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Healthcare industry body NATHEALTH has asked the government to increase public spending on healthcare to over 2.5 per cent of GDP with urgent action to tackle non-communicable diseases, including tax deductions of up to Rs 10,000 on individuals for preventive health check-ups. In its pre-Budget recommendations to the government, NATHEALTH said it outlined a roadmap to strengthen healthcare delivery, foster innovation, and expand insurance and preventive coverage. The recommendations call for a balanced mix of fiscal support, structural reforms, and public-private collaboration to build a robust, future-ready health system, it said in a statement. In its recommendations, NATHEALTH asked the sector to be declared 'core infrastructure' and create a healthcare infrastructure fund of Rs 50,000 crore, saying currently there is limited access to long-term, lower-cost capital for hospitals and diagnostic networks. New projects have long gestational periods requiring flexible mid-term ...
India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra) on Wednesday projected India's GDP to grow at 7.2 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal, with private consumption being the leading growth driver. The Indian economy had expanded 5.6 per cent in the Q2 (July-September) of 2024-25 fiscal. India's real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have grown at the fastest pace in five quarters at 7.8 per cent in the April to June period of the current fiscal. The National Statistics Office (NSO) is slated to release the official data on FY26 Q2 GDP growth estimates on November 28. In a statement, Ind-Ra said it expects GDP growth to remain robust at 7.2 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of FY26. "From the demand side, private consumption is a leading growth driver due to steady real income growth both in upper- and lower-income households. The resilient services sector along with the favourable base-led goods exports growth in the manufacturing sector propelled GDP growth .
India's external debt stood at USD 747.2 billion at the end of June 2025, an increase of USD 11.2 billion over its level at March-end 2025, according to the Reserve Bank data released on Tuesday. The external debt to GDP ratio moderated to 18.9 per cent at the end of June 2025 from 19.1 per cent at the end of March 2025. It said that valuation loss due to the depreciation of the US dollar vis-a-vis the Indian rupee and other major currencies such as yen, the euro and SDR amounted to USD 5.1 billion. Excluding the valuation effect, external debt would have increased by USD 6.2 billion instead of USD 11.2 billion at the end of June 2025 over March-end 2025. Releasing 'India's External Debt as at the end of June 2025' data, the RBI said that at the end of June 2025, long-term debt (with original maturity of above one year) was USD 611.7 billion, recording an increase of USD 10.3 billion over its level at March-end 2025. The share of short-term debt (with original maturity of up to on
High-income states, which account for 26 per cent of India's population, contribute 44 per cent of GDP, while low-income states, with 38 per cent of the population, generate only 19 per cent of GDP, a divergence that is worrisome, NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery said. Delivering a lecture on India's Macro Challenge: Generating and Financing a Big Investment Push' at the 6th Economics Conclave at the School of Economics, University of Hyderabad here, on Monday, he said, "The development strategy that's appropriate for Tamil Nadu and for Bihar or Uttar Pradesh will necessarily be very different." "And so it is the case that there has been divergence, and that's something we need to worry about. As you see, high-income states account for 26 per cent of the population but 44 per cent of GDP, while low-income states have 38 per cent of the population but only 19 per cent of GDP," he said. Bery added, "I do want to bring to the Indian context the point that I made in a global ...
The country's logistics cost is estimated at 7.97 per cent of India's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023-24, according to a Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) report. It was prepared by NCAER (National Council of Applied Economic Research) for the department. The report said estimates derived for the previous five years show that the pace of growth in the logistics cost is gradually slowing down. This may be attributed to several initiatives such as PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan; dedicated freight corridors; Sagarmala project; integrated check posts; and development of the unified logistics interface platform, it said. "As per the current assessment prepared by NCAER for DPIIT, logistics costs in India are estimated at about 7.97 per cent of total GDP," the report added. A report on Assessment of Logistics Cost in India was launched last week by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. With this, the country has now a comprehensive and ...
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said India's resilience stands out due to its strong macroeconomic fundamentals amid increasing global uncertainties. Speaking at the 91st Foundation Day function of the Bank of Maharashtra, the Union Finance Minister said the uncertainty in the global environment has increased over the past year, and its impact is being felt across countries. "But amidst all these uncertain global situations, India's resilience stands out and several favourable factors, such as strong macroeconomic fundamentals, a young demography, and greater reliance on domestic demand, provide the core strength to the Indian economy," she noted. Sitharaman said the economic resilience has continued, particularly in the April-June quarter this year, as well, where India's GDP has grown by 7.8 per cent. "This...is not accidental at all," she said, adding that it reflects proactive fiscal and monetary policies, bold structural reforms, massive infrastructure creation
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday stressed on the need to increase the share of agriculture and allied sector in the GDP to at least 26 per cent from the present 18 per cent to make India self-reliant. Addressing an annual general meeting of Crop Care Federation of India, Gadkari, the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, emphasised on reducing the cost of production to make agriculture sector economically viable. To cut input costs, he called upon the farm equipment manufacturers to make electric as well as flex-engine tractors. Gadkari also asked the agro-chemicals industry to focus on introducing affordable bio-pesticides and bio-insecticides products by undertaking intensive research & development (R&D) works. He also told the industry to produce basic raw material in India itself and reduce import dependency to ensure the quality of the finished agro-chemicals. Talking about the agriculture sector, Gadkari said the farm sector is the backbone of our ...
India's economic growth is expected to be lower at 6.3 per cent this fiscal compared to the RBI's projection of 6.5 per cent, a SBI Research Report said on Thursday. The report pegged the first quarter GDP estimate at around 6.8-7 per cent, mainly due to muted private capex. India's economy is likely to grow at 6.3-6.8 per cent in 2025-26 on the back of strong macroeconomic fundamentals, though strategic and prudent policy management will be required to navigate global headwinds, as per the latest Economic Survey. The country witnessed a muted growth at 6.5 per cent in 2024-25 (April 2024 to March 2025), down from 9.2 per cent in the previous year. Sharing the quarterly growth estimates, the report said the Indian economy is expected to grow at 6.5 per cent in the second quarter and at a lower rate of 6.3 per cent in the next quarter. In the fourth quarter of the current financial year, the GDP growth will be lowest at 6.1 per cent, it added. Compared to the SBI report, the Reser