Fiscal, rather than monetary, forces will determine interest rates in the coming months, says Subir Gokarn.
Inflation, particularly of food items, too remained an area of concern, they said in the resumed discussion on the general Budget. Main Opposition BJP said the whopping Rs 4 lakh crore (Rs 4 trillion) gap in the resources was a matter of concern and the impact could be felt on inflation.
From the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, ICICI Bank, PowerGrid, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Maruti Suzuki India, Axis Bank, UltraTech Cement and HCL Technologies were the only gainers. On the other hand, Eternal, Tata Motors' commercial vehicles arm, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Trent, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, and Infosys were among the laggards.
Loan against fixed deposit is cheaper and comes with fewer charges.
Inflation data, quarterly earnings and global trends will be the major driving factors for stock markets this week, analysts said. Moreover, the trading activity of foreign investors would also influence the equity market trends.
A majority of the CEOs polled said the emerging political situation at the Centre could derail the pending economic reforms agenda (nuclear power, foreign direct investment in retail, etc).
But it is likely that campaign spending resulted in some positive activity through this period.
From the Sensex firms, Tata Motors jumped the most by 5.54 per cent, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank, Trent, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, and ICICI Bank. However, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement and Tata Steel were among the laggards.
The Reserve Bank of India, for the second straight time, on Thursday kept its key policy rate unchanged at 5.15 per cent, maintaining its accommodative policy stance as long as it was necessary to revive growth. The central bank retained GDP growth at 5 per cent for 2019-20 and pegged it at 6 per cent for the next fiscal.
Bankers said high interest rate could make Indian economy sluggish given that inflation is around 5%
Hurt by the establishment's statements that have the potential to dampen demand, the country's largest real estate player DLF Ltd asked the government on Friday to rather focus on augmenting supply and cutting interest rates to further boost growth.
The GST Council at its next meeting may consider a reduction in taxes on air and water purifiers as air quality across the country worsens and access to safe drinking water remains uneven.
The Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) adoption rate has risen to over 4.35 per cent, with more than 100,000 people out of 2.3 million eligible individuals opting for it, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) chairman S Ramann said in an exclusive interview with Business Standard on Monday. He also said that six states had approached the PFRDA for help in adoption of the scheme.
New investors should not allow themselves to fall prey to FOMO and rush headlong into gold.
For existing investors, it may be prudent to redeem their current investments in gilt or dynamic schemes and invest it in short-term funds, if the exit load is not very high, advises Malhar Majumder.
Sebi is working with other regulators to expand the CAS framework.
The interest rate on these schemes have remained unchanged for over a year now.
The aggregate net worth of the country's 176 dollar billionaires dropped to $984.2 billion during 2025, down from a record $1,036.2 billion at the end of December 2024.
Markets regulator Sebi board on Wednesday approved a series of measures aimed at improving investor convenience, easing compliance norms, and deepening participation in the capital and debt markets.
Stock markets will be driven by RBI's interest rate decision, tariff-related developments, global trends and trading activity of foreign investors in this holiday-shortened week, analysts said.
He was sleeping in a garage when the fire broke out, and CCTV footage suggests foul play.
Suryakumar Yadav suffered another failure during Mumbai's Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Punjab on Thursday.
Customs regimes can lead to labyrinthine legal disputes. Budget 2026 must recognise that an excessively defensive Customs posture can itself become a trade barrier, point out Mukesh Butani and Shankey Agrawal.
After effecting two back-to-back 25 basis points rate cuts, Reserve Bank Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Wednesday hinted at another reduction in key policy rate by changing the central bank's monetary stance to 'accomodative' from 'neutral', which may further lower EMIs for consumers.
The Federal Open Market Committee's statement after meeting in Washington said inflation has been "elevated" and remains a risk, using words identical to the last decision on June 29.\n\n
Total pending Customs arrears, including amounts under litigation, court stays and cases where the appeal period has not expired, stood at about Rs 1.36 trillion at the end of December 2024.
'Given that India underperformed emerging markets by 28 per cent in 2025, the worst performance in over 30 years, the timing of the sharp STT hike could have been better.'
Indian economy should perform in line with expectations
Kuldeep, spin strategy in focus as India prepare for Indore decider
The status quo decision came as a breather as only last week the RBI had pulled up banks for not helping it in monetary policy transmission.
As India start their T20 World Cup title defence in less than 72 hours, one is tempted to look at Suryakumar Yadav and Gautam Gambhir's working relationship which has been fantastic, at least so going by the results -- a whopping 31 wins in 39 games with a winning percentage of 79.48.
ICICI Bank delivered satisfactory results in the second quarter of 2025-26 (Q2FY26), sustaining return on assets (RoA) of around 2.3-2.4 per cent and improving asset quality. Provisions declined 26 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) and 50 per cent quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q).
The Budget offers a limited-time regularisation window with clear thresholds, defined payments, and immunity from penalty or prosecution.
So far this year, the rupee has fallen by 4.2 per cent, the worst among its Asian peers.
After a subdued first quarter of 2025-26 (Q1FY26), banks are now betting big on the festive season, rolling out attractive loan offers to boost credit growth in the second half of the current financial year (H2FY26) - a trend likely to be further accentuated by the second-order effects of the good services tax (GST) cuts.
The government's Budget announcements providing tax holiday for data centres, setting up of city economic regions (CERs) and funding to improve infrastructure in Tier-II and -III cities may give an indirect boost to India's realty sector, said industry executives.
'AUM reached an all-time high of Rs 79.9 trillion in October 2025, driven by strong retail participation and record SIP inflows of Rs 29,529 crore from over 94.5 million contributing accounts.'
The continued MF buying has pushed the equity holding of MFs to over Rs 50 trillion for the first time.
It's simple. To begin with, just keep your credit habits in check
