India’s factory activity picked up marginally in January after slipping to a two-year low the previous month. The sector was helped by strong inflows of new orders, even as sentiment among manufacturers weakened sharply, a monthly survey showed on Monday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 55.4 in January…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Sunday’s Budget had no allocation for Chabahar port in Iran under the ‘aid to countries and projects abroad’ outlay. This could be significant, coming amid looming threats of US sanctions over the port, which – in the absence of any direct land access – was meant to be India’s gateway to Afghanistan and central Asia.The…
Budget 2026’s proposal to restructure Power Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation has revived merger speculation. Sitharaman said govt wants public-sector NBFCs to scale up and cut costs, with clear credit and tech targets. As a first step, it plans to restructure PFC and REC to drive scale and efficiency.Both lenders carry heavy exposure to…
UAE E-Invoicing Revolution: How the Looming Digital System Will Transform Business Operations The United Arab Emirates is gearing up for a major tax and digital transformation in 2026–2027 with the rollout of a national electronic invoicing (e-invoicing) system that will fundamentally change how companies issue, process and report invoices. With pilot testing set to begin…
The government has unveiled a targeted manufacturing push centred on seven strategic and frontier sectors, positioning them as key drivers of job creation, domestic value addition and long-term industrial competitiveness.Presenting the proposals, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the strategy is anchored in accelerating growth through focused industrial interventions. Subsidies, Jobs, AI Tool: FM Sitharaman Unveils…
Finance Commission submits report to President Murmu (Photo credit- PTI ) The 16th Finance Commission has recommended retaining states’ share in the divisible pool of central taxes at 41 per cent, while pitching for outcome-based spending, greater transparency in tax devolution data and stronger fiscal discipline at the state level. The panel said there is…