'If we truly wish to understand and apply Marx's insights today, we must reject the rigid dogmas that later 'Marxists' imposed in his name.'
While the capital spending is being maintained at 3.1 per cent of the GDP, a little more would have boosted economic growth even further, suggests Rajiv Memani.
Earlier, Trump has already talked about slapping "100 per cent tariffs" on the BRICS grouping, a bloc that includes India as well.
The government on Saturday announced a host of measures such as setting up of a new Fund of Funds Scheme (FFS) with Rs 10,000 crore corpus; and extension of period of incorporation by five years with a view to promote growth of budding entrepreneurs.
'Spend, but create assets, spend but make sure that people benefit from it.' 'This has been a beautiful guiding principle. And I think as a finance minister I owe so much to the prime minister for keeping this path clear before us.'
First-time MLA Rekha Gupta will be the new chief minister of Delhi, capping 11 days of suspense over who will get the top post after the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power after over 26 years ending the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Nitin Narkhede your mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced an ambitious plan to develop the country's top 50 tourist destinations in a "challenge mode", with the aim of boosting employment-led growth and attracting international visitors. The Ministry of Tourism has received a significant budget increase for 2025-2026, with a focus on enhancing tourism infrastructure, promoting domestic and international travel, and ensuring the safety of tourists, particularly women. The government plans to promote homestays, improve connectivity to tourist spots, and provide performance-linked incentives to states that demonstrate effective destination management. The budget also includes investments in public enterprises, skill development programs, and initiatives to promote medical tourism and spiritual tourism.
'Some part could be used for consumption purposes, and the rest could be used to meet important financial goals.' 'The split can be 30:70 to 50:50, depending on one's situation.'
'Not only jobs are not being generated, but people are also losing jobs.'
In the e2W category, which accounts for more than 60 per cent of total EV sales, volumes fell 15 per cent to 118,944 units in November, compared to 139,787 units in the previous month
Budget 2025-26 delivers a carefully calibrated strategy-stimulating demand and investment while keeping fiscal discipline intact. In an environment marked by global trade disruptions, and a softening in urban consumption, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has taken a measured approach.
These are the highlights of the Union Budget 2025-26 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Saturday.
'We are not incentivising the old tax scheme. These taxpayers will also shift to the new regime after comparison.'
The eighth Budget of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman continued to focus on 'GYAN' (Garib, Youth, Annadata, Nari) to maintain a consistent and coherent strategy initiated over the years in pursuing the government's vision for Viksit Bharat. The approach, characterised by incremental yet impactful steps, aims to create a compounding effect over time.
Both new and completed project values as of December 2024 remain below pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019.
'Not paying workers enough will end up being self-destructive or harmful for the corporate sector itself.'
Dalal Street minnows stole the show in 2024, giving handsome returns to investors, helped by a largely optimistic trend in the stock market and impressive retail investors' participation. Analysts attributed the positive trend in the equity markets, where the benchmark indices shattered many records this year, to robust domestic liquidity, strong fundamentals of the Indian economy, and policy continuity.
The upcoming Union Budget to be presented on February 1 is likely to assume a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) growth between 10 and 10.5 per cent for FY26, a Business Standard poll of 10 economists showed. The first advance estimates released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) had estimated a nominal GDP growth of 9.7 per cent for FY25. Nominal GDP, calculated at current market prices, factors in the effect of inflation. It is used as the base to calculate crucial macroeconomic indicators, such as fiscal deficit, revenue deficit, and debt-to-GDP ratio.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Monday clarified that any deposit in the form of bonus or incentives credited in a user account will be considered net winnings, and subject to tax deduction, in case of withdrawal. If these are used only for playing, then it's not liable for tax deducted at source (TDS). Further, in case net winnings do not exceed Rs 100 a month, the applicable tax need not be deducted.
The government may save over Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) on capital and revenue expenditure allocated towards new schemes in the FY25 Budget that are yet to be implemented.
'Going forward, the encouragement would be to move to the new tax regime.'
Delhi's crime rate against women stood at 144.4 in 2022 -- the highest among all states and Union Territories.
Automobile retail sales grew 9 per cent year on year in 2024 riding on the back of robust demand for two-wheelers and passenger vehicles amid challenging business environment, dealers' body FADA said on Tuesday. Overall vehicle registrations stood at 2,61,07,679 units last year as compared to 2,39,28,293 units in the 2023 calendar year, recording a growth of 9 per cent.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) is looking at a proposal to generate 1.5-2 direct jobs for every Rs 1 crore invested by companies under the proposed electronic components production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. If this plan fructifies, a Rs 10,000 crore investment under the proposed PLI scheme would bring with it the expectation of creating 15,000-20,000 direct jobs in electronic components sector.
Civil Aviation Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam on Thursday said the number of planes with domestic airlines will increase to 1,400 in the next five years as he highlighted the growth potential of the country's aviation space. Currently, the fleet is around 800 aircraft and leading carriers IndiGo and Air India have placed significant plane orders.
The government may provide for targeted fiscal incentives and allocation of funds for promotion of green hydrogen in the country in Union Budget 2022-23, which is slated to be unveiled in Parliament on Tuesday. The government launched National Hydrogen Mission in 2021. Earlier this month, Power and New & Renewable Energy Minister R K Singh had indicated that a green hydrogen policy will be unveiled in February which would feature many incentives to boost green hydrogen in the country. "While 2021 saw the launch of National Hydrogen Mission, it is likely that the Budget may provide for targeted fiscal incentives for R&D in green hydrogen segment, creation of domestic supply chain for hydrogen and reduce customs duties on electrolysers to boost green hydrogen production," says Venkatesh Raman Prasad, Partner, J Sagar Associates (JSA).
'There's a misconception that all Rs 1 lakh crore will be spent immediately, leading to higher consumption of FMCG goods, travel, and vehicle purchases.' 'While some of this money will go toward consumption, not all of it will.' 'The impact depends on where people deploy their savings.'
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has strongly refuted allegations of bribery by the Adani Group for solar power purchases during his government. He claimed his name was not mentioned in a US court's indictment and that meetings with Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani were not unusual for a chief minister. Reddy said the power supply agreement was between the state's DISCOMs and SECI, with no third-party involvement. He also defended the deal, calling it 'historic' and highlighting the cost savings for the state. Meanwhile, former CM N Chandrababu Naidu has alleged irregularities in the deal and promised to act upon the alleged charges.
A day after announcing withdrawal from its chip-making JV with Indian conglomerate Vedanta, Foxconn on Tuesday said it is working on plans to apply for incentives under semiconductor and display fab programme, as the contract manufacturer pledged its commitment to India. The Taiwanese electronics manufacturing giant said it has been actively reviewing landscape for optimal partners. The comment assumes significance as Foxconn has pulled out from the $19.5 billion semiconductor JV with Vedanta.
Any reduction in the customs duty on smartphone parts in the forthcoming budget will harm India's developing component ecosystem, discourage investment, increase imports, and make local firms uncompetitive, potentially resulting in job losses, think tank GTRI said on Tuesday. India's smartphone industry is a 'Make in India' success story, with 2023-24 production reaching $49.2 billion and exports at $15.6 billion, making smartphones the fourth-largest export after diesel, aviation fuel, and polished diamonds.
The country's largest airline IndiGo on Friday saw its profit after tax slide 18.3 per cent to Rs 2,448.8 crore in the three months ended December 2024 due to foreign exchange loss even as revenue jumped on higher capacity and passenger traffic. The carrier, which had a fleet of 437 planes at the end of December, is planning to induct wet leased planes for long range flights and expects the number of grounded aircraft to come down to 40s by the start of next financial year from the current level of 60s.
Dabur's pre-quarterly update for Q3FY25 disappointed the market with the share dropping by 3.9 per cent. Growth was slower than expected and inflation hit margins. The management said that the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) consumption in rural markets was resilient and continued to grow faster than in urban markets.
Driven by smartphone, electronics exports have reached $22.5 billion in value in the first eight months of the current financial year (FY25), a near 28 per cent growth over the $17.66 billion electronics exports during the corresponding period of FY24.
'Women' as a political constituency appears to be an idea that has come of age. It is changing India in ways that we only dimly understand, asserts Aditi Phadnis.
The finance minister, in her Budget speech, should focus more on what she is directly responsible for, rather than on programmes where her role is largely supportive, notes Nitin Desai.
'Till the BJP does not understand Kejriwal they cannot win Delhi.'
Exporters on Thursday demanded fiscal incentives, tweaking in customs duties on certain products and credit at affordable rates in the forthcoming Budget to boost exports and create jobs. In a pre-budget virtual meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said the depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar is affecting exports' competitiveness and the sector requires more support. "Creation of employment is the biggest challenge faced by the country...We would urge the government to provide fiscal support to units which provide additional employment in the export sector," the exporter's body said.
Several leading scientists, academicians, and agriculturalists have called for raising government support for research and development to make Indian agriculture future-ready.
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