Talks between the UK and India on a free trade agreement have entered the final stretch, with both sides now wrangling over five unresolved issues, according to an official in New Delhi familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported. India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will tackle some of these issues during his two-day visit to the UK that begins Monday.He is scheduled to meet Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves.

Homelessness represents the "single biggest risk" to council finances and may cause effective bankruptcy, according to the organisation that represents London boroughs, BBC.com reported. London Councils, a cross party group that represents all 32 boroughs and the City of London, estimated that councils in the capital had been forced to overspend on their homelessness budgets by at least £330m in 2024-25. Local authorities have a legal duty to provide temporary accommodation to anyone who qualifies as homeless - the number of which has risen in recent years.

Nearly one-tenth more companies went insolvent in England and Wales in March than the same time last year, according to new figures, The Independent reported. The number of registered firms that went bust was 1,992 last month, according to the Insolvency Service, a 2% fall compared with February but a 9% increase compared with March 2024. Creditors’ voluntary liquidations (CVLs), when the directors of a company choose to close it down, made up the majority of the numbers, at 1,543, an 8% year-on-year rise.

There were 1,175 Scottish corporate insolvencies in the year 2024-2025 - a slight increase of 0.6% from 2023-2024’s figure of 1,168 - and up 3.8% on 2022-2023’s figure of 1,132, Insider.co.uk reported. The latest Accountancy in Bankruptcy report showed that there were 294 corporate insolvencies in the fourth quarter, compared with 301 during the same period in 2023-24 - a decrease of 2.3%. There were 128 voluntary liquidations in in the fourth quarter, up by a third from 96 year-on-year.

Rachel Reeves is to follow Donald Trump in closing a tax loophole exploited by Chinese online giants Shein and Temu as she seeks a US trade deal, The Telegraph reported. The Chancellor is preparing to change a statute in the UK tax code, known as the de minimis rule, which means products worth less than £135 are exempt from UK import duties. The decision comes after the US and EU both moved to scrap it following a flood of cheap Chinese goods undercutting local businesses.

A leading care association in the west is warning some residential homes may go under due to rising costs such as National Insurance (NI) and the national living wage, BBC.com reported. David Smallacombe, chief executive of not-for-profit organisation Care and Support West, says many care home operators will be forced to raise prices for vulnerable residents. He is calling on the government to exempt social care providers from the NI hike, as it already has for the public sector and NHS.

Fisker filed for bankruptcy, leaving Ocean owners high and dry. However, Fisker dealers were in an even worse situation. In England, a Fisker dealer was forced to abandon the Ocean SUVs on the side of a road, Autospies.com reported. Several days later, an auction house collected them and will auction them off alongside other abandoned Fisker Oceans. However, it's unclear who'd want them. Fisker filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. last June, leaving owners holding the bag. While creditors and founders will see some of their money back, owners will not have the same luck.

Britain’s biggest pub company saw its financing costs surge by 50pc to almost £500m last year, as high interest rates put pressure on the debt-laden business, The Telegraph reported. Stonegate Pub Company, best known as the owner of the Slug & Lettuce and Be At One chains, suffered a £214m loss for the year to October 2024 after the cost of servicing its debt pile rose from £301m to £455m. Debt costs grew far faster than sales across its almost 4,500 pubs. Takings increased by just £28m to £1.74bn over the year, recently published filings show.