Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday described as "well-balanced" the Vote-on-Account presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, saying it portrays a "realistic picture" of the economic situation of the country.
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.
Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan has proclaimed his determination to set Tamil Nadu's fiscal house in order in five years, and Friday will show how he plans to go about it when he rises to present the Stalin government's maiden budget, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
People like Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram, who as finance minister had fully supported the NPS, refuse to exercise their moral and political influence to try and stop Ashok Gehlot and others hell-bent on wrecking the states' finances, notes Virendra Kapoor.
Modi, however, welcomed the announcement of 'one rank-one pension' for defence forces.
He said the total capital requirement for state-run banks is Rs 455 billion ($7.6 billion) in 2014/15 fiscal year, much lower than the Rs 113 billion provided for recapitalisation in the interim budget in February.
Bengal corporate leaders on Thursday termed the 2013-14 Union budget a reformist one and said despite being the last budget of United Progressive Alliance before it goes to poll, Finance Minister P Chidambaram restrained from being populist.
India, desperate to trim a gaping current account deficit, took a slew of measures last year to curb demand for bullion
India's finance ministers have played a crucial role in framing policies and initiating reforms to boost the economy.
Governments make budgets to retain and consolidate their hold on power, not to please opponents or economists. They do so by trying to gratify as many as possible without causing harm to the others, says Shreekant Sambrani.
Agriculture credit is likely to exceed the target of Rs 7,00,000 crore while farm exports are expected to increase to over $45 billion in the current fiscal, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today.
Economists believe government might settle for a higher fiscal deficit target of 4.5 per cent to fund capex.
The government had set a budgetary target of over Rs 1.87 lakh crore for collection from customs duty in current fiscal
But their trajectory and direction have been largely influenced by politics and the political leadership's understanding of how the economy needs to be managed, explains A K Bhattacharya.
Manmohan Singh said Narasimha Rao can truly be called father of economic reforms in India.
Leading economists have asked the government to levy higher taxes on super-rich, encourage small savings and try to bring down inflation to 4-5 per cent.
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's proposal about setting up an all-women bank -- first suggested in this year's budget -- received much acclaim.The proposed bank will lend mostly to women and women- run businesses, support women self-help groups and women's livelihood, Chidambaram had said.
With an aggressive Opposition and unyielding government, important legislation could be the biggest casualty, as details of the helicopter contract surface.
Last year, the finance ministry had sent a reminder notice to Vodafone to pay Rs 14,000 crore (Rs 140 billion) of income tax dues, which the telecom major said it didn't owe. Later, it offered conciliation.
Prominent among the wish list include updating India-US bilateral tax treaty, emanation of double taxation on software revenue, 15 year tax holiday for software technology parks and special economic zones.
'The middle class is already alienated.' 'If the stockmarket is destabilised, the BJP is finished; the party will lose in every town.' 'And if the stockmarket crash happens now, the BJP will not cross the 150 mark in 2019.'
The sluggish market situation notwithstanding, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday clarified to ministry officials he wouldn't accept any slippage in the government's Budget divestment target of Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) for this financial year.
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.
In a big boost to farm sector, Finance Minister P Chidambaram proposed a whopping Rs 1.25 lakh crore increase in agri-credit target for next fiscal at Rs 7 lakh crore and raised allocation to the ministry by a handsome 22 per cent.
Before Budget, departments see outlays shaved.
Shortly after the Union Budget was announced, political leaders from across the spectrum reacted to it. Here's what some of our leaders said.
The government cut its disinvestment target by more than half for the current financial year and pegged the proceeds at Rs 36,925 crore for 2014-15.
Will he tax the salaried class more? Will he give respite to the corporates? Will he smile at the housewife, the pensioner, the middle class? Will he usher in more reforms to boost the economy?
Says ministry and RBI are working closely.
If you are investing, then stick to bonds, deposits and mutual funds; if you need insurance, simply opt for term insurance, advises Rahul Goel.
"At the end of the year, we will do better than the budget estimates," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters when asked about sharp rise in fiscal deficit in April-May as per the figures released by the Comptroller General of Accounts on Monday. The fiscal deficit for two months touched Rs 73,201 crore (Rs 732.01 billion), 54.9 per cent of estimated fiscal deficit of Rs 1,33,287 crore (Rs 1,332.87 billion) for the fiscal, mainly on account of rising oil import bill.
Behind the GBS figures, to be revealed in the Budget next week -- lies a fierce tug of war between Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh eventually threw his weight behind the finance minister.
The survey was conducted in major places like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh and Dehradun on 'Budget 2013: Common man's expectations from the FM', the industry body said.
Referring to visible indicators of green shoots, the finance minister said the forex reserve is at an all time high and the stock market is upbeat.
However, independent economists are not as gung-ho as the finance ministry over the likelihood of deficit target being met this time around, says Indivjal Dhasmana.
Manmohan Singh, P Chidambaram and Yashwant Sinha presented 5 Budgets each while Jaswant Singh presented only one Budget.
