The commission in its recent assessment of the economy also expects economic growth to go up to nine per cent in 2011-12, and further to 10 per cent in 2014-15.
According to the final recommendations of an expert committee, the weight of primary (unprocessed) food items will go down by 0.5-1.0 percentage points in the new series compared to the current one
The government may drop its plan to decriminalise cheque bounce offences after there were requests to continue the existing system, which can potentially make people honour their financial commitments due to fear of prosecution. It would seek directions from a Supreme Court panel formed to expedite the pendency of cheque bounce cases before taking a final call. Last year the Department of Financial Services (DFS) had proposed decriminalising minor offences, which included cheque bouncing, for improving business sentiment and unclogging court processes.
Jaishankar also met his Iranian counterpart H Amirabdollahian and held productive discussions on bilateral economic cooperation, Afghanistan and the joint comprehensive plan of action, also known as the Iran nuclear deal.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday raised the benchmark lending rate by 50 basis points to 5.40 per cent to tame inflation.
The Parliamentary Committee on Special Economic Zones on Friday said no further SEZs should be notified unless the law is amended to include changes pertaining to land acquisition.
El-Sisi welcomed Modi, who is on a two-day state visit to Egypt, at the Presidential Palace where the two leaders were closeted for one-on-one meeting after which the two sides signed a memorandum of understandng.
The committee will suggest an action plan for abolishing the present system of classifying expenditure into plan and non-plan, an official statement said.
The Reserve Bank remains laser-focused to bring back retail inflation to 4 per cent over a period of time in a non-disruptive manner, Governor Shaktikanta Das stressed while voting for status quo in interest rates, as per minutes of the October policy meeting released on Friday. The central bank has been mandated by the government to ensure the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation is at 4 per cent, with a band of 2 per cent on either side. The retail inflation, which was above 6 per cent during May and June, has started moving down and stood at 4.35 per cent in September.
The IIP growth has been revised downwards to 1.14 per cent for January, from the provisional estimates of 6.8 per cent, according to the official data released on Wednesday.
The standing committee on water resources, tabled in Lok Sabha, said only Manipur, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand and erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir had enacted legislation, though delineation and demarcation of flood plains are yet to be undertaken.
It forecast a growth of 9 per cent for 2011-12.
The panel will also recommend a fiscal consolidation road map for the central and state governments, study the impact of GST on the divisible pool, and propose performance-based incentives for states.
With retail inflation surprising on the upside, the six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is expected to increase the repo rate by 35-50 basis points (bps) in the review scheduled for September 28-30. According to economists, the central bank will continue to focus on bringing inflation down even though economic growth has remained sluggish. Data released by the government on Monday showed that the consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation increased by 7 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in August, thus, staying above the upper tolerance limit of the central bank for all the eight months of 2022.
Owing to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman being new to her role, a number of crucial announcements in the Budget bore Garg's imprint, especially the decision to borrow in overseas markets, reduce the fiscal deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product, and resort to off-Budget borrowing to meet that target, says Arup Roychoudury.
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said, a hike in GST rates would have hampered consumption amid the economic slowdown. The revenue augmentation panel in the Council meeting recently recommended revisiting and restructuring the GST rate slabs, besides correcting the inverted duty structure. The panel listed 24 items, including mobile phones, footwear, fabrics, LED light, medical equipment, utensils, agri machinery, pharma, and renewable components, which have an inverted duty structure, resulting in refunds of close to Rs 20,000 crore annually.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said she is awaiting an approval from the Cabinet on bill on cryptocurrency as the proposed legislation is before it. The inter-ministerial panel on cryptocurrency under the chairmanship of secretary (economic affairs) to study the issues related to virtual currencies and propose specific actions has already submitted its report. It has recommended that all private cryptocurrencies, except any virtual currencies issued by state, will be prohibited in India.
With elections elsewhere in India showing that multi-pronged contests usually work to the BJP's favour, the party can gain if it hangs on stubbornly. In the meantime, any additional support helps. That is why the archbishop's comment attracted political traction in Kerala, observes Shyam G Menon.
Exports are slowing and economic growth in major markets for Indian goods has taken a hit.
The government is likely to introduce a bill on crypto currencies during the winter session of Parliament beginning November 29, amid concerns over such currencies being allegedly used for luring investors with misleading claims and for funding terror activities, sources said on Monday. Currently, there are no particular regulations or any ban on use of crypto currencies in the country. Against this backdrop, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday, held a meeting on the crypto currencies with senior officials and indications are that strong regulatory steps could be taken to deal with the issue.
The order that was passed less than a week ahead of the first phase of polls scheduled on October 10 throws a spanner in the election process.
The government has set up a standing group on the economic fallout of the ongoing US-led war on Iraq to look into issues particularly related to exports, inward remittances, oil prices and tourism.
Projecting 34 per cent decline in foreign capital inflows due to uncertain external environment, the PM's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) on Wednesday made a strong case for easing the External Commercial Borrowing guidelines to help corporates borrow funds from overseas debt market.
The Planning Commission warned on Friday that 8.0 per cent growth would be a far cry without axing the widening revenue deficit of the Centre and the states, which would stifle public investment.
Equity benchmarks extended their decline for the fourth straight session on Wednesday, with the Sensex falling 214.85 points after the Reserve Bank raised the key interest rate by 50 basis points. Continuous foreign fund outflows and surging crude oil prices also weighed on markets. The 30-share BSE benchmark dropped 214.85 points or 0.39 per cent to settle at 54,892.49.
The Indian economy grew at a faster pace of over 8 per cent in two consecutive fiscal before falling to a nine year low of 6.5 per cent in 2011-12.
The Union Cabinet has cleared disinvestment of the country's largest insurer LIC and a panel headed by the finance minister will now decide on the quantum of stake dilution, a senior official said on Monday. The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) had in January appointed actuarial firm Milliman Advisors LLP India to assess the embedded value of LIC ahead of the IPO (initial public offering), which is touted to be the biggest public issue in Indian corporate history. The Budget amendments to the LIC Act has been notified and the actuarial firm is expected to finalise the embedded value of the life insurer. Under the embedded value method, the insurance company's present value of future profit is also included in its present net asset value.
On Monday, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer had won the 2019 Nobel Prize for economics "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty". The research conducted by them has considerably improved the ability to fight global poverty. In just two decades, their new experiment-based approach has transformed development economics, which is now a flourishing field of research, said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Here are some interesting facts about the Indian-origin Abhijit Banerjee.
The Reserve Bank on Friday retained the GDP forecast for the current financial year at 9.5 per cent and flagged global semiconductor shortages, elevated commodity prices and potential global financial market volatility as downside risks to economic growth. In his address after the three-day meeting of the rate-setting panel, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said recovery in aggregate demand gathered pace in August-September, and it is reflected in high-frequency indicators, like railway freight traffic; port cargo; cement production; electricity demand; e-way bills; GST and toll collections. "The ebbing of infections, together with improving consumer confidence, has been supporting private consumption," he said, and added the pent-up demand and the festival season should give further fillip to urban demand in the second half of the financial year.
The FRBM report, to be submitted on Tuesday, is likely to have 'excuse clauses', absolving the government of meeting its fiscal commitments under certain conditions such as war or conflict, global economic meltdowns or natural disasters.
'Modi had not discussed demonetization with me prior to his announcement on 8 November 2016. 'I learnt of it along with the rest of the country. 'I was not surprised when he did not discuss the issue with me prior to making the public announcement. 'It fitted in with his style of making dramatic announcements.' A fascinating excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's The Presidential Years: 2012-2017.
The Left parties' unhappiness over the functioning of the United Progressive Alliance government and especially its economic policies came to the fore on Monday with the Revolutionary Socialist Party deciding to withdraw from the UPA-Left coordination committee.
The government has shortlisted Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas for giving legal advice on upcoming mega IPO of India's largest insurance company LIC, an official said. Four law firms - Crawford Bayley, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Link Legal and Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co - had made presentations before the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) on September 24. Following presentations, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas has been selected as legal advisor for the initial public offering (IPO) of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the official told PTI.
The Parliamentary Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU) expressed serious concern over outsourcing of printing of Indian currency notes amounting to Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) to three countries in 1997-98 and said that such a tendency would put India's economic sovereignty at stake.
The recommendations of the Rajindar Sachar committee report.
'There are unscrupulous traders who create fake invoices by showing bogus e-way bills, movement of goods.' 'Since the entities registered across different states, and kept on changing their numbers, tracing them was difficult.'
Already under fire from all quarters over special economic zones, an important parliamentary committee has firmed up its strong opposition over acquisition of farm land.
Dealing with the validity of OBC quota, the bench said, "Merit cannot be reduced to narrow definitions of performance in an open competitive examination which only provides formal equality of opportunity. Competitive examinations assess basic current competency to allocate educational resources but are not reflective of excellence, capabilities and potential of an individual which are also shaped by lived experiences, subsequent training and individual character."
Former RBI deputy governor R Gandhi on Tuesday made a case for treating and regulating crypto as a separate asset class with a view to enabling governments around the world to effectively deal with illegal activities associated with virtual currencies. After quite a lot of debate over the years, he said, people have fully understood that crypto cannot be a currency because the fundamental element of a currency- that it should be a legal tender- is missing in this case. He said that in this case, one cannot compel a crypto currency to be accepted by another person as it is not a legal tender.
In the first phase, most of the outdated regulations in the state and central Acts will be removed. Further, compliances with regard to annual inspections, licence renewal, and storage of multiple data will be eased.
