However, the revised target, 16.7 per cent higher than stated in the interim Budget in February, looks unrealistic.
The fitment committee under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, comprising central and state officials, has begun a rate rationalisation exercise afresh, checking the possibility of dropping some of the rates, particularly the 12 per cent slab, to achieve a revenue-neutral structure, a senior official with direct knowledge of the matter
The government cut its disinvestment target by more than half for the current financial year and pegged the proceeds at Rs 36,925 crore for 2014-15.
The RBI had opened special swaps windows to attract deposits from non-resident Indians and allow oil-marketing companies to source dollars.
The government on Monday indicated that it may tinker with the excise duties and service tax rates in the interim budget in an apparent bid to boost economy but may not pursue key reforms legislations due to lack of political consensus.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday described as "well-balanced" the Vote-on-Account presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, saying it portrays a "realistic picture" of the economic situation of the country.
'Part A of the Budget was like it was written by somebody from the 21st century and Part B was written by somebody from the 19th century.'
Total subsidy bill could come down to around Rs 2 trillion.
The decision to scrap the plan for landless workers and focus only on small and marginal farmers was made as there was no proper method to find out who qualify as landless labourers.
'That Modi and the BJP can continue to treat the rising and expanding middle class this way shows that they have gamed its mind quite perfectly,' argues Shekhar Gupta.
The five-time prime minister was re-appointed to the job on May 12 following the political circus precipitated by the unprecedented economic crisis in the island's history.
For the modernisation of the armed forces, the Finance Minister allocated an additional Rs 5,000 crore.
A panel has recommended that the RBI should bring down CPI inflation to 4 per cent.
In his interim budget on February 17, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the fiscal deficit would not cross 4.6 per cent of GDP, revising an earlier target of 4.8 per cent.
India Inc believes that given the current economic slowdown, it could not have been any better
Replying to the debate on the Finance Bill in Lok Sabha, the minister said he did not propose any change in the tax rate but only provided few rebates which will boost spending and help the economy.
In the run-up to the Union Budget, expected to be presented on July 10, this paints a grim picture for Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
'The allegations of government involvement in targeted assassinations abroad are likely to help, not hurt, the ruling party.' 'True or false, they convey a sense of muscularity and, in some quarters, are celebrated as a harbinger of 'great power' status.'
The government seems to have come to the rescue of potential car buyers.
As the extended Winter Session of Parliament entered its third and last week on Monday, the Telangana issue continued to disrupt Rajya Sabha leading to its adjournment for the day.
The price reduction by Nissan is in the range of 4 to 6 per cent.
Modi, however, welcomed the announcement of 'one rank-one pension' for defence forces.
>It's not easy to predict the market. But there are at least two positive factors to back the PSU banks, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
In the 2012-13, car sales in India fell 6.69 per cent, which was the first decline in a decade.
The global rating agency has, however, cautioned that India's fiscal position remains 'weak'.
Foreign institutional investors added $20.10 billion in equities while they pulled out $7.97 billion from the debt market, resulting in total net flows of $12.13 billion.
The issue of alleged tax evasion by Indians through banks and other entities in offshore locations, specially Switzerland, has been matter of a political debate in India.
The government would take a number of steps to energise and deepen the country's corporate bond as well as currency derivatives market.
He's the first finance minister to present Budgets on either side of an election and the first to do so after a quarter-century gap.
Families with tax-paying members, government employees, professionals, among those who have been exempted from the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme.
He said the total capital requirement for state-run banks is Rs 455 billion ($7.6 billion) in 2014/15 fiscal year, much lower than the Rs 113 billion provided for recapitalisation in the interim budget in February.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday raised the personal income tax rebate limit, doled out sops on small savings and announced one of the biggest hikes in capital spending in the past decade as she did a tight rope walk in the Budget between staying fiscally prudent and meeting public expectations in the year before general elections.
The government on Monday allocated an increased sum of Rs 3073 crore for the Sports Ministry in the Union budget for fiscal 2009-10, and also proposed to sanction Rs 3472 crore for next year's Commonwealth Games. The budget for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has been increased by Rs 1480 crore than what was proposed in the interim budget presented before the Lok Sabha elections.
They may be on the same side of political power, but that did not stop Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and her predecessor Lalu Prasad from taking pot-shots at each other during the presentation of Railway Budget in the Lok Sabha.
Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday announced a slew of measures for improving the services of Indian Railways.
The term of the Deputy Chairman and Members of the Commission is coterminous with that of the Prime Minister and all of them have resigned following the change of government last month after the general elections.
Price reduction by auto buyers leads to only a marginal rise in enquiry level.
The new government may enhance the Plan expenditure for 2014-15 by around Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) in the Budget next month, which would be about 2 per cent higher than what was provided in the previous fiscal budget.
Pranab Mukherjee proposed the enhancement of the overall plan budget for higher education by Rs 2,000 crore over the Interim Budget estimates. He further announced the allocation of Rs 2,113 crore for IITs and NITs, which includes a provision of Rs 450 crore for new IITs and NITs. The finance minister also proposed to allocate Rs 827 crore for opening one central university in each uncovered state.
The Budget has increased the allocation for the Commonwealth Games from Rs 3,472 crore (Rs 34.72 billion) from Rs 2,112 crore (Rs 21.12 billion).
