GDP, jobs and the economy
1 report · 17 insights
Electricity drove the core sector's record 7.9%
Core industries grew 7.9% in September 2026, a high for the new series. Electricity and refinery products gave about 73% of it, newly added iron ore about 9%.
22 October 2026Read more →Gold imports fell 81% as mutual funds restrict gold funds
India's gold imports fell 81% in September 2026 even as gold got 18% dearer. HDFC and Nippon India have stopped fresh money into gold funds, but ETFs, jewellery and coins stay open.
17 October 2026Read more →SEBI proposes major changes in SME IPO rules
SEBI's plan halves the minimum SME IPO bid to ₹1 lakh, drops market making and widens who must list as an SME. Its one tougher rule would have stopped 7 of 122 IPOs in 2026.
16 October 2026Read more →Paytm's gaming arm owes ₹1,407 crore, already written off
A GST order on First Games, a shut Paytm gaming company, is ₹703.66 crore of tax plus an equal penalty. Paytm says its impact is nil because it wrote First Games down to zero earlier.
14 October 2026Read more →India exports the most lead despite small lead reserves
India sells more lead abroad than any other country, 12.4% of world exports, despite small reserves. More than half the lead it uses comes from recycled batteries.
11 October 2026Read more →RBI puts a 20% cash rule on large dollar hedges
From October 10, banks must keep cash equal to 20% of every dollar-buying hedge above $2 million with the RBI. Exporters selling dollars are not affected.
11 October 2026Read more →India's copper import bill rose 260% in 10 years
India spent $11.8bn importing copper in 2025, up from $3.3bn in 2015. It makes only about 35% of the refined copper it uses.
11 October 2026Read more →GST Council backs no arrests and a 5x higher prosecution bar
The GST Council recommended ending arrest under GST, a prosecution threshold of ₹5 crore instead of ₹1 crore and lower penalties. A few items add tax and paperwork.
11 October 2026Read more →Two-wheelers carry 42.6% of workers, buses and trains 9%
India's first national travel survey finds 42.6% of workers commute by two-wheeler and only 9% by bus or train.
9 October 2026Read more →US factory prices jumped again in September
ISM's US factory prices index jumped from 71.1 to 77.9 in September 2026, while the factory and services PMIs barely moved.
6 October 2026Read more →Cabinet clears ₹10,000 crore to back growing SMEs
The Union Cabinet cleared a ₹10,000 crore SME Growth Fund and a national transport planner. A similar 2021 fund has invested 31% of its target.
6 October 2026Read more →India can now track services every month
MoSPI's new Index of Services Production tracks 19 service sub-sectors every month. In July 2026, 17 of them grew on a year earlier.
30 September 2026Read more →Takeaways from the IRDAI paper that sank insurance stocks
IRDAI wants to cap what insurers pay the people who sell their policies, and shrink their spending limit every year from FY28. Sellers were hit hardest; the cheapest insurers to run barely moved.
25 September 2026Read more →What double deflation is, and why real GDP needs it
A factory that made 10% more can show value added down 45% when its material costs rise faster than its prices. Double deflation fixes both prices and gets the real 10%.
25 September 2026Read more →The cash economy is now measured by a survey each year
The new GDP series builds the cash economy figure from the Annual Survey of Unincorporated Sector Enterprises (ASUSE), a survey that visited 6,70,289 businesses in 2025 to stand for 7.92 crore, about 1 in 118.
23 September 2026Read more →The big blind spots in GDP numbers
Industry data says the 7.8% is real. Services, more than half the economy, is the part nobody can count, and the GST cut may be flattering the number.
19 September 2026Read more →Key takeaways from the August 2026 PLFS Bulletin
Three takeaways from the August jobs survey: village women drove the gains, urban unemployment barely moved, and the new rural job guarantee is invisible in the numbers.
16 September 2026Read more →A plant at 124%, and a new one that keeps slipping
A factory running at 124%, a new one on its fourth start date, and paperwork that keeps showing small cracks.
13 September 2026Read more →