In a Q&A with Doordarshan, Jaitley discusses how he chose the areas on which he would spend more.
Pranab Mukherjee proposed the enhancement of the overall plan budget for higher education by Rs 2,000 crore over the Interim Budget estimates. He further announced the allocation of Rs 2,113 crore for IITs and NITs, which includes a provision of Rs 450 crore for new IITs and NITs. The finance minister also proposed to allocate Rs 827 crore for opening one central university in each uncovered state.
While the likelihood of these states going the Lanka or Greece way may be an alarming assessment, the financial situation of some states such as Punjab and West Bengal is indeed quite weak.
Reeling under a series of derailments, the Budget is likely to announce creation of a separate safety fund of about Rs 1 lakh crore over the next five years.
The Centre's capital expenditure (capex) outlay for the April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1) of 2022-23 (FY23) could be close to Rs 1.5 trillion, Business Standard has learnt. As a percentage of full-year capex Budget Estimates (BE) of Rs 7.5 trillion, this could be at similar levels to the trends in the past few fiscal years. It is in the July-September quarter (Q2) of FY23 that capex is expected to pick up, when a bulk of the long-term capex loans to states are expected to be expended.
Policymakers are examining the possibility of increasing the tax-free slab to Rs 5 lakh in the two-year-old alternative personal income tax regime to make it attractive, a government official said. At present, taxpayers don't pay income tax if their taxable income is Rs 2.5 lakh and below. Increasing the threshold will reduce the tax outgo for assessees, thereby leaving more money with them to invest, the official said.
The railways total earnings recorded an 8.3 per cent growth at Rs 33,900 crore (Rs 339 billion) up to December this year as compared to the corresponding period in the previous year.
Siddaramaiah, who hails from the shepherd Kuruba caste, holds the record for presenting the highest number of Budgets in Karnataka -- 13 so far. He has often spoken about how he was mocked in 1994 before he presented his first Budget. 'Some people asked, "Can he count sheep?",' Siddaramaiah told a regional news channel.
The free food scheme is driven by electoral considerations, but its long-term fiscal risks outweigh the short-term gains, cautions A K Bhattacharya.
Australia has said it would not pursue the case of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange with the United States any further as it no longer serves the country's interests.
To understand Modi, listen to what he does not say -- vide NRC, suggests Prem Panicker.
D R Dogra, managing director and CEO, Care Ratings, says that the finance minister should start the process of fiscal consolidation from his Budget 2010-11.
Spectrum auction and divestment proceeds likely to disappoint, subsidies are likely to overshoot the Budget target and there might also be some shortfall in tax collections.
Australia's state of Victoria will not host the 2026 Commonwealth Games due to projected cost overruns.
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.
The finance ministry may succeed in collecting over Rs 2,52,900 crore (Rs 2,529 billion) in taxes to meet the revised estimate for 2003-04 despite hefty refunds.
Pencilling in a GDP growth in third and fourth quarters, SBI Research on Wednesday revised its contraction forecast for the current fiscal year to 7 per cent. The agency had earlier forecast a 7.4 per cent contraction in 2020-21 GDP numbers. In April-September, the economy contracted 15.7 per cent but the second half may see a surprise 2.8 per cent growth, if the SBI analysis turns out to be correct.
'Given the 50 per cent or thereabouts increase in borrowing that has been announced, it is a reasonable estimate to say that at this time, an increase of 1.7-1.8 per cent on the 3.5 per cent budgeted fiscal deficit target is being anticipated,' Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian said on Friday.
Concerned by GDP slowdown and unrealistic tax targets, the economists urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to implement long-term structural steps like land and labour reforms. Warning against any off-Budget financing the economists said the government should prepare a statement of intent for its social, rural and welfare sector expenditure.
India is set to add 10,000 budget hotel rooms in the next two years in response to the burgeoning demand for low-cost accommodation across the country.
Though India is one of the fastest growing economies, how big is the country's budget compared to other countries in the world?
Various indicators make it amply clear that there are grave challenges facing the new government of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, reports Indivjal Dhasmana.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement of providing free inoculation to all adults will entail total spending of anywhere between Rs 45,000 crore and Rs 50,000 crore. This is higher than Rs 35,000 crore that the government had budgeted.
The Budget estimate of 2009-10 includes a sum of Rs 35,000 crore as expected revenue from auction of 3G spectrum, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said in Budget papers.
The states will be able to raise additional open market loans of about Rs 21,000 crore (Rs 210 billion) in the current year, according to the 2009-10 Budget estimates presented on Monday. According to Budget estimates of 2009-10, the states' share of taxes and duties is expected to increase to Rs 1,64,361 crore (Rs 1,643.61 billion) against Rs 1,60,179 crore (Rs 1,601.79 billion) in 2008-09.
M Govinda Rao hopes the Budget will contain the deficit while continuing to create conditions for pushing growth.
Under the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12), Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.5 billion) was provided for promoting exports through Market Access Initiative scheme.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Saturday presented a tax-free budget for financial year 2010-11 with an outlay of Rs 1,13,675 crore (Rs 1.13 trillion) and a projected expenditure of Rs 1,13,660 crore.
The battle on creating jobs is virtually lost. If the battle for achieving higher growth too is lost, then its political consequences could become difficult to manage, says A K Bhattacharya.
For first time in 8 yrs, stake sale proceeds could exceed Budget Estimates. ONGC's acquisition of HPCL alone could get the exchequer more than Rs 30,000 crore.
The increased plan allocation from the Centre is expected to help Delhi complete various projects related to next year's Commonwealth Games. The city got Rs 814 crore for projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, while Rs 315.82 crore has been proposed for providing basic services to the urban poor. The total allocation also includes Rs 1,129.82 crore given to the city under urban infrastructure development for small and medium towns.
High crude oil prices in 2008 have left the government richer by a few thousand crore rupees. In 2008-09, the government earned "windfall profits" from the petroleum sector as crude oil prices spiked, touching a high of $147 in July 2008.
Benchmark indices closed higher on the last day of August, amid volatile trading session led by FMCG and IT shares.
Because of the economic slowdown, the actual corporation tax collection in 2012-13 was at Rs 3,56,326 crore (Rs 3,563.26 billion), up 10.4 per cent year-on-year as against 15.6 per cent estimated in the Budget.
A well-established tax system would have a predictable buoyancy - how fast the collections grow as a proportion to the growth of the economy. But that is not the case with GST. It is still undergoing substantial changes as the government responds to structural as well as administrative glitches.
Ahead of India's annual budget presentation next week, IMF's chief economist Gita Gopinath has favoured the extension of the pandemic support measures, thrust on investment in infrastructure and expanding health sectors programmes like Ayushman Bharat, and a very credible divestment path for commercially viable companies. The Indian government has provided a lot of schemes for small and medium enterprises, most of which is in the form of liquidity support, Gopinath told PTI on Tuesday. "And you want to revisit it and see how effectively that is working and see whether additional support may need to be provided," she said while responding to a question on her recommendations to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, ahead of her presentation of the annual Union Budget on February 1. It would be a good time for banks and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) to raise capital given the attractiveness of financing conditions at this point, she said.
The finance ministry plans to work out its borrowing calendar.
The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council warned of serious fiscal risks from growing off-Budget liabilities, which are estimated at 5 per cent of gross domestic product in 2008-09. This would be much more the budgeted central government deficit of 2.5 per cent of GDP for the year.
The Budget for 2018-19 has at least five takeaways that are yet to receive adequate attention, says A K Bhattacharya.
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