Gold and silver imports during April, 2013 jumped by 138 per cent to $7.5 billion against $3.1 billion in the year-ago period.
East European countries have better rating than India though their economies are not as stable as the latter.
Gold imports in 2011-12 amounted to $56.5 billion and in the current financial year, till December, they are estimated at $38 billion.
In less than five months of resuming charge of the finance ministry, Palaniappan Chidambaram has put in place virtually a new team to take charge of the government's fiscal policy management in the remaining months of its tenure. Will the celebrated economists and IAS officers share the required equation remains to be seen.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram, also cleared the proposal of Decathlon Sports India's proposal for induction of foreign equity worth Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) to engage in single brand retail.
With rupee plunging to life-time low of 57.54 verus dollar, the Finance Ministry on Monday said there is an unwarranted panic in the market and hoped it will settle down in a some time.
The sluggish market situation notwithstanding, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday clarified to ministry officials he wouldn't accept any slippage in the government's Budget divestment target of Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) for this financial year.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board, headed by DEA Secretary Arvind Mayaram, approved the proposal at its meeting in New Delhi.
A high-level meeting will be convened soon to decide on probing the India operations of Chinese Telecom companies -- 'Huawei' and 'ZTE' -- against the backdrop of the US calling the two firms a threat to American national security.
The group proposes to invest Rs 10,500 crore in single-brand retail trading in India through a 100 per cent subsidiary.
Industry is demanding a cut in repo rate to help revive India's sagging GDP growth that hit decade's low of 4.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2012-13.
Asked if the RBI will cut rates in its upcoming policy review, he said the central bank will definitely factor into account various developments and make an assessment of the macro economic conditions.
The rupee has lost over 2.5 per cent in the two trading days of this week and nearly 10 per cent in the past six weeks on concerns of scaling down of stimulus packages by the US.
The ministry sought to allay the rating agency's concerns and said economic growth was on an upward swing.
The Department of Disinvestment proposes to begin the stake sale process in September.
In his maiden Budget presented in Parliament on July 10, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has tried to provide relief to the middle class by increasing tax exemption limit by Rs 50,000 to Rs 250,000.
Rajan has shifted from the conventional ground floor room occupied by CEAs to a room on the first floor, adjacent to Chidambaram's office.
The Finance Ministry on Saturday said there is no dilution of the permission granted to the Swedish furniture major Ikea to set up its business in India, as the Rs 10,500 crore (Rs 105 billion) investment proposal is limited to only single brand retailing.
Claiming that the fundamentals of the economy are 'very strong', the newly-appointed economic affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram said, 'we already have a roadmap to be followed for fiscal consolidation.
The government is committed to restricting fiscal deficit at 5.3 per cent of GDP this financial year and has no immediate plans to go for additional market borrowings, a senior government official said.
The finance ministry has already raised the fiscal deficit target to a more acceptable level of 5.3 per cent.
A government panel on Tuesday proposed raising foreign investment limits in sectors like defence, multi-brand retail and telecommunications, to spur investment in the country and tide over the Current Account Deficit woes.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared setting up of Cabinet Committee on Investment for providing expeditious clearances to major projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion).
Although it has not been able to sell stake in any PSU so far this fiscal, the government will be able to meet the Rs 30,000 crore disinvestment target set for 2012-13, according to Department of Economic Affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram.
The CIL disinvestment has been hanging fire because of opposition from the trade unions. Mayaram's statement that the coal major will have to pay a higher dividend comes as the government makes efforts to meet its Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) disinvestment target.
"I dont think we will be able to contain fiscal deficit to our Budget plan of 5.1 per cent (of GDP). It could be 5.2 to 5.3 per cent, which is doable," Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters in New Delhi.
The foreign investment regulator cleared a decision on Vodafone Group Plc's $1.6 billion plan to take full ownership of its local unit.
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Gold prices on Tuesday rose by Rs 227 to Rs 28,418 per 10 gm in futures trade, largely on speculative positions created by participants amid a firming trend at the spot market.
Indian government has hiked the import duty on refined gold three times since January 1 and it now is at a record 10 per cent.
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Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram said India had brought its fiscal deficit down more sharply and quickly than any other country, but managing the current account deficit was more complicated because the government had less control of it.
His nomination is effective from November 11, 2014, RBI said on Monday.
Seeking to spur foreign investments, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said the Union Cabinet will decide on raising FDI caps in different sectors in the third week of this month.
The setting is expected to be less structured than the prime minister's introductory mega meeting with top bureaucrats soon after taking charge as PM
The minister would be accompanied by Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram and other finance ministry officials.
Two personnel of Border Roads Organisation were on Saturday killed and several others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up near a convoy of Indian road construction workers in south west Afghanistan. Nearly 400 BRO personnel are engaged in construction of a key highway between Zaranj and Delaram in Afghanistan as part of India's assistance programme for reconstruction of the war-torn country.
India's economic growth had slumped to a decade's low of five per cent in 2012-13.
The rural co-operative credit sector in the country is set to get a boost with $1 billion loan from the Asian Development Bank to the centre.
In a first, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met the secretaries of all the government departments collectively and asked them to directly get in touch with him to resolve issues and expedite decision-making.
The shift was sudden, quite unlike Shukla's departure from North Block, which had been anticipated for some months even before Singh''s first Budget.
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