The ministry is awaiting some more data in the next few days to arrive at a precise number.
Reservations expressed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notwithstanding, North Block, the finance ministry headquarters, is going ahead with its plans to set up a full-fledged Debt Management Office (DMO) to manage the government debt.
Finance ministry officials said the issue had been raised several times before, but this time it was serious in the wake of huge differential between the two fuel options.
With the finance ministry facing the risk of missing its tax collection target this year, it has turned down a proposal to reduce duties on petroleum products to reduce the impact of rising crude prices on profitability of oil companies.
With the setting up of the watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) and introduction of new legislation like the Direct Taxes Code and the Goods & Services Tax scheduled next year, private companies and consultancies are looking at the government pool of civil servants to meet their requirements.
After getting periodic extensions, the 14-year-old tax-refund scheme is finally coming to an end in June.
The victory of the Congress and its allies in three out of five states may make it easier for the United Progressive Alliance government to move forward on the Goods and Services Tax.
To better track generation of black money in the system, the finance ministry is planning to streamline third-party information provided on high-value transactions.
The finance ministry is also collating the data on entire food supply chain to identify the bottlenecks in the process.
In its drive against tax evasion, the finance ministry is planning to add to the list of high-value transactions required to be reported to the revenue department in annual information returns (AIRs).
Ministry wants to take views of industry on the issue, before giving its opinion to the Securities & Exchange Board of India.
French auction was tried for two issues - NTPC Ltd and Rural Electrification Corporation - in 2009-10.
Says it is worried a general pardon will send wrong signal
It is now clear that the revised takeover code and the Bimal Jalan committee report will not be implemented soon and in the same form, since the finance ministry wants to seek industry views on these two sets of recommendations this month, before the market regulator could take a decision.
In the Budget for 2011-12, the government revised the tax mop-up target for 2010-11 to Rs. 4.46 lakh crore for direct taxes and Rs. 3.36 lakh crore for indirect taxes.
Finance ministry has halved the tax rate on foreign dividend from 30 per cent to 15 per cent, but the rebate is allowed only for the financial year 2011-12.
The Bill's 2007 version covered only MFIs not regulated by the Reserve Bank of India.
Economic Affairs Secretary R Gopalan, who retains charge of financial services, has shown an ability to grasp ground realities in pushing critical reforms.
Even as some government departments have raised concerns on the Bill in its present form, the finance ministry has decided not to delay any further and may table it in Parliament next week.
"There is a lot of opposition from the garment industry, but we are not in favour of a complete rollback of the duty. We understand their concerns and will try to address these. We may simplify some procedures for them," said a finance ministry official.
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