Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty dived sharply by nearly 2 per cent on Sunday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a hike in the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on derivatives. Reversing the early gains, the 30-share BSE Sensex plunged sharply by 2,370.36 points or 2.88 per cent to slide below the 80,000-mark at 79,899.42 in afternoon trade as the finance minister announced a hike in STT on futures contracts to 0.05 per cent from the current 0.02 per cent.
Here are the key numbers to watch out for in the Union Budget for 2025-26:
Foreign investors fled Indian equities in 2025 at a scale never seen before, pulling out a record Rs 1.6 lakh crore (USD 18 billion) as volatile currency movements, global trade tensions, especially potential US tariffs, and stretched valuations eroded risk appetite, though flows are expected to turn sustainably positive in 2026.
Mahindra & Mahindra on Tuesday posted a 28 per cent year-on-year increase in its consolidated profit after tax to Rs 3,673 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2025, driven by robust performance of the farm sector, while also seeing the impact of the GST transition on the auto sector. The company reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 2,867 crore for the July-September period of the last fiscal.
Companies would have to recognise the increase in gratuity liability arising from new labour codes in their interim financial statements and results for the period ending December 31, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has said in its FAQs on the new labour codes.
The key question is how much of the latest growth record represents recovery from the 2020-2021 downturn, and what is the sustainable growth rate now, asks T N Ninan.
Delhi Police have dismantled three multi-state cyber fraud networks involved in online investment scams, fake trading applications, and KYC fraud, leading to the arrest of three key individuals.
Among Sensex firms, Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, Bajaj Finance, Eternal, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finserv were the major gainers. However, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Power Grid and Titan were among the laggards.
Indian information technology (IT) service providers are expected to deliver low single-digit sequential growth in the first quarter (April-June) of 2025-26 (FY26), even as macroeconomic uncertainties continue to persist due to the volatile geopolitical environment.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday launched a financial assistance scheme for 'Udasin Bhakats', providing monthly support of 1,500 to celibate Vaishnavite monks associated with Satras across the state.
Religare has engaged McKinsey to help it build an emerging market investment bank.
This is the first Budget in my memory of Budgets over the last half a century which has embraced upfront, enthusiastically and emphatically, technology, modernity and fiscal sobriety, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
In a world fractured by uncertainty, India stands out for its policy consistency, paired with sustained ambition, points out Pritam Banerjee.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday allowed multiple entities in a bank group to undertake the same business as long as they cater to different client segments, while mandating board approval to ensure that any overlap in business has proper rationale and justification.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued fresh notices to Anil Ambani and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) on a PIL seeking a court-monitored probe into alleged massive banking and corporate fraud involving the firm and its group companies.
'When AI comes in, coders in Bangalore or Hyderabad will lose their jobs.'
India is growing fast, but to keep growing strong, the government must make more things at home, create jobs, and spend money wisely, suggests Rajiv Memani, regional managing partner, Africa-India Region, EY.
The Rajya Sabha currently has 19 government Bills pending, with the oldest dating back to 1992. These bills cover a range of issues including population control, rent control, seed quality, migrant workers, and tribal autonomy.
The continued MF buying has pushed the equity holding of MFs to over Rs 50 trillion for the first time.
India's new national accounts will leverage new data sources and surveys to enhance the measurement of the country's informal economy, and introduce double deflation methods across sectors, replacing the current system that relies on a single deflation mechanism in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) calculations.
The SC has gone a step further to state that even if one were to not apply the codified GAAR provisions, the judicial GAAR would continue to apply, point out Pranav Sayta and Bhargav Selarka.
'We kept this Budget on a larger plank, rather than on one incident, however serious.'
Both the life and non-life insurance segment posted over 20 per cent premium growth in November for the first time in this financial year (FY26), supported by the reduction in goods and services tax (GST) on premiums from 18 per cent to zero and a favourable base effect.
Jio Financial Services Ltd and Zomato Ltd will enter the National Stock Exchange's benchmark Nifty 50 index from March 28. As per the revisions, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Britannia Industries Ltd will be excluded from the index, according to a release from NSE Indices.
'Solutions developed in India are being commercialised and offered globally because we're executing at scale, creating new markets and revenue streams.'
The Sensodyne IDA Shining Star Scholarship Programme 2025-26 is open to students in the first year of their Bachelor of Dental Surgery programme.
Moving beyond digital payments, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the operator of Unified Payments Interface, is planning to add more muscle to the country's digital infrastructure by setting up a fourth subsidiary, NPCI Tech Solutions Ltd (NTSL).
Supported by strong buoyancy in public sector capital expenditure (capex), growth in infrastructure investment is expected to accelerate in 2025-26 (FY26) compared to 2024-25 (FY25), according to the First Advance Estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for FY26 released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Wednesday.
India has managed high government debt-to-GDP, a slowing domestic revenue engine, lower household savings and a more hostile geopolitical environment separately in the past. But together, they threaten to undo the growth narrative on which today's optimism rests, warns Debashis Basu.
Ask rediffGURU Naveenn Kummar your insurance mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
'The impact will be minimal and it will only increase compliance cost on consent, data flows, localisation timelines, internal audits, data mapping, and new tooling.'
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said the entry of big tech firms into the financial sector poses systemic concerns like overleveraging at the borrowers' ends.
The first day of the year 2026 was positive for the debt market with foreign investors buying a net domestic debt of Rs 7,524 crore, the highest single-day inflow since May 29 last year.
If cashless services are suspended, AHPI said, its member hospitals will continue to treat Star Health policyholders, but patients will have to pay upfront and later seek reimbursements directly from the insurer.
After the last Budget's announcement of a major tax relief for those earning an annual salary of less than Rs 12 lakh, there is not much that individuals can look forward to in the forthcoming Budget, points out A K Bhattacharya.
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has recently approved procurement proposals worth Rs 79,000 crore across three services and it has cleared AoN (Acceptance of Necessity) of Rs 3.3 trillion in financial year 2026 (FY26).
The rupee witnessed its worst single-day decline in around two months since November 21, 2025, due to demand for dollars among importers, said dealers. The maturing short positions in the non-deliverable forwards market further weighed on the local currency.
Under the new rules, users must take a "live selfie" using software that verifies their presence, typically through eye-blinking or head movement. The measure helps prevent the use of static photos or deepfakes.
Fund managers are divided on the prospects for beaten-down information technology (IT) stocks, reflected in the wide variance in equity mutual funds' (MFs) sector exposure. An analysis by Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research shows that while six large fund houses were overweight the sector relative to its weight in the Nifty 200 index, five were underweight as of October 2025. UTI MF had the highest exposure at 17.8 per cent, while SBI MF sat at the bottom with 5 per cent.
Financial services giant HDFC Bank, carrying a brand value of $44.9 billion, has surged past IT consulting behemoth Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to reclaim its crown as the country's most valued brand, according to the 2025 Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable Indian Brands report.
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