Top Business & Market Headlines Today — BL Morning Report, Dec 12, 2025

1.India among nations hit as Mexico raises import duties up to 50% On December 10, Mexico’s Senate approved tariff hikes of up to 50% next year on imports from China and several other Asian countries, aiming to bolster local industry despite opposition from business groups and affected governments. The proposal, passed earlier by the lower house, will raise or impose new duties of up to 50% from 2026 on certain goods such as autos, auto parts, textiles, clothing, plastics and steel from countries without trade deals with Mexico, including China, India, South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia. The majority of products will see tariffs of up to 35%. The import duty on cars will rise to 50 per cent from 20 per cent, dealing a significant blow to India’s largest vehicle exporters to Mexico including Volkswagen, Hyundai, Nissan and Maruti Suzuki. 2.Microsoft deepens India bet with AI tie-ups and 200,000 Copilot licenses across top IT firms, and CEO Satya Nadella develops his own cricket app  Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella has announced partnerships with four Indian IT companies — Cognizant, Infosys, TCS, and Wipro. Each company will deploy over 50,000 Microsoft Copilot licenses, collectively surpassing 200,000 licenses, and setting a new benchmark for enterprise-scale AI adoption. On a side note, Satya Nadella, a die-hard cricket fan, has been spending his free time coding and designing his own app that he used to analyze the centuries-old game. He talked about combining two of his passions when he designed a Deep Research AI app over Thanksgiving. He then used it to select a team of all-time greats in Indian test cricket, for starters. “The system produced consensus areas, debates, reasoning chains, everything. It was fantastic,” Nadella said during a company event in Bangalore. “I wanted to get a job on the Copilot team.” Nadella is meeting business and political leaders in India this week.  3.IndiGo to give travel vouchers worth ₹10,000 to affected passengers  IndiGo on Thursday said it will offer travel vouchers worth ₹10,000 to passengers impacted by flight disruption on December 3-5. These can be used for any future IndiGo flight in 12 months. The travel vouchers will be in addition to compensation payable under government norms. Directorate General of Civil Aviation norms require airlines to pay compensation of ₹,5000-10,000 to passengers whose flights are cancelled within 24 hours of departure time.  The announcement comes a day after Delhi High Court asked why the airline was not paying compensation. The court also questioned the government for its failure to prevent the chaos. 4.Prada to launch ‘Made in India’ Kolhapuri chappals after backlash Prada will make a limited-edition collection of Kolhapuri chappals in India inspired by India’s traditional footwear -Kolhapuri sandals, selling each pair at around  $930(₹84,000), turning a backlash over cultural appropriation into a collaboration with Indian artisans. The Italian luxury group plans to make 2,000 pairs of Kolhapuri chappals in the regions of Maharashtra and Karnataka under a deal with two state-backed cooperative bodies.