Image for representational purposes only. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma Wholesale price inflation rose to a 11-month high of 2.13% in February, driven by an uptick in prices of food and non-food articles, even though vegetable prices eased on a month-on-month basis, government data showed on Monday (March 16, 2026). This is the fourth…
India’s exports in March are likely to be impacted by the ongoing conflict in West Asia, Commerce Secretary said. | Photo Credit: PTI India’s trade balance stood at a deficit of around $4 billion in February 2026, compared with a surplus of $2.7 billion in February last year, due in large part to Indian merchandise…
According to the Punjab’s Economic Survey 2025-26, of the total 1,22,842 applicants registered with the State’s Unemployment Bureau in 2025 (as of 30th September), 58% were unskilled and 42% categorised as skilled. File | Photo Credit: Retuters Even as Punjab’s Economic Survey 2025-26 notes that a combination of “pull” and “push” factors is behind brain…
Alpha is the excess return a portfolio generates over an “appropriate” benchmark. An “appropriate” benchmark means a fund’s alpha will be useful for evaluation only if it holds stocks from the chosen benchmark. Regulation allows large-cap funds to invest not more than 20% in stocks outside of the benchmark. So, comparison of a large-cap fund’s…
Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal. File | Photo Credit: PTI India remains engaged with the U.S. on a trade deal, Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal said on Monday (March 16, 2026). Sources in the government, however, said that India will now sign a trade deal with the U.S. only once that country has settled its “tariff architecture”…
What allegations has the U.S. made on excess capacity and forced labour? How do the two Section 301 investigations relate to the current U.S. tariff regime? What issues are the U.S. investigations examining and why do industry experts see them as a pathway to new tariffs?
A second trade investigation launched by the U.S. into alleged forced labour practices across 60 economies, including India and China, is expected to place particular scrutiny on Beijing amid allegations of forced labour in the Xinjiang region, think tank GTRI said on Sunday (March 15, 2026). India’s exports of solar panels, electronics, and garments to…
When India’s first LPG cylinders rolled into Pune households seventy years ago, many saw them as exotic objects. Burmah Shell, which was to become BPCL later, was the supplier. The large metal canisters that created a cool, blue flame seemed like a luxury in a country dependent largely on firewood and crop residues for its…
The story so far: As the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz exposed the vulnerability of India’s supply chain for cooking gas, the majority of which is imported, the Union government invoked the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. While long-term steps are needed to diversify and reduce reliance on global suppliers and expand strategic reserves, the…
Global liquefied natural gas price volatility caused by the Middle East crisis is “very short-term”, Mike Sabel, chief executive officer with Venture Global, told the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum in Tokyo. Some 20% of global LNG supply is now offline with QatarEnergy LNG facilities shut amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which…
