India's urban areas are projected to contribute 70 per cent of gross domestic product in 2025-26, up from 45 per cent in the 1990s, according to a report by Dun & Bradstreet.
For MSMEs the transition could mean higher wage bills and tougher compliance -- unless strong handholding follows reports Auhona Mukherjee.
'My concern is that, although everything is expressed in monetary terms, you are effectively combining values that have been adjusted using different price measures.'
The Union Budget on Sunday proposed a tax holiday till 2047 for foreign companies that provide cloud services to customers globally using data centres located in India, signalling the government's push to make the country a major hub for AI and digital infrastructure.
The Union Budget on Sunday proposed a tax holiday till 2047 for foreign companies that provide cloud services to customers globally using data centres located in India, signalling the government's push to make the country a major hub for AI and digital infrastructure.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi champions India as a leader in the artificial intelligence revolution, emphasising the nation's ambition and responsibility at the India AI Impact Expo 2026.
India may adopt a "calibrated" and a "step-by-step" approach to easing norms on investments originating from China, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday. He was in a conversation with A K Bhattacharya on Day 1 of Business Standard's two-day annual event, Manthan 2026. The minister said foreign direct investment (FDI) from China was certainly not "banned", but it goes through an approval process. "The government's approach at the moment is to accelerate the approval process."
Fears around artificial intelligence (AI) sparked a global selloff in information technology (IT) stocks, dragging down domestic software shares and prompting the heaviest foreign portfolio investor (FPI) outflows since the second half of July 2025.
When everyone has footage and no one can verify it, the loudest voice wins, notes Prem Panicker who begins a daily blog on the War in the Middle East.
Jamshedpur FC and East Bengal secured victories in their respective Indian Super League matches, with Jamshedpur edging past Punjab FC and East Bengal defeating Sporting Club Delhi.
'We need to give Pakistan something serious to think about on its eastern front -- that is the only way to actually help Afghanistan right now.'
Restoring weighted tax deductions and adopting a petty patents regime can foster firm-level innovative activity critical for competitiveness, points out Nagesh Kumar.
'It requires tail layering and customising, and you can't just sprinkle your organisation with co-pilots and be done with it.'
A 62-year-old Hindu trader was hacked to death inside his shop in Bangladesh, raising concerns about violence against the minority community.
The Congress party has criticized the Indo-US trade agreement, calling it a 'surrender' of India's self-esteem and interests, and a betrayal of Indian farmers and MSMEs.
A bust of Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, the first Indian governor-general, has replaced a statue of British architect Edwin Lutyens at Rashtrapati Bhavan, symbolizing a move away from colonial influences and embracing Indian heritage.
India's economy experienced a growth of 7.8 per cent during the October-December quarter of 2025-26, according to the new series of national accounts with 2022-23 as the base year.
'Today, we are at a stage where we have launched a voice-to-voice model that supports 14 Indian languages.'
While methods such as generative user awareness remain among the most efficient and low-cost mechanisms for preventing cybersecurity incidents, they are becoming less effective as attacks become more sophisticated.
A young Hindu tea garden worker was found murdered in Bangladesh, raising concerns amid upcoming parliamentary elections and a series of attacks against the Hindu community.
Auqib Nabi's impressive bowling performance has put Jammu & Kashmir in a commanding position against Madhya Pradesh in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match. Nabi's contributions with the ball, both in the first and second innings, have significantly hampered Madhya Pradesh's chances.
'Uncertainty level A in the morning, uncertainty level B in the afternoon. If I answer about tariff rates now, I'll be outdated by the evening.'
Hindustan Unilever (HUL) has topped the Perpetual Capital Hurun India Impact 50 - 2026 list with 53.9 points (on the scale of 0-100), reflecting a strong performance across key sustainable development goals (SDGs), including climate, water, circularity, gender and biodiversity.
The policy unveiled by the home ministry is based on seven key pillars to counter the terror threats emanating from India or abroad -- prevention, responses, aggregating internal capacities, human rights and "Rule of Law"-based processes.
'It is too early to conclude that there will be a bloodbath, that there will be no jobs, and that there will be civil unrest.' 'Let's calm down.' 'AI is a tool, it is not a weapon, it is not a virus.'
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.
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.
This year's Economic Survey and the Union Budget were more closely followed for more reasons than one.
The Budget reframes healthcare as a strategic national capability, backing biopharma innovation, workforce expansion and technology-led governance to power India's next growth phase.
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.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday proposed to allow banks to lend to Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) with certain prudential safeguards to deepen the financing pool for the real estate sector.
A Delhi court has ordered the framing of charges against RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, his family, and others in the alleged land-for-job scam, accusing Yadav of using his railway ministry position for personal gain.
Domestic equities surged on Tuesday, posting their best single-day gains in more than eight months after a long-awaited trade deal between India and the US. The deal, which lowered tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from 50 per cent, significantly improved investor sentiment and lifted a key overhang for the market.
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.
IT services major Infosys on Wednesday reported a 2.2 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 6,654 crore in the October-December quarter of FY26. The Bengaluru-headquartered firm had registered a net profit (attributable to owners of the company) of Rs 6,806 crore in the year-ago period.
Of the Rs 31,820.80 crore allocated to central sector schemes and projects, only Rs 11,868.05 crore was utilised, according to the revised estimates.
The Budget emerges as a measured, credible and forward-looking policy document that reinforces India's commitment to remaining a stable, reform-oriented economy amid an increasingly fragmented global landscape, says A Balasubramanian.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched a strong attack on Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party, accusing them of compromising India's interests on the world stage and selling out farmers and the poor during their time in power.
Cigarette-to-soap conglomerate ITC on Thursday reported a consolidated net profit (attributable to owners) of Rs 4,931.19 crore for the third quarter (October-December/Q3) of 2025-26 (FY26), affected by a one-time provision related to the new labour codes and a base effect from an exceptional item in Q3 of 2024-25. In the year-ago period, net profit had stood at Rs 4,934.8 crore.
'The real question is how best to leverage technology to deliver better services, all the way to the last mile, where we still haven't been able to get across the financial literacy that can enable us to unlock the potential of the entire country.'
