No comments could be obtained from the spokespersons of either Reliance Industries Limited or Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.
Seeking to set at rest controversy over Aadhar, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that UID is a number and not an identity card.
The party fielded Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur, while Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada has replaced Varun Gandhi in Pilibhit.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia is likely to remain deputy chairman of the planning commission, which will be constituted shortly.
The government, which had set a reserve price of Rs 14,000 crore for pan-India spectrum broadly drawing from the basis used by Comptroller and Auditor General in calculating the loss in the previous sale in 2008, managed a meagre Rs 9,407.64 crore (Rs 94.07 billion) in the auction that lasted barely two days.
To offset the impact of high import costs, the Planning Commission had said that Coal India Ltd should adopt a pooling formula on prices by combining rates of imported and domestic coal.
Indian economy grew at a nine-year low rate of 5.3 per cent in January-March quarter in the last financial year and also in the last fiscal at 6.5 per cent.
The economy will turn the corner in the next six months as the deceleration of the past several quarters has been arrested, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Monday.
'The Congress saw Rahul as the natural leader of the party and wanted him to take a larger role'
According to latest Central Statistical Organisation's estimates, the economy will grow at a rate of 5 per cent in the current fiscal -- the lowest in over a decade.
Terming the 5.5 per cent GDP growth as "good news", Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today expressed confidence that economy would rebound in subsequent quarters.
The two-day conference, which saw participation of ministers and senior officials from all the states, was marked by brainstorming in the run up to the expected enactment of the government's ambitious Food Security Bill.
He was speaking to reporters along with Union Minister of State for Planning Ashwini Kumar on the sidelines of the Regional Consultation with five Eastern States on the Approach Paper to be finalised by the Planning Commission.
Reserve Bank of India, in consultation with the government, has raised the FII investment limit in government securities by $5 billion to $20 billion.
Aviation Minister Praful Patel's outburst against Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is perhaps not difficult to understand since most people think it was actually Patel who should have been keeping an eye on the delays at the Delhi airport.
The government is doing a lot to push growth but the impact of its efforts will be felt in the second half of the fiscal when the expansion rate will show some improvement, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
On Monday, Reserve Bank hiked the lending rates to banks by 2 per cent to 10.25 per cent.
The country's economic growth hit a decade low of 5 per cent in the last fiscal on account of poor performance in the farm, manufacturing and mining sectors.
Modernisation of agricultural marketing is important, says Montek Singh Ahluwalia
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia warned that any extraordinary steps to contain inflation may prove counter-productive.
Differing with International Monetary Fund's growth forecast of 4.9 per cent for India during 2012, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said it has a statistical problem.
This was announced at the Indo-US Economic Cooperation conference held on Friday.
The Reserve Bank of India announced measures late on Monday to curb the rupee's decline by tightening liquidity.
Last year, the Planning Commission got the approval for the 9 per cent annual average economic growth target under the Approach document for the 12th Plan from the country's apex decision making body, the National Development Council, headed by the Prime Minister with all the chief ministers and Cabinet ministers on board.
Planning Commission on Tuesday endorsed RBI's hawkish policy of hiking key rates by half a percentage point saying this would contain inflation.
Students of Kolkata's Presidency College on Saturday hurled eggs and tomatoes at Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia to protest price rise while he was leaving a seminar, but missed their target.Eyewitnesses said that student demonstrators belonging to the Students Federation of India, affiliated to the Communist Party of India - Marxist, threw eggs and tomatoes and waved black flags at Ahluwalia as he was leaving a UGC-sponsored national seminar.
Addressing a high level debate on 'State of the World Economy and Finance in 2012' at the United Nations General Assembly in United Nations on Thursday, Ahluwalia said the Indian economy grew at an average rate of 9 per cent in the five years prior to the financial crisis of 2008.
Concerned over rising food prices, planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday pitched for increasing supplies through imports and better use of the public distribution system.
"This year, at the Planning Commission, we expect growth rate will be around 8 per cent. We are not expecting 9 per cent in the year 2011-12," Ahluwalia said while speaking at the convocation ceremony at Vijna Jyothy Institute of Management.
He said while bringing in investments, it is also necessary to manage the high current account deficit.
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday expressed concerns over rising crude prices which soared to two-year high of $ 102 a barrel in Asian markets.
At the annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, organised by the government ostensibly to celebrate the country's connection with the 27-million-strong Indian diaspora living in 150 countries, Mr Ahluwalia said last Sunday that India was reaching out to NRIs not for their money, but because it valued the long, socio-cultural footprint all Indians living in India and abroad shared.
Montek also said he did not consider the fall of about two per cent or so in Asian markets, including India this morning, as severe.
Eminent economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia was on Wednesday appointed deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
Yojana Bhawan is working overtime to complete the crucial Approach paper to the 12th Plan amidst a buzz that Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia may get a Cabinet berth in the reshuffle expected soon.
The government last month revised the growth forecast for the current fiscal downward to 7.5 per cent on domestic concerns like high inflation and slowing industrial output, besides a global slowdown.
Current account deficit, which represents flow of money out of the country barring capital movements, stood at $4.5 billion in the first quarter of previous financial year.
Conceding that the fiscal deficit could exceed the targeted 4.6 per cent of GDP for 2011-12 by up to one percentage point, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said such a situation need not be a matter of concern.
The rupee will soon join the elite currencies like the US dollar, the euro, British pound and Japanese yen in having a distinct identity.
A report by a senior official in the Planning Commission has said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is heading towards bankruptcy, as its debt is set to increase five times in the next three years.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances