Showing a resilient economy in the Asia-Pacific region amid global uncertainties, India’s GDP will grow at 6.5 per cent in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026, S&P Global Ratings said on Tuesday.

This assumes the upcoming monsoon season will be normal and that commodity — especially crude — prices will be soft,” said the global financial institution in its latest quarterly economic update for Asia-Pacific economies.

“Cooling food inflation, the tax benefits announced in the country’s budget for the fiscal year ending March 2026, and lower borrowing costs will support discretionary consumption,” it added.

As tariffs tend to be levied on goods, trade will be more resilient in economies where a substantial share of exports is of services. This is the case for the Philippines and, especially, India.

India’s macroeconomic situation has bottomed out, and the country is set to see GDP growth around 6.5 per cent for the year ahead, according to a Bernstein note on Tuesday.

Amid geo-political risks like the possibility of a US recession and reciprocal tariffs, Bernstein’s India strategy offers a positive outlook for the economy in the coming year.

“Despite global uncertainties, India is well-positioned to benefit if a US recession materialises,” said the global brokerage in its note.

India’s growth trajectory has often been independent of the US economy, and past experiences show that India has typically recovered ahead of the US during economic slowdowns.

While the broader markets have faced corrections, India is expected to benefit as the global trade environment stabilises.

Over nine million updated Income Tax Returns have been filed over the last four years, which helped the government raise an additional revenue of Rs 9,118 crore, reflecting the success of the voluntary compliance scheme introduced by the Government, Parliament was informed.

The government in 2022 had introduced the option for taxpayers to file updated I-T returns (ITR-U) up to two years from the relevant assessment year (AY) by paying additional income tax as part of a scheme to encourage voluntary compliance,

Cumulatively, between AY 2021-22 to AY 2024-25, over 9.176 million ITR-Us were filed which fetched additional taxes of Rs 9,118 crore to the government, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

India on Tuesday said Pakistan continued to "illegally occupy" part of Jammu and Kashmir, and "must vacate" the territory while slamming the neighbouring country for its "repeated references" to J&K at a United Nations debate on peacekeeping reforms.

Speaking at the Security Council, India's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish, said the remarks were "unwarranted" and reiterated that the region "was, is, and will always be an integral part of India."

"India is compelled to note that the delegate of Pakistan has yet again resorted to unwarranted remarks on the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Such repeated references neither validate their illegal claims nor justify their state-sponsored cross-border terrorism," Harish said.

The domestic benchmark indices opened higher on Tuesday amid positive global cues, as buying was seen in the IT sector in the early trade.

At around 9.27 am, Sensex was trading 112.50 points or 0.14 per cent up at 78,096.88 while the Nifty added 12.10 points or 0.05 per cent at 23,670.45.

According to experts, Nifty, continuing with the robust move, has indicated a V-shaped recovery with the bulls gaining strength over the bears almost reaching the previous peak of 23,800 zone.

"With further targets of 24,200 and 24,700 levels expected, the bias and sentiment has turned overall positive as of now. the important 50EMA zone of 23,000 level shall be positioned as the major support from here which needs to be sustained," said Vaishali Parekh, Vice President-Technical Research-PL Capital.

The Indian stock markets on Monday continued their winning streak for the sixth consecutive trading session, with both Sensex and Nifty ending the day with robust gains.

Investors remained optimistic as key indices surged over 1 per cent each during the intra-day trade. The 30-share Sensex climbed 1,078.87 points, or 1.40 per cent, to close at 77,984.38. During the day, it even touched an intra-day high of 78,107.23.

Similarly, the Nifty index ended 307.95 points higher, or 1.32 per cent, at 23,658.35, after reaching a high of 23,708.75 earlier in the session.

Market sentiment was bullish, with 24 out of 30 Sensex stocks closing in the green. NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, SBI, Tech Mahindra, and Power Grid Corporation were among the top gainers, rising up to 4.63 per cent.

As the Indian equity markets hit two-months high on Monday, Raamdeo Agrawal, Chairman and Co-founder of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, said on Monday that now the worst is over for the stock exchanges and "happy days are back".

Agrawal said that after the recent correction, the stock market is finally stabilising and ready for a period of recovery and growth.

The Indian stock market witnessed a sharp rally in the recent time due to positive global and domestic updates, he added.

In the past one week, Nifty and Sensex have surged more than 5 per cent. Midcap and Smallcap stocks contributed the most in the recent rally.

During this period, the Nifty Midcap 100 index shot up by more than 8 per cent and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index surged more than 9 per cent.

From April 1, Central government employees with at least 25 years of service will be eligible for a fixed pension equal to 50 per cent of their average basic salary from the last 12 months before retirement under the new Unified Pension Scheme (UPS).

The government is introducing the UPS to offer more financial security after retirement to at least 23 lakh Central government employees, particularly for those who prefer a stable and predictable income instead of a market-linked pension.

Employees, who have served for more than 10 years but less than 25 years, will receive a minimum pension of Rs 10,000 per month. In case of the pensioner’s death, their family will be entitled to 60 per cent of the last pension drawn as a family pension.

India’s stock market recorded the highest monthly gain among the world's ten largest equity markets in March, rising 9.4 per cent in dollar terms, as per latest stock exchange data.

This marks the strongest rally in four years, following five consecutive months of decline.

According to the exchange data, the total market capitalisation of all listed companies on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) surged to approximately $4.8 trillion, up from around $4.39 trillion at the end of February.

This is the biggest monthly jump since May 2021. India outperformed other major markets, with Germany following at a distant second with a 5.64 per cent rise in market capitalisation to over $2.81 trillion.

The domestic benchmark indices opened higher on Monday amid positive global cues, as US President Donald Trump signalled potential reciprocal tariff flexibility.

Buying was seen in the PSU bank and realty sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.32 am, Sensex was trading 414.98 points or 0.54 per cent up at 77,320.49 while the Nifty climbed 137.80 points or 0.59 per cent at 23,488.20.

Nifty Bank was up 393.45 points or 0.78 per cent at 50,987.00 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 52,375.50 after adding 524.75 points or 1.01 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 16,423.40 after climbing 238.45 points or 1.47 per cent.

The upcoming Q4 FY25 earnings reports are also expected to show robust results, potentially lifting the overall sentiment, said market watchers, adding that the underlying trend of Nifty continues to remain positive.