Former railway minister and Mamata Banerjee described the Interim Railway Budget for 2009-10 as 'election-oriented' and an eyewash to secure votes.
The new government that presents the full Budget for 2024-2025 in July should be ready to restructure the way divestment is managed and implemented, proposes A K Bhattacharya.
Although it is only going to be an interim budget this time, the Finance Ministry on Friday organised the ritual 'halwa' ceremony, which heralds the beginning of the quarantine for staff that will be associated with the preparation of the secret document.
No major announcements or tariff changes for freight or passenger segment likely to be announced.
The Lok Sabha on Tuesday approved the Interim Railway Budget with a vote-on-account for Rs 26,000 crore for expenditure in the first four months of the next financial year.
There is logic at work in most of what has been announced by Arun Jaitlley.
Presenting the Interim Railway Budget for 2014-15, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday announced that new trains will be introduced.
Will this be a 'political' Budget? Or, will the Budget be able to take the country back to growth path?
EPS has had its way on most things, alliance-wise. A week earlier, he reiterated that he would not re-admit OPS and Sasikala Natarajan back in the party. It was a message not just to detractors in the AIADMK. It was even more so for the BJP leadership in Delhi. Even more important for the AIADMK was their demand for accepting EPS as the chief ministerial candidate of any alliance that the party would form, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
FinMin does not expect tax or non-tax revenue to reach anywhere close to the targets set in the interim Budget. Sources say that the challenge before the new government will be either to accept the reduced projection and tailor the Budget accordingly or set a more ambitious target.
Elections may be a few months away, but the government may get into election mode much earlier than that, predicts A K Bhattacharya.
Converting what was supposed to be an interim budget or a vote on account into an almost full-fledged budget announcement in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal proposed an array of incentives for both middle-class and farmers, whose disenchantment was said to have cost the BJP dearly in recent assembly elections.
After dropping a Rs 5,000 crore plan to fill parts of strategic oil storages, the government will lease out space in the underground rock caverns to domestic and international firms to store oil, a top executive said on Tuesday. India Strategic Petroleum Reserve Ltd has built underground storages at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka to store 5.33 million tonnes of oil that can be used in any emergency situation like supply disruption or war. UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has already hired half of the 2.5 million tonnes storage capacity at Padur and 1.5 million tonnes facility at Mangalore.
Presenting the Budget for 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal also said Rs 35,000 crore has been given under the One Rank One Pension scheme in the last three years.
Railway Budget will be presented on July 8.
Stock markets will be driven by quarterly earnings by index majors, global trends and the RBI's interest rate decision this week after digesting news on budget proposals and US Federal policy outcome, say analysts. The trading activity of foreign investors and the movement of global oil benchmark Brent crude would also dictate trends in equities. "On the domestic front, the MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) meeting is scheduled from February 6-8.
The outlay for defence sector almost remained unchanged compared to what was allocated in the interim budget on February 1.
The push given to rooftop solar installation in the Interim Budget ties in with its high rate of adoption in Tier-II and -III cities of India. If original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the automobile industry, government, and the solar sector are to be believed, in cities of Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Kerala, 45-50 per cent of electric-vehicle (EV) users are employing rooftop power to charge their vehicles. This is compared to the national average of 25 per cent, say industry sources.
Some members held placards of news reports about unemployment figures.
Debroy's economic interests and research work covered numerous areas such as economic theory, income inequality, and infrastructure financing.
The Budget refers to the 'Annual Financial Statement', laid before both the Houses of Parliament.
It has been another lost year for the Railways despite the intra-year measures to compensate for the rise in fuel costs.
The losses in state elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh have put the ruling party under pressure to announce swift measures aimed at addressing rural distress and lack of employment.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday slashed excise duty on cars, SUVs and two-wheelers, and capital goods and consumer durables.
The finance minister should attempt to quickly get back to a path of fiscal consolidation.
Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav presented the Railway Budget for 2004-2005 in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (July 6, 2004).
Concerned by GDP slowdown and unrealistic tax targets, the economists urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to implement long-term structural steps like land and labour reforms. Warning against any off-Budget financing the economists said the government should prepare a statement of intent for its social, rural and welfare sector expenditure.
"India's middle class, small traders and farmers are the lifelines of its economic growth. By catering to these ambitions #Budget2019 infuses hopes for millions of dreams."
'Your decisions should not be driven by your view on the market, but by your objectives, risk appetite, and time horizon.'
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a reply from the Lok Sabha secretary general on Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra's plea challenging her expulsion from the Lower House.
Excise duty on small cars is cut to 8 per cent where as the tax on large- and mid-sized cars has been brought down to 20 per cent.
By taking the mutual fund route, investors can take exposure to gilts with small amounts. Over a decade or more, returns from these funds tend to be sound.
Investors should view the increase in the LTCG tax rate in conjunction with the increase in capital gains exemption from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.25 lakh, which will provide some relief.
He could be doling out more funds to woo voters and tax cuts to support industry.
The income tax department has garnered about Rs 4,600 crore in taxes from 56 lakh updated I-T returns filed by taxpayers in the past two years, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chief Nitin Gupta said. In a post budget interview to PTI TV, Gupta also said the I-T department has set up a demand management centre at Mysuru, Karnataka, which is focusing on disputed pending large tax demands of above Rs 1 crore. "We are continuously improving the services and creating litigation free environment. We have come out with a facility for updation of return.
A large number of officials and support staff, who are directly associated with the Budget making and printing process, are now required to stay in the ministry and remain cut off from their families till the presentation of the Budget in the Lok Sabha.
A total of Rs 101.29 crore has been allocated to Lokpal for 2019-20, according to the budget presented on Friday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
'Like every Budget, this time, too, there is chatter around tinkering with the long-term capital gains tax.' 'Investors may not want to jump into the markets until there is clarity on this front.'
The first two days of the session will be devoted to swearing-in of the newly elected MPs while the Lok Sabha speaker will be elected on June 19.
Modi's inability to make peace with a renewed Opposition will only embolden his coalition partners and it is just a matter of time before they begin asking probing questions besides politely disagreeing with his tactics, predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
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