The losses in state elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh have put the ruling party under pressure to announce swift measures aimed at addressing rural distress and lack of employment.
The Centre has projected reining in its fiscal deficit at 3.3 per cent of GDP in FY19.
A chunk of divestment till now has come from follow-on offerings in the Centre's two ETFs, Bharat-22 and CPSE. Now, there will be initial public offerings of Mazagon Docks, rail companies RVNL and IRFC and MSTC.
Highly-placed sources in the government say that none of the senior ministers had any inkling of Patel's resignation
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley revealed that the government wanted to give Hasmukh Adhia a post-retirement role, but Dr Adhia said he would not work for a single day after November 30.
Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia vacates his post on November 30 and Expenditure Secretary Ajay Narayan Jha, the second seniormost bureaucrat in the finance ministry, retires on January 31, the day before Jaitley presents the 2019-20 interim budget.
There was no law that prevented the government from presenting a sixth full Budget, or something similar to it.
The Financial Stability and Development Council meeting on Tuesday started with an air of tension in the room. An official present described the participants' body language as "tetchy". However, once presentations and discussions begun, the mood considerably eased.
Senior policymakers say it is a tough task and the finance ministry may resort to the time-tested method of carrying forward part of the subsidy payment burden to the next fiscal year.
According to the data available on the Reserve Bank of India's website, net workers' remittances in April-June 2018 were $11.5 billion
'The rupee falling from 69 to 72 was not normal or justified by the fundamentals.' 'And therefore I treat this as temporary.'
The IL&FS management is also talking to its second-largest shareholder, Orix Corporation of Japan, to infuse more funds into the company - in case any shareholder backs out during the rights issue.
Sources said valuation of all these assets was an ongoing process, and the mode and manner of disposal would be decided on a case-by-case basis
After the April-July fiscal deficit data was released on August 31, several analysts hinted that the government may need to go for cuts in capital expenditure to meet the fiscal deficit target.
Finance ministry tells PM fiscal deficit target will be met, capex expenditure won't be cut and GDP growth will surpass 7.5%.
The major beneficiaries have been the ministries of roads and highways, railways and power
Research and ratings agencies like Icra and Moody's have said the CAD in 2018-19 would be much higher than 2017-18
Data on the new series given by a panel on real sector statistics shows that GDP grew by 10.23 per cent in 2007-08 and 10.78 per cent in 2010-11. There are some years for which the new figures show a deceleration in growth as well. The new series has 2011-12 as the base year while the earlier series had 2004-05 and 1993-94.
Officials say that such a list, to be updated on a real-time basis, will serve as a ready reckoner in identifying those committing multiple economic offences
Rumours in the bureaucracy on his successor include the names of Sajjid Chinoy of JP Morgan, Rathin Roy of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Neelkanth Mishra of Credit Suisse and the principal economic advisor, Sanjeev Sanyal.