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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Budget 2026 arrives at a pivotal moment. With the Income Tax Act, 2025, set to take effect from 1 April 2026, this year’s Budget should focus less on headline-grabbing tax rate changes and more on ensuring a smooth transition to the new law.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. A Bengaluru resident had travelled to Chennai for a visa appointment that was unexpectedly delayed. As a result, the person missed a return train and had to take a last-minute flight to make it back in time for work.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi/Mumbai: As IndiGo, the country’s largest airline by market share, announces its December-quarter earnings on Thursday, the focus will be on the operational disruptions last month that unsettled passengers, regulators, and investors alike. The airline, with 63% market share, cancelled about 4,500 flights in the first week of December as it scrambled to adjust schedules to comply with revised flight duty time limitation (FDTL) norms for pilots.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Mumbai: Once an elusive mark of wealth, the annual foreign vacation is now getting increasingly common among affluent Indians in metros and smaller cities alike. So much so that a16z-backed visa services firm Atlys ran a unique sale in August last year, offering visas for just ₹1.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. WASHINGTON—The State Department will indefinitely pause immigrant visa processing for 75 countries as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to block low-income foreigners from immigrating to the U.S. The pause takes effect starting Jan.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. This year’s Henley Passport Index is out and India has some reason to cheer. The country’s passport now ranks 80th on this annual chart published by Henley & Partners, a London-based global citizenship and advisory firm, up from its 85th rank in 2025.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI : IHG Hotels & Resorts is betting on a massive expansion in India, aiming to grow its footprint by more than 50% year-on-year over the next four years. The British hospitality group plans to reach 400 operational and pipeline hotels by 2030, a move that signals a race for dominance in one of the world’s fastest-growing hospitality markets.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. As people enter their 50s, financial priorities often undergo a quiet but decisive shift—from chasing returns to safeguarding what has already been built. With fewer working years left and retirement drawing closer, stability, liquidity and risk management take centre stage.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. DETROIT—President Trump said the U.S. economy was poised for solid growth this year, pointing to steadying inflation data as he sought to address one of Republicans’ biggest vulnerabilities ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. As a frequently travelling business lawyer, I often find myself in conversations going beyond legal principles and term sheets. Increasingly, these discussions veer into a shared anxiety about global instability and simultaneously a renewed optimism about India.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. With five oil tankers seized—and more U.S. military action promised—the world’s fleet of so-called shadow tankers that ferry sanctioned crude are quickly hoisting a new flag: the Russian tricolor.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Mumbai, New Delhi: India’s domestic airfares slid to a four-year low in the October–December quarter, an unusual outcome for a seasonally strong period, as passenger traffic slowed through the year and demand weakened on non-metro routes.

The recent decision of Indian Railways (IR) to raise fares on all classes of travel, other than suburban rail, season passes and short-distance second-class ordinary, reflects a dilemma that has long dogged IR and underpinned its fare decisions: Should IR be run as a commercial enterprise, albeit state-owned, or as a departmental undertaking with social objectives placed above profit?Historically, all governments, both before and after India’s 1991 embrace of market principles, have veered towards the latter view. Sadly, political calls have shaped almost everything about IR, including track expansion, stops along routes and, of course, train fares. Fare revisions have always had a populist angle.

Mint.The lender, which had 454,608 prepaid cards as of November, plans to add 100,000 prepaid cards—both domestic and foreign—every year, said the document inviting external agencies to submit their bids.The state-run lender also had an active card rate of 25%, or 112,801 cards, higher than the banking industry average of 18%, as of November, according to data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). An active card is defined as one that has been used for at least one financial transaction in the past year.The bank also has 1.1 million, including 994,062 active, wallets.“The purpose of the RFP (request for proposal) is to seek a detailed technical and commercial proposal for (an) end-to-end prepaid card management module…” the bank said in the document.The project includes issuing rupee prepaid cards, foreign currency prepaid cards (single or multi-currency with a minimum of 12 currency wallets), and national common mobility cards.

The Indian Railways increased fares twice in this financial year—first in July and then in December, marking its most concerted effort in years to narrow losses from passenger services and ease the burden on freight users who have cross-subsidised passenger travel.While the hikes have triggered political criticism, the railways argues that the increases are modest, progressive and fiscally unavoidable, especially when passenger fares recover barely 55% of costs, implying a subsidy element of about 45%, as railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted in the Lok Sabha during the recent winter session of Parliament.The twin fare revisions were part of a rationalization strategy aimed at improving the financial sustainability of passenger services without imposing a sudden shock on travellers.The railways has been absorbing the rising costs of employees, pensions, safety investments and network expansion even as passenger fares remained structurally underpriced.

Mint had earlier reported that the central government was developing an incentive framework to improve financing options for electric trucks and buses, as limited access to affordable credit remains a key obstacle to India’s green mobility transition.About 4,000 e-buses are sold in India each year, according to data from the government’s Vahan registry. As per the latest publicly available annual report of the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) for FY25, around 145,000 buses were operated by 61 state transport utilities.

EV users as well as technical and maintenance support for commercial fleets,” said the first official.The ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) is examining changes to its guidelines for way-side amenities (WSAs) on expressways to formally include EV-focused infrastructure, including rapid diagnostics, minor repairs, battery support, towing and real-time assistance through integrated control centres, the second official said, adding that the under-construction 1,300-km Delhi–Mumbai Expressway is likely to be the first long-distance corridor where the model could be rolled out, providing an end-to-end EV-supportive route between two major metropolitan regions.“The idea is to move beyond charging points and create a full ecosystem that supports EV users on highways, similar to how air traffic control and ground handling work together in aviation,” said the first official. “Control and command centres can coordinate roadside assistance, track vehicle issues, manage response times and offer confidence to EV users undertaking intercity travel.”Queries emailed to MoRTH, National Highways Authority of India, and EV makers Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai, Kia, and JSW MG on 31 December remained unanswered.Since the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is an access-controlled expressway, a commuter expects the EV charging infrastructure along the route for convenience, said Ashish Modani, senior vice-president and group head, Icra.

₹500 per child where creche facilities are not provided, and travel allowances for inter-state migrant workers."These changes reflect a strong emphasis on health, safety, and social security, and businesses should start preparing now to ensure smooth compliance once the rules are finalized," Gupta said.The draft central rules under the four labour codes provide clarity on several operational aspects. The code on social security rules specifies that gratuity will be calculated on ‘wages’ last drawn, excluding components such as annual performance-linked pay, medical reimbursements, stock options, and meal vouchers.

Dear reader, as 2025, a year of global tumult and volatility, rolls by, Mint's reporters and columnists look around the corner on what is coming in 2026—to help you know what to expect and prepare for it. Tell us what you think at [email protected]: Even by outlier standards, Coforge Ltd has been on a tear in India's $283-billion information technology (IT) services industry.It grew the fastest sequentially among the top 10 peers in the industry in calendar 2025, which helped it jump two places to the No.

shorturl.at/EFYLw) The spirit of the court’s observations could explain many of India’s deficiencies. Poverty in the country results in a tendency to peg everything on it. So India’s plans are often of low calibre.

While the hikes appear modest when measured per kilometre, their impact is concentrated on sleeper and second-class passengers, who account for over 70% of railway travel in India and are typically from lower-income groups.Under the latest fare structure, fares on mail and express trains have risen by 2 paise per kilometre for both AC and non-AC classes. Second-class passengers on ordinary trains travelling more than 215 kilometre (km) will now pay an additional 1 paisa per km.The latest fare rationalisation is expected to generate additional revenue of around ₹600 crore for the Indian Railways in this fiscal year.The July revision had also raised mail/express fares by 2 paise per km for AC classes and 1 paisa per km for non-AC classes, while second-class ordinary passengers were charged 0.5 paise per km after the first 500 km.The cumulative impact of both revisions becomes more pronounced on longer routes.