'There is also a possibility that Andhra Pradesh may demand a similar package. But as of now, we are only working on a package for Bihar.'
These "cyber commandos" will be different from personnel at cyber police stations and will work with local administration to tackle cyber threats.
'Milking poorly performing or easily marketable assets is the way to deliver more money for key programmes,' says T N Ninan.
He argued that if inflation is low, stable and moving towards the 4 per cent target, why has the RBI not revised downward the bank rate fixed in June 2023?
Continuing on the fiscally prudent path, the Modi government in the interim Budget refrained from announcing populist measures, which will help it trim the fiscal deficit to 5.1 per cent of the GDP next fiscal and 4.5 per cent in FY26.
The budget session of the Parliament begins today.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in the United States for a three-day state visit, has gifted an eco-friendly lab-grown 7.5 carat diamond, placed in Kashmir's exquisite Papier mache box, to First Lady Jill Biden.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday unveiled the budget for fiscal 2020-21, vowing to boost income of Indians and their purchasing power, in a bid to revive domestic economic growth that has slumped.
Among the Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, JSW Steel, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Nestle were the major laggards. Maruti, Power Grid, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, NTPC, HDFC Bank, ITC and IndusInd Bank were the gainers.
President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday emphasised the need to strengthen affirmative action as a tool for inclusion while urging the rejection of divisive tendencies rooted in perceived social hierarchies.
Modi said the policies of the government will empower the downtrodden and turn them into a "power house" for the development of the country.
The budget is "farmer friendly, common citizen friendly, business environment friendly" and will add to 'ease of living' and 'ease of doing business', Modi added.
From referencing "josh" of Bollywood flick 'Uri', to chants of "Modi, Modi" from the Bharatiya Janata Party, there were varied reactions in Lok Sabha as Finance Minister Piyush Goyal gave his interim budget speech on Friday.
As per practice a vote-on-account or approval for essential government spending for a limited period is taken in the election year and a full-fledged budget presented by the new government.
The absence of the CM at the airport irked the saffron party, which said Rao failed to follow the protocol and 'insulted the prime minister'.
Banerjee said her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.
"For decades in our country, the meaning of the Budget was restricted to what announcements were made in whose name. The Budget was turned into an account of the vote bank," Modi said.
'Expectations are high regarding the change in LTCG with respect to equity investments.'
The government on Wednesday raised the minimum support price (MSP) for paddy by 5.35 per cent to Rs 2,300 per quintal for the 2024-25 kharif marketing season. The hike in paddy support price comes despite the government sitting on surplus rice stocks, but it is significant ahead of elections in states like Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Delhi.
In this year's budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hiked tax on petrol and diesel, raised import duty on gold, levied additional surcharge on super rich and brought a tax on high value cash withdrawals as she sought to spur growth with reduction in corporate tax and sops to housing sector, startups and electric vehicles.
Gold, a safe-haven bet, is likely to continue its record-smashing journey in the New Year, rising to Rs 85,000 per 10 grams and even Rs 90,000 level in domestic markets if geopolitical tensions and global economic uncertainties continue.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asserted that the Congress will protect the Constitution and the reservation system at all costs and foil "conspiracies" of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the first and only women till now to have presented the Union Budget.
Later, Sitharaman's office clarified that the FM had already met the industrialists, experts, and economists during the pre-budget consultations.
She said that despite government scheme and initiatives ranging from roads to agriculture, housing, scholarships to electricity benefiting lives of people, a false narrative was being created by the opposition that the government was working for cronies.
The session will commence with the maiden address of President Droupadi Murmu to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament. The address essentially highlights the government's achievements and policy priorities.
'There is a time for lowering one's expectations of the economy -- and therefore not trying to do too much in the Budget,' notes T N Ninan.
It was touted as a game changer but big-ticket privatisation has been a mixed bag as the government faces unanticipated challenges of lukewarm investor response, employee union agitation and legal hurdles. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's often-repeated statement 'the government has no business to be in business' guided the drawing up of an ambitious privatisation pipeline. While Air India sale succeeded, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) divestment failed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has rejigged his team only once, in July 2021, in his second term, unlike in his first stint, when he reshuffled and expanded his council three times.
Modi knows that the BMC elections are critical for his party which has never won a majority in the city's 227 wards.
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.
Will Finance Minister Arun Jaitley live up to the expectations of India Inc and individual taxpayers? Watch all the action here live from Parliament.
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.
Adnan Abidi/Reuters captures men at work in the streets of a wholesale market in old Delhi days before the Narendra Damodardas Modi government presents its final Budget, ahead of India's general election.
The finance ministry will kick-start the exercise to prepare the Union Budget for financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from October 12, according to an official notification released on Monday. "The pre-Budget meetings as well as the meetings to discuss the revised estimates will start from October 12 and will continue till the second week of November," according to the Budget circular of the Department of Economic Affairs' Budget Division. The Union Budget is expected to be announced on February 1, as has been the practice of the past few years.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday made a veiled attack on Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal, telling them "neither populism nor individualism" is an alternative way of governance and expressed confidence that people will entrust responsibility to a "hand" that works for equity.
In his speech in the Lok Sabha on February 7, Rahul made several allegations against the government over the Hindenburg-Adani row.
In line with India's 'Neighbourhood First' policy, the largest share of aid portfolio has been granted to Bhutan with the allocation of Rs 2,068 crore.
Parliament will now meet on March 8 for the second part of the Budget session.
A 'White Paper' versus 'Black Paper' battle erupted on Thursday as the Centre and the Congress unveiled documents and crossed swords over the handling of the Indian economy during the nearly 10 years of the BJP-led NDA rule and the previous 10-year tenure of the Congress-led UPA government.
