The Union budget presented on Saturday saw a 9.8% increase in the allocation for the healthcare sector to ₹99,858.56 crore from ₹90,958.68 crore in the previous financial year but overall health allocation remained below 2% of the budget. The share of health in the FY26 budget increased marginally to 1.97% from 1.9% in FY25 and…
Representative image | Photo Credit: Reuters The rupee consolidated in a narrow range to settle just 3 paise higher at 87.72 (provisional) against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday (August 12, 2025) amid a negative trend in domestic equities. Forex traders said the rupee is trading in a tight range as a late decline in domestic…
The July 2025 inflation is the lowest since June 2017 when it was at 1.46%. The year-on-year food inflation rate in July was (-) 1.76%. Image used for representation purpose only. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma Retail inflation slipped to an eight-year low of 1.55% in July mainly due to subdued prices of food…
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has followed a stable trajectory in all her Union Budgets since 2019. This year’s budget speech, though, was unusual in not mentioning allocations for specific Infrastructure sectors. The unsaid implication being – execute and implement existing projects in large sectors like highways and railways. Of the allocation to Infrastructure of an…
In the local markets, gold of 99.5 per cent purity dipped ₹1,000 to ₹1,01,100 per 10 grams (inclusive of all taxes) on August 12, 2025. File photo: Special Arrangement Gold prices plunged ₹1,000 to ₹1,01,520 per 10 grams in the national capital on Tuesday (August 12, 2025) in line with a sell-off in global markets,…
Consumption, particularly in urban markets, has been battered by high food inflation and low income growth in recent months, resulting in calls for the Reserve Bank of India to cut its policy rate to spur spending. The banking regulator in December maintained the repo rate at 6.5% for an 11th consecutive time. RBI’s monetary policy committee,…
Image used for representation purpose only. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Net direct tax collection dipped 3.95% to ₹6.64 lakh crore so far this fiscal, mainly on account on higher refunds, according to government data released on Tuesday (August 12, 2025). Direct tax includes taxes on income paid by companies, individuals, and by professionals, and…
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,…
