The Indian Railways has called a two-day meeting of all zonal railway managers in New Delhi this month to review ongoing projects and discuss measures to improve the financial position in wake of a stiff rise in running cost and fears of the PSU missing earning targets.
Public-sector enterprise stocks have seen a good run thus far in 2023-24 (FY24), with the S&P BSE PSU Index surging by over 26 per cent during the period, compared to an 11 per cent increase in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.
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.
Passengers can now book train tickets 120 days ahead of their travel date.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday alleged that Dinesh Trivedi, who resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Friday, took the 'House for a ride' and was 'allowed' to use the floor of the House for his 'devious political ends'.
Railways proposes to complete over 550 kms of new lines in eight sections, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced on Friday.
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.
Freight rates for grains, pulses and urea would increase by 10%.
To facilitate foreign direct investment (FDI) in high- speed rail projects, the government is likely to allow private sector entry in operations.
Passengers can now look forward to enjoying home cooked local food supplied by self-help groups during their train journey.
'Our concern is about today and there is nothing in the Budget for the MSME sector to feel positive right now.'
Freight earnings accounted for 65 per cent of IR's total earnings of Rs 144,167 crore (Rs 1,441.67 billion) in 2013-14.
Dismissing suggestions that the Rail Budget was West Bengal-centric, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said those raising the issue are 'humiliating' the state and advised journalists not to ask 'politically manipulative' questions.
The department of investment and public asset management (Dipam) can also seek in-principle approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for strategic divestment of PSUs on a case-to-case basis considering investor appetite and sectoral trends.
The total earnings in Q1 rose 14.54 per cent, while working expenses grew at a measly 4.22 per cent.
According to the latest Budget papers, the staff strength of central ministries and departments is estimated to rise by 276,796 to 3.44 million at the end of FY23, it would be up by 109,266 to 3.55 million in March 2024.
A passenger on Guwahati-bound Rajdhani train found that the vegetarian dish he ordered contained pieces of bones.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said re-developed railway stations would become iconic structures and centres of economic activity.
The railways recently successfully completed an experiment on the Delhi-Agra route for semi-high speed (up to 160 km/hr).
The finance minister may stagger some of the recommendations.
Softening the demonetisation blow, the Budget for 2017-18 on Wednesday halved the tax to 5 per cent on incomes up to Rs 500,000 but proposed a new surcharge of 10 per cent on incomes between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore and raised duties on cigarettes and pan masala while stepping up allocations for infrastructure, rural, agriculture and social sectors.
Passengers were finding it difficult to reach counters to cancel the reserved tickets within the stipulated time and as a result they are losing money
Noting that the new trains will connect the culture of Telangana and AP, Modi said Vande Bharat symbolises new India's resolution and capabilities.
'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.'
This is Jaitley's first overseas visit since his kidney ailment was confirmed in April last year.
'Well done, Mr Jaitley, now go and implement your schemes. No leakages, no lapses and no laziness.'
Moving ahead with the economic reforms, the Cabinet tonight cleared the long-delayed proposal for raising FDI limit in defence to 49 per cent and fully opened up the railway infrastructure segment, like high-speed trains, for foreign investment.
India's railway will borrow Rs 151.03 billion ($2.80 billion) from markets for the financial year 2013/2014.
'The people of Tamil Nadu in particular Chennai know about the double standards of the BJP. Nothing will work for them here.'
The idea behind advancing the Budget date is to ensure that the Finance Bill is passed before the start of the financial year, on April 1, so that all central government departments get their full allocations to work with right from the first day
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The Railway Budget is likely to be presented in the second week of July.
Insiders said she remained closeted with top railway officials for hours finalising the Budget on Tuesday and left her Rail Bhawan office only at 3.30 am on Wednesday.
This finance minister has come of age. That's not condescension. It is a praise, says Omkar Goswami.
The Opposition on slammed the Rail Budget for increasing the burden on the common man, with BJP terming it as "pedestrian" and "discriminatory" while Left said it does not give any hope on railways' future.
The railways should leverage its revenues to raise money from the market to modernise and expand its facilities, planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said in New Delhi on Monday.
Also on the anvil is abolition of distinction between Plan and non-Plan expenditure and replacing it with capital and revenue expenditure
If a prime minister could be chosen on the basis of announcing new trains, Lalu Prasad would be there already. An unprecedented number of new trains -- 43 in all -- with a majority of them touching one or more cities in Bihar, were announced by him as part of the 2009-10 Interim Railway Budget.
The three-month long Budget session of Parliament will commence on February 23 and the general budget would be presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on February 28.
