9 FINANCEOUTLOOKINDIAAUGUST, 2026The rush to ITR Filing is picking up, and so is traffic on the income tax portal. As millions of taxpayers log in before the July 31 deadline, the government says it has upgraded e-Filing portal to make it faster and more reliable, with the changes disclosed in Parliament by the Finance Ministry. The data shows that portal usage has been steadily increasing over the past week (8-14 July 2026). The largest increase was in ITR filing, with as many as 8,38,724 ITRs being filed on 8 July 2026 which is nearly double the 4,26,961 ITRs filed on 8 July 2025. It was a continuation of the trend as filings reached 10 lakh on 10 July (10,41,223) and 11 July (10,87,871). The peak number of ITRs filed on the day was on 14 July 2026 with 12,21,854 ITRs being filed, against 4,09,437 on the same day last year. RBI KEEPS REPO RATE AT 5.25%, PREDICTS INDIA GDP GROWTH AT 6.9%INDIA'S FINTECH FUNDING H1 2026 HITS $2 BILLION, UP 42% YOYITR FILING 2026: PORTAL UPGRADED AS FILING RUSH DOUBLESGODREJ CAPITAL ENTERS GOLD LOAN BUSINESS WITH STRATEGIC ACQUISITIONThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has opted to keep the repo rate unchanged at 5.25%, continuing with a neutral monetary policy stance to ensure the monetary policy is not hurt by the inflationary pressures or growth concerns. RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra made the statement after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) unanimously decided to keep the policy rate unchanged in its first bi-monthly monetary policy meet for the current financial year. The committee also did not change the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) rate at 5% and the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and Bank Rate remained at 5.50% respectively. The meeting, which was led by Governor Malhotra, started on Monday and ended with a unanimous decision by the MPC to keep policy continuity despite the changing domestic and global economic conditions. India's fintech funding H1 2026 totalled $2 billion across 106 rounds, a 42% rise from the $1.4 billion raised across 186 rounds in H1 2025, according to data from market intelligence platform Tracxn. In a sequential comparison, the investment in fintech increased significantly with almost doubling from $1.1 billion in 120 rounds in H2 2025, indicating a significant uptick in the investment momentum in fintech for 2026.The largest cap-to-date transaction was in H1 2026 when Cred raised $900 million in a Series H financing round, followed by Weaver's $156 million Series D financing and KreditBee's $220 million Series E financing round. Godrej Capital has entered the gold loan business with its first-ever acquisition, marking a major step in expanding its financial services portfolio. The company has acquired the gold loan business of Kanakadurga Finance through its subsidiary, Godrej Finance, as it looks to strengthen its position in consumer lending and accelerate its long-term growth plans. The acquisition gives Godrej Capital immediate access to an established gold loan business with around Rs 280 crore in assets under management (AUM), nearly 12,000 customers, 54 branches across Andhra Pradesh, and a team of around 250 employees.
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