In a bid to boost agriculture infrastructure, the government on Monday announced a cess on certain items, including petrol, diesel, gold and some imported agricultural products. While proposing the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Cess (AIDC), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said that care has been taken not to put additional burden on consumers on most items. There is an immediate need to improve agricultural infrastructure so that we produce more, while also conserving and processing agricultural output efficiently, the minister said in her Budget Speech in Lok Sabha.
Mobile phones and TV sets manufactured in India would become cheaper with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing cuts in Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on import of their components but smokers would have to pay more as the government has increased taxes.
Opposition leaders slammed the Centre on Wednesday for its 'limited' focus on important sectors like health and education in the Budget for 2023-24 fiscal.
When there is a state government committed to development, it is important that Mumbai has a civic body that, too, shares that goal, Modi said.
Nepal witnessed political turbulence in 2022 that dramatically turned rivals into allies and throned former guerrilla leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' as the prime minister for a third time, as Kathmandu made efforts to balance ties with immediate neighbours India and China with high-profile talks and visits.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to announce a host of initiatives for the health sector on Independence Day with the highlights being the 'Heal in India' and 'Heal by India' projects and a roadmap to eliminate sickle cell disease by 2047, official sources said.
Adani group's 16.5 billion dollar controversy-hit coal mine project in Australia has cleared another hurdle with Brisbane supreme court dismissing an appeal filed by indigenous group against the project.
In all likelihood, the next conventional Chinese attack on India would be preceded by a massive cyber attack designed to cripple Indian networks and interfere with our disaster-relief programmes.
Industry players credit Sebi's first woman chairperson with putting special emphasis on cyber security, use of tech and data, areas where Sebi is trying to 'stay ahead of the curve'.
Australia beat India by nine runs to win the Commonwealth Games women's T20 cricket gold medal on Sunday but the real winner was the sport which delivered compelling competition and boosted its case to be included in the Olympics.
At Prestige Polygon Towers in Chennai's Teynampet, hectic preparations are on for a mega global investors' meet under the aegis of Guidance Tamil Nadu (the state investment promotion agency) scheduled for January 2024. Asked about the key focus areas of the meet, the agency's managing director and chief executive officer, V Vishnu, said the state was betting big on electric mobility. This is no surprise, given that the state has signed electric vehicle (EV)-related memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with several companies in the recent past that may bring in investments worth around Rs 33,000 crore with the potential to create over 43,000 job opportunities.
China criticised western attempts to "demonise" the BRICS.
Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Jay Shah also said that there are no immediate plans to add more franchises to the 10-team competition and that any future additions must not dilute the quality of the product.
SpiceJet, IndiGo, Jet Airways, Alliance Air, and Turbo Aviation are among the operators that have bagged the routes in the third round.
Reliance ADAG Chairman Anil Ambani on Friday expressed hope that the Indian industry and the government will work as partners to seize the opportunity to create largescale infrastructure across all sectors in the country.
Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani might have made news for purchasing the most expensive beach-side villa in Dubai recently, but he is not the only Indian eyeing the city for investment. Since Dubai allowed foreign investors full ownership in specific sectors in June 2021, a horde of Indian companies have moved or expanded into the desert city. The list even includes a kindergarten, an elementary and middle school, and a hotel that has sought 100 per cent ownership.
Industry players believe the new DFI model will be initially risk capital, which will then be used to mobilise additional resources from development agencies such as World Bank.
The Narendra Modi government plans to pump around Rs 12.61 lakh crore into the economy over seven years.
He recalled that the state was home to Vaishali, said to be the oldest republic in the world.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said inflation management cannot be "singularly" left to the monetary policy as a majority of activities are outside its purview in the current context. Speaking at a seminar organised by economic think-tank Icrier, the finance minister said that both the fiscal policy and the monetary policy have to work together to contain inflation. Consumer price index (CPI) based inflation or retail inflation is ruling above the Reserve Bank's comfort level of 6 per cent since January.
The Centre's ambitious Rs 6-trillion National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) could fall short of yearly targets for the current fiscal year (FY22) and the next one as well (FY23), partly due to the long gestation period in monetising big-ticket railway infrastructure, Business Standard has learnt from sources in the finance and rail ministries. Officials say the major chunk of railway monetisation will happen from FY24 onwards because leasing some of the infrastructure, like stadiums and dedicated freight corridor, will not happen anytime soon. Rail infra is expected to be the second-biggest contributor to the NMP, with about Rs 1.52 trillion worth of assets to be monetised.
First Rajya Sabha approved the Rs 45 lakh-crore spending proposed in the Budget, followed by the nod to the Finance Bill that contains tax proposals.
In a boost to the electric vehicle boom in India, Taiwanese major Hon Hai Technology Group (aka Foxconn) is likely to set up an EV manufacturing unit in India through its subsidiary Foxtron. Amid speculation that the company may look at Tamil Nadu and probably the Ford India unit near Chennai for its new facility, sources indicate that the group was already betting big in the electric vehicle component space in India through Bharat FIH, which is already having a tie up with companies like Ola Electric and Ather. Bharat FIH currently has two manufacturing units in Tamil Nadu's Sriperumbudur that manufactures phones like Apple iPhones and Xiaomi phones.
The cabinet committee on infrastructure's clearance to big-ticket aviation projects, including the New Navi Mumbai airport, and plans to develop India as a civil aviation hub will help expedite the implementation of such projects, which are now caught up in challenges such as local opposition and land acquisition problems, say officials and experts.
'That is the one headline the world is reading about India this week, and it is a potentially damaging story...' 'I don't think a panic mentality has set in, but this story is one that investors and market watchers are absolutely seized with.'
Indian states are preparing for a Rs 1.9 lakh crore (Rs 1.9 trillion) tax windfall this fiscal year.
The committee has been tasked to come up with policy measures to boost agriculture exports, raise growth in food processing, attract investments in modern market infrastructure, value chains and logistics.
Over the last 16 years, India has seen more engineering and R&D investments in aerospace than the US or Europe.
Hemant Shivsaran lists the number of projects the Modi government has announced since August to woo Gujarat voters.
Even as Chinese troops continue squatting on territory that we claim as our own -- this was the lowest allocation for defence in percentage terms since the 1950s, reveals Ajai Shukla.
At an event at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in south Mumbai, Modi first flagged off the the CSMT-Solapur Vande Bharat Express and later another semi high-speed train linking the financial capital to Sainagar Shirdi temple town in Ahmednagar district.
Capital goods output rose by a robust 20 per cent in the month under review as against a contraction of 2.4 per cent earlier.
Making a strong case for approval of their proposed airline JV, Tatas and Singapore Airlines have said that the venture would create significant job opportunities in India and would boost the country's image as an international investment destination.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cleanliness drive should be about Indians keeping themselves and their surroundings clean. It cannot be a day-long or time-bound campaign, Sulabh founder Bindeshwar Pathak tells Upasna Pandey.
NDA government has shunned populism.
BJP president J P Nadda on Sunday promised Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs in Himachal Pradesh while releasing the party's manifesto for the state assembly polls.
'The rate cut could have been higher in the current economic conditions which would have had a stronger impact on business sentiment and spurred investment in a big way.'
Taking to Twitter, the ministry shared the intelligence update and said, 'Russian forces have continued their advance on Kyiv with the bulk of their forces now 30km from centre of the city.'
Citing media reports that China has built shelters in the Depsang area in Ladakh, the Congress on Saturday questioned the government's 'silence' over the issue and asked what steps were being taken by it to ensure status quo ante of April 2020.
The Union Budget, despite being constrained by a high fiscal deficit, gave some relief to the Rs 3-8 lakh income group.
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