The rupee slumped 5 per cent in 2025 as persistent capital outflows from foreign investors, alongside heightened dollar demand from importers, making it one of the worst-performing Asian currencies.
'Given that India underperformed emerging markets by 28 per cent in 2025, the worst performance in over 30 years, the timing of the sharp STT hike could have been better.'
rediffGURU Vipul Bhavsar answers readers' personal income tax queries.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday warned that the world is witnessing a fundamental 'rupture' in the global order rather than a gradual transition, cautioning against weaponising trade, finance, and supply chains.
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.
Investors have often been left scratching their heads over why a company's stock fails to move despite delivering beating earnings results, only to see the stock fall. According to theory, beating earnings should translate to higher stock prices, but in today's interconnected world, stock prices do not depend on the numbers.
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.
Cuban Ambassador to India Juan Carlos Marsan Aguilera strongly condemned the US military operation in Venezuela, calling it a 'criminal act' and a 'terrorist act'. He emphasized the need for global unity to counter US unilateral actions and highlighted India's pivotal role in the evolving geopolitical landscape.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in its Financial Stability Report (FSR), cautioned that stress tests indicate two scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) may have to dip into their capital conservation buffers (CCBs), unless stakeholders infuse capital, under a scenario involving a gradual slowdown in domestic GDP growth and a moderate rise in inflation, with limited policy easing space available to the central bank.
The government informed Lok Sabha that security forces have neutralised 29 top Naxal leaders since 2019, with a significant reduction in affected districts.
Most first-time investors may be better served by diversified options such as flexicap or multi-cap funds, which already hold pharma and healthcare stocks.
Public sector banks have written off loans worth Rs 6.15 lakh crore in the last five and a half years, Parliament was informed on Monday.
'Pick a sum insured that realistically covers major hospitalisation costs in your city.'
Understanding severance pay isn't just for those who are losing their jobs
The University Grants Commission's (UGC) new regulations on promoting equity in higher education institutions have sparked protests and legal challenges. This article explains the regulations, the concerns raised, and the government's response.
India is aiming to win multiple medals in disciplines like aquatics and cycling at the 2036 Olympic Games as both these events offer over a 100 medals.
The core dilemma remains: Why provide further stimulus to an economy that is already booming at an 8 per cent growth rate? asks Rajeswari Sengupta.
'Reviewing terms such as war, invasion, acts of foreign enemies or hostilities, which often appear in industry exclusion lists, can help avoid surprises at the time of claim.'
Pakistan on Sunday announced a boycott of its high-profile men's T20 World Cup group league match against India, a move that is likely to have repercussions, even as the government cleared the national team's participation in the rest of the global event, starting February 7.
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:
Widespread use of crypto assets, including stablecoins, can have a negative impact on the macroeconomic and financial stability of a country, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Monday. In its Financial Stability Report (FSR), the banking regulator highlighted that excessive use of crypto assets can reduce effectiveness of monetary policy, worsen fiscal risks, circumvent capital flow management measures, divert resources available for financing the real economy and threaten global financial stability.
'Rate cut looks unlikely and there is reason to believe that the cycle is over.'
RBI cuts GDP growth projection to 6.6 per cent for current financial year, from earlier forecast of 7.2 per cent.
Bank lending to companies is expected to go up in the coming quarters because the difference in interest rates between corporate bonds and bank loans has narrowed. In addition, recent policy reforms by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), including allowing domestic banks to do acquisition financing, are expected to give further support to corporate lending, analysts said.
For patients, the immediate impact is a reduction in the final cost of therapies that often run into lakhs per month.
'We expect modest returns in 2026 versus the steep gains seen over the past few years.'
When illness strikes, this cover cushions the fall -- guarding health, finances, and the family's fragile future
The tragedy struck the 39th Surajkund International Crafts Mela on Saturday evening, when about 19 people were riding the swing before it suddenly tilted and then crashed onto the ground.
Equity markets fell on Monday, with benchmark indices recording their worst session in over two months amid caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve's (Fed's) policy announcement and renewed uncertainty over the US-India trade deal. Sustained selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) also weighed on sentiment.
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.
Among Sensex firms, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Eternal, Axis Bank and Maruti were the major laggards. However, ITC, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel and HDFC Bank were among the gainers.
'Buy early and review the sum insured regularly.'
'Combining individual or family policies with corporate cover, along with top-ups and wellness programmes, can help maintain strong health protection throughout life.'
United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday boasted about India-US defence cooperation, claiming that India's order for 68 Apache attack helicopters was delayed by five years and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally raised concerns over the long delivery period during a meeting with him.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar asserts India's right to defend against terrorism from 'bad neighbours' while highlighting India's support for friendly nations.
Maharashtra has pipped Tamil Nadu in NITI Aayog's latest Export Preparedness Index (EPI) for 2024. While Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh gained ground, Karnataka and Haryana slipped out of the top five, the central government think tank said in its report released on Wednesday.
Brookfield Asset Management will invest $1 billion to develop Asia's largest global capability centre (GCC) in Mumbai's Powai, the New York-based global alternative asset manager said in a statement on Friday. The infrastructure arm of Canada's investment firm will develop the campus across 6 acres with 2 million square feet that can be let out.
Activity in the corporate bond market is set to gain momentum following a 25-bp policy repo rate cut by the rate-setting panel of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). State-owned public cebPower Finance Corporation (PFC) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) are planning to raise up to Rs 11,500 crore through bonds on Tuesday as issuers expect borrowing costs to ease.
A shift appears underway in India's tax landscape. States with relatively smaller tax collections like Odisha and Telangana are emerging as the fastest-growing contributors to indirect and direct tax collections, respectively.
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.
