Howdy,
Many have pinned excessive hopes of tax aid and consumption revival as FM Nirmala Sitharaman presents her eighth Union Funds at present.
Startups and MSMEs expect tax aid, simplified compliance, and entry to funding, whereas sustainability-focused sectors are calling for incentives to undertake inexperienced practices. There’s additionally a rising demand for elevated spending on infrastructure, healthcare, and schooling to drive long-term progress.
On the economic system entrance, the Financial Survey 2024-25 famous the GDP for the subsequent monetary 12 months is predicted to develop between 6.3% – 6.8% on the again of robust fundamentals, calibrated fiscal consolidation, and secure personal consumption
It additionally referred to as for tax breaks on EVs and subsidies on renewable vitality to inspire folks to modify to low-carbon existence.
The Survey additionally highlighted the necessity for enhanced deregulation for MSMEs, which contribute 30% to India’s GDP and 40% to our exports.
In the meantime, the inventory markets will stay open tomorrow for a particular buying and selling session. That is the third time in a decade that buying and selling was open on Saturday; the markets have been operational on Funds days in 2015 and 2020.
You’ll be able to regulate YourStory’s full protection of all of the bulletins made in Funds 2025, and the way these measures have an effect on you, here.
In at present’s e-newsletter, we’ll speak about
- The state of India’s economic system
- Ola Electrical’s Gen 3 scooters
- Understanding the FIITJEE fallout
Right here’s your trivia for at present: Who holds the report for delivering probably the most phrases in a Funds speech?
Union Funds
The state of India’s economy
The Financial Survey for 2024-25 referred to as for a delicate method to constructing establishments to take care of the potential impression of AI on jobs in India’s labour-intensive economic system. The first problem is job creation, as India must create a mean of 78.5 lakh jobs yearly within the non-farm sector by 2030 to cater to the rising workforce, as highlighted within the 2023-24 Survey as properly.
The Survey identified, “Protracted labour displacement is one thing {that a} labour-surplus nation like India can’t afford.”
Nation-building:
- India must utilise the window of alternative to construct sturdy establishments. “This could then assist tilt the size in direction of the advantages, bringing a stability to the ‘cost-benefit’ facet in a labour-driven, services-dependent economic system like India,” it mentioned.
- The Survey additionally mentioned the rising presence of global capability centres (GCCs) will reshape the company panorama in India and affect world enterprise dynamics. The variety of GCCs in India has grown from about 1,430 in FY19 to over 1,700 in FY24, using almost 1.9 million professionals.
- The female labour force participation charge has proven a big rise—from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 41.7% in 2023-24. It has been pushed largely by rural ladies coming into the workforce.
High Funding Offers of the Week
Startup: Leap
Quantity: $65M
Spherical: Sequence E
Startup: Captain Contemporary
Quantity: Rs 250 Cr
Spherical: Pre-IPO
Startup: InsuranceDekho
Quantity: $14.1M
Spherical: Contemporary
Electrical Car
Ola Electric’s Gen 3 scooters
Ola Electrical unveiled its Gen 3 electrical scooters in Bengaluru. The S sequence scooters are priced beginning at Rs 79,999 for the S1X and go as much as Rs 1,69,999 for its new S1 Professional+.
In the meantime, Founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal emphasised the corporate’s deal with the security of its clients, after Ola Electrical got here underneath scrutiny publish a sequence of fireplace incidents involving its scooters.
Key takeaways:
- The most important adjustments all through the generations embody a 53% enhance in peak energy from 8.5 kW motor in Gen 1 to 11 kW in Gen 2 to 13 kW motor in Gen 3. It additionally sees a ten% enhance in vitality effectivity from 70% in Gen 1 to 76% in Gen 2 to 80% now in Gen 3.
- Ola Electrical’s new line of scooters comes with the corporate’s Bharat 4680 cell and battery pack. These have higher temperature thresholds in comparison with the earlier battery packs that have been imported.
- The corporate additionally recaptured its lead within the electrical two-wheelers market in January, after the corporate doubled down on increasing its store footprint final month.
Explainer
Understanding the FIITJEE fallout
Within the week main as much as January 24, 2025, FIITJEE teaching centres started shutting down throughout North India. The closures began round January 17-23, affecting centres in Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar, with a number of extra shutdowns occurring subsequently.
Business consultants YourStory spoke to notice that this incident has highlighted weaknesses within the teaching business, significantly for institutes that rely upon a decentralised mannequin.
All of the tea:
- Media stories point out that FIITJEE is dealing with monetary challenges, together with wage delays, which can have led to workers departures and operational disruptions. The administration asserts this example is a “felony conspiracy” orchestrated by people with vested pursuits.
- The sudden closures have disrupted college students’ preparation for aggressive exams. Many dad and mom who had paid vital charges—starting from a number of thousand rupees to a number of lakhs—at the moment are searching for refunds or different options.
- Whereas FIITJEE maintains the closures are because of mismanagement by sure CMPs, dad and mom argue the institute ought to have had safeguards in place to forestall such disruptions.
Design: Nihar Apte
Information & updates
- Launch: Google took the low-key route for the launch of its next-gen flagship AI mannequin, Gemini 2.0 Professional Experimental—the successor to the Gemini 1.5 Professional mannequin. As a substitute of a splashy announcement, it revealed the mannequin in a changelog for its Gemini chatbot app, because the tech world stays fixated on Chinese language AI startup DeepSeek.
- Inject: The RBI’s $5 billion 6-month greenback/rupee buy-sell swap public sale was oversubscribed 5X on Friday, with the central financial institution receiving bids totalling $25.59 billion from 253 contributors. The swap will infuse rupee liquidity into the banking system.
- Tariffs: America’s two largest buying and selling companions, Canada and Mexico, are bracing for Donald Trump to impose sweeping tariffs on their exports. Officers in Ottawa and Mexico Metropolis have drawn up plans to retaliate towards Washington with tariffs of their very own, elevating the prospect of a dangerous commerce battle.
Who holds the report for delivering probably the most phrases in a Funds speech?
Reply: Manmohan Singh. He delivered an 18,650-word speech in 1991 when he was the finance minister.
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