On Agri Stack, Expenditure Secy V Vualnam says it's progressing well; using IT, farmers will be able to choose exact fertiliser quantities needed, reducing crowding at fertiliser outlets.
'Among corporates, about 60% of income is now reported under the new tax regime.'
The turning point came with the appointment of Sergio Gor as the US ambassador to India.
'This Budget has a one-year agenda, which you can call the sprint, and the marathon is towards Viksit Bharat.'
'Grassroots-level corruption, which disrupts the last-mile work, cannot be ignored in your enthusiasm and drive to get going to complete the project.' 'Like it was in MGNREGA, in some states, it is the case with the Jal Jeevan mission.' 'The last minute levels of corruption can ruin the intent of the project itself.' 'When you see that people can game a particular well-intended and well-crafted project, you need to correct that.'
'We kept this Budget on a larger plank, rather than on one incident, however serious.'
The finance minister said that consolidation of state-owned banks could proceed at any time without waiting for the recommendations of the proposed high-level committee on banking.
The "huge mountain of debt" in developed economies and the risk of a possible unravelling is a matter of concern for India, Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday, pointing to the recent spike in Japanese bond yields.
Both India and the EU are likely to announce a conclusion of trade talks on January 27.
'It will increase the contribution to gratuity, which is something the employer has to give.'
Buoyed by the robustness in rural job market on account of rabi sowing, India's monthly unemployment rate fell to an eight-month low of 4.7 per cent in November, the latest periodic labour force survey (PLFS) monthly bulletin released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Monday showed.
'The tragedy underscored 'serious and widespread' weaknesses in the EPFO's monitoring system and its ability to detect and act against defaulting establishments.'
'I don't think we should ever negotiate with deadlines or hard stops because we tend to make mistakes then.'
A larger part of India's population was in the middle 40 per cent of the national income share in 1980. Today almost all are in the bottom 50 per cent.
India's exports to the US contracted 8.6 per cent to $6.3 billion in October, while imports rose 13.9 per cent to $4.5 billion leading to a trade surplus of $1.8 billion during the month.
'Raising the retrenchment, layoff and closure threshold to 300 workers for prior government permission enables hire-and-fire in more than 90 per cent of the Indian workplaces. More than 12,00,000 disputes are now pending for adjudication with an average disposal period ranging from 3 to five years for more than 75 per cent of the disputes.'
'Maybe he was wrong, but they believed he genuinely meant what he said.'
Around 128.6 million people were employed in the unincorporated sector during July-September of FY26, showed the latest quarterly bulletin of unincorporated sector enterprises released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Tuesday. This is slightly higher than the 128.57 million in the previous quarter.
India offset the decline in exports to traditional destinations by sharply ramping up shipments to Jordan (18,086 per cent), Hong Kong (17,006 per cent), Spain (13,436 per cent), the Philippines (2,235 per cent), and Namibia (1,068 per cent) in H1FY26.
India's labour market in the second quarter (July-September/Q2) of 2025-26 (FY26) showed resilience, with the jobless rate easing even as more people entered the workforce. However, a rise in youth unemployment and a fall in the share of salaried workers remain areas of concern.