The Budget speech of the FM for many parts sounded like a speech written by a women's liberation activist or a charming gentleman who knows to please women folk with sweet talk.
The Union Cabinet has cleared disinvestment of the country's largest insurer LIC and a panel headed by the finance minister will now decide on the quantum of stake dilution, a senior official said on Monday. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had in January appointed actuarial firm Milliman Advisors LLP India to assess the embedded value of LIC ahead of the IPO (initial public offering), which is touted to be the biggest public issue in Indian corporate history. The Budget amendments to the LIC Act has been notified and the actuarial firm is expected to finalise the embedded value of the life insurer. Under the embedded value method, the insurance company's present value of future profit is also included in its present net asset value.
President Xi Jinping on Monday vowed to build China's military into a "Great Wall of steel" to protect its sovereignty and developmental interests as he sought a bigger role for Beijing in global affairs, days after brokering a Saudi Arabia-Iran detente, regarded as a diplomatic coup.
In a bid to boost agriculture infrastructure, the government on Monday announced a cess on certain items, including petrol, diesel, gold and some imported agricultural products. While proposing the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said that care has been taken not to put additional burden on consumers on most items. There is an immediate need to improve agricultural infrastructure so that we produce more, while also conserving and processing agricultural output efficiently, the minister said in her Budget Speech in Lok Sabha.
First, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, much-lauded as a game changer, needs serious reform. Second, some vital policy choices would need to be made as far as competition law is concerned., says Somasekhar Sundaresan.
The new income tax regime for filing returns has been "sweetened" in the Budget 2023-24 and it will be beneficial for maximum number of taxpayers as they can enjoy a "reduced" tax rate, CBDT chairman Nitin Gupta said. Speaking to PTI during a post-Budget interview, Gupta said the intent of the government while announcing the new slabs and rates under the new tax regime is to gradually "do away with deductions and exemptions" so that the "long-standing demand of reduction of taxes for individual taxpayers and entities can be met." Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Budget 2023-24 in the Parliament on Wednesday, said the government has made the new income tax regime more attractive for taxpayers and has thus brought about 'substantial changes' in its structure for the benefit of the middle class.
The proposed move would help in cutting down compliance costs and reducing the friction between rules enacted by capital markets watchdog Sebi, depositories and government, experts said.
Replying to the debate in Lok Sabha on Motion of Thanks to President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the Parliament, Modi said the Congress' 'arrogance' has not gone away despite multiple electoral defeats and its 'misdeeds' seem to indicate that it has made up its mind not to come to power for the next 100 years.
No fare hike was announced in the Railway Budget for 2019.
Following the Budget being announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, leaders across the political spectrum provided their views.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday raised the personal income tax rebate limit, doled out sops on small savings and announced one of the biggest hikes in capital spending in the past decade as she did a tight rope walk in the Budget between staying fiscally prudent and meeting public expectations in the year before general elections.
The Budget will indicate where the Modi government stands on reforms, growth and development.
The bills were passed by voice vote.
Fiscal deficit has a bearing on sovereign rating of the country as well as the debt market.
Senior New Delhi-based journalist R Rajagopalan, who has been closely following the Union Budget preparations since 1977, lifts the veil off India's most secretive operation.
This Budget plans for an increase to 10.3% of GDP from 9.9%.
A new series of coins will be unveiled soon carrying the Rupee symbol, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced in the Budget.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley takes a protectionist stance in favour of domestic companies, increases customs duty on certain products.
The special package assistance would be used to augment irrigation structures in drought-prone areas to address the agrarian distress and drinking water crisis.
Budget could well determine if Achche Din will materialise
On the day of the Union Budget on February 28, Indian stocks had fallen sharply after Chidambaram said that Tax Residency Certificate is 'a necessary but not Sufficient' condition to avail of the benefits under double taxation avoidance agreements.
In a developing county like India, the role of the Finance Minister is a crucial one, specially when the country is going through it's worst period in recent times. M R Venkatesh, has a few valid suggestions for Mr Chidambaram.
The Child Protection Services programme under the Integrated Child Development Services was increased to Rs 1,500 crore from Rs 925 crore.
The government planned to borrow 10-15 per cent of the total borrowing offshore. That works out to at least Rs 71,000 crore, or about $10.4 billion at Friday's exchange rate.
"Religious festivals seem to have become occasions to intimidate and bully others -- a far cry from when they were occasions for joy and celebration. Instead, there is intimidation and discrimination only on account of their religion, food, caste, gender or language," Gandhi said.
The government has put off by one month the levy of an additional Rs 2 per litre excise duty on petrol and diesel that is not doped with ethanol and bio-diesel in a bid to give the industry more time to implement the measure.
In fact, no other recent Union Budget has held so much significance for the Indian economy as the one to be presented in about six weeks from now, notes A K Bhattacharya.
Chidambaram in his Budget speech on February 28 proposed setting up of country's first all-women bank and had earmarked Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) for this.
After rise in duties, third-party motor insurance rates set to increase premiums 5 - 10 per cent.
A look into Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's Duronto trains.
New tax proposals including 10 per cent surcharge on super rich and higher duties on mobiles, cigarettes and SUVs will help government garner Rs 18,000 crore in 2013-14.
The opposition has attacked the Modi government over the National Democratic Alliance's last full-fledged budget before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The government also proposed promoting 'one product one district' for better marketing and export of horticulture crops. It also called on states for early implementation of three key central model laws on land leasing, agriculture produce and livestock marketing and contract farming.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget speech on Friday brought closer to reality, billionaire industrialist Anil Ambani's dream of entering the banking sector.
Sushil Munhot, executive director & head-personal banking, IDBI Bank, says, "Any housing loan of up to Rs 25 lakh will come under priority sector lending, as it is to provide affordable housing. But we do no know when will it come into effect."
No limit exists on the number of electoral bonds that a person (including corporate entities) can purchase.
This move to make it easier for funds to avail of tax exemptions.
On the Sensex chart, IndusInd Bank was the top gainer, rallying over 11 per cent, followed by ICICI Bank, SBI, HDFC, M&M and Axis Bank. On the other hand, Dr Reddy's, Tech Mahindra and TCS were among the laggards.
