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Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, presenting her ninth consecutive Union Budget on Sunday, announced several major healthcare measures, including customs duty waivers on 17 cancer drugs and duty exemptions for medicines for seven rare diseases. The finance minister highlighted India’s economic stability, fiscal discipline, and sustained growth under the Narendra Modi-led NDA…

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget 2026–27 on Sunday, unveiled a Rs 10,000 crore biopharma initiative and announced the expansion of Ayurveda institutions to meet growing global demand for traditional medicine. To bolster India’s position as a global biopharma hub, the Budget proposed Biopharma Shakti, a new initiative with an outlay of…

India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections reached Rs 1,93,384 crore in January 2026, showing a strong year-on-year increase of 6.2 per cent, reported ANI. The revenue had stood at Rs 1,82,094 crore in January 2025.Cumulatively, gross GST receipts for the period from April to January FY26 amounted to Rs 18,43,423 crore, up 8.3 per…

Stock Markets Today: With the Union Budget 2026–27 set for today, one aspect that shows the general sentiment is the stock market. However, as the Budget this year falls on a Sunday, it becomes a question if the markets will open. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE) have confirmed that markets…

Commercial LPG gas cylinder prices were hiked on Sunday after oil marketing companies revised rates upward, increasing the cost of a 19-kg cylinder by Rs 49 with effect from February 1, Sunday. Following the revision, the retail price of a 19-kg commercial LPG cylinder in Delhi has increased to Rs 1,740.50. Prices of domestic LPG…

Income Tax Budget 2026 Live: Middle class and salaried taxpayers will closely follow Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Union Budget speech, hoping for additional tax relief. In the previous Budget, the FM completely revamped the new income tax regime. While experts believe that Budget 2026 offers limited fiscal headroom for sweeping tax changes, there is still…

With the India–European Union free trade agreement — widely dubbed the “mother of all deals” — now concluded, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday said the pact would be “compassionate and loving”, ensuring gains for all 28 partners involved, while potentially doubling India’s exports to Europe within five years, PTI reported.Goyal said India…

Budget 2026 speech date, time: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Union Budget 2026 in Parliament on February 1, 2026.The Union Budget 2026 will mark FM Nirmala Sitharaman’s ninth consecutive Budget presentation, making her the first finance minister in India to achieve this milestone. She will also become the first finance minister…

India’s gold and silver imports surged to record levels in 2025, ringing alarm bells in government and policy circles as soaring precious metal prices threaten to widen the trade deficit and add fresh pressure on the rupee. With limited policy tools available, officials and market participants told Reuters raising import duties is once again emerging…

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her ninth consecutive Union Budget on February 1, a rare Sunday sitting and a first in independent India’s history. The Budget for FY27 (April 2026–March 2027) is expected to outline measures to sustain growth momentum, maintain fiscal discipline and push reforms to shield the economy from global trade frictions,…