The captains of Indian industry described Narendra Modi government's maiden budget as one with "the right intent and in the right direction".
Capital expenditure (capex) by 54 large central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and five departmental arms with an annual capex target of Rs 100 crore and above has reached around 42.5 per cent of their annual target of about Rs 7.33 trillion in this financial year so far, a senior official from the Ministry of Finance told Business Standard. "The Centre is pushing the big public undertakings in the infrastructure and refinery sector to achieve 90 per cent of their target by the end of the third quarter," he said. The capex by this group of CPSEs stands at around Rs 3.1 trillion in the April-August period so far.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday presented the Union Budget for 2016-17.
The industry said if the policy was announced, it would have taken 28 million vehicles bought before March 2005 off the road.
The Budget decides to take the lead in revving up infrastructure.
Demand among several pre-Budget representation by BSE Brokers' forum
'If private capex has to kick in, there should at least be 2-3 years of visibility.'
There has been a welcome focus on fundamental reforms, time-bound programmes that fix accountability and the use of technology. The upcoming Budget could build on these initiatives, says Abhas Jha.
Capital expenditure by 54 large central public sector enterprises and five departmental arms, having a capex minimum target of Rs 100 crore, rose 93 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the April-May period to Rs 1.39 trillion. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Railways have started this financial year's capex cycle on a stronger note. In the first two months of FY24, the 54 CPSEs, along with the departmental arms, achieved 19 per cent of their combined budget target of Rs 7.33 trillion, Business Standard has learnt.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday announced raising of excise duty to 12 per cent from 10 per cent at present.
A formal sector worker can contribute towards pension scheme till the age of 58.
The government has identified nine key focus areas in the AI national programme, including agriculture, education, Indian languages, smart cities, cybersecurity, transportation, and finance.
There is no near-term respite for the country's largest fast-moving consumer goods maker, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), which is facing multiple challenges on the growth front. With demand showing no signs of improvement, especially in the rural segment, the October-December quarter (Q3) of 2023-24 (FY24) is likely to be similar to the previous quarter, with volume growth in the low single digits. The stock, which is down 7 per cent over the past year compared to the 11 per cent jump for the S&P BSE Sensex, could underperform the benchmark in the near term as well.
As for structural reform, there are signs if one looks hard enough.
The Budget oration of the finance minister and the confidence with which she delivered it, along with the measures and the recent upsurge in the economy would all contribute to unleashing the storied 'animal spirits' and help the economy run on the growth path quite smoothly. Or so the government hopes, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
The Centre on Monday earmarked a separate Rs 2,217 crore for 42 urban centres to tackle air pollution and announced the much-awaited voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and polluting vehicles, even as it shrunk the budgetary allocation for the environment ministry from the last fiscal by nearly eight percent. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech for 2021-22, announced a total of Rs 2869.93 crore for the ministry, Rs 230 crore less than the last fiscal. Officials said the outlay has been lesser this time as the economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
US budget deficit to come down to $583 billion in 2014
Investors were stuck in old schemes though they were suspended because of tax implications.
Experts say a lot of new wealth is being generated by promoters selling their stake.
Harsh Roongta, Mahesh Padmanabhan, Anil Rego answer the most sought after questions on Budget Day.
In leading companies in Information Age industries, the word "manager" is taking on a pejorative meaning -- something like "zamindar" -- a man who lived off other people's work and did no work himself, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
The insurance sector is seeking clarity on the 'Indian management control' clause.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has shortlisted the changes it hopes to see in Budget 2017.
2023 was a good year for international cinema with many strong films premiering at the Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Toronto film festivals.
Finance firms in these SEZs likely to get tax breaks.
Single window clearances for realty must.
Structural changes to government finances could be focus of the Union Budget, says Mihir S Sharma.
'AI is not a new thing for us. We started our AI journey in 2015.'
'Starting an SIP now and continuing with it is likely to translate into high returns over the long term.'
A Border Roads Organisation team will be stationed in Joshimath to monitor the yatra on a day-to-day basis and ensure immediate treatment of cracks on roads or any other problem that might arise, the chief minister said.
The IT modernisation project with this outlay was approved by Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs in November 2012.
In addition to the negative sentiment as a consequence of changes announced in the Union Budget 2023-24 concerning tax treatment for debt repayment distribution, concerns about hiring slowdown and its leasing impact, as well as higher interest rates, could blight the sector in the near term.
Aseem Chhabra lists his favorite 2023 films -- a healthy blend of Bollywood, Hindi indies and some of the best work that is being done in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali cinema.
Will the new Congress government implement the five 'guarantees' that helped it in part to wrest power from the Bharatiya Janata Party in toto or will they now add a "conditions apply" clause?
An aggressive rate hike by the US Fed and the possibility of a recession can trigger a slide in these stocks, which will be a good opportunity to buy from a long-term perspective.
On one hand, South Indian states have been complaining about denial of a proportionate portion of the sharable funds from the Centre, based on population. On the other hand, they stand to lose Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seats that again are based on population, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Maharashtra government on Friday told the Bombay high court that the state-run hospitals in Nanded and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar which recently saw a spurt in patient deaths faced a heavy inflow of extremely critical patients from private hospitals.
Deepa Gahlot picks 10 Web series that was worth the viewer's while.
As and when the GST comes in, Budget projections will have to be unbundled and revised. In fact, the pragmatic decision would be to present another Budget! This makes the passage of the Finance Bill with its multiple unrelated amendments seem even more dubious, says Devangshu Datta.
