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 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.
Passengers can now book train tickets 120 days ahead of their travel date.
Railways proposes to complete over 550 kms of new lines in eight sections, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav announced on Friday.
To facilitate foreign direct investment (FDI) in high- speed rail projects, the government is likely to allow private sector entry in operations.
Nineteen people have been killed in rain-related incidents in Uttar Pradesh in the past 24 hours, the state relief commissioner's office said Monday evening.
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 rates for grains, pulses and urea would increase by 10%.
The total earnings in Q1 rose 14.54 per cent, while working expenses grew at a measly 4.22 per cent.
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.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said re-developed railway stations would become iconic structures and centres of economic activity.
A passenger on Guwahati-bound Rajdhani train found that the vegetarian dish he ordered contained pieces of bones.
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 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.'
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.
This is Jaitley's first overseas visit since his kidney ailment was confirmed in April last year.
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
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.
'Well done, Mr Jaitley, now go and implement your schemes. No leakages, no lapses and no laziness.'
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 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
India's railway will borrow Rs 151.03 billion ($2.80 billion) from markets for the financial year 2013/2014.
Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended on a mixed note on Wednesday as the euphoria about the Budget fizzled out, with investors going for profit-taking ahead of the Fed interest rate decision. The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 158.18 points or 0.27 per cent to settle at 59,708.08 after it trimmed most of the intra-day gains. During the day, it had zoomed 1,223.54 points or 2 per cent to 60,773.44.
This finance minister has come of age. That's not condescension. It is a praise, says Omkar Goswami.
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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.
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.
Also on the anvil is abolition of distinction between Plan and non-Plan expenditure and replacing it with capital and revenue expenditure
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.
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.
According to a privilege extended to lawmakers by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, MPs can now sponsor the construction of the railway stations from his/her annual budget of Rs 5 crore and etch his name for perpetuity on a steel or metal plaque.
The capital outlay to cover the modernisation programmes have got a hike of 10.05 per cent.
Railways must pull back its share of freight traffic.
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