Traditionally, the Budget making exercise begins from mid-October.
One wing of the government's definition of what constitues infrastructure is different from that of another and this needs to be resolved fast.
The finance ministry will kick-start the exercise to prepare the Union Budget for financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from October 12, according to an official notification released on Monday. "The pre-Budget meetings as well as the meetings to discuss the revised estimates will start from October 12 and will continue till the second week of November," according to the Budget circular of the Department of Economic Affairs' Budget Division. The Union Budget is expected to be announced on February 1, as has been the practice of the past few years.
The rupee has lost over 2.5 per cent in the two trading days of this week and nearly 10 per cent in the past six weeks on concerns of scaling down of stimulus packages by the US.
There are no regulations governing virtual currencies in India and the RBI has not given any licence to any entity/company to operate such currencies.
The finance ministry has already raised the fiscal deficit target to a more acceptable level of 5.3 per cent.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared setting up of Cabinet Committee on Investment for providing expeditious clearances to major projects worth over Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion).
Post-sale, the government stake would be 75 per cent, which will help NTPC to comply with the minimum public shareholding norms.
He will be the first bureaucrat to head the central bank in almost five years.
Finance Ministry officials are engaging in hectic parleys with the PSUs to speed up the process so that the disinvestments can take place in the December and March quarters.
The government on Wednesday cleared the setting up of an Investment Commission to woo foreign as well as domestic investors for major projects in the country.
The two groups have another JV, Wadia BSN, set up in 1996 to launch Groupe Danone's products from its global portfolio. However, nothing has been launched through the JV till date and Danone is in negotiations with the Wadias to dissolve the JV.
According to him, there are enough laws but their implementation is important.
Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Garg is the finance ministry's primary liaison with the RBI.
The finance ministry on Monday said the ability of the Reserve Bank to intervene in the forex market to arrest the fall in rupee is limited, even as the Indian currency declined to a 32-month low of Rs 51.50 per US dollar in the early trade.
"We are not looking at increasing FII (investment) limit in government securities," Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters. Earlier in June, the government raised the FII investment limit in government securities to $5 billion from $3.2 billion.
The move is part of a larger initiative by the government to speed up work in the highway sector.
The department of economic affairs in the Union finance ministry has suggested aggressive sterilisation of foreign capital inflows, tightening of government expenditure and intervention in key farm produce markets like wheat.
The differences revolved around the two topics of how much reserves the RBI should carry and whether the finance ministry had precipitated matters by invoking Section 7 of the RBI Act, that allows it to give directions to the RBI in public interest.
For the second time since Press Note 2 and 4 were issued in February 2009, the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry has raised questions on their implementation, this time over an application before the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
The shift was sudden, quite unlike Shukla's departure from North Block, which had been anticipated for some months even before Singh''s first Budget.
7 key areas that the Budget must address to re-energise the infrastructure sector, suggests Vinayak Chatterjee.
Some real estate companies were using this route to raise funds. Given the stringent conditions for ECBs, these companies would now find it difficult to raise funds.
US nominee for World Bank president, Ajay Banga, has tested positive for COVID-19 following which the meetings scheduled during his two-day visit to India have been cancelled. According to a Finance Ministry statement, Banga's meeting with Nirmala Sitharaman would not happen as he is in quarantine. "During routine testing, Ajay Banga tested positive for COVID-19 but remains asymptomatic.
'Das is friendly, but he finally does what he does. The quality of engagement is very good.'
The finance ministry on Friday informed a parliamentary committee that smuggling of fake currency has totally stopped post demonetisation and the tax department has seized Rs 515 crore in cash, including Rs 114 crore of new currency notes, up to January 10.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
The appointment of new expenditure secretary comes a month-and-a-half ahead of the Budget for 2020-21 to be presented on February 1.
North Block and Mint Road seem likely to now stick to the earlier convention of the RBI governor coming to Delhi and being the only MPC member meeting the finance minister and senior bureaucrats on pre-policy meetings
The department of economic affairs, in its Monthly Economic Review for September, said critical reforms undertaken by the government will put India to a strong and sustainable growth path in the long run.
Earlier, an inter-ministerial group used to take these decisions.
The finance ministry is working on a second relief package for the Indian economy hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the contagion, sources said. Last month, the government announced a Rs 1.70 lakh crore relief package in the form of foodgrains and cash transfers for the poor and vulnerable section of the society to help them deal with the hardships caused by the lockdown. Now, the government is working on a stimulus to be given to hard-hit sectors of the economy after the lockdown is lifted, sources said, adding that an announcement is expected in the next few days depending on the severity of the pandemic.
United Nations proscribed terrorist Lakhvi, 61, who was on bail since 2015 in the Mumbai attack case, was arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department of Punjab province on Saturday.
Abu Dhabi national carrier had bought 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways for $379 million in April.
The Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, paving the way for privatisation of government-owned insurers. The amendments, approved by Cabinet, will remove the clause for the Centre to hold at least 51 per cent in public sector insurance companies at any given time. It will also have an enabling provision for the transfer of management control from the government to the potential buyer of the public sector insurance company. The finance ministry will move amendments to the insurance Act in the ongoing Parliament session.
Breaking a long tradition, the PMO has ensured that specific divisions in each ministry are allocated to junior ministers.
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