Budget: Seven High-Speed Rail Corridors & 20 Waterways

1 February 2026National

The Budget announced seven new high-speed rail corridors connecting major cities and 20 new national waterways to be made operational over five years.

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BSE Partners MMTC-PAMP to Deepen India's Electronic Gold Receipts Market

BSE Limited signed an agreement with MMTC-PAMP, India's only LBMA-accredited gold and silver refiner, to deepen the market for Electronic Gold Receipts (EGRs). BSE will launch EGR contracts in multiple denominations while MMTC-PAMP contributes refining, vaulting and assaying expertise, the aim being greater participation, transparency and liquidity. EGRs are SEBI-regulated, exchange-traded securities representing physical gold held in vaults and kept in demat accounts, letting investors convert between the receipt and the metal. BSE, the first Indian exchange to launch EGR trading, currently offers units of 100 mg, 1 gram and 10 grams, with gold fineness of 999 and 995.

GK ByteBSE was established in 1875 as The Native Share and Stock Brokers' Association, is Asia's oldest stock exchange and is headquartered at Dalal Street, Mumbai | Gold exchanges and EGRs were brought under SEBI's purview by the Finance Act, 2021, with SEBI notifying the EGR framework in 2022 | LBMA is the London Bullion Market Association, which sets the global good-delivery standard for gold and silver bars

📅 23 Oct 2026EconomyRead complete →

India and New Zealand Sign a Memorandum of Cooperation for Electronic Exchange of Origin Data Under Their FTA

India and New Zealand signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for the electronic exchange of origin data on traded goods, operationalising the rules-of-origin machinery of the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement that entered into force on 20 October 2026. It was signed by Vivek Chaturvedi, Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), and Christine Stevenson, Chief Executive and Comptroller of the New Zealand Customs Service. Paperless, real-time sharing of certificate-of-origin data is meant to curb trade deflection and false origin claims and speed customs clearance, with textiles and engineering goods named as key Indian beneficiaries.

GK ByteCBIC functions under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, and was renamed from the Central Board of Excise and Customs in 2018 after GST | Rules of origin determine the country where a good was produced and decide eligibility for preferential tariffs under a free trade agreement | New Zealand's capital is Wellington, its currency the New Zealand dollar and its Prime Minister heads a Westminster-style parliament

📅 22 Oct 2026EconomyRead complete →

RBI's October 2026 MPC Minutes Say Rate Cuts Are Off the Table After the Unanimous Hike to 5.50%

The Reserve Bank of India published the minutes of its 63rd Monetary Policy Committee meeting on 21 October 2026, confirming that the 25 basis point repo rate hike to 5.50% on 7 October was unanimous (6-0) while the switch of stance from 'neutral' to 'calibrated tightening' passed 4-2, with Nagesh Kumar and Ram Singh preferring neutral. The resolution said rate cuts are 'off the table in the near term' and that policy ahead can only be a hike or a pause. The MPC raised FY27 GDP growth to 7.1% and CPI inflation to 5.2%. The next meeting is 2-4 December 2026.

GK ByteThe Monetary Policy Committee was created by the Finance Act 2016 amending the RBI Act 1934 and has six members, three from the RBI and three external, with the Governor holding a casting vote | MPC minutes must be published on the fourteenth day after the policy decision under Section 45ZL of the RBI Act | India's flexible inflation targeting framework sets CPI inflation at 4% with a tolerance band of plus or minus 2 percentage points

📅 22 Oct 2026EconomyRead complete →

Jio Platforms IPO, India's Largest Ever, Fully Subscribed Within Hours of Opening

The Jio Platforms initial public offering, India's largest-ever IPO, opened for subscription on 21 October 2026 and was fully subscribed within hours. It is an entirely fresh issue of about 27 crore equity shares with no offer for sale, priced in a band of Rs 1,065-Rs 1,119 per share with a lot size of 12 shares, raising roughly Rs 30,000 crore (about USD 3.2 billion). At the upper band, Jio Platforms is valued at about Rs 10.3 lakh crore. Demand was led by qualified institutional buyers, who bid over three times their quota on day one. The issue closed on 23 October 2026.

GK ByteJio Platforms is the digital services arm of Reliance Industries, chaired by Mukesh Ambani | Public issues in India are regulated by SEBI, set up in 1988 and given statutory status in 1992 | Before this issue, Hyundai Motor India's 2024 offering of about Rs 27,870 crore was India's largest IPO

📅 21 Oct 2026EconomyRead complete →

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