Budget likely to list tax-exempt items as finance ministry, states agree
rediffGURU T S Khurana answers readers' personal income tax queries
Kingfisher has said it is in talks with foreign carriers for bringing in FDI, a move that is expected help it overcome financial troubles.
The government has exempted a number of goods like food grains, fertilisers and farm inputs from paying service tax for transportation through railways and waterways.
'LIC will reduce but not fully exit its stake in IDBI Bank, which remains an important bancassurance partner,' says LIC of India' MD and CEO R Doraiswamy.
Capex, infrastructure development, and prudent fiscal management are the key focus areas in the Budget, says Nilesh Shah.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has started tightening the noose around tax evaders. This year, the department intends to profile banking and financial services, port services and business auxiliary services to pinpoint taxability of various components to enforce compliance. More services will be profiled in subsequent years.
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.
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.
As the service tax department is probing the evasion of service tax on bulk discounts offered by the print media to advertising agencies
Though levy of service tax on domestic air travel is negative, given the rebound in air travel, the players can fully pass on the impact to customers through hike in fares
Real GDP growth surprised on the upside in 2025, but weaker nominal growth, trade uncertainty, and soft demand signal a bumpier road ahead.
They are not just underreporting income; they are reshaping what the income tax system perceives, says study.
The Budget reflects a clear focus on strengthening India's long-term prospects by leaning on nation-building sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing, and technology while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
India will now face a lower reciprocal tariff of 10 per cent, down from 25 per cent, after US President Donald Trump announced a new global levy on items imported into America in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict against his sweeping duties on several nations.
The share of first-time luxury customers in BMW's portfolio has risen sharply -- from around 43 per cent in 2024 to nearly 49 per cent in 2025. In some models, the figure is even higher.
Wholesale price inflation (WPI) fell to (-) 1 .21 per cent in October, driven by a decline in prices of food articles like pulses and vegetables, as well as lower fuel and manufactured items' prices, government data showed on Friday.
Base revisions are technical exercises, but history shows they can significantly reshape the narrative around India's growth performance.
India has set a target of $160 billion for merchandise exports during 2007-08.
Some radio taxi operators are avoiding service tax payments, forcing the revenue department to take necessary steps, including coercive measures, to recover the dues, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.
'We kept this Budget on a larger plank, rather than on one incident, however serious.'
Banks are depending more heavily on the market for certificates of deposit (CDs), whose worth climbed to a record Rs 5.75 trillion in the fortnight to January 15, owing to deposit tightness in the system.
The verdict marks a notable shift from a series of recent wins for Trump at the Supreme Court.
Afghans have deep self-respect and are the last people to put up with humiliation. Is it any surprise that relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have touched an all-time low and the two countries are now at war? asks M R Narayan Swamy.
'Sebi's move to cap brokerage charges will help investors by lowering the overall cost of investments.'
The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies eroded by Rs 9,40,581.75 crore to Rs 4,50,61,658.60 crore (USD 4.90 trillion) in a single day.
The turning point came with the appointment of Sergio Gor as the US ambassador to India.
Festive buying spree unleashed by lower tax rates pushed gross GST collection to about Rs 1.96 lakh crore in October, registering a 4.6 per cent year-on-year growth -- the slowest rate so far this fiscal.
An embarrassed Central Excise Department on Tuesday hastily withdrew notices sent to four Bharatiya Janata Party offices demanding service tax on prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's rallies after angry reaction from the main opposition party which questioned the government's motive.
After issuing notices to hotels across the country for allegedly underpaying goods and services tax (GST) on restaurant services, the revenue department has now widened its scrutiny by seeking information from online travel platforms.
A nationwide strike called by central trade unions saw a mixed response across India, impacting various sectors and states differently, with some areas experiencing disruptions while others remained largely unaffected.
Gross GST collection rose 9.1 per cent to over Rs 1.89 lakh crore in September on the back of increased sales due to rate rationalisation, as per government data released on Wednesday.
After a subdued first quarter of 2025-26 (Q1FY26), banks are now betting big on the festive season, rolling out attractive loan offers to boost credit growth in the second half of the current financial year (H2FY26) - a trend likely to be further accentuated by the second-order effects of the good services tax (GST) cuts.
ICICI Bank on Wednesday said tax authorities have slapped a demand notice of Rs 49.11 crore on it for alleged short payment of GST.
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.
Fitch Ratings on Thursday raised India's GDP growth forecast for the current fiscal to 7.4 per cent, from 6.9 per cent, on increased consumer spending and improved sentiment boosted by GST reforms.
India's main inflation measure, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), is set for another major update, even though it has been in its current form for only about 15 years.
Banking sector has witnessed healthy growth in advances in the third quarter of financial year 2026 (Q3FY26) against the same period last year, as the full impact of goods and service tax (GST) rate cuts drove growth. Most of the lenders saw their credit growth outpace the deposit growth in the quarter.
'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.'
