From India and the EU concluding the ‘mother of all deals’, to India slipping to sixth place on Mint’s emerging market tracker, the 2026 Padma Awards celebrating arts and technical fields, and the Budget losing its market-moving punch—here's this week’s news in numbers.
Trade deal triumph
India and the European Union concluded negotiations for a historic free trade agreement (FTA), dubbed the ‘mother of all deals’. The pact grants India greater access to one of the world’s largest integrated economic partnerships.
Once implemented, India will reduce tariffs to zero on nearly 96% of EU goods, while the EU will eliminate duties on about 97-98% of Indian goods. As the EU is nearly as big a market as the US for Indian exporters, sectors such as textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, marine products, and gems and jewellery are expected to benefit.
With US tariffs currently pressuring these export sectors, the EU agreement offers a cushion though the implementation of the deal could take up to a year.
India's EM ranking slides
India’s rank fell to sixth place on Mint's emerging market tracker in December, marking its weakest performance since February 2025. The country topped the rankings for only five months in 2025, down from eight in 2024.
During December, a weak stock market and currency performance overshadowed strong GDP growth and manufacturing activity, dragging India’s composite score to 49.7 out of 100. Equity markets delivered the sharpest blow, with market capitalization falling 1.8% month-on-month. The rupee’s slide of 1.4% against the dollar proved to be a drag as well. Export momentum also slowed to 1.9% year-on-year, compared to 19.4% in November, as favourable base effects faded.
China topped the list as supported by relatively steady export growth, strong import cover and a more stable currency compared with peers.
Arts dominate Padma Awards
The government recognized 131 individuals from various fields in this year’s Padma Awards list. Arts led the honors with 44 recipients, followed by literature and education with 18. Together, these two categories accounted for nearly half of all awardees. Arts has dominated cumulatively since 1954, accounting for 24% of total Padma honors across cinema, music, and dance. Literature and education, social work, and medicine follow. Public affairs, primarily recognizing political or judicial figures, accounts for just 5.4%.
The 2026 list signals evolving national priorities. Science and engineering recorded their highest tally in 12 years, while medicine logged its biggest haul in a decade, marking growing recognition of technical fields alongside traditional cultural achievements.
Numbers in the news
6.8-7.2%: India's GDP growth for 2026-27 projected by the Economic Survey on Thursday. While this is lower than 7.4% growth estimated for FY26, the survey noted that it represented steady growth amid global uncertainty.
₹1,191 crore: The one-time provision Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) has made to comply with India’s new labour codes. This resulted in a decline of 4% year-on-year in L&T’s consolidated profit to ₹3,215 crore.
4: The number of domestic airlines, which together carry 95% of air passengers, that are urging the government to relax the crew rest rules that took effect on 1 November, Hindustan Times reported.
₹500 crore: The outlay the Budget may propose for schemes to promote tourism, Mint reported. The Budget could also announce measures to promote adventure tourism as a new source of revenue for states, aiming to formalize the segment.
$2 billion: The additional amount Nvidia Corp has invested in CoreWeave Inc to help speed up an effort to add more than 5GW of artificial intelligence (AI) computing capacity by 2030, Bloomberg reported.
Output surges
India's industrial production expanded 7.8% in December, marking its fastest growth in over two years. This robust performance followed strong growth of 7.2% in the previous month, driven by festive demand and goods and services tax (GST) rate cuts.
The data reveals broad-based momentum across sectors. The manufacturing sector continued to record strong growth, expanding 8.1% year-on-year in December, though marginally down from 8.5% in November. Mining output accelerated to 6.8% in December, up from 5.8% growth in November, while electricity generation rebounded strongly with 6.3% growth, matching the year-ago growth rate after contracting 1.5% in November.
Priced-In policy
The Union Budget, once the single biggest policy trigger for Indian stock markets, has increasingly become a non-event. A Mint analysis shows that over the past three years, Budget Day has failed to stir markets meaningfully.
The Sensex rose by a modest 0.4% on Budget Day in 2023, gained 0.6% in 2024, and was flat in 2025. This muted reaction reflects a deeper shift, where policymaking has become more continuous and predictable, leaving investors to position themselves weeks in advance.
The pre-Budget period now sees sharper movements. In 2018, the Sensex fell 5.4% in the 15 days before the Budget, then surged 4% on the day. By 2021, it slipped 2.3% in the final fortnight and gained just 0.25% on Budget Day.
