Economics
Trade, fiscal policy, banking, agriculture and economic indicators
India's textile and apparel exports down by 3.75% in January, outlook improves now with India US interim deal
India's combined textile and apparel exports fell by 3.75% year-on-year in January 2026, to $3,275.44 million from $3,403.19 million in January 2025. Textile...
India engaging global partners more intensively, says EAM S Jaishankar; cites recent trade deals
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, speaking at and on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference 2026, stated that India is engaging global partne...
NHAI accepts NHIT's Rs 6,221 cr offer to monetise two highway assets
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) accepted a Rs 6,220.90 crore offer from National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT) to monetise two operational high...
NHAI gets Rs 12,357 cr towards monetisation for 2025-26; lower than the budgeted and revised estimate of Rs 15,000 cr
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) received ₹12,357 crore toward asset monetisation for FY 2025-26, falling short of both the original budgeted ...
Who is Darpan Jain, India’s chief negotiator for US trade talks?
Darpan Jain, a 2001-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Karnataka cadre, has been appointed India's chief negotiator for the India-US bi...
Adani Group commits USD 100 bn to build AI-ready energy-compute backbone
The Adani Group announced a direct investment of USD 100 billion to develop renewable-energy-powered, hyperscale AI-ready data centres across India by 2035 —...
EXCLUSIVE: Announced in Union Budget, AI-powered Bharat-VISTAAR set to be launched today
Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan launched Bharat-VISTAAR (Virtually Integrated System to Access Agricultural Resources) on February 17, 2026,...
For India, AI a ‘stress test’ of state capacity; must align tech adoption with mass employability: CEA Nageswaran
Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran, speaking at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, described artificial intelligence as a "stress test of our state c...
Future of UPI, RuPay in value-added services, potential ‘far from fully realised’, says new report
A Ministry of Finance report on the decade of UPI finds that while adoption has surged beyond urban areas, the system's potential in value-added services — m...
Indian delegation to visit US next week; exports to US in Jan falls 22%
An Indian trade delegation, led by Chief Negotiator Darpan Jain (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce), was scheduled to travel to Washington beginning Febr...
Bullet train: After Vande Bharat, Govt focuses on designing & manufacturing 280 kmph high-speed trains
Following the success of the Vande Bharat Express programme, the Government of India has shifted strategy for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor —...
In agriculture, US-India trade deal is both good and not-so-good
India and the United States announced an interim bilateral trade framework on February 7, 2026, reducing US reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods from 50% to 18...
How the fertilisers industry has become synonymous with controls, and at what cost
A detailed policy analysis highlighted how India's fertilizer sector has accumulated one of the most extensive regulatory control regimes of any industry — s...
Rural slowdown pushes January unemployment rate to 5%
India's unemployment rate rose to 5% in January 2026 from 4.8% in December 2025 among persons aged 15 years and above, according to the Periodic Labour Force...
We need fiscal prudence during elections
An analysis highlights growing concerns about fiscal discipline eroding during election cycles, as political parties across states make large unfunded welfar...
India’s Jan trade deficit hits 3-month high as exports remain flat, bullion import surges
India's merchandise trade deficit widened to $34.68 billion in January 2026 — a three-month high — driven by a massive surge in bullion imports even as expor...
India to finalise legal text of interim trade deal with US next week
India's Commerce Secretary Rajesh Agrawal announced on February 16, 2026, that a team of Indian officials will visit the US next week (starting February 23) ...
The UAE-India corridor is sparking a growth story
India-UAE bilateral merchandise trade has nearly doubled from $43.3 billion in FY 2020-21 to $83.7 billion in FY 2023-24 since the signing of the Comprehensi...
Snapdeal fined ₹5 lakh for selling toys violating BIS standards: CCPA
The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) imposed a penalty of ₹5 lakh on Snapdeal for selling toys that did not carry mandatory Bureau of Indian Stan...
Fall in coal-fired power generation in India & China in 2025, a first in 50 years
Coal-fired power generation declined simultaneously in both India and China in 2025, the first time this has occurred since 1973 — a gap of 52 years. India's...