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The Indian currency had hit record low of 57.32 against a dollar in June last year.
There was hope in some quarters that the interim Budget would boost sentiment and lay the groundwork for kick-starting the investment cycle, while staying on a path of fiscal consolidation.
Foreign investors are betting top dollar on the country as growth is likely to recover at a time when other emerging markets are battling macroeconomic adjustments.
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The rupee has fallen almost 20 per cent in the first four months of FY14, forcing the government to consider raising import duties on gold and non-essential luxury items.
FPIs, which are holding large exposures in Indian debt, could also be expected to book some capital gains as yields slide down
The three hour long meeting was attended by Secretaries of departments of Revenue, Expenditure, Financial services and Disinvestment.
The demand for extension of the GST cess regime among others was made by several state finance ministers at a pre-budget consultation called by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi. Besides, many states also demanded raising the share of the Union government in the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS). Currently, the central government and state government share in some CSS is 60:40 while in others it is 75:25.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to discuss state-level issues before finalising GST.
The US is the largest consumer of gems and jewellery in the world contributing nearly 40 per cent of global production. If India can tap the opportunity, its overall exports to the US could jump by 10 per cent to $ 11 billion this year.
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India's CAD -- the gap between inflow and outgo of foreign exchange -- widened to a record high of $88 billion or 4.8 per cent of the gross domestic product for the fiscal ended March 31, from $78.2 billion in 2011-2012, about 4.2 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.
No longer a discretion of the tax administrator, the audit of returns filed by taxpayers is now based on a selection by algorithms, notes Tarun Bajaj.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday.
The country's exports grew 5.37 per cent year-on-year to $27.24 billion in January 2021, mainly driven by healthy growth in pharma and engineering sectors, according to provisional data of the commerce ministry. Trade deficit during the month narrowed to $14.75 billion from $15.3 billion in January 2020. It was $15.44 billion in December 2020. Imports in January 2021 rose 2 per cent to $42 billion.
Investors booked profits at higher levels despite the growth oriented Budget.
Indirect tax collections saw only a meagre 3.5 per cent growth, as mop-up from Customs fell sharply on account of a drop in imports.
The country's exports grew by 47.19 per cent to $35.17 billion on account of healthy growth in the outbound shipments of petroleum, engineering, and gems and jewellery, according to the provisional data of the commerce ministry. Imports during the month also rose by 59.38 per cent to $46.40 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $11.23 billion. Exports of petroleum, engineering, and gems and jewellery in July increased to $3.82 billion, $2.82 billion and $1.95 billion respectively, the data showed.
There are high hopes that the Budget for 2014-15 to be presented in Parliament may actually not tinker with the threshold limit or the other tax slabs but could provide reliefs by incentivising savings.
Jaitley said direct tax collection was up 12.01 per cent at Rs 5.53 lakh crore in April-December 2016 as compared to revenue in the year-ago period, while indirect tax receipts soared 25 per cent to Rs 6.30 lakh crore.
The 47th GST Council meeting that is currently underway is slated to discuss a host of issues, including a mechanism for compensating states for revenue loss, tax rate tweaks in some items and relaxed registration norms for small online suppliers. Further, the meeting of the Council, chaired by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state counterparts, will also clear levying the highest tax of 28 per cent on online games, casinos and horse racing, besides, measures to curb tax evasion, especially devising ways to tackle high-risk taxpayers in GST. "The meeting is being chaired by Hon'ble Union Minister of Finance @nsitharaman and many important decisions are expected to be taken at the meet," PIB Chandigarh tweeted.
Smart investors fine tune their investments as per the Budget announcements to make the best possible use of tax deductions and other sops.
C Rangarajan, chairman, Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council tells Business Standard that the measures taken by the government will lead to economic growth of at least 6 per cent in FY14 against a decadal-low growth of 5 per cent in FY13.
Retail jewellers may be exempted as customers are allowed to buy jewellery up to Rs 200,000 in cash
The Sensex ended down 134 points at 28,559 and the Nifty ended 35 points lower at 8,554
The group has called for a retaliatory tariff action against India, if New Delhi does not roll back the 'unilateral and discriminatory' equalisation levy or Google Tax.
'To simply let the rupee depreciate to any level according to market forces will not be in the country's interests.'
ITC has introduced differentiated cigarettes like Gold Flake Indie Mint, Gold Flake Neo and Classic Rich & Smooth in the premium end. Godfrey, too, introduced flavoured variants like Four Square Clove Crush in the mid-tier segment and has seven variants of the Marlboro brand for India.
After staging a strong recovery from COVID-induced slowdown in 2021, India's exports are likely to extend the growth story to the New Year also on increased demand in the global markets, boost in domestic manufacturing due to production-linked incentive schemes and implementation of some interim trade pacts. Expectations of positive growth in the country's exports are also backed up by the outlook of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which predicts a 4.7 per cent expansion in the global merchandise trade volume in 2022. Exporters believe that the outbound shipments would cross $400 billion mark in this fiscal going by the current momentum and may reach $475 billion in 2022-23.
Dealers with turnover of Rs 2 crore and above covered; industry says threshold too low
'Mere fundamentals will not do the trick,' cautions former commerce secretary Rahul Khullar.
Stocks to watch: Videocon, Blue Star, Hitachi, MIRC Electronics, BPL, Whirlpool, Gitanjali, Titan Group
It is high time to manoeuvre the rupee more effectively and predictably, even as it has to be recognised that such tweaking of the rupee needs to be accompanied by reforms to the real sector and factor markets.
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The government on Tuesday announced hikes in import duties for gold and silver, but it has yet to unveil other details such as its plan to tax imports of non-essential items.
'Chidambaram, lots of people argue not without justification, is all about bluff and bluster without any concrete achievement on the ground. His record in the finance ministry fully endorses that view,' argues Virendra Kapoor.
To help compare numbers better, FinMin might retain the interim Budget Estimates with the new ones.
The fall in reserves was due to a sharp fall in foreign currency assets.
The BJP seems wanting to return to a 'Tamil Hindutva' agenda for elections in Tamil Nadu, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
A look back at many memorable moments in his life as Prince Charles.
According to report by Dun and Bradstreet, central bank expected to maintain status quo on policy rate.
Metal sector is not too happy from Budget announcements for the sector
Spotlight likely on cement, metals, road cos
