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The government is likely to announce a manufacturing-focused incentive scheme under the Drone Shakti initiative in the Union budget for 2026-27 to accelerate the indigenous production of unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a Moneycontrol report. The proposed scheme is expected to run for five years and align with the period of the Sixteenth Finance Commission, the report said.Here are three drone stocks that stand to benefit should an announcement materialize.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.NEW DELHI: The ministry of railways is planning to dilute 5-10% stakes in six listed railway public sector undertakings and another 2-3% in another listed company through offer-for-sale transactions inFY27, as part of a broader push to meet a ₹2.62 trillion monetization target under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP 2.0), two people aware of the matter said.The seven listed railway PSUs are Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corp. (IRCTC), Indian Railway Finance Corp.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The usage gap in India’s flagship financial inclusion programme has widened further, with inactive zero-balance accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) surging to 26% at 143.83 million at state-run banks, while falling to 36% at 6.3 million at private banks as of March 2026.The total PMJDY accounts across state-run and private banks stood at 581.8 million, with deposits reaching ₹3.02 trillion by early April 2026. State-run banks had 449.8 million accounts, while private banks held 20.8 million.This spike in inactive accounts has been broad-based across public sector banks, which had 112.4 million dormant PMJDY accounts, or 21% of the total, at the end of March 2025.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.More young professionals these days are trading longer vacations for bite-sized weekend hikes and domestic trekking. This trend has picked up immensely across India's busy metros and cities.The government has recognized India's potential to offer world-class trekking and hiking experiences.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Stock market recap: Indian equity benchmarks ended a volatile session on Monday with a positive bias. Indices had opened higher, tracking firm global cues, and briefly strengthened around midday, but gave up most gains as concerns around the US-Iran ceasefire kept sentiment cautious.Sensex closed up 26.76 points at 78,520.30, while Nifty 50 edged up 11.30 points to settle at 24,364.85.Sectoral performance was mixed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.The government is revamping Ayurveda institutes, modernizing hospitals, upgrading research and globalizing traditional systems for medical tourism, as announced in Union Budget 2026.Morbidity codes for Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani systems have now been incorporated into the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases, and an index for the International Classification of Health Interventions through traditional medicines has also been agreed upon.This could, in time, position India as a hub for Ayurvedic and traditional medicine treatments.But can treatments at AYUSH centres be claimed in a cashless manner like allopathic procedures?The answer lies in how insurers currently interpret such treatments.Health insurance policies state that “inpatient treatments under Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy are covered.”For cashless claims, treatments must be taken at network hospitals. Reimbursement claims — where patients pay first and submit bills later — can be more complicated.Given the early stage of such claims, insurers and third-party administrators (TPAs) are balancing two competing pressures: honouring AYUSH claims as mandated by the government and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai), while protecting portfolios from treatments that are not medically mandatory but taken for rest, restoration or wellness — where billing limits may not be clearly defined.The ecosystem for cashless claims is still evolving.

New Delhi: Farmer lobbies have raised concerns about the strict implementation of curbs on the sale of diesel in portable containers amid the West Asia war, citing increased usage to operate agricultural equipment during the upcoming harvest season in April.Farmers say the ban on loose fuel sales—introduced to curb illegal storage and misuse—has heightened uncertainty over whether adequate supplies will be available during the peak season, particularly in rural areas where access to fuel stations remains limited.The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Kirti Kisan Union, and Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, and farmers across northern states such as Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh are now planning to raise the issue with authorities to seek to ease supply."Any disruption in harvesting will not only impact crop quality but also delay procurement, affecting overall farm incomes,” said Bhanu Pratap Singh, a farmer based in Uttar Pradesh. With the wheat harvest window being narrow and weather-sensitive, stakeholders warn that ensuring an uninterrupted diesel supply will be crucial to avoid operational bottlenecks and safeguard output in the country’s key grain-producing regions.Demand for diesel for harvesters and tractors surges as farmers begin to reap wheat around 10 April.

offshore crypto holdings and transactions will increasingly become visible to tax authorities through automatic cross-border data sharing.The development comes against the backdrop of India’s crypto tax regime introduced in the Union budget 2022 that imposed a 30% tax on gains from virtual digital assets and a 1% tax deducted at source (TDS) on transactions. The high tax and compliance burden is nudging many traders to shift activity offshore, making cross-border reporting frameworks increasingly important.Before these regulations, the reporting structure for crypto was fragmented and voluntary.

Mint.Saraswat also said that specific features and the incentive structure under the second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission announced in Union budget 2026 are being worked out.Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the second phase of the mission in her budget speech in February to scale up the country’s capabilities in equipment, materials, design, intellectual property rights and to fortify the supply chain. In the budget for 2026-27, the Centre announced a second tranche of incentives under the mission, five years after rolling out the first ₹76,000-crore programme.India will also strive to explore and produce select critical minerals found domestically despite their low resource intensity making them costlier to extract, to guard against the risk of supply denial by other countries in future, Saraswat said.India’s push to build domestic capabilities in semiconductors and critical minerals, which are vital for IT, clean energy and defence sectors, comes at a time technology is increasingly shaping industrial and military power in a de-globalising world with weakening adherence to the rule of law.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Supreme Court on Friday dashed banks' hopes of recovering money lent to bankrupt telecom operators such as Reliance Communications (RCom) and Aircel by ruling that airwaves cannot be sold under an insolvency process. Therefore, the future of the two operators and how UV Asset Reconstruction Co Ltd (UVARCL), the asset reconstruction company that had won the bids for them, will monetize them without selling the precious spectrum is now a gnawing question.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Just as nerves were fraying, a breakthrough in US-India trade negotiations offered domestic markets much-needed succour. Against this backdrop, Mint’s sixth quarterly market survey, conducted between 5 and 11 February, captured the precise moment when investor sentiment began to pivot.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Tiger Global-backed Upstox has sought permits to offer non-bank lending, asset management, and other financial services, as the regulator’s prolonged clampdown on retail frenzy in futures and options has clouded the broking industry’s growth outlook.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Realty company Anant Raj shares have experienced a notable decline over the past few months, dropping significantly from the 52-week high. The stock has fallen from highs of ₹744 to ₹541.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. India is in talks with global shipping giants and domestic companies to set up container manufacturing facilities, according to Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal, as the ₹10,000 crore budget push seeks to cut reliance on China and boost local production. Several companies have expressed interest in manufacturing and demand aggregation for containers made in India, Sonowal, ports, shipping and waterways minister, said, citing names including the world's largest container shipping line Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC); second-placed and Danish giant A.P.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said multiple proposals in the Union Budget for 2026-27 reflect the goal of job creation, key to closing the per-capita income gap with advanced economies. In an interview with Mint, Sitharaman also touched upon continuing customs reforms, defence sector, state capex, and the revamp of India's rural job guarantee programme.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The stock of Fevicol-maker Pidilite Industries Ltd is 7% away from its 52-week high of ₹1,574.95 seen in September. Pidilite's decent December quarter (Q3FY26) result and upbeat management commentary bridged the gap to some extent, with the stock up around 3% in the last two trading sessions.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The India-US trade agreement protects all sensitive sectors for New Delhi, Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal said, signalling the government’s commitment to the welfare of farmers, fishermen and the dairy sector. Once the agreement takes effect, US tariffs on Indian goods will fall from a steep 50% to 18%, reviving the competitiveness of Indian exports.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: India’s nominal GDP growth for FY27, pegged at 10% in the Union Budget, could turn out higher if the proposed India-US trade deal goes through, which is expected to boost domestic manufacturing, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) secretary Anuradha Thakur said. Nominal gross domestic product (GDP) measures economic output at current market prices, without adjusting for inflation, and is crucial for tax revenues because taxes are collected on current prices and incomes, not inflation-adjusted values.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : The moderation in customs duty revenue growth projected for fiscal year 2027 (FY27) in the Union budget is due to lowering customs duty on raw materials and inputs to make Indian businesses more competitive, the chairperson of India’s Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Vivek Chaturvedi, told Mint in an interview. Also contributing is trade liberalisation being pursued under free trade agreements (FTAs), which will secure greater external market access for Indian businesses, according to Chaturvedi.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: Until President Donald Trump’s return to the White House on 20 January 2025, US tariffs were largely a non-issue for Indian exporters. That low-tariff environment ended in April 2025, when Washington imposed sweeping reciprocal duties, sending the US trade-weighted average tariff into double digits for the first time in decades.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : In the Union Budget 2026-27, the Centre has projected earning ₹1.4 trillion from the telecom sector in 2025-26, about 71% more than its previous estimate. At first glance, that sounds like a big win.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI: Even as India pushes to localize rare earth supply chains, the Centre has budgeted ₹140 crore in capital expenditure for the country’s only domestic manufacturer of rare earth magnets and rare earth oxides—IREL (India) Ltd—in the next fiscal year, a modest 1.4% increase from FY26. The muted allocation for the state-run producer, outlined in Union budget documents, has sparked questions about whether India is under-investing in its only operational domestic supplier at a moment when shortages are hitting industries from automobiles to electronics.