The government is looking to give Bharat Global Ports a certain amount of domestic exposure after it set up the state-owned consortium to increase India's global maritime heft, officials aware of the development said. The intended domestic exposure is meant to give the consortium experience and build its credentials for international projects.
The Union government's finances witnessed significant improvement in August after a stressful first four months of the current fiscal year. India's gross tax revenue, comprising both direct and indirect taxes, for the first five months of 2023-24 surged 16.5 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) to Rs 11.8 trillion. During the April-July period, gross tax revenue increased by a mere 2.8 per cent compared to the Budget Estimate of 12.1 per cent growth for FY24.
With the prediction of an above normal monsoon in 2024, the government is expecting food prices to come down, the finance ministry's monthly economic report for March has said. The report, released on Thursday, said robust foreign inflows and comfortable trade deficits were expected to keep the rupee within a comfortable range. "Further easing of food prices is on the anvil as IMD (India Meteorological Department) has predicted above-normal rainfall during the monsoon season, which is likely to lead to higher production, assuming good spatial and temporal distribution of the rainfall," the monthly report, released by the Department of Economic Affairs, said.
The government does not seem keen on issuing fresh gold bonds given the overall cost and rising gold prices.
Amendment Bill may be tabled in Monsoon session despite RBI's reservations.
'The global situation is not very good.'
The finance ministry expects a broad-based moderation in inflationary pressures on the back of an anticipated reduction in food prices as a result of the uptick in summer sowing. The retail inflation rate remained stubbornly clung to the 5 per cent mark in seven of the past eight months. "Core inflation is trending downwards, indicating a broad-based moderation in price pressures... Driven by strong domestic growth and benign global commodity prices, core inflation is declining continuously.
The finance ministry has proposed to remove from the guidelines a clause on the lateral movement of small and mid-sized banks' heads to large banks.
Structural reforms, pro-people programmes and employment opportunities helped the economy get new vigour, the finance minister said. After contracting by 5.8 per cent in 2020-21, the economy recorded a growth of 9.1 per cent in 2021-22.
India Post had applied for a bank licence under RBI guidelines issued on February 22, 2013.
The Reserve Bank of India has sought views of the Union ministry of finance in giving permission for a 'Credit Suisse' Swiss Bank to open its first Indian branch in Mumbai.
The CBI, in its FIR, alleged that Mayaram, the UK-based company De La Rue International Ltd and unidentified officials of the finance ministry and RBI hatched a criminal conspiracy to extend undue favour to the firm.
This is not her first stint in North Block or in leading a major economic ministry. She started Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first term as minister of state for finance, was made the commerce minister, and then became the defence minister.
Shaktikanta Das will demit the office on Tuesday after completing six years as the 25th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra will replace him as the 26th Governor. He was appointed as the Governor on December 12, 2018, after the abrupt exit of Urjit Patel.
>According to the latest RBI data, PPF receipts have already experienced a decline between April 2023 and February 2024. Other schemes like the Sukanya Samriddhi Account and National Savings Certificate are also witnessing reduced inflows.
The committee on financial inclusion, headed by C Rangarajan, the chairman of Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, has recommended that the profits transferred to their reserves by such banks should be exempted from tax till the banks achieve the standard capital adequacy ratio (CAR).
Finance Minister P Chidambaram will meet bankers on June 3 to review operations of banks, firm up next generation banking reforms and set targets for credit flow to sustain 7 per cent growth in economy.
Currently, banks are closed every second and fourth Saturday of a month. Why shouldn't they be shut every Saturday? When most customers carry their banks in their pocket (the app on the mobile phone), there is no need to keep banks open on Saturdays, argues Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The idea is to save customers the inconvenience of opening and closing bank accounts or keeping multiple accounts if they have to shift to a new location or find their bank's services unsatisfactory.
A proposal discussed by the RBI brass with key finance ministry functionaries in Delhi last week has favoured merger of large public sector banks with small state-run entities and private players, sources close to the development told Business Standard. It has also identified the potential partners for a merger based on the RBI's inspection report for the last two-three years, they added.
The panel also recommended unified Financial Redress Agency under Finance Ministry for customer grievances.
The Budget should use the extra RBI surplus to better effect, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
The proposal is being examined by the finance ministry in the run-up to Budget 2008-09. The banks have told Finance Minister P Chidambaram that there is a considerable divergence between the provisions made according to the RBI guidelines and the deductions allowed by the Income Tax Act.
Reserve Bank of India Governor D Subbarao on Tuesday said the central bank needed more powers before it could firm up the final guidelines on new bank licences.
Duvvuri Subbarao recounts how his tensions with P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee, then finance ministers, over monetary policy spilled over into other issues in the central bank in this excerpt from Who Moved My Interest Rate?, his memoir of his term as Reserve Bank of India governor.
With the Indian Premier League (IPL) story getting murkier, investigative agencies have cast their net wide to include banks. The idea is to dig out information about their financial exposure to the 10 IPL franchisees.
A high-level panel led by former RBI governor Bimal Jalan, set up to decide the appropriate capital reserves that the central bank should maintain, on Wednesday finalised its report.
Seek easing of asset classification guidelines for better credit flow.
Finance ministry asks bank, insurance & market regulators to issue notifications
RBI had last week announced a 0.5 per cent increase in cash reserve ratio to 5.5 per cent in two phases to absorb excess liquidity from the economy and check rising prices.
Rupee, he said, is not in shambles and "we should not be overtly pessimistic".
FinMin advice to include brokers & realty firms, debate over entry of industrial houses slow the process.
Banks have started refunding borrowers the compound interest charged on specified loan accounts during the moratorium period. Last week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had asked all lending institutions, including non-banking financial companies, to ensure that the scheme of waiver of interest on interest for loans up to Rs 2 crore for the six-month moratorium period is implemented by November 5.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, who will present his maiden policy on September 20, held discussions on Tuesday with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram on the macro-economic situation.
The draft regulations on compensation of private banks, based on sound risk management and productivity linked principles, comes within days of the US Congress passing a major financial reform bill to discipline firms on Wall Street.
Writes to govt for legal amendment, proposes committee that'll consult other sector regulators.
Real estate developers are hoping that the slew of tax concessions announced in Union Budget 2025, set to take effect this financial year, will spur demand for affordable and mid-segment housing, even as the broader housing market shows signs of fatigue.
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