility transition. Chaired by Vikram Gulati, Country Head & EVP – Corporate Affairs & Governance, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, the session included presentations by Dr. Santanu Gupta, Director Technical, Global Biofuels Alliance; Sumit Sarkar, Chief Executive Officer, Chhattisgarh Biofuel Development Authority and Santosh Gurunath, Chief Executive Officer, Umagine Hydrogen, who shared insights on global biofuel trends, agricultural residue-based fuels being developed, and elaborated on hydrogen as a pathway for low-carbon mobility.

A panel discussion on ‘Multi-Fuel Pathways to Achieve Sustainable Mobility,’ moderated by Atul Jairaj, Partner, Deloitte India, brought together Suruchi Bhadwal, TERI and Vedang Pittie, Harinagar Sugar Mills, along with the presenters and session chair. The discussion focused on the role of biofuels, hydrogen and other low-carbon fuels and the policy and infrastructure support needed to accelerate their adoption.

The third thematic session, ‘Decarbonising the Automotive Value Chain: Green Manufacturing and Sustainable Supply Chains,’ chaired by Suneet Deshmukh, Head Operations Excellence, Hero MotoCorp, discussed strategies for reducing emissions across manufacturing operations and supplychain.

The session included presentations by Chaitanya Kanuri, Director E-Mobility, WRI India; Mayur Karmarkar, Managing Director, International Copper Association India and Mohit Jauhari, Head SCM, Shriram Pistons and Rings, who shared insights on copper, critical minerals, rare earth magnets and elaborated on sustainable supply chain practices.

The session also included a panel discussion on ‘Accelerating the Transition to a Low-Carbon Automotive Value Chain,’ moderated by Pratik Shah, Partner, EY Parthenon. The panel brought together Parag Sharma, Stellantis; Lt Col Monish Ahuja (Retd), Punjab Renewable Energy Systems along with the session presenters. They discussed green manufacturing, renewable energy, sustainable sourcing and supply chain decarbonisation.

To actively support India's target of carbon neutrality by 2070 and the Viksit Bharat vision by 2047, SIAM formalized its long-term actions under six targeted environmental and structural initiatives – विद्युतीकरण (Electrification), जैविक पहल (Bio-Initiatives), चक्रीयता (Circularity), गैस गतिशीलता (Gas Mobility), हरित हाइड्रोजन (Green Hydrogen) and सुरक्षित सफर (Safe Journey).

Tarun Kapoor, Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, stated during the opening session, "The transport sector must play a central role in strengthening India's energy security. We cannot continue to depend on large-scale fuel imports and, over time, must move towards fuels that can be produced within the country. While three-wheelers are ready for rapid electrification, we need much faster adoption in the four-wheeler segment as well."

Prashant K. Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, added, "We are living through a time of unprecedented challenges, from climate change and air pollution to energy security concerns. But every challenge also creates an opportunity and as the world's largest market for two-wheelers and three-wheelers, India has already demonstrated remarkable progress in sustainable mobility."

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