With Parliament rocked by constant disruptions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hit out at the Congress, accusing it of making a "mockery of democracy" and deciding to "destroy" the country as it cannot reconcile to the Lok Sabha poll defeat.
The finance minister is likely to announce the government's vision for a tax-friendly regime by raising the I-T exemption limit from the current Rs 250,000 per annum.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Friday sounded a word of caution about the new government's 'Make in India' campaign that assumes an export-led growth path of China and said instead it should be 'Make for India' that will produce for the internal market.
The stage is set for a showdown between the government and the Opposition over the GST or Goods and Services Tax Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament, which begins on Monday.
He also lashed out at the Congress for its opposition to the GST and for dubbing it as 'Gabbar Singh Tax'.
A Dubai trip plus Apple iPhone 12 is cheaper than buying the phone in India. Various models of the iPhone 12 Pro and Max are cheaper in Dubai by up to Rs 35,000 owing to higher GST, Customs duty in India.
The Congress on Monday described as a "blot on democracy" the suspension of its four MPs for the rest of the monsoon session for disrupting proceedings in the Lok Sabha, alleging the government was trying to "intimidate" the party but it would not be cowed down.
Cheque payments will be safer; the limit for contactless card transactions hiked.
Banking shares saw a renewed buying interest on the hopes of a rate-cut by the central bank post the easing of macro-economic data.
Unabated uproar by Congress members in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday invited the wrath of Speaker Sumitra Mahajan who called their protests "murder of democracy" and "hijacking" the rights of 440 members by 40-50 others in the Opposition.
Narendra Modi's meeting with J Jayalalithaa in Chennai has set the rumour mills abuzz. Will the Tamil Nadu chief minister ally with the BJP ahead of the 2016 polls, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Accounting for the first Advance Estimates for 2017-18, an additional planned borrowing of Rs 200 billion, the fiscal deficit could come in at 3.35 per cent of GDP.
A tally around 150 in Gujarat can see the index hit 10,700 levels going ahead
During the meeting that lasted one-and-a-half-hours, the prime minister asked his Cabinet colleagues to take up the "challenge" of reaching the message about the government's functioning to people through better connect with them.
This is part of the government's move to improve infrastructure.
Catch all the action from the Monsoon session of Parliament, LIVE
Protests by central labour unions and widespread criticism from Opposition parties because of job losses on account of demonetisation and the GST have put the contentious labour reform proposals in the slow lane.
He also took potshots at opposition parties' decision to observing November 8 as a 'Black Day', saying the move displays their faith in cash economy.
The recent surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are expected to grab limelight during the month-long session. Some parties have alleged that the government is trying to politicise it.
The benchmark BSE Sensex reclaimed the 28,000 mark, spurting by 409 points or 1.4% at 28,114 and Nifty settled above the 8,500 mark at 8,532, gains of 111 points.
The challenge before the government now is to use the factors that are favourable to its benefit.
The Sensex closed higher by 170 points at 26,128 and the Nifty rose 59 points to end at 7,943.
The Nifty50 slipped 33 points to close the session at 8,509 after hitting an intra-day high of 8,587.
They are now scaling or shutting down their businesses because they can't compete with untaxed grey market gold. India's gold smuggling has increased significantly since the import duty was increased in the Union Budget 2019 in contravention with the broader market expectations of a cut.
'Nobody expected the slowdown to go for these many days. Unfortunately, it is an unbelievably bad slow down.'
Besides Vodafone, several other major MNCs like Nokia and Shell were locked in tax dispute with the revenue department.
Sectors such as Auto, Banks, Capital Goods, FMCG, Metal, Oil & Gas and Power are trading marginally lower.
India's macroeconomic environment is improving, but it is still not past the point where it can ignore the developments in the global markets
Also on the anvil is abolition of distinction between Plan and non-Plan expenditure and replacing it with capital and revenue expenditure
Motilal Oswal of Motilal Oswal Financial Services tells Puneet Wadhwa why he thinks the current market levels will sustain.
Setting the stage for confrontation in Parliament, an all-party meeting called in New Delhi on the eve of the monsoon session on Monday ended in a deadlock over controversies related to the Lalit Modi and Vyapam scam even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered to discuss all issues. The government ruled out any resignations.
Congress leaders in the upper house called CAB unconstitutional, 'arbitrary executive fiat' to push Hindutva agenda.
...for others it would be an incentive to participate more robustly in equities and other tax instruments.
Rediff.com does a quick checklist on what the two manifestos have to say on hot-button issues of the day.
Various twists and turns by govt post-demonetisation prove that it has been tall order for the PM
The one national GST unifies the country's $2 trillion economy and 1.3 billion people into a common market, an exercise that took 17 tumultuous years.
Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian says that he hopes GDP growth will be at the upper end of the 7-7.5 per cent range.
For development finance institution to succeed now, the government must stand like a rock behind it and be patient.
The Reserve Bank on Friday retained the GDP forecast for the current financial year at 9.5 per cent and flagged global semiconductor shortages, elevated commodity prices and potential global financial market volatility as downside risks to economic growth. In his address after the three-day meeting of the rate-setting panel, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said recovery in aggregate demand gathered pace in August-September, and it is reflected in high-frequency indicators, like railway freight traffic; port cargo; cement production; electricity demand; e-way bills; GST and toll collections. "The ebbing of infections, together with improving consumer confidence, has been supporting private consumption," he said, and added the pent-up demand and the festival season should give further fillip to urban demand in the second half of the financial year.
Jaitley said the government has created transparent environment.
