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.
Sustaining 8 per cent-plus growth rates is necessary if we are to reach high-income status by 2047, points out Amitabh Kant.
Rahul Gandhi said that had an INDIA Bloc government negotiated the trade agreement with the US, it would have told US President Donald Trump that he should treat India as an equal.
'Large firms and their interests can dominate the narrative, even as smaller stakeholders and retail investors struggle to be heard.' 'Regulators therefore require deep subject-matter expertise to assess representations, recognise underlying incentives, incorporate the perspectives of less-visible stakeholders, and guard against bias or capture,' notes Ananth Narayan.
A legendary Santa Cruz, Mumbai snack stall continues to win hearts with its hot, fresh Vada Pavs and bhajiyas. Here's a look at the story behind Balaji Vada Pav Corner and a step-by-step recipe for their crunchy Mung Dal Bhajiyas.
When her parents insisted Rajini Bhargava pursue an MBA, she presented them the idea of investing in a food truck.
Maharashtra has pipped Tamil Nadu in NITI Aayog's latest Export Preparedness Index (EPI) for 2024. While Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh gained ground, Karnataka and Haryana slipped out of the top five, the central government think tank said in its report released on Wednesday.
This loss is a direct result of the IITMs taking time away from their primary business activities, the AMI-Partners small-business study, commissioned by Microsoft, said.
Restoring weighted tax deductions and adopting a petty patents regime can foster firm-level innovative activity critical for competitiveness, points out Nagesh Kumar.
Fino Payments Bank (Fino) has become the first such entity to get an in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to transition into a small finance bank (SFB).
It is learnt that India was mulling various options relating to the project after Trump administration threatened a 25 per cent additional tariff on countries doing business with Tehran.
Rediff explains why the system, not the Budget, is the problem.
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.
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.
Tech giant Apple on Wednesday said it has slashed its App Store commission by half to 15 per cent for small businesses earning up to $1 million (about Rs 7.4 crore) per year on the platform. In the past, tech majors Apple and Google have been criticised for the high commissions charged from app developers. Apple, in a statement, said the new developer programme will accelerate innovation and help small businesses and independent developers propel their businesses forward with the next generation of groundbreaking apps on the App Store.
India's new national accounts will leverage new data sources and surveys to enhance the measurement of the country's informal economy, and introduce double deflation methods across sectors, replacing the current system that relies on a single deflation mechanism in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) calculations.
The European Union's (EU's) offer to slash tariffs on 97.5 per cent of Indian chemical exports to zero is set to give India's pharmaceutical and medical device firms preferential access to the European markets.
Ranju Sarkar finds out more about Nowfloats, the start-up that is used by 240,000 businesses that reach 13 million consumers.
'Economic activity appears to have peaked in the second quarter of FY26, with industrial output, exports, and business confidence all softening from October 2025.'
More than 58 per cent of small business owners expect an economic turnaround in 2010, while 14 per cent anticipate a rebound by the end of 2009 and rest 14 per cent think the recovery would be in 2011 or later, as per the survey conducted by HR solutions provider Administaff. The business confidence survey found that 83 per cent of the business owners said their biggest concern for 2009 is economy, followed by 53 per cent citing government healthcare reform.
Sebi is working with other regulators to expand the CAS framework.
Trading pattern in the stock market this week will largely depend on the ongoing Q3 earnings announcement from corporates, global trends, and foreign fund movement, analysts said. Moreover, geopolitical developments and any update on trade negotiations would also be keenly tracked by investors, experts noted.
'The trade deficit in some sectors is huge and that is an area of opportunity to localise.'
Any business that makes inter-state supply is outside the ambit of the scheme
Contrary to popular misconception, Gen Z's work ethic isn't about avoiding responsibility. It's about choosing impact over hierarchy, explains Kartik Narayan, CEO of jobs marketplace, Apna.
Overlap refers to the same stocks appearing across fund portfolios.
India has been on an FTA-signing spree of late. Since 2021, it has signed eight trade agreements, three of which -- with the UK, Oman and New Zealand -- were finalised in 2025 alone.
'Global uncertainty is something which definitely occupies the minds of officials when we are preparing for the Budget.'
Companies in the lower mcap deciles have recorded the fastest growth in median mcap.
'After Saiyaara, a lot of confidence has come in. Hindi is now looking good, especially with Dhurandhar 2 expected in March.'
An aviation expert suggests that the Baramati plane crash, which resulted in the death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others, might have been avoided if the airport runway had been equipped with an instrument landing system (ILS). The expert also emphasized the importance of preserving evidence at the crash site for the ongoing investigation.
Banking sector has witnessed healthy growth in advances in the third quarter of financial year 2026 (Q3FY26) against the same period last year, as the full impact of goods and service tax (GST) rate cuts drove growth. Most of the lenders saw their credit growth outpace the deposit growth in the quarter.
'We have tags of state animals and birds. However, the invisible world of microbes is doing a lot of things for us in nature, not just for human beings but for the entire life.'
'There is one sector which is overlooked. And that is the middle and upper middle class.'
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.
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.
'When markets go into a budget with excessive optimism, the risk of disappointment is higher.'
If an economic storm has your business taking on water, we provide tips for bailing yourself out.
The banking sector could see better loan growth in the third quarter of financial year 2026 (Q3FY26) with improved net interest margins (NIMs), though the full impact of latest rate cuts will be largely felt in the fourth quarter. There may be lower slippage in unsecured loans and microfinance institutions (MFIs) along with steady recovery trends, which should lower credit cost.
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