He rejected suggestions that the Pak-Saudi statement was against India's push at UN.
The UN Security Council is scheduled to vote on Friday evening on a draft resolution on Russia's military operation in Ukraine as well as the escalating situation in the eastern European country.
The most impressive thing about the speaker is that you can raise the volume to a level adequate for a party without it crackling, says Khalid Anzar.
The NDA government will be following the footsteps of its predecessor, the UPA, which had introduced the concept of "loan mela" to boost credit by directing banks to lend to people through public meetings.
Former finance minister P Chidambaram on Friday rejected Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's contention in Lok Sabha that UPA government left behind double digit inflation.
Indo-US bilateral trade will surge five times to $500 billion in the next few years on the back of growing cooperation between both the nations.
India is one of biggest producers and exporters of agri commodities.
M&M was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rallying around 6 per cent, followed by SBI, ITC, NTPC, Bharti Airtel and ONGC. On the other hand, Bajaj Finance, HDFC, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Sun Pharma and Dr Reddy's were among the laggards. NSE Nifty inched up 1.40 points to its fresh closing record of 14,564.85.
Heeding to demands made by several states, the GST Council on Friday put on hold a decision to hike the tax rate on textiles to 12 per cent and referred to a panel of state ministers to recommend rate by February, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. The panel, the highest decision-making body for indirect taxes, met under emergency provisions after states made a request for deferring the tax rate hike on textiles, from the current 5 per cent, to be effective from January 1, 2022. Currently, the tax rate on manmade fibre (MMF) is 18 per cent, MMF yarn 12 per cent, while fabrics are taxed at 5 per cent.
The government's endeavour, she said, is to protect women in this country in collaboration with state governments.
This brings its tax treatment on par with the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund.
TDS on health insurance claim payments reimbursed to hospitals should be NIL
On August 15 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced from the ramparts of the Red Fort that the Indian Railways would launch 75 Vande Bharat Express trains by August 2023. Later, in her 2022 Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that 400 Vande Bharat trains will be manufactured in the next three years, which are expected to cost between Rs 40,000 crore and Rs 50,000 crore. Those upbeat announcements come after a series of cancelled tenders, vigilance actions against officials and interdepartmental rivalry that delayed the addition of these iconic trains developed entirely indigenously by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai.
India Inc on Thursday pitched for continuation of reforms while ensuring tax and policy stability in the forthcoming Budget to prop up the economy hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the virtual pre-Budget consultation held with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, industry chambers said that government measures will help firmly entrench the nascent signs of recovery being currently seen in private investment. Capital expenditure by the government through enhanced infrastructure spending should in the meantime continue to support growth, CII president TV Narendran said.
Chidambaram said he would count every additional rupee the government infuses into the economy and examine what the poor, hungry and devastated migrant workers get after walking hundreds of kilometres to their home states.
Monetary transmission has been an issue for the Indian banking sector.
Shortage of ICU beds, oxygen, ventilators, vaccines, doctors, nurses and crematorium space in India has dominated headlines around the world in the past few weeks with Covid-19 cases surging beyond control and the government failing to deliver. Yes, election rallies, Kumbh Mela, blatant flouting of social distancing and mask protocols coupled with a messy vaccination process are said to be responsible for the health crisis of colossal proportions that India is facing today. But an analysis of Budget speeches made by finance ministers over 75 years also offers a glimpse of how low on the priority list healthcare has featured for the political class and policy-makers, which is a significant reason for the current situation.
Israel's newly elected Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday that he was looking forward to working with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to further develop the 'unique and warm relations' between the two democracies.
Even if the same party returns to power, what is important to debate is that having introduced an entitlement, how challenging it is to reverse such decisions, says Mukesh Butani.
Some of the disclosures in the ITR form, under review at present, increases procedural hassles for expats
India's foreign exchange reserves rose by $2.8 billion to $343.2 billion
Chidambaram promises to maintain fiscal discipline; admits inflation is an issue.
India's growth rate is not UPA/NDA issue, Arun Jaitley said.
Union Budget 2015 cuold have included few smaller reforms.
The foreign minister acknowledged that he spoke with Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz and India should not make it an issue.
The government on Tuesday said it is keeping a close watch on the developments in the crisis-ridden NSEL and will take action once reports of the two committees looking into the problems of the exchange are received.
'When you need to revive the economy, when you need to revive aggregate demand, you cut taxes.' 'But what's this government doing?' 'It's increasing taxes for the middle class and the vast majority of the poor on fuel, which has a ratchet effect on most other products.'
Centre shows optimism of achieving the target of 4.1% at back of recent measures and turn around in manufacturing.
Indian Grandmasters Vidit Gujrathi and S P Sethuraman placed themselves for a medal contention as they defeated Jorge Cori of Peru and Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus respectively in the 12th and penultimate round of World Juniors Chess Championship.
Vodafone is facing tax liability over its $11 billion acquisition of a 67 per cent stake in the mobile-phone business owned by Hutchison Whampoa in 2007.
Economists urged FM to rationalise indirect taxes and impose Tobin tax.
Loans for Indian airlines have dried up as banks have become cautious to lend to the sector.
Finance secretary R S Gujral too is believed to have met top Vodafone officials in Mumbai last month.
Seeking to spur foreign investments, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said the Union Cabinet will decide on raising FDI caps in different sectors in the third week of this month.
Stocks ignored better-than-expected double digit industrial production figures in August to snap a three-day rally on profit-booking after Finance Minister P Chidambaram said he was "surprised and worried" by the sharp rise in stock prices.
Jaitley slammed lack of ethics in certain sections of businesses and said multiple layers of auditing system chose to either look the other way or did a casual job.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presents the current National Democratic Alliance government's fifth and arguably his toughest budget.
Government has set up a Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission to streamline the financial sector laws.
Rediff.com brings to you Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget Speech Live from Parliament at 11.00 a.m. on February 26.
