Here are the key numbers to watch out for in the Union Budget for 2025-26:
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.
After two years of strong gains, smallcap stocks fell sharply in 2025, but the correction may be setting up opportunities for long-term investors.
The Indian economy is likely to grow at 7.4 per cent in 2025-26, up from 6.5 per cent in the previous fiscal, mainly on account of better performance of manufacturing and services sectors, as per the government data released on Wednesday.
The army has been behind the other two forces in capex since FY21.
Gold imports climbed 349.22 per cent to $12.07 billion in January, while silver imports rose 127 per cent to $2 billion.
Benchmark lending rates unchanged with repo rate at 5.25%
The domestic cigarette industry is expected to see a 6-8 per cent volume contraction next fiscal following the imposition of additional excise duties and increase in goods and services tax (GST) rates from February 1, Crisil Ratings said on Wednesday.
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.
The country's primary capital markets delivered a robust performance in FY26, emerging as a global leader in initial public offerings (IPOs) despite an uncertain environment, the Economic Survey said on Thursday.
Building on last year's clearance of 172K cases, I-T department is pushing for faster appeal disposals, penalty reforms and system-driven processes to curb litigation and boost tax certainty.
India's eight core infrastructure sectors experienced a slowdown in production growth, reaching a two-month low of 4% in January. Crude oil and natural gas output declined, while refinery products remained flat. Overall growth for the April-January period was also lower compared to the previous fiscal year.
'LIC will reduce but not fully exit its stake in IDBI Bank, which remains an important bancassurance partner,' says LIC of India' MD and CEO R Doraiswamy.
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 Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) has recently approved procurement proposals worth Rs 79,000 crore across three services and it has cleared AoN (Acceptance of Necessity) of Rs 3.3 trillion in financial year 2026 (FY26).
Highlights of the Economic Survey 2025-26
The Economic Survey on Thursday projected the GDP growth in the range of 6.8 to 7.2 per cent in 2026-27, a tad lower than 7.4 per cent estimated in the current fiscal.
India's power demand rose 4.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to 143 billion units (BUs) in January, marking the highest consumption for the month since 2010, primarily on the back of severe cold wave conditions across northern and eastern regions of the country.
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.
India has the world's highest Nipah fatality-case ratio at 72 per cent -- reported during 2001-2025.
Mastercard and Visa are introducing passkeys that will allow users to authenticate card payments with face scans or fingerprints, eliminating the need for one-time passwords (OTPs).
Shares of Dr Reddy's Laboratories jumped 5.3 per cent on Thursday to Rs 1,217 apiece, making it the top gainer in the Nifty 50 and the BSE 100 indices. By comparison, the Nifty 50 was up 0.53 per cent at 25,289.
Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty extended their gains for the third straight session on Wednesday, driven by last-hour buying in bank, metal, and FMCG shares.
The selloff in domestic information technology stocks intensified on Friday, with the Nifty IT index sliding as much as 5.2 per cent during the session before paring losses to close 1.44 per cent lower.
'India is often skipping legacy cycles and moving directly to advanced AI-driven operations.'
There is a minimum requirement of Rs 2.5 trillion capital expenditure every year and it is understood at the highest levels of the government.
The Ministry of Steel on Monday signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with 55 companies for 85 projects under the third round of the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for specialty steel.
As India's biggest Unified Payments Interface (UPI) app PhonePe prepares to list, the updated draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) shows the impact of regulations on the business, and concentration of payments-linked revenue even as UPI lacks MDR (merchant discount rate).
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a fiscal deficit target of 4.3% of GDP for FY27, continuing the path of fiscal consolidation. The government aims to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio to 55.6% by BE 2026-27 and further to around 50% by March 2031.
The finance minister said that consolidation of state-owned banks could proceed at any time without waiting for the recommendations of the proposed high-level committee on banking.
The Lokpal, India's anti-corruption ombudsman, has been allocated Rs 30 crore in the Union Budget 2026-27. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has been allocated Rs 54.56 crore.
Rising automobile exports are reflective of the increasing acceptance of India-manufactured vehicles across global markets, according to Economic Survey 2025-26.
Skoda India is focusing on cleaner fuel options, including CNG and EVs, while compact SUV Kylaq drives volumes, expands first-time buyers and strengthens the brand in India's competitive market
The government on Friday received financial bids for the strategic disinvestment of IDBI Bank, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) said in an official statement on X.
The 16th Finance Commission, led by Arvind Panagariya, has recommended maintaining the states' share in central taxes at 41% for the five-year period starting April 1, 2026. The government has accepted this recommendation, with Rs 1.4 lakh crore allocated to states for FY 2026-27 as Finance Commission Grants.
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.
Private investment projects constitute well over 70 per cent of the nearly Rs 34 trillion of fresh investments announced in H1 this year.
Foreign investors have remained cautious ahead of the Union Budget amid expectations of limited policy changes.
Two-wheeler (2W) major Bajaj Auto on Friday posted its highest ever quarterly revenue and profit during the third quarter of 2025-26 (Q3FY26). Bajaj Auto's consolidated net profit for the quarter grew by 25 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 2,749 crore, with the revenue also growing 23 per cent to Rs 16,204 crore.
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