Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said the Budget 2025-26 maintained the government's continuous push to improve Railways by allocating Rs 2.52 lakh crore to it and approving projects such as manufacturing 17,500 general coaches, 200 Vande Bharat and 100 Amrit Bharat trains, among others.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government's last Budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups.
The interim budget 2024-24 on Thursday allocated Rs 1,277.80 crore for census, a significant reduction from 2021-22 when Rs 3,768 crore was allocated and an indication that the exercise may not be carried out even after three years of delay.
Expressing disappointment with the Budget proposals, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said 'it is unimaginative, dull and boring'
'We need to be very vigilant as we are passing through some fraught times.'
Zohram Kwame Mamdani would be the city's first Muslim and Indian American mayor if elected New York mayor this November.
In a heinous terror attack, two Indians were killed while one was abducted in the Dosso region of Niger, as noted by the Indian Embassy in Niger.
A Supreme Court lawyer has written to the Attorney General seeking consent to initiate contempt proceedings against BJP MP Nishikant Dubey for his "grossly scandalous" remarks against the court. Dubey had criticized the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna following the Centre's assurance that it would not implement some of the contentious provisions of the Waqf (Amendment) Act. The BJP has distanced itself from Dubey's comments, calling them his personal views.
Sitharaman, India's first full-time woman finance minister, had in July 2019 ditched the colonial legacy of a Budget briefcase for the traditional 'bahi-khata' to carry Union Budget papers.
Many affluent young people are first-generation wealthy. They have limited financial literacy, lack quality financial guidance or role models, and often fall prey to mis-selling. This makes them hesitant to invest in high-return assets like equities.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
'The scrapping of import duty would help Indian companies compete in international markets, thus paving the way for India becoming a space manufacturing hub for the world.'
She has shown shrewdness, sensitivity, and courage. All of these will be needed in ample quantities for the real challenge that will emerge after the elections, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will take a final call on whether to break the tradition of presenting a separate Rail Budget, by merging it with the General Budget.
Sitharaman, India's first full-time woman Finance Minister, broke away from the colonial tradition of carrying a Budget briefcase in July 2019, opting instead for a traditional 'bahi-khata', to carry the Union Budget papers.
Sarma said his government was looking forward to the legislation on the Uniform Civil Code, which will be considered during a special four-day session of the Uttarakhand assembly that is starting from February 5.
Indian-origin lawmaker Zohran Kwame Mamdani stunned in the Democratic primary race for New York City mayor, upsetting former governor Andrew Cuomo.
Some individuals opt for the new regime without a comparative analysis of the tax liability under the two regimes.
Despite the rally in equities over the last few years, India, according to Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, is still in early stages of an equity cult. Any changes to the capital gains tax for equities - both long-term and short-term - in Budget 2024 scheduled to be announced on July 23, he believes, can trigger a bigger correction that what the markets witnessed post the Lok Sabha election outcome on June 4 that saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lose majority, though it was able to form the government with the help of coalition partners.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
The interest rate on these schemes have remained unchanged for over a year now.
Census exercise with caste enumeration will be carried out with the reference date of October 1, 2026, in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and of March 1, 2027, in the rest of the country, the Home Ministry announced on Wednesday.
Lok Sabha could function for only 45 hours this Budget Session against its scheduled 133.6 hours because of daily disruptions and frequent adjournments, a think tank data has shown.
The finance minister's assertion that industry should not expect any spectacular announcements in the 2024 interim Budget suggest that the electoral imperatives of more tax concessions or higher expenditure on welfarist programmes could be far less pronounced than they were before the 2019 interim Budget, expects A K Bhattacharya.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties, led by the Congress, staged a walkout from both Houses of Parliament on Wednesday, in protest against all states except two being 'ignored' in the budget, an allegation termed 'outrageous' by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanm, who said all the states never found a mention in any of the previous budgets, including those presented by the Congress.
'The Budget needs to focus more on social welfare schemes.'
Adarsh Kumar, the son of a farmer and a Class 12 student from rural Bihar, is on a mission to build one of India's largest free skill development movements, powered only with a laptop, free Internet and his relentless determination.
The Islamabad high court is set to hear the petitions requesting the suspension of sentences to Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the 190 million Pound Al-Qadir Trust case on June 11.
Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday questioned Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over the Union Budget and claimed that the plates of all states except Bihar and Andhra Pradesh were empty in the budget allocation.
Pre-Budget excercise next month should scrupulously avoid adventurism of all types and refrain from making excessively ambitious projections on revenue and expenditure numbers for 2023-24, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) have stepped into the spotlight this quarter. With evolving market conditions and shifting investor sentiment, ETFs offer a timely solution for accessing growth with liquidity and efficiency. In this article, we break down the most important ETF trends, performance drivers, and what to watch in the months ahead.
'And this will persist given the two-and-a-half-front threat we face.'
Kunal Varma, CEO, Freo, explains what Hospicash and Day Care Insurance covers are and how they help manage financial and mental stress.
The revised salaries of MPs are significantly lower than the salaries drawn by top bureaucrats in the country.
Using the debt-to-GDP ratio as a fiscal anchor aligns with efforts to promote fiscal transparency through proper disclosure of off-budget borrowings.
Prof Anantha Chandrakasan has been named Massachusetts Institute of Technology's new provost, the first Indian-American to serve in this leadership role.
Thanks to a close one's illness, I have seen quite a few hospital rooms in the past half a year or so. They have revived my respect for life reinterpreted via its essentials, notes Shyam G Menon.
Justice Yashwant Varma, embroiled in the cash discovery row following a fire at his residence, has been excluded from all administrative committees of the Delhi High Court. The committees were recently reconstituted, with all other judges, including the Chief Justice, included. Justice Varma was previously a member of several committees. His work was withdrawn following a directive from the Chief Justice of India, who has also ordered an in-house inquiry into the allegations.
Vijay is counting on what was once proclaimed as his last filmi outing, Jana Nayagan, or 'People's Hero', to do the trick for him, when it releases on January 9, 2026, only months before the assembly poll, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Still, people are asking why we have not gone for a full-out war. As a military man, if ordered, I will go to war, but that will not be my first choice'
