Had Finance Minister Sitharaman thought a little more about the middle class, disadvantaged sections, and the poor who are struggling, it would have been an inclusive Budget that would have made history, notes Ramesh Menon.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her second Budget a little more than a month from now. Like any other FM, Sitharaman will depend on her team of bureaucrats and advisors to frame and present the Budget.
Jaitley said a very large number of reforms have taken place over the last few years and that has helped in restoring the credibility of the Indian economy
Rejecting criticism of jobless growth, he said if state after state is creating good number of jobs, how can the Centre be creating joblessness?
As vice president and ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Jagdeep Dhankar is inheriting a troubled legacy. Although the government faces no real numerical challenges in the Upper House, political and legal challenges are there aplenty.
Goyal's move was criticised by the Opposition saying with general election months away, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government had mandate only to present a vote on account and a Budget containing direct tax proposals.
The opposition has attacked the Modi government over the National Democratic Alliance's last full-fledged budget before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The vehicle scrapping policy will offer about 5 per cent rebate to those buying new cars if they junk their old vehicles, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said in Rajya Sabha on Thursday terming it a "win-win" situation. The voluntary vehicle scrapping policy announced in the Union Budget for 2021-22 provides for fitness test after 20 years for personal vehicles while commercial vehicles would require it after the completion of 15 years. "The 'Voluntary Vehicle-Fleet Modernisation Programme' or 'Vehicle Scrapping Policy' will offer a rebate of about 5 per cent to buyers on new car purchases in lieu of scrapping of the old.
'It is a package for a new self-reliant India.'
Listing the series of reforms which led to the upgrade, he said while demonetisation took the economy towards greater formalisation and digitisation, use of Aadhaar ensured targeted delivery of government benefits.
'Prime Minister Modi's message from Tuesday's meeting with industrialists was loud and clear: stand up India, stand by start-ups, take risk and invest,' says CII chief Sumit Mazumder.
Addressing his first rally in the national capital in the run-up to the February 8 Delhi Assembly polls, he said the current environment in the country, the hatred, the violence and the attacks on women were harming India and people were not benefitting from it.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday hiked tax on petrol and diesel, raised import duty on gold, levied additional surcharge on super rich and brought a tax on high value cash withdrawals as she sought to spur growth with reduction in corporate tax and sops to housing sector, startups and electric vehicles.
Taxpayer satisfaction is a part of the matrix of key performance indicators of the administration.
Even two-and-a-half years after the National Democratic Alliance came to power, people remember the previous United Progressive Alliance regime for corruption, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday, asserting that demonetisation would go a long way in curbing black money.
In its letter Voda Idea has warned that it is not in a sound financial state, and added that it would be in a position to meet its liabilities only if the government initiates steps including allowing set-offs for GST credit accumulated so far, and permitting staggered mechanism for payment of balance amount of interest, penalty, and interest on penalty.
The senior Congress leader also said over 90 per cent of jobs are in the SME sector which requires an urgent push to boost the economy.
Majority of respondents feel that the government in the forthcoming Budget will increase the standard deduction and give more incentives for housing loans.
There are several welcome standalone reforms, but these do not add up to a coherent strategy to achieve a $5 trillion economy or secure Aatmanirbharta, observes Rathin Roy.
'The government has realised that the finances of the government are in a precarious state.' 'We are borrowing to fund the ever-burgeoning revenue deficit.' 'Then you are paying interest on the fresh borrowing.' 'For the first time, the government has realised that this cannot go on.'
The interim Budget has attempted to tick all the boxes that could help the Modi government return to power, reports Archis Mohan.
Even if a company does not invest, it will improve liquidity of banks.
Govt could cut the GST rate payable every time someone buys a health insurance product; or it could also provide a larger income tax set off for those who buy a health insurance product
'Igniting in this country, a false feeding of nationalism combined with religion.' 'They are promoting the religion of the majority people in the country to feed their political agenda.'
The decision to do away with Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes accelerated the slowdown in economic activity with growth averaging 6.8 per cent in the seven quarters after it, as against an average of 8 per cent in the six quarters preceding it, says former chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian.
India can be rated as among the best performing economies in the world
The government paid Rs 164.5 crore to Infosys to build the new income tax e-filing portal between January 2019 and June 2021, Parliament was informed on Monday. "The contract for Integrated e-filing & Centralized Processing Centre (CPC 2.0) Project was awarded through an open tender published on Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP) to Infosys Ltd, the Managed Service Provider on the lowest cost basis.
The standard line that is used for anyone -- academics, minorities, farmers, dissident industrialists -- who points out that what the government is doing is wrong is being anti-national and separatists, reveals Aakar Patel.
The Budget may see new rural schemes and stepping up of funding towards existing programmes like MNREGA, rural housing, irrigation projects and crop insurance.
'It will take a long time for people's memory to be misled by a prime minister who is so arrogant and who refuses to acknowledge his own faults.'
Before 2019, an estimated 22 million individual income-tax returns did not have to pay any taxes. But after the change in the exemption level, another 13 million individual tax returns did not require to pay taxes. Thus, of about 58 million returns, as much as 63 per cent or 35 million went out of the direct tax net, A K Bhattacharya points out.
For development finance institution to succeed now, the government must stand like a rock behind it and be patient.
Vagela could not have reached this position if Narendra Modi, who'd known him from his chief minister days, had not backed the choice.
The government on Wednesday said it will borrow Rs 7.24 lakh crore in the first half of 2021-22 fiscal to meet resources to perk up the economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Budget 2021-22, the government's gross borrowing was estimated at Rs 12.05 lakh crore in the financial year beginning April 1. "In the Budget, we had announced that there would be a gross borrowing of Rs 12.05 lakh crore and net borrowing of Rs 9.37 lakh crore. "In the first half of 2021-22, we would be borrowing Rs 7.24 lakh crore, which is 60.06 per cent of the gross issuances," economic affairs secretary Tarun Bajaj said. He said the government would issue 2-year, 5-year, 10-year, 14-year, 30-year, and 40-year securities.
Petrol price on Thursday was cut by Rs 6.07 per litre and diesel price by Rs 11.75 in Delhi as oil companies passed on a record reduction in excise duty rates to consumers. Buckling under pressure, the government had on Wednesday cut excise duty on petrol by Rs 5 per litre and that on diesel by Rs 10 a litre to give reprieve to consumers battered by record high retail fuel prices. Since states charge local sales tax or VAT not just on the base price but also on the excise duty levied by the centre, the total incidence of price reduction is higher.
The introduction of GST would constitute India's biggest reform.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that Modi's move was aimed at helping a few of his 'crony capitalist friends' and had 'destroyed' the Indian economy, prompting a strong response from the BJP which said the exercise was an 'attack' on corruption and black money that were rampant during the 'lost decade' of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
Stating that pushing GDP growth, which has slipped to 5-year low of 6.8 per cent in 2018-19, is the top priority, President Ramnath Kovind said Modi govt will bring more reforms and raise farm investments to boost growth.
The premium on insurance policies will get costlier by 3 per cent to 7 per cent, depending upon the rate fixed by the GST Council from April 1, 2017, says Harjot Singh Narula.
'Time and again, through their actions, often more covert than overt, the BJP has shown that it is a power-hungry party and its hunger isn't getting satiated sitting in the Opposition.'
