Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.
There is concern in the organisation and the leadership over the unbridled criticism aimed at the Finance Ministry.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday underwent a planned diabetes management surgery at a private hospital in Delhi and was recovering well.
Usually, the chair in the Upper House reads out obituary references before members rise as a mark of respect to the memory of the departed.
Jaitley told reporters that allegations by the top two officers of the country's premier investigation agency led to a 'bizarre and unfortunate' situation.
Jaitley was speaking at a breakfast session.
Will it be home or defence for Amit Shah?
Jaitley gathered a group of people and burnt an effigy of then prime minister Indira Gandhi, making him, in his own words, the 'first satyagrahi' against the Emergency.
Here's the lowdown of charges and counter-charges over the multi-dollar deal.
'We are working to put up an actual plan in play to deal with the banking situation, which is top of our agenda,' finance minister tells Harvard University students.
After the April-July fiscal deficit data was released on August 31, several analysts hinted that the government may need to go for cuts in capital expenditure to meet the fiscal deficit target.
The amendments were adopted with a significant margin, with the difference of votes ranging between 27 and 34 votes.
Jaitley's concerns are unlikely to cut much ice with the Congress.
This move will enable it to incur higher-than-mandated borrowing, and possibly spending, till the 2024 Lok Sabha election cycle.
Jaitley in his Facebook post titled: 'Who killed the Sohrabuddin Investigation' said that those who have recently shown a belated concern for institutional independence, "should seriously introspect as to what they did to the CBI when they were in power."
He said there was a tradition in the country to speak in one voice on issues such as external affairs and national security but there has been a departure from it in the last few years.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said there is no 'disconnect' between the two.
Jaitley also hinted that these very economic realities could decide whether the government sticks to a fiscal consolidation roadmap or not.
After New York and Washington DC, Jaitley would head for California.
The first to bowl was Ramesh, who called Jaitley a "master spinner of facts".
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will pitch for quota and governance reforms in the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government will continue to pursue policies to support growth amid global slowdown.
Payments banks are expecting to get the rights to offer small-ticket loans sometime soon, according to an industry source familiar with the matter. The industry has been in talks with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for some time in seeking lending rights.
The silver lining in the GDP number is the manufacturing sector.
'The finance minister has messed up the economy.'
The minister said Indian economy was the fastest growing.
The Reserve Bank has reduced interest rate by 150 bps since January 2015.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is keen to introduce a fair tax regime.
'There is global appreciation of the fact that India has the capacity and courage to carry out structural reforms like demonetisation and GST,' the finance minister said.
The finance minister said that the statement issued by the 21 parties is being used by Pakistan to bolster their case.
He said the government has already begun implementing tax reforms.
Structural changes to government finances could be focus of the Union Budget, says Mihir S Sharma.
While Jaitley posted his hard-hitting response to the opposition's move in Facebook, BJP fielded its spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi, who is also a lawyer, to take on the Congress.
Taking up the case of Indian IT companies and professionals, Jaitley told Ross about the contribution of highly-skilled Indians in the economic development of the United States and India and stressed that they should continue to do so, which is in the best interest of the two countries, officials said.
Arun Jaitley has clarified his custodianship of 3 ministries - finance, corporate affairs and defence.
Mergers and acquisitions would continue to create big corporate conglomerates but there is a need to draw a red line to avoid dominance and curbing of open competition in market by them, he said while addressing a conference on competition issues in New Delhi.
'GST will increase the volume of taxation, there is no tax on tax and therefore makes goods, commodities and services little cheaper and far more convenient.'
Decision-making has to be much quicker, the finance minister said.
Finance minister attempts a clean-up job, keeps projected expenditure growth low.
An analysis of the frequency of various watchwords in the finance minister's Budget speech shows that he was perhaps trying to hold on to his ideas without treading on anybody else's toes, says A K Bhattacharya.
