In her previous Budget in February 2025, Ms. Sitharaman had also outlined an alternate path to fiscal consolidation by focussing on the Centre’s debt-to-GDP ratio and reducing it to 50% (with leeway of 1% above and below) by March 2031. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto The Centre’s fiscal deficit, which is broadly the amount by…
Budget 2026-27 signals a transition away from pandemic-era crisis management to what is now a borrowing-heavy doctrine for financing growth and capital expenditure (capex) spending. By guiding fiscal deficit to 4.3% of GDP and scaling public capital expenditure to ₹12.2 lakh crore, the government aims to project a broader infra-capex enabled vision of a ‘Viksit…
File photo of U.S. President Donald Trump with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. | Photo Credit: Reuters Indicating a positive turn in a bilateral relationship that had been under strain because of multiple issues, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that “Made in India” products will “now” attract a “reduced tariff of 18%” in the U.S., after…
The FM mentioned in her Budget speech that Odisha, Karnataka, and Kerala will develop Turtle Trails to protect and promote nesting sites. | Photo Credit: Asit Kumar In her Union Budget 2026 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman explicitly named 14 States. However, when accounting for the States and Union Territories associated with the 27 specific…
Union Minister Telecom Jyotiraditya Scindia. File. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA The government has proposed to increase the outlay for the Telecom Ministry to ₹73,990 crore, mainly due to a significant rise in capital infusion for state-run telecom firm BSNL. The increased allocation is for various projects, including BharatNet, capital requirement of BSNL, including…
Image used for representational purposes. File | Photo Credit: Reuters The Law Ministry’s ambitious phase-III of the e-Courts project, aimed at digitising all subordinate courts of the country, has been allocated ₹1,200 crore in the Union Budget for 2026-27. According to the budget document, the project has received ₹1,200 crore as against ₹1,500 crore in…
On Friday, bitcoin fell to as low as $81,104, the lowest since November 21 [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value, was down by 6.53% at $78,719.63 at 12:48 p.m. ET (1748 GMT) on Saturday, continuing its decline from the previous session. On Friday, bitcoin fell to as low…
Photo used for representation purpose only. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Seeking to attract global business and investment into India, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget presentation Sunday (February 1, 2026), among other things, providing a fillip to toll manufacturing in the country proposed exempting non-residents from paying income tax for five years….
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses a press conference in New Delhi | Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy The issue with the U.S. or the ongoing negotiations with that country on a trade deal did not have an impact on the Budget-making process or influence the decision to remove Customs tariffs on several key items, Finance…
Image used for representational purposes. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) remained in a selling mode in January, withdrawing nearly ₹36,000 crore (about $3.97 billion) as global uncertainties persisted. Meanwhile, a higher securities transaction tax (STT) proposed in the Union Budget may weigh on overseas investor participation in the near future. The…
