Factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production, contracted in March to a five-year low of 3.5 per cent.
When a group of pro-Telangana Members of Parliament went to meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday to "discuss" the separate state issue, Mukherjee snapped at them and said: "Please don't waste my time. There is nothing more to discuss now."
Pranab said he had clarified this issue in no uncertain terms with US Treasury Secretary who had brought up this issue during bilateral talks.
In an affront to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has refused to relieve an Indian Administrative Service officer he wanted as his private secretary in what appears to be fast soiling relations between the two since differences cropped up over Teesta river deal with Bangladesh.
The minister further said that he would respond to the issues in his reply to the discussion on the Finance Bill 2011, later during this session.
Mukherjee said the high inflationary pressure, specially in food and some non-food articles, existed in other emerging economies also.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's Budget presentation on Monday was in sharp contrast to his colleague Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's disorderly and oft-disrupted performance.
Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan and national secretary D Raja will go to Kolkata and represent their party at the cremation.
Lagarde said that she had elaborate discussions on the general economic situation.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was aware of the contents of the controversial 2G note which was issued as an office memorandum at the insistence of the Prime Minister's Office, a top official told the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Thursday.
"I am complimenting the way in which one is managing finances, given the constraint that we are in", said Kochhar, ICICI Bank CEO and managing director.
Pranab Mukherjee said the government proposes to move various legislative Bills related to financial sector reforms.
It is expected that the finance ministry will be handled for some time by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Union Minister Shashi Tharoor met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday night as the controversy surrounding him in the IPL snowballed with the opposition demanding his sacking.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee may have earned plaudits for projecting a decline in the fiscal deficit to 5.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2010-11, but his targets for revenue deficit reduction are relatively modest and represent a departure from the 13th Finance Commission's recommendations.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has arrived in New York for a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 2G spectrum issue in the wake of a Finance Ministry note involving P Chidambaram.
Encouraged by the industrial production growth rate of 10.8 per cent in October, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday sounded confident that the trend would continue and the fiscal would end with double-digit growth rate.
Sharad Yadav, JDU chief and NDA convener, tells Gyan Varma if the UPA had discussed Pranab Mukherjee's nomination for Presidential election before announcing his name, the NDA would not have put up its candidate against the former finance minister
Worried over Baba Ramdev's indefinite fast from Saturday, the government on Wednesday took an extraordinary step to woo him by deputing Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and three other senior ministers to the airport for talks but he appeared not to relent on his plans.
To check price rise, the government is importing some of the commodities to bridge the supply-demand gap and strengthening mechanism for providing subsidised items to poor, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday.
Anirban Ganguly recounts moments from the past when Pranab Mukherjee had to face uncomfortable questions from opposition MPs.
Rejecting the 'protectionist policies' of the US, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday free flow of goods, services and capital would ease the global financial crisis.
Mukherjee is in Washington, DC to co-chair the US-India CEO's Forum with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
Far from the rough and tumble of politics, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is in Kolkata at his ancestral home at Miriti in Birbhum district to perform Durga Puja as he has been doing every year.
"I extend puja greetings (Saradiyar Subhecchha) to all people and wish them well," a relaxed Mukherjee said while leaving for his ancestral home with his wife.
Mukherjee's statement comes in the backdrop of a sharp decline in Indian stock markets.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday warned of greater sophistication in economic crimes and of its growing threat to national security.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday parried questions on the truce between him and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on the controversial 2G note and whether he had offered to quit during the crisis.
Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury created flutters on Thursday when she talked of how valuable Pranab Mukherjee is to the government but the party stepped in immediately to clear the air saying the finance minister is not ruled out from the Presidential race.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said that inflation will start easing soon as the government's efforts to remove supply-side bottlenecks have started yielding results.
At least a dozen Union ministers, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, are abroad and some more are slated to be off to attend international conferences in the coming days.
Has President Pratibha Patil become an embarrassment to the United Progressive Alliance government? The answer is in the affirmative, if judged by reports emanating from the highest corridors of power.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Congress alliance appeared headed for a break with six Union Ministers of the regional party set to resign on Monday even as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to reconsider his decision to pull out of the United Progressive Alliance government.
Ahead of a scheduled discussion in Parliament on the Finance Bill, 2012, for its clearance next week, top bosses of Vodafone Plc met senior functionaries of the government on Tuesday to discuss tax issues that have emerged due to the proposed retrospective amendments in the Income Tax Act, 1961.
Within hours of reports that Mukherjee himself was at the receiving end of such calls, Raja activated his ministry to take steps against such calls that 'encroach' into the privacy of telecom consumers, an issue that has been haunting every single consumer despite the regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's attempts to ban such a nuisance.
Do you have a funny or harrowing experience to share about your rendezvous with pesky telemarketers? Simply write in to us at getahead@rediff.co.in with the subject 'You are not alone Pranab da' and we'll publish the best stories right here on rediff.com!
He sought to know from the industry if it wanted India to become a no-tax country.
Breaks self-imposed rule never to return to an office he has occupied in the past.
Top Congress leaders on Thursday held consultations with party chief Sonia Gandhi on the Telangana issue.
Corporate America has showered kudos on Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for his latest Budget, describing it as a 'very forward-looking confident budget'.
