The Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, paving the way for privatisation of government-owned insurers. The amendments, approved by Cabinet, will remove the clause for the Centre to hold at least 51 per cent in public sector insurance companies at any given time. It will also have an enabling provision for the transfer of management control from the government to the potential buyer of the public sector insurance company. The finance ministry will move amendments to the insurance Act in the ongoing Parliament session.
With this, India joins 60 other countries that collect PNR details of international passengers.
7 states account for over 80 per cent of the total direct tax collections by the Union government.
To adopt the January-December financial year cycle, the government needs to shrink the current financial year to three quarters and present the new annual budget to the state legislative assembly for its passage in December.
The Budget oration of the finance minister and the confidence with which she delivered it, along with the measures and the recent upsurge in the economy would all contribute to unleashing the storied 'animal spirits' and help the economy run on the growth path quite smoothly. Or so the government hopes, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
Seven electric two-wheeler companies have suffered a cumulative loss of over Rs 9,000 crore on account of unpaid dues and loss of market after their subsidies were stopped last year, the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) said on Wednesday. These companies have also been directed by the govt to refund the subsidies availed by them. The audit by SMEV's chartered accountants indicates the total, cumulative damages to affected companies could account for over Rs 9,000 crore on a conservative basis, it noted.
The IMF expressed its opposition to any move that compromises the independence of central banks anywhere in the world.
Officials in North Block are wondering if a new tax will be mooted again and whether that will pertain to foreign investments.
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 government's decision to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from French company Dassault has become a controversial political issue, with the main opposition party Congress levelling allegations of corruption and impropriety, and the ruling dispensation defending the move.
They said that massive public investment in infrastructure, social sectors and agriculture would generate employment and the Union Budget should give it a priority and allocate necessary funds for this.
The Budget chose to stick to an ambitious disinvestment programme for 2016-17.
Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, a bitter critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi regime, on Saturday joined Trinamool Congress days ahead of the high-octane West Bengal assembly polls.
Jaitley is now a minister without portfolio in the Narendra Modi government.
This is the fourth such recruitment drive proposed to be undertaken by the Narendra Modi government which had in 2018 initiated lateral entry.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on March 17 had announced that State Bank of India (SBI) would extend a term loan of $1 billion to Sri Lanka, fully guaranteed by the Indian government, and this was part of India's financial aid to the troubled island nation. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Arindam Bagchi was quoted saying by news agency PTI that the loan would be used for importing food, medicines, and other essential items. "India has always stood with the people of Sri Lanka and we will continue to extend all possible support at this juncture.
In the June quarter of FY24, 51 per cent of consumers who took small-ticket personal loans already had more than four credit products at the time of accessing yet another new loan, compared with just 17 per cent in the June quarter of FY20, points out Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The ICICI board is looking to the retired petroleum secretary to provide 'maturity and sagacity'.
The Lower House of Parliament took up the Demands for Grants and Appropriation Bills after two adjournments as the ruling and Opposition MPs engaged in a matching duet over demands for an apology by Rahul Gandhi and the Adani issue.
Reduce the government stake in public sector banks to 33 per cent, recommends A K Bhattacharya
The Government of India has decided to launch a massive rural public works scheme, 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan', to "empower and provide livelihood opportunities to the returnee migrant workers and rural citizens". Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch this scheme on June 20 through video conference in the presence of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi.
Refusing to link his seeking voluntary retirement, a year before his superannuation, to his transfer to the relatively low profile power ministry, he said that he had conveyed his decision to the Prime Minister's Office on July 18.
Shalini Gupta, a freelance writer from Pudicherry, tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar what she would like to see in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's Budget.
SBI-led consortium of 17 banks had a total exposure of about Rs 6,500 cr to Kingfisher Airlines.
Gopal Krishna Pillai, senior Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1972 batch, is going to be the next Union Home Secretary. Pillai, who is serving as the Union Commerce Secretary, will take over from current Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta in mid-June. Gupta is slated to be appointed as the governor of Tripura.
'The plan is to secure nod of the Union Cabinet and other relevant regulatory approvals within the next three months,' a senior finance ministry official said, requesting anonymity.
Strengthening the portfolios of the home minister and the finance minister is a message that should not be missed, points out A K Bhattacharya.
Dissenting states including Chhattisgarh and Kerala, have made it clear they are in no mood to relent. They want the Centre to borrow the entire Rs 2.35 trillion this fiscal citing bleak fiscal position.
Hyderabad has contributed only Rs 20,022 crore out of Andhra Pradesh's total revenue of Rs 1,27,866 crore. This information was part of a note circulated by the Union finance ministry to the Group of Ministers looking into issues leading up to the bifurcation of the state.
Last year, Sitharaman had ditched the long-standing tradition of carrying budget documents in a leather briefcase and went swadeshi with a 'bahi-khata'.
The direction to the labour ministry was given after the prime minister met a workers' delegation led by G Sanjeeva Reddy of Indian National Trade Union Congress.
With the fall of Congress, Chidambaram's political graph too started moving southwards.
Rather than talking endlessly about lost and marginal opportunities, India's climate envoys need to start thinking bigger, says Mihir S Sharma.
While Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is aiming for a return to the path of fiscal prudence, various departments of the central government appear to be out of sync.
After keeping the appointments of some of the senior level officers on special duty/private secretary on hold for months, Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally cleared some of them.
Later, Sitharaman's office clarified that the FM had already met the industrialists, experts, and economists during the pre-budget consultations.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances