'It won't be a V-shaped recovery. It'll be consolidation.' 'Investors might exit during that grind. It'll be painful.'
During the last few years, finance ministers like P Chidambaram and Jaswant Singh limited their pre-Budget discussions to representatives from the industrialists' lobby, economists, farmers and trade unions. This time, Pranab Mukherjee has held exclusive meetings with exporters, the financial sector, electronics and information technology. He will also hold a meeting with the finance ministers of the states.
Seasoned bureaucrat and a stickler for rules Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey will be at the helm of capital market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), for three years. The 1987-batch Odisha-cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, Pandey, would replace Madhabi Puri Buch, whose three-year term ends on Friday.
'Tax rate and stock markets are entirely two different things.'
Nirmala Sitharaman's messaging was clear when she presented a well-balanced Budget with an eye on state elections in nine states followed by a general election next year, observes Ramesh Menon.
During this summer, Indian travel buffs are opting for destinations that provide an escape from the ominous heat, along with coastal regions within the country and countries offering visa-free travel.
'If you are not prudent, you may exceed your budget, and if it happens too often, you may end up in debt.'
The Delhi High Court granted two-day custody parole to jailed J&K MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh, allowing him to attend the ongoing Parliament session. The court imposed certain restrictions on Rashid, including a ban on using a cellphone or addressing the media, and ordered that he be escorted by armed police personnel to and from the Lok Sabha. The decision came after a legal battle between the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which argued against the parole, and Rashid's lawyers, who highlighted the importance of his representation in Parliament during the budget session. Rashid's case is linked to funding separatist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and connections to designated terrorist Hafeez Saeed.
The ministry of finance is likely to assume crude oil price to remain within $85 per barrel while estimating subsidies for the Interim Budget 2024-25 (FY25), to be presented on February 1. Brent crude prices moved up on Thursday, ending at $78.9 per barrel. Crude oil and cooking gas prices, which move in tandem, impact fertiliser and cooking gas subsidies, constituting 53 per cent of the government's total subsidies.
The exodus of FPIs from the Indian equity markets continued unabated, as they withdrew over Rs 7,300 crore (about $840 million) in the first week of this month due to global trade tensions, with the US imposing tariffs on countries such as Canada, Mexico, and China. This came following an outflow of Rs 78,027 crore in the entire January. Before that, they invested Rs 15,446 crore in December, data with the depositories showed.
rediffGURU Samkit Maniar answers readers' personal income tax queries.
The Union Budget for 2017 is likely to be presented on February 1. An approval for merging the Railway Budget with the General Budget was accorded by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday.
'Maharashtra is virtually in a debt trap.'
'They just showed riots created by some political party. They never mentioned the name of the place or the political party.' 'I don't know why these people are agitated.'
'When the girls said they want to play football, the mothers were encouraging.' 'It was the fathers who were against the idea.'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will have to do a tight-rope walk between staying fiscally prudent and general public expectations of lower taxes and a wider social security net, while at the same time firing the engines of the economy before general elections. Sitharaman will on Wednesday present her fifth straight Budget at a time when the economy is slowing due to global headwinds and specific sectors need attention. In the run-up to the Budget presentation, expectations are rife that she may tweak income-tax slabs to provide relief to the middle class and increase spending on the poor through programmes such as the rural job scheme while ramping up financial incentives for local manufacturing.
One reason the fee can't be lower than 3 per cent is that it is difficult for an RIA to do a good job and remain viable even at 3 per cent.
The government is likely to provide a subsidy of Rs 35,000 crore to state-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) to make up for losses they incurred on selling the fuel this fiscal, sources said.
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The increased plan allocation from the Centre is expected to help Delhi complete various projects related to next year's Commonwealth Games. The city got Rs 814 crore for projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, while Rs 315.82 crore has been proposed for providing basic services to the urban poor. The total allocation also includes Rs 1,129.82 crore given to the city under urban infrastructure development for small and medium towns.
Do you have Budget related queries? Ask Finance Expert Ambareesh Baliga.
Schemes like the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana strain fiscal resources amid rising unemployment and prices of food items.
'I had to persuade him. I think he was a sceptic to begin with, but later on he was convinced that what we were doing was the right thing to do, that there was no other way out.'
India has reported 59 cases of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) and two deaths due to co-morbidities between January 6 and 29, according to Union Minister Prataprao Jadhav. The virus primarily affects young children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals, leading to respiratory illnesses. The government has taken measures to monitor and control the spread of HMPV cases and create public awareness.
Stopping SIPs during a downturn undermines the benefit of rupee-cost averaging.
Amidst alleged power struggles within the ruling Congress in Karnataka, AICC general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala has called for discipline within the party, emphasizing that the party is paramount. This comes as the state's chief minister and deputy chief minister submitted a consolidated report on the performance of 31 ministers to Surjewala, fueling speculation about a potential cabinet reshuffle.
"The Budget is in line with expectations. With the election year fast approaching, the Finance Minister has proposed a populist Budget aimed at using fiscal measures to boost growth and control inflation," said Anirudh Sarathy, analyst for StreetEdge Investments in San Ramon, California.
The ICC Board will now begin the process to identify Allardice's successor.
Many travellers are now opting for domestic destinations like Goa, Kerala, Rajasthan, Lakshadweep, Himachal Pradesh, and the North East.
'A government whose policies are focused around making the life of ordinary citizens, specially the most deprived sections, richer; a government that prioritises education, health and transport, that doesn't treat its citizens as subjects who must come to it for everything, is rare in our country.' 'When such a government is thrown out, one is left stunned,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has said that India and Pakistan came closer to resolving the Kashmir issue during the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. He added that he does not expect a return to that situation in his lifetime. Abdullah lauded Singh's efforts on Kashmir, including the setting up of working groups on the issue, and said he practically initiated measures for the return of displaced Kashmiri Pandits. The chief minister also praised Singh's contribution to India's economic development.
The government should take measures to promote innovation and R&D while simplifying regulations for the sector in the upcoming Union Budget, as per pharmaceutical industry bodies. Outlining the wish list for the sector in the upcoming Union Budget, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) secretary general Sudarshan Jain said the domestic pharma industry is currently around $50 billion in size and aspires to grow to around $130 billion by 2030 and $450 billion by 2047. "To achieve this vision, the Union Budget 2023-2024 should help fuel innovation and R&D, which will set the pace for propelling the pharmaceutical industry forward," he told PTI.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said the general budget 2010-11 would fuel inflation in food articles, health, education and housing making the life of common man more difficult.
The monthly Rs 2500 payment for poor women is expected to cost Rs 11,000 crore while the pension scheme of Rs 2000 for every senior citizen will cost around Rs 4100 crore. The Yamuna clean up will cost over Rs 10,000 crore while a similar amount is required to upgrade Delhi's hospitals. Ultimately, the new BJP government will have no choice but to ask the centre for financial support, notes Rashme Sehgal.
The entire Opposition walked out of the Lok Sabha during the presentation of budget by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, dubbing it 'highly inflationary' as he partially rolled back the stimulus by hiking the ad velorum component of excise duty on large cars and multi-utility vehicles by two per cent to 22 per cent.
The General Budget will be presented on July 6 and the Railway Budget will be presented on July 3.
'The Railways decided to go for kavach three years back, but the progress has been very slow.'
The Budget Session of Parliament will commence on February 22 and the General Budget for 2010-11 will be presented on February 26.
'When there is a money crunch in the industry, actors like us are the ones who face budget cuts. Not the big actors.'
