'We now look at divestment as an opportunity for maximising the value of public assets, not necessarily as a short-term resource-raising measure.'
Only 80.6 per cent of the Rs 6-trillion allocation has been spent by February, data from the Controller General of Accounts shows.
Bureaucrats heading disinvestment and financial services usually don't get appointed as finance secretary.
The department of investment and public asset management (Dipam) can also seek in-principle approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for strategic divestment of PSUs on a case-to-case basis considering investor appetite and sectoral trends.
Air India Chairman Rajiv Bansal has been appointed as the new aviation secretary as part of a major top-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Wednesday. K Rajaraman, additional secretary in the department of economic affairs, has been appointed as secretary, department of telecommunications, a personnel ministry order said.
The government on Tuesday introduced in Parliament three redrafted bills to replace the existing criminal laws by including various recommendations made by a parliamentary panel.
Watal a 1978-batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer.
India and the US agreed to continue their cooperation in the areas of defence, space and clean energy as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Secretary of State Antony Blinken here, amid a simmering diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of a Khalistani separatist.
The approvals would be handled independently by administrative ministries of different sectors.
'The Indian government is better prepared this time and has reached out to all contenders and not putting all eggs in one basket.'
The main responsibility for producing the Budget rests with the Budget Division of the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry
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.
Over 6,900 corruption cases probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation were pending trials in different courts, 361 for more than 20 years, according to the latest annual report of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). Besides, as many as 658 corruption cases were pending CBI investigation, 48 for more than five years.
The finance ministry on Wednesday reimposed expenditure curbs on ministries and government departments for July-September quarter. There will be no spending restrictions on the ministries of health, rural development, agriculture, MSME (micro, small and medium enterprises) and railways as part of a two-pronged strategy. "The existing guidelines for expenditure control have been reviewed. "Keeping in view the evolving situation arising out of Covid-19 and anticipated cash position of the government, it is felt essential to regulate Quarterly Expenditure Plan (QEP)/Monthly Expenditure Plan (MEP) of specific ministries/departments for July-September, 2021," the Department of Economic Affairs in the finance ministry said in a notification.
The finance ministry will kick-start the exercise to prepare the annual Budget for 2023-24 from October 10, in the backdrop of revival of the Indian economy and fears of recession in developed countries. The budget for the next year will have to address critical issues of high inflation, job creation, boosting demand, and putting the economy on a sustained 8 per cent-plus growth path. On Wednesday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said inflation is no longer "red-lettered" and the priority for the government now is job creation and boosting growth.
Over the past six months Rajasthan has introduced some of India's most radical free-market labour, land and welfare reform.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday pitched for front loading of capital expenditure, saying it is critical for revitalisting the economy post the coronavirus pandemic. During a virtual meeting with senior government officials to discuss the infrastructure roadmap ahead, she also asked ministries to aim to achieve more than their capital expenditure (capex) targets. The Union Budget 2021-22 provided a capital outlay of Rs.5.54 lakh crore, a sharp increase of 34.5 per cent over the Budget Estimate of 2020-21.
The $100-million fund, which has the option to raise a further $200 million, will benefit small and medium enterprises engaged in defence production.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved a three-month extension in Sudan's service, beyond the date of her superannuation, i.e. April 30, a personnel ministry order said. She will continue to function as the secretary of the Department of Health and Family Welfare during the period, it said.
Once the iconic red-brick building of British India Corporation (BICL), which manufactured the popular "Lal-Imli" brand of woollen products, made Cawnpore (now Kanpur) the Manchester of the East. In the 75th year of independence, the government may finally pull the curtains on the century-old, now defunct public sector enterprise. "The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has floated a draft cabinet note for closure of British India Corporation (BICL) along with National Textiles Corporation (NTC). "The Cabinet may soon tak
In less than five months of resuming charge of the finance ministry, Palaniappan Chidambaram has put in place virtually a new team to take charge of the government's fiscal policy management in the remaining months of its tenure. Will the celebrated economists and IAS officers share the required equation remains to be seen.
The case is related to the alleged irregularities in granting clearance by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board to INX Media, once owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore.
The finance ministry said on Tuesday that high energy and commodity prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine may provide an upside risk to inflation and continued vigil is required. "Going forward, elevated energy and commodity prices may act as an upside risk to the inflation outlook in the near-medium term. "Given the inherently unsustainable nature of high prices, international commodity prices are expected to level off early with an increase in supplies outside the crisis zone," the department of economic affairs said in its latest monthly economic report for February.
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 compulsion behind India and Japan to deepen security cooperation is in response to China's growing political and economic clout and its assertive behaviour in disputed areas. This has been the key driver for bringing both India and Japan closer in the domain of security cooperation, explains Dr Rajaram Panda.
Internship Programme, 2008 formulated by the Department of Economic Affairs.
The government has appointed 10 merchant bankers including Goldman Sachs (India) Securities, Citigroup Global Markets India, and Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities India to manage the mega initial public offering of country's largest insurer LIC. Other selected bankers include SBI Capital Market, JM Financial, Axis Capital, BofA Securities, JP Morgan India, ICICI Securities, and Kotak Mahindra Capital Co Ltd, a circular on the divestment department website said. "Government has finalised the book running lead managers and some other advisors for the IPO of LIC," DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey tweeted. The divestment department had invited applications for the appointment of merchant bankers on July 15.
DEA objects to the company's 29 Indian stores having sub-brands as a rule violation; DIPP doesn't agree.
The finance ministry is of the view that all interests -- direct and indirect -- should be taken into account and that there should not be any threshold for calculating total effective foreign shareholding in a company.
'If businessmen should be included in the political process -- which is essential in my opinion -- they need to have the freedom to express themselves and to take stands against the government of the day, without fear of reprisals and attacks on their business.'
The government is committed to restricting fiscal deficit at 5.3 per cent of GDP this financial year and has no immediate plans to go for additional market borrowings, a senior government official said.
A committee of secretaries will be meeting soon to consider a draft proposal, which suggests that decision-making on all policy issues pertaining to FDI be transferred from the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) in the Ministry of Commerce to the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) in the Ministry of Finance.
The Income-Tax Department has turned down a proposal by the Department of Economic Affairs to go slow on refunds to taxpayers.
Former Maharashtra minister and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Aaditya Thackeray on Monday claimed nearly '50 people', including 'some middlemen' and personal assistants, will be part of the delegation that will travel with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for the World Economic Forum (WEF) gathering in Davos, Switzerland.
The government has approved 20 new highway and housing projects at a total investment of Rs 14,538 crore (Rs 145.38 billion).
Three key babus will make room for a new set of officers to carry the baton of Budget programmes.
Although it has not been able to sell stake in any PSU so far this fiscal, the government will be able to meet the Rs 30,000 crore disinvestment target set for 2012-13, according to Department of Economic Affairs secretary Arvind Mayaram.
"I dont think we will be able to contain fiscal deficit to our Budget plan of 5.1 per cent (of GDP). It could be 5.2 to 5.3 per cent, which is doable," Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram told reporters in New Delhi.
The appointment will be made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in consultation with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
DIPP's proposal is believed to have the support of the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution and was originally mooted by the Forward Markets Commission.
