Union finance secretary T V Somanathan recently said the Centre had saved Rs 10,000 crore in FY22 on interest payments after adopting new accounting mechanisms for central government agencies and centrally sponsored schemes (CSS) for state governments. Speaking at an event, Somanathan said due to these, there was an unspent balance of Rs 1.2 trillion with state agencies from CSS as on March 31, 2022. This means this amount will be reduced from the Centre's borrowing for now and it can be considered a short-term saving for the exchequer.
The Finance Ministry has asked all banks, including private sector lenders, to open branches in locations with population of more than 5,000 in the under-banked districts by September, 2012.
Under the proposed mechanism, the finance ministry has said banks will notify customers when someone tries to deposit money in their accounts, a government official said.
Poor predictability, credibility and effectiveness of fiscal performance have been key reasons for successive governments failing to deliver on their promises.
Concerned over the fallout of the Red Sea crisis and severe shortage of containers against the backdrop of a steep decline in merchandise exports in August, the Union government is pulling out all the stops to find a solution. To begin with, the government has devised a strategy aimed at boosting container supply and supporting exporters.
Research and development (R&D) spending by BSE 100 companies has grown steadily, rising from 0.89 per cent of revenue in FY20 to 1.32 per cent in FY24, averaging around 1 per cent over the period in-between, according to data compiled from Bloomberg and company annual reports. Also, these companies more than doubled their R&D spending in absolute terms over these five years: From Rs 25,041 crore to Rs 63,072 crore. While this reflects a prioritisation of innovation, corporate R&D investment remains relatively conservative.
'The first duty of the government is to learn lessons from a bad experience and course correct. It's a pity that the government is making policy without looking at evidence and differentiating between immediate and urgent.'
General Budget is a terminology earlier used to differentiate between the Union Budget with the Railway Budget. Full-fledged budgets are titled "Union Budget", while interim Budgets are titled just that.
As 2010 comes to an end, the mood in North Block is not that sanguine.
'Somebody was using somebody to make statements that will stir the stock market and lead to a surge.' 'A sudden surge and a sudden crash is always an ideal situation for people to make illicit gains and then siphoning off the money.'
Further, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the banks have sufficient liquidity, and efforts are being made to ensure that due payments are released to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector by large corporates.
The committee's suggestion that existing commercial banks be allowed to hold payment banks as subsidiaries is also seen as unviable by RBI and the finance ministry.
The tourism ministry wants rationalisation of import duty on adventure sports equipment to promote adventure tourism in the country. There is a proposal for exemption of service tax for inbound tour operators on their foreign exchange earnings. Sources said Tourism Minister Kumari Selja would submit the detailed proposals to the finance ministry, seeking various tax incentives for the sector.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey are at the hospital to enquire about his health condition.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday pitched for formulating a policy for using the Reserve Bank of India's rising foreign exchange reserves for funding road projects, saying the country needs low cost finance for such infrastructure projects. Addressing a virtual event organised by industry body CII, Gadkari further said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) should also have a financial arm like the power ministry's Power Finance Corporation (PFC). "We have a surplus of dollar reserves in the country. I have decided to talk with the RBI Governor, about how we can formulate a policy by which we can use this foreign exchange reserves for development of infrastructure in the country," he said.
The richest one per cent in India now own more than 40 per cent of the country's total wealth, while the bottom half of the population together share just 3 per cent of wealth, a new study showed on Monday. Releasing the India supplement of its annual inequality report on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, rights group Oxfam International said that taxing India's ten-richest at 5 per cent can fetch entire money to bring children back to school. "A one-off tax on unrealized gains from 2017-2021 on just one billionaire, Gautam Adani, could have raised Rs 1.79 lakh crore, enough to employ more than five million Indian primary school teachers for a year," it added.
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 government would be ironing out issues related to the controversial 'bail-in' clause in the earlier Bill, explore hiking the deposit insurance cover of customers, and decide whether the resolution framework should apply to public sector banks.
The agency had received Rs 946.51 crore to manage its affairs in the Budget Estimates for 2023-24, which was later increased to Rs 968.86 crore in the Revised Estimates.
The government on Monday allocated an increased sum of Rs 3073 crore for the Sports Ministry in the Union budget for fiscal 2009-10, and also proposed to sanction Rs 3472 crore for next year's Commonwealth Games. The budget for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has been increased by Rs 1480 crore than what was proposed in the interim budget presented before the Lok Sabha elections.
Chidambaram has not been named as an accused in the FIR and the CBI is yet to file a chargesheet in the matter.
The defence budget was on Thursday increased to Rs 6.21 lakh crore for 2024-25 in a modest hike of 4.72 per cent from last year's allocation of Rs 5.25 lakh crore amid India's continuing border row with China in eastern Ladakh as well as concerns over evolving security situation in the strategic waterways.
The first Budget of Independent India was presented by R K Shanmukham Chetty on November 26, 1947.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Army to put its "house in order", saying that it feels that it has not been "fair" to the women officers who have alleged delay in promotions after being granted permanent commission on the directions of the top court in 2020.
Union ministers Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Thaawarchand Gehlot, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Santosh Gangwar, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, BJP national general-secretary Arun Singh and party MP Maneka Gandhi also visited the hospital to know about his wellbeing.
A decision on the interest rate for close to 60 million active subscribers of the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is likely to be taken in the next Central Board of Trustee (CBT) meeting, starting on March 25. A letter from the social security organisation regarding the convening of the 233rd CBT meeting was sent to all the board members last week, soliciting their presence in the meeting. Although the venue and the agenda haven't been drawn out yet, sources familiar with the matter say that the interest rate is unlikely to go below 8 per cent level amid a rising interest rate scenario across the globe.
RBI will make a presentation on January 24 before the panel on the state of NPAs and stressed loans.
'It would be reasonable to assume that Modi 3.0 would be more focused on projects and schemes which do not require any legislative change or which have the support of its coalition partners,' asserts A K Bhattacharya.
The Budget shouldn't be stuck on fiscal numbers, the PMO apparently said.
The finance ministry also said the maximum funding will be Rs 400 crore for any single project that will be seeking assistance from the 'special window' for completion of the 1,508 projects comprising about 4.58 lakh units.
'I'm very much against petrol and diesel....'' 'I travel in an electric car.' 'I have had a really good experience with it.'
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will take a final call on whether to break the tradition of presenting a separate Rail Budget, by merging it with the General Budget.
The best way for the railways to become more professional will be to get corporatised.
He has now to show that he can take on the vested interests within the railways which are resisting change through corporatisation
FinMin does not expect tax or non-tax revenue to reach anywhere close to the targets set in the interim Budget. Sources say that the challenge before the new government will be either to accept the reduced projection and tailor the Budget accordingly or set a more ambitious target.
The Centre has approved setting up of a pooled finance development fund to enable urban local bodies to access capital and financial markets for investment in municipal infrastructure.
'Not even a single rupee from the electoral bonds should be allowed to be used in the election.' 'If it is used in the election, it will taint India's electoral process itself.'
Around 61 million subscribers of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) are likely to get lower returns on their deposits this year.
India's economic image is not affected due to Adani Group's recent decision to pull out Rs 20,000 crore FPO (follow-on public offers) amid allegations of financial wrongdoings, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.
FinCom prescribes scrapping of effective revenue deficit.
