This year’s budget comes at a critical juncture when the bounce-back from the Covid-19 pandemic seems to have exhausted itself and the economy risks sliding into the low rates of growth witnessed right before the pandemic. Furthermore, as I’ve highlighted before and as mentioned in the Economic Survey, the pace of creation of regular wage…
The Centre has been the bulwark of investments over the past five fiscals, building out infrastructure to stoke and sustain long-term economic growth. After the Covid-19 pandemic, such investments have been the driver of overall capital formation. The Centre’s capex has risen continuously from 1.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) during fiscal 2016-2020 to 3.1%…
For a business journalist, Budget Day is nothing short of the World Cup final (ICC or FIFA, you decide). It is the D-day for which edit meetings are held months in advance. It’s the day for which editorial teams plan months in advance, crafting center spreads, fine-tuning graphics, and, come 11 AM on February 1st,…
Like every year, even the FY26 Union Budget will be analysed more for what it has done for growth, fiscal consolidation, capex/infrastructure, agriculture/rural, employment/skill development, MSME, climate change/energy transition, and above all, measures to support lagging consumption demand. All the announcements made in the budget help the country as a whole and, in turn, states…
A Mint analysis of 1,957 companies shows that individual investors (holding nominal share capital up to ₹ 2 lakhs) increased their ownership in approximately 51% of these companies between the September and December quarters. This compares with nearly 49% of stocks that saw a sequential rise in stakes in the previous two quarters. These 51%…
Budget 2025 Key Announcements: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2025-26 in the Parliament on February 1. This was her record eighth budget presented under Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s third term i.e. Modi 3.0. In her speech, Sitharaman said the Budget aims at “transformative reforms” in six key areas — financial sector,…
1. A mini bazooka Faced with a sharp fall in urban consumption which dragged economic growth down in the second quarter of this fiscal to just 5.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) compared to 8.2% in the same period last year, the finance minister had to act, and she decided to take the bull…
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has committed to developing at least 100 GW of nuclear energy by 2047. In her Union budget for 2025-26, she also proposed setting up a Nuclear Energy Mission with an outlay of ₹20,000 crore. The mission will focus on research and development of small modular reactors (SMRs), with an aim to…
The FY26 budget announced a long thread of schemes for rural India, including a comprehensive multi-sectoral rural prosperity and resilience programme, grameen credit score and broadband connectivity for all government secondary schools and primary health centres. But experts say allocations should have been higher, especially towards schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme…
Nirmala Sitharaman announced a major overhaul of the income tax system while outlining the Budget on Saturday. Individuals earning up to ₹12 lakh annually will no longer have to pay any tax under the new income tax regime — with benefit of ₹80,000. Sitharaman also proposed a change to the exemption limits and rejigged the…
