Food inflation rose to 18.32 per cent for the week ended December 25, because of rise in prices of food items like onion, milk and meat.
The document which was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister P Chidambaram has projected the growth rate for next fiscal at 6.1-6.7 per cent.
Farm activists say low MSP is fine, if salaries revised under the Sixth Pay Commission are lowered.
Under attack over the Rs 32 per capita per day (in urban India and Rs 26 per day per person in rural areas) cut off for poverty line, the Planning Commission on Monday distanced itself from the controversial definition presented to the Supreme Court saying it did not represent its views.
The country's economic growth rate slipped to 5.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011-12, lowest in nearly 9 years due to poor performance of the manufacturing and farm sectors.
The Planning Commission said the decision of oil marketing companies to raise petrol price by Rs 3.14 per litre is a good news and will provide credibility to the economic reforms process.
The 12th Plan document describes three average annual growth scenarios - 8%, 6-6.5% and 5-5.5 per cent.
Terming HSBC's projection at 5.2 per cent for the current fiscal as incorrect, Ahluwalia said the second half is likely to be better than the first half's.
Besides Mukherjee and Deora, the EGoM would have power minister Sushilkumar Shinde, fertiliser minister M K Alagiri, law minister Veerappa Moily and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Although India's private health insurance industry's business volumes have grown by over 35 per cent a year in the last few years, a staggering 85 per cent of the population remains uninsured, according to industry estimates.
Defending the government's decision to raise prices of petroleum products, the Plan panel said on Wednesday it would suck money from the system and ease inflationary pressure in the long run.
Already Puducherry owed to the Centre as much as Rs 4040 crore (Rs 40.4 billion) over the years as loan and interest.
Those who have been following developments in the past few years know that Wal-Mart alone must have spent millions of dollars in India for lobbying with our government to open up retail sector for FDI.
One of the names proposed by the dailies is India's Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, who has been charged with a criminal sex act and is under arrest in the United States, has resigned from his position, leaving the global financial body to hunt for a new chief.
Enthused by the prospects of good monsoon, the Planning Commission on Tuesday said the double digits inflation would decline by December, and sounded optimism that economic growth would exceed 8.5 per cent this fiscal.
His outburst has to rank among the most bizarre episodes of two arms of the government fighting in public.
Mukherjee said uncertainty was still there on oil prices front due to unrest in West Asia and North Africa.
India will set up a high-level committee to identify areas for expanding economic ties with the United States, from where it expects an estimated investment of $250-300 billion in infrastructure space.
A Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukhejree is likely to meet on Monday to vet London-listed mining group Vedanta Resources' $ 9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India.
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Planning Commission Deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia will also participate in the India-US Business CEOs Forum Meeting.
According to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, more than the anticipated growth in the farm sector will make up for the shortfall in the industrial output.
The Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Wednesday objections to the disinvestment progammes of the government can be sorted out through discussions. Although the government has expressed its commitment to offload equity in state-owned companies while retaining 51 per cent share, the supporting Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had raised objections to it.
Replying to a question related to the possibility of additional fiscal stimulus measures in the forthcoming Budget, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: "We have started some discussion with the finance ministry. This is related to what should be an appropriate size for planned expenditure for 2009-10." In the interim Budget announced in February this year, the planned expenditure for 2009-10 was budgeted at Rs 2,85,149 crore.
The Planning Commission has pitched for linking of domestic fuel prices with those in the international market saying it is necessary for country's global "economic reputation".
Former managing director of McKinsey & Co, Rajat Gupta, has stepped down as chairperson of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). Gupta's resignation comes days before the PHFI executive was to discuss his exit.
India may end the financial year with a seven per cent GDP growth rate, as the economic deceleration is expected to continue in the third quarter, said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
"I don't think that it is government's view that the present inflation cannot be brought under control without FDI in multi-brand retail. We can bring inflation under control," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
The Reserve Bank of India has already raised its key short-term rates by 25 basis points to cool inflation and many experts believe that it will make money dearer to tame inflation in its April 20 annual monetary policy announcement.
Planning Commission on Friday said there is no case for providing stimulus to the industry to arrest moderating growth as the fiscal deficit is high and may exceed the Budget estimate of 4.6 per cent by about one percentage point.
Deficient monsoon is likely to pull down the economic growth in the current fiscal to about six per cent, from 6.5 per cent a year ago, the Planning Commission said on Friday.
In an interview with Karan Thapar on the CNN-IBN channel's Devil's Advocate programme, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia explains why he faults the controversial report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on 2G telecom spectrum allocation. Edited excerpts:
The RBI's big decision is not how much to ease but whether to monetise the fiscal deficit.
"Yes it is true that milk and vegetable prices are high. You know some of this is a reflection of economic prosperity and purchasing power," Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
Ahluwalia said India is also interested in stepping up cooperation with China on railways development.
The plan panel on Thursday termed the housing finance racket, involving the chief of LIC Housing Finance and several other officials of PSU banks, as a "very small" incident as far as banking system as a whole was concerned.
Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and former Planning Commission member Kirit S Parikh, who heads an expert committee on fuel pricing, may join the deliberations, official sources said.
Against the all-state average of Rs 3,049 per capita development expenditure, Bihar registered Rs 1,446 during 2005-06. Similarly agaisnt all-state average of Rs 3,826 and Rs 4,208, Bihar recorded per capita development expenditure of Rs 2,123 and Rs 2,184 during 2006-07 and 2007-08 respectively.
Power distribution companies in the country are estimated to have incurred a staggering loss of about Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) in the last fiscal and the amount is expected to be as much as Rs 1,16,000 crore (Rs 1,160 billion) by 2014-15.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances