The ministry should, however, ensure that at least the farmers, landless labourers, etc. affected by greenfield projects are given access to potential wealth to be generated by projects.
As part of the plan, government departments may have to surrender the unspent project-linked component of the Rs 70,000-crore (Rs 700-billion) additional gross Budgetary support at the end of the financial year.
The additional expenditure includes a payment of Rs 4.38 billion to the Unit Trust of India for meeting a shortfall in its flagship scheme, US-64.
The four Left parties may no longer be allies of the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance, but their concerns on the pension Bill will still be addressed by the government.
Government-controlled oil-marketing companies (OMCs) have held back petrol and diesel price revisions for a week and are expected to continue doing so, ostensibly owing to political reasons. It appears that the Centre has informally conveyed to the three major OMCs to not revise fuel prices for the time being, two people in the government said. This informal directive follows the talks between the Centre and states on cutting taxes and bringing the auto fuels under the good service tax regime not fetching the desired results, so far.
If Pakistan continues with the 'Grey List' or put in 'Dark Grey' list, it would be very difficult for the country to get financial aid from the IMF, the World Bank and the European Union, making its financial condition more precarious.
'The target for next year is unlikely to be more than that of this year. The more you divest in any cycle, the less your potential pipeline for the next,' said an official. 'The first two issues we want to tackle and complete in FY20 are Air India and Hotel Ashok.'
'Initially, Gift City was just another real estate project, but all that changed with Modi moving to New Delhi,' notes Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
There are many collateral advantages of taking the tough decision.
Headline inflation will come down under the 6 per cent mark in July itself but will stay at an elevated level of over 5 per cent for some time, Chief Economic Advisor K V Subramanian said on Thursday. Such an outcome will get the price rise back into the upper-end of the target band given to RBI, he said, adding that consumer price inflation had breached the mark for three consecutive quarters last fiscal because of supply side issues like challenges in movement of goods. "With reasonable probability, I expect this month the (inflation) print to come less than 6 per cent," Subramanian told a conference organised by industry lobby Ficci. Right after data for May showing inflation at 6.4 per cent had come out, Subramanian said he had predicted it will cool down in internal meetings and also during "deliberations with the regulator".
RBI expects more from the government than last week's very limited package of reforms and fiscal measures.
The measures have been mainly offered to the leather, marine, handicrafts and textiles industries though some global benefits have also been included.
While foreign currency rating was retained at Baa2 -- the second-lowest investment grade score -- Moody's also projected a fiscal deficit of 3.7 per cent of gross domestic product in the year through March 2020, a breach of the government's target of 3.3 per cent.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi who inducted 19 new ministers into his Cabinet on Tuesday has carried out major changes in the portfolios of his top ministers.
The finance ministry on Friday said 5.52 crore (55.2 million) bank accounts have been opened till October 7 and deposit of Rs 4,268 crore (Rs 42.68 billion) have been mobilised under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).
Survey likely to be tabled in July by the new government.
The asset manager is yet to resolve the impasse surrounding the payment of pension to its erstwhile employees who had opted for voluntary retirement in 2003.
It is possible that the final Budget architecture may be at variance with the comments.
The central staff will now get 65 per cent of the basic pay as DA as against 58 per cent since July 1, 2011.
Fiscal federalism should not be sacrificed at the altar of GST.
The Budget will indicate where the Modi government stands on reforms, growth and development.
To ensure smooth allocation of 204 cancelled coal blocks, the government has set up a high-level inter-ministerial panel that would provide advise on policy issues and interact with the industry.
Domestic air passenger traffic was back to the growth trajectory in June amid the falling number of COVID-19 cases in the country with around three million passengers flying on local routes in the previous month as against around two million in May, a report said on Tuesday. Though there is some recovery observed in June, stress on demand continues, driven largely by the second wave of the pandemic, limiting travel to only necessary travel, credit rating agency ICRA said in its report. On a sequential basis, domestic passenger traffic was up 41-42 per cent in June over May.
Stepped up public expenditure must be accompanied by focused policies, advises Vinayak Chatterjee.
The Finance Ministry further said decision on seven FDI proposals has been deferred.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday said the Finance Ministry's decision to provide more capital to PSU banks will lower the borrowing cost and increase their capacity to lend, besides promoting investments.
This will violate the time-honoured convention that a government elected for a five-year tenure presents only five full Budgets, but the NDA government will no doubt present it as yet another initiative of Mr Modi.
The total quantum of non-performing assets in the Indian banking system increased to Rs 7.33 trillion as of June 2017, from Rs 2.75 trillion in March 2015.
With a focus on direct, indirect, and corporate tax structures, the Budget 2016-17 offers a balanced taxation structure
The supplementary nutrition programme and the Poshan Abhiyaan under the Women and Child Development Ministry has been merged to launch Mission Poshan 2.0 to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach, and outcome, according to the Union Budget announced on Monday.
"Indian markets (are) well placed to absorb the US Fed rate hike. Gradual approach in future increases augurs well for emerging markets," Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das has tweeted.
The allocation for health ministry for 2017-18 is Rs 47,352.51 crore in comparison to allocation in 2016-17 of Rs 37,061.55 crore.
The Modi government wants to have a smooth relationship with the DMK government.
'From March 2020 to November 2021, the combined wealth of the billionaires of this country has doubled.'
After the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code came into force, which calls for an auction of assets of loan defaulting entities, recoveries have picked up, said Jaitley.
Failure to sell Air India, IDBI may have prompted a change in strategy.
Ministry will give relief to exporters through a mechanism that will enable a timely refund of credit balance and time-bound refund of additional duty of customs.
