Hard data is supposed to be cold and impersonal but also has the capacity to evoke myriad feelings. Consider the series of national-accounts data released on 28 February: India’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the quarter from October to December 2024, second advance GDP estimates for 2024-25, first revised estimate for the previous year and…
The Union budget for 2025-26 is being hailed as a “thanksgiving’’ for the middle-class, while its personal income tax relief is being called “historic’’ and has hogged most of the limelight. But there a quite a few standout features other than these. First things first. The remarkable and dogged focus on fiscal consolidation really is…
For the upcoming budget year, nominal gross domestic product (GDP) has been projected to grow at 10.1% over the half year-based First Advance Estimate (FAE) for the current year, yielding a budgeted GDP denominator of â‚ą356.97 trillion for 2025-26. The Second Advance Estimate (SAE) for 2024-25 will soon follow at February-end, and at May-end the…
India’s middle class has reason to rejoice. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has eased income tax burdens under the new regime across the board. The threshold level for zero income tax, for instance, has been bumped up to â‚ą12 lakh annually from â‚ą7 lakh. That’s quite a leap. Also Read: Union Budget 2025 strengthens the middle…
Mumbai: Donald Trump’s sabre-rattling before and after his swearing-in sent the Indian markets scurrying for cover on Tuesday, with benchmarks Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex tumbling to their respective seven-month lows. Investors were already in a sombre mood, thanks to sluggish corporate earnings, foreign investor sell-offs, and pre-budget jitters. The uncertainty sparked by the…
