The government's subsidies on food, fertilisers and petroleum are estimated to decline by 39 per cent to Rs 4,33,108 crore this fiscal and fall further by 27 per cent to nearly Rs 3.18 lakh crore in 2022-23. In its revised Budget (RE) estimate for the 2021-22 fiscal, the government has pegged total subsidies to be at Rs 4,33,108 crore against the actual Budget estimate of Rs 7,07,707 crore in the previous financial year. Out of which, the food subsidy is estimated to decline to Rs 2,86,469 crore in the current fiscal from Rs 5,41,330 crore in 2020-21, while petroleum subsidy is estimated to fall to Rs 6,517 crore from Rs 38,455 crore in the said period.
The guidelines for strategic disinvestment were issued on Monday itself when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budget for 2016-17.
The government on Wednesday said that all urban cooperative banks and multi-state cooperative banks will come under the supervision of the Reserve Bank of India, a development aimed at providing comfort to depositors and prevent repeat of PMC Bank like scams. The President of India will promulgate an ordinance to this effect, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters after the meeting of the Union Cabinet.
One per cent TDS will apply on non-agriculture immovable property of over Rs 50 lakh on the basis of sale price or the stamp duty value, which ever is higher, after an amendment in the Income Tax Act.
In absolute terms, fiscal deficit went up by 33.6 per cent in April-December 2017 and the revenue deficit by as much as 40.7 per cent compared to the same period the previous year, said Sudipto Mundle.
'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.'
Besides advancing the presentation of the Budget to perhaps the first week of January, , there are four new initiatives that could be rolled out from the next Budget, says A K Bhattacharya.
The legislation was passed by 125 votes in favour and 61 against.
The announcement of a deferral is expected to be part of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's Budget speech on February 29.
Modi asked MPs to inform the masses about various pro-people features of the budget.
Analysts were expecting the government to propose higher capital infusion for banks.
For next fiscal, the minority stake sale target has been kept at Rs 36,000 crore.
The government on Thursday announced a new 24-hour TV channel dedicated to agriculture sector with an outlay of Rs 100 crore for providing real-time information to farmers.
India's services sector activity moderated further in January as new business rose at a noticeably slower rate amid the escalation of the pandemic, reintroduction of restrictions and inflationary pressures, a monthly survey said on Thursday. The seasonally adjusted India Services Business Activity Index fell to 51.5 in January, down from 55.5 in December, pointing to the slowest rate of expansion in the current six-month sequence of growth. For the sixth straight month, the services sector witnessed an expansion in output.
While the gold policy covers every aspect, from sourcing gold to trading and investing in it, experts assert that the policy is incomplete if mining of gold in India isn't promoted.
'Let us hope that this Budget delivers.' 'It needs 10 per cent plus real GDP growth in 2021-22, the rebound year,' notes Omkar Goswami.
'Modi had not discussed demonetization with me prior to his announcement on 8 November 2016. 'I learnt of it along with the rest of the country. 'I was not surprised when he did not discuss the issue with me prior to making the public announcement. 'It fitted in with his style of making dramatic announcements.' A fascinating excerpt from Pranab Mukherjee's The Presidential Years: 2012-2017.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday chaired a meeting to discuss the preparations for launching Doordarshan's 'Kisan TV' on May 26, to coincide with the first anniversary celebrations of the National Democratic Alliance government.
In the Interim Budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that a high power committee would be set up to consider the challenges arising from 'fast population grown and demographic changes.' 'But who wants data? It pays to feed people's fears, insecurities and apprehensions. If such fears don't exist, they must be created,' her husband Parakala Prabhakar says in this fascinating excerpt from his book, The Crooked Timber of New India: Essays on a Republic in Crisis.
'Looking at the speed at which changes were made post the Franklin Templeton issue, we are awaiting more stricter norms in the months to come.'
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the current logjam in Parliament could end if the Opposition and the government sit for a discussion and both move two steps forward.
Officials said there had been no official word or indication from the top yet. The expectation from officials is to do what they can, but it is understood that all fiscal and budgetary targets don't matter anymore.
The ongoing corporate results and the Union budget are also making participants tread cautiously though the GST agreement provided some relief.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday rebutted the Opposition's charge that the Bharatiya Janata Party too shared the responsibility for the failure to check the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 as it was supporting the then V P Singh-led government at the Centre.
On one hand, South Indian states have been complaining about denial of a proportionate portion of the sharable funds from the Centre, based on population. On the other hand, they stand to lose Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seats that again are based on population, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
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.
In his Budget, Jaitley announced a pay hike for the President to Rs 5 lakh per month, Rs 4 lakh for the VP and Rs 3.5 lakh for governors.
'The term 'pro-growth' must be qualified somewhat because, while a rising tide will lift all boats, it will not necessarily do so equally.'
The department of investment and public asset management is scouting for investment bankers and legal advisors to carry forward the transactions.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said it would have been good if Rahul had attended the budget session
With the Congress already opposed to the proposed law, regional parties might become the swing factor, says T N Ninan.
The Centre on Monday earmarked a separate Rs 2,217 crore for 42 urban centres to tackle air pollution and announced the much-awaited voluntary vehicle scrapping policy to phase out old and polluting vehicles, even as it shrunk the budgetary allocation for the environment ministry from the last fiscal by nearly eight percent. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech for 2021-22, announced a total of Rs 2869.93 crore for the ministry, Rs 230 crore less than the last fiscal. Officials said the outlay has been lesser this time as the economy is recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pitching for greater transparency in rule-making and other functions of regulators, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has asked Sebi to work towards attracting more retail investors to the capital markets.
The Budget allocated an increase in allocation for MGNREGS, LPG expansion, electrification & smart panchayats.
He will recommend innovative methods and processes for the improvement.
In his speech in the Lok Sabha on February 7, Rahul made several allegations against the government over the Hindenburg-Adani row.
Government will provide a short window of a "few months" to income tax assesses to come clean by declaring their money and assets stashed abroad.
'For the politics of patronage in West Bengal, it has always been important to have territorial control.'
Court cases likely over interpretation of the new levy proposed in the Budget for digital economy.
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