Foreign companies now pay less tax relative to their earnings than at any time in more than three decades. Foreign private companies paid 24.36 per cent of their pre-tax profit as tax in 2023-24, show numbers from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
Indian companies also hold a considerable share of the car, bus, and three-wheeler markets in the country.
A team of senior officials from India will again visit Washington this month to hold discussions with their US counterparts on the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA), government sources said on Thursday. To give impetus to the talks, India's chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal, special secretary in the Department of Commerce, and Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia Brendan Lynch had last month held three-day talks in Washington.
Cooking gas or Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) price has been raised by Rs 50 per cylinder by distribution companies, Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday.
Industry experts are demanding a change in the inverted duty structures this Budget to boost domestic industries.
India has not accepted the demand of the UK for inclusion of a 'data exclusivity' provision in the free trade agreement, announced on May 6, in a bid to protect the interests of the domestic generic drugs industry, an official said. During the negotiations, the UK had asked to include this provision in the trade pact.
By getting Jagdeep Dhankhar to resign at short notice, Narendra Modi has sent a message to his own ideological clan that he brooks no one trying to get too big for their boots, observes Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Seventy years after Pather Panchali released on August 26, 1955, we finally get it. Shuttling between the village of Boral and a studio in Calcutta, caught between worrying about the next purse of funds and wondering which item to mortgage next, Satyajit Ray was explaining Indians to themselves, discovers Sreehari Nair.
US President Donald Trump has proposed a deal to China that would see the sale of TikTok's US operations to an American buyer in exchange for a reduction in tariffs on Chinese exports to the US. The proposal comes amid a trade war between the two countries and follows China's retaliation of Trump's tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump has also said that tariffs are a powerful economic tool and that he is determined to ensure fair trade between the US and China.
'India did not surrender. That was why he wanted to pressurise India by this 25% tariffs.'
'People are enjoying freedom in everyday life because of their sacrifice.'
Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council says step will balance trade deficit with the US.
An hour before his bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump again commented on India's tariff structure, saying 'they have the highest tariffs' and 'it is a hard place to do business'.
'When our country was consumed in an era of pitch black darkness, even then literature kept the lamps of our religion, freedom, and culture lit'
In its first official engagement with the Indian government, Elon Musk-led Tesla and other global automotive (auto) manufacturers sought clarification on the new electric vehicle (EV) policy, specifically regarding investment guidelines and the timeline for the domestic value addition (DVA) requirement. Officials who attended the meeting told Business Standard that the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) tried to understand whether the complete investment would be made within three or five years and the duration they would have to achieve the 50 per cent DVA. "The consultation meeting was convened to address queries from auto OEMs.
An Indian official team is likely to visit Washington next week to iron out differences on certain issues before formally launching negotiations for the proposed India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA), an official said. The visit, which comes within weeks of a high-level US team visiting India, indicates that the talks for the BTA are gaining momentum.
Indian pharmaceutical companies may have units abroad as part of "distributed manufacturing" across various locations, according to industry veterans. This may come about over the next five to 10 years.
'If you align your ambition with India's rise, the peak of your careers will unfold alongside the peak of India's power.'
The three-month deadline for the finance ministry to take a decision on the recommendations of the commerce ministry has ended this week.
The new scheme, promoting manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs) by global majors, will give a fillip to companies like Tesla and its upstart rival Vinfast, both of whom have lobbied for lower import duties from the Centre. While Vinfast has already announced an investment of Rs 4,000 crore to set up an electric vehicle (EV) plant in Tamil Nadu, Tesla's next move will be watched carefully. Four years ago, Musk announced that his company would come to India.
Telecom services providers have urged the Ministry of Finance to suspend the universal service obligation (USOF) till the existing corpus is exhausted. In their Budget recommendations, they have also pressed for an exemption from the service tax on "assignment of right to use natural resources" and the slashing of Customs duty on telecom equipment to zero. The Cellular Operators Association of India (Coai), which represents private sector telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, called for abolishment of USOF levy.
'It is for the first time in Independent India that collection of information on caste is being done.'
Lieutenant General Shakti Gurung deserves to be complimented in telling his life story and that of his people, as subaltern communities within this vast and diverse nation of ours clamour for recognition and a plea for their voices to be heard and their aspirations to be met, notes Lieutenant General Gautam Moorthy.
The government on Thursday imposed import restrictions on laptops, tablets, all-in-one personal computers, ultra small form factor computers, and servers with immediate effect. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in a notification said exemption from import licensing is provided up to 20 items per consignment for R&D, testing, benchmarking and evaluation, repair and return and product development purposes.
In august last year, the government had raised import duty on gold and silver to 10 per cent to curb the surging imports and burgeoning CAD.
With respect and gratitude we honour the memory of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Operation Sindoor.
The most striking features of this Budget was its focus on simplification and improving the ease of doing business in India, asserts Kaku Nakhate.
Posing a series of questions to the prime minister, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh also asked if Modi would convey to the US president that India would send its own aircraft -- like Venezuela and Colombia did -- to bring back Indian deportees in the future.
There is a need to incentivise R&D investments, offer corporate tax concessions and establish an effective intellectual property rights regime in order to push the growth of domestic pharmaceutical industry, as per the industry bodies. Outlining the sector's wish list for the upcoming Union Budget, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) Director General Anil Matai urged the government to explore methods to incentivise R&D investments, such as deductions on R&D expenses, research-linked incentives for MNCs, and corporate tax concessions.
Kubera is a well-intentioned addition to Shekar Kammula's cinematic universe that drags on but never loses its prescient quality, notes Arjun Menon.
Competition from Nepalese teas -- which has duty free access to the Indian market -- has emerged as a lower-cost alternative to Darjeeling tea, challenging its viability.
Friday cut the import duties on non-alloy steel by five per cent and 10 per cent on ships for breaking, as part of fiscal measures to stem inflation surging towards 8 per cent.\n\n
'As negotiations continue, the path forward demands not only diplomatic skill, but also vigilance against legal asymmetries embedded in America's trade playbook.'
"The new structure will substantially reduce taxes on the middle class and leave more money in their hands, boosting household consumption, savings and investment," Sitharaman said presenting what was dubbed as 'reformist' budget for the next fiscal in Lok Sabha.
The US Trade Representative noted that India's average applied tariff rate stood at 17% per cent, the highest of any major world economy.
The rupee has held its ground against the US dollar in the 2025 calendar year so far, but depreciated significantly against the euro and pound. It fell by 6.83 per cent, and 5.44 per cent against the euro and pound respectively, as the two currencies strengthened significantly against the greenback during the period.
'...from the recovered part of the throttle quadrant -- the control panel that manages engine power -- it is hard to say at this stage if the locking mechanism was damaged in any way.'
The 25-year-old Gill is a front-runner favourite to replace Rohit Sharma as next Test captain ahead of England tour, starting June 20.
'When Prime Minister Modi met President Trump, they agreed to initiate a bilateral trade dialogue.' 'It makes sense to give these negotiations a chance.'
