FTA with EU is for ambitious India: PM Modi
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the free trade pact with the European Union is for an ambitious India and urged manufacturers to benefit from new markets opening for them.
Modi also said that the nation is coming out of long term pending problems and working towards long term solutions.
Time has come to find solutions and not create hurdles, he said, adding his government is not confined to just files but ensuring last mile delivery of welfare schemes to the people.
"Our priority is always human-centric while taking steps for all-round development of the country," he told reporters in Parliament House complex in his customary briefing at the beginning of the Budget session.
An India full of confidence has emerged as ray of hope for world, he added.
Modi said the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU is for an ambitious India and urged manufacturers to benefit from new markets opening for them.
"A new market has opened up. It offers quality products to 27 EU member nations," he said in an appeal to manufacturers.
India and the European Union on Tuesday announced the conclusion of negotiations for the FTA, described as 'mother of all deals', under which 93 per cent of Indian shipments will enjoy duty-free access to the 27-nation bloc, while import of luxury cars and wines from the EU will become less expensive.
The deal, concluded after negotiations spanning about two decades, will create a market of about 2 billion people across the world's fourth-largest economy, India, and the second-largest economic bloc, the EU.
Referring to President Droupadi Murmu's address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday, he said it was an expression of confidence of 140 crore citizens and outlined aspirations of the youth.
He also noted that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is going to table her ninth consecutive budget on Sunday and that she is the only woman finance minister in the country to achieve such a significant feat.
"This is a very glorious chapter of Indian democracy," he added.
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RBI keeps policy rate unchanged amid inflationary pressure
Mumbai (PTI): The Reserve Bank on Wednesday expectedly kept interest rates unchanged amid hopes of a global recovery on the back of ceasefire in the six-week-long US/Israel-Iran conflict.
The policy decision comes as a month and a-half-long West Asia conflict has disrupted energy supplies, shot up crude oil prices and created fiscal and inflationary pressures for import-dependent nations like India.
This is the first monetary policy review after the government announced a fresh inflation target for the RBI last month. The government has asked the RBI to maintain retail inflation at 4 per cent with a margin of 2 per cent on either side for another five years ending March 2031.
Announcing the first bi-monthly monetary policy for the current fiscal, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has unanimously decided to retain short-term lending rate or repo rate at 5.25 per cent with a neutral stance.
The rate cut pause comes on the back of the consumer price index (CPI) based headline retail inflation that moved closer to the RBI's medium-term target of 4 per cent at 3.21 per cent in February.
Additionally, the rupee has depreciated by over 4 per cent since the war, which has consequences for pushing up import inflation.
However, the rupee has appreciated by 50 paise to 92.56 against US dollar following announcement of the ceasefire by the US and Iran.
Based on the recommendation of the MPC, the RBI reduced the repo rate by 25 bps each in February, April, and December 2025 and 50 basis points in June amidst easing retail inflation.
India's retail inflation dropped to a historic low of 0.25 per cent in October 2025, marking the lowest level since the Consumer Price Index (CPI) series was introduced.
However, the rupee declined to historic low and crossed 95 against a dollar last month making imports costlier, raising fears of rise in inflation. Rupee touched a record low of 95.21 on March 30, 2026.
