A higher level of private sector financing and resource mobilisation from new sources will be crucial for India to build quality infrastructure, according to the Economic Survey 2023-24. The Economic Survey 2023-24 was tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday.
UPI-related frauds have accounted for a cumulative loss of Rs 2,145 crore across 2.7 million reported incidents.
In FY24 alone, 1.34 million fraud cases were reported, amounting to losses of Rs 1,087 crore.
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.
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.
'It has been an ongoing process, talking to the relevant ministries about eliminating leakages and curbing non-core expenditure in various schemes.'
The Union finance ministry on Thursday issued a clarification on the changes in FEMA rules which brings overseas international credit card spending under the RBI's liberalised remittance scheme (LRS). Here's how it affects you.
The revamped Special Economic Zone (SEZ) law is unlikely to see the light of the day before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, two people aware of the matter said. The commerce department had sought the Union Cabinet's nod to bring amendments to the existing SEZ Act, 2005 late last year. The plan, thereafter, was to introduce the Bill in the winter session of Parliament. Cabinet's approval remains pending.
In a significant policy shift aimed at boosting agri-productivity and rural prosperity, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced six new agricultural schemes while increasing the subsidised Kisan Credit Card loan limit to Rs 5 lakh from the existing Rs 3 lakh, benefiting 7.7 crore farmers, fishermen, and dairy farmers.
'If the BJP detoxifies the nuclear liability law, it will bring economic, environmental and, most of all, strategic benefits.' 'Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope that this Budget promise is met soon -- ideally, before Mr Modi heads to his first meeting with Trump 2.0,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
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.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday presented her sixth Budget in a row, equalling the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai.
Real estate developers are hoping that the slew of tax concessions announced in Union Budget 2025, set to take effect this financial year, will spur demand for affordable and mid-segment housing, even as the broader housing market shows signs of fatigue.
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.
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.
Backloading the government's borrowing programme suggests the finance ministry's confidence in better revenue numbers, says A K Bhattacharya.
The government on Tuesday proposed to launch a mission to give fillip to the domestic output of critical minerals like copper and lithium, their recycling as well as acquisition of such assets abroad. Presenting Union Budget for 2024-25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also said the government will launch the auction of the first round of offshore mining blocks.
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.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan will also participate in the meet.
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 Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, scheduled to meet on June 22, could take a call on ending uncertainty on taxing foreign airlines and shippers as regards certain services, a senior official in the know told Business Standard. He said the Council was expected to decide on exempting the services in question from GST - aircraft lease rentals, maintenance, crew salaries, etc. These services are provided by foreign airlines to their Indian operations.
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.
This ministry will provide a separate administrative, legal and policy framework for strengthening the cooperative movement in the country, sources added.
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 Union finance ministry has set up a special investigation unit to 'regulate' the funding and donations made to political parties.
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.
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.
Enterprising women business correspondents, known as BC Sakhis, have facilitated transactions worth Rs 27,000 crore in Uttar Pradesh, earning Rs 75 crore in commission over the past four and a half years. BC Sakhis, appointed under the nationwide women empowerment programme, are members of self-help groups (SHGs) who are trained and certified to provide banking and financial services in rural areas.
State governments demanded on Tuesday that the Union government should share with them the service tax collection on a 50:50 basis
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.
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.
The Budget emphasises on capacity building and empowerment of marginalised sections of society including farmers.
The Left unions want concrete action and not just 'assurances'.
Finance ministry takes up a review of the STT regime after a meeting with stock exchange officials.
