India has successfully concluded five major trade agreements in the past year, with the latest being a trade deal with US that cuts reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods to 18%. Last week, India signed a "mother of all deals" with the EU. In 2025, India signed a trade agreement with the UK, followed by pacts with Oman and New Zealand.

Under the Baggage Rules, 2026, Indian residents and people of Indian origin can bring goods worth up to ₹75,000 duty-free. Those returning after living abroad for over a year can carry duty-free jewellery made of gold, platinum or silver, up to 40 grams for women and 20 grams for others. Special jewellery allowances will be based only on weight limits.

US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, credited the "great personal relationship" between President Donald Trump and PM Narendra Modi for driving forward the India-US trade deal. He said, "The potential between India and the US is limitless...The best is yet to come." On Trump lowering the reciprocal tariff on India from 25% to 18%, Sergio said, "It's a massive drop."

PM Narendra Modi released first statement as US President Donald Trump announced India-US trade deal. "Delighted that Made in India products will now have a reduced tariff...Big thanks to President Trump on behalf of the 1.4 billion people of India," PM Modi wrote. "I look forward to working closely with him to take our partnership to unprecedented heights," he added.

While speaking on a podcast, Gully Tours founder Vinay Parameshwarappa shared a story about meeting Infosys founder Narayana Murthy. Parameshwarappa said in May 2016 he decided to reach out to Murthy directly via email explaining what he was working on. To his surprise, he received a reply inviting him to come over for a conversation. Parameshwarappa called Murthy a hero.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the volatility in gold prices has been due to global uncertainties, PTI reported. She added that these uncertainties have also prompted central banks to invest in gold. "It also shows that investors do not have confidence in any one particular currency, and hence the rush to buy gold," Sitharaman further stated.

Oracle has reportedly launched a major US dollar bond offering, expected to be in the range of $20 billion to $25 billion. According to a Bloomberg report, the bond issuance, projected to total roughly $20 billion to $25 billion, will cover about half of Oracle’s 2026 financing needs.

Hyderabad-based apparel and jewellery retailer Marri Retail has filed preliminary papers with SEBI to raise funds through an IPO. The proposed IPO comprises a fresh issue of shares worth ₹522 crore and an offer for sale of 2.7 crore equity shares by promoter Marri Venkat Reddy. The company may also consider raising up to ₹104.4 crore through a pre-IPO round.

Verizon is reportedly considering an executive shakeup as service outages and rising competition pressure the telecom giant. A Financial Times report said the company may replace consumer head Sowmyanarayan Sampath, once viewed as a top CEO candidate. The move comes as Verizon works to stabilise operations while analysts remain cautiously optimistic about subscriber momentum.

Budget 2026 is being read by startup leaders as a pivot toward durable growth. Noise CEO Gaurav Khatri said, "Budget 2026 raises bar for what it means to be founder in India." "It's no longer about creating more startups...[but] building startups that can scale, survive, and compete globally," he added. Khatri framed the moment as a shift in national mood.