Fresh power capacity addition has fallen short of target by nearly a third in the first half (April-September) of the current fiscal, owing to delays in the supply of critical components in thermal projects, delayed forest clearances and non-availability of fuel for a nuclear power project.
The decision to do away with Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes accelerated the slowdown in economic activity with growth averaging 6.8 per cent in the seven quarters after it, as against an average of 8 per cent in the six quarters preceding it, says former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian.
The scheme, which was earlier implemented by the coal companies, has been extended for the current fiscal also.
The government has firmed up an investment of over Rs 840 billion (Rs 84,000 crore) for setting up hydel projects in the north-eastern region of the country by 2020, which will produce 14,000 MW of electricity
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday left for Colombo to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation summit beginning on Saturday, during which terrorism is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion. Singh is expected to meet his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the summit and is likely to convey India's concerns over the recent spurt in cross-border terrorism and ceasefire violations.
In its essence, GST is a national level system of value added taxation of goods and services, says Shankar Acharya.
Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Power (R-Power) has signed a supplementary power purchase agreement (PPA) with fourteen buyers from seven states for its upcoming 4,000-MW ultra mega power project (UMPP) in Sasan.
Credit to priority sectors as well as small and medium industries will be discussed to find ways to accelerate economic growth.
Fresh addition of power capacity in the first half of the 2008-09 financial year has fallen short of target by nearly two-thirds because of delays in supply of critical components for thermal projects and non-availability of fuel for a nuclear project.
A circular power grid connecting the northern region to the western grid would be a major component. The grid would cover Seepath, Zeoni, Bina, Gwalior, Agra, Fathepur, Sasaram, Gaya and Ranchi, connecting back to Seepath in North India.
As domestic airlines face acute shortage of pilots, the government on Thursday decided to set up a flying and training institute in Maharashtra and modernise the existing state-run body in Rae Bareli with the help of a known Canadian pilot training firm, CEA Inc. The new institution at Gondia in Maharashtra, to be called the National Flying Training Institute, would be set up as a subsidiary of Airports Authority of India in joint venture with CAE.
While Arun Jaitley remains part of the decision making process, Piyush Goyal, who was given additional charge on May 14, attends cabinet meetings and takes the day-to-day decisions.
The meeting with economists and financial experts has been called off due to pressing engagements of the finance minister.
'The corporate tax cuts will obviously result in lower tax payments by companies,' says Central Board of Direct Taxes member Akhilesh Ranjan who retires after 37 years in government service.
Risk aversion is currently a dominant depressant to economic recovery, points out Shankar Acharya, former chief economic advisor to the Government of India.
Earlier, maverick right-winger Subramanian Swamy had demanded the sacking of Jaitley's top aide
With 100 nominations proposing Gandhi's name for the top party post, the election was a mere formality.
Sonia Gandhi was formally re-elected Congress president with the party's Central Election Authority announcing her unopposed election.
Geologists have revealed that the Nepal's devastating magnitude-7.9 earthquake followed the historic pattern and it was primed over 80 years ago.
According to the Central Statistics Office data, the jump in the retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index was mainly due to rise in prices of kitchen items like vegetables, meat and fish.
Defending the timing of Yes Bank's moratorium, Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday assured swift resolution to the issues concerning the beleaguered lender. "The resolution (to Yes Bank) will be done very swiftly, it will be done very fast. 30 days which we have given is the outer limit. You will see a very swift action from RBI," Das told reportters in Mumbai.
The review will not only present data, trends but also list out the achievements of the Narendra Modi government
The country's largest power producer, NTPC, which will add another 20,000 MWs by 2017 and induct large sized units of 1000 MWs during the 12th Plan, has its initial public offering oversubscribed by 13.4 times in the stock exchange.
It is developing ash parks at Varanasi, Raipur, Pune and Cuttack, to make it available to ash-based product manufacturing units at these centres. It recently signed an agreement with NHAI for supply of ash for use in road construction.
For India, struggling for competitiveness, the current rupee overvaluation in terms of real effective exchange rate is a genuine constraint.
'It is a package for a new self-reliant India.'
'In contrast to the generally buoyant tone of the Economic Survey in January, he sounds uncharacteristically pessimistic, saying that forces in the world economy -- slowing global trade, protectionism, robots -- will limit India's manufacturing to levels well below what propelled East Asia's economies decades ago.'
A few more cross border links with neighbouring countries are in the pipeline which would further increase export of power.
Northern and western states had the highest power demand, with Uttar Pradesh sourcing 19,082 Mw, Delhi 6,029 Mw, Rajasthan 10,395 Mw, Gujarat 16,825 Mw, and Maharashtra 23,609 Mw.
'Look at the number of billionaires, the number of new billionaires in India.' 'Adani and Ambani are not the only ones.' 'What's wrong with people making money as long as it benefits us?'
New estimates of India's gross domestic product (GDP) are "puzzling", Arvind Subramanian, chief economic adviser at the finance ministry, said on Friday.
he government is examining a plan of bank recapitalisation and considering an urban version of MNREGS.
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On the Congress accusing BJP of hypocrisy for its failure to disclose names, Jaitley said the Congress got it all wrong because media "completely misreported" the case.
Calling Rajan "no less patriotic", he virtually ticked off Swamy saying "if anybody considers himself above the system then it is wrong".
'Event management can distract from, but not permanently mask, execution failures,' points out Rathin Roy, director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
The Budget shouldn't be stuck on fiscal numbers, the PMO apparently said.
Prof Ananth Narayan, well known financial expert who works as a faculty member at the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research and the RBI's nominee director on the board of Yes Bank, expects a double-digit contraction in India's GDP this fiscal year. In the first of a two-part interview to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com, Prof Narayan, below, says, "Giving liquidity and loan to cover the cash flow problem is not sufficient because you are essentially increasing the debt of many of these companies. And they might not be able to bear the burden."
Unlike the Advance Estimates which missed the impact of demonetisation, CEA's survey is likely to have a better take on Indian economy.
Growth was primarily pushed by a jump in steel and electricity generation, apart from a sustained rise in natural gas output.
