A slew of concessions, including for carriage of foodgrains, kerosene and fertiliser, were announced by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee in the Railway Budget 2010-11. Cancer patients travelling for treatment would get 100 per cent concession in third AC and sleeper classes.
These could include strengthening the public-private partnership (PPP) dispute resolution mechanism, uniform PPP institutional framework, easier terms for infrastructure companies accessing bond markets, and tax sops, Business Standard has learnt. Investment in infrastructure projects with high multiplier effect has been the Centre's main plank to revive the economy, create employment and boost consumption.
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.
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The S&P BSE Sensex ended down 321 points at 23,089.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav presented the Railway Budget for 2005-06 in Parliament on Saturday. The Budget proposes no increase in passenger fares nor across-the-board in freight rates.
Bibek Debroy highlights the importance of the Assam Rail Link Project.
Railway Budget has not discriminated against any state.
"This is a budget to deceive the masses. It's an anti-farmer, anti-people and anti-country budget," Banerjee said while addressing the inaugural ceremony of Uttar Banga Utsav.
This is the full text of the address to the nation by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of India's 78th Independence Day.
Projects about to be completed include the first rail connectivity projects in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, along with crucial gauge conversion between Rangpara and North Lakhimpur, which would connect Arunachal Pradesh to the rest of the country.
The Budget decides to take the lead in revving up infrastructure.
Indian Railways need a facelift, says Suresh Prabhu.
There has been a great debate on whether it is profitable for India to have bullet trains.
If Modi wants to leave a real legacy, breaking India's strategic triangulation would be the real gift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
'Interim Budget has ignited the entrepreneurial spirit.'
India has of the one world's largest railway networks.
'Are all roads in India privatised? Are governments not playing a role in airports or ports? If they (private players) want to set up lines for a specific requirement, I see no reason to object. It will expand the opportunity and passengers will also benefit.'
Railways were first introduced to India in 1853.
'The finance minister in her Budget speech should spell out how exactly she intends to get back to the 7% track, and the hard decisions she intends to take in order to adjust to the realities of a slowing economy until growth momentum returns,' suggests T N Ninan.
Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal did not hike passenger fares.
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday claimed a senior railway official had flagged a fault in the signal interlocking system in February and warned of the train accident risk but the problem was not rectified which led to the Balasore train crash.
The words that appeared more often in the speech included tax, income, lakh and crore.
Indian companies are expecting generous tax incentives from the Union Budget that will help them invest more in building capacities in the coming years. While the productivity-linked incentives (PLIs) are a good start to spur local manufacturing, the government should also take steps to boost consumer demand, which is not showing encouraging signs, say chief executive officers (CEOs) of India Inc. Statistics released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) shows that Indian banks had sanctioned loans worth Rs 75,558 crore in 220 new projects - a record low - in the pandemic-hit financial year ending March 2021. This is not showing any signs of a significant pick up in the last nine months of the ongoing financial year.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday presented the Budget for 2021-22 in the Lok Sabha that is expected to provide relief to the pandemic-hit common man as well as focus more on driving economic recovery through higher spending on healthcare, infrastructure and defence amid rising tensions with neighbours, As India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, the ninth Budget under the Modi government, including an interim one, is widely expected to focus on boosting spending on job creation and rural development, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer and easing rules to attract foreign investments.
"This budget is most directionless budget presented by the Union railway minister Lalu Prasad...it's nothing but jugglery of words," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaj Hussain said. "Railway minister should also present an outcome and performance budget after each railway budget so that people could know which of promises made during his rail budgets were actually implemented," party general secretary Ananth Kumar said.
After presenting his first railway budget, Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said he was not for populism but wanted to be "realistic" to ensure that the national transporter thrives for the people of the country.
Finance minister attempts a clean-up job, keeps projected expenditure growth low.
'We need to put aside our anxieties about the Budget for now and possibly for long, and carry on as best as we can,' advises Shreekant Sambrani.
She appealed to the business houses to join hands for building partnership with Railways.
Mr Prabhu has set the railways on a course of investing big .
Suresh Prabhu announced ambitious plans.
The railways heritage lines that are part of the UNESCO-accorded sites list include Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway, and Kalka Shimla Railway.
The Centre is likely to cut budgetary support to the railways by around Rs 5,000-10,000 crore for 2018-19, out of the total budgeted GBS of Rs 53,060 crore. Due to this cut in GBS, the railways is likely to depend more on borrowings, asset monetisation, and internal generation to meet the capex target of Rs 1.465 trillion for the current year.
The Railway Ministry is considering a hike in passenger fares in the Railway Budget 2014-15 slated to be presented by Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda in the second week of next month.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday hailed as "forward-looking" the Rail Budget which has proposed hike in passenger fares in various ranges in different categories.
Railways had announced introduction of 99 new trains, including express and passenger services in the last budget, but till date 31 trains, including seven Duronto trains, two double decker AC trains and one Shatabdi Express have not been made operational, a data prepared by the ministry said.
Modi said 'Vision 2020' will make the Railways free from constraints.
While the corporate sector has benefited from massive capital expenditure, leading to sky-rocketing stock prices, investors would do well to keep an eye on the macroeconomic picture and government finances, not just corporate profits, for signs of trouble, alerts Debashis Basu.