The demand growth in the low-income category is expected to be driven mainly by packaged branded sugar as well as traditionally consumed gur (jaggery) and khandsari.
Maharashtra Sports Minister Manikrao Kokate challenges his conviction in a 1995 cheating and forgery case, facing potential loss of his cabinet post and assembly seat.
The speculation about the likely cabinet reshuffle in Maharashtra strengthened on Saturday, with senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule stressing that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' discretion is supreme among allies.
'Women' as a political constituency appears to be an idea that has come of age. It is changing India in ways that we only dimly understand, asserts Aditi Phadnis.
Following the lacklustre growth numbers in the second quarter (Q2FY25), economists believe the upcoming Union Budget for 2025-26 should focus on reforms that will stimulate consumption, manufacturing and spur employment. India's growth unexpectedly slowed to 5.4 per cent in the second quarter, due to low capital formation, weak consumption, besides adverse weather impact.
Several residents of a housing complex built by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) under a Gujarat government scheme have been staging protests against the allotment of a flat to a Muslim woman, saying the locality is meant only for Hindus.
The new scheme may be announced before the Lok Sabha elections.
While political experts claim that the Modi Magic is missing in the 2024 general election, the common people in the street -- at least those in the crowd on Thursday -- vow that they will vote for Modi and the candidate who contests the election doesn't matter much.
'Not even a single rupee from the electoral bonds should be allowed to be used in the election.' 'If it is used in the election, it will taint India's electoral process itself.'
The high court also directed that engineers involved in shoddy constructions using public money be brought to book.
According to a 2021 Redseer report, India's overseas education market is estimated to more than double to $80 billion by 2024.
7 states account for over 80 per cent of the total direct tax collections by the Union government.
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has arrested a person who the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) said has emerged as the mastermind of the racket of incorporating a large number of shell companies with Chinese links in India.
Mortgage lender HDFC on Wednesday said it has approved the highest ever retail home loans of over Rs 2 lakh crore in 2021-22. The demand for these loans was from across the country, HDFC said in a statement. HDFC managing director Renu Sud Karnad said, "In over four and half decades, I have not seen a better time for the housing sector than now due to lower interest rates, stable property prices, government's thrust on affordable housing, improved affordability, favourable demographics, increasing urbanisation and rising aspirations." The residential real estate segment will continue to see strong traction going forward, as the demand for housing is not just pent up demand but is a structural one, she said.
The Budget, to be presented on February 1, is likely to be less worried about fiscal deficit and will be focused more on nursing the fragile growth, according to a Wall Street brokerage report. Bank of America Securities India expects the budget to peg "fiscal deficit at a high 5 per cent of GDP for FY22 and 7.2 per cent for FY21, as it is likely to step up capex, recap public sector banks, push asset sales to break government monopolies, offer sops for real estate, tax cuts for lower income groups and creation of a bad bank". Its house economists expect these spends to be funded by debt and partly by imposing a cess on high income groups and also by some non-fiscal measures like tapping the central bank's revaluation reserves and bank recapitalisation and infra bonds.
Many people are not maintaining social distance and do not wear masks, exposing themselves to the infection, experts say.
The Kerala High Court on Wednesday issued notice to India cricket captain Virat Kohli and the state government in a plea seeking ban on online gambling in the state.
As per the latest finance ministry data, the total balance in over 36.06 crore Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts was at Rs 1,00,495.94 crore as on July 3.
Lauding the farm sector for demonstrating resilience during the pandemic, the Economic Survey on Friday suggested the government to see farm sector as a "modern business enterprise" for which "urgent reforms" are required to enable sustainable and consistent growth. India's agricultural sector has shown its resilience amid the adversities of COVID-19 induced lockdowns, the Survey noted. The agriculture and allied activities were the sole bright spot amid the slide in GDP performance of other sectors, clocking a growth rate of 3.4 per cent at constant prices during 2020-21, it added. According to the Survey, the farm sector has got "renewed thrust" due to various measures on credit, market reforms and food processing under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat announcements.
Because he knows Odisha; and Odisha knows him, observes Aditi Phadnis.
The essence of financial inclusion is to ensure that a range of appropriate financial services is available to every individual and enable them to understand and access those services.
He maintained that the experience of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission has been 'mixed' since it was launched in December 2005.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced Yuva air-conditioned (AC) trains to be introduced for the youth whereby one would have to pay Rs 299 for distances upto 1,500 km and Rs 399 for distances upto 2,500 km. The Railways will also start non-stop trains, Turonta for the first time in history. The 12 trains include - Howrah-Mumbai, Chennai-Delhi, Delhi-Pune, Howrah-Delhi, Kolkata-Amritsar, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Delhi-Jammu, Delhi-Allahabad.
'Blue collar jobs like those of a driver, cook, guard have a steady demand at all times. Many people competent in these domains would be looking out for these jobs at any given point in time. Keeping this in mind, Airtel has made use of communication services and launched this offering to bridge the demand and supply gap,' V Venkatesh, CEO, Mobile Servies, Bharti Airtel, Karnataka, said.
In a sectoral analysis of exports, the Confederation of Indian Industries said India needs to become among the top three exporters in the world in four sectors -- textile, leather, gems and jewellery and engineering. It said exports to new markets of Latin America and Caribbean and Africa should be given a push for achieving the $500 billion by 2013.
President Bush has signed the economic stimulus package, to give a booster shot to US economy.
The Chennai-based Star Health and Allied Insurance Co, the country's first stand-alone health insurance company, plans to expand its product basket by launching at least five new products in the next 3-4 months.
With demand for dwelling units slated to grow to 80 million for the lower middle and low income groups, involving an estimated investment of $670 billion, the housing sector will see four million new jobs by 2015.
The US Congress has called for restraint or perhaps even a "return" of some of the profits announced by oil giants, in order to help low-income groups to meet the heating oil bills this winter.
A Non-Resident Indian charitable body has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh not to tax income from NRI deposits saying such a move will be a big blow to the Indians in the Gulf, majority of whom are from low income groups.
In an attempt to woo the low income group, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd on Tuesday announced a new scheme `Sulabh' for basic phone subscribers with the facility of only incoming calls at rentals ranging between Rs 99 to Rs 160 a month.
All laws have been modified to omit the domicile clause for property rights in the valley. This effectively means that anyone with enough money to spend can now technically buy property there, writes Sai Manish.
Stamp duty, registration to be included in loan calculation
Aiming to provide temporary shelter for migrants and homeless people, the government is firming up a new initiative to launch a rental housing project in the big cities.
The union had threatened to go on strike on April 28, but later deferred the proposed strike till May 15.
The proposals before the ministry is to hike the tax exemption limit from the existing Rs 250,000 per annum to at least Rs 300,000 if not 500,000.
Gates stressed on promoting quality and user friendly toilets to ensure their proper use.
'If they really wanted to give him competition, the AIADMK should have contested the seat, not its ally the PMK.'
India has been put in lockdown to halt the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. People have been told to stay indoors, but for many daily-wage earners this is not an option.
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