The week in charts: Delhi's budget boost, India's economic slide, MPs' pay hike

Delhi gets a budget boost

On Tuesday, Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta tabled a bumper ₹1 trillion expenditure plan in the state budget for 2025-26, a 44% jump from the revised estimates (RE) in 2024-25. Education received the largest allocation (19.3%), followed by transport (12.95%), health (12.89%), housing and urban development (10.7%) and social welfare (10.6%).

The budget surge is primarily driven by central fund inflows aimed at reviving infrastructure, addressing sanitation challenges, strengthening health systems, and expanding public transportation.

India, US talk tariffs

As his 2 April deadline for reciprocal tariffs approaches, US President Donald Trump has signalled a potential softening, indicating that "a lot of countries" may be exempted. The reciprocal tariffs are aimed at addressing significant tariff disparities between the US and emerging nations including India, as highlighted in a Fitch Ratings report. India has engaged in discussions with the US and is looking to reduce the chances of retaliatory tariffs. However, the threat of US tariffs has already prompted retaliatory measures from other key trading partners.

Also read | Mint Explainer: Have India-US trade talks blunted Trump’s threat of reciprocal tariffs?

Legislators get a big pay hike

24%: That’s the salary hike the Indian government has announced for members of parliament (MPs), effective retrospectively from 1 April, 2023. While this is the first such revision since April 2018, the size of the hike has spark to criticism over the income disparity between India's lawmakers and the general public. With this latest increase, the monthly salary of MPs rises to ₹1.24 lakh, nearly nine times the ₹14,333 per-capita monthly income of Indians, according to 2022-23 estimates.

India slips among emerging markets

India dropped to sixth among emerging markets in February from fifth in January owing to the stock market decline, rupee depreciation and export slump, despite strong GDP growth and purchasing managers' index (PMI) performance, according to Mint's emerging-market tracker.

A detailed breakdown of key indicators showed the stock market’s average monthly capitalisation fell 14% month-on-month, while exports declined nearly 11% year-on-year, pulling down India’s ranking. Brazil claimed the top spot for the first time since November 2023, followed by China, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

Loans signal weak consumption trends

India's consumption-driven credit volume witnessed a notable year-on-year decline in credit card and home loans in the October-December quarter, according to a latest report by TransUnion CIBIL India.

Credit card originations fell by 32%, the largest decline, with home loans dropping 9%, signaling weak consumption trends in the economy. While property, auto, consumer durable, and two-wheeler loans increased, growth was less than 10% year-on-year and lower than in the same quarter of 2023. Personal loan originations recorded the strongest growth.

Also read: Young India sees consumption as just another activity, not an identity marker

India's influencer invasion

8,000: That’s how many social media influencers Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) engaged with this fiscal year, a more than ten-fold jump from 700 last year. Last year, HUL partnered with more than 200 influencers for just one brand. This reflects India’s exploding creator economy, which is projected to grow at a 20% compound annual rate, according to EY estimates. Television has long been the dominant medium for marketing, but a young, social-media-first generation is driving companies to engage with creators to promote their products.

Penny stocks go bull-riding

A remarkable bull run in penny stocks followed the 2020 market crash, luring investors with the promise of high returns. A Mint analysis of penny stocks (priced from ₹1-15) during the four major market cycles in the past 20 years shows that in the latest bull run from 2020 to 2024, around 90% of penny delivered more than 100% returns. This stellar performance is second only to the one they put up during the 2003-2008 bull run, when 97% of them became multi-baggers.

Also read | Devina Mehra: Trump stocks? They’re mythical at best in this new uncertain era

Chart of the week: Scooters surge

India's scooter market is poised to surpass its pre-pandemic peak, with sales growing more than three times faster than motorcycles in the current fiscal year. Between April 2024 and February 2025, scooter sales hit 6.3 million units, nearly matching the 6.7 million units recorded in 2018-19 and indicating a late but much-needed recovery in mobility.

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