Business
IMF Ups Indias GDP Growth Forecast For 2025-26 Despite US Tariff Hike
New Delhi: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday raised India’s GDP growth forecast to 6.6 per cent for 2025-26 from 6.4 per cent earlier despite the punitive tariffs slapped by the US on the country’s exports. The upward revision was on “carryover from a strong first quarter, more than offsetting the increase in the US effective tariff rate on imports from India since July”, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook.
In the April-June quarter of 2025-26, India grew at its fastest pace in at least a year, clocking a GDP growth rate of 7.8 per cent on the back of strong private consumption. With the government rolling out sweeping GST reforms with tax rates reduced on consumer goods and services across the board, the domestic demand is expected to gain further momentum ahead. This is expected to offset the negative impact on external demand for Indian goods due to the US tariff hike.
The IMF’s projection of a higher economic growth comes close on the heels of the World Bank raising its India growth forecast for FY26 to 6.5 per cent from 6.3 per cent. The IMF has also projected that the growth of emerging market and developing economies will moderate from 4.3 per cent in 2024 to 4.2 per cent in 2025 and 4 per cent in 2026.
“Beyond China, emerging market and developing economies more broadly showed strength, sometimes because of particular domestic reasons, but recent signals point to a fragile outlook there as well,” the report states. Higher US tariffs are curtailing external demand, and rising trade policy uncertainty is weighing on investment in major export-led economies, the report added.
Last week, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva lauded India as a key growth engine of the world economy amid changing global growth patterns. “Global growth is forecast at roughly 3 per cent over the medium term—down from 3.7 per cent pre-pandemic. Global growth patterns have been changing over the years, notably with China decelerating steadily while India develops into a key growth engine,” she said.
Georgieva said that countries have put in place decisive economic policies, the private sector has adapted, and the US tariff turmoil has proved less severe than initially feared. However, she said it was too early to heave a big sigh of relief, because “global resilience has not yet been fully tested. And there are worrying signs the test may come”.
The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has approved a fresh increase in the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), raising the cost for both domestic consumers and commercial users.
According to the notification issued, the LPG price has been increased by Rs7.39 per kilogram, setting the new rate at Rs209 per kg for December. As a result, the price of a domestic LPG cylinder has risen by Rs87.21, bringing the new price to Rs2,466.10.
In November, the price of LPG stood at Rs201 per kg, while the domestic cylinder was priced at Rs2,378.89.
The latest price hike is expected to put additional pressure on households already grappling with rising living costs nationwide.
Business
Private sector data: Over 2 lakh private companies closed in 5 years; govt flags monitoring for suspicious cases – The Times of India
NEW DELHI: The government on Monday said that over the past five years, more than two lakh private companies have been closed in India.According to data provided by Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, a total of 2,04,268 private companies were shut down between 2020-21 and 2024-25 due to amalgamation, conversion, dissolution or being struck off from official records under the Companies Act, 2013.Regarding the rehabilitation of employees from these closed companies, the minister said there is currently no proposal before the government, as reported by PTI. In the same period, 1,85,350 companies were officially removed from government records, including 8,648 entities struck off till July 16 this fiscal year. Companies can be removed from records if they are inactive for long periods or voluntarily after fulfilling regulatory requirements.On queries about shell companies and their potential use in money laundering, Malhotra highlighted that the term “shell company” is not defined under the Companies Act, 2013. However, he added that whenever suspicious instances are reported, they are shared with other government agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate and the Income Tax Department for monitoring.A major push to remove inactive companies took place in 2022-23, when 82,125 companies were struck off during a strike-off drive by the corporate affairs ministry.The minister also highlighted the government’s broader policy to simplify and rationalize the tax system. “It is the stated policy of the government to gradually phase out exemptions and deductions while rationalising tax rates to create a simple, transparent, and equitable tax regime,” he said. He added that several reforms have been undertaken to promote investment and ease of doing business, including substantial reductions in corporate tax rates for existing and new domestic companies.
Pakistan’s textile exports surged to $6.4 billion during the first four months of the 2025-26 fiscal year, marking the highest trade volume for the sector in this period.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), value-added textile sectors were key contributors to the growth.
Knitwear exports reached $1.9 billion, while ready-made garments contributed $1.4 billion.
Significant increases were observed across several commodities: cotton yarn exports rose 7.74% to $238.9 million, and raw cotton exports jumped 100%, reaching $2.6 million from zero exports the previous year.
Other notable gains included tents, canvas, and tarpaulins, up 32.34% to $53.48 million, while ready-made garments increased 5.11% to $1.43 billion.
Exports of made-up textile articles, excluding towels and bedwear, rose 4.17%, totaling $274.75 million.
The report also mentioned that the growth in textile exports is a result of improved global demand and stability in the value of the Pakistani rupee.
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