In a sudden turn of events, the Centre has decided to put on hold the controversial decision about FDI in retail sector, in an apparent bid to break the Parliament logjam. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose party Trinamool Congress is strongly opposed to the decision, claimed on Saturday that Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to her and told her that the FDI decision has been "suspended".
The rise in inflation based on wholesale prices in October from 9.72 per cent in September was mainly on account of higher prices of fruits and vegetables, manufactured goods and petrol.
The UPA government had last year announced a nearly Rs 71,000 crore (Rs 710 billion) farm loan waiver scheme to offer relief to farmers, especially the small and medium ones who were unable to access fresh loans due to non-payment of dues. Noting that the full impact of failure of monsoon was yet to be assessed, the minister said the country would, however, be able to achieve six per cent plus economic growth during the current fiscal.
Under severe attack over rushing senior ministers to the airport to meet Ramdev, the government is understood to have decided that senior ministers, especially Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, will not meet him again for further talks.
The Budget will be presented in the first week of July, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
As the tenth consecutive working day of Parliament was lost amid its standoff with the Opposition on the controversial 2G scam issue, government on Thursday said it did not know how to end the impasse but was trying to find a solution.
Pranab Mukherjee's stewardship of the economy will stand out as much for the manner in which he managed controversies as for creating quite a few of them, says A K Bhattacharya.
Amidst all-out efforts by the government and RBI to tame inflation, now hovering around 9 per cent, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said it would be ideal for the economy if it is managed at 5-6 per cent level.
Union Finance Minister addressed students of the Institute of Management Technology (IMT) in Ghaziabad (UP) during their annual convocation. Here is what he had to say.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley feels ministers in the Manmohan Singh government are either "arrogant or sulking" and that it was tough to have a dialogue with them.
An empowered group of ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, which decides on revising rates of the sensitive products, has not met since June last year even though crude oil prices have spiralled upward by about 50 per cent.
Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee stresses on stronger Indo-US ties at the CEO meet in Washington, DC.
Following the increase, petrol in Delhi will cost Rs 68.64 a litre.
"I am not revising it (the target) right now. We have fixed the target and we will try to achieve it, but it depends on many other situations, particularly the economic health conditions," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
Amid the growing chorus against black money and the government's efforts to pull the plug, Union Law Minster M Veerappa Moily has suggested Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to completely overhaul the tax administration.
Why Krishna is miffed. The Congress's power politics. The BJP's politics over Modi. All this, and more, in Dilli Gupshup....
The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also observed silence for two minutes in the memory of Mukherjee.
Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, it appears, is peeved with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram over the punishment being meted out to government servants on charges of corruption.
Why the Union Cabinet was so impatient to allow FDI in multi-brand retail flummoxed many.
This is Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's fourth regular Budget.
Budget silent on issue, major decisions unlikely before 2014 election.
"If I go there at all, I would be addressing the (US-India) CEOs meeting and also have some bilateral meetings with Treasury officials. I do not know of any other meeting. I do not know from where these things come," he told media persons in Ahmedabad when asked about reports about his plans to meet with Dow Chemicals CEO Andrew Liveris in the US.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday the Intelligence Bureau's 'chewing gum theory' regarding the alleged bugging of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's office as 'big joke'. The party has demanded a thorough probe into the matter.
Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh once again trying to derail the process of setting up a Joint Parliamentary Committee, for which hectic efforts have been made by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee having had a number of meetings with opposition leaders?
The Delhi high court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the candidature of UPA's presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee accusing him of abusing his office as finance minister and securing "pecuniary favour" in the form of votes from various political parties in the upcoming Presidential election.
On the eve of an all-party meeting on Telangana, Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday said the Centre should follow its announcement on creation of a separate state with a resolution in Parliament but set no deadline for it.
Government on Tuesday dismissed reports that four Union ministers had offered to quit their posts and work for the party, saying all Congress leaders are working for the party whether they are a part of the dispensation or the organisation.
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The Indian rupee dropped by 58 paise to a lifetime low of Rs 52.73 per US dollar in early trade on Tuesday on persistent demand for the American currency from banks and importers amid sustained foreign capital outflows from the equity market.
Post-Budget, the FM was at his most relaxed as he would get to use his mobiles, and can take visitors.
"The GoM on the civil aviation sector, headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, is meeting tomorrow as the government has broadly agreed to support Air India in its restructuring process," civil aviation minister Praful Patel said on Tuesday.
The government on Wednesday decided to set up a Group of Ministers to take a view on the controversial issue of whether there should be a caste-based census. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, discussed the issue over which various ministers are divided, official sources said. The Cabinet then decided that a GoM should take a final decision on the issue, they said. The GoM is likely to be headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday rejected the Opposition demand for the resignation of Home Minister P Chidambaram over the 2G issue and made it clear he will defend all his Cabinet colleagues.
The finance minister said this while presenting the Union Budget 2009-2010 at the Lok Sabha on Monday.
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
India has had 28 finance ministers since independence.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has questioned the granting of hefty funds to certain states by Pranab Mukherjee, the United Progressive Alliance's Presidential candidate, and sought to know if this was meant to influence the ruling parties including Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal - United and the Trinamool Congress.
India has had 28 finance ministers since independence.
Mukherjee's family and relatives paid their last respects clad in PPE kits while conforming to COVID-19 safeguards.
Pranab Mukherjee the President in waiting dodged all questions pertaining to politics and said 'I am no longer a minister'. He was in Bangalore to interact with the Electoral College seeking support for his candidature as President of India.
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