Charging the finance minister with leaving an off-budget fiscal overhang of Rs 300,000 crore (Rs 3,000 billion), which could wreck the country's economy, Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday demanded resignation of P Chidambaram to escape "dismissal". Singh warned that the country was heading for the worst kind of food inflation and the off-budget subsidy on fertiliser and petroleum would leave a serious dent on the government finances.
With the government devising alternative ways to trail black money, the Banking Transaction Tax will be withdrawn by the end of this year, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday. The alternative methods to catch people with unaccounted money would be provided by the provisions in the new Money Laundering Law, Chidambaram said.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday drove over to Rahul Gandhi's 12 Tughlak Lane bungalow to personally invite the Congress vice-president to his daughter Sonali's wedding.
'It has been an ongoing process, talking to the relevant ministries about eliminating leakages and curbing non-core expenditure in various schemes.'
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee as a special invitee, while legal affairs secretary Niten Chandra will be secretary to the panel.
The standoff over Women's Reservation Bill ended on Thursday with the government announcing that the proposed legislation would be brought in the Lok Sabha only after consultations with all sections.
The broader NSE Nifty sank 177.65 points or 1.53 per cent to 11,419.25.
Denying any delay in the introduction of Income Tax Code that will comprehensively review current income rates and slabs, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said the government will introduce the code this year.
The Modi government is learning to deal with the reality that it does not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha.
Though it's debatable whether power to supersede bank boards can adequately safeguard against the problems created by banks promoted by those with interests in other industries, the finance ministry has at least shed its reluctance to bulldoze the Reserve Bank of India.
Congress on Monday kept the government guessing on the insurance bill asking it to take on board all stakeholders and favouring the select committee route even as it insisted that the measure is its own "baby" and it is a "misnomer" that the party is opposed to it.
'Chidambaram, lots of people argue not without justification, is all about bluff and bluster without any concrete achievement on the ground. His record in the finance ministry fully endorses that view,' argues Virendra Kapoor.
Official sources said the notice under section 201 and 220 (2) of the I-T Act, which talks about simple interest at one and a half per cent for every month the tax demand was raised, will also explain the retrospective amendment made by the government for taxing business deals that avoids tax in the country by showing them in a tax haven.
With Lok Sabha approving the Finance Bill that amends law to retrospectively tax cross-border transactions dating back to April 1, 1962, Vodafone faces a tax demand of Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) plus interest and a penalty on its 2007 acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd's Indian operations.
After days of adjournments, the Rajya Sabha unanimously passed the crucial Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill along with two bills on supplementary demands for 2015-16, within minutes without any debate.
Penal provisions have already been introduced for late filing of returns.
While India won't be immune to global spillovers, we need to create the macro preconditions for sustained growth. Policy agility, prudence, and resilience will be key, suggests Sonal Varma.
Banks have started charging customers for payment of credit card bills through cheque and so paying online makes more sense.
K N Balagopal (Communist Party of India -Marxist) said the Congress and the BJP were acting as A-Team and B-Team and not allowing the House to discuss the bills.
The Insurance Bill was deferred for consideration for the time being after a meeting
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Thursday dismissed minister V Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers days after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in a cash-for-jobs scam, a move that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said the government would challenge legally.
Government on Tuesday said it will soon come out with a new Income Tax Code to streamline the taxation structure and reduce the plethora of exemptions given to various segments of taxpayers. The new tax code would become law after debate and deliberations. Direct tax code would replace the existing Income Tax Act, which was enacted in 1961 and would subsume other direct tax legislations. Together with indirect tax exemptions, direct tax exemptions are leading to revenue loss.
Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly Ajit Pawar on Thursday alleged that a scam of Rs 500 crore took place in the state information and publicity department during the tenure of the government led by Devendra Fadnavis.
"Everybody knows in this country that I charge only the rich, but for poor people I do work free and the poor people are about 90 per cent of my clientele," he said.
The United Progressive Alliance government's confidence about getting legislative business done in the monsoon session of Parliament, beginning August 5, might be misplaced.
The levy of retrospective tax on the UK's Cairn Energy Plc is a tale of bizarre twists and turns that saw its attached shares being sold in May 2018 amid the passing of the baton from a full-time finance minister to interim one and the talks at the highest level to resolve the dispute, to claims that levy of back taxes was a result of an investigation into Panama Papers leak. The government late last month refunded about Rs 7,900 crore it had collected from selling residual shares of the British firm in its erstwhile India unit, seizing dividend and withholding tax refunds, to settle an eight-year-old dispute that had tarred the country's reputation as an investment destination. But, this did not come about easily. For seven years, the establishment vehemently justified in courts and outside seeking of Rs 10,247 crore in back taxes plus interest and penalty from a firm that gave India its biggest onshore oil discovery.
Government on Tuesday indicated its willingness to incorporate more changes into the land bill in order to address the concerns raised by opposition parties even as it has already agreed to make at least six amendments in its proposal.
The government's subsidies on food, fertilisers, LPG and kerosene are pegged at Rs 5.96 lakh crore in the current fiscal, over 2.5-fold jump from the initial budget estimates as the Centre distributed additional foodgrains free of cost to help poor mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. In February 2020 Budget, presented in the pre-COVID scare, the government had estimated the subsidy bill at Rs 227,794 crore. However, all the budget estimates, have undergone major revisions as the country imposed strict lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19.
But commerce ministry works on rules for exemption to contractors.
He said the new short-term treasury bills will be part of the government's same borrowing programme. To meet its burgeoning expenditure, necessitated by the slowing down economy, the government has pegged its market borrowing at over Rs 4.5 lakh crore (Rs 4.5 trillion) for the current fiscal, bulk of which is being raised in the first half.
The finance ministry is likely to tone down some of the provisions of Fringe Benefit Tax and moderate the conditionalities for Banking Cash Transaction Tax proposed in the Budget.
Parliament was virtually powerless for a brief while on Monday.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday asked Left parties to reconsider their opposition to the pension bill so that government can provide a "legal basis" to the new pension system started last year.
The government in December obtained Parliament approval for raising the oil subsidy bill by Rs 28,500 crore (Rs 285 billion) over and above the amount earmarked in the Budget for 2012-13.
The implementation of the commodities transaction tax is likely to be delayed to the end of the year or even next year, thanks to the spiralling inflation and its political fallout.
Parliament on Tuesday approved the long-awaited fiscal responsibility legislation after Finance Minister Jaswant Singh promised there would be no lowering of developmental expenditure.
A bill to auction coal mines is also likely to be passed later.
Retrospective claims may not stand the test in international courts.
The fiscal deficit, estimated at 4.6 per cent of the gross domestic product, is expected to be around 5.6 per cent, mainly on account of factors like subdued revenue collection, poor disinvestment receipts, high global commodity prices and increasing subsidy bill.
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