'Fiscal purists would quarrel with the idea of selling assets to pay for current expenditure -- such as the payout to farmers and the health insurance programme -- for the obvious reason that the process cannot go on forever.' 'At some point, the list of assets available for sale will run out,' notes T N Ninan.consultations -- something already aired in connection with the lease of airports to the Adani group, says T N Ninan.
The GST Council on Friday left taxes on COVID-19 vaccines and medical supplies unchanged after the BJP- and Opposition-ruled states sparred over whether tax cut benefits will reach the common man. Congress and other Opposition ruled states have been demanding a reduction in taxes but the central government felt the move may not result in tangible gains for people. "It is one thing to rush to say - do this, it will benefit the common man. But when the technical, fitment and law committees go into the details, you realise that that could have collateral impact on many others," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. "I am not talking about the revenue generation aspect, but how many other items will get included in it as a result of which how you are going to implement it," she added.
Holding her party would oppose any 'attempt to sell out the country', she claimed that in the past five months, the Centre had done nothing 'good' and that 'Bharatiya Janata Party is only busy beating its own drum in the social media'.
Besides advancing the presentation of the Budget to perhaps the first week of January, , there are four new initiatives that could be rolled out from the next Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.
China on Friday hiked its defence budget to $209 billion, maintaining a single-digit growth for the sixth consecutive year with a 6.8 per cent increase in 2021.
Moody's Investors Service on Friday slashed its estimate of India's GDP growth during the 2020 calendar year to 2.5 per cent from an earlier estimate of 5.3 per cent, on account of the rising economic cost of the coronavirus pandemic.
Sitharaman, who is not known to reply to comments made on her Twitter handle, instantly choose to respond to drug-maker Biocon chairman Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw's criticism of lack of fiscal measures to support growth.
Business leaders, among others, ask govt to let go of fiscal target, seek stimulus, and direct cash transfer.
Salgaocar FC and Sporting Clube de Goa, Indian football's traditional outfits, decided to "withdraw" from the forthcoming season of the I-League over the All India Football Federation's decision to restructure the domestic league system.
The US-based company, in collaboration with partners like Wistron and Foxconn, had recently started assembling iPhone 11 in India.
The government on Friday extended he deadlines for various income tax compliances and said the amount paid by an employer to employees for Covid-19 treatment would be tax exempt.
The Indian economy's election-year syndrome cannot be ignored, says A K Bhattacharya.
'We have already given Rs 1.59 trillion to states.' 'So, there is no question of giving them more.'
India Ratings and Research on Friday revised down India's FY22 real GDP growth forecast to 10.1 per cent, from earlier projection of 10.4 per cent, citing the second wave of COVID-19 infections and slower pace of vaccination. At a time when large parts of the country are experiencing tremendous pressure on medical infrastructure, the agency said it expects the second wave to start subsiding by mid-May. Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank maintained its 10.5 per cent GDP growth estimate, but Governor Shaktikanta Das has flagged the rising cases as the biggest impediment to recovery.
Public sector banks (PSBs) have written off a massive Rs 8 trillion of loans in the seven years of the Narendra Modi government in office. This is more than twice the capital infused by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government during the period. Between 2014-15 and 2020-21 (FY21), the Centre had infused Rs 3.37 trillion into PSBs. At Rs 1.06 trillion, FY19 saw the highest capital infusion.
Growth forecast has been lowered owing to tepid growth in the first half of 2017-18, the lingering effects of demonetisation, transitory challenges of GST, and some risks to agriculture stemming from a spotty monsoon.
Maharashtra is expecting its active caseload to reach 11.9 lakh by April 30, compared to the current active caseload of 5.64 lakh, Thackeray said.
'The term 'pro-growth' must be qualified somewhat because, while a rising tide will lift all boats, it will not necessarily do so equally.'
One priority for Delhi (for the new foreign secretary in particular) is to have an in-depth discussion with Dharamsala as soon as possible, suggests Claude Arpi.
Banerjee asked Modi not to allow "an insufferable blow to the federalist polity of the nation" by depriving the states of the GST compensation. "I am deeply anguished by the Goods and Services Tax imbroglio which tantamounts to a betrayal of the trust and moral responsibility of the Government of India towards the states, violating the very premise of federalism."
The petroleum ministry has told ONGC to give away 60%stake plus operating control in India's largest oil and gas producing fields of Mumbai High and Bassein to foreign companies, according to an October 28 letter to the state-owned company. Amar Nath, additional secretary (exploration) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, wrote a 3-page letter to ONGC chairman and managing director Subhash Kumar, saying productivity of the Mumbai High and Bassein & Satellite (B&S) offshore assets under state-owned firm was low and international partners should be invited and given 60 per cent participating interest (PI) and operatorship. This is the second time since April that Nath, who is part of the ONGC management as the longest-serving government nominee director on its board and often considered a potential candidate to replace Kumar next year, has written an official letter, painting a poor picture of the company's performance.
If Nirmala Sitharaman does indeed present a 'never-before' like Budget on February 1, going by her promise, she would create a new benchmark for post-contraction Budgets, observes A K Bhattacharya.
Gokarn was the first Indian central banker who regularised warnings to the government, through the monetary policy statement, on the need to reduce fiscal deficit.
Sales during the quarter under review stood at Rs 9,357 crore, up 12.42 per cent, as against Rs 8,323 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the central bank saw economic growth slowdown in February, prompting it to cut rates ahead of the curve and wondered why markets were surprised with the decision to pause rate reduction. Noting that there is a need for an "informed and objective discussion" on the country's economy, Das said the RBI would do "whatever is necessary" to address growth slowdown, spikes in inflation as well to ensure good health of banks and non-bank lenders. The apex bank went for five consecutive rate cuts starting in February this year, making it a cumulative reduction of 1.35 per cent.
Two powerful US Senators have urged President Joe Biden not to impose provisions of the punitive Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act against India for buying the S-400 surface-to-air missile system from Russia.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has said the company's share in India "is quite low relative to the size of the opportunity" and setting up retail stores in the future in the country will be a great initiative. Apple launched the Apple Store online in India on September 23, offering Apple's full range of products and support directly to customers across the country for the first time. "If you take India as an example, we doubled our business last quarter compared to the year ago quarter. But our absolute level of business there is still quite low relative to the size of the opportunity. "And you can kind of take that and go around the world and find other markets that are like that as well," Cook said on Wednesday in the company's Q1 2021 results earnings call.
'There are deeper, underlying, forces at work and we need institutional arrangements to guard against them.'
'Most of the agitations are staged by the Opposition to disturb the peace of the state.'
'If you are selling family silver, and if you are not getting the right value, then what is the point?'
The company's market valuation stood at Rs 10,972 crore in morning trade.
In 2009, FinMin proposed to move regulators' reserves into public account. These accounts were finally opened in 2013-14. However, no funds have been deposited in it so far.
The Biden administration has indicated that it is still undecided on ending the Trump-era ban on issuing new H-1B visas, with the Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asserting that the US government's top priority is the acute needs of individuals fleeing persecution. The H-1B visa, the most sought after among Indian IT professionals, is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.
One incident should not be used to generalise the health of all cooperative banks, says RBI governor Shaktikanta Das.
The Reserve Bank remains laser-focused to bring back retail inflation to 4 per cent over a period of time in a non-disruptive manner, Governor Shaktikanta Das stressed while voting for status quo in interest rates, as per minutes of the October policy meeting released on Friday. The central bank has been mandated by the government to ensure the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation is at 4 per cent, with a band of 2 per cent on either side. The retail inflation, which was above 6 per cent during May and June, has started moving down and stood at 4.35 per cent in September.
Ajay Maken, who has also served as the Speaker of the Delhi Assembly in the past, asked Deora to "leave Congress" before propagating "half-baked facts."
While banks are not as exposed as the corporate sector during the initial stage of the pandemic, the strain on lenders could ultimately be profound. Banks face a second-order hit compared with the corporate and household sectors.
'The government wants foreign companies to capture the insurance market.'
Privatisation-bound Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) on Thursday said it has no intention to sell a part of its stake in Petronet LNG Ltd and Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) to help its new owner avoid making an open offer for the two gas companies. BPCL holds 12.5 per cent of the shareholding in India's largest liquefied natural gas importer, Petronet, and a 22.5 per cent stake in city gas retailer, IGL. It is a promoter of both the listed companies and holds board positions.
The denial rate jumped from 4% to 41% for Tech Mahindra, from 6% to 34% for TCS, from 7% to 53% for Wipro and from just 2% to 45% for Infosys.
