'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
The Centre is unlikely to offer new direct tax incentives for units operating in special economic zones (SEZs) and may instead allow the grandfathering of previous exemptions that such units were entitled to, according to proposed amendments to the SEZ Act, 2005, people aware of the matter said. The amendments, proposed by the commerce department, will soon be considered by the Cabinet for approval. This represents a departure from the department's earlier plan to introduce these changes through the Development Enterprises and Services Hubs (DESH) Bill, 2023, which faced strong criticism from the ministry of finance.
Both Houses of Parliament witnessed multiple adjournments on Monday as opposition MPs continued their protest over the Pegasus snooping row and other matters. Amid ruckus by the Opposition, the Rajya Sabha passed the Inland Vessels Bill-2021 while the Lok Sabha passed the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill with voice-vote.
The GST revenues for August 2023 have shown a growth of 11 per cent year on year due to increased compliance and less evasion, Revenue secretary Sanjay Malhotra said on Friday. The collection from Goods and Services Tax (GST) was Rs 1,43,612 crore in August 2022. "Roughly numbers are in the range of 11 per cent year on year growth as in earlier months," Malhotra told reporters.
Years before the Supreme Court struck down as 'unconstitutional' an opaque political funding tool that allowed individuals and companies to donate money to political parties anonymously and without any limits, the then finance minister Arun Jaitley -- the prime mover of electoral bonds -- had termed them legitimate and transparent.
Rajya Sabha witnessed heated exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches after Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge made remarks on the manner in which political parties select women candidates from weaker sections and raised the issue of 'delayed' GST payments to non-Bharatiya Janata Party ruled states.
The bill provides for severe punishment ranging from 1 year to 10 years and pecuniary fines ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 50 crore to act as deterrent.
As part of the ritual, ''halwa'' is prepared in a big ''kadhai'' (large frying pot) and served to the entire staff involved in the Budget making exercise of the ministry. Halwa was served while maintaining COVID protocol with all present in mask and those distributing sweets were wearing gloves.
'We have essentially tried to set out an agenda for the next five years and it, in essence, represents the political commitment to that agenda.'
Ahead of a likely trial of strength in Lok Sabha on the proposed cut motion on finance bill, the Congress on Monday said the government was in absolutely no danger.
Since 2008, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency is running a star rating programme, under which electric equipment are rated according to their efficiency. This in turn helps the consumers save electricity.
'Someone who cannot even take his cabinet into confidence, how will he take the NDA alliance into confidence?'
The Finance Bill proposes introduction of Section 26A in the Customs Act, 1962, so as to comply with the standards under the International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonisation of Customs Procedure (Revised Kyoto Convention).
Once the Finance Bill 2017 is passed, jewellery will be treated on par with general goods which attract 1 per cent TCS on cash purchase of above Rs 2 lakh.
The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in December.
The MPs suspended on Tuesday include National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari.
Parliament on Tuesday completed the three-stage Budget exercise with Rajya Sabha returning the Finance Bill, 2003 after Finance Minister Jaswant Singh promised to move towards simplified 'Green Channel Tax System' based on trust.\n\n\n\n
Has Vijay Shekhar Sharma given up on the bank? For now, he seems to be on a save-OCL mission. The bank will face its logical end, observes Tamal Bandopadhyay.
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
While the government has the option of ensuring the passage of these Bills as money Bills, there are voices within the government advising discretion on the GST roll-out by April 1.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP and leader of the party in the Upper House Derek O'Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Lok Sabha MP and leader of the party in the Lower House, have written to presiding officers of both Houses, urging then to wind up proceedings on Monday (March 23).
Finance secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey on Sunday hinted that the government was working on another stimulus package but he refrained from giving a timeframe.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has proposed a new common income-tax return (ITR), with greater focus on disclosing income from virtual digital assets or crypto assets and foreign equity and debt instruments held by resident Indians. For non-resident Indians, the draft ITR seeks exhaustive details ranging from nature of business, permanent establishment (PE), business connection, whether the entity has significant economic presence (SEP) in India, along with the number of users in India. The ITR protocol for NRIs could widen the scope of the SEP principle that was introduced in the Finance Bill 2018-19, and the explicitly defined 'business connection' to include provision of download of data or software, if aggregate payments from such transactions exceed a prescribed amount, or if a multinational's interaction is with a prescribed number of users.
This article tries to strip off the jargon and present the contents of the current act with respect to the punishments and penalties applicable to various offences as defined by the tax man.
'If such inflows materialise, what will be the effect on the rupee's value -- and therefore on exports growth, the only sustainable path to recovery?', asks Mihir S Sharma.
Let there be a rule that if the Budget is not passed and funds cannot be drawn from the Consolidated Fund of India, there will be a government shutdown as it happens in the United States, says A K Bhattacharya.
It is day 5 of the Budget session of Parliament on Tuesday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to reply on Presidential speech in Lok Sabha.
Even as you fight the ongoing health challenge, here are some tips to strengthen your personal finance in the time of coronavirus.
Move to shift powers from RBI without discussions baffles many
Will Parliament function on ninth day of second leg of budget session.
Following are comments from economists at leading financial institutions, banks and rating agencies on the interim Budget:
They may splurge on expensive dresses, but when it comes to managing family finances, women are significantly better than men, a new study has revealed.
The distance between North Block and Mint Road has been growing for quite some time. The latest evidence of tension is the finance ministry's decision to introduce a clause in the Banking Amendment Bill allowing banks to trade in commodity futures, despite the central bank's reservations on the issue.
Structural changes to government finances could be focus of the Union Budget, says Mihir S Sharma.
Sitharaman said the Bill has proposed giving a legal framework for fixed-term employment through which contract workers serving a fixed-tenure will get equal statutory social security benefits as regular workers in the same unit.
Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra expressed confidence in GST.
Pranab Mukherjee said the government proposes to move various legislative Bills related to financial sector reforms.
'People are blowing up their entire retirement fund; they are selling their land and house to spend on one day for a marriage.'
Watch the live telecast from the Parliament.
Here are some golden nuggets when it comes to creating wealth. Read them and if you find yourself saying, 'This everybody knows', cross your heart and ask yourself how many times you have forgotten these simple rules, says P V Subramanyam.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances