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Donald Trump. Consumer spending in China has been mired in a slump since the end of the pandemic, fuelling fears of a deflationary spiral. Adding to the pressure is a second term as President Trump, who has since taking office in January slapped sweeping tariffs on Chinese products.

Nirmala Sitharaman said India is close to taking a final call on reducing goods and services tax (GST) rates further and reviewing the levy’s slabs. The revenue neutral rate had dropped from 15.8% when GST was introduced in 2017, to 11.4% by 2023, she said at the 25th ET Awards for Corporate Excellence on Saturday. “Let me dispel any (notion) that GST has made life costlier. Item by item, I would challenge anyone to tell me if there is any one item for which tax rate has gone up after introduction of GST… So, the clue is, it will come down even further,” she told an audience that represented the best of India Inc at the stately National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai. A group of ministers on GST rationalisation has been set up under Bihar deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary.

US economy gets warning signals of an economic slowdown, veteran strategist Peter Berezin of BCA Research is ringing the alarm bell as he claimed that there is a 75% probability of a recession within the next three months, as per a report.

Jitendra Singh projected the space sector to surge to USD 44 billion in the near future, marking a nearly fivefold growth. According to the Ministry of Science & Technology, Dr Singh pointed to the National Space Innovation and Applications (NSIL) and In-SPACe, which have fostered collaboration between government and non-government entities, driving India's space economy to USD 8 billion. Addressing India's growing stature in global space exploration, Dr Jitendra Singh remarked, «Gone are the days when we used to take the lead from others. Now, India sets the cue for others to follow.»

The International Monetary Fund Managing director promised unspecified help to the South Asian nation during a virtual meeting with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, his office said Saturday. «The economy has stabilised and is now performing well,» Georgieva said during her overnight meeting with Dissanayake, according to a video clip shared by the Sri Lankan presidency.

investor confidence. Amidst this turbulence, seasoned market expert Punita Kumar Sinha of Pacific Paradigm Advisors shared her perspective in an ETNow interaction, offering a grounded take on valuations, FII movements, and key sectors to watch. While the market is no longer overheated, it hasn’t exactly become a bargain hunter’s paradise either.

Indira Gandhi International Airport. The elderly passenger, the widow of a decorated Lieutenant General, had pre-booked a wheelchair with Air India for her Delhi-to-Bengaluru flight on 4th March. But when she arrived at Terminal 3, no wheelchair was provided despite repeated requests. Her granddaughter, Paraul Kanwar, recounted the ordeal in a viral post on X (formerly Twitter). “We tried for almost an hour, requesting airline staff, the airport help desk, even alternate airline staff from IndiGo (who had a free wheelchair but refused to share).” With no help in sight, the frail woman attempted to walk across three parking lanes with the support of a family member. But exhaustion took its toll. Near the Air India premium economy counter, her legs gave way. She collapsed.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A Friday rally can’t hide the fact that the stock market is stuck in an ominous pattern—and it’s not clear what will shake it out. Indexes notched their worst weekly performances in months as markets were whipsawed on tariff news.

Trump may be doing more to harm the US economy than to fix it. The labour market remains healthy with a 4.1 per cent unemployment rate and 151,000 jobs added in February, and Trump likes to point to investment commitments by Apple and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to show that he's delivering results. But Friday's employment report also found that the number of people stuck working part-time because of economic circumstances jumped by 460,000 last month. In the leisure and hospitality sectors that reflect consumers having extra money to spend, 16,000 jobs were lost. And the federal government reduced its payrolls by 10,000 in a potential harbinger of the alarm being sounded by the stock market, consumer confidence and other measures of where the economy is headed.

For generations, women in India have carried the weight of this country in silence. Without applause or acknowledgment. Without policies designed with them in mind. They have fed its workers, raised its citizens, sustained its villages, and powered its cities. And all the while, they have been told they do not count. Not in the ledgers. Not in the GDP. Not in the boardrooms or the balance sheets. Even today, we ask what might happen if women were finally allowed to do more than hold the world together quietly in the background. What if they were given the resources, the safety, and the opportunity to build not just homes but enterprises? Not just families but firms?

Donald Trump's tariffs. Despite a gain on Friday, the benchmark S&P 500 marked its worst week in six months. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite on Thursday ended down more than 10% from its December all-time closing high, confirming it has been in a correction for several months. Investors were grappling with dramatic policy change around the world. Trump's back-and-forth implementation of fresh tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China exacerbated broad concerns about the economy. Markets were also shaken by Germany's surprise spending plans, which drove a selloff in the benchmark German Bund.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Friday signaled potential changes for the Fed's closely watched «dot plot» interest-rate projections as part of a broad policy framework review underway at the U.S. central bank and expected to wrap up by the end of summer. «On the communications...particularly our post-meeting communications, we're going to take a close look at the SEP and also compare ourselves to what other central banks around the world do,» Powell said at a research conference in New York, referring to the Fed's summary of economic projections.

Economy and foreign ministers of Japan and Britain agreed Friday to promote free and open international trade at their first “two-plus-two” dialogue on economy held in Tokyo amid growing concern about U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats

The uncertainty around tariffs and poor winter weather are to blame for Canada’s hiring slowdown in February, economists say, and that likely means more interest rate cuts by the Bank of Canada.

NEW YORK — Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday that the central bank can wait to see how President Donald Trump's aggressive policy actions play out before it moves again on interest rates.

The statistics also indicated that the unemployment level rose to 4.1 percent from 4 per cent last month. In spite of fears about federal job reductions, especially with the cuts within the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), economists believe that the labour market is still holding strong. The cuts with DOGE had resulted in the loss of 10,000 government positions.

Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has gotten way worse lately, like two friends who can’t stop fighting. Back in the day, Canada and the U.S. were super close, working together on trade and stuff. But now? Things are messy.

Ha-Joon Chang is stirring up a heated debate on corporate governance. The South Korean economist, known for challenging conventional capitalist wisdom, has declared that companies should not be run in the interest of their owners — and the reason might surprise you. In a 13-year-old video whose clip recently resurfaced on social media, Chang dismantled the widely accepted belief that prioritizing shareholder profits leads to better business outcomes. Instead, he argues that this model is a ticking time bomb for both companies and the broader economy.

The Trump administration's purge of federal staff may flood an unemployment benefits system ill-equipped to handle the deluge, triggering delays in aid for jobless workers, according to a new report.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. US President Donald Trump has been relentless in his pursuit of a tariff overhaul ever since assuming office in January. After making Mexico, China, and Canada his first victims (even though he paused some of the moves for a limited time), and threatening 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, he then announced his intention to introduce reciprocal tariffs on US’s imports from other countries, including India.