Inactive public sector enterprises (PSEs) should be considered for immediate closure to reduce fiscal strain on central and state governments, the 16th Finance Commission has recommended in its report while calling for deep reforms in the sector.The panel also said that land and buildings owned by inactive PSEs are valuable and could be deployed to…
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the Union Budget 2026 on February 1, setting out a clear roadmap for individual taxpayers. While personal income tax rates and the broader structure of taxation stays untouched, the Budget introduced a range of reforms to further simplify the process for taxpayers. The measures focus on easing return-filing timelines, reducing…
Road out of troubled waters The Finance Commission has proposed a targeted push to accelerate and make India’s urban growth more orderly, focusing on strengthening mid-sized cities and bringing rapidly urbanising fringes of cities into municipal corporations.In its recommendations on urban local body (ULB) grants, the 16th Finance Commission has outlined two key priorities: integrating…
The Union Budget 2026, presented on Sunday, brought focus on where India’s real estate growth is headed, with data suggesting a gradual shift beyond the country’s biggest metropolitan markets. While Mumbai and Delhi continue to make headlines for Rs 100-crore-plus home sales, industry data shows that the best returns on property investment, on average, are…
Gold price prediction: Technically, the trend still remains positive, however RMS selling and profit booking has changed the behaviour and structure of the chart. (AI image) Gold price prediction today: Gold prices will continue to be volatile and range bound in the near future, says Manav Modi, Senior Analyst, Commodity Research at Motilal Oswal Financial…
Govt on Sunday unveiled a series of announcements to boost inland waterways and increase the share of cargo transport by coastal shipping, aiming to reduce logistics costs, improve connectivity and support sustainable transport solutions. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said govt will operationalise 20 inland waterways, including National Waterway-5 (Mahanadi), that will connect mineral-rich Talcher and…
It was a contrast that no previous Budget had possibly produced — a constant thrum of perfunctory desk thumping by treasury benches and a total silence from the opposition. The just short of 90-minute speech by FM Nirmala Sitharaman was a sedate affair that did not evoke emotions, even though a charged opposition had reportedly…
In a major ruling on how High Courts should deal with chronic delays in delivering judgments, the Supreme Court has repeated and intensified its previous instructions on how such delays should be timely eliminated to bring about timely delivery of the reserved judgment. The Court placed special emphasis on the importance of ensuring that the…
Khasi tribal farmers clean harvested paddy in a field along the Assam Meghalaya border, on the outskirts of Guwahati As part of a broad roadmap to achieve one of its duties (kartavya), govt on Sunday emphasised “targeted efforts” to increase farmers’ income through “productivity enhancement and entrepreneurship”, using cutting-edge technology, including multilingual AI tools, and…
NEW DELHI: Amid trade tensions, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday sought to address a long pending demand of the commerce department by allowing the sale of goods by eligible manufacturers in special economic zones (SEZs) to domestic tariff area on payment of duty at concessional rates.Sitharaman said that only a prescribed share of…
