Budget 2026 sticks to fiscal discipline, shuns populist measures despite five key state elections coming up, but ends up rattling stock markets with a higher transaction tax on derivatives trading.
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva discusses the potential of artificial intelligence to boost global growth, particularly in India, while also addressing the significant risks of job displacement and financial instability.
'The BJP is keeping its options open and that the final decision is still tightly held.' 'That is consistent with the party's tendency to preserve suspense, avoid premature factional conflict, and use leadership selection as a way of resetting internal hierarchies.'
A survey by industry body Ficci has lowered the country's economic growth forecast for 2013-14 fiscal to 5 per cent, from 6 per cent projected in July, indicating tough times ahead.
The idea of back-loading the target of fiscal consolidation is perhaps guided by the government's desire to be prepared for any adverse developments in the coming year, points out A K Bhattacharya.
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.
The Indian government has expressed its disagreement with the IMF staff's 'baseline' assumption that the 50 per cent US tariffs on its goods exports 'would remain in place indefinitely', based on which the staff pegged the country's GDP growth at 6.6 per cent this year, and pared its 2026-27 projection by 20 basis points to 6.2 per cent.
This Budget positions India's taxation ideology as not merely a revenue source but as a strategic catalyst for growth, inclusion and long-term confidence.
India should resist knee-jerk responses to tariff volatility in the US and instead use the current geopolitical churn to build manufacturing scale at home, former G20 Sherpa and former chief executive officer of NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant said on Wednesday.
While many areas compete for resources, defence, education, and adaptation deserve focus for maximum impact, suggests Laveesh Bhandari.
Alliances fight wars effectively only when they share an endgame. If Israel acted without US knowledge, then the military alliance is operating without real coordination at the level of strategic targeting. Neither picture is reassuring in a war that is no longer regional in its consequences. Prem Panicker continues his must read daily blog on the Gulf War.
Budget 2026 is an intentional and ambitious one - From manufacturing growth to services supremacy, from technology consumption to AI-powered transformation. This is the blueprint for a $7 trillion economy built on intelligence, not just scale.
Two dedicated freight corridors -- Eastern and Western -- are in operation covering several states and districts.
Tarique Rahman is Bangladesh's first male prime minister in more than three decades, ending an era of female leadership that began in 1991.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced slew of reforms for the masses.
India is already a heavyweight in global farm trade in pockets such as rice exports, but experts are urging a pivot from a subsidy- and procurement-driven mindset to a productivity and nutrition strategy that still shields farmers from volatility.
'The trade deficit in some sectors is huge and that is an area of opportunity to localise.'
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.
'Don't look at Russia only as a place to earn quickly and then leave.' 'Try to build experience in serious companies, skills and certifications that will serve you anywhere in the world.'
India Inc on Sunday hailed the Union Budget 2026-27 as a 'structural shift' in the country's technology landscape, noting that the government is moving beyond fragmented pilots to build foundational layers where AI serves as a 'horizontal enabler' for the entire economy.
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.
Showcasing India as an attractive investment destination, Modi said the country has political and economic stability as well as transparency and predictability in policy decisions.
'Only four or five original companies remain; the rest have been replaced every decade as sectors evolve or leadership shifts.' 'Companies that fail to adapt -- like many textile mills from the 1970s and shipping firms from the 1980s -- disappear.' 'Benchmark indices reward those who reinvent themselves in line with economic demands.'
Job creation, improving farm productivity, and mobilising public funds for infrastructure development were some of the issues that figured during the interaction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and economists ahead of the 2025-26 Union Budget. The prime minister on Tuesday met eminent economists and sectoral experts at NITI Aayog to hear their views and suggestions for the upcoming Budget. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Budget for 2025-26 in the Lok Sabha on February 1, 2025.
The Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi International Airport in Guwahati has inaugurated a new nature-themed terminal building, designed to handle 13.1 million passengers per year and serve as a key aviation hub for the northeast and a gateway to Southeast Asia.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asserted that India is preparing with full strength to host the 2036 Olympic Games.
Reiterating Sitharaman's statement that this is a youth power budget, Modi emphasised that the provisions made in the budget will prepare leaders, innovators and creators across different sectors.
'International flights will continue to operate from the old terminal because of customs and other requirements. Eventually, the old terminal will be closed.'
FDI inflows into India are expected to register robust growth in 2026, supported by strong macroeconomic fundamentals, big-ticket investment announcements, sustained efforts to improve the ease of doing business, and a new generation of investment-linked trade pacts.
This is the first Budget in my memory of Budgets over the last half a century which has embraced upfront, enthusiastically and emphatically, technology, modernity and fiscal sobriety, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Making a case for an optimal fiscal stance, the Economic Survey on Friday said growth leads to debt sustainability and not necessarily vice-versa. "This is because debt sustainability depends on the 'Interest Rate Growth Rate Differential' (IRGD) i.e. the difference between the interest rate and the growth rate in an economy. "With the Indian context of potential high growth, the interest rate on debt paid by the Indian government has been less than India's growth rate by norm, not by exception," it said.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari voiced concerns about increasing poverty and wealth concentration, advocating for wealth decentralization and job creation in rural areas. He also highlighted the need for balanced sectoral contributions to GDP and discussed infrastructure development initiatives.
A bill to repeal the MGNREGA and introduce a new rural employment law, the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), has been circulated among Lok Sabha members.
The Indian economy is growing at a robust pace, driven by strong domestic demand, low inflation, and the healthy balance sheets of banks, said a Reserve Bank report released on Wednesday.
We have brought about a slew of reforms that would help improve governance and also facilitate industrial growth, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje tells Sahil Makkar.
The country has already laid down a 'red carpet' for businesses.
India's housing finance sector is riding a wave of post-pandemic revival, driven by policy support, digital innovation, and growing demand from younger homebuyers in emerging cities.
'Maybe he was wrong, but they believed he genuinely meant what he said.'
'At COP30, the emphasis will be on unlocking climate finance, reinforcing the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and building resilience through inclusive transitions and the mainstreaming of adaptation.'
The cost of any flight from Delhi and Mumbai could rise by up to Rs 3,000 soon unless the airport regulator is able to reverse a court order.
