Business
Here’s what you could do with your money after cash ISA cut in Reeves’s Budget
.jpeg?width=1200&height=800&crop=1200:800 "Here’s what you could do with your money after cash ISA cut in Reeves’s Budget")
Rachel Reeves is set to cut the cash ISA limit in Wednesday’s Budget, with the cap poised to drop from £20,000 to £12,000.
The proposed move, seen as a bid to encourage more people towards investing rather than only saving in cash, has prompted a mixed reaction from consumers and businesses.
Many savers will not feel the impact of a cut on a day to day (or year to year, more specifically) limit, bearing in mind the difficulty many people have in saving upwards of £1,000 per month. But they could still be hit when they come into a lump sum – through inheritance, for example, or a property sale.
Either way, some people clearly want to move money before limits are cut. One cash ISA provider, Plum, told The Independent they’d seen a 49 per cent spike in the amount deposited into accounts between 15 October and 15 November.
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So what are the next possible moves for your cash, what are the rules around the different options and – the question the chancellor wants people to answer “yes” to – should you be starting to invest?
ISA limits and rules
First things first, the full ISA limit of £20,000 is not being reduced. It’s just the cash ISA limit which is (apparently) coming down.
Similar to how you can put a maximum of £4,000 into a lifetime ISA and still put another £16,000 elsewhere, you will still be able to utilise the additional £8,000 of your annual allowance in different tax-free products.
So, for example, if you had the full amount to use, you might opt to save £12,000 in a cash ISA, £4,000 in a lifetime version and the remaining £4,000 in a stocks and shares investing ISA.
Saving still an option
If you have more than £12,000 annually to put away into savings and you want it to stay in accessible cash, you still can – you just need to be aware of tax implications.
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Basic rate taxpayers can earn £1,000 in interest before paying any tax, which is known as the personal savings allowance.
Given that top interest-paying easy access accounts right now are about 4.5 per cent, it means you could have £22,000 in an account paying that rate and yielding £990 in interest. Nothing would be payable on that (assuming it didn’t push you into the next tax band, added to your total income).
For higher rate taxpayers, it’s a £500 limit, and additional rate payers get no PSA at all.
Interest earned beyond that threshold becomes taxable – and remember it’s all interest earned, so if you have multiple accounts or income from trust funds, government bonds and even some life insurance contracts, that all goes towards the total.
The wider question from these amounts is how much you need in accessible savings. There’s more on that below.
Pension payments
Although many people have a workplace pension, that is one area which also faces probable disruption during the Budget, with limits set on how much salary sacrifice can be made before national insurance contributions are no longer exempt.
But you can also put spare cash towards your retirement if you don’t need it in savings.
Self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs) are ones you manage yourself, while many providers offer ready-made pensions or different styles depending on your age and other factors – you just pay in, and they decide where your money goes, to grow over time before you need it in retirement.
Pending any changes to this type of pension in the Budget, it remains tax-efficient over time as gains inside pensions are tax-free – though be aware of rules around tax for when it comes time to take money out of your pension.
Investing and ‘risk’
And so to investing. Some people have an aversion to the word itself and think “it’s not for me” – sometimes without realising it’s already what they do when they have a pension.
It simply means your money is in other types of assets rather than just cash – but if you are risk-averse and want £20,000 in your ISA each year, there are still ways around that.
For example, some providers pay interest on uninvested cash in an investing ISA. Or, you could buy what’s known as money market funds – these are designed to be low-risk assets made up of things like Treasury bonds, short-term securities and other things. They are seen as short-term options if you don’t want to leave cash earning nothing at all, as you can still get a return and the market for them is usually liquid – in other words, you can sell them quickly when you need the cash.
But this misses the wider point of investing, which is that over time, it usually can give better returns than just cash alone.
Experts generally agree that people need between three and six months of essential costs in easily accessible cash – exactly how much depends on your circumstances (secure job industry, how many dependents, and so on) and your tolerance of having a safety net.
Beyond that, extra cash which you don’t need in the next few years – if you plan to buy a house next year, for example, it’s probably not for you – can often be better put to use by investing.
When products, adverts or companies talk about investing being more risky, it’s because they are legally obligated to. It doesn’t mean “you risk losing everything”; it’s more that when you take on more risk with your money, you expect to be paid more in return for that additional risk.
As such, while it can carry more risk to invest in a single company which could lose value on the stock market – or could double in value – it’s less risk to invest in a fund, a group of companies which share a common trait, such as being listed on the London Stock Exchange. So a fund is less likely to go up or down in value by as much as a single stock might do.
Whatever you decide to do with your money, it’s important to get all the details and facts first, have a clear assessment of your own needs and likely requirements in the future, and then act with a plan in mind.
Business
Green energy exports: $10-bn green ammonia project positions India as global clean-fuel supplier; Kakinada plant nears key milestone – The Times of India
A $10-billion green hydrogen and green ammonia project at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh is set to cross a major construction milestone, reinforcing India’s ambition to emerge as a global supplier of clean energy to markets such as Germany, Japan and Singapore.The first major equipment erection ceremony of AM Green’s Green Hydrogen and Green Ammonia Complex will be held on January 17 and will be attended by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy Chief Minister Konidala Pawan Kalyan, state government officials said, PTI reported.Billed as one of the largest clean-energy investments in India to date, the project involves a total outlay of $10 billion and is expected to generate up to 8,000 jobs during the construction phase, besides substantial high-skill employment during operations and across allied sectors including renewable energy, logistics, storage and port services.AM Green is developing India’s first and the world’s largest green ammonia complex at Kakinada, with a planned capacity of 1.5 million tonnes per annum, through the brownfield conversion of an existing ammonia-urea facility. The project will be commissioned in phases, beginning with 0.5 million tonnes per annum by 2027, scaling up to 1 million tonnes by 2028 and reaching full capacity by 2030.Once operational, the facility will enable India’s first exports of green ammonia, which is increasingly being adopted globally as a clean shipping fuel, for power generation and as a carrier for green hydrogen.The integrated project spans 7.5 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity, 1,950 megawatts of electrolyser capacity and 2 gigawatts of round-the-clock renewable power, supported by pumped hydro storage, including India’s first such facility at Pinnapuram in Andhra Pradesh.AM Green has already signed long-term supply agreements with Germany-based utility Uniper and is in advanced discussions with potential buyers in Japan and Singapore, establishing India’s first green-energy export linkages with Europe and advanced Asian economies.The project is aligned with Andhra Pradesh’s Integrated Clean Energy Policy, 2024, which seeks to position the state as India’s primary hub for green hydrogen and green ammonia. Once fully commissioned, the facility is expected to mark a structural shift from energy import dependence towards clean-energy exports, placing Andhra Pradesh at the centre of the global green-energy value chain.AM Green, backed by the founders of the Greenko Group, is developing the project through AM Green Ammonia, a partnership involving Malaysia-based Gentari, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. Construction at the Kakinada site is already under way, placing it among a limited set of large-scale green ammonia facilities globally that meet Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO) standards.Beyond production, the project showcases an end-to-end clean-energy ecosystem within a single state, encompassing large-scale renewable generation, round-the-clock green power backed by storage, hydrogen and ammonia production, and port-based export infrastructure.AM Green has also moved to strengthen global linkages. In May last year, it announced a partnership with the Port of Rotterdam Authority to create a dedicated green-fuel corridor linking India with north-western Europe, aimed at enabling annual trade of up to 1 million tonnes of green fuels valued at nearly $1 billion. Earlier, it tied up with global logistics firm DP World to develop green fuel storage and export facilities in India and overseas.“This is not merely an industrial project, but a strategic step in positioning Andhra Pradesh and India as leaders in clean-energy exports and climate action,” the state government said.
Business
Budget 2026 Should Support MSMEs, Critical Minerals For Boosting Trade Resilience: Deloitte
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Deloitte India urges FY27 Budget to boost MSME support and critical mineral security, job protection and advancing India’s global manufacturing and clean energy goals.
Budget 2026 Expectations.
Budget 2026: Deloitte India has pitched a sharper focus on MSME support and critical mineral security in the FY27 Union Budget, arguing that these measures are essential to strengthen India’s trade resilience and reduce external vulnerabilities amid rising global uncertainty.
In its Budget expectations note, Deloitte India said micro, small and medium enterprises play a pivotal role in the economy, accounting for nearly 46% of India’s exports and emerging as the second-largest employer after agriculture. According to the firm, easing financial and compliance-related pressures on MSMEs would help them cope with global volatility, sustain production and remain competitive in overseas markets.
The Union Budget 2026-27 will be tabled on Sunday, February 1.
“Strengthening MSMEs will safeguard jobs and drive inclusive economic growth, boost rural incomes and support India’s ambition to become a global manufacturing hub,” Deloitte said.
The firm recommended measures such as enhanced export credit availability, concessional financing and simplified digital compliance systems to reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses. It also called for comprehensive training programmes to improve last-mile competitiveness of MSMEs, particularly those linked to global value chains.
Deloitte further suggested targeted export incentives or enhanced duty drawback support for tariff-sensitive sectors such as ready-made garments, gems and jewellery, and leather, which are more vulnerable to global trade disruptions.
Highlighting the risks from an increasingly protectionist global environment, Deloitte Economist Rumki Majumdar said rising uncertainty from tariff hikes, changes in rules of origin and non-tariff barriers could disproportionately affect Indian exporters. While the direct impact of global trade frictions on GDP growth may be limited to 40-80 basis points, the spillover effects on MSMEs and employment could be far more severe.
“MSMEs contribute 30.1 per cent to GDP, account for 45.79 per cent of India’s exports and employ nearly 290 million people; disruptions in export markets or tightening trade rules pose serious risks to jobs and income stability,” Majumdar said.
Beyond MSMEs, Deloitte emphasised the need for a strategic push on critical minerals to secure supply chains and support India’s clean energy transition. It proposed setting up a dedicated critical minerals fund to finance overseas acquisitions and technology partnerships, ensuring long-term access to essential resources.
The firm also recommended deeper global collaboration with regions such as Africa, Australia and Latin America to secure upstream access to minerals, alongside joint research and development in mineral processing and recycling. In addition, it called for incentives to promote investments in renewable energy, green hydrogen and grid-scale energy storage.
Deloitte said expanded funding for exploration, extraction and processing of key critical minerals, including lithium, cobalt and rare earth magnets, would be crucial to reduce import dependence and strengthen India’s strategic and economic security in the years ahead.
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January 16, 2026, 15:02 IST
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Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday staged a strong comeback, breaking the long bearish momentum as snowballing forex reserves have lifted investor sentiment.
During intraday trading, the PSX’s benchmark KSE-100 index gained a whopping 3,146.23 points to climb to 184,602.56 points, marking a positive change of 1.70%.
Out of 562 active companies, share prices of 375 advanced and of 67 declined while rates of 120 companies remained unchanged.
Economic analysts said the uptick offered some breathing space for the economy, even as the country continued to keep a close watch on external inflows and outflows.
Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves inched up by $16 million over the past week, according to figures released by the State Bank of Pakistan.
The central bank said its official reserves rose from $16.0557 billion to $16.0718 billion, showing a modest gain during the week.
Overall, the country’s total reserves climbed to $21.2484 billion.
The State Bank also noted that commercial banks’ holdings went up by $5.6 million, reaching $5.1927 billion.
The central bank projects the FY26 current account deficit at 0–1% of GDP and sees reserves at $17.8 billion by June 2026 with planned official inflows.
A day earlier, the stock exchange dropped by over 1,100 points due to massive selling pressure.
The PSX had extended losses after recording an increase for a brief period as investors seemed cautious amid rising geopolitical tensions involving Iran.
During intraday trading, the KSE-100 index touched 183,717.53 due to strong buying in the early sessions before it turned bearish by losing 69.29 points to close at 182,500.52 points.
International officials have warned that US military intervention in Iran now appears likely and could take place within the next 24 hours amid sharply escalating tensions in the Middle East.
American, European and Israeli sources said preparations for possible action were under way as Washington began evacuating personnel from its major air base in Qatar.
H&M India unveils official Lollapalooza India 2026 collection
Green energy exports: $10-bn green ammonia project positions India as global clean-fuel supplier; Kakinada plant nears key milestone – The Times of India
Budget 2026 Should Support MSMEs, Critical Minerals For Boosting Trade Resilience: Deloitte
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