Sitharaman exhorted the states to work together with the Centre, stating that while the Union government sets the direction of economic growth, it is for the states to ensure effective implementation on the ground.
The revised estimated expenditure for FY20 has been pegged at Rs 26.99 lakh crore and receipts at Rs 19.32 lakh crore, she said.
We should work in unison to boost growth: FM
The government, it would seem, is reserving its firepower to spend on big-ticket items that will be announced in the Budget, reports Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
In a first, the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) officers reached out to several ministries in the last week of April as part of a confidence-boosting measure. The meeting brought the CAG officials and those from the ministries across the table to discuss the pain points in their relations. CAG of India Girish Chandra Murmu took this novel step because of growing tensions between those audited and the auditor.
The 14th Finance Commission had recommended that states' share in the divisible tax pool be raised to 42 per cent, from 32 per cent earlier.
The BJP chief exuded confidence that the party would retain power at the Centre in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls with more strength.
Andhra Pradesh has been demanding a Special Category State status from the Centre ever since the state's economic powerhouse Hyderabad, which housed several IT and pharmaceutical companies as well as PSUs, went to Telengana in the bifurcation
He was commenting on a reply given by Jaitley to a question in Rajya Sabha.
Ramesh Menon, the veteran journalist suggests Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi what he should do if he wants to win 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
'All of us have believed in decentralisation. You may not like property taxation, neither do I. My solution is that the Centre does the tax collection, but we can give a matching grant instead of redistribution,' says the outgoing CEA, Arvind Subramanian.
A Bench comprising Justice S B Sinha and Justice S H Kapadia took a serious view of the non-allocation of funds by the 12th Finance Commission to enable the continuance of the FTCs.
The BJP needs to win maximum number of seats from northeast to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi so that development of the region continues.
Budget for 2022-2023 has returned to its agenda for protectionism in the name of creating a self-reliant India, points out A K Bhattacharya.
States may face a GST compensation shortfall of Rs 3 lakh crore in the next financial year, a situation that will force them to borrow more from the markets, says a report. The states may face a shortfall of Rs 2.7-3 lakh crore as Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation from the Centre next fiscal. Out of that amount, the shortfall from cess collections will be at Rs 1.6-2 lakh crore, according to an Icra report released on Monday. In FY21, the states were facing a shortfall of Rs 1.1 lakh crore in GST compensation from the Centre but over 90 per cent of that amount has been cleared now.
Denied of any relief from the UPA-II government, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday pinned her hopes on the new BJP government at the Centre for a positive response on the state's huge debt repayment problem.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the government has begun an exercise to assess the impact of the pandemic on the economy and likely contraction in GDP, even as she did not rule out the possibility of another stimulus to boost growth.
FinMin does not expect tax or non-tax revenue to reach anywhere close to the targets set in the interim Budget. Sources say that the challenge before the new government will be either to accept the reduced projection and tailor the Budget accordingly or set a more ambitious target.
Budget has laid emphasis on increasing social spends
'We might have lacked somewhere but our commitment was absolute. We might have made mistakes and fallen short to some extent. We might not have done something but what did you do'
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).
IThe fiscal deficit target for 2020-2021 was originally set at 3.5 per cent of GDP. But the government's revenues have collapsed and its expenditure burden will only increase over the Budget estimates.' With the government having already planned for an additional borrowing of over Rs 4 trillion, the fiscal deficit for the current year would be much higher than the Budget estimate, notes A K Bhattacharya.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram will soon have to decide whether to stick by his predecessor's choice of former Reserve Bank governor Y V Reddy for chairmanship of the 14th Finance Commission, to be set up next month.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday and discussed issues related to the Maratha reservation, pending GST compensation and the proposed Metro car shed in Kanjur.
Economists say there aren't many options with the government at present, given the drought-like situation which would only spur its spending.
State governments want the Centre to direct the 14th Finance Commission to compensate states for implementing pay scales, to be recommended by the pay panel.
Other decisions piled up include rationalisation of GST rate slabs, correction of inverted duty on certain items and inclusion of petroleum products.
'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.
With less than five months left for the report of the Fifteenth Finance Commission to be submitted, its chairman N K Singh said the report will have fiscal road map for states, depending on their current situation.
Cities are setting the rules that now carry life and death implications for their residents, and most of these rules are sought to be set by the municipal authorities who have never wielded such power, reports Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
He also alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party wanted to create a Delhi-like situation in Puducherry and take power away from an elected government.
In line with the recommendations of the 12th and 13th Finance Commissions and the second Administrative Reforms Commission, the operational guidelines suggest shifting from the present cash-based accounting system to an accrual basis of accounting.
Outlay for infra is also expected to see a significant increase in view of the government's Rs 111-trillion investment plan under the national infrastructure pipeline to develop social and economic infrastructure over five years.
On the present government's 'Make in India' campaign, C Rangarajan, former chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, says it is important to first ask for whom it is being made.
Addressing a massive public rally to celebrate the signing of the accord on January 27 that is expected to bring lasting peace to the troubled state, Modi said now the time was to work together for peace and development of the North-East.
The Planning Commission projected the Centre's fiscal deficit to come down to three per cent of the gross domestic product.
The report was tabled by deputy chief minister S K Modi in the state assembly.
The government has made several region-wise and sector-wise allocations in its annual plan and budget proposals.
Experts have flagged issues regarding the levying of new cess/tax, especially those related to complications in administering the cess.
The panel, to be headed by Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Shymala Gopinath, will review the structure of the National Small Savings Fund and give recommendations on making schemes more flexible and market-linked.
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