Days before the passage of the Finance Bill in the Parliament, Left party leaders on Friday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded urgent steps by the United Progressive Alliance government to check growing prices of essential commodities. Top leaders of four Left parties, supporting the government placed six demands before him, saying these measures should be taken immediately to curb burgeoning prices.
Ruling out the implementation of value-added tax from June 1, Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Wednesday announced several excise duty concessions on edible oil and textiles.
According to a top Congress minister, the government needs to be on its toes next week when the combined opposition moves cut motions and the finance bill also comes up for passing in the Lok Sabha. The reason is the altered attitude of the Left parties, particularly the Communist Party of India-Marxist towards the Bharatiya Janata Party with the Left now seeing the Congress as its enemy number one.
Four per cent countervailing customs duty on components for mobile phone manufacturing exempted.
You telephone bills will become cheaper if the finance minister P Chidambaram heeds to the telecom operators' demand for a reduction in levies.
While the Left parties are in talks with secular Opposition parties on a joint strategy during voting on the Budget in the budget session resuming from April 15, they are not not averse to BJP and its allies supporting a joint opposition cut motion.
PSUs are asking for tax holiday for oil exploration and production activities to continue. The latest Budget imposes a Sunset clause for 100 per cent tax exemption for refining of mineral oil.
Jaitley promised the states that they would be fully compensated for any loss of revenue arising from implementation of GST.
The devil is in the detail for the real estate sector. Though the Budget gave sops to home buyers in the form of tax savings and interest rate subvention, it quietly brought back service tax on lease rentals in the Finance Bill.
The bill says the deductor will deduct tax at higher rates than that is in force or 20 per cent in case the TDS assessee does not furnish his PAN.
The Bill at best makes the existing public distribution system a legal right, an aspect that seems of little consequence to the lords of high finance, whose primary anxiety is the FSB-by-numbers.
Asserting that his government will implement the five poll 'guarantees' promised ahead of the assembly polls, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said officials have shared their inputs on financial implications, and the cabinet will meet on June 2 to decide on the implementation.
Kumaraswamy's father HD Deve Gowda also downplayed GT Devegowda's comment.
Armed with permission to issue Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) of tax-free bonds in 2011-12, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will issue the first lot worth Rs 2,500 crore by mid-May.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting of senior ministers on Tuesday to discuss the recommendations of the National Advisory Council on the Food Security Bill.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday took up the four bills related to the GST, with the Opposition urging the government to insulate taxpayers from harassment and questioning how the new regime was "ideal" when 40 per cent of the revenue base of the GDP was kept out of its purview.
This will be the first time since the presentation of independent India's first budget on November 26, 1947, that the documents containing income and expenditure statement of the Union government along with finance bill, detailing new tax and other measures for the new financial year, will not be physically printed.
Gaurav Mohta, chief marketing officer, Home First Finance Company, answers home loan queries.
GST revenue for May stood at nearly Rs 1.41 lakh crore, a 44 per cent increase over the same month last year, the finance ministry said on Wednesday. Bucking the month-on-month increasing trend of the last two months, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues came in lower than the record high collection in April at Rs 1.68 lakh crore. In March GST revenues were at Rs 1.42 lakh crore, while in February it was Rs 1.33 lakh crore.
"I came in between" Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday, taking a dig at the leaders of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party who had formed a coalition to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'The central government can stop further destruction... if they have the political will to do so.'
Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on Friday hinted that value added tax might not take off as scheduled in June as not all states have agreed to its implementation.
Unable to comprehend the deliberations in English in the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has sought an interpreter for himself from the next meeting.
The joint drafting committee on Lokpal bill on Saturday had its first meeting when civil society representatives presented a new draft of the legislation to the government with both sides expressing hope that the new law will be brought in the monsoon session of Parliament.
A comprehensive Bill on insurance sector is likely to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday. \n
Select committees of the House have already submitted their reports
The Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal on Monday said they would oppose the Women's Reservation Bill in its present form at an all-party meeting convened by the government and stick to their demand for separate quotas for women from the minority community, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes. the meeting has been convened by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is Leader of Lok Sabha, to find a way out of the impasse on the bill.
Says govt is creating conditions for greater private investment
Revised draft model Bill clearly says an agriculturist for the purpose of agriculture won't be liable for registration under GST.
The government on Friday asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to suggest ways to curb its rising subsidy bill on food, fertiliser and petroleum products without hurting the targetted population.
Seeking to give a big push to the Lokpal Bill, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday appealed to all political parties to support the legislation saying it is a "very very powerful instrument" in the fight against corruption.
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