Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged industry and start-ups to focus on quality and make excellence a benchmark in manufacturing. He also lauded the start-up ecosystem and greeted the nation on National Voters Day and Republic Day.
'When it comes to enterprise context, there is a big lag between how fast technology is evolving and how it is getting deployed at the end of the day. That is where the challenge is going to be.'
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.
Barely 45.45 per cent of South Koreans achieve the recommended nightly rest, highlighting a growing wellness concern. Data from PlushCare places South Korea and several nations in the Middle East among seven nations where people consistently fall short of the expert-advised 8-9 hours of sleep each night, reflecting how modern routines are reshaping global rest patterns.
Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) has discovered significant concentrations of rare earth elements and critical minerals in its mines in Maharashtra, potentially transforming waste material into revenue-generating resources and diversifying the company's business.
Capex, infrastructure development, and prudent fiscal management are the key focus areas in the Budget, says Nilesh Shah.
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.
The initial public offering (IPO) market in India last year was hot, with companies raising over $22 billion in 2025. But half of the 350-plus companies that listed on the stock exchange last year traded below their offer price, according to a new research report released by HSBC Global Investment Research - a sobering fact despite what otherwise looked like a rush of companies eager to list on the bourses.
The Indian government informed Parliament that India and the US are engaged in negotiations for a mutually beneficial multi-sectoral bilateral trade agreement. The two countries also cooperate on strategic, economic, and defense matters, managing divergences through high-level dialogues.
'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.'
This year's Economic Survey and the Union Budget were more closely followed for more reasons than one.
'When a technology is this fundamental, a country should have its own version of it, rather than relying on whether someone else chooses to build it for you.'
The Budget reflects a clear focus on strengthening India's long-term prospects by leaning on nation-building sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing, and technology while maintaining fiscal responsibility.
Investors and startup executives are calling for extending the period for an entity to be recognised as a startup from 10 to 15 years for deep-tech companies.
In the 15 Union Budget presentation days of the Narendra Modi government since it came to power in 2014, the BSE benchmark Sensex has ended in negative territory eight times.
Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty dived sharply by nearly 2 per cent on Sunday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a hike in the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on derivatives. Reversing the early gains, the 30-share BSE Sensex plunged sharply by 2,370.36 points or 2.88 per cent to slide below the 80,000-mark at 79,899.42 in afternoon trade as the finance minister announced a hike in STT on futures contracts to 0.05 per cent from the current 0.02 per cent.
Budget 2026 sticks to fiscal discipline, shuns populist measures despite five key state elections coming up, but ends up rattling stock markets with a higher transaction tax on derivatives trading.
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.
This is the first Budget in my memory of Budgets over the last half a century which has embraced upfront, enthusiastically and emphatically, technology, modernity and fiscal sobriety, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
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.
Reiterating Sitharaman's statement that this is a youth power budget, Modi emphasised that the provisions made in the budget will prepare leaders, innovators and creators across different sectors.
'We kept this Budget on a larger plank, rather than on one incident, however serious.'
'This Budget has a one-year agenda, which you can call the sprint, and the marathon is towards Viksit Bharat.'
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.
Sustaining 8 per cent-plus growth rates is necessary if we are to reach high-income status by 2047, points out Amitabh Kant.
'For those in for the long haul, this is a God-given opportunity.' 'Your market is falling despite strong fundamentals, and such a clear roadmap has been announced.'
'Grassroots-level corruption, which disrupts the last-mile work, cannot be ignored in your enthusiasm and drive to get going to complete the project.' 'Like it was in MGNREGA, in some states, it is the case with the Jal Jeevan mission.' 'The last minute levels of corruption can ruin the intent of the project itself.' 'When you see that people can game a particular well-intended and well-crafted project, you need to correct that.'
Tata Projects on Tuesday said the construction of the US-based chip company Micron Technology's semiconductor assembly and test facility at Sanand near Ahmedabad is going on in full swing. The facility is coming up in nearly 50 acres of area at Sanand industrial area and the construction began in July last year.
Semiconductor makers need thousands of engineers and technicians, and though India has one of the largest pool of engineers in the world, they do not have experience in the semiconductor manufacturing space.
Several IITs have been pushing for a diversification of job profiles as roles move beyond just tech companies and start-ups, particularly with the advent of AI.
Prices of televisions are expected to rise by 3-4 per cent from January next year on account of the rising cost of memory chips and depreciation of the rupee, which recently crossed the 90-to-a-dollar mark for the first time.
Modi inaugurated the Semicon India 2025 in Delhi, in the presence of Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, and Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada.
Tata Sons will likely choose Singapore as a "key partner" for its semiconductor plans, a senior minister from the city-state said on Friday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran earlier in the day, Singapore's minister for home affairs and law K Shanmugam said semiconductors was a "big discussion" point during the meeting. "If they (Tatas) want to, they can do business with anybody in the world.
'The real story of 2025 is that India officially stopped being a 'market of the future' and started acting as the world's primary economic engine.'
Sarma also criticised the Opposition Congress for not condemning the "objectionable statement" by the Karnataka minister.
The 40 per cent trans-shipment tariff by the US will create major compliance issues for companies in India and the ASEAN region, with high risks for sectors like machinery, electrical equipment and semiconductors, Moody's Ratings said on Tuesday. In July 31, US President Donald Trump announced a 40 per cent tariff on goods deemed to have been transshipped, beyond the broader country-level tariffs.
This was perhaps a missed opportunity for India to spotlight a core domestic challenge: The scale of workforce preparation required for a young, populous, rapidly growing country seeking to reach net zero, points out Radha Roy Biswas.
If Xi Jinping is dethroned in the future, the instrument for that may well be embedded within the PLA, notes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
'The world now realises that semiconductors are not just important for national security, but also for economic prosperity.'
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using the term 'katta' (country-made gun) in a recent election rally in Bihar, calling it an inappropriate choice of words for a Prime Minister.
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