'The real risk is not that AI will fail to transform India's economy.'
'The risk is that it already is -- while our measurement systems continue to look the other way,' observes Nishant Sahdev, a theoretical physicist at the University of North Carolina.
The Congress party has criticized the Indo-US trade agreement, calling it a 'surrender' of India's self-esteem and interests, and a betrayal of Indian farmers and MSMEs.
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.
'If you go by the capital expenditure, this is a good defence budget. But we will have to see if the government can keep defence spending at 2 per cent or higher in 2027-2028.'
The Railway Ministry will deliver the advanced locomotives to the African nation over the next three years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the first locomotive for export on Friday.
While many areas compete for resources, defence, education, and adaptation deserve focus for maximum impact, suggests Laveesh Bhandari.
'This Budget has a one-year agenda, which you can call the sprint, and the marathon is towards Viksit Bharat.'
India responded to US President Donald Trump's comments regarding Pakistan's nuclear weapons testing, highlighting Pakistan's history of nuclear proliferation and illegal activities.
Russia, being bogged down by the Ukraine war and prioritising the requirements of its own armed forces, along with India's consistent diversification policy, will remain a major challenge to the bilateral partnership, note Harsh V Pant and Aleksei Zakharov.
Newly declassified documents from the United States National Security Archive have revealed that Pakistan's nuclear proliferation was a significant concern for both the US and Russia, with leaders expressing 'nervous' fears about the country's atomic stability.
'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.'
Under the defence partnership, India and the UAE are eyeing defence industrial collaboration and cooperation in advanced technologies, cyberspace training, special operations, interoperability of their militaries and counter terrorism.
Artificial Intelligence, innovation and next-generation technologies figured prominently during the high-stakes discussion between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump at the White House, as the two sides announced transformative measures, including the US-India TRUST initiative, roadmap on accelerating AI infrastructure and INDUS Innovation, to boost tech ties.
'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.'
'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.'
The European Union has sanctioned three India-based companies for their alleged links with the Russian military as part of its efforts to put economic pressure on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Maruti Suzuki will introduce eight SUVs over the next five years taking its overall model range to 28 as it aims to regain 50 per cent market share in the domestic passenger vehicle segment, Suzuki Motor Corporation Representative Director and President Toshihiro Suzuki said on Wednesday.
However, these are understood to be exploratory talks, with an agreement unlikely to be formalised during the current visit.
The operator's liability in the case of an incident is limited to 3,000 crore for reactors with thermal power above 3,600 Megawatt; 1,500 crore for reactors with thermal power between 1,500 Mw and 3,600 Mw; 750 crore for reactors with thermal power between 750 Mw and 1,500 Mw; 300 crore for reactors with thermal power between 150 Mw and 750 Mw; and 100 crore for reactors having thermal power up to 150 Mw, fuel cycle facilities other than spent fuel reprocessing plants and transportation of nuclear materials.
India and Russia are expected to unveil a major nuclear energy partnership during Vladimir Putin's visit, potentially involving Russian small modular reactors and expanded cooperation as India pushes toward its 100-GW nuclear goal by 2047.
India and Russia have agreed to encourage joint manufacturing of military hardware and spare parts in India, aiming to improve maintenance of Russian-origin defence equipment and boost overall bilateral defence cooperation.
The Indian government has introduced a bill to overhaul the civil nuclear sector, allowing private participation and establishing a new liability regime. The SHANTI Bill, 2025, aims to repeal existing acts and address industry concerns.
Trump made the announcement in response to what he described as China taking "an extraordinarily aggressive position on trade" by sending "an extremely hostile letter to the world."
From a surge in startups to crewed mission preparations, 2025 marks a transformative year as India eyes $44 billion space economy by 2033.
After a record-breaking year, India's automobile industry is entering 2026 on a relatively strong footing, with sales growth expected in the 6-8 per cent range. The outlook is underpinned by policy support, including GST rationalisation, easing monetary conditions, and income tax relief, which together are likely to improve affordability and sustain consumer demand across vehicle segments.
'There are very few issues and a political call needs to be taken about some of them.'
So far this year, the rupee has fallen by 4.2 per cent, the worst among its Asian peers.
Companies are squeezing more profits from their operations relative to the capital they put to work, the highest now since 2011. Profit after tax relative to capital employed came in at 10.47 per cent in September, shows data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), higher than the 8.41 per cent seen in September last year. This is the highest since March 2010.
Representatives Deborah Ross of North Carolina, Marc Veasey of Texas and Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois introduced the resolution on Friday in the House of Representatives to terminate Trump's national emergency authorising tariffs of up to 50 per cent on imports from India, helping to restore Congress' constitutional authority over trade.
Across all sectors, the future of work depends on adaptability.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari states that countries engaging in bullying do so because of their economic strength and technological advancement. He emphasized the need for India to increase exports and reduce imports to achieve global leadership.
What is currently perceived as a massive, low-tech liability could become a high-value, export-oriented economic engine, points out Ajit Balakrishnan.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh lauds the armed forces' restrained response during Operation Sindoor after the Pahalgam terror attack, highlighting coordination and improved connectivity in border areas.
'What we are willing to do is definitely going to depend on what the Indian government wants to do.'
'When AI comes in, coders in Bangalore or Hyderabad will lose their jobs.'
'As a nation, we create beautiful content and a high volume of it (films) but we are limited by the number of theatres and screen density.' 'You now have a living-room large screen available to showcase that.'
South Korean auto major Hyundai Motor Co president & CEO Jose Munoz on Wednesday said the company's Indian arm will invest Rs 45,000 crore by FY30, aiming to make India its second-largest region globally. Addressing investors here in his first visit to the country, Munoz said Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) has set a target of up to 30 per cent export contribution.
The USTR report, released just ahead of the US' April 2 deadline for implementing reciprocal tariffs, has also cited high tariffs and price caps, which have not increased in line with inflation, as key obstacles for US businesses.
HCLTech reported flat net income of Rs 4,235 crore in the second quarter of 2025-26 (Q2FY26) compared to last year, even as its revenue was up 10.7 per cent to Rs 31,492 crore helped by financial services and technology business verticals.
The Russians have termed Putin's visit to India, his first to this country since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, as 'Druzhba Dosti', which means 'friendship' in Russian and Hindi respectively.
