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Targeted congestion pricing in dense business districts, combined with demand-based parking management, can reduce traffic, speed, and emissions as seen internationally, according to the Economic Survey 2025-26. The survey highlighted the steps taken by Singapore and London authorities to tackle congestion. The Economic Survey noted that there are several varying estimates of the loss in productivity across cities, resulting from traffic congestion. A Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report on Delhi's congestion troubles stated that an unskilled worker stands to lose between Rs 7,200 and Rs 19,600 per year due to congestion, it said. Similarly, skilled and highly skilled workers can lose as much as Rs 8,300-23,800 and Rs 9,000-25,900 a year, respectively. A working paper by the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) estimated the loss of productive hours due to the late arrivals caused by traffic congestion to be around 7.07 lakh hours in 2018 for Bengaluru city,
Rising for the third consecutive quarter, CII's Business Confidence Index climbed to a five-quarter high of 66.5 in Q3 FY26, driven by optimism around demand, profitability, and investment conditions, the industry lobby said on Sunday. Domestic demand remains the key driver, with two-thirds of firms reporting higher demand in Q2 FY26 and 72 per cent expecting further growth in Q3 FY26, aided by GST rate cuts and festive consumption, the industry body said in the survey. CII-Business Confidence Index (BCI) is based on a sample survey of firms covering all industry sectors, including micro, small, medium, and large enterprises, from different regions. The survey also enumerated responses across industry groups, both in the public and private sectors, engaged in the manufacturing and services sectors. It was conducted during the first to third week of December 2025, covering more than 175 firms of varying sizes. Moreover, investment and hiring intentions remain robust. Notably, 69 pe
With India making a power-packed presence here for the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, consultancy major BCG's India Head Rahul Jain has said the Davos takeaway for the Indian business leaders is very clear that the competitiveness now comes from combining cost, scale and resilience. Jain also said that India is very likely to become the world's third-largest economy by around 2030, which is a key India-related topic of discussion here during the summit. "The key question is whether growth can be further accelerated to reach this milestone as early as 2028, and achieving this faster trajectory will depend largely on accelerating the manufacturing sector further from roughly 15-17 per cent of GDP today to 20 per cent and beyond," Jain told PTI. "In that sense, the issue is less about if and more about when," he said. Jain, who is here for the five-day WEF Annual Meeting beginning Monday, said investments in sunrise sectors, such as clean energy, electronics, and semiconductors,
Nearly 93 per cent of Indian organisations surveyed expect positive returns on their AI investments in less than three years, underlining the rising confidence of businesses in value and potential of Artificial Intelligence, according to SAP Value of AI Report 2025. Driving the AI momentum, businesses across the country are investing an estimated USD 31 million in AI this year - ahead of global average - with focussed spending on software, infrastructure, talent, and consulting, SAP said. "Indian businesses are investing USD 31 million in AI across IT, infrastructure, talent, and consulting, ahead of the USD 26.7 million global average," said the report released by enterprise application software and business AI firm. Unveiled at SAP's flagship event, TechEd 2025, the Value of AI Report 2025, in collaboration with Oxford Economics, surveyed 1,600 senior business leaders across eight countries, including 200 respondents from India, according to a release. The AI adoption study relea
Seven NDA-ruled states are pushing for reforms on the lines of the Jan Vishwas Act, which de-criminalises minor offences by replacing prison terms with fines, to make investment climates more predictable and business-friendly, officials said on Friday. This year, the seven states, including Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, passed their own legislations or promulgated ordinances on the lines of the Jan Vishwas Act, making it the largest coordinated deregulation push undertaken at the state level to date, they said. "Together, these reforms represent a structural shift toward trust-based governance, cutting down on criminalisation for routine, technical, or procedural non-compliances," the officials said. They said the combined effect of the states is expected to boost entrepreneurship, reduce litigation, provide regulatory clarity and make state-level investment climates more predictable and business-friendly. Maharashtra has approved the Jan Vishwas Ordinance, 2025, amending seven .