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The Union Budget 2026 needs to focus on widening the direct tax base, incentivising private sector investment and freezing peak direct tax rates to further accelerate growth and generate employment opportunities, a report said. Recent reforms under GST 2.0 have demonstrated that simplification and tax moderation can coexist with strong revenue growth, challenging the long-held belief that higher tax rates are necessary to boost collections, a report titled 'Shaping India's New Taxation Ideology: Simplification, Moderation and Growth' said. "As India approaches the Union Budget, the choices made will determine whether taxation becomes a catalyst for long-term economic expansion or a constraint on ambition," the report released by a think tank Think Change Forum (TCF) on Wednesday said. The report outlines a six-point advisory for policymakers, urging them to extend the principles of GST reform to direct taxes, enforcement and investment policy At the core of the advisory is a push f
London-based consumer tech brand Nothing on Thursday said it has raised over USD 8 million (about Rs 72 crore) in its third community investment round, which closed with over 5,000 new investors. The round allowed community members to invest at a USD 1.3 billion valuation, according to a company statement. Nothing's community base now stands at around 13,000 investors who have collectively contributed over USD 16 million to date. "Nothing has closed its latest community investment round, raising more than USD 8 million, and adding over 5,000 new investors to its community from more than 80 countries," the company said. The latest funding comes on the heels of Nothing's USD 200 million Series C round in September 2025, led by investors, including Tiger Global, GV, Highland Europe, EQT, and Qualcomm Ventures. Community investment involves people investing money in an early-stage private or unlisted company in exchange for a share, or equity, in that company. Earlier this year, Noth
AI research startup Redrob on Friday said it has raised USD 10 million (Rs 88.7 crore) in a Series A financing round led by Korea Investment Partners. This brings Redrob's total funds raised to date to USD 14 million, following its earlier seed round of USD 4 million in 2023. The funding round also saw participation from KB Investment, Kiwoom Investment, Korea Development Bank Capital, Daekyo Investment, and DS & Partners, according to a company statement. With the fresh capital, Redrob plans to advance its technology by refining its machine learning architecture to achieve a targeted 50-fold reduction in costs. The company also aims to develop language models tailored for India, covering all 22 officially recognised constitutional languages, and deliver a comprehensive AI suite designed to support learning, career advancement, and workplace productivity. "The company is preparing to launch several major initiatives, including the rollout of free Redrob LLM access for all Indian .
Global investment firm Think Investments has invested a little over Rs 136 crore in edtech unicorn PhysicsWallah as part of a pre-IPO funding round. The fresh infusion comes as the company gears up for its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) next week. As part of the transaction, Think Investments picked up 1.07 crore equity shares, amounting to 0.37 per cent stake in PhysicsWallah from 14 employees of the edtech firm. The shares were bought at Rs 127 per piece, which is 17 per cent above the issue price. This translates into a transaction size of Rs 136.17 crore. "Pursuant to share purchase agreement dated November 3 read with the amendment letter dated November 3, 2025 entered into, 14 employees of the company have transferred an aggregate of 10,722,708 equity shares... to Think India Opportunities Master Fund LP on November 4, for an aggregate consideration of Rs 136.17 crore," PhysicsWallah said in a public announcement. Think Investments is a USD 4 billion global investme