From India and the EU striking the ‘mother of all deals’ to India slipping to sixth place in Mint’s Emerging Markets Index, the Padma 2026 awards celebrating arts and tech and the Budget losing traction in the market, here’s this week’s news in numbers.
The triumph of the trade deal
India and the European Union have concluded negotiations on a historic Free Trade Agreement (FTA), dubbed the “Mother of All Agreements”. The pact gives India greater access to one of the largest integrated economic partnerships in the world.
Once implemented, India will reduce tariffs to zero on nearly 96% of EU goods, while the EU will eliminate tariffs on around 97-98% of Indian goods. With the EU being almost as big a market as the US for Indian exporters, sectors such as textiles and apparel, leather and footwear, marine products and gems and jewelery are expected to benefit.
With US tariffs currently putting pressure on these export industries, the EU deal offers a cushion, even if it could take up to a year to implement.
Indian pictures of EM rating
India’s ranking has dropped to sixth Mint Emerging market tracking in December, marking its weakest performance since February 2025. The country topped the list for just 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, pulling India’s composite score down to 49.7 out of 100. Equity markets took the hardest hit, with market capitalization down 1.8% month-on-month. The rupee’s 1.4% decline against the dollar also proved a drag. The pace of exports also slowed to 1.9% year-on-year from 19.4% in November as favorable benchmarks faded.
China ranked first, supported by relatively stable export growth, strong import coverage and a more stable currency compared to others.
Art dominates the Padma Awards
The government has recognized 131 individuals from various fields in this year’s list of Padma Awards. The arts led the awards with 44 honorees, followed by literature and education with 18. Together, the two categories accounted for nearly half of all honorees. The arts have dominated cumulatively since 1954, accounting for 24% of total Padma honors in cinema, music and dance. This is followed by literature and education, social work and medicine. Public matters, mainly political or judicial officials, make up only 5.4%.
The 2026 list signals evolving national priorities. Science and engineering saw the highest number in the last 12 years, while medicine saw the biggest success in the last decade, marking the growing recognition of technical fields alongside traditional cultural achievements.
Numbers in the news
6.8-7.2%: India GDP growth for 2026-27 is forecast by the Economic Survey on Thursday. While this is lower than the 7.4% growth estimated for FY26, the survey noted that this represents steady growth amid global uncertainty.
₹1,191 million: A one-off measure taken by Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) to comply with the new Indian labor codes. This led to a 4% year-on-year decline in L&T’s consolidated profit. ₹3,215 million.
4: A number of domestic airlines, which together carry 95% of air passengers, are urging the government to relax crew rest rules that came into force on 1 Hindustan Times reported.
₹500 million: Expenditures that the budget may propose for tourism promotion programs, Mint reported. The budget could also announce measures to promote adventure tourism as a new source of revenue for states to formalize this segment.
$2 billion: The additional amount Nvidia Corp invested in CoreWeave Inc to help accelerate efforts to add more than 5GW of artificial intelligence (AI) computing capacity by 2030, Bloomberg reported.
Output shocks
India’s industrial production rose 7.8% in December, the fastest growth in more than two years. This robust performance followed strong growth of 7.2% in the previous month, driven by festive demand and a cut in Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates.
The data reveal broad dynamics across sectors. The manufacturing sector continued to post strong growth, rising 8.1% year-on-year in December, although it fell slightly from 8.5% in November. Mining accelerated to 6.8% in December, up from 5.8% in November, while power generation rebounded sharply to 6.3%, matching the pace of growth a year ago after falling 1.5% in November.
Price included policy
The Union Budget, once the biggest political trigger for Indian equity markets, is increasingly becoming a non-event. AND Mint analysis shows that over the past three years, Budget Day has failed to move the markets in a meaningful way.
The Sensex rose a modest 0.4% on Budget Day in 2023, gained 0.6% in 2024 and was flat in 2025. This muted response reflects a deeper shift where policymaking has become more continuous and predictable, so investors position themselves weeks in advance.
The pre-budget period now sees sharper movements. In 2018, the Sensex fell 5.4% in the 15 days ahead of the Budget before jumping 4% on the day. It has fallen 2.3% in the last fortnight to 2021 and gained just 0.25% on Budget day.
