Ahluwalia said India is also interested in stepping up cooperation with China on railways development.
With industrial production contracting by 0.4 per cent in October, for the first time in 15 years, and the exports declining by over 12 per cent during the month, the government came out with a stimulus package on December 7 to spur growth and help the industry combat the impact of global financial meltdown. As part of the stimulus package, the government cut excise duty by 4 per cent across the board, except on petroleum products.
Power distribution companies in the country are estimated to have incurred a staggering loss of about Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) in the last fiscal and the amount is expected to be as much as Rs 1,16,000 crore (Rs 1,160 billion) by 2014-15.
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.
A report by a senior official in the Planning Commission has said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is heading towards bankruptcy, as its debt is set to increase five times in the next three years.
The Reserve Bank of India is slated to announce its monetary policy review on January 29, amid industry demand for lowering of interest rates to spur growth.
The Foreign Investment Promotion Board on March 6 cleared the Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia's bid to launch an airline in India by joining hands with Tata Sons.
Setting at rest speculation about the possibility of tax cuts to boost growth, the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Tuesday said the government will not change the tax structure during the current fiscal, ending March 31.
Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath said on Monday he was forewarned that the Plan panel would not allow him to achieve a 20 km-a-day road-building target.
Reliance Industries is facing penalty for falling gas output from its KG-D6 fields.
Set up by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the Planning Commission brought 12 five-year plans and six annual plans involving fund outlays of over Rs 200 lakh crore in its nearly 65-year-history.
"The full impact of the Dubai debt crisis is yet to be assessed, but there is no need to press the panic button," said Pranab Mukherjee.
According to sources, Finance Ministry favours a meagre hike of around 6 per cent in the Plan expenditure for next fiscal over budget estimate of the current financial year.
Gursharan Kaur and daughter Daman Singh pay their respects to Dr Singh's mortal remains at the AICC HQ in New Delhi.
The Planning Commission and the finance ministry have discordant views on the size of the 2007-08 Plan.
Conceding that the fiscal deficit could exceed the targeted 4.6 per cent of GDP for 2011-12 by up to one percentage point, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said such a situation need not be a matter of concern.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the government can consider some more measures to contain inflation if prices do not soften going ahead. Inflation touched a 42-month high of 7.57 per cent for the week ended April 19 as compared to 7.33 per cent in the previous week. When asked whether futures trading of food grains be banned to bring down prices, he replied that the expert committee has said that futures trading does not increase inflation.
Besides Parikh, Singh sent letters of appreciation to V L Chopra, B Mungekar and Anwarul Hoda indicating that they may not find a place in the reconstituted body.
India should learn to live with high energy prices for rapid economic growth, said Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia after two of the state-owned oil companies hiked petrol rates this week.
The country's economic growth hit a decade low of 5 per cent in the last fiscal on account of poor performance in the farm, manufacturing and mining sectors.
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.
In an interview with Karan Thapar on the CNN-IBN channel's Devil's Advocate programme, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia explains why he faults the controversial report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on 2G telecom spectrum allocation. Edited excerpts:
Ahluwalia said that emerging markets would need to focus more on FDI and bonds among other measures to make up for the fall in bank credit.
According to the Approach Paper to the 12th Plan, the Commission has pegged a plan expenditure of Rs 5.83 lakh crore (Rs 5.83 trillion) for 2013-14, which is around 12 per cent more than the budgeted plan expenditure for the current fiscal.
The Rs 67,700-crore (Rs 677 billion) revenue boost from the auction of 3G spectrum licences will help the government reduce its borrowings in the current fiscal, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
Steps to raise funds could include an across-the-board increase in railway fares, senior officials said.
Replying to a question related to the possibility of additional fiscal stimulus measures in the forthcoming Budget, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: "We have started some discussion with the finance ministry. This is related to what should be an appropriate size for planned expenditure for 2009-10." In the interim Budget announced in February this year, the planned expenditure for 2009-10 was budgeted at Rs 2,85,149 crore.
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.
Plans to increase price progressively.
India, whose economy has been coasting along at 8 per cent for the last three years, can achieve 9.5 per cent GDP growth even in the absence of hard labour reforms or foreign direct investment in the retail sector.
The Planning Commission has not been central to the policy making process since the mid-1960s, says Nitin Desai.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said big investments and increase in agriculture output will boost Indian economy.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday pegged India's growth this financial year at 6.5-7 per cent. He added the country had taken various steps to boost investment, the results of which would be seen in six months.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia Thursday said there is no reason why India, despite the current global financial turmoil, could not get back to earlier high growth path if it can step up domestic investment demands.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia Thursday said there is no reason why India, despite the current global financial turmoil, could not get back to earlier high growth path if it can step up domestic investment demands.
The Planning Commission on Tuesday warned that sector-specific regulators could become 'tension points' between them and the ministries and said there should be a common regulator for transport and energy sectors.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently extended a Rs 8,000-crore (Rs 80 billion) central support for building roads in Jammu & Kashmir, Union Cabinet's approval for the big-ticket announcement came in barely 48 hours.
The Planning Commission's latest poverty estimates, based on the 2011-12 consumption expenditure survey, shows that across India, the number of people living below the poverty line declined by more than 15 percentage points -- from 2004-05 to 2011-12 and from 37 per cent to 21.9 per cent.
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