Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, right, addresses a press conference after presenting the Union Budget 2026-27, in New Delhi, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary is also seen. | Photo Credit: PTI The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has seen an increase of 9.44% in the total allocation in the Union…
New Delhi: India has increased the capital outlay for defence by about 18% to nearly ₹2.2 trillion for the financial year starting 1 April (FY27), as the country looks to acquire sophisticated weapons and modernise its military assets amid rising security risks. The revised estimates put the defence sector’s capital outlay at ₹1.86 trillion in…
Where Budget 2025 was largely dominated by the income-tax rate and slab relaxations, Budget 2026 has done away with Big Bang measures. Instead, its scattershot approach, through various sectoral and issue-based measures, when taken together, is aimed at propelling India’s growth over the medium term. Given the level of geoeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties that the…
New Delhi: The Union budget for FY27 placed the textile sector at the centre of its manufacturing strategy for labour-intensive sectors, unveiling an integrated programme to boost exports, modernize clusters and strengthen India’s position in the global apparel and technical textile markets. Presenting the budget in Parliament on Sunday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a…
As is widely understood, the annual Budget is a political document responding to short to medium-term economic challenges. Formally, it is an annual revenue and expenditure statement outlining the government’s priorities. As with any financial statement, the fine print matters the most, not obvious from the media headlines. Yet, it is useful to read the…
The government has proposed to establish a second National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans) to help more people access therapists. “There are no national institutes for mental healthcare in North India. We will therefore set up a Nimhans-2 and also upgrade National Mental Health Institutes in Ranchi and Tezpur as Regional Apex…
Budget 2026-27 for the social sector is unusual, as it does not contain any new flagship schemes, which had become par for the course. Low allocations and spending However, the neglect of the sector in actual allocations continues. Schemes targeted at the most vulnerable sections of the population — children, pregnant women, the aged, single…
India’s 7.4 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) will soon be beneficiaries of a new ₹10,000 crore fund, a top-up of an existing fund for startups, and reforms to the government’s business invoice portal TReDS. In her ninth Union budget, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a three-pronged approach towards MSMEs, which contribute to about…
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman delivered a mixed bag to capital market prioritising long-term capital instruments over short term one in Budget 2026-27. While raising tax on derivative transactions, the FM increased investment limits for NRIs, rationalised taxation on share buybacks, and proposed measures to deepen bond markets. Ms. Sitharman proposed to raise the STT on…
One interesting thing about the Budget is that people usually do not do a reality check vis-a-vis the previous Budget because the current one takes centre stage. Since Budget 2026-27 is quite run of the mill, it will not be out of place to start with the last Budget. If there is one thing you…
