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A colonnaded sandstone government building in New Delhi with an Indian flag flying above its dome, shot from below in duotone

Business

India's Direct Tax Collections Are Growing Three Times Faster Than the Economy

Net direct tax receipts are up 23 percent so far this fiscal year, while GDP estimates sit at 6.7 to 8 percent. Even the Budget's own growth math cannot explain the gap.

August 12, 2026

Steel processing towers and pipework at an oil refinery under a pale blue sky

Geopolitics

Russia Is Now Importing the Fuel Its Own Crude Was Refined Into

Ukrainian drone strikes have crippled Russian refining so badly that Moscow is buying finished gasoline from the same Indian refiners it sells discounted crude to.

August 12, 2026

Six rural Indian women farm workers standing together in a green rice field, looking at the camera

Business

India's Rural Female Employment Rate Fell Sharply Even as Participation Held Steady

Rural women's participation in India's labour force held roughly steady this year. The share who actually found work collapsed anyway, and by June 2026 female unemployment had climbed to a 13-month high.

August 11, 2026

Rows of solar panels stretching toward a blue sky with scattered clouds

Business

Adani's Charges Were Dropped, Not Disproven

A US judge dismissed the criminal case against Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain on a Justice Department motion, not a trial verdict. The reasoning behind it rides the same enforcement pullback that has shelved other foreign-bribery cases.

August 11, 2026

A trainer demonstrates air conditioner repair to a group of trainees gathered around workshop equipment at a vocational training institute in Delhi

Business

India's Flagship Skilling Scheme Missed 90 Percent of Its Own Target

PMKVY 4.0 set out to certify 30 lakh candidates in FY2025-26. It certified 2.87 lakh, and it had spent only 14 percent of its budget.

August 11, 2026

A vendor sits behind piles of fresh vegetables at an Indian market stall, part of the basket the new CPI series reweighted

Business

RBI Now Expects Inflation Well Above What Its New Index Has Printed

MoSPI's new inflation index, rebuilt on a 2024 base year, has climbed at every reading since its January 2026 launch, reaching 4.38 percent by June. The Reserve Bank's own August 2026 forecast already assumes it goes higher.

August 11, 2026

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