Pranab Mukherjee's stewardship of the economy will stand out as much for the manner in which he managed controversies as for creating quite a few of them, says A K Bhattacharya.
Government's reforms agenda in Parliament is in for trouble with its biggest ally Shiv Sena on Monday joining some Opposition parties in declaring resistance to a bill on raising FDI cap in insurance sector from 26 per cent 49 per cent.
The agency has also retained 'stable' outlook for the country's ratings.
He also took potshots at opposition parties' decision to observing November 8 as a 'Black Day', saying the move displays their faith in cash economy.
The government should have mentioned clearly the specific structural reforms that were responsible for the deviation from the fiscal deficit target by half a percentage point, says A K Bhattacharya.
Citi, HSBC and UBS etc have already cut their market targets.
GST has been hanging fire with the Opposition Congress yet to come on board
A combination of reduced cash intensity, a focused strategy of tax administration and GST is the way to go, say Sakshi Gupta, Tanvi Garg and Abheek Barua.
Structural changes to government finances could be focus of the Union Budget, says Mihir S Sharma.
'This government has always been fiscally conservative. It never resorted to fiscal profligacy.'
The Centre's revenue from GST registered a decline of 10 per cent in 2017-18 compared to revenue of subsumed taxes in 2016-17.
Global oil prices have slumped and India has access to larger amounts of discounted Russian crude oil, yet refiners are not passing on their savings to consumers
In a pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the experts suggested timely implementation of the BJP's election manifesto promises to fix higher support prices. They also favoured a Kissan TV channel, an efficient procurement policy, priority for farm mechanisation and the linking of rivers.
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The GST will subsume most of the indirect taxes like excise duty and service tax
Introducing UCC is a challenging task for any government. The complexities are real and difficult to negotiate as it deals with sensitive religious and cultural sentiments. How can it strike an easy balance between individual rights and community interests?, asks Ramesh Menon.
A committee on digitalisation headed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had in an interim report recommended taxing cash transactions of at least Rs 50,000 to promote digital payments.
Unveiling the reform agenda for the Budget, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said a comprehensive law would be prepared next year to overhaul the Income Tax Act.
Seeking to further strengthen bilateral economic relations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said India and the US will "restart" discussions on the Social Security Agreement and resume talks on Bilateral Investment Treaty.
But use of that word -- privatisation -- is not encouraged. This seems to be a classic case of reforms through subtle signals, observes A K Bhattacharya.
The auto industry expects lower taxes and interest rates from Budget 2015.
Make In India and the reduction in barriers of trade will potentially create a growth environment.
Fiscal deficit, the gap between government's expenditure and revenue, stood at 4.5 per cent in FY14, lower than 4.9 per cent in FY13.
Once again, tax demands on foreign investors cause worry.
The challenges before the government, he said, is to put public sector banks back on track and continue to operationalise stalled infrastructure projects
'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.'
GST stabilisation, DTC implementation and banking reforms are crucial for sustaining high growth for a long period, says Rashesh Shah.
Happy at the clear mandate given by voters to the BJP-led NDA, India Inc on Friday exuded confidence that Narendra Modi will initiate bold and decisive policy reforms to promote economic growth.
Budget may bring exemption for those backed by Indian securities other than shares
The tax would create a single market in India for the first time.
FM is likely to raise tax slabs.
The average rating was seven out of 10.
A collapse in global oil prices has unleashed a wave of monetary easing.
Reflecting widespread recovery, the 50-share NSE Nifty too spurted by 91 points, or 0.92 per cent to close at 9,979.70.
The Centre could better its fiscal deficit at 6.6 per cent of GDP in this financial year on stronger-than-expected revenue buoyancy, even if the budgeted disinvestment target is not met, Fitch Ratings has said. The international rating agency had last week kept the sovereign rating unchanged at 'BBB-' with a negative outlook, and said that the risks to India's medium-term growth outlook are narrowing with rapid economic recovery from the pandemic and easing financial sector pressures. In an email interview with PTI, Fitch Ratings Director (Asia-Pacific Sovereigns) Jeremy Zook said the two key positive triggers that could lead to a revision of the outlook to stable are implementation of a credible medium-term fiscal strategy to lower debt burden and higher medium-term investment and growth rates without the creation of macroeconomic imbalances, such as from successful structural reform implementation and a healthier financial sector.
After 17 tumultuous years, a nationwide Goods and Services Tax (GST) will rollout from midnight of June 30, overhauling India's convoluted indirect taxation system and unifying the $2 trillion economy with 1.3 billion people into a single market.
Modi must focus on other state-level reforms, such as those in labour laws, leasing of land and agriculture
Amid long-pending dispute between the UK-based telecom giant Vodafone and the tax authorities in India, Finance Minister's advisor Parthasarathi Shome on Wednesday said the government should not use retrospective amendment of tax laws to raise revenues.
The middle class is a big force to fulfil dreams of a prosperous and developed India and our government has taken many decisions to empower it, the prime minister said.
The revenue collection in the same month a year ago stood at Rs 94,442 crore.
The government has changed arbitration laws, amended some 'provisions' of the Companies Act.
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