Few finance ministers announce any taxation measure that could upset the stock market. Ms Sitharaman decided to take that risk, observes A K Bhattacharya.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's sudden resignation after only a year in office has thrown Japan into political turmoil, raising doubts about how the country will handle economic and regional challenges, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
The govt hiked defence budget by 7.81 per cent over last year's Rs 2.74 lakh crore.
Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) MPs, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in Parliament premises on Wednesday over the alleged discrimination against opposition-ruled states in the Union Budget.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said its executive board granted $1 billion in assistance to Pakistan this month after finding out that the country met all conditions and targets for it.
While Rs 37,461.01 crore has been allocated for higher education, Rs 56,386.63 crore has been earmarked for school education.
Despite similar tax treatment, debt MFs enjoy certain advantages over FDs.
In his notice to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha, the Congress leader alleged that the home minister had made unfounded allegations against chairperson of Congress parliamentary party with "a premeditated motive to malign her reputation."
Increased allocation to the higher and technical education sector would mean more funds to revamp the university education system and lay a thrust on technical education.
'Generating employment requires a shift in policy.' 'If not, the country will face economic, social and political challenges in the coming years.'
"There has been a 0.05 percentage points decline in the share of allocation for child budget to the Union Budget from 2.35 per cent (2022-23 BE) to 2.30 per cent (2023-24 BE).
Whether she will pare the fiscal deficit target of 5.1 per cent of GDP, using the record dividend received from the RBI, or expand flagship government programmes will be keenly watched.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged all stakeholders to come together and invest in people for skill development, nurturing talent and promoting innovation which are essential for job creation and boosting the economy. Participating in post-Budget webinar on employment, Modi said the government has provided skill training to 3 crore youth since 2014 and decided to upgrade 1,000 ITIs and set up five centres of excellence.
Highlights of the Union Budget 2024-25 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Doctors from both government and private sectors on Wednesday appealed to the Narendra Modi-government to increase the budget allocation for the health sector from 0.9 per cent of the GDP to 3 per cent.
China, which is the second highest spender on defence after the United States, has allocated 1.67 trillion yuan (about USD 232 billion) for defence spending.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slapped 11 new conditions on Pakistan for the release of the next tranche of its bailout programme and warned that tensions with India could heighten risks to the scheme's fiscal, external, and reform goals, according to a media report on Sunday.
India spends significantly less on defence than could be expected from a country that faces simultaneous armed threats from two hostile neighbours -- China and Pakistan.
'If you align your ambition with India's rise, the peak of your careers will unfold alongside the peak of India's power.'
'...to address the serious faultlines that had got exposed during the pandemic.' 'If the economy is looking up this year, we could have been allocated an increase of at least 20%.'
'The BJP's real weapons are Hindutva, organisation and finance.'
In a double-dose bid to boost growth and employment prospects, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Rs 2.07 trillion outlay for a research development and innovation (RDI) Scheme to fund private sector innovations, and an employment-linked incentive (ELI) to create over 35 million new jobs over the next two years.
President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday emphasised the need to strengthen affirmative action as a tool for inclusion while urging the rejection of divisive tendencies rooted in perceived social hierarchies.
The Budget allocation for Ministry of Agriculture and allied activities has grown by 114% since 2010-11
The interim budget 2024-24 on Thursday allocated Rs 1,277.80 crore for census, a significant reduction from 2021-22 when Rs 3,768 crore was allocated and an indication that the exercise may not be carried out even after three years of delay.
Following are comments from economists at leading financial institutions, banks and rating agencies on the interim Budget:
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday said the Budget 2025-26 maintained the government's continuous push to improve Railways by allocating Rs 2.52 lakh crore to it and approving projects such as manufacturing 17,500 general coaches, 200 Vande Bharat and 100 Amrit Bharat trains, among others.
Ask rediffGURU and PF expert Milind Vadjikar your insurance, stocks, mutual fund and personal finance-related questions.
A total of Rs 101.29 crore has been allocated to Lokpal for 2019-20, according to the budget presented on Friday by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
India is planning to amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act 2023 to specify the use of funds currently earmarked at 5,600 crore for exploring critical mineral mines overseas, according to a top official. The proposed amendments also aim to introduce a tailings policy and modify the royalty structure to facilitate the extraction of critical minerals from waste materials, the official added.
Whether the ambitious targets are achievable is a moot question as India's earlier target was 20,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020.
Given the gap between budgetary allocation and use, a parliamentary standing committee has asked the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (Ayush) to take steps to prevent underutilisation of funds under the National Ayush Mission (NAM) scheme. According to the data, the ministry was allocated Rs 1,200 crore for the mission in the Budgetary Estimate (BE) for FY24. The Revised Estimate (RE) for the year fell to Rs 815 crore, of which Rs 589 crore, or 74 per cent, has been spent till January.
The ministry had spent 82 per cent of that amount till the start of this month.
The increased plan allocation from the Centre is expected to help Delhi complete various projects related to next year's Commonwealth Games. The city got Rs 814 crore for projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, while Rs 315.82 crore has been proposed for providing basic services to the urban poor. The total allocation also includes Rs 1,129.82 crore given to the city under urban infrastructure development for small and medium towns.
Automobile dealers' body FADA said the Budget lacked immediate demand boosters for the automobile industry.
'The scrapping of import duty would help Indian companies compete in international markets, thus paving the way for India becoming a space manufacturing hub for the world.'
Non-flagship programmes to get a mere 5% hike in allocation
Re-entry into the list could have far-reaching consequences for Pakistan, including diminished foreign investment, increased borrowing costs, and tighter scrutiny from global financial institutions.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi slammed Pakistani politician Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari for his "blood would flow in rivers" remark and called former cricketer Shahid Afridi a "joker" for his comment on the Pahalgam terror attack. Owaisi also supported India's decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty and called for Pakistan to be placed on the FATF grey list. He also advocated for cyber attacks against Pakistan.
For the first time, the government is likely to dip into the Oil Industry Development Fund (OIDF) to finance part of its fertiliser subsidy programme for 2025-26, according to official sources. The finance ministry has accounted for Rs 23,000 crore in the FY26 Budget as net additional resources to be drawn from dedicated reserve funds, including the OIDF, the Agriculture Infrastructure and Development Fund, and the Universal Service Obligation Fund.
