Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman has presented a forward-looking Budget, reinforcing the government's commitment to 'Reform, Perform, and Transform'.
Industry associations and companies in the United States, including the US Chamber of Commerce, Coalition of Services Industries and the iconic bike company Harley Davidson have called on the Donald Trump dispensation to push India to reduce tariffs, non-tariffs, and regulatory barriers to boost American exports.
Four big global companies - Bayer, GenZero (a wholly-owned arm of financial major Temasek), Shell and Mitsubishi - have decided to scale up their carbon credit programme in nine states to empower farmers. The credits are generated through the adoption of smart agriculture practices - Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) and Direct Seeded Rice (DSR). Since over a year, the project, which was being run on a pilot basis, has positively impacted 10,000 farmers, covering more than 25,000 hectares.
I'...additional concessions, such as opening government procurement, reducing agricultural subsidies, weakening patent protections, and allowing unrestricted data flows -- demands India has resisted for decades.'
'I certainly hope the two can avoid a trade war and believe they will.' 'I expect some in India will push for retaliatory tariffs if the Trump administration applies significant reciprocal tariffs.'
An inconclusive end to this war will pose high risk for Netanyahu of a cascading demand for a regime change in Israel, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Cooking gas or Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) price has been raised by Rs 50 per cylinder by distribution companies, Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday.
Modernisation of agricultural marketing is important, says Montek Singh Ahluwalia
T Nanda Kumar, former food and agriculture secretary, shared his memories of working with former prime minister Manmohan Singh during some of India's most challenging times, highlighting Singh's compassionate leadership and commitment to ensuring food security for all Indians. Kumar recalled Singh's steadfast support during the 2008 global food crisis, where he championed a ban on non-basmati rice exports to secure domestic supplies. Singh's leadership, characterized by intellect and humility, left a lasting impression on Kumar, who considered him a mentor and guiding light.
Goods from sectors, including agriculture, precious stones, chemicals, pharma, medical devices, electricals, and machinery may get impacted if the US will go ahead with imposing reciprocal tariffs on Indian products, according to experts. They said that these sectors could face additional customs duties from the Trump administration because of the high tariff differential or gap, which is the difference between the import duties imposed by the US and India on a product.
With India's EV penetration at just 2.5 per cent, the market presents an opportunity -- provided Tesla gets its pricing right.
'Could the impending new crisis, vibe coding, similarly create not a disaster like what befell Indian handlooms during the Industrial Revolution but another opportunity like what the Y2K crisis created?' asks Ajit Balakrishnan.
Terminal Markets Projects will be expedited in all states that have potential for such projects, said a conference organized by the agriculture ministry.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced six new schemes and increased the subsidised Kisan Credit Card (KCC) loan limit to Rs 7 lakh from Rs 5 lakh, targeting everything from unemployment to crop productivity enhancement across the country. Presenting her eighth budget speech in Parliament, Sitharaman positioned agriculture as "the first engine of growth" and unveiled the Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana, a flagship program targeting 100 agri-districts grappling with low productivity, moderate crop intensity, and below-average credit parameters.
In 2025, India's tech job market is thriving, with tech professionals seeing a 9.5% salary increase and roles like AI/ML architects earning up to Rs 95 lakh annually.
Lauding the farm sector for demonstrating resilience during the pandemic, the Economic Survey on Friday suggested the government to see farm sector as a "modern business enterprise" for which "urgent reforms" are required to enable sustainable and consistent growth. India's agricultural sector has shown its resilience amid the adversities of COVID-19 induced lockdowns, the Survey noted. The agriculture and allied activities were the sole bright spot amid the slide in GDP performance of other sectors, clocking a growth rate of 3.4 per cent at constant prices during 2020-21, it added. According to the Survey, the farm sector has got "renewed thrust" due to various measures on credit, market reforms and food processing under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat announcements.
The Indian industry is paranoid about the USA's plan to impose reciprocal tariffs and wants early conclusion of a bilateral trade agreement, sources said on Wednesday. They said that the talks for the proposed bilateral trade agreement are going well.
'As the global economy undergoes significant transformations in 2025, India's ability to navigate the complexities of trade wars, financial realignments, and emerging blocs will be pivotal,' explain Harsh V Pant and Soumya Bhowmik.
However, so far only 16 states have amended their Acts based on the model provided by the centre.
While this will incur a revenue loss amounting to 0.2 per cent of GDP, it will provide a strong boost to consumer sentiment and spending, points out Rajani Sinha.
Tesla needs to either sell the same models with reduced features to lower the cost for Indian market, or incur losses.
'Government intervention in agricultural trade is a problem for farmers.'
Prospects of a bumper kharif harvest are expected to lower food inflation in the coming months, making the country's inflation outlook benign, the Union Ministry of Finance (FinMin) said in its monthly economic report for October released on Monday.
'The US has agreed to negotiate with us a mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement, which will go for reduction of tariffs on both sides so that our trade can grow.'
'Higher valuation remains the only spoiler for equities.'
'We also realised that locking customers to our Cloud was not fair to them.'
Senior officials of India and the US will begin three-day talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement in New Delhi on Wednesday amid threats of reciprocal tariffs from the Trump-administration, an official said. To formally start the negotiations on the pact, Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch, along with a team of officials, is in New Delhi.
The need for a manufacturing policy, reining in food inflation and raising investment in the country were among key suggestions given by economists who met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior ministry officials in the first round of pre-Budget consultations on Friday.
Wheat production during the current season is expected to be better than last year provided the weather remains favourable over the next few weeks, said senior industry executives. The weather had turned uncharacteristically hot in the latter half of last month, but owing to strong winds, the chill has returned in the last few days.
India needs another shot of difficult reform, of the kind only possible at gunpoint. Mr Trump holds that gun to our heads now. A drastic reduction in tariff protection, other elements of sarkari wet-nursing will force entrepreneurial India to become competitive again, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Market reaction to the Union Budget was overall neutral. The income tax "gift" wasn't enough to move the needle. There was some apparent rationalisation of Customs duty structure as well as cuts on import duties of some key components for the telecom and IT industry and duty cuts on vehicle imports. Other proposals related to development of agriculture and rural economy and renewables seem to be generally positive.
'The intensity and frequency of heatwaves will be much higher than in previous years over Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha.'
'And America will invite India in to have really an extraordinary opportunity and relationship with us.'
US President Donald Trump has proposed a deal to China that would see the sale of TikTok's US operations to an American buyer in exchange for a reduction in tariffs on Chinese exports to the US. The proposal comes amid a trade war between the two countries and follows China's retaliation of Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump has also said that tariffs are a powerful economic tool and that he is determined to ensure fair trade between the US and China.
'The way the bank is doing in the past 4-5 quarters, no reason to see why we will not be able to achieve that.'
Shiv Sena's Dadaji Bhuse is the new school education minister while Uday Samant continues to be the industries minister.
Analysts have largely maintained their positive outlook on HDFC Bank, as the private lender reported in-line results for the October-December quarter (Q3) of the current financial year (2024-25/FY25). They believe the results were 'strong' given the tough macro environment, and relative to peers.
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has criticized the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, calling it a 'brazen assault' on the Constitution and part of the BJP's strategy to keep society in a 'permanent state of polarization.' She also spoke out against the One Nation, One Election Bill, calling it a 'subversion of the Constitution.' Gandhi further accused the Modi government of ignoring the women's reservation bill and other demands for reservation, and of 'dragging the country into an abyss' where the Constitution will only exist on paper. She also criticized the government for limiting the speaking time of the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and for not allowing discussions on important issues like the working of the defense and external affairs ministries and the challenges posed by China on the border.
India's e-commerce market alone is projected to reach $200 billion by 2026, making it a prime industry for ambitious entrepreneurs, explains rediffGURU Harsh Bharwani.
'Binary fission will happen -- startups will lead to more startups.'
