Retail inflation rose to a three-month high of 1.33 per cent in December 2025 mainly due to higher prices of kitchen essentials, including vegetables and protein-rich items.
The Union Budget for 2026-27, presented by Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday, which was a first, had an excellent domestic macro backdrop. According to the first advance estimates, gross domestic product (GDP) in constant prices is projected to grow 7.4 per cent in the current financial year, against 6.5 per cent in 2024-25.
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.
In the mid-1990s, when the shares of listed companies first began to be held in electronic form, they accounted for less than 1 per cent of the stocks bought and sold on the stock exchanges. This climbed to 99.5 per cent by 2001.
The Union Cabinet on Friday approved Rs 11,718 crore for conducting the Census of India, 2027, which would include the caste enumeration for the first time.
The government aims to cover around 60 million people in the age category, irrespective of income, with an assured 5 lakh annually to be shared within the family.
At present, there is no provision under Drugs Rules, 1945 to address issues of wrong information to obtain regulatory approvals.
A seasoned politician and two-term Member of Parliament, Dr Shakeel Ahmad, who has served as a Union minister and senior Congress leader, resigned from the Congress party, marking the end of his decades-long association with an organisation that his family has been part of for three generations. In an interview with Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff he speaks why he quit the party.
India's consumer price index (CPI)-based retail inflation rate is likely to have cooled further in June, thus remaining below the 4 per cent target of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a fifth consecutive month, giving the central bank wiggle room to focus on growth. Economists reckon that the decline is on account of easing prices in various categories of goods, especially food items, and a favourable base effect.
'There will be not less than 31 lakh people working in the census process.'
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Finance Bill 2025, along with 35 government amendments, including one that abolishes a 6 per cent digital tax on online advertisements.
Updated new base years for national accounts and other macro-indicators are expected to come into effect from January-February 2026, coinciding with the first and second advance estimates of national income for FY26, senior official sources aware of the development told Business Standard. "The statistics ministry set up the Advisory Committee on National Accounts Statistics (ACNAS) earlier this week. "It will advise on the base year for GDP (gross domestic product) and its alignment with other macro-indicators.
The next Census' findings will help identify the extent of India's ageing population and vulnerability levels.
Retail inflation eased to a nearly six-year low of 3.16 per cent in April mainly due to subdued prices of vegetables, fruits, pulses, and other protein-rich items, creating enough room for the Reserve Bank to go for another round of rate cut in the June monetary policy review. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation was 3.34 per cent in March and 4.83 per cent in April 2024. It was 3.15 per cent in July 2019.
On his 200th birth anniversary, Utkarsh Mishra traces the life, thought, and legacy of Dadabhai Naoroji, the Grand Old Man of India.
'It is for the first time in Independent India that collection of information on caste is being done.'
Retail inflation slipped to seven-month low of 3.61 per cent in February mainly due to easing prices of vegetables, eggs, and other protein-rich items, creating space for the RBI to go for another cut in interest rate next month.
Continuing the downward trend, retail inflation fell to a five-month low of 4.31 per cent in January, mainly due to a decline in the prices of vegetables, eggs, and pulses. The Consumer Price Index-based retail inflation was 5.22 per cent in December and 5.1 per cent in January 2024. The previous low inflation was in August 2024 at 3.65 per cent.
Retail inflation eased to a one-year low of 4.75 per cent in May as prices of some kitchen items declined marginally, according to government data released on Wednesday. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation was 4.83 per cent in April 2024 and 4.31 per cent in May 2023 (previous low).
rediffGURU Aasif Ahmed Khan counsels students on the best career options in tech and engineering.
While data can empower communities, it reinforces identities, making local politics more caste-centric, with decisions increasingly contested on the grounds of representation.
Such dynamics could lead to shifting alliances and, in the worst case, local governance getting paralysed as each group demands proportional power-sharing, explain Amitabh Kundu and Mehebub Rahaman.
Headline growth was quite weak heading into the Covid period but averaged 6.4 per cent and 6.7 per cent in the five years between FY16 and FY20 for GVA and GDP respectively, points out Abhishek Upadhyay.
Soaring vegetable prices pushed the retail inflation rate to a nine-month high of 5.49 pr cent in September, according to government data released on Monday. The consumer price index (CPI)-based retail inflation rate was 3.65 per cent in August and 5.02 per in September 2023. The previous high inflation rate was witnessed in December 2023 at 5.69 per cent.
The rate of price rise has been on a decline for the past four months.
Even the Central Statistical Office has started using GDP as the main measure of economic activities since January 15 this year
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday revised upwards the GDP growth projection for the current fiscal to 7.2 per cent from 7 per cent on rising private consumption and revival of demand in rural areas. Unveiling the bi-monthly monetary policy, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said estimates released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) placed India's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 8.2 per cent in 2023-24. "During 2024-25 so far, domestic economic activity has maintained resilience," he said, adding that manufacturing activity continues to gain ground on the back of strengthening domestic demand.
Ireland, a predominantly Catholic country, has recorded the death of Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar as the only maternal casualty in 2012, which a new report has found was not true.
Quoting from the report of Central Statistics Office, the former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said that Bihar's growth rate has reduced to half at 8.82 per cent in 2013-14 against 15.05 per cent in 2012-13.
Capital expenditure by private companies halved in FY13 from that in FY08; households put more money into gold, houses.
The economy is expected to grow 4.9 percent in 2013/14, marginally lower than the finance ministry's estimate of a 5 percent growth, dragged down by a contraction in the manufacturing sector, a government statement said on Friday.
India's industrial production growth slowed to 3.8 per cent in January, while the February retail inflation at 5.09 per cent remained within the Reserve Bank's comfort zone for the sixth straight month, according to the latest government data. Growth in factory output, based on the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slowed to 3.8 per cent in January 2024, mainly due to poor performance of manufacturing, mining and power sectors, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation.
Corporate results confirm worst fears about growth trajectory.
India's problem cannot be blamed on external considerations alone.
"The process of rectification began immediately. . . it has already begun. . . the immediate correction was already there. So far what else I can do to improve the quality of the expenditure side figures, I have already started," Chief Statistician TCA Anant said.
When FM was that the third-quarter GDP data was not in line with his ministry's optimism, he had said he relied on the advice of his advisors.
Manufacturing output, which constitutes about 76 per cent of the industrial production, fell by an annual 6 per cent, the Statistical Office said.
Reflecting general rise in living standard, India's per capita income is estimated to grow above Rs 60,000 per annum or over Rs 5,000 per month, said the government data.
Reflecting growing prosperity, India's per capita income grew by 15.6 per cent to Rs 53,331 per annum in 2010-11, crossing the half-a-lakh rupees mark for the first time, according to government data.
Reflecting growing prosperity, India's per capita income grew by 15.6 per cent to Rs 53,331 per annum in 2010-11, crossing the half-a-lakh rupees mark for the first time, according to government data.
The Reserve Bank is likely to cut the repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) after the Budget.
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