The Finance Minister said despite adverse international environment, India managed to maintain GDP growth rate of about 7 per cent in 2011-12.
UPA Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee's camp on Saturday hit back at opposition-backed candidate P A Sangma for raking up fresh allegations against his candidature saying the campaign was being "vitiated".
For India, the ideal inflation rate would be 4-5 per cent although it may be difficult to attain, the minister said while inaugurating the Economic Editors' Conference in New Delhi.
About 40,000 jewellers in West Bengal have gone on a three-day strike alleging high-handedness of income tax officials.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday underlined the need for India and Bangladesh to deepen counter-terrorism cooperation, warning that insurgents have the 'potential' to affect the bilateral ties.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday termed as "fabricated" the resignation letter of United Progressive Alliance Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee from the Indian Statistical Institute and said it had all options open before it, including legal, and would decide on the matter soon.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the government is examining the decision of the Income Tax tribunal in the Bofors case and will decide the future course of action later.
President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday praised the courage and tenacity of the Delhi gang-rape victim and asked people to redouble efforts for women's protection.
Union Minister Pranab Mukherjee worshipped Goddess Durga on Thursday at his ancestral home in Mirati village on 'Mahasaptami', the first day of the four-day long puja.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to visit Iran soon, said Manbir Singh, India's ambassador to Iran.
Mukherjee has always been obliging to mediapersons waiting for comments outside his North Block office on various issues plaguing the economy and sometimes on politics.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday justified its support to United Progessive Alliance Presidential poll nominee Pranab Mukherjee, saying abstention would have not only meant "lining up" with Trinamool Congress but also blunted its intervention in the emerging political scenario.
With P A Sangma staying in the Presidential fray, the Congress on Wednesday said the contest was part of democracy but it would not pose a problem for Pranab Mukherjee who is sure to become the President.
President Pranab Mukherjee pays an emotional tribute to APJ Abdul Kalam
Pranab Mukherjee, who has been selected as the UPA's Presidential nominee, will resign on Sunday as the Union finance minister.
The Congress on Friday rejected opposition Presidential nominee P A Sangma's demand for a debate with United Progressive Alliance's Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee saying the President of India is not supposed to be managing the economy of the country.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the ongoing investigation against the owners of Indian Premier League teams.During the briefing, Mukherjee explained to Dr Singh how bids for franchisees were made.Reportedly, Dr Singh and Mukherjee also discussed the names of Nationalist Congress Party leaders Praful Patel and Supriya Sule being drawn into the IPL controversy.
Ending months of speculation, the ruling coalition met on Friday evening at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh where its Chairperson Sonia Gandhi put forward the name of the 77-year-old veteran Congressman from West Bengal as its candidate, which was unanimously approved by the leaders of the constituent parties
'Discourtesy and ill-treatment' to 85-year-old senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani at President Pranab Mukherjee's 'At Home' function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan by not providing a seat for senior leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitely is now turning out to be a major political issue.
Kashmiri Pandits have impressed upon the central government that there should be no dilution of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and nothing should be done to weaken the state's integration with the country. A group of Kashmiri Pandits met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi on Sunday night and apprised him of their views on the current volatile situation in the state.
Hitting back at the Bharatiya Janata Party for demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum allocation, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said it had no right to speak on the issue as the Tehelka sting operation had earlier exposed its party president taking a bribe on camera. "People should not forget what we have seen in the earlier regime, what happened in Tehelka. How the president of a national party was found taking money," he said.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met United States President George W Bush at the White House in Washington on Monday and discussed the entire gamut of bilateral ties, including the civil nuclear deal.Bush and Mukherjee are said to have exchanged not only pleasantries but also discussed the width and depth of the United States-India relations that included the civilian nuclear initiative.Specific details of the meeting have not been made available to the media.
Defending Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Sunday that he found "nothing wrong" in the key United Progressive Alliance ally's statement that the killing of top Maoist leader Azad was not correct.
Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday thanked people for electing him as the President and assured the nation that he would make earnest efforts to preserve and protect the Constitution.
As many as 12 MPs out of Trinamool Congress's 19 were ready to vote against the diktat of their leader Mamata Banerjee.
A day before United Progressive Alliance Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee's Jharkhand visit, the Congress on Wednesday said chances of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha President Shibu Soren supporting him are positive, though he has chosen to defer the date of announcement of his choice for the July 19 election.
"In India, we derive our strength from tolerance, and respect our pluralism. We celebrate our diversity," he said.
Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury created flutters on Thursday when she talked of how valuable Pranab Mukherjee is to the government but the party stepped in immediately to clear the air saying the finance minister is not ruled out from the Presidential race.
Presidential candidate P A Sangma has written to the Presidential election returning officer seeking a copy of his detailed order rejecting Sangma's objection against the candidature of United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee.
Rejecting P A Sangma's claim and objection, the government on Monday said that the United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee resigned as the chairman of the Indian Statistical Institute a week before he filed his nomination in the President's election and does not not hold any office of profit.
For most of his first stint as finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee had Indira Gandhi as his prime minister. In his second stint, the prime minister was Manmohan Singh.
President Pranab Mukherjee has cut short his scheduled visit to Bihar by a day, possibly because it was clashing with a rally of Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Patna.
The Congress on Monday bid a warm farewell to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, poised to become the country's President, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that the veteran leader will be missed.
The sharp decline in rupee against the dollar is a cause of concern and there are expectations that steps would be announced to boost the domestic currency, the finance minister said.
United Progressive Alliance's Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee, the senior-most member of the Congress Working Committee, will be given a farewell by the party's top brass on Monday, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi.
Amidst the flurry of political activities in Delhi over selection of the Presidential nominee, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, whose name has been reported to be Congress' first choice as candidate, on Thursday telephoned former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
The minister recalled the steps taken by the government to deal with general inflation, which was in the negative zone in June-August, 2009, and had since risen to 9.9 per cent in March, 2010.
Africa is growing. India wants to play a part in its growth. It sees Libya as the gateway.
After a meeting at BJP leader LK Advani's residence, from which the BJP's oldest ideological ally the Shiv Sena kept away, NDA convenor Sharad Yadav merely said more discussions were needed to arrive at a right decision