What some of our leaders were up to on Wednesday, October 19.
The government on Saturday announced a host of measures such as setting up of a new Fund of Funds Scheme (FFS) with Rs 10,000 crore corpus; and extension of period of incorporation by five years with a view to promote growth of budding entrepreneurs.
India on Saturday announced plans to amend its nuclear liability law and set up a nuclear energy mission, a move that came ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's likely visit to the United States.
India's demographic advantage and diverse economic landscape position it uniquely to benefit from AI, the Economic Survey for 2024-25 tabled in the Parliament on Friday afternoon asserted. However, achieving these benefits requires significant investments in education and workforce skilling, supported by enabling, insuring, and stewarding institutions, the state of the economy report tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.
The government is likely to provide a subsidy of Rs 35,000 crore to state-owned Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) to make up for losses they incurred on selling the fuel this fiscal, sources said.
Prospects of a bumper kharif harvest are expected to lower food inflation in the coming months, making the country's inflation outlook benign, the Union Ministry of Finance (FinMin) said in its monthly economic report for October released on Monday.
Following the lacklustre growth numbers in the second quarter (Q2FY25), economists believe the upcoming Union Budget for 2025-26 should focus on reforms that will stimulate consumption, manufacturing and spur employment. India's growth unexpectedly slowed to 5.4 per cent in the second quarter, due to low capital formation, weak consumption, besides adverse weather impact.
'It has also outlived its initial purpose of reducing physical gold imports.'
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Tuesday said the fiscal-monetary coordination was at its best during the last six years even as he thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving the opportunity to head the monetary authority of the country. Das, in a series of posts on X, on his last day of his six-year term as RBI Governor, also thanked the Finance Minister, various stakeholders and his colleagues at the central bank.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the country's economic growth remains a priority for the government, as inflation has come down to a manageable level. Job creation and equitable distribution of wealth remain the other focus areas, she said at India Ideas Summit. "Some of course are red-lettered (priorities), some may not be. Red-lettered ones would of course be jobs, equitable wealth distribution and making sure India is moving on the path of growth.
The need for a manufacturing policy, reining in food inflation and raising investment in the country were among key suggestions given by economists who met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and senior ministry officials in the first round of pre-Budget consultations on Friday.
The 'halwa ceremony' marks the beginning of the lockdown of several officials in the finance ministry, who remain cut off from their families until the presentation of the Budget by the finance minister in the Lok Sabha.
India offers policy stability, transparency and consultative process of governance to incubate investment, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday as she invited investments in prospecting energy resources in the country. Stressing that there is a need for investments in coal, she said, "We need greater investments also to help in gasification of coal. I invite all of you to energetically participate in the (sixth round of commercial mines) auction processes which have been launched today and keep your options also further extended for greater extraction of minerals in India." During this 'Amrit Kaal', India needs all the basic minerals as the country is in the process of rapid growth, she added.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday presented the Economic Survey that details the state of the economy ahead of the government's Budget for fiscal year beginning April 1, 2021. The Economic Survey 2020-21, authored by a team led by Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian, details the state of different sectors of the economy as well as reforms that should be undertaken to accelerate growth.
Sitharaman visited forward army posts in remote Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh bordering China on Sunday to take stock of the defence preparedness.
The meeting was attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Urban Affairs and Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
Sitharaman, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa and Vice Chief of the Indian Navy Vice Admiral Ajit Kumar P laid wreaths at the Amar Jawan Jyoti in India Gate, paying respect to the fallen heroes of the war.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday called on President Ram Nath Kovind before presenting the Union Budget 2021-22. As per established tradition, the Finance Minister met the President at the Rashtrapati Bhawan before heading to Parliament. The Union Cabinet will meet at 10.15 am to clear the Budget.
The government in FY26 Budget should announce an "effective" personal income tax cut to support consumption and demand, Barclays said on Thursday. In its FY25-26 Union Budget preview, Barclays said the key ask from the Budget, to be presented on February 1, is to support growth while adhering to fiscal consolidation path.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, chief ministers of Nationalist Democratic Alliance-ruled states and prominent personalities from industry and Bollywood on Thursday attended the grand swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra Chief Minister in Mumbai.
For every rupee in the government coffer, the biggest pie of 63 paise will come from direct and indirect taxes, according to the Union Budget 2024-25 documents.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to hold pre-budget consultations with industry chambers on June 20, sources said. The budget for 2024-25 fiscal is likely to be presented in Parliament in the second half of July. Industry sources said the pre-budget consultation with Sitharaman would be preceded by a meeting with Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra on June 18.
The government on Tuesday proposed to launch a mission to give fillip to the domestic output of critical minerals like copper and lithium, their recycling as well as acquisition of such assets abroad. Presenting Union Budget for 2024-25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said the government will launch the auction of the first round of offshore mining blocks.
Belying expectations, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not tinker with the personal income tax rates in the Budget for 2022-23.
India's GDP is likely to grow at 6.5 to 7 per cent in the current fiscal year amid global challenges which may impact exports, said Economic Survey 2023-24 tabled in Parliament on Monday. The growth projected for 2024-25 is lower than the economic growth rate of 8.2 per cent estimated for the previous financial year. The Reserve Bank has projected the GDP growth for the fiscal year ending March 2025 at 7.2 per cent.
The short-term inflation outlook for India is benign, and the expectation of a normal monsoon and moderating global prices of key imported items give credence to the projections made by the RBI and IMF, the Economic Survey said on Monday. However, to ensure long-term policy stability, the Survey 2023-24 suggested making focused efforts to increase the production of major oilseeds, expanding the area under pulses, and assess the progress in developing modern storage facilities for specific crops.
ELSS investments require a long-term commitment of at least seven years.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday chaired a meeting with chiefs of public sector banks and assessed their readiness to tackle any possible disruptions due to the Omicron variant. In a tweet, the finance ministry said during the meeting with CMDs/MDs, held through virtual mode, the minister also reviewed various steps taken by PSBs in implementing pandemic-related measures initiated by the government and RBI.
Five Parliamentarians from Karnataka including Janata Dal-Secular leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Nirmala Sitharaman and Pralhad Joshi, who were part of the previous Cabinet, on Sunday took oath in the new National Democratic Alliance Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman has presented a forward-looking Budget, reinforcing the government's commitment to 'Reform, Perform, and Transform'.
In the current year, India's economy will grow to become $ 3 trillion economy, sixth largest in world.
'Spend, but create assets, spend but make sure that people benefit from it.' 'This has been a beautiful guiding principle. And I think as a finance minister I owe so much to the prime minister for keeping this path clear before us.'
The old tax regime remains unchanged. 'Taxpayers opting for it will continue to follow the existing slab rates and deductions.'
The Indian government's announcement of 10,000 additional seats in medical colleges next year, part of a plan to add 75,000 seats over five years, has been welcomed by education experts and stakeholders. The move aims to address the shortage of medical professionals and reduce the outflow of Indian medical students to other countries. The budget also includes infrastructure expansion at five new IITs to accommodate 6,500 more students and an allocation of Rs 500 crore to set up a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence for education.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said GST compensation to some states is delayed due to non-availability of AG's authenticated certificate, and that Kerala has not sent even a single such certificate since 2017-18. Replying to a supplementary question, she also said that Rs 86,912 crore has been released for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation payable to all states up to May 31, 2022. She said as per law, GST Council decides to whom the GST compensation is to be released, not by the central government.
Gandhi was seen sitting behind a few rows of seats, which were occupied by members of the Indian contingent that took part in the recently-held Paris Games.
Scheduled commercial banks have written off loans amounting to over Rs 10.09 lakh crore in the last five financial years and the process of recovery of dues from the borrowers continues, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that there have been no attempts from abroad to stoke trouble in India ahead of the Parliament's Budget session, which begins on Saturday. Modi's statement comes as his government prepares to present its first full-fledged budget in its third term. He expressed confidence that the Budget session will infuse new confidence and energy in attaining the goal of 'Viksit Bharat' by 2047, and said his government has been working in a mission mode for an all-round development.
'Not only jobs are not being generated, but people are also losing jobs.'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday asked banks and other financial institutions to ensure that their customers must update nominees to help resolve the problem of unclaimed money in future. "I want the banking system, the financial ecosystem including the mutual funds, stock markets to keep in mind that when someone deals with his (customer's) money, the organisations will have to think about the future and ensure that customers nominate their heirs, give the name and address," Sitharaman said speaking at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) in Mumbai. According to a report, the banking system alone has more than Rs 35,000 crore of unclaimed deposits, while the overall quantum of the unclaimed money is said to be more than Rs 1 lakh crore.
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