Bahrain’s Bapco Energies declares ‘force majeure’ after Iran attack| Business News
Bahrain’s state oil company, now under Bapco Energies, has declared force majeure for its shipments after an Iranian attack set its refinery ablaze. Smoke rises following a strike on the Bapco Oil Refinery, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, on Sitra Island Bahrain, March 9, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer (REUTERS) The state-run Bahrain News Agency carried the announcement of the force majeure—a legal manoeuvre that releases a company from its contractual obligations because of extraordinary circumstances. It said the company’s operations “have been affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East and the recent attack on its refinery complex”. It insisted that local demand could still be met. This is a developing story. More to come.
‘Think of the unthinkable and prepare for it’, IMF warns on Iran war impact on global economy| Business News
The International Monetary Fund has warned of inflation risks from an escalating Iran war, as a direct fallout is the surge in crude oil prices. MF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. (Reuters) A 10% increase in crude oil prices, if it sustains throughout the year, can result in a 40-basis-point increase in global inflation, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Monday. “We are seeing resilience tested again by the new conflict in the Middle East,” Georgieva said, speaking in a symposium hosted by Japan’s finance ministry. “My advice to policymakers in this new global environment is think of the unthinkable and prepare for it.”
Iran war wipes out ₹25 lakh crore in investor wealth in just five sessions| Business News
India’s stock market extended their steepest slide in six years due to an escalating Iran war. That’s wiped out more than ₹25 lakh crore in investor wealth since the strife began. The Bombay Stock Exchange in Mumbai. (Reuters) The 30-share S&P BSE Sensex fell as much as 3.16%—or 2,494.35 points—to 76,424.55 points, while the wider NSE Nifty 50 shed up to 3.07% to an intraday low of 23,697.80 points. The recovery was patchy at best by midday. The turmoil is fuelled by crude oil prices, which have surged enough to test $120/barrel levels. Every $10 rise in oil adds roughly 40 basis points to India’s current account deficit. Markets are pricing that in very fast. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. Swift, and severe damage A truncated trading week through 6 March—India’s stock market was closed on account of Holi on Tuesday, 3 March—did precious little to arrest the slide in India’s equity benchmarks. When the Nifty 50 opened on Monday, March 2—the first session after the war began—it gapped down 685 points, or 2.68%, to close at 24,865. Wednesday (4 March) brought a second wave of selling, dragging the index a further 560 points to 24,305—its lowest close since mid-2024 and the sharpest two-session retreat since the pandemic crash of March 2020. A brief dead-cat bounce on Thursday (5 March 2026) recovered 461 points to 24,766, only for sellers to return on Friday, clipping the index back to 24,450. The net weekly loss from the pre-war close of 25,550 stood at 1,100 points, or 4.31%, across just four trading sessions. Flight of foreign capital Foreign institutional investors were relentless sellers throughout, pulling roughly ₹21,000 crore ($2.3 billion) from Indian equities between 2 and 6 March. The combined market capitalisation of all BSE-listed companies fell from ₹463.9 lakh crore to below ₹440 lakh crore—wealth destruction equivalent to nearly one-seventh of India’s annual GDP. With Monday’s continued selloff, that figure has since crossed ₹25 lakh crore. Sectoral damage has been broadly spread but concentrated in financials and consumer discretionary names. IndiGo, India’s dominant carrier operated by Interglobe Aviation Ltd., has lost more than 7% as jet fuel costs surge. Banks, battered by expectations of delayed repo rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of India, have fallen sharply as a group. Only a handful of index constituents have sort-of held their ground—Coal India and Reliance Industries among them—as investors rotate toward commodity-linked names that benefit from elevated energy prices. More pain incoming? Analysts warn the pain could deepen. Oil at $120 per barrel would push India’s fiscal deficit 30–40 basis points wider than budgeted, potentially forcing the government to trim capital expenditure or subsidise fuel—either outcome is negative for growth. The RBI now faces a stagflationary dilemma. Domestic institutional investors have provided some cushion, absorbing a portion of the FII outflows and preventing a more disorderly selloff. Still, with Brent crude showing no signs of retreating, equity strategists are trimming year-end Nifty targets, with some now pencilling in levels as low as 22,500 in a prolonged-war scenario.
IndiGo among worst-hit as Iran war delivers crude shock to global airline stocks| Business News
India’s airline stocks took a severe beating on Monday, leading a broader Asian market selloff as surging crude oil prices and an escalating Iran war threaten to cripple airline profit margins. For Indian airlines like IndiGo, fuel is the second-largest expense after labour, typically accounting for 20% to 25% of total operating costs. (Reuters) Shares of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., the operator of India’s largest airline IndiGo, plunged 7.5%, while budget carrier SpiceJet Ltd. dropped 5.6%. Investors are rapidly offloading stocks heavily exposed to volatile crude oil prices, even as the aviation sector braces for extended turbulence. The Jet Fuel Squeeze The sharp selloff on Dalal Street is directly tied to the underlying commodity. Crude prices jumped 20% in early Monday trading—hitting levels not seen since July 2022—driven by fears of tighter global supply and prolonged disruptions to Middle Eastern shipments. For Indian carriers, fuel is the second-largest expense after labour, typically accounting for 20% to 25% of total operating costs. With the rupee historically sensitive to oil shocks, the macro environment presents a dual headwind for domestic airlines. Furthermore, the pain at the pump for airlines is often worse than the headline crude numbers suggest. “If crude oil is rising 20%, jet fuel is rising several times more as it is even more scarce,” Subhas Menon, head of Association of Asia Pacific Airlines, told Reuters. Most airlines are also facing “significant cost to operations together with crew resources which are stretched due to longer flying times when airspace is closed”. While some global airlines use derivative contracts to hedge against fuel price spikes, carriers that do not lock in favourable rates are left fully exposed to the spot market’s volatility. Scramble for airspace and capacity The geopolitical conflict has severely constrained global airspace, forcing airlines to reroute flights, carry heavier fuel loads, or mandate additional refuelling stops to avoid active conflict zones. The disruption has essentially choked the primary transit corridors between Asia and Europe. Major Gulf hubs—including those operated by Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad, which traditionally handle a massive volume of India-to-West transit traffic—are facing severe bottlenecks. Cirium data shows that more than 37,000 flights to and from the Middle East have been canceled since the conflict began on 28 February. Capitalising on the constraints faced by these Middle Eastern giants, Tata-owned Air India has pivoted rapidly. The flag carrier has added dozens of non-stop flights to European and North American destinations through 18 March, absorbing the massive spillover demand from passengers desperate for direct routes that bypass the Gulf region entirely. ALSO READ | Sensex, Nifty 50 slump to lowest in 11 months as oil boils amid Iran war A Broader Regional Crisis The fallout extends far beyond India’s borders. The operating environment for Asian airlines, already strained by supply chain issues and economic uncertainty, has deteriorated sharply. Brendan Sobie, a Singapore-based independent aviation analyst, told Reuters that “already high levels of uncertainty have increased even further”. Reflecting this anxiety, shares in Australia’s Qantas Airways, Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, and major Chinese carriers tumbled between 4% and over 10% on Monday. Beyond the balance sheets, the conflict is taking a heavy operational toll. With thousands of passengers scrambling for limited commercial services, private charters, or even overland escapes, the aviation network is stretched to its limit. Furthermore, pilots report that the accumulation of restricted airspace—from Ukraine to the Middle East—is increasing mental strain as they are forced to navigate shrinking safe corridors and a barrage of military drones.
Screen and real innovation, for your eyes only| Business News
If you contextualise the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra as just another flagship generation based on new specs compared with the previous generation, it’d be fallaciously simplistic. There are of course generational steps forward in terms of the hardware and specs, and nothing less is to be expected. However, Samsung’s focus is steadfast on capabilities and finesse that defines experience. Case in point, the Privacy Display. Another case in the same point, Horizontal Lock for video recordings, to keep videos level even if your angles aren’t. One more? The APV video codec, or Advanced Professional Video. To some these may seem a generational given, but switch to another Android flagship and you’ll realise that isn’t the case. This is the world’s first phone with a Privacy Display built at a hardware level. (Vishal Mathur/ HT Photo) As has often been the case with recent Galaxy flagship iterations, including the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Samsung is bumping up the base spec combination from 12GB memory and 256GB storage to 12GB memory and 512GB storage for the entry spec price point of ₹1,39,999 — which they say is for a limited time; good value for early adopters, who have their credit cards dusted off and ready. The top-tier 12GB memory and 1TB storage is priced at ₹1,89,999 at this time. Once the initial base spec bump offer is done with, expect the 256GB storage variants to surface, while the 512GB storage option slots in-between. Chances are, pure spec upgrades may not excite you as much now, and that’s precisely why I shall talk about a feature that does give us a reason. The Privacy Display. It is a hardware innovation with software playing its part. This is the world’s first phone with something built at the hardware level. The magic really resides in the pixel architecture — when this mode is enabled, the pixels mode into something that can be classified as a narrow mode of illumination, straight forward and little escaping on the sides making it difficult to view contents from lateral angles. OLED display technology is meant to disperse light in a broader manner to each pixel, for better angled viewing otherwise. On the face of it, privacy tech may not be cool enough for some, but this is simply an illustration of this era of smartphones, where innovation has largely been spec driven with little else to go with that. The accessory market is full of screen protectors that claim similar privacy from side viewing, but unlike those (which variable results as well), Samsung’s deployment isn’t a forced solution. It can be turned on and off as a user’s will, and even configured for specific apps. Banking apps and two-factor authentication apps, one would assume, immediate beneficiaries. In our experience, this works brilliantly, in default setting as well as the more powerful “maximum privacy protection” setting. There is very little someone sitting beside you can make out about the contents on the screen in the former, and it’s absolutely akin to hitting a wall on the latter. That said, when this is enabled, there is a definite tint that overlays the screen even when looked at straight on, which isn’t great if your search is for colour accuracy or realism while viewing media. Logically, you can’t just turn this on and leave it that way all the time. Unless of course Samsung can optimise this with software updates in the coming months. I fully expect this technology to be available in more Samsung products, particularly the larger screen tablets, soon. It’ll be interesting to see if the Privacy Display also makes it to the company’s foldable phones, which continue to set the benchmark in that category. There are certain improvements across the battery and performance spectrum, as well as some new feature additions to the camera. But design differences, compared with the Galaxy S25 Ultra are minimal, albeit the newer phone is very slightly thinner and lighter (both metrics, not entirely perceptible most of the time). The reason for the additional slimness is also the switch from titanium to aluminium. You’ll have no complaints about performance, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy chip (the “for Galaxy” part is important, marking continued Samsung-specific customisations at chip level) now flanked by an elaborate new Vapor Chamber cooling system. It seems to be working, because the only time the Galaxy S26 Ultra felt somewhat lukewarm was during the initial setup stage, with lots of apps and updates in progress. That’s certainly proving to be a positive for battery stamina as well, with close to 8 hours of screen time and still 30% charge left for the remainder of the day. This is, for most use cases, a very comfortable usage aspect. Mind you, Samsung is still exploring silicon-carbon for smartphone batteries, expected sometime in the future. The moment is right to point out what I’d call Samsung’s obsession with Microsoft apps being pre-installed on the Galaxy S26 Ultra — Outlook, Copilot, OneDrive and a few more that I really cannot bother to remember. Basically, upon setup, made it a point to uninstall all Microsoft apps, since they essentially are forcing their way in on my experience with the phone. Yet, a few hours later, all apps were back — force downloaded in the background without any consent or approval from the user. They were nevertheless uninstalled again, but it is difficult to pinpoint if this is a Galaxy Store behaviour, or these uncalled for updates are being pushed through the Google Play Store. It is understandable that Microsoft may have a watertight deal in place with Samsung, but this needs fixing. Cameras on the Galaxy S26 Ultra represent what we often call, two sides of the same coin. Top notch in terms of the hardware, that is with a 200-megapixel main camera, a 50-megapixel telephoto camera with 5x optical zoom, a 50-megapixel ultra wide camera, and a 10-megapixel telephoto with 3x optical zoom. The main and telephoto cameras specifically
A short guide to email opening lines| Business News
If an alien were shown the typical first sentences of work emails, what might it conclude? Since so many messages start with the hope that the recipient is well, an extraterrestrial might at first assume that most humans are either recovering from illness or about to take to their sickbeds. But even if it were to realise that this was largely a matter of etiquette, it would miss the nuances of each opening gambit. Until now. Representational image. (Pexels/Representational Image) I hope you are well Ostensible meaning: I hope you are well.Actual meaning: None. It’s just throat-clearing. Do not write back and give the other person a bulletin on your health. I hope this email finds you well. Ostensible meaning: I hope you are well.Actual meaning: I have not been in touch for a while and am not even sure you are in the same job. Plus I have a vague idea that this formulation makes me sound professional. Either way, I’m still totally uninterested in your health. Hope all well. Ostensible meaning: I hope you are well.Actual meaning: We both know this sentence is totally formulaic, so I’m cutting it down to the bare minimum. If time is really pushed, I might say “Hope all OK”, and save myself two characters. Nice to e-meet you. Ostensible meaning: We’ve just been introduced by a third party and I’m pleased to make your acquaintance. Actual meaning: No email can substitute for an in-person encounter. Only when we have shaken hands and stared into the whites of each other’s eyes and taken the full measure of each other will we have properly met. I also send e-cards and shop on e-commerce sites and still think of Amazon as an e-tailer. I have clear memories of the 1980s. Nice to “meet” you. Ostensible meaning: We’ve just been introduced by a third party and I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.Actual meaning: I’m an appalling pedant. I have clear memories of the 1970s. I hope you had a good weekend. Ostensible meaning: We’re both well-rounded individuals with fulfilling lives outside work. Actual meaning: It’s Monday morning and I cannot be bothered to write “I hope you are well” for the billionth time. I hope your week is off to a good start. See above, but it’s Monday afternoon. I hope your week is going well. It’s now Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. I hope you have had a great week. Guess what? It’s Friday. I hope you’re having a great weekend. See above, but I have no sense of work-life boundaries. I hope this email isn’t interrupting anything urgent. Ostensible meaning: I am respectful of your time.Actual meaning: I have no idea how email works. Apologies for sending you an out-of-the-blue email. Ostensible meaning: This may look an awful lot like spam but is actually a message from a real person who appreciates how busy you are.Actual meaning: This may look an awful lot like a message from a real person who values your time but it’s still spam. I’m going to spare you the preamble and cut to the chase. Ostensible meaning: You’re busy, I’m busy. Let’s behave like the professionals we are and get right down to business. Actual meaning: The expectations of a meaningless first sentence are so deeply embedded that I am going to spend as much time skipping the pleasantries as the pleasantries would have taken. Some emails do genuinely avoid the throat-clearing, and plunge straight in. There are several explanations for this. One is that the correspondents involved are in close contact: they know that the other person is well. Another is that the sender has worked out that the typical first sentence really is unnecessary. Another is that the writer dislikes the recipient but knows that putting “I hope you are unwell” would be taking things too far. Which is it? Even humans struggle to work that one out. Step inside the world of work with our Bartleby newsletter. Each week our white-collar oracle muses on the agonies of office life.
Indian Oil-led refiners snap up 20 million barrels of Russian oil amid Iran war squeeze| Business News
Indian refiners, led by Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. are rushing to secure millions of barrels of prompt Russian crude as New Delhi scrambles to mitigate an energy crisis triggered by an escalating Iran war in the Middle East. As part of the interim India-US trade deal, New Delhi has agreed to abstain from Russian oil imports, which, according to Washington DC, is fuelling Russia’s war in Ukraine. (Reuters) The refiners are pivoting back to Moscow’s barrels after US Treasury Department issued a surprise 30-day waiver on Thursday, according to a Reuters report that quoted at least six people aware of the matter. The temporary licence allows India to purchase Russian oil currently “stranded at sea”, providing a critical lifeline as traditional Gulf supply routes face disruption. A Strategic Pivot under Pressure The waiver represents a temporary thaw in a months-long campaign by Washington to pressure New Delhi into diversifying away from Russian energy. India, which became the top buyer of Russian sea-borne crude following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, had significantly scaled back purchases in January to comply with US interests. That reduction helped New Delhi avoid 25% tariffs and secure an interim trade deal with the United States. However, the volatility in the Middle East—where India sources approximately 40% of its imports via the Strait of Hormuz—has forced a tactical shift. “To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement. He characterised the move as a “stopgap measure”, noting that it authorises only transactions involving oil already at sea to prevent a significant financial windfall for Moscow. Refiners Return to the Market India’s energy security remains precarious, with domestic crude stocks covering only about 25 days of demand. Fearing a shortage, state refiners including Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd., and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. have re-entered talks with traders for prompt delivery. Sources told Reuters that state-run refiners have already snapped up approximately 20 million barrels of Russian oil. Even Reliance Industries Ltd., India’s largest private refiner, has reportedly approached traders for prompt Russian cargoes. “Indian refiners are back in the market,” said one trader involved in the sales. “Nowadays, more than prices, availability of molecules is the issue.” The Cost of Urgency The desperation for supply has fundamentally altered the economics of the trade. Traders are currently selling Russian Urals to India at a premium of $4 to $5 per barrel relative to Brent on a delivered basis for March and April arrivals. This marks a dramatic swing from February, when cargoes traded at a $13 discount. For comparison, HPCL secured two cargoes at that $13 discount just before the regional conflict intensified on February 28. Washington’s Long-Term Outlook While the Trump administration has granted this reprieve following direct outreach from New Delhi, the long-term expectations in Washington remain unchanged. Secretary Bessent noted that the US expects India to eventually transition toward higher volumes of US oil. For now, however, the priority remains stabilising a market rattled by the Iran conflict. Neither the Indian ministries nor the US White House responded to Reuters’ requests for comment, but the movement of vessels suggests that for India, the immediate need for “molecules” has outweighed the previous diplomatic caution.
India tells refiners to maximise LPG output for domestic sales only| Business News
India has directed all its refiners to maximise LPG production for sale to state-run oil marketing companies, amid a squeeze stemming from the Iran war. India has asked refiners to avoid using propane and butane, which together compose liquified petroeleum gas (LPG), for petrochemical production. (AFP) Only Indian Oil, HPCL and BPCL can buy this LPG, which in turn can be sold only to domestic customers, according to a government order released on Friday (6 March 2026). The order also asked refiners to avoid using propane and butane for petrochemical production. LPG is a combination of propane and butane. India, which imports nearly 85% of its oil and gas needs, is staring at an energy crisis after Qatar closed the world’s largest LNG terminal in Ras Laffan after it faced a drone attack by Iran. Tehran has also blocked the Strait of Hormuz, which carries nearly half of India’s oil and gas imports — every day. To be sure, New Delhi has managed to secure crude oil supply after Indian Oil and others pivoted to Russian oil, after permission from the United States. They have snapped up nearly 20 million barrels of seaborne Russian Urals in less than a day since US Treasury Department allowed India to do so. “To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement on Thursday (5 March 2026). He characterised the move as a “stopgap measure”, noting that it authorises only transactions involving oil already at sea to prevent a significant financial windfall for Moscow. As part of the interim India-US trade deal, New Delhi has agreed to abstain from Russian oil imports, which, according to Washington DC, is fuelling Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Some industry hesitation, but flywheel working again: Xiaomi India| Business News
For years, India’s smartphone market operated on a familiar promise — wait a few months, and the same amount of money would buy better specs such as more storage, more memory, better cameras, and a faster chip. That equation is now under pressure as global memory and storage prices rise, driven by relentless AI investments. Sandeep Singh Arora, chief business officer at Xiaomi India, tells HT that after some short-term hesitation, tech companies and consumers are adjusting to this new reality. Sandeep Singh Arora, chief business officer at Xiaomi India and (right) Anuj Sharma, Xiaomi India’s chief marketing officer. (Official image) “We are beginning to see the flywheel work again and demand returning,” he says, adding, “As prices go up across the industry, some customers will wait and watch. But we are also seeing the market start to stabilise as trade and consumers adapt. There is some short-term hesitation in parts of the chain.” Arora is concerned that supply is tightening fast. WD and Seagate say their 2026 enterprise hard-drive capacity is already fully allocated. Meanwhile, Gartner estimates memory and SSD prices could jump 130% by year-end — pushing average PC prices up 17% and smartphone prices up 13%. Research firm IDC expects the PC market to shrink by 11.3%, and the smartphone market to register a 12.9% decline. Xiaomi’s scale in India means component inflation or supply stress can ripple across its portfolio, even as it strengthens smart TV and tablet businesses. Timing is crucial, with the Xiaomi 17 and Xiaomi 17 Ultra flagships launching in India on March 11. They’ll compete with Samsung’s new Galaxy S26 trio, led by the ₹1,39,999 Galaxy S26 Ultra. India pricing for the 17 series is yet to be announced. Anuj Sharma, Xiaomi India’s chief marketing officer, tells HT that though they “started relatively late in the flagship conversation” in India, each generation was built to solve a specific challenge. A key constant is Xiaomi’s partnership with German camera giant Leica. This is in stark contrast to trends within the Android smartphone space. OnePlus no longer has Hasselblad optimisations, while Vivo’s partnership with Zeiss is broadly in a status quo state. “In 2022 and 2023, we pushed large sensors, and in the years after, improved portraiture and telephoto capabilities. This year, the question was — how do we begin approaching what dedicated cameras can do? That’s why we moved from co-engineering to co-creation,” Sharma describes the philosophy. “We want to keep moving closer to what the human eye sees, in dynamic range, detail, and realism,” a clear mandate for Xiaomi and Leica’s engineers. The Xiaomi 17 Ultra’s key imaging upgrade is a new sensor called LOFIC (Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor). Its core differentiator is that, instead of combining multiple exposures that lead to motion blur, this sensor uses a specialised component to sift excess light from bright areas in a single shot. The result is better balance between shadows and brighter highlights, without blown-out areas, closer to how a human eye perceives a scene. Milestones, and a bumpy road Global supply chain disruptions — enough to derail product roadmaps and pricing plans — come as the company builds momentum in smart TVs, helped by a strong response to its recently launched 75-inch QLED flagship, and expands its tablet lineup with the new Xiaomi Pad 8 series. “Xiaomi has one of the largest user bases in India across categories. A significant number of these users are now ready to upgrade because they’ve had a good experience with our products,” Arora points out, noting momentum with smartphones and tablets. Market data suggests Xiaomi’s push into 43-inch and larger TVs is paying off. It currently holds a 7.9% share, ranking third behind Samsung (23.8%) and LG (16.5%), with estimates projecting this to rise to 12% this year. In tablets too, CyberMedia Research (CMR) data shows Xiaomi at 16%, close to Lenovo’s 19%, though Samsung remains well ahead at 34%. Arora and Sharma insist Xiaomi’s premium push is not just about smartphones, but a broader play across product categories — an extension of the premiumisation journey it began a few years ago. They are confident of building on that momentum.“We believe we’ve met the initial milestones set for ourselves. Now we are accelerating,” he says. “We have stronger channel capability, and we’re seeing growing consumer demand for premium Xiaomi products.” Small details, such as packaging and retail experience, will decide whether this push succeeds. Sharma points to the 75-inch QLED TV that went on sale this month. “In fact, demand is strong enough that we had internal discussions about production and whether we should manage communication until supply catches up,” he says. HT asked Arora how Xiaomi measures that journey, and he outlined a four-part framework. “Our metrics are not just one number. We look at premium contribution within the portfolio, ASP (average selling price) growth, consumer satisfaction, and increasingly cross-category ownership,” he says.
Photography as a human eye sees it| Business News
It is often said that every dark night, is followed by a bright day. For Xiaomi in India, that darkest night is behind them, with the crack of dawn clearly visible. Momentum in the last few quarters, across product categories, strengthens Sandeep Singh Arora’s argument that this is the time to “strengthening the ecosystem.” Arora, the chief business officer at Xiaomi India, tells HT in a conversation that 2026 is the year that the company will build on three foundational strengths — great products, honest pricing and a strong ecosystem presence across categories. “You will see us go deeper across mobile, televisions, tablets, and more premium segments,” he says. A teardown of the LOFIC sensor and the Leica UltraPure optical lens treatment on the Xiaomi 17 Ultra. (Official image) The latest piece in that puzzle for Xiaomi India is the Xiaomi 17 flagship smartphone series, which launches in India soon, and will compete with the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S26 series, as well as the likes of theVivo X300 series and the OnePlus 15. Anuj Sharma, the chief marketing officer at Xiaomi India, insists that the camera is the closest Android flagship photography has come to how the human eye sees reality. Sharma illustrates Xiaomi and Leica’s collective vision, “Our philosophy is simple: physics will always beat software.” The phone maker has just extended their partnership with the German camera giants, at a time when OnePlus phones have lost the Hasselblad edge, while Vivo and Zeiss’ partnership is more a continuation. Arora and Sharma talk to HT about the company’s flagship phone playbook, the premiumisation push in India and how those metrics are shaping up, as well as the complications around memory and storage prices that will force the tech industry to rework larger product plans for 2026. Edited excerpts: Q. What principles defined the Xiaomi 17 series, and how does it fit your view of what a flagship smartphone should be in 2026 and beyond? Did you have to rewrite the flagship playbook? Anuj Sharma: I believe we’ve been rewriting that playbook for the last four years. Every year it becomes a bigger challenge because the bar for what a flagship should be keeps moving — and we’re trying to set that bar ourselves. We started relatively late in the flagship conversation, especially in India. Around 2022, we began this journey seriously, including our partnership with Leica. From day one, that was never meant to be just a marketing or licensing arrangement. It began as co-engineering. The idea was that future flagships would be defined by creation — by imaging, by how we capture moments, and by pushing mobile photography into the next phase. Leica brings unmatched photography expertise, and we bring miniaturisation — how to fit advanced imaging systems into something that still fits in your hand. In 2022 and 2023, we pushed large 1-inch sensors, unseen at the time. In the years after, we improved portraiture and telephoto capabilities. This year, the question became: where do we go next? Iteration alone wasn’t enough. That’s why we moved from co-engineering to co-creation. With the Xiaomi 17 series, especially the 17 Ultra, we asked: how do we move beyond “smartphone photography” and begin approaching what dedicated cameras can do? That is the starting point for our 2026 flagship vision. So you have hit that orbit, and if I could probably put it in a way, that you are at the top of what smartphone photography should be. But to be honest, you still have DSLRs, those large and medium-format cameras that do some things spectacularly. How do you break away from the smartphone game and start approaching that? And that’s where the 2026 lineup, and essentially where the 17 Ultra starts off. A couple of key technologies. On the 17 Ultra, we have a LOFIC sensor. Nobody else in the industry has it. And that is taking a step towards what should be the future of mobile photography. Secondly, we were trying to solve for the space constraints. Last year, we had a 75mm and a 100mm lens. But can’t you keep adding because some sensors that might not do justice to that whole telephotography that you want. And hence, you know, we put in the first 200-megapixel continuous optical zoom, which is a massive innovation. Q. Indian users are heavy multitaskers, increasingly AI-curious, but also very battery-conscious. What user behaviour shaped the Xiaomi 17 series for India? Sandeep Singh Arora: We see two broad kinds of flagship users. The first is the user who wants cutting-edge camera and imaging technology. For them, the Ultra is the clear choice. If someone really cares about imaging and wants a phone camera system that performs at the highest level, that’s who the 17 Ultra is built for. As Anuj talked about the 75mm and 100mm lens and a 1-inch sensor which was unheard of, and yes smartphone cameras have become great. We are confident this camera will perform better than any other flagship. Then there’s a second kind of user, someone looking for the best compact flagship experience with no compromises and covers every base. They want top performance, strong battery life, great imaging, and an all-round premium experience in a more compact form factor. That’s where the Xiaomi 17 fits in. So yes, battery matters, AI curiosity matters, multi-tasking matters — but for us, the lineup is designed around distinct premium user intentions rather than one generic flagship profile. Q. It’s been about two years of a sustained premiumisation push in India. How do you assess progress, and what challenges remain? Sandeep Singh Arora: It is a journey, and we believe we’ve met the initial milestones we set for ourselves. Now we are accelerating on that journey. There have already been multiple launches this year across categories, and there is much more to come. We now have better capability, including stronger channel capability, and we’re seeing growing consumer demand for premium Xiaomi products. There are potentially as many launches