The recent depreciation of the rupee along with sharp fall in the country's foreign exchange (FX) reserves has sparked a debate whether stability of the exchange rate is necessary and desirable. The rupee was one of the least volatile currencies among peers for almost two years before the current downward pressure started in September after the US Federal Reserve lowered interest rate.
'Expect India to keep doing well irrespective of geopolitics.'
The Centre plans to create a special window for strategically important investors such as sovereign wealth funds and pension funds that wish to invest over Rs 3,000 crore through a single transaction.
The country's forex reserves touched a record high of $675 billion on August 2, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Thursday. The previous all-time high for the kitty was $670.857 billion on July 19 this year, and the last reported reserve was $667.386 billion as on July 26. Das said overall, the country's external sector "remains resilient" as indicated by an improvement in key indicators.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the US for a two-day working visit starting Wednesday. He will meet with President Donald Trump and engage in bilateral discussions on trade, investment, technology, defense cooperation, counterterrorism, Indo-Pacific security, and people-to-people relations. The visit is expected to further strengthen the India-US partnership.
After overtaking foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) in market ownership, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have further solidified their dominance. DII ownership reached a new all-time high of 17.82 per cent as of June 2025, up from 17.62 per cent at the end of March 2025, according to an analysis by Prime Database.
India and the US desire to give preferential market access to each other's businesses and teams of both the countries are working together on the proposed bilateral trade agreement, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said. In February, US President Donald J Trump and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi announced plans to negotiate the first tranche or phase of a mutually beneficial, multi-sector Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) by fall (September-October) of 2025.
Whether Trump will actually press ahead with the oil sanctions remains unclear, since keeping Russian oil out of the world market risks high oil prices which could boomerang on the US economy and be damaging politically for Trump, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'India is giving selective traffic rights wherever it makes sense to allocate those traffic rights.'
Foreign portfolio investors sold stocks worth Rs 1.42 trillion in 2025, with their sales hitting Rs 12,257 crore in the first four trading days of September.
With India overtaking China in terms of weightage in the Morgan Stanley emerging markets IMI, Indian equities could see inflows of about $4.5 billion (Rs 37,000 crore), according to estimates. This week, Morgan Stanley announced that India has overtaken China in the MSCI Emerging Markets Investable Market Index (MSCI EM IMI). The weight of India in MSCI EM IMI stood at 22.27 per cent compared to 21.58 per cent of China.
India has upgraded its technical mission in Kabul to an embassy, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar acknowledging the Taliban's consideration of India's security concerns. The announcement was made during talks with Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, marking a significant step in advancing ties between the two nations.
'A balanced portfolio mix of domestic and international equity, fixed income, and precious metals is recommended.'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday asked fintech firms to focus on risk management at a time when criminals are using AI to mimic voices, clone identities and create lifelike videos to manipulate people.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has asked at least 10 general and life insurance companies to submit a detailed road map for their listing strategies by the end of this month, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter. "The regulator met four life and six general insurers last month and asked them to provide their listing strategies by the end of February," said one of the sources.
At present, foreign direct investment and foreign institutional investments are added to determine sectoral foreign investment cap in banking, credit information companies, broadcasting, commodity exchanges and telecom. But, with RBI allowing FIIs to acquire shares in companies under the portfolio investment scheme, the government is now likely to mandate that sectoral caps would henceforth be for FDI investment only, official sources said.
A Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion fact sheet mentioned India's top 10 FDI generating countries.
The country's current account deficit widened marginally to $9.7 billion or 1.1 per cent of GDP in April-June 2024, as against $8.9 billion or 1 per cent in the year-ago period, Reserve Bank of India said on Monday. The crucial number representing the country's external sector strength has come on the heels of a surplus of $4.6 billion or 0.5 per cent of GDP recorded in the preceding January-March quarter. The Reserve Bank attributed the year-on-year widening in current account deficit to a rise in merchandise trade gap which was recorded at $65.1 billion in Q1 FY25 as compared to $56.7 billion in the year-ago period.
Currently, FPIs can invest up to $30 billion in Government securities, of which $5 billion is reserved for long-term investors.
'Indian markets may underperform global peers for the next two quarters.' 'But beyond that, India should catch up and resume its long-term growth path.'
Stock markets will be driven by RBI's interest rate decision, tariff-related developments, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors in this holiday-shortened week, analysts said.
The Modi government's flagship initiative 'Make in India' launched 10 years ago has helped the country boost exports, push investments and promote manufacturing. Under the initiative, launched on September 25, 2014, a series of measures have been taken by the government to boost local manufacturing. These initiatives include the rollout of production linked incentive (PLI) schemes for 14 sectors, easing foreign direct investment (FDI) norms, reducing compliance burden to improve business climate, all approvals through single window, and rolling out of the national logistics policy.
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 US Chamber of Commerce has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration's decision to impose a USD 100,000 fee on new H-1B visa petitions, arguing it harms American innovation and competitiveness.
New Delhi 'will have to take a call which supply source suits us the best,' the finance minister said, pointing out that crude oil accounts for the bulk of India's foreign exchange spend.
Brendan Lynch, the assistant US trade representative for South and Central Asia, will pay a five-day visit to India beginning Tuesday, days before US President Donald Trump's tit-for-tat tariff kicks in. The senior US trade official is expected to hold talks with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal besides meeting a number of senior Indian officials.
'As long as Sebi maintains transparency and market stability, the Jane Street episode is unlikely to deter long-term foreign capital.'
'It is imprudent on the part of Indian insurance companies to invest out of the shareholders' fund in a private limited company.'
High frequency indicators, like vehicles sales, air traffic, steel consumption and GST E-way bills, point towards a sequential pickup in momentum of economic activity during the second half of the fiscal 2024-25 and sustain moving forward, RBI Bulletin said on Wednesday. However, a strong dollar, driven by US economic resilience and trade policy pivots, could exacerbate capital outflows from emerging economies, push risk premiums higher, and intensify external vulnerabilities, said an article on 'State of the Economy' published in RBI's February bulletin.
In response to the panic triggered by Trump's trade policies, the RBI net sold approximately $43 billion in the second half of FY25 to curb volatility, as the rupee plunged to a low of 87.95 per dollar in February this year.
US sanctions against two of Russia's largest oil companies are expected to impact Reliance Industries' crude imports from Russia, while state-run refiners may continue purchases through intermediary traders for now.
'I think that kind of change is coming. We should stay prepared for that change, whichever industry or sector we are in, we must be prepared.'
'Additionally, the significant employment multiplier will boost direct and indirect jobs of up to 1.1 million.'
To those who ask, "Is all this really worth it? Why can't domestic demand fill the gap?", it is important to remind them that only 13 economies since the Second World War have grown at 7 per cent or more for 25 years -- like India needs to. They all had one thing in common: Strong export growth underpinned by strong global engagement, explains Sajjid Z Chinoy.
'Entering India is exciting, but it's also challenging. You have to be prepared for long-term investment.'
'Government officials use Gmail and ordinary phones without basic security consciousness.' 'Interoperability, especially in joint exercises with countries like the US, worries me.' 'It often means we open our systems to them, but they don't reciprocate.' 'They could have kill switches in their systems and might even be able to affect ours.'
This would be a 100 per cent jump over 2024, when the state had logged tourist inflow of 650 million
The escalation in the diplomatic row between India and Canada will not have an impact on the bilateral trade and investment ties between the two countries, government sources said on Tuesday. They also said that the bilateral trade value is not significant and Canadian funds can route their investments through Singapore, the UAE and the US. "India is a preferred investment destination," they said.
Foreign direct investment in India jumped 47.8 per cent to $16.17 billion in April-June this fiscal on healthy inflows in services, computer, telecom and pharma sectors, according to government data. FDI inflows were at $10.94 billion in April-June 2023-24. The data showed that overseas inflows in May rose to $5.85 billion and in June to $5.41 billion from $2.67 billion and $3.16 billion, respectively, in the year-ago period.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that it is imperative for the two sides to view each other as partners and opportunities rather than rivals or threats, and invest their valuable resources in development and revitalisation.
