Hey,
Many have pinned excessive hopes of tax reduction and consumption revival as FM Nirmala Sitharaman presents her eighth Union Price range right now.
Startups and MSMEs expect tax reduction, 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 training to drive long-term development.
On the economic system entrance, the Financial Survey 2024-25 famous the GDP for the following monetary yr is anticipated to develop between 6.3% – 6.8% on the again of sturdy fundamentals, calibrated fiscal consolidation, and steady non-public 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 Price range days in 2015 and 2020.
You’ll be able to control YourStory’s full protection of all of the bulletins made in Price range 2025, and the way these measures have an effect on you, here.
In right now’s publication, we’ll discuss
- The state of India’s economic system
- Ola Electrical’s Gen 3 scooters
- Understanding the FIITJEE fallout
Right here’s your trivia for right now: Who holds the document for delivering probably the most phrases in a Price range speech?
Union Price range
The state of India’s economy
The Financial Survey for 2024-25 referred to as for a delicate strategy to constructing establishments to cope with the potential influence 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 strong establishments. “This will then assist tilt the dimensions 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 international 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 price has proven a major rise—from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 41.7% in 2023-24. It has been pushed largely by rural ladies getting into the workforce.
Prime Funding Offers of the Week
Startup: Leap
Quantity: $65M
Spherical: Sequence E
Startup: Captain Recent
Quantity: Rs 250 Cr
Spherical: Pre-IPO
Startup: InsuranceDekho
Quantity: $14.1M
Spherical: Recent
Electrical Car
Ola Electric’s Gen 3 scooters
Ola Electrical unveiled its Gen 3 electrical scooters in Bengaluru. The S collection 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 concentrate on the security of its clients, after Ola Electrical got here below scrutiny put up a collection of fireplace incidents involving its scooters.
Key takeaways:
- The most important modifications all through the generations embrace a 53% improve 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% improve 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 studies point out that FIITJEE is dealing with monetary challenges, together with wage delays, which can have led to employees departures and operational disruptions. The administration asserts this case is a “prison conspiracy” orchestrated by people with vested pursuits.
- The sudden closures have disrupted college students’ preparation for aggressive exams. Many mother and father who had paid vital charges—starting from a number of thousand rupees to a number of lakhs—at the moment are in search of refunds or various options.
- Whereas FIITJEE maintains the closures are as a consequence of mismanagement by sure CMPs, mother and father 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 individuals. 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 in opposition to Washington with tariffs of their very own, elevating the prospect of a dangerous commerce battle.
Who holds the document for delivering probably the most phrases in a Price range speech?
Reply: Manmohan Singh. He delivered an 18,650-word speech in 1991 when he was the finance minister.
We’d love to listen to from you! To tell us what you appreciated and disliked about our publication, please mail [email protected].
For those who don’t already get this article in your inbox, sign up here. For previous editions of the YourStory Buzz, you’ll be able to test our Daily Capsule page here.
