The government must expedite its plan for asset sale and privatisation, both of which hardly got any mention in the Budget speech, points out A K Bhattacharya.
At least 13 candidates are in the race for the position of managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) of Punjab National Bank (PNB), the second-largest public sector bank (PSB), according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. "Among the candidates, some are executive directors (EDs) and managing directors in major PSBs. "Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB) will conduct the interviews next month," said a source.
'The circumstances indicate that the government is not serious about the commission...' '...We are not at the mercy of the government.'
Sources in the Fifteenth Finance Commission said that they will implement the provisions after the bill is enacted and the President makes a reference to it.
Gautam Adani, India's second-richest man, and seven others including his nephew Sagar have been charged with paying bribes to unidentified officials of state governments in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha to buy expensive solar power, potentially earning more than $2 billion profit over 20 years.
An order was issued to terminate 223 contractual employees of the Delhi Commission of Women after Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena gave his nod to a proposal on it, officials said on Thursday.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked stakeholders like the Centre, Niti Aayog, Finance Commission and the Reserve Bank of India, to brainstorm on the 'serious' issue of freebies announced during elections and put forth 'constructive suggestions' to tackle it, saying no political party will oppose such handouts or like to debate it in Parliament.
India is pushing for greater disclosures by credit card companies, fintech firms, and payment aggregators (PAs) at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), so that the sender and recipient in a cross-border financial transaction can be easily identified and the information shared with law enforcement agencies. Separately, the inter-governmental group, which sets standards to curb money laundering, will release the fourth round of its mutual evaluation report on India on September 19. FATF in June had adopted the mutual evaluation report on India and placed the country in the "regular follow-up" category - the highest rating given by the global watchdog and a distinction shared by only four other G20 countries.
The government on Wednesday cleared the setting up of an Investment Commission to woo foreign as well as domestic investors for major projects in the country.
Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday assumed charge as the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister for the second consecutive term and is slated to soon present the final Budget for FY '25 that is going to set the tone for the Modi 3.0 government's priorities and direction for Viksit Bharat. Upon her reaching the North Block office, Sitharaman was greeted by Finance Secretary T V Somanathan and other top officials. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary was also present. Chaudhary assumed charge on Tuesday evening.
The 64-year-old Planning Commission, a vestige of the socialist era, will soon become history.
The Indian government has come out with a nice name for its tried and tested 220MW pressurised heavy water reactor -- Bharat Small Reactor.
Imane Khelif beat Hungary's Luca Anna Hamori by unanimous decision in a welterweight quarter-final fight at the Paris Games on Saturday to ensure Algeria's first Olympic boxing medal since 2000.
Vithal, a 1950-batch IAS officer, died early on Friday morning due to old age ailments, his son Sanjay Baru, media advisor to former prime minister Manmohan Singh, told PTI.
After the Planning Commission rejected its financing plan for the second time, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is preparing a new draft plan. The earlier proposals were rejected citing that NHAI would find it difficult to borrow funds from the market.
No government in the past initiated the process of policy making for its next tenure even before going in for elections. Once the Model Code of Conduct is enforced by the Election Commission, should the government of the day refrain from taking an active interest in policy making for the next five years and let that be the function of the new government?, asks A K Bhattacharya.
Though seven opportunities have been granted to the states, it appears that full compliance has not been affected and several states are in default, it said.
Sitharaman also said states will get 41 per cent share of taxes as per the 15th Finance Commission recommendation and the government has accepted the recommendation.
'I do not believe that you would have a booming economy when you go into elections if you had a budget which did not answer the fiscal deficit concerns.'
'Some of the astounding proposals, if translated into statutory provisions, would be suicidal.' 'This would not be a wonder cure for increasing insurance penetration and only result in mushrooming growth of players like paan kiosks with deleterious consequences.'
'This government is not in the hands of M K Stalin but in the hands of the bureaucracy -- the IAS and IPS.'
Nationalist Congress Party leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Saturday didn't join his cabinet colleagues Devendra Fadnavis and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in visiting the Nagpur-based memorial of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh founder.
Chidambaram, who is also senior spokesperson of Congress, said at the AICC briefing.
An average voter turnout of 20 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of voting in the bypolls to 15 assembly seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Uttarakhand on Wednesday amid an incident of stone pelting in a village in UP's Meerapur and allegations of police personnel deterring voters from casting their ballot.
From the Sensex pack, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones, Mahindra & Mahindra, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, State Bank of India, UltraTech Cement and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the major gainers. In contrast, Tata Steel, Titan, Bajaj Finserv, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Tata Motors and Tata Consultancy Services were among the laggards.
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.
Why did the political system in the country react to these two decisions of the Modi government in a diametrically opposite manner? asks A K Bhattacharya.
'Money power was deployed like an army in a war.' 'None of the MVA parties had that kind of money.'
The commission said enforcement authorities have seized Rs 4,650 crore even before polling begins for the Lok Sabha elections and it is the "higher than total seizures" made in the 2019 polls
The Board of Control for Cricket in India's top brass is not overtly perturbed by Law Commission's recommendation of bringing the richest sporting body of the country under the Right To Information (RTI) ambit.
An increase in the farmer income support scheme PM Kisan Nidhi, the introduction of a 'robot tax' to fund reskilling of people who lose their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI), and a reduced income-tax (I-T) to bring relief to the middle classes - these are some of the items in the Budget wish list submitted by Sangh Parivar affiliates to Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman. Representatives of the affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), such as the farmer organisation Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS); trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS); Laghu Udyog Bharati, which works for micro and small industries; and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), which works on economic and policy issues, met the FM and other officials over the last couple of weeks as part of the pre-Budget consultations.
Megha Engineering had emerged as the second-biggest buyer of electoral bonds and donated the highest amount of about Rs 586 crore to the Bharatiya Janata Party, according to the data released by the Election Commission on March 21.
With less than five months left for the report of the Fifteenth Finance Commission to be submitted, its chairman N K Singh said the report will have fiscal road map for states, depending on their current situation.
The probe agency named her as an accused in its supplementary charge sheet filed in the case on Wednesday. Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana will take up the matter for on November 10.
The FinCom has recommended a record 10% increase in states' share.
For every rupee in the government coffer, 58 paise will come from direct and indirect taxes, 35 paise from borrowings and other liabilities, 5 paise from non-tax revenue like disinvestment and 2 paise from non-debt capital receipts, according to the Budget documents for 2022-23. According to the Union Budget 2022-23 presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, goods and services tax will contribute 16 paise in every rupee revenue, while corporation tax will contribute 15 paise to each rupee earned. The government is also looking to earn 7 paise for every rupee from Union excise duty and 5 paise from customs duty. Income tax will yield 15 paise to every rupee collection.
Various alleged administrative and financial irregularities worth crores have been pointed out in execution of development works in worst Naxal-hit Bastar district of Chhattisgarh by state Accountant General.
Unions have also demanded raising the income tax exemption limit from Rs 2 lakhs to Rs 5 lakhs.
According to the Election Commission of India, the code has evolved over the last 60 years to assume its present form.
No limit exists on the number of electoral bonds that a person (including corporate entities) can purchase.
