The first half of 2026 has concluded with a stark reality check for Bollywood, as over 25 films underperformed at the box office.
The move has sparked a political row, with the opposition accusing the BJP of promoting a vegetarian agenda.
The Indian government is set to accelerate reforms, including measures to enhance foreign direct investment, speed up divestment, and boost asset monetisation, to maintain economic growth despite rising fuel and fertiliser import costs driven by the West Asia crisis.
The Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking arranged special bus services for students appearing in the NEET re-examination in Mumbai, deploying 60 buses on 24 routes for approximately 180 trips, despite an ongoing strike by its employees that has paralysed public transport.
The Budget offers a limited-time regularisation window with clear thresholds, defined payments, and immunity from penalty or prosecution.
Around 24 paise will come from borrowings and other liabilities, 10 paise from non-tax revenue like disinvestment, and 2 paise from non-debt capital receipts, the Budget documents showed.
Not a single retail outlet ran dry. Every household that wanted a cylinder got one. India faced neither a 1991 moment nor a 2013 one. Macroeconomic stability held. This was not an accident, and it was not luck alone. It was the work of a government that chose to act as it had during the pandemic -- deliberately and gradually, building one measure upon another rather than reaching for a single dramatic lever, explains V Anantha Nageswaran, chief economic advisor to the Government of India.
In 2025-26, the government allocated Rs 6,81,210 crore for defence budget.
Budget 2026 is an intentional and ambitious one - From manufacturing growth to services supremacy, from technology consumption to AI-powered transformation. This is the blueprint for a $7 trillion economy built on intelligence, not just scale.
The proposals outlined in Budget 2026-27 represent a carefully crafted, multi-year strategy designed to strengthen India's big bets on the path to Viksit Bharat 2047, says Sameer Gupta.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is grappling with a severe internal crisis, evident as rival factions occupied separate sections of the opposition benches during the West Bengal assembly's budget session. This public display of disunity follows the party's defeat in the 2026 assembly elections and ongoing legal challenges over leadership.
Amidst a disappointing box office weekend for several new Hindi releases, Vikram Bhatt's Haunted 3D: Ghosts Of The Past has emerged as a surprising success.
As many as 17 cancer drugs, along with medicines and food for special medical needs for seven rare diseases, components for microwave ovens are some of the items that are set to become cheaper with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing cuts in customs duty in the Union Budget 2026-27.
The absence of NCP-SP leaders from a key Maha Vikas Aghadi meeting in Maharashtra has ignited concerns about opposition unity ahead of the crucial budget session and upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
'We kept this Budget on a larger plank, rather than on one incident, however serious.'
'We believe the truth is in the middle, and that India is at an important crossroads.'
The Budget reframes healthcare as a strategic national capability, backing biopharma innovation, workforce expansion and technology-led governance to power India's next growth phase.
This single amendment, unfortunately, overshadows much of the Budget's promise, explains Harsh Roongta.
About 45 km from the tech hub of Bengaluru, the Karnataka government is planning a mega artificial intelligence (AI)-powered city with a budget of more than Rs 18,000 crore. To be spread over 9,000 acres, the project aims to follow the theme "Work, live, play" with technology as its core. At the centre of it are, however, thousands of farmers who are protesting against land acquisition by the government.
'The future of a microbiology course is highly promising in India and abroad,' says rediffGURU Radheshyam Zanwar, founder of Zanwar Classes.
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy will virtually deliver the keynote address at the Harvard Kennedy School's AI symposium, focusing on the global AI landscape.
Tashi Network and DroneVerse successfully conducted a live drone swarm field trial in Delhi, demonstrating advanced autonomous capabilities for defence and internal security. The trial showcased decentralised mesh technology, allowing drone swarms to maintain mission coherence even with communication disruptions, marking a significant step towards India's technological sovereignty in autonomous warfare.
The Union Budget allocates Rs 1,492 crore for the functioning of both Houses of Parliament, with specific provisions for Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and related secretariats.
BEST employees continued their strike in Mumbai for a second day, causing significant disruption to public transport despite appeals from the Maharashtra Transport Minister and the invocation of MESMA. Commuters were forced to rely on alternative, overcrowded transport options, while the striking unions maintained their demands for budget merger, improved pay, and absorption of contractual workers.
The government's Budget announcements providing tax holiday for data centres, setting up of city economic regions (CERs) and funding to improve infrastructure in Tier-II and -III cities may give an indirect boost to India's realty sector, said industry executives.
The Union Budget backs skilling across animation, gaming and comics. But creators and studios confront a hard question: who owns what comes next?
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the general budget in Parliament on February 1. The Budget session of Parliament begins on January 28 with President Droupadi Murmu addressing both houses.
Seventeen sports will feature at the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad, which is set to be staged at around 60 per cent lower cost than previous editions as part of the Commonwealth Sport's revamped hosting model.
The FM proposed a rule-based automated process for small taxpayers in FY27 Budget.
From Ramayana Part 1 and Alpha to King and Toxic, here's why the next six months could be one of Indian cinema's most exciting line-ups in years.
A new white paper released by the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government reveals that Tamil Nadu's direct debt has nearly doubled to an alarming 10 trillion in the past five years, exposing significant fiscal strain and a substantial debt burden on every citizen.
Nearly 150 Indian Super League players, including national team members, face an uncertain future as their contracts expire amid ongoing disputes between the AIFF and clubs over the league's structure.
Beijing clearly intends to extend the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor to Bangladesh as part of its larger Maritime Belt and Road Initiative to boost its Indian Ocean presence.
rediffGURU Ulhas Joshi answers your mutual fund queries.
As Curry Barker's Obsession arrives on OTT this week, Sreeju Sudhakaran revisits the chilling psychological horror film about the terrifying implications of a man's desire to control a woman's affections.
This year's Economic Survey and the Union Budget were more closely followed for more reasons than one.
Cracks appeared in the opposition ranks as some parties showed willingness to participate in the budget debate, while the government insisted on equal speaking opportunities for all members amidst ongoing disruptions.
Rediff explains why the system, not the Budget, is the problem.
History may remember Takaichi Sanae not as the leader who simply accelerated Japanese rearmament, but as one who governed during Japan's transition from an industrial-age security model to a post-industrial strategic member of the global order, points out Varun Arya.
The Delhi government has approved the Delhi EV Policy 2.0, which will phase out fresh registrations of internal combustion engine (ICE) two-wheelers and three-wheelers over the next two years, starting with a ban on ICE 3Ws and N1 category LCVs from January 1, 2027, and ICE 2Ws from April 1, 2028.
