New Delhi, Dec. 31 -- In terms of economy, 2025 will be remembered as a year where domestic policy acted as a bulwark against external headwinds to growth.

The process started from the 2025-26 Union Budget itself when the government announced a big-bang revision in income tax slabs which effectively entailed a large reduction in tax liability for individual tax payers. The budget itself assumed this to be about Rs.1 lakh crore. Interestingly, there was no pressing reason for the government to have done what it did. General elections were held in 2024 and the pre-election budget was pretty cold to electoral considerations prioritising fiscal prudence instead. To be sure, even the 2025-26 Budget assumes a fiscal consolidation over last yea...