International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Thursday said he favoured new heads of the World Bank and the Fund to be from countries other than Europe and the United States.
Planning Commission on Monday said India will not be able to achieve USD 1 trillion target for investment in the infrastructure sector during the 12th Plan (2012-17) in view of lower economic growth prospects.
Behind the GBS figures, to be revealed in the Budget next week -- lies a fierce tug of war between Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh eventually threw his weight behind the finance minister.
The Planning Commission on Friday said that high inflation, primarily driven by rising food prices, is likely to ease in the next few months on the back of an expected good rabi crop.
Questioning the methodology of CSO in computing economic growth projections, the Planning Commission today said it has ignored the rising growth trend while working out estimates for 2012-13.
The 12th Plan document describes three average annual growth scenarios - 8%, 6-6.5% and 5-5.5 per cent.
Private power producers wanted the sub-market domestic coal prices to be averaged out with international price of imported coal so as to have a uniform fuel price and remove the disadvantage new projects faced as compared to older ones.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has apologised to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the unruly mob behaviour outside his office targeting her and her Cabinet colleagues and said steps need to be taken to avoid such situations in the future.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has begun questioning Tahawwur Hussain Rana, the mastermind behind the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, to uncover the larger conspiracy behind the deadly strikes. Rana, who was extradited from the US, is being held at the NIA headquarters in New Delhi. The interrogation is focused on his possible connection with the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and his suspected links with the Pakistani spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Deficient monsoon is likely to pull down the economic growth in the current fiscal to about six per cent, from 6.5 per cent a year ago, the Planning Commission said on Friday.
Currently 100 per cent FDI is allowed in the sector.
According to principal advisor with the Planning Commission and former chief statistician, Pronob Sen, there were 40-45 million more people in the age group of 15-59 between 2004-05 and 2009-10. The unemployment rate has correspondingly fallen from 2.3 per cent to 2 per cent of the labour force.
Some reactions to RBI's monetary policy announced on Monday.
Diesel price hike is a tough decision and we need lot of tough decisions to get to 8 per cent growth rate," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh told reporters.
The industrial growth number for the month of December has been revised upward to 2.53 per cent from the provisional number of 1.6 per cent released earlier.
The Planning Commission said the decision of oil marketing companies to raise petrol price by Rs 3.14 per litre is a good news and will provide credibility to the economic reforms process.
Manmohan Singh, who also heads the government's Plan think-tank, complimented the internal Planning Commission for starting the process of mid-term appraisal in 'right earnest.'
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.
Ahluwalia's assessment of economic growth is marginally higher than 6.3 per cent projected by the Commission earlier.
Mukherjee said uncertainty was still there on oil prices front due to unrest in West Asia and North Africa.
Planning Commission on Tuesday endorsed RBI's hawkish policy of hiking key rates by half a percentage point saying this would contain inflation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA and Left Parties, including the CPI-M and CPI, have organised a 'Bharat Bandh' on Monday to protest against rising inflation and the hike in prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas.
According to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, more than the anticipated growth in the farm sector will make up for the shortfall in the industrial output.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month had said inflation would moderate to 5-6 per cent by the end of the calender year.
The Planning Commission has pitched for linking of domestic fuel prices with those in the international market saying it is necessary for country's global "economic reputation".
Planning Commission on Friday said there is no case for providing stimulus to the industry to arrest moderating growth as the fiscal deficit is high and may exceed the Budget estimate of 4.6 per cent by about one percentage point.
The Reserve Bank of India has already raised its key short-term rates by 25 basis points to cool inflation and many experts believe that it will make money dearer to tame inflation in its April 20 annual monetary policy announcement.
The Planning Commission's term runs concurrently with that of the government. The commission, whose inputs are vital on important policy related matters, is likely to have new faces when the new team is announced, said a top government functionary who had earlier worked in the apex planning body.
"This year, at the Planning Commission, we expect growth rate will be around 8 per cent. We are not expecting 9 per cent in the year 2011-12," Ahluwalia said while speaking at the convocation ceremony at Vijna Jyothy Institute of Management.
Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and former Planning Commission member Kirit S Parikh, who heads an expert committee on fuel pricing, may join the deliberations, official sources said.
The commission had earlier projected a 2.5 per cent fall in the farm output due to weak monsoon but expects the drop to be less than that.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday asked the Planning Commission to prepare by Monday, a report on achievements of the government in different sectors that would later be made public.
Freight corridor project slipping, needs supervision revamp, says Plan panel.
Ahead of the July 24 National Development Council (NDC) meeting, the Planning Commission will come out with a report on the problems in the Naxal-hit areas and the issues being faced by tribals.
The government is likely to raise the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS)-- the amount of assistance provided by the Centre for Plan schemes-- by 15 per cent to Rs 2.60 lakh crore during 2010-11.
Buoyed by over 17 per cent of industrial growth in April,the highest for 2010 so far, Planning Commission on Friday said the government's policies were "working" and that it should continue with gradual withdrawal of stimulus.
Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Tuesday lashed out at the Planning Commission, holding it responsible for the delay in the modernisation of Kolkata and Chennai airports.
The Planning Commission on Thursday described the International Monetary Fund's growth projection of 8.8 per cent for India as optimistic and said the panel would stick to its outlook.
The RBI's decision to raise repo and reverse repo (short-term lending and borrowing) rates by 25 basis points each to 5 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively, on Friday evening was aimed at anchoring price rise.
The Planning Commission may suggest an increase in education fees for higher education to Finance Minister P Chidambaram this year. Do you think this hike is justified?
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