Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday pitched for front loading of capital expenditure, saying it is critical for revitalisting the economy post the coronavirus pandemic. During a virtual meeting with senior government officials to discuss the infrastructure roadmap ahead, she also asked ministries to aim to achieve more than their capital expenditure (capex) targets. The Union Budget 2021-22 provided a capital outlay of Rs.5.54 lakh crore, a sharp increase of 34.5 per cent over the Budget Estimate of 2020-21.
A freebie once granted can hardly be discontinued. All that can happen is to substitute it with a bigger freebie, notes A K Bhattacharya.
The National Pension System (NPS) added 21.5 per cent fewer fresh subscribers under the corporate segment in 2023 compared to the preceding year. Government officials and experts attribute it to the higher exemption limit of income tax of Rs 7 lakh announced in the FY24 Budget that no more requires employees under this income bracket to opt for NPS for tax-saving purposes. Data collated from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) reveals that the corporate component is voluntary in nature and saw 158,212 new subscribers in 2023 compared to 201,517 during 2022.
Budget has already bombed at the box office and passing it without a revisit will be a mockery of the exercise though any modification may be short lived and perfunctory, observes V Ranganathan.
Five days after the induction of 18 ministers into his cabinet, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday allocated portfolios, keeping Urban Development and 11 other ministries with himself, while giving the crucial Home Department to Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
The monthly Rs 2500 payment for poor women is expected to cost Rs 11,000 crore while the pension scheme of Rs 2000 for every senior citizen will cost around Rs 4100 crore. The Yamuna clean up will cost over Rs 10,000 crore while a similar amount is required to upgrade Delhi's hospitals. Ultimately, the new BJP government will have no choice but to ask the centre for financial support, notes Rashme Sehgal.
This will violate the time-honoured convention that a government elected for a five-year tenure presents only five full Budgets, but the NDA government will no doubt present it as yet another initiative of Mr Modi.
This ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country, sources added.
From the rollback of customs duty on key electronic components to fast tracking delivery of goods imported from China, players are looking for incentives on several counts.
The stormy second part of Budget Session continues. Both houses of Parliament have been facing continuous protests by opposition parties over issues like fuel price hike.
Earlier, finance ministry officials had said sovereign bonds could address the financing problems of the CAD and the infrastructure sector.
Move aimed at speeding up process, checking corruption in funds' transfer.
She said I treated her like a bachchi. At another moment, she said I had gone to various people and 'bitched' about her. She also threatened to bring the entire matter to the PM's notice. A revealing excerpt from Subhash Chandra Garg's We Also Make Policy: An Insider's Account of How the Finance Ministry Functions.
Backloading the government's borrowing programme suggests the finance ministry's confidence in better revenue numbers, says A K Bhattacharya.
The finance ministry has cautioned that global and regional uncertainties and domestic disruptions may keep inflationary pressures elevated in the coming months, warranting "greater vigilance" by the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). "Russia's decision to terminate the Black Sea grain deal, along with dry conditions in major wheat-growing areas, caused a price spike in cereals. Domestic factors like white fly disease and an uneven distribution of monsoon exerted pressure on vegetable prices in India," the ministry said in its latest Monthly Economic Report for July, released on Tuesday. However, the report maintained, the recent price surge in certain food items "is expected to be transitory". "Tomato prices are likely to decline with the arrival of fresh stocks by the end of August or early September.
'The prime minister's comment on 'revdi culture' was welcome. But I am disappointed he did not follow up on that.' 'All political parties, including the BJP, have been guilty of this.' 'Now, Modi's guarantees, the Congress's 'nyay' path and both ruling and Opposition parties are vying with each other for freebies in my home state Andhra Pradesh.'
With the fiscal deficit target staring at the government, the FY25 Budget has limited expenditure options, points out A K Bhattacharya.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan will also participate in the meet.
Quibbling between the Centre and the states on who should provide more relief to consumers on fuel prices intensified with the latter asking the Union Government to give an account of accruals to it from the latest hike in petrol and diesel prices.
The Unified Pension System (UPS), approved by the Union Cabinet on Saturday, is "fiscally prudent" as it will be funded within the Centre's fiscal projections, according to T V Somanathan, the Cabinet Secretary-designate. Speaking to Business Standard immediately after the Cabinet nod, former finance secretary Somanathan, who headed the committee set up in March 2023 to review the National Pension System (NPS), said the UPS will not postpone pension expenditure as it will be contributory and financed each year.
The lack of an informal communication channel is what should bother the government and the RBI, if they want to eliminate the undesirable outcomes of the current tension between the two, says A K Bhattacharya.
The move to extend the income tax benefits enjoyed by units covered by the Software Technology Parks of India Act and those set up in export oriented units by another year -- up to March 31, 2011 will benefit around 6,000 STPI units and 2,486 EoUs. In its budget-related wish list, the commerce ministry had recommended a three-year extension of the scheme, while the industry has been asking for five.
Even as the Congress Working Committee met on Monday morning to salute its seniormost member Pranab Mukherjee (who became a CWC member in 1978) and put on record its appreciation of his services both in the party and the government, the union finance minister spent his day tying up loose ends and saying his goodbyes.
The sources claimed that one of those arrested is believed to be Arsh Dalla, who is associated with the banned Khalistan Tiger Force and ran terror modules on behalf of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist who was killed in June last year.
The Union finance ministry has set up a special investigation unit to 'regulate' the funding and donations made to political parties.
Chinese phone maker Xiaomi's India unit has been slapped with a Rs 653 crore notice for alleged evasion of import duty, as per an official statement. A show-cause notice has been slapped on Xiaomi India following recovery of documents during searches on its premises that indicated remittance of royalty and licence fee to US and Chinese firms under contractual obligations, the union finance ministry said on Wednesday. Replying to an email query, a Xiaomi spokesperson said, "At Xiaomi India, we give utmost importance to ensuring we comply with all Indian laws.
In a move to help quicken the flagging pace of distribution reforms in the power sector, the Union finance ministry has approved the creation of a Rs 50,000-crore National Electricity Fund - first mooted in the 2008-09 Budget - for attracting investment in this area.
The Budget emphasises on capacity building and empowerment of marginalised sections of society including farmers.
State governments demanded on Tuesday that the Union government should share with them the service tax collection on a 50:50 basis
India has reduced the time period for foreign investors to seek international arbitration from five years to three years as part of the recently signed investment pact with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a departure from its model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). Under the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism, if the Indian judicial system is unable to resolve a dispute within this shortened period, investors can resort to international arbitration. The investment pact, signed on February 13 in Abu Dhabi, came into force on August 31, replacing the previous pact.
The finance ministry on Monday said it will transfer Rs 6,000 crore as the second tranche of GST compensation shortfall to 16 states and 3 Union Territories -- including Maharashtra, Bihar, Assam, Puducherry and Delhi. The Centre had on October 23 transferred Rs 6,000 crore to 16 states and 2 UTs of Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir. In the second tranche of transfer, Union Territory of Puducherry has been included.
To further tighten its control of practising accountants, the Centre has brought within the ambit of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) their "financial transactions" such as operating and managing their client firms and trusts, and buying and selling business entities. The Union finance ministry issued a gazette notification on this on Wednesday. Under the new rule, chartered accountants, company secretaries, and cost and works accountants carrying out such transactions (on behalf of their clients) will now be required to go through the Know Your Company (KYC) process before commencing work.
The deadlock over the 2G spectrum scam continued when the opposition rejected the government's offer of a probe by the Public Accounts Committee into the scam. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjhee had called for a luncheon meet on Monday afternoon to try and break the dealock which has paralysed parliamentary for the past eight days, where the opposition's repeated call for a Joint Parliamentary Committee has not allowed any business to be transacted in either house.
A bench of justices G S Singhvi and A G Ganguly asked the CBI to apprise it of their findings on March 15.
While the exact figures of the total number of taxpayers who will be honoured is not known, officials said these numbers would be few lakhs.
As the role of the powers-that-be in the government comes under the scanner, pressure is being mounted on the two ED officers investigating the 2G case from the highest level, particularly the finance ministry.
Unlike the previous visit, where TDP MPs accompanied Naidu to meetings, sources termed the current visit as "low profile", with one-on-one meetings with key Union ministers.
The Left unions want concrete action and not just 'assurances'.
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