The government has provided Rs 49,329.88 crore as subsidy on fertilisers bought by farmers as of July 21 during the current financial year (2025-26) that started on April 1, according to information tabled in Parliament on Friday.

Under the DBT (direct benefit transfer) system, 100 per cent subsidy on various fertilizer grades is released to the fertilizer companies, on actual sales to the farmers based on Aadhaar authentication of the buyers through POS devices installed at each retail shop.

The government on Friday said the second round of negotiations for the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) concluded successfully in the national capital, further advancing the shared objective of strengthening bilateral trade and economic partnerships.

The Indian stock market closed in the negative territory on Friday, with the domestic stock indices declining by up to a per cent amid selling pressure.

Sensex closed at 81,463.09, down 721.08 or 0.88 per cent. The 30-share index started the trade in negative territory at 82,066.76 against the previous session's closing of 82,184.17. The UK-India FTA failed to push a rally; instead, the index fell over 950 points to hit an intraday low at 81,397.69.

Nifty settled at 24,837.0, down 225.10 or 0.90 per cent.

"The broader market sentiment remained bearish throughout, with pronounced weakness evident across Media, Energy, Oil & Gas, PSU Bank, Auto, and IT sectors," said Ashika Institutional Equities in its note.

Overall, the market tone was convincingly risk-off, accentuated by sectoral headwinds and a break of pivotal index support levels, suggesting that caution may prevail in the near term, the note added.

The India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) should help various sectors in the country, including manufacturing and the services industry, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Friday.

According to the RBI chief, multilateralism has taken a back seat, and India now requires more such free trade agreements with other countries as well.

"The UK FTA is the way going forward, because unfortunately, multilateralism appears to have taken a back seat," Malhotra said at an event here, adding that trade negotiations with the US are also in the advanced stages.

The Central bank Governor also acknowledged that there are many more trade pacts in different stages of negotiations.

In a bull case scenario, Sensex is projected to reach 115,836 and Nifty is likely touch 43,876 by the financial year 2028 (FY28), a report said on Friday.

However, in a bear case scenario, Sensex is projected to reach 1,04,804 and Nifty at 39,697 by FY28, Ventura, a stock broking platform, said in its recent projection.

Nifty is expected to oscillate within a well-defined price-to-earnings (PE) band in these three years, with projected robust earnings growth with estimated FY28 earnings per share compound annual growth rate (EPS CAGR) of 12-14 per cent.

“In the last 10 years, the Indian economy has demonstrated resilience and clocked the highest GDP growth as a large economy despite global headwinds of NBFC crisis, Covid 19, Russia-Ukraine war and the recent uncertainty on US President Donald Trump tariff," said Vinit Bolinjkar, Head of Research, Ventura.

Investors of National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) were left surprised on Friday after the company announced its initial public offering (IPO) price band at a steep discount of 22 per cent from its prevailing unlisted market valuation.

The IPO price band at Rs 760–800 per share, looks disheartening to the investors who hold the stock now at its unlisted market price of Rs 1,025 per share. The shares of NSDL which were trading at Rs 1,025 in the unlisted market, have already witnessed a 20 per cent correction from their recent peak of Rs 1,275 seen on June 12, 2025.

NSDL’s IPO will open for subscription on July 30, 2025 and close on August 1, with anchor investor participation beginning on July 29. The issue, which is a pure offer for sale, aims to raise around Rs 4,011 crore.

If the NSDL shares get the cut-off price at the upper end of the IPO price band, the company’s market capitalisation will be around Rs 16,000 crore.

The use of simplified language in the new Income Tax Bill, 2025 marks a significant shift in making the provisions easier to understand, reducing the potential for misinterpretation and enhancing taxpayer-centricity and compliance, according to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Urging the I-T Department to accelerate disposal of disputed tax demands pending before faceless appellate authorities and ensure timely resolution of litigation backlog, she said the Department should identify and withdraw departmental appeals falling below the revised monetary thresholds announced in Union Budget 2024-25 within 3 months.

“Ensure timely processing of tax refunds and proactive and timely resolution of taxpayer grievances. Analyse the grievances and devise strategies not only to resolve the existing pendency but also to address the challenges that are causing the grievances in the first place,” she said at an event here on the occasion of the 166th Income Tax Day.

The Indian stock market saw selling pressure in early hours of trading on Friday amid mixed global cues.

At 9.23 am, Sensex declined 290 points or 0.35 per cent at 81,894 and Nifty was down 110 points or 0.44 per cent at 24,943.

Auto stocks were leading the losses with a 0.70 per cent decline. FMCG stock and metal stocks were the other major losers. The Nifty Bank was down by 0.14 per cent at 56,983 points.

Broad cap indices fell more than the benchmark indices. BSE smallcap index was down 0.68 per cent and BSE midcap index fell 0.45 per cent.

India's national transmission infrastructure is adequately developed to ensure reliable power flow across regions as it has been expanded from 75,050 MW during 2016-17 to 1,20,340 MW as of June 2025, the Parliament was informed on Thursday.

The Centre plans to increase this power transmission capacity across the National Grid to 1,43,000 MW by 2027 and further to 1,68,000 MW by 2032, Minister of State for Power Shripad Naik told the Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question.

India's High-Net-Worth and Ultra-High-Net-Worth (HNW and UHNW) population is set to grow at 11–15 per cent CAGR through 2034, fast becoming a must-watch market for global luxury companies, a report said on Thursday.

As wealth creation accelerates and a young, brand-conscious demographic rises, brands are setting the stage for deeper local engagement, Boston Consulting Group said in its latest report.