Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and former Planning Commission member Kirit S Parikh, who heads an expert committee on fuel pricing, may join the deliberations, official sources said.
The name of Mitra, a 1975 batch IAS officer from West Bengal cadre, was cleared by the appointments committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy has written to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee demanding a hike in excise duty on diesel cars to make up for subsidised fuel being used in vehicles.
Association points out that over 40 clearances from various agencies are required for real estate projects.
The finance ministry has offered less than half of the Rs 31,700 crore (Rs 317 billion) sought by the oil ministry to make up for revenue losses incurred by the state-owned retailers on sale of LPG and kerosene. Petroleum Minister Murli Deora on Thursday met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to seek compensation for the public sector oil firms for their losses but the meeting remained inconclusive.
In a strongly-worded letter to Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari, eminent lawyer and MP Ram Jethmalani has alleged party leaders are "silent against the huge corruption" in United Progressive Alliance-II government and are instead engaged in infighting.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday said that the Budget 20010-11 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is in line with the path of fiscal consolidation and economic revival.
With the Biju Janata Dal and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam indicating their preference for P A Sangma as presidential candidate, the Nationalist Congress Party leader on Thursday thanked them saying they have been responsive to the aspirations of tribals and appealed to other parties to support a candidate from the community.
While accepting that there are challenges before the Indian economy arising out of domestic and global factors, the Finance Minister said he did not believe in despondency.
Corruption has emerged as a major issue in the country but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was not responsible for the situation, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Saturday. ''I don't hold the prime minister responsible for the entire issue related to corruption. But the situation reflects that governance is not up to the mark,'' he said.
The speed at which political statements of doubtful veracity acquire the aura of gospel truth is astonishing. One such "truth" is: coalition compulsions impede economic reforms. Even Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu believes in it. He recently said, "Thanks to coalitional democracy, there is some slowdown in economic reforms and decision-making."
Borrowing at 29 paise will account for the largest share of every rupee that the government will use for financing the Union Budget 2010-11, while will it spend the most - 21 paise - on central plan.
India and Switzerland on Monday signed the revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, a move that will help the government seek details about illicit wealth allegedly stashed away by Indians in Swiss banks.
Concerned over the ongoing public spat between the two regulators, the government on Wednesday asked Sebi and Irda to move court immediately on the contentious issue of who will regulate unit-linked insurance products.
He further added that India needs $1 trillion investment in infrastructure during the 12th Five-Year Plan.
Feels assured by FM's promise that givt will consider their demands.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said his government expected a reasonably good growth rate of seven per cent in the ongoing 2011-12 financial year.
With quintessential diplomatic astuteness, the Congress party's master trouble-shooter for decades, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, shrugged off the irritants that loom large in US-India relations -- including the outsourcing controversy -- preceding the visit next month to India of President Barack Obama, saying all of these problems can be resolved through dialogue.
