Business
Draft Telecom Policy Pushes For Indigenous Telecom Gear
NEW DELHI: With the 21-day public consultation on the draft National Telecom Policy 2025 (NTP-25) drawing to a close, industry body Voice of Indian Communication Technology Enterprises (VoICE) has urged the government to mandate indigenous telecom equipment, including chips, operating system, software across networks, warning that reliance on imports...
PM Seeks Cooperation Of States In Implementing GST Reforms
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the Centre has circulated the draft of the next-generation GST reforms among states and sought their cooperation to implement the proposal before Diwali. He said the reform in GST would benefit poor and middle-class people, as well as small and...
Focus On 30 Export Markets To Intensify Amid Impending Slump In Shipments To US
NEW DELHI: The 30 more countries identified as focus markets for export mobilisation efforts will receive more attention in the promotion activities as they already account for 30% of India’s exports and significant room exists to expand the quantity and range of products sold in those markets, a senior...
Govt Pushes India Inc To Increase Global Footprint, Offers Diplomatic Backing For Expansion
NEW DELHI: The government is advising India Inc to expand its international presence in a big way with the aim of giving a push to the creation of Indian multinationals. Top government sources said the idea being shared with members of industry is that Indian companies should look beyond...
Joblessness Is Far Worse Than We Thought It Was
NEW DELHI: The curse of joblessness won’t leave us. And it is getting worse. Unemployment, from a peak of 8% in the worst Covid financial year 2020-21, came down substantially to 3.2% for FY2024. But now, it has crept up again. The government’s monthly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)...
Next Review Meet For Asean-India Trade Pact Likely In October
NEW DELHI: India and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will meet in October for the 11th round of talks in the ongoing review of their goods trade agreement. The two sides have covered some ground in a meeting here Thursday evening. In the 10th round of talks that...
Govt Mulls Reforms In GST Refund, Return & Registration Processes
NEW DELHI: The Centre has proposed ‘next generation’ GST reforms in registration, refund and return processes as it looks to ease the compliance burden for GST-registered taxpayers. As per the proposal shared with a panel of state ministers, the Centre is looking at bringing down the time taken to...
India Becomes A Global Defence Force With Strategic Reforms & A Drive For Self-Reliance
NEW DELHI: The central government celebrated the 79th Independence Day on Friday, particularly the recent Operation Sindoor, while lauding the recent growth of the defence industry. It stated the sector had undergone a radical transformation in the past decade, transforming from being among the largest importers of weapons to...
Morgan Stanley Warns Of NBFC Earnings Cuts, Urges Selective Approach
MUMBAI: Morgan Stanley has reiterated its “stay selective” stance on Indian non-bank financial companies (NBFCs), cautioning that further consensus earnings downgrades were likely in the ongoing financial year 2026 (FY26). The global brokerage has advised investors to focus on stocks offering a margin of safety in both valuations and...
S&P Upgrade Likely To Cut Govt Borrowing Costs: FinMin Official
NEW DELHI: S&P’s upgrade of its long-term sovereign credit rating on India after 18 years citing economic resilience can potentially lower the government’s borrowing costs, a senior finance ministry official said. The upgrade in rating to ‘BBB’ from the lowest investment grade of ‘BBB-‘ will add to the investor...
US Tariff Impact To Ease Out In One To Two Quarters: CEA
NEW DELHI: The current imbroglio caused by the 50% additional US tariff on India is expected to ease out in one to two quarters, chief economic advisor Anantha Nageswaran said at Emkay Confluence 2025 event here on Wednesday. “I don’t think from a long-term picture, the impact (of US...
Govt Likely To Allow Private Companies To Mine Uranium To Help Nuclear Expansion
NEW DELHI: India aims to allow private firms to mine, import and process uranium as part of plans to end a decades-old state monopoly over the nuclear sector and bring in billions of dollars to boost the industry, two government sources said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government plans to...
Govt, NITI Aayog To Revise Toll Fee Framework Amid Overcharging Complaints
NEW DELHI: Amid rising cases of toll being charged on national highways (NHs) even after the end of the concession period, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has initiated a study with central policy think tank NITI Aayog to revise the user-fee determination framework, it has informed...
Exporters Scurry To Fall Back On Local Market, But Question Marks Remain
CHENNAI / AHMEDABAD / NEW DELHI: Should India’s labour-intensive industries worry much about Trump tariffs or any more such external shocks, when the domestic markets for their goods are growing exponentially? This question was implicit in Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s exhortation to the industry and consumers to go “Swadeshi”....
SEBI Proposes To Add Algo Trade To Stock Broker Regulations
MUMBAI: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Wednesday proposed to include algorithmic trading and proprietary trading in its master regulations. The regulator floated a consultation paper to revamp regulations of stock brokers (SBs). These aim to ease the compliance burden, harmonise with the Companies Act and...
Cabinet Clears Over ₹18,500 Crore Chip, Hydro Power, Metro Rail Plans
NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday approved major investment proposals worth more than ₹18,500 crore for key infrastructure projects, including semiconductor manufacturing, Metro rail expansion, and hydro power generation. The decisions include ₹4,600 crore for semiconductor units, ₹5,800 crore...
India May Miss FY26 Fiscal Deficit Target Of 4.4% On Slower Growth: BMI
MUMBAI: The government is likely to miss its FY26 fiscal deficit target of 4.4 per cent, though only marginally, as economic growth underperforms projections, according to a report released by BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions, on Tuesday. The report said potential aggressive US tariff hikes are the primary...
Food Inflation In Negative Zone For Second Straight Month
NEW DELHI: Retail food inflation remained in the negative zone for two consecutive months in July when it came in at (-) 1.76%, driven by subdued prices of vegetables, cereals, pulses, meat, eggs and spices. The decline in food inflation last month was also attributed to ‘favorable’ base effect,...
