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.
The share of services in gross value added (GVA) in 2023-24 was the highest in Chandigarh (88.8 per cent), followed by Delhi (84.1 per cent), said a NITI Aayog report released recently.
The services sector employs 188 million people but remains highly informal, trapping most workers in low-wage jobs without social protection.
'What we are willing to do is definitely going to depend on what the Indian government wants to do.'
The NSO previously tried to collect household income data in its ninth (1955), 15th (1959), 19th (1964), and 24th (1969) rounds (July 1969-June 1970), but these efforts were not completed, partly due to non-responsiveness by respondents.
The RBI advisory follows a labour ministry request earlier this year seeking the central bank's expertise to identify gaps in EPFO's investment strategy and fund management practices, including accounting, risk management, and internal governance.
'These changes are expected to eliminate many data-entry problems that make the return filing process cumbersome in the current system.'
'When negotiators meet next, they may like to bring new issues to the table.'
'It was like rigorously preparing for a solid, good exam...' 'I don't know what marks I will get, but I felt the rigorous preparation of an exam.' 'You may sweat, but I feel rejuvenated.'
'I am doing the drive in making sure that people pass this on. So the drive is not with distrust. The drive is just in case.' 'Just in case it doesn't get passed on, I am here.'
'That is going to have an impact on literally every one, whether you buy a toothpaste, a safety pin, a car, shoes or medicines or you go to a diagnostic centre.'
Labour markets showed positive momentum in August as the unemployment rate fell for the second consecutive month to a four-month low of 5.1 per cent from 5.2 per cent in July. It was on account of the start of the sowing season.
'In case a particular industry has not passed on the benefits and if we receive complaints, we will take up the matter with the industry body concerned.'
Women are increasingly using gig work as a pathway to economic independence which has no entry barrier, especially as an alternative to traditional jobs.
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