NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday and looked forward to continued exchanges in the days to come.

Markets welcomed the news of proposed tax cuts set to bolster domestic consumption in India, which faces the prospect of steep U.S. tariffs.

India and China are aware of the “very high political, economic and military cost of frozen relations,” he says. “China felt it had pushed India too close to the U.S. while India realized that it was losing its vaunted strategic autonomy by getting too close to Washington and turning Beijing into an adversary.”

India aims to slash taxes on small cars and insurance premiums as part of a sweeping reform of its goods and services tax (GST), a government source said on Monday, sparking a rally in Indian stock markets.

India expects consumption tax cuts announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give a boost to the economy without hurting the government’s fiscal deficit, helping to offset the fallout from higher US tariffs.

IAF Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla on Monday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after his successful mission to the International Space Station -- a first ever by an Indian. The

Shubhanshu Shukla participated in the Axiom-4 mission, which launched from Florida on June 25 and concluded on July 15., US News, Times Now

Earlier today, opposition parties issued a joint statement saying that the EC has “completely failed in discharging its constitutional duties.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, celebrating his Axiom-4 mission to the ISS and India's growing space capabilities. Shukl

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla who became the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station (ISS). Shukla, who was part of the Axiom-4 commercial mission to the ISS from June 25-July 15,

Development our fate... one milestone at a time,” said PM Modi while inaugurating the Dwarka Expressway and the Urban Extension Road-II in Delhi

During his Friday speech, Modi also hinted India would continue its unilateral suspension of the Indus Water Treaty. The treaty, which India suspended after the April massacre, allows sharing of the Indus River that runs about 2,897 kilometers (1,800 miles) through South Asia and is a lifeline for both countries.