Critics call fiscal deficit projections ambitious; government to meet Opposition, chief ministers to discuss issues after Budget session
The first meeting of the newly-constituted joint committee comprising ministers and civil society activists to draft the Lokpal Bill will be held on Saturday.
Presenting the Union Budget for the year 2012-13, the Finance Minister informed the Lower House of Parliament that the enrolments into the other system have already crossed 20 crore (200 million) and the Aadhaar numbers generated upto date has crossed 14 crore (140 million).
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday put the onus on West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to give a reply to Home Minister P Chidambaram's letter which asked the government to disarm CPI-M cadres in the state. "The home minister has written to the state government. He has fulfilled his responsibility. Now the state government should fulfil its responsibility and reply by acknowledging receipt of the letter," he said.
Brushing aside speculations of tension with ally Trinamool Congress, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said the two parties would form an alliance to fight the 2011 Assembly election.
In the Budget 2011-12, the government had announced a gross borrowing of Rs 4.17 lakh crore (Rs 4.17 trillion) from the market, lower than Rs 4.47 lakh crore (Rs 4.47 trillion) during last fiscal.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday demanded an apology from the Opposition, accusing it of "destroying" Parliament after they rejected his offer of a special session to discuss the Joint Parliamentary Commitee issue on 2G scam.
Amid the rituals of Maha Ashtami (the third day of the five-day festival), Pranab Mukherjee spoke to Shine Jacob on the Moody's downgrade of State Bank of India and other issues.
The hike in petrol price was necessitated because of increase in prices of crude oil in the international market, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
Taking exception to the government's 'comparative' analysis of the two drafts of the Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare team on Monday asked Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to treat both its versions as the joint drafting committee's outcome enjoying 'equal weightage'.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said Rahul Gandhi could "probably" become the next prime minister.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has arrived in New York for a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 2G spectrum issue in the wake of a Finance Ministry note involving P Chidambaram.
Encouraged by the industrial production growth rate of 10.8 per cent in October, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday sounded confident that the trend would continue and the fiscal would end with double-digit growth rate.
Attributing the latest jump in food inflation mainly to rising prices of protein-based items, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said the high inflationary regime was not acceptable and efforts would be made to bring it down.
The India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday monsoon rains are expected to be below normal at 95 per cent of the long period average, with margin for error of plus or minus 4 per cent.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday refused to comment on a letter sent by his ministry to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 2G spectrum scam, saying he cannot make any remark on the matter as it is "subjudice".
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday refused to comment on a letter sent by his ministry to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the 2G spectrum scam, saying he cannot make any remark on the matter as it is "subjudice".
The passage of the bill will pave the way for setting up of a GST council that will decide the tax rate, cess and surcharges.
The turnover of public sector companies has increased from Rs 587,000 crore (Rs 5870 billion) in 2003-04 to Rs 10,87,000 crore (Rs 10870 billion) in 2007-08, Pranab Mukherjee said.
They've proposed a sub-committee under the proposed GST Council or the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers to resolve any disputes in the tax's implementation.
Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said that though the exact impact of the drought on the Kharif crop would be known only when the harvesting begins, there is every possibility of a shortfall of 15-20 percent.
An empowered group of ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, which decides on revising rates of the sensitive products, has not met since June last year even though crude oil prices have spiralled upward by about 50 per cent.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-Congress alliance appeared headed for a break with six Union Ministers of the regional party set to resign on Monday even as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee appealed to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to reconsider his decision to pull out of the United Progressive Alliance government.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday proposed to introduce a new simplified income tax return form 'Sugam' to reduce compliance burden of small taxpayers.
Government originally planned to roll out GST from April 1 last year, but a consensus could not be reached on the introduction of the Bill.
The Centre is likely to give a 100 per cent income tax relief on the prize money, the players and the support staff earned from their World Cup victory.
Under severe attack over rushing senior ministers to the airport to meet Ramdev, the government is understood to have decided that senior ministers, especially Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, will not meet him again for further talks.
Buckling under pressure from various quarters, the government on Monday withdrew the harsh provisions relating to excise and customs duty evasion cases. In Finance Bill 2012-13, it had earlier proposed to make certain excise and customs duty evasion cases non-bailable until the court had heard the public prosecutor.
Set to begin next week, the first of its kind uniform discount offer from all jewellers across the country, would be valid for 10 days nationwide.
Driven by high vegetable prices, the food inflation is in double digit for the past two months and even crossed 18 per cent in the last week of December 25.
Industrial production, measured by the index of industrial production, slowed to a 20 month low of 1.6 per cent in December, from 2.7 per cent in November 2010.
The all-party meet called by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to resolve the deadlock in the Parliament ahead of the Budget session ended inconclusively on Tuesday with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Opposition sticking to their demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G scam.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee says exporters will have to "fight" their own battle.
The reaction from Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia comes a day after the Central Bureau of Investigation arrested LIC Housing Finance CEO Ramachandran Nair and seven other senior bankers on charges of corruption and criminal conspiracy.
"You can't please all people. And the finance minister has done as good a job as was possible," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an interview with T N Ninan, editorial director and chairman of Business Standard Ltd, on Monday after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the Budget proposals in Parliament.
"You can't please all people. And the finance minister has done as good a job as was possible," said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an interview with T N Ninan, editorial director and chairman of Business Standard Ltd, on Monday after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced the Budget proposals in Parliament.
"Unprecedented" direct taxes collection of Rs 7.90 lakh crore in 2010-11 has "greatly strengthened" the country's efforts for fiscal consolidation, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
Headline inflation for March stood at 8.98 per cent, while food inflation was at 8.76 per cent for the week ended April 16.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said the Reserve Bank's decision to hike short-term borrowing and lending rates will help contain inflation and was in line with the government's policy.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said the medium-term outlook for the economy is bright and presents an excellent opportunity to take the growth process forward.
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