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India’s Parliament saw a fresh political clash on Wednesday, February 11, after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi used the Lok Sabha debate on the Union Budget 2026–27 to attack the India–US interim trade deal and allege that it compromises India’s interests on data, energy security and farming. This prompted the government to accuse him of making unsubstantiated claims and to signal action to remove or expunge parts of his remarks from the House record. Image Source: Who_Care on X Speaking during the Budget discussion, Rahul Gandhi argued that India is entering an era of heightened geopolitical conflict and “energy and financial weaponisation,” and said the country’s core strengths—its people, the data they generate, food supply and energy—must be protected.  He alleged that the interim deal represented a “wholesale surrender,” claiming it involved “free data flow” to the United States, no data localisation, limits on digital taxation, and no requirement for source code disclo...

India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday presented the Union Budget 2026–27 in the Lok Sabha, outlining higher public capital expenditure, a modest further reduction in the fiscal deficit, and a package of sectoral measures spanning infrastructure, manufacturing, healthcare, skilling and exports, even as opposition leaders criticised the speech as lacking detail and some markets sold off on proposals to raise transaction taxes. The President extended her best wishes to the Union Finance Minister and her team for the presentation of Budget. The government set public capital expenditure at Rs 12.2 lakh crore for FY2026–27, up from Rs 11.2 lakh crore in the current fiscal year, and projected the fiscal deficit at 4.3% of GDP for 2026–27, compared with 4.4% in the revised estimate for 2025–26.  The Budget Estimates peg non-debt receipts at Rs 36.5 lakh crore and total expenditure at Rs 53.5 lakh crore, with net tax receipts estimated at Rs 28.7 lakh crore.  Gross mark...

India’s fiscal operations for the first eight months of the financial year 2025–26 reflect a combination of strong tax mobilisation, strategic disinvestment performance, and capital expenditure acceleration, according to consolidated data released by the Ministry of Finance.  As of end-November 2025, the Government of India has received ₹19.49 lakh crore, amounting to 55.7 percent of the total Budget Estimates for the fiscal year. Of this, ₹13.93 lakh crore was realised as net tax revenue, ₹5.16 lakh crore as non-tax revenue, and ₹38,927 crore through non-debt capital receipts.  Representational Image: Via: Reels on X Tax devolution to state governments during the same period stood at ₹9.36 lakh crore, ₹1.24 lakh crore higher than the corresponding period in the previous year. Total expenditure by the central government amounted to ₹29.25 lakh crore or 57.8 percent of the annual target. Of this, ₹22.67 lakh crore was revenue expenditure, including ₹7.45 lakh crore in interest ...