In her first interview after the Union Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman spoke exclusively to  Network 18 Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, highlighting the Budget's focus on keeping India’s economic ship  stable amid global upheavals and uncertainty. The government, she said, is observing "green shoots" of improvement in private sector capital expenditure, and the increased Securities Transaction Tax (STT) on futures and options is aimed at curbing speculation, not generating revenue. The Budget 2026 is a measured approach to managing the economy, with tax incentives for foreign companies providing cloud services from India, among other measures.

The stock markets rebounded on Monday, clawing back some of the losses from Sunday's special Budget-trading. Madhuchanda Dey writes that yesterday's setback looks to be a massive overreaction by investors. She also answers an important question: Should investors buy the dip, or wait and watch?

Digging into what spooked markets yesterday, Teena Jain Kaushal explains how the sharp hike in Securities Transaction Tax on futures and options rattled day traders, dented arbitrage strategies, and upset several market participants with the sudden change in taxation.

N. Mahalakshmi and Brajesh Kumar report that a move expected to raise just Rs 10,000 crore in tax revenue ended up erasing nearly Rs 10 lakh crore in market capitalisation.

Pavan Burugula and Swaraj Singh Dhanjal report that the heaviest blow landed on high-frequency trading firms such as Jane Street, Jump Trading, and Graviton Capital, which use ultra-fast algos to trade F&O and arbitrage mutual funds.

Deal activity is also picking up. Axis Bank is said to be in the lead to buy out CreditAccess Grameen, aiming to buy the 66.28% promoter stake from CreditAccess India. Hamsini Karthik reports that the deal is expected to conclude at a slight discount to the current valuation.

The RBI is closely monitoring gold loan players after the precious metal hit record highs in late January. Despite the price correcting heavily over the past few days, Hamsini Karthik and Archishma Iyer report that the sharp surge in both the assets under management as well as outstanding gold loans is a concern for the banking regulator. While gold loans are rising, sovereign gold bonds fell sharply today with several series recording a 10% drop, writes Navneet Dubey.

Tax defaults in India have surged to a whopping Rs 20 lakh crore over the past three years, a nearly sixfold jump in three years. Legacy defaults have grown nearly eightfold, showing that unresolved cases are ballooning, write Pavan Purugula and Ishaan Gera.

And finally,  car makers  have begun the new year on a strong footing.  Varun Singh reports that  Maruti, Tata Motors and Hyundai have posted record sales in January.