Two dedicated freight corridors -- Eastern and Western -- are in operation covering several states and districts.
After a 25 basis point rate cut in December, the RBI on Friday decided to pause on the policy rate front amid geopolitical uncertainties.
Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended lower on Thursday, snapping a three-day rally, amid a weak trend in global stock markets.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's biggest challenge will be to find a new growth driver, particularly against the backdrop of a global economy ravaged by heightened uncertainty and fragmentation, financial markets on a precipice, and global commodity prices on a continued uptrend.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed to increase the outlay on electronics manufacturing to Rs 40,000 crore in the 2026-27 fiscal year.
Enforcement agencies have highlighted risks related to money laundering and terror financing, prompting closer scrutiny of crypto platforms operating in India.
The gold loan portfolio across the system has nearly doubled to Rs 15.6 lakh crore in two years to November 2025, as a spike in prices of the precious commodity encouraged lenders to increase their exposures to the safer segment, a report said on Wednesday.
Gold prices are likely to trade firm next week as traders await key economic data, including US inflation numbers, for fresh cues on interest rate outlook, while silver may remain volatile amid shifting risk sentiment and speculative activity, analysts said.
Sometimes, the most powerful Budgets whisper and the wisest investors listen, notes Ramalingam Kalirajan.
Gold and silver prices plunged up to 9 per cent in futures trade on Sunday, hitting their lower circuit levels ahead of the Union Budget for 2026-27, as investors extended profit booking after the recent record-breaking rally.
'The trade deficit in some sectors is huge and that is an area of opportunity to localise.'
Customs regimes can lead to labyrinthine legal disputes. Budget 2026 must recognise that an excessively defensive Customs posture can itself become a trade barrier, point out Mukesh Butani and Shankey Agrawal.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced an increase in the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on Futures and Options trade with a view to discouraging small investors from speculative trading in derivatives, which led to a sharp decline in the stock market.
India is a global leader in software development services, IT enabled services, knowledge process outsourcing services and contract R&D services relating to software development, Sitharaman said noting these business segments are quite inter-connected with each other.
The Budget offers a limited-time regularisation window with clear thresholds, defined payments, and immunity from penalty or prosecution.
The government's flagship Khelo India programme received an allocation of Rs 924.35 crore.
India's services sector growth rose to a two-month high of 58.5 in January, on faster expansion in new business intake and output, prompting service providers to hire additional staff, a monthly survey said on Wednesday.
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.
Nirmala Sitharaman moved into her Kartavya Bhavan office on October 2, in time to get the work on the Budget 2026-2027 going.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday proposed to reduce the tax collection at source (TCS) rate to 2 per cent for education and medical purposes under Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) as well as on sale of overseas tour program package.
The Union Budget 2025-26 had allocated Rs 2,33,210.68 crore (BE) to the ministry helmed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Sunetra Pawar, wife of the late Ajit Pawar, has been unanimously elected as the leader of the NCP legislature party in Maharashtra and is set to become the state's first woman Deputy Chief Minister.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's remarks come ahead of a high-level summit where India and the European Union are expected to formally announce the conclusion of negotiations on a comprehensive free trade agreement.
Highlights of the Economic Survey 2025-26
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.
Rahul Gandhi said that had an INDIA Bloc government negotiated the trade agreement with the US, it would have told US President Donald Trump that he should treat India as an equal.
Home loan demand is moving away from core metropolitan markets, with Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities emerging as the dominant contributors to growth in 2025, a report said.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) remained in a selling mode in January, withdrawing nearly Rs 36,000 crore (about $3.97 billion) as global uncertainties persisted. Meanwhile, a higher securities transaction tax (STT) proposed in the Union Budget may weigh on overseas investor participation in the near future.
Sitharaman in her budget speech said that the customs proposal "aim to further simplify the tariff structure, support domestic manufacturing, promote export competitiveness, and correct inversion in duty".
India's high cost of capital due to relatively shallow corporate bond markets, limited institutional investor depth, sovereign risk premia, and regulatory restrictions on capital flows, is a constraint on private investment and long-run growth, the Economic Survey, authored by Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran, said.
India's state-level fiscal rules have improved headline deficits, but the gains are fragile and uneven with major states still grappling with high debt levels, a World Bank report submitted to the 16th Finance Commission (FC) said. According to the report, despite nearly two decades of adoption of fiscal responsibility laws (FRLs), debt levels have not converged.
Rising automobile exports are reflective of the increasing acceptance of India-manufactured vehicles across global markets, according to Economic Survey 2025-26.
In the Indo-Pacific's new era -- where perception shapes reality faster than treaties -- the real entrapment is not of China or the United States. It is the test Japan has set for itself -- and whether partners like India, acting as balancers rather than accelerants, can help ensure that the story ends in stability, points out Varun Arya.
'Grassroots-level corruption, which disrupts the last-mile work, cannot be ignored in your enthusiasm and drive to get going to complete the project.' 'Like it was in MGNREGA, in some states, it is the case with the Jal Jeevan mission.' 'The last minute levels of corruption can ruin the intent of the project itself.' 'When you see that people can game a particular well-intended and well-crafted project, you need to correct that.'
From the 30-Sensex firms, Eternal declined by 4.02 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance (3.88 per cent), Sun Pharma, InterGlobe Aviation, Trent, Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Finserv. HDFC Bank emerged as the only gainer from the pack.
'In the last one year, we have added more than Rs 1.7 trillion, and we are on track.'
The Budget allocation includes the construction of new lines and the purchase of locomotives, wagons, and coaches, among other works.
Bharat Electronics, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, InterGlobe Aviation, ICICI Bank and UltraTech Cement were among the other major gainers. Axis Bank, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Trent and Titan were the laggards.
Popularly known as 'Ajit Dada', he was known to say things as they were, without couching it in any soft padding.
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