As China's ruling CPC appointed 'fifth generation' leaders headed by Xi Jinping, high-level Sino-India contacts are set to resume this month starting with the Strategic Economic Dialogue, which would be followed by a likely visit of National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon in Beijing.
With economic conditions turning better compared to that three months ago, the Planning Commission on Monday said economy should record at least 6.7 per cent growth rate this fiscal, the same as was witnessed in 2008-09.
Blaming earlier policies for "discriminating" against labour intensive sectors and leading to "significant deceleration" in employment, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday
Planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Tuesday said the government should consider general lowering of duty rates across sectors to avoid creating arbitrage under free trade agreements.
Addressing an international meet on key inputs for accelerated development of Indian power sector at New Delhi on Tuesday Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission said that India's growth projection could be trimmed due to a poor monsoon.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia warned that any extraordinary steps to contain inflation may prove counter-productive.
The government has plans for the third round of spectrum auction and may put on block 2G GSM airwaves in Delhi and Mumbai circles, and CDMA spectrum in 13 circles that remained unsold in the previous sale held in March, according to sources.
A good wheat crop this season is likely to ease the near double digit inflation in the next 2-3 months, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Wednesday.
The Planning Commission on Monday said the fiscal deficit, the difference between total revenue and expenditure, will not exceed the budgetary estimate of 6.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
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.
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.
Monsoon has missed its date this year with granary states of Punjab and Haryana.
With a view to find a long term alternative to scarce petroleum products, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia
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.
Stock markets might be tumbling like ninepins but India's policy planners feel the crash on the bourses is just in line with global trends and the economy is not overheated, as all macro indicators remain strong.
Concerned over sluggish growth and poor investment climate, Assocham President Rajkumar Dhoot met Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday and demanded the controversial tax proposal GAAR be put in 'cold storage'.
"Attempts should be made to curtail growth of subsidies to achieve nine per cent growth. We are trying to achieve nine per cent growth. Though there are major challenges like global slowdown, we will achieve the target," Singh said.
As the suspense continued over the presence of 'foreign' representatives in the consultative committees of the Planning Commission, its Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said the issue would be discussed early next week.
The Planning Commission on Friday said the economy is expected to grow between 6-6.5% in the current fiscal
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, on Wednesday allayed fears over significant hardening of interest rates in view of the high government borrowings, pegged at around Rs 4.5 lakh crore (Rs 4.5 trillion) this fiscal.
Hailing Reserve Bank's decision to cut key rates, Plan panel on Tuesday said it would boost investments and hoped the measures will have significant effect on long term borrowing rates.
The chairman and CEO of Dow Chemicals Andrew Liveris will not attend the Indo-US CEO Business Forum meeting scheduled to be held in Washington.
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.
RBI has chosen to keep all key rates and ratios unchanged in its policy review unveiled earlier in the day.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, however, had said that stimulus measures need to continue till there is robust recovery in the developed world, which account for bulk of India's exports.
"It is completely false. I don't know what is the basis of this. I am not a candidate. This is some speculative thing in the New York Times," Ahluwalia said.
When India's Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma met his counterpart in Beijing last year, he spoke mainly about India's yawning trade deficit and China agreed that this was a problem that needed fixing.
The meeting is likely to focus on removing impediments which are hampering implementation of the announced projects and policies which have been on the drawing board for long, official sources said. The social sector agenda of the prime minister includes pushing the Aam Admi Bima Yojana and Old Age Pension for the labour class, besides revamping Integrated Child Development Scheme and strengthening the public distribution system.
Enthused by the prospects of good monsoon, the Planning Commission on Tuesday said the double digits inflation would decline by December, and sounded optimism that economic growth would exceed 8.5 per cent this fiscal.
Those who have been following developments in the past few years know that Wal-Mart alone must have spent millions of dollars in India for lobbying with our government to open up retail sector for FDI.
The Energy Co-ordination Committee, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, would meet on Tuesday with gas pricing, gas sourcing and gas allocation as the main topics on the agenda, an official source said.
The Union government's response to the many comments and criticisms of the 2009-10 Budget was explored by Karan Thapar for Devil's Advocate, the CNN-IBN channel programme, with deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
In order to help the industry combat the impact of global financial crisis, the government had provided three stimulus packages to the industry resulting in a revenue sacrifice of Rs 1.86 lakh crore (Rs 1.86 trillion).
Brazil, Russia, India & China (known collectively as BRIC) on Sunday sought a re-balancing of representation on the executive board and the International Monetary and Financial Committee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The committee is the policy-making arm of the IMF.
Last year, the Planning Commission got the approval for the 9 per cent annual average economic growth target under the Approach document for the 12th Plan from the country's apex decision making body, the National Development Council, headed by the Prime Minister with all the chief ministers and Cabinet ministers on board.
Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former diplomat Brajesh Mishra and Telugu thespian A Nageshwara Rao were chosen for country's second highest civilian award--Padma Vibhushan--this year.
The campaign aims to raise 1.25 billion pounds, and begins at a high profile international event in London on Wednesday. The launch event at the British Academy features the university's chancellor Lord Chris Patten, and vice-chancellor John Hood. Oxonians from various fields and countries have been roped in to raise funds that will be used to meet rising costs and steep competition from American universities.
Home Minister P Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia rejected reports that they were locked in a turf war over the ambitious UIDAI project to give every Indian resident a unique ID number Aadhar.
Ahluwalia argues that India can attract more capital even in today's world, provided the country retains an open system
The Plan panel on Wednesday said the government's refusal to accord environment clearance to Vedanta's proposed $1.7 billion aluminium project in Orissa would not tarnish India's image as an investment friendly destination.
