The Democrats have elected a set of state representatives who will act as an electoral panel. These representatives will have to pick someone else. This could be Vice President Kamala Harris, who is widely seen as a top contender, but is not popular, points out Aakar Patel.
'When growth drops precipitously from 7% to 4.5% in four quarters, it is for all practical purposes a recession' notes T N Ninan.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman commended the outstanding performance of chess prodigy Praggnanandhaa
All eyes will be on whether Sitharaman will deliver a populist budget leaving more money in hands of the common man or push the reform agenda by staying on the fiscal glide path to lower the fiscal deficit to 4.5 per cent of GDP by 2025-26.
'The private sector believes that some enablers in labour-intensive sectors like apparel, toys, tourism, and media retail, can unlock a lot of jobs.'
As many as 28 legislators, including former Union minister Prahlad Patel and Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, were on Monday inducted into the Madhya Pradesh cabinet led by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav.
'For me, if I want to buy a house to stay, I don't care about indexation because I don't want to sell that house.' 'The only thing that matters to me as a buyer is that the home price should be within my reach.' 'Any market, when speculators and investors go out, it will benefit the middle class.'
'Generating employment requires a shift in policy.' 'If not, the country will face economic, social and political challenges in the coming years.'
Average monthly GST collection rose from Rs 90,000 crore during the first year of its implementation -- 2017-2018 -- to Rs 1.68 trillion during 2023-2024, representing an 87 per cent rise.
Dhrupadi Ghosh, who works for a magazine in Kolkata, tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar what she would like to see in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget.
In order to reduce government litigations, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the GST Council has fixed a monetary limit for filing appeals by the tax department before the various appellate authorities. It has recommended a monetary limit of Rs 20 lakh for GST Appellate Tribunal, Rs 1 crore for the High Court and Rs 2 crore for the Supreme Court for filing of appeals by the department before these legal forums, she said after the 53rd GST Council meeting held in New Delhi.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the government is close to reaching saturation in implementing social sector schemes designed to provide basic necessities to the poor. Addressing the students of Hindu College on the occasion of its 125th anniversary, she said the time has come for India to become economically 'aatmanirbhar' (self-reliant) and march forward to becoming a developed nation by 2047. Regretting that 60 years since Independence passed without any sense of urgency, Sitharaman said, "We have laid the material foundation for a Viksit Bharat" and empowering people by providing basic necessities to all.
It is possible to be blind to this and pretend to carry on as if nothing has happened but that will not change the reality, asserts Aakar Patel.
A security guard in Mumbai tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar what he would like to see in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman's Budget.
Polling is scheduled in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh, 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha and three seats in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh.
Rediff.com spoke to registered investment advisors to figure out how best the extra Rs 17,500 saved ever year can be invested to create a decent corpus in the years ahead. This is what they said.
India will become the third largest economy by 2027-28, with a GDP of over $5 trillion, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday. Even going by conservative estimates, the size of the Indian economy will be $30 trillion by 2047, she noted. "It is possible that we will be the third largest economy by 2027-28, and our GDP will cross $5 trillion by that time. By 2047, it is a conservative estimate that we will reach at least $30 trillion in terms of economy," Sitharaman said at the Vibrant Gujarat summit.
'If you invest in sovereign gold bond, you are going to get the price rise of gold over an eight year period.' 'You're also going to get that two-and-a-half percent which the Government of India is willing to give you, treating the money that you've invested in the sovereign gold bond as a kind of a FD or a deposit.' 'That kind of return you can never get anywhere else.'
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday proposed to borrow Rs 14.13 lakh crore by issuing dated securities to meet revenue shortfall in the next financial year starting on April 1.
Politely decline to be prime minister, and hand the baton to someone else in the BJP -- like Sonia did to Manmohan Singh -- advises Krishna Prasad.
'I have serious doubts about the longevity of the NDA government and the longevity of the 18th Lok Sabha itself.'
Sitharaman added that no Union finance minister can play with the Finance Commission's recommendations.
The Missionaries of Charity has been assured by the Orissa government of strong measures being taken in troubled Kandhamal district, its Superior General, Sister Nirmala said on Tuesday.
'Like every Budget, this time, too, there is chatter around tinkering with the long-term capital gains tax.' 'Investors may not want to jump into the markets until there is clarity on this front.'
The expansion of existing airports and development of new airports will continue expeditiously, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday and emphasised that the country's aviation sector has been galvanised in the past 10 years.
Can the finance minister manage our expectations, asks A K Bhattacharya.
Those joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers for the first time include three former chief ministers -- Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka).
According to an Andhra government statement, Naidu 'reposed confidence' in the PM's leadership.
Sir Osborne Smith was the first governor of the Reserve Bank, serving from April 1, 1935, to June 30, 1937.
He alleged that besides Modi and Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had also commented on the stock markets ahead of elections, which has never happened in the past.
Thrust on infrastructure and capital expenditure is expected to continue in the Union Budget for FY25.
"Everybody in this country has the responsibility to implement the law which has been passed in Parliament,", the minister, who was in Chennai as part of the BJP's nationwide 'Jan Jagran Abhiyan' campaign in support of the Act, said.
Presenting the interim budget for 2024-25, she said the government is working with an approach to ensure development that is all-round, all-pervasive and all-inclusive.
With the strain and anxiety of the longest Lok Sabha polls now behind the leaders, governance, with consensus, is the next step.
She has shown shrewdness, sensitivity, and courage. All of these will be needed in ample quantities for the real challenge that will emerge after the elections, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
The Bharatiya Janata Party vs ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam battle over live telecast of the Ayodhya Ram temple consecration in Tamil Nadu shrines reached the Supreme Court on Monday, with the apex court asking the authorities to act in accordance with the law and not based on any oral instructions.
The Budget should use the extra RBI surplus to better effect, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
The police said that the threat email was sent from the accused, Mohammed Arshil's ID.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said she declined the offer of the Bharatiya Janata Party to contest elections pleading that she did not have the 'kind of funds' required for fighting the Lok Sabha polls.
'I found it unbelievable that L&T said 45,000 jobs were waiting to be filled because of unavailability of suitable skillsets.' 'So, when the Opposition sweepingly says there are no jobs, I'm sorry... I'm not saying it's raining jobs, but there are jobs. The (skill) gap has to be bridged.'
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