The Budget oration of the finance minister and the confidence with which she delivered it, along with the measures and the recent upsurge in the economy would all contribute to unleashing the storied 'animal spirits' and help the economy run on the growth path quite smoothly. Or so the government hopes, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
The plea also states that the petitioners are also questioning why or how the project constitutes an "essential service", merely because some executive mandated contractual deadline has to be met.
There will be no second term for President Kovind and no elevation for Vice President Naidu.
North Block is concerned that when India is trying to attract more investment, putting up restrictions on audit firms could create an avoidable bad advertisement.
Given the pressure from India Inc and the banking fraternity, it is surmised that the portfolio rejig will take place before April.
The telecom industry, he said, is vital to the nation and the digital agenda of the government.
The speed at which he led the central bank in different areas -- ranging from internal reorganisation to inflation fighting, stabilising the currency, taking on rogue corporations, cleaning up bank balance sheets, and opening the sector -- makes one believe that Rajan knew he had only three years to do his job. A fascinating excerpt from Tamal Bandyopadhyay's MUST-READ Roller Coaster: An Affair with Banking.
From the drones show to projection mapping show, this year's ceremony also presented quite a few firsts.
Around 10 pm, teams of about 15-16 officers entered the compound of the headquarters and history was made.
'If the current mood in North Block, headquarters of the finance ministry, is anything to go by, the government will now keep a closer watch on all kinds of schemes and projects undertaken by different central ministries. 'The next six months will determine which central schemes will have to be wound up and which ones will survive the axe,' says A K Bhattacharya.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is quintessentially a modest man and no wonder he has politely declined to inaugurate the pavilion named after him at the JSCA Stadium, ahead of India's third ODI against Australia.
This is not her first stint in North Block or in leading a major economic ministry. She started Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first term as minister of state for finance, was made the commerce minister, and then became the defence minister.
Goyal is expected to discuss the targets for the banks for 2019-20, as well as priority sector lending, recovery on non-performing assets, and the bankruptcy proceedings of various companies, which owe money to the banks.
Four Telugu desam Party members of Parliament on Saturday gheraoed Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde outside his North Block office and demanded inclusion in the GoM on Telangana of representatives from the joint action committee protesting against the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
Bandyopadhyay, a 1987-batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre, was scheduled to retire on May 31 after completion of 60 years of age. However, he was granted a three-month extension following a nod from the Centre.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the much-awaited 2022-23 Union Budget on February 1. While there has been strong recovery in some sectors, touch services like hospitality, tourism and leisure continue to suffer after two Covid-19 waves. Household savings have been hit due to increased spending on health care. Consumption has still not reached pre-pandemic levels.
The FM's proposal on new banks and a Financial Stability and Development Council could spark tension with RBI.
Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg is the finance ministry's primary liaison with the RBI.
The President's House will also be lit with such a system within three months, an official said.
The Assam-Mizoram violence is an outcome of BJP trying too hard to 'integrate' distinct northeastern states, explains Shekhar Gupta.
The levy of retrospective tax on the UK's Cairn Energy Plc is a tale of bizarre twists and turns that saw its attached shares being sold in May 2018 amid the passing of the baton from a full-time finance minister to interim one and the talks at the highest level to resolve the dispute, to claims that levy of back taxes was a result of an investigation into Panama Papers leak. The government late last month refunded about Rs 7,900 crore it had collected from selling residual shares of the British firm in its erstwhile India unit, seizing dividend and withholding tax refunds, to settle an eight-year-old dispute that had tarred the country's reputation as an investment destination. But, this did not come about easily. For seven years, the establishment vehemently justified in courts and outside seeking of Rs 10,247 crore in back taxes plus interest and penalty from a firm that gave India its biggest onshore oil discovery.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has assured Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that the Rs 12.05-trillion gross borrowing programme for FY22 will go through smoothly.
Pranab Mukherjee's stewardship of the economy will stand out as much for the manner in which he managed controversies as for creating quite a few of them, says A K Bhattacharya.
Insisting that Vijay Mallya was not given even "a rupee benefit" under the Modi government, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that loans were reportedly given to the businessman during the previous United Progressive Alliance rule through intervention of the North Block, a reference to the finance ministry.
"His (Chidambaram) arrest is good news. He is now cornered from all sides," Indrani Mukerjea told reporters in a sessions court where she was produced to attend trial in the case of killing of her daughter Sheena Bora.
If the new governor can think out of the box even as he signals that he can bat for the RBI cadre and respect its institutional memory, that will go a long way in getting out of the current impasse.
The government is likely to restrict foreign direct investment in stock exchanges to 49 per cent. This follows a Reserve Bank of India suggestion for limiting FDI in stock exchanges some time ago.
The curtains have come down on the organisation that, for 64 years, was responsible for the country's planned development.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee defied protocol in a review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the post-cyclonic situation in the state and is misleading on the controversy surrounding chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, said Government of India (GoI) sources.
While the main building of the National Archives will remain intact, its annexe will be demolished and a new building will be constructed, officials said.
Accountability must be linked to minimising infructuous demands and tracking recovery
Government offices located in New Delhi's central area, including North Block and South Block, will be closed from 2 pm on Thursday till 9:30 am on Friday in connection with the 'Run for Unity' to be flagged off by Prime Minster Narendra Modi.
'My health is fine but I am getting admitted to hospital on advice of doctors,' tweeted Shah after testing positive for COVID-19.
For his first Budget in July 2014, Jaitley inherited a fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of GDP. From 4.1 per cent, the fiscal deficit came down to 3.4 per cent by 2018-19, with two slippages from the budgeted targets, in 2017-18 and 2018-19, the former due to introduction of the GST, says Arup Roychoudhury.
Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and four others were on Friday granted bail by a Delhi court in connection with a case relating to Aam Aadmi Party's agitation near North block in New Delhi in January this year.
He underwent a renal transplant on May 14 and on the same day, his ministerial charges were given to Piyush Goyal on an interim basis.
The new Parliament building will be constructed close to the existing one under the Central Vista redevelopment project, and it is expected to be completed in 21 months.
The 42-metre-high sandstone monument, sometimes compared to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris was laid down by Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to withdraw the Centre's order recalling Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, and said her government 'is not releasing' the top bureaucrat.
