I am very pleased with the first Budget of Jaswant Singh. Positive moves have far exceeded the negative ones. The impetus to the industry has been very high particularly in the infrastructure sector.
I would place this Budget on very high pedestal. Finance Minister Jaswant Singh has done a commendable job
Top finance ministry officials and members of Planning Commission on Friday gave a thumbs up to the Union Budget 2003-2004 saying Finance Minister Jaswant Singh had laid out a roadmap for greater flow of investment and industrial growth.
Budget to be presented on Friday is expected to carry out a "clean up" operation of tax administration besides measures to spur growth.
Petroleum Minister Ram Naik is likely to meet Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on January 30 to seek excise duty cut on petroleum products in view of excessive volatility in international crude oil prices.\n\n\n\n
Indian firms can invest in listed cos abroad: RBI
The government said on Thursday that it will try to compensate states for the first three years for any loss of revenue they might suffer due to introduction of Value Added Tax regime next fiscal.
On this day 72 years ago, the Indian hockey team gave the country its first major sporting triumph as an independent nation when they clinched the gold medal at the 1948 London Olympic Games.
In a bonanza to its employees ahead of the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, the government on Friday decided to merge 50 per cent of dearness allowance with the basic pay
The government on Thursday cleared 40 foreign direct investment proposals worth Rs 501.14 crore (Rs 5.01 billion), including Rs 323.42 crore (Rs 3.23 billion) investment by Swiss major Campagnie Michelin.
Tempers ran high over Gorkhaland issue in the Lok Sabha on Thursday with a Trinamool Congress member attacking senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh for making a strong plea for a political solution to the issue but later expressed regret.
The government will be able to keep its fiscal deficit lower at 5.4 per cent during 2003-04 than the budgeted 5.6 per cent of GDP, despite the give-aways announced by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh on January 8, according to rating agency ICRA.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday said fiscal deficit situation would be better than the budget estimate of 5.6 per cent of GDP for 2003-04, while inflation rate will start falling in the coming days.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday is believed to have deferred a proposal for hiking foreign investment cap in telecom sector to 74 per cent from the existing 49 per cent.
Echoing Finance Minister Jaswant Singh's projection of a "significant" economic growth this year, economists on Friday pegged the GDP growth at 6-6.5 per cent but cautioned the Centre on increasing debt and fiscal deficit.
