The previous highest divestment proceeds for the first half of a year was around Rs 21,000 crore in 2016-17.
The move to make the appointment process more robust comes after last month's arrest of S K Jain, chairman and managing director of Syndicate Bank last month, over graft charges.
After a tumultuous past few days that almost halved value of the Adani group, embattled tycoon Gautam Adani-led conglomerate had some pressure eased on Friday as two global rating firms stuck with their calls on its credit profile and its French partner backed its investments in the group firms. Also for the first time since January 24, shares of the group's flagship firm Adani Enterprises ended in positive territory after erasing an intraday loss of 35 per cent. Adani Ports and SEZ also ended 8 per cent higher. This is after a over $100-billion rout in value of group stock since the US short seller Hindenburg Research accused Adani group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.
Ahead of the Union Budget 2023, insurers are hoping that the Centre will act on their recommendations, which includes increasing the limit for tax deduction under 80D of the Income Tax Act. Also among them are issuance of long-term bonds, tax incentives for home insurance premiums, and a separate section to claim deduction for term-insurance premium, among others. These suggestions would help improve the penetration of insurance in the country.
Cheque clearances and cash withdrawals and deposits in public sector bank branches across the country were hit as employees started a two-day strike on Monday to press for a revision in wages.
The petroleum ministry is likely to advocate allowing its public sector units like ONGC to bid for acquiring management control in oil refiner HPCL, which the government on Monday said would be put on the block.\n\n
Without the handsome receipts from the sale of government equity in PSUs and sharp increases in excise revenues from oil, Mr Jaitley's fiscal consolidation drive would have become even more arduous, says A K Bhattacharya.
Arun Jaitley addressed a post-Budget press conference.
The government holds 85.96 per cent in NHPC.
Out of nearly 30 public sector undertakings and assets under 'strategic sale' plan, only the ONGC-HPCL plan has been completed
Indications are that the DMK combine will win more seats than the AIADMK and BJP, but is facing a tough fight in about half a dozen from the rest, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy of the electoral contest in Tamil Nadu.
Earlier, the Reserve Bank of India was the approving authority.
The bosses of SBI, Union Bank and Central Bank have been driving down to their offices everyday to take stock of the biggest loan drive ever undertaken for MSMEs, discovers Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
After the Chennai floods, insurance companies had got 50,000 claims worth Rs 4,800 crore.
Daniel Wu, chairman of the Asian Bankers Association (ABA), says there is merit in merging some of the less efficient public sector banks in the country.
The mandatory use of the Indian flag on SCI's ships has been a bone of contention with prospective buyers, on account of the costs it will entail in terms of taxation and vessel registration.
'Those who come from outside are surprised at the relatively small strength of the RBI supervisory cadre, relative to the needs of the country and the needs of the financial sector.'
NavIC consists of a constellation of seven satellites and a network of ground stations and is touted to be more accurate than GPS.
The ban on certain single-use plastic (SUP) items kicks in from Friday, with state governments initiating an enforcement campaign to identify and close down units engaging in production, distribution, stocking and sale of such items, officials said. Though several manufacturers have said they are not prepared to implement the ban due to a lack of alternatives, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav had on Tuesday said the government had given enough time to the industry and the general public to prepare for the ban on SUP items and it hopes for everyone's cooperation in implementing it from July 1. Violation of the ban will invite punitive action, including a fine or a jail term or both, detailed under Section 15 of the Environment Protection Act (EPA) and under bylaws of respective municipal corporations, officials in the Union environment ministry said.
One crucial revenue source that can help the government achieve its fiscal-deficit target is the proceeds from the sale of its stakes in public sector companies.
The run-up to next year's general elections might see some of the top executives of government-run companies getting unlucky. And, the period could become the best in the lives of those waiting in the wings.
In the upcoming round of privatisation, unviable airports are likely to be clubbed with six main airports and a prospective bidder may be restricted to bid for two airports.
Of the seven surveys presented under Modi govt, predictions of three were quite close to the actual GDP growth rate, one saw the base year change in between, but the last three were way off the mark.
The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission had in a report last year proposed a unified regulator for the entire financial sector -- markets, insurance, commodities and pension. It had, however, proposed to keep banking out of its purview for now.
What is most troubling is that not a single party that is part of INDIA has talked about any kind of reform and economic sense, argues R Jagannathan.
The hit to economic activity will be mostly confined to the first quarter. And a third wave, if it materialises, is unlikely to be hugely disruptive for the economy, predicts T T Ram Mohan.
Among other things, the agenda is likely to focus on increasing private investment, employment generation and giving relief to the farm sector
Every patriot should learn from our history and recognise that celebrating size will neither negate nor obscure the huge economic challenges that India faces, asserts Rathin Roy.
The NDA government will be following the footsteps of its predecessor, the UPA, which had introduced the concept of "loan mela" to boost credit by directing banks to lend to people through public meetings.
Strategic sales are tricky and were last undertaken when the Vajpayee government was in power.
'Today, bankers don't want to take risks as the good decisions taken by them were not protected.' 'There is risk involved in all decisions, like businessmen taking risks in their businesses.' 'A banker must have taken a decision when the economic condition was different, and you cannot question him on the basis of the present situation in hindsight.' 'Naturally, this has affected the morale of bankers.'
No successive government thought of reviving the idea of an exit policy.
'The Akali government is not responsible for the Punjab power crisis as Mr Sidhu is saying.'
The Indian startup ecosystem recently celebrated the 100th unicorn milestone. It came after a month of no big fund announcements. Compare this to 2021, when three to four unicorns were being added every month. Nevertheless, the 100th unicorn needs to be celebrated since the first unicorn was announced in 2011 - 11 years ago.
Instead of giving away the airports to the private sector 'on a platter', state-run Airports Authority of India should form a subsidiary or a special purpose vehicle to grant management contracts to entities having expertise in the field, the panel recommended.
The idea of strategic disinvestment seems to have been dropped by the government.
'The slide in growth has arisen primarily because we have an NBFC crisis on top of a banking crisis,' points out T T Ram Mohan.
The probe into selections for banks such as Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank followed the arrest of Syndicate Bank CMD S K Jain for alleged graft.
The Modi government has handled inflation far better than any government in the past two decades. Both the stock market and currency indices have begun to show confidence in the economy, despite the mounting global headwinds of trade.
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