Nirmala Sitharaman News

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories."Our first kartavya (duty) is to accelerate and sustain economic growth by enhancing productivity and competitiveness.” This statement by India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in this year’s budget speech set a clear imperative: that productivity and competitiveness are not incidental to India’s growth story, but necessary conditions for its long-term economic development. Its significance has grown clearer since.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Indian business rarely does exactly what the government wants it to. For the past decade or so, for example, it has obdurately refused to invest as much as officials think it should.Last week, chief economic advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran said that profits for the 500 largest publicly traded companies had grown by over 30% a year since the pandemic, “but still, our overall capital formation rates from the private sector have been disappointing.”Nageswaran is not the only one complaining.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Over the course of just three days last week, India witnessed three important developments in the banking space, all of which have a significant bearing on the larger issue of financial stability. On 23 April, reports appeared that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had granted a non-bank called PayPoint approval to access its Centralised Payment System (CPS). The same day, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was reported to have met bank chiefs to discuss AI-related risks in the context of global concerns over Anthropic’s Mythos model, which is seen as a threat to the data security of financial systems.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.Telecom operators Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd are evaluating the risks posed by Anthropic’s Claude Mythos, an AI model that identifies cybersecurity vulnerabilities in operating systems.“We are talking to suppliers (to understand the vulnerabilities) because we don't do this, the software is owned by them,” Randeep Sekhon, chief technology officer (CTO) at Bharti Airtel, told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Friday.Sekhon’s comments assume significance as Anthropic has said its latest model, Claude Mythos—currently available to a limited set of companies—can identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities in their digital infrastructure.This has raised concerns that, if accessed or misused by malicious actors, it could increase the risk of cyberattacks across critical infrastructure sectors such as telecom and banking.Sekhon, however, emphasized that it was too early to comment on the actual impact on telecom operators.“These are not systemic risks putting networks in danger. They are typically smaller software bugs that earlier may not have been discovered through routine checks,” Sekhon said, adding that telcos are users of technology and not builders of technology.On Thursday, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a high-level meeting with banks and key stakeholders to assess risks from emerging threats linked to the AI model.

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.

A leading stockbrokers' association plans to ask the government to defer the increase in the securities transaction tax (STT) on equity futures and options after the Reserve Bank of India postponed implementation of rules on bank funding of capital market intermediaries amid the Iran war-induced rout in the stock markets."The RBI deferment comes as a major reprieve, given the doldrums the market is in because of the West Asia crisis," said K Suresh, national president of the Association of NSE Members of India (ANMI). "Now, we will request the ministry of finance to temporarily hold back imposition of the hike in securities transaction tax on equity futures and options, given the drop in volumes it could lead to, given the extant conditions."In the FY27 budget presented on 1 February, the government proposed to increase the STT on equity futures to 0.05% from 0.02% and on options premium and exercise of options to 0.15% from 0.1% and 0.125%, respectively, from 1 April.

The government’s ₹57,300 crore economic stabilization fund has come at the right time, allowing its fiscal math to adjust to sudden geopolitical headwinds and supply chain disruptions. This is a textbook policy response, as the fund is designed to act as a shock absorber.

NEW DELHI: The Centre is considering a 12–16% incentive on large investments to boost domestic manufacturing of construction equipment such as tunnel boring machines, cranes and crawlers, two people familiar with the discussions said.The proposal is part of the scheme for enhancement of construction and infrastructure equipment (CIE) announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her FY27 budget speech on 1 February.

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.

From gross domestic product (GDP) growth easing in the December quarter, to the government outlining a nearly ₹17 trillion asset monetization pipeline, IT stocks extending losses amid AI-driven concerns, India weighing contingency plans for crude oil imports, and a moderation in salary hikes, here’s a compilation of this week’s news in numbers.India's economy likely grew at 7.8% during the December quarter, slowing from 8.4% in the previous quarter, due to slower growth in agriculture and the non-manufacturing industrial sectors, and government spending cuts, data released on Friday showed. GDP growth is estimated at 7.6% for 2025-26, up from 7.1% in the previous year.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. On 11 February, the Reserve Bank of India released draft guidelines that seek to make banks more accountable for the financial products they sell to individuals. The guidelines aim to prevent banks from mis-selling various financial products, especially life insurance plans that double up as investments.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Union budget for FY27 has squarely addressed the challenges faced by Indian businesses due to higher tariffs and other global challenges, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Parliament on Wednesday, enumerating specific budget measures and countering charges made by Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi that the budget acknowledged these challenges but failed to tackle them.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Union Budget 2026, with its record ₹12.2 trillion capex outlay and incentives such as tax credits and production-linked incentives (PLI) for sectors including railways, green energy, semiconductors, biopharma, and textiles, is likely to reshape IPO strategies of several private firms. Companies looking to go public in FY27 are likely to pivot from debt repayment and high offer-for-sale (OFS) components towards increased greenfield capex in their fundraises, boosting fresh equity for factories, machinery and capacity expansion, multiple dealmakers told Mint.

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. India's 21-year tax holiday for foreign cloud providers, announced by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her latest budget, has fuelled optimism across the technology sector. Politicians, industry executives, and analysts expect a surge in data-centre investments and employment.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s business-as-usual budget for 2026-27, presented on 1 February, was followed less than a week later by an equally pragmatic monetary policy decision, Friday last. In one of the shortest monetary policy announcements to date (just 27 minutes), Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) governor Sanjay Malhotra announced the unanimous decision of its rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to keep the repo rate unchanged and maintain status quo on the stance as well (albeit by a 5:1 majority).

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. From India and the US finalizing the much-awaited trade deal, to low budgetary allocation for the Prime Minister’s Internship scheme in the Budget, richer states seeing an uptick in their share in the Centre’s divisible revenue, and startup leaderships lacking gender diversity—here’s this week’s news in numbers.Trade deal Following months of tariff disputes and prolonged negotiations that tested the India–US relations, a long-awaited free trade agreement was announced on Monday.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented a record ninth budget at a time of global uncertainty. In an interview, she spoke about the government’s efforts at creating more jobs, building industry’s competitiveness, facilitating easier cross-border trade and the investor interest in India’s defence production sector.

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. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the formation of a “high-level committee" on banking in her budget speech for 2026-27. While she offered no details, the FM did say that this panel would be tasked with reviewing the banking sector and aligning it with India’s next phase of growth.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. On 29 January, the 2026 Economic Survey flagged the need for India to take a cautious approach in developing artificial intelligence. On Sunday, the outlay proposed for the India AI Mission in the Union Budget was halved.