India’s factory activity picked up marginally in January after slipping to a two-year low the previous month. The sector was helped by strong inflows of new orders, even as sentiment among manufacturers weakened sharply, a monthly survey showed on Monday. The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 55.4 in January…
The Union Budget 2026, presented on Sunday, brought focus on where India’s real estate growth is headed, with data suggesting a gradual shift beyond the country’s biggest metropolitan markets. While Mumbai and Delhi continue to make headlines for Rs 100-crore-plus home sales, industry data shows that the best returns on property investment, on average, are…
It was a contrast that no previous Budget had possibly produced — a constant thrum of perfunctory desk thumping by treasury benches and a total silence from the opposition. The just short of 90-minute speech by FM Nirmala Sitharaman was a sedate affair that did not evoke emotions, even though a charged opposition had reportedly…
NEW DELHI: Amid trade tensions, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday sought to address a long pending demand of the commerce department by allowing the sale of goods by eligible manufacturers in special economic zones (SEZs) to domestic tariff area on payment of duty at concessional rates.Sitharaman said that only a prescribed share of…
The budget has announced a major overhaul in the taxation of share buybacks, shifting them from dividend taxation to the capital gains framework, while imposing a higher effective tax on promoters to curb misuse of the route. Once legislated, it will apply to buy backs after April 1.The silver linings: Many shareholders could end up…
Top stocks to buy (AI image) Stock market recommendations: According to Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, the top stock picks for the trading week (starting February 2, 2026) are ICICI Bank, and APL Apollo Tubes. Let’s take a look: Stock name CMP (Rs) TP (Rs) UPSIDE (%) ICICI Bank 1334 1750 31% APL Apollo Tubes…
After the new excise duty regime kicked in, cigarette prices have gone up, with a pack of 10 sticks now costing at least Rs 22–25 more than before.This follows the government’s decision to raise taxes on cigarettes for the first time in nearly seven years, bringing India’s tobacco taxation closer to global public health norms….
Of 30 Index Stocks, 26 Close In Red At a time when global markets are witnessing high volatility due to geopolitical uncertainties, the hike in securities transaction tax (STT) on derivatives trades hit investor sentiment on Dalal Street on the Budget day. This in turn led to a sharp sell-off that pulled the sensex down…
What Would $1 Invested in Bitcoin in 2009 Be Worth Today, 17 Years Later? The question resurfaces every time Bitcoin hits another high: what would your money look like now if you’d bought in at the beginning? With the cryptocurrency trading at $78,693.76 per coin as of early February 2026, the arithmetic of Bitcoin’s earliest…
Gold, silver prices crash (AI image) Gold, silver prices continue to decline! Gold and silver prices have been crashing in the last two trading sessions, plunging drastically from record highs, raising questions about whether the bull run is over and if the volatility is here to stay.Silver prices have dropped by 26,273 per kg, or…