Opinion

Union Budget 2026-27: The next phase of India's technology growth

Focused execution and policy coherence can help position India as a tech powerhouse

Budget 2026-27: Recalibrating the tax framework for sovereign wealth funds

India's masterstroke was the red carpet rollout for sovereign wealth funds in 2020 with an exemption for income from investments in specified Infrastructure

Now, for an investment protection guarantee to signal India is serious

It will signal to the world that India is serious about being open for business

Creating employment: India-EU FTA can increase labour-intensive exports

The India-EU FTA offers major export and job gains for labour-intensive MSME sectors, but success will hinge on meeting EU standards and easing logistics bottlenecks

Market signals: Global factors will continue to drive stock markets

Indian investors are in a difficult spot, given the uncertainty. In January to date, the benchmark Nifty saw a small correction of around 3.3 per cent after gaining 9.8 per cent in 2025

Taking the FTA agenda forward in 2026: A strategic roadmap for India

Moving ahead with participation in next-generation FTAs, supplemented by substantive domestic trade policy reforms, must be India's focus

This Budget will see many firsts, but future Budgets need a different mould

Budget 2026-27 breaks new ground, but delayed GDP rebasing and continued fiscal secrecy risk undermining its numbers within weeks

Best of BS Opinion: India's trade push and the reforms it still needs

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

Rewiring power reforms: Discom profitability is an encouraging start

India's discoms return to profitability after a decade of losses, boosted by fuel cost pass-through, smart metering, and sector reform incentives

A big deal: The India-EU partnership will open up new opportunities

India and EU seal historic free trade deal, opening vast markets and cooperation avenues while urging India to boost competitiveness and reforms

Land value capture: Public investment, private windfalls and policy failure

Public investments in infrastructure continue to produce private windfalls. Allowing this imbalance to persist is economically irrational and ethically indefensible

Thoughts from Davos 2026: India recognised as a trusted value-chain partner

WEF 2026 highlighted AI's shift from hype to execution, India's rising global confidence, and the need for policy consistency, R&D investment, and trusted partnerships in a fragmenting world

Budget 2026: Tax transition India needs to shift to residence-based regime

The Budget should consider moving to a residence-based tax regime, exempting foreign investors from long-term capital gains tax

Best of BS Opinion: Fiscal pressures and strategic bets in a changing India

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

Niti vs niyat in farm policy: Agri loan authority should be part of Budget

Without a credible opposition or a coherent farm strategy, India's agricultural policy risks drifting into populism, fiscal stress and long-term rural distress

More power to 'People India' and Middle India as growth engine shifts

India's growth is powered by hard-working people and a rising 'Middle India';. This aspirational group needs financial enablement and infrastructure support to accelerate mobility and sustain growth

What the Budget must present in a tough global and job environment

As the Union Budget nears, the focus must shift to debt, deficits, and borrowing from household savings, and how these choices affect private investment, manufacturing growth, and jobs

Strategic alliance: Pax Silica can reshape global tech supply chain

The bloc brings together complementary strengths. The US and Japan can provide technological leverage while South Korea dominates chip manufacturing

Demographic shift: State finances reflect the rapid transition ahead

Nationally, the working-age population is expected to peak around 2031, but several states have already crossed that point

Best of BS Opinion: India must find its way as it enters a new world order

From India's role in a changing global order to fertiliser reform, export ambitions and the EV supply chain, today's Best of BS Opinion brings together key editorials and columns.