A K Bhattacharya lists three reasons why Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will most likely present a full Budget on February 1, 2019.
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.
Jaitley, who was the finance minister before a medical procedure led to the charge being temporarily taken away from him, missed presenting the sixth and final Budget of the Narendra Modi government before the general elections. In his absence, the charge of the ministry was given to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal.
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.
The finance minister is ready to present a second financial package. The Centre has ruled out a mega stimulus and will rely on targeted, incremental packages. Industry is clamouring for a bailout, the liquidity upheaval in capital markets is nowhere close to being sorted out, and all budgetary forecasts now stand irrelevant, reports Arup Roychoudhury.
Relations between the Mint Road and North Block have often been frosty, with the former's calls for lowering rates being the biggest point of difference
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.
A few market and economic indicators have begun looking up, thanks to what many term the 'Rajan effect'.
It was not immediately clear when Garg submitted his voluntary retirement scheme application to the government. It was also not known if the government would accept the application. If he hadn't applied for VRS, he would have retired from government service at the end of October 2020 on attaining of 60 years of age. Garg did not answer phone calls seeking his comments.
Amid a controversy over the probe into coal block allocation, Central Bureau of Investigation Director Ranjit Sinha on Friday discussed various matters related to the functioning of the central investigating agency with Minister of State for Personnel V Narayanasamy.
Goyal said India has been recognised as brightest spot in the world in last five years.
The RBI's strategy to feed dollars to oil marketing companies directly from its dwindling reserves is not sustainable
The 66-year-old finance minister underwent a successful kidney transplant surgery in mid-May and was on leave since April due to kidney-related problems and chest infection.
The immediate priority for the new governor will be to draft the mid-quarter review
Kumar Mangalam Birla on Friday says he hasn't done any wrong and is not worried about CBI case against him in coal block allocation.
The Aam Aadmi Party, led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, is scheduled to hold a 'dharna' outside Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's office demanding action against Delhi Police personnel for alleged dereliction of duty.
Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd Mukesh Ambani and his younger brother Anil today met Home Minister P Chidambaram separately at his North Block office within a span of 50 minutes.
The response by the finance ministry and the RBI to the churning in financial markets is mature.
Among the panels announced on Thursday is the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) to be headed by the prime minister with Shah as the other member.
Bureaucrats heading disinvestment and financial services usually don't get appointed as finance secretary.
The finance minister could not take the oath earlier in Parliament due to his ill-health.
FinMin has already sought inputs from different central ministries for the Budget speech, which would be the last Budget of the current BJP-led NDA government before the 2019 general polls.
The RBI is understood to be dithering since it would want more clarity on the cost of the fiscal policies the new government would undertake before it decides to cut rates, even though it has pencilled in a lower gross domestic product growth rate for this fiscal year.
Having seen reinforcement from North Block, analysts have begun to see the silver lining in the Indian markets.
The sources said the ministry had agreed with the RBI's views that at a time when the country had a high fiscal deficit, the move might not be appropriate.
A large number of women activists and students on Friday marched towards Rashtrapati Bhavan to protest against the gang-rape of a young girl in a moving bus and demand stringent action against rapists.
The distance between North Block and Mint Road has been growing for quite some time. The latest evidence of tension is the finance ministry's decision to introduce a clause in the Banking Amendment Bill allowing banks to trade in commodity futures, despite the central bank's reservations on the issue.
This means only about 8000 employees will be left with the carrier over the next five years.
The existing building is a British-era building, designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker who were responsible for planning and construction of New Delhi.
In the absence of the aviation policy, all decisions in aviation sector are left to the whims and fantasy of the ministry.
Besides expanding the equity base of the premier Indian carrier, a major reason for Goyal to dilute part of his shareholding in Jet from 80 per cent has been the FIPB order to bring it down to regulatory levels.
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 prime minister has been careful to say the right things about foreign investment and animal spirits; some of the more controversial aspects of the Mukherjee era are being given a high-profile review.
According to the report, Indian economy is headed for a "perfect storm" worse than 1991 because government's cashflow by March 2013 is threatening to be Rs 110,000 crore (Rs 1,100 billion) more in the red than the expected Rs 500,000 crore (Rs 5,000 billion).
One animal seems to have heard the Prime Minister's call to revive animal spirits in the economy.
Mukherjee has always been obliging to mediapersons waiting for comments outside his North Block office on various issues plaguing the economy and sometimes on politics.
There could be multiple measures announced in quick succession, not only by the finance minister but also other ministers regarding their respective sectors, and by the Reserve Bank of India. The total size of these announcements could rival that of other G-20 nations as a percentage of GDP.
Pranab Mukherjee will begin the fortnight-long pre-budget brainstorming sessions with various stakeholders.
Mr Chidambaram is known for his ability to think up new taxes to collect more revenue, and a tax for the super-rich could be one of those ideas he might introduce in the coming Budget.
A year ago, India's GDP was expected to grow at 8.2 per cent. Instead it is growing at 5.3 per cent.
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