The two-day conference, which saw participation of ministers and senior officials from all the states, was marked by brainstorming in the run up to the expected enactment of the government's ambitious Food Security Bill.
To offset the impact of high import costs, the Planning Commission had said that Coal India Ltd should adopt a pooling formula on prices by combining rates of imported and domestic coal.
Indian economy grew at a nine-year low rate of 5.3 per cent in January-March quarter in the last financial year and also in the last fiscal at 6.5 per cent.
Besides undertaking the routine work, Ahluwalia entrusted the task of revamping the Commission to new member Arun Maira, formerly with the Boston Consultancy Group. "We cannot work is silos. We need better lateral inputs," Ahluwalia had said at a recent internal meeting of the commission.
Showing concerns over hardening inflation, the Reserve Bank today left the key interest rate unchanged but reduced cash reserve ratio by 0.25 per cent to inject Rs 17,500 crore (Rs 175 billion) liquidity into the financial system.
The economy will turn the corner in the next six months as the deceleration of the past several quarters has been arrested, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Monday.
Internal report, to be finalised in seven-10 days, may also suggest reduction in subsidies
The government will come out with details of a new scheme for farm sector projects by states in the next 4-6 weeks to implement the Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) plan announced by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last month.
Bernanke's remarks about the possibility of scaling back of stimulus with improvement in economic conditions sent the global stock markets including that of India into tizzy.
Food inflation rose to 18.32 per cent for the week ended December 25, because of rise in prices of food items like onion, milk and meat.
With the five-year term of Reserve Bank of India Governor Y V Reddy coming to an end soon, names of his deputy Rakesh Mohan and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia are emerging as potential successors, a media report said in London.
Terming the 5.5 per cent GDP growth as "good news", Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today expressed confidence that economy would rebound in subsequent quarters.
Indian economic growth had slowed down to 6.7 per cent during 2008-09 due to the impact of global financial crisis from average of 8.7 per cent in the previous five years.
Raise diesel prices or else face a situation similar to the recent grid failure which led to complete blackout across 20 states for hours, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Friday.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Monday proposed collaboration between India and China in global fora like World Trade Organisation and G-20 and in the financial sector, as top planners of the two countries had a "productive" round of talks at the first Strategic Economic Dialogue in Beijing.
Besides Mukherjee and Deora, the EGoM would have power minister Sushilkumar Shinde, fertiliser minister M K Alagiri, law minister Veerappa Moily and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
According to Ahluwalia, if everything goes well on the economic growth front for the next three months, then one can say that the economy will be back on higher growth trajectory in the long run.
Concerned over rising food prices, planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday pitched for increasing supplies through imports and better use of the public distribution system.
According to latest Central Statistical Organisation's estimates, the economy will grow at a rate of 5 per cent in the current fiscal -- the lowest in over a decade.
The document which was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister P Chidambaram has projected the growth rate for next fiscal at 6.1-6.7 per cent.
Although India's private health insurance industry's business volumes have grown by over 35 per cent a year in the last few years, a staggering 85 per cent of the population remains uninsured, according to industry estimates.
Students of Kolkata's Presidency College on Saturday hurled eggs and tomatoes at Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to protest price rise while he was leaving a seminar, but missed their target.Eyewitnesses said that student demonstrators belonging to the Students Federation of India, affiliated to the Communist Party of India - Marxist, threw eggs and tomatoes and waved black flags at Ahluwalia as he was leaving a UGC-sponsored national seminar.
Terming HSBC's projection at 5.2 per cent for the current fiscal as incorrect, Ahluwalia said the second half is likely to be better than the first half's.
Aviation Minister Praful Patel's outburst against Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is perhaps not difficult to understand since most people think it was actually Patel who should have been keeping an eye on the delays at the Delhi airport.
The Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Wednesday objections to the disinvestment progammes of the government can be sorted out through discussions. Although the government has expressed its commitment to offload equity in state-owned companies while retaining 51 per cent share, the supporting Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had raised objections to it.
India will set up a high-level committee to identify areas for expanding economic ties with the United States, from where it expects an estimated investment of $250-300 billion in infrastructure space.
Planning Commission's Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia strongly favours need for a special package and help for poor Bihar in place of special category state status repeatedly demanded by chief minister Nitish Kumar.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is leading a high-powered team of policymakers, including Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia at the India-US CEOs Forum.
The government is doing a lot to push growth but the impact of its efforts will be felt in the second half of the fiscal when the expansion rate will show some improvement, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Planning Commission Deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia will also participate in the India-US Business CEOs Forum Meeting.
One of the names proposed by the dailies is India's Planning Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, who has been charged with a criminal sex act and is under arrest in the United States, has resigned from his position, leaving the global financial body to hunt for a new chief.
A Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukhejree is likely to meet on Monday to vet London-listed mining group Vedanta Resources' $ 9.6 billion acquisition of Cairn India.
Pitching for more public-sector role in health, Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Monday health and education are two areas where the private sector is welcome to make investments but the government needs to be dominant.
The airport, being developed by the Adani Group, is expected to start commercial operations early next year.
Former managing director of McKinsey & Co, Rajat Gupta, has stepped down as chairperson of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). Gupta's resignation comes days before the PHFI executive was to discuss his exit.
Differing with International Monetary Fund's growth forecast of 4.9 per cent for India during 2012, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said it has a statistical problem.
Population growth rate would be 1.5 per cent during the period 2007-12. "The next 10 years, India will register four major changes. The economic growth will accelerate, the technology will also grow and domestic industry will experience major liberalisation," Ahluwalia said after inaugurating the 22nd Indian Engineering Congress in Udaipur.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday expressed concerns over rising crude prices which soared to two-year high of $ 102 a barrel in Asian markets.
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