A combination of factors, including heavy investments in US Treasury bonds and dollar sales at a healthy profit, facilitated the Indian central bank in transferring a record surplus of Rs 2.11 trillion to the government for 2023-24 (FY24). The RBI's dollar purchases increased in FY24, supported by robust capital inflows endorsing the economy's health.
'The household sector, which is still the largest contributor of financial savings, has been experiencing a decline in the last six years, and it has fallen below 8% of GDP.'
'China is struggling to get out of its property bubble.' 'Japan took 35 years to walk out of its equity bubble.' 'Bubbles can be difficult to forecast.'
The record of other prime ministers too shows how much can change when a prime minister is faced with the two-year challenge, says T N Ninan.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the fiscal deficit slippage this financial year (2017-18) was largely statistical.
The S&P BSE Sensex ended 80 points up at 23,789 while the Nifty50 closed at 7,235, up 24 points.
The Budget loosened the reins on public spending to drive growth.
Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal spoke with the media about his privatisation plan, safety road map and innovation strategy.
Presenting the Interim Railway Budget 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha on Friday, the minister said this is in addition to the bullet train proposals between Delhi-Amritsar, Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Pune, Hyderabad-Vijayawada-Chennai, Chennai-Bangalore-Ernakulam and Howrah-Halida which were announced in 2007-08 Railway Budget.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her third Budget on February 1.
Curbing the federal deficit is the government's absolute priority on February 28.
The public sector behemoth is looking at forming joint ventures with states.
As a percentage of the aggregate Budget expenditure, it is 12 per cent.
Single window clearances for realty must.
"Call it a craze, fever or national interest but HSR is our window to the outside world."
When Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tables her Budget on February 1, the numbers could be something to cheer.
Indian Railways plans Rs 39,000 crores non-fare revenue. Via: Branding of trains. Vinyl-wrapping of Rajdhanis, Shatabdis and Garib Raths. Moving billboards.
The opposition parties will meet on Monday morning to evolve their strategy in both Houses of Parliament after protests by them on the Hindenburg-Adani issue overshadowed most of the first half of the Budget session.
The Union Cabinet will soon take a call on setting up Railway Development Authority of India, an independent regulator, which will decide on passenger and freight rates
The assertion comes amid speculation that the ruling party in Andhra Pradesh might rethink its ties with the BJP in view of its disappointment over allocation of funds to the state in the Union Budget.
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The railway minister said that one-third studies have already been done.
Arguably one of the toughest engineering challenges in hand, the Indian Railways plans to complete the Chenab bridge in Jammu and Kashmir by 2016, making it the world's highest rail bridge.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced a Rs 6 lakh crore National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) that will look to unlock value in infrastructure assets across sectors ranging from power to road and railways. She also said the asset monetisation does not involve selling of land and it is about monetising brownfield assets. Projects have been identified across sectors, with roads, railways and power being the top segments.
Budget proposals have set four goals to transform Indian Railways.
FM should avoid proposals such as to tax financial transactions and fringe benefits
The Bhartiya Railway Mal Godam Shramik Sangh said they will resort to disrupting railway services across the country if the government does not heed to their demands.
The government must expedite its plan for asset sale and privatisation, both of which hardly got any mention in the Budget speech, points out A K Bhattacharya.
In a Q&A with Doordarshan, Jaitley discusses how he chose the areas on which he would spend more.
The rupee on Friday resumed lower at 60.25 a dollar from previous close of 60.19 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has no qualms in mixing economics with politics, which is evident from her reaction to the railway budget, says Renu Mittal.
Jaitley said an effective multi-modal logistics and transport system will "make our economy more competitive.
The Reserve Bank may cut key interest rates as early as this week.
On a day of dramatic developments, The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday night sought the removal of its senior-most nominee in the Union Cabinet, Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi, hours after he proposed a hike in railway passenger fares, plunging the UPA government in an unusual political crisis.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday raised the personal income tax rebate limit, doled out sops on small savings and announced one of the biggest hikes in capital spending in the past decade as she did a tight rope walk in the Budget between staying fiscally prudent and meeting public expectations in the year before general elections.
Disagreeing with the formula of hike of one paisa or two paisa per km, Mamata said, "In railways there is no travel for a distance of mere one km or two km distance.
Capital expenditure by 54 large central public sector enterprises and five departmental arms, having a capex minimum target of Rs 100 crore, rose 93 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in the April-May period to Rs 1.39 trillion. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Railways have started this financial year's capex cycle on a stronger note. In the first two months of FY24, the 54 CPSEs, along with the departmental arms, achieved 19 per cent of their combined budget target of Rs 7.33 trillion, Business Standard has learnt.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday pitched for front loading of capital expenditure, saying it is critical for revitalisting the economy post the coronavirus pandemic. During a virtual meeting with senior government officials to discuss the infrastructure roadmap ahead, she also asked ministries to aim to achieve more than their capital expenditure (capex) targets. The Union Budget 2021-22 provided a capital outlay of Rs.5.54 lakh crore, a sharp increase of 34.5 per cent over the Budget Estimate of 2020-21.
'Wherever in the world there is political instability, those countries are beset with severe crises today. But India is in a much better position than the rest of the world due to the decisions taken by my government in the national interest,' President Droupadi Murmu said in her address to both Houses of Parliament.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde on Friday slammed Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee for presenting a 'lacklustre, populist budget with an eye on forthcoming elections in West Bengal'.
The finance minister's Budget presentation is a sombre affair, yes, but it wasn't as if the Lok Sabha was all serious through the speech.
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