In response to the panic triggered by Trump's trade policies, the RBI net sold approximately $43 billion in the second half of FY25 to curb volatility, as the rupee plunged to a low of 87.95 per dollar in February this year.
rediffGURU T S Khurana answers readers' personal income tax queries
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized its biggest-ever cryptocurrency worth Rs 1,646 crore in a money laundering investigation into a fraud investment scheme called BitConnect. The scheme, which ran between 2016 and 2018, promised investors high returns through a proprietary trading bot but was found to be a sham. The ED tracked transactions through the dark web and seized the cryptocurrency from numerous wallets. This is the agency's largest-ever seizure of virtual digital assets and the investigation is ongoing.
In the face of failed poverty reduction programmes, the govt. should implement cash transfer scheme to alleviate poverty in India.
Fitch Ratings has removed energy infrastructure company Adani Energy Solutions Ltd (AESL) from its 'Ratings Watch Negative' list, the first upgrade by an international ratings agency since the US indictment. Fitch affirmed AESL long-term foreign and local-currency issuer default ratings (IDRs) at 'BBB-'.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, overall food prices have increased by 75 per cent in dollar terms since 2000. Devarajan said food prices are likely to continue to increase in the near future. He attributed this phenomenon to raising standards of living in countries like India and China, increased use of food crops for bio-fuels and animal feeds, and increased oil and fertilizer prices.
Domestic cooking gas consumers in Delhi and Mumbai will from Wednesday get cash subsidy for buying cooking gas refils as the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) Scheme will be extended to 105 more districts.
'Slogans like 'Ek hai toh safe hai' and 'Batenge toh katenge' resonated with voters.'
Whether it was the MGNREGS or the NFSA or the Aadhaar-based DBT scheme for cash transfer, the Modi government has built on the basic architecture created by the Singh government. Policy makers in the Modi government, instead of discarding them as products of the previous political regime, worked on them, expanded their scope and reach, and used new tools to improve their performance, explains A K Bhattacharya.
Do you have financial planning or income tax queries? Ask rediffGURU Anil Rego.
Some of his directives had the Supreme Court judges disclose their assets whereas the row over the discovery of cash from a sitting judge's official residence paved way for inquiry.
Having made Aadhaar mandatory for receiving subsidised cooking gas (LPG) in 19 districts, Oil Minister M Veerappa Moily on Wednesday said the unique identification card will no longer be a must for giving subsidises unless cleared by the Supreme Court.
Alas, the 'basic income' schemes that have hit the headlines in the recent past are a far cry from the genuine article in terms of coverage and fiscal implications, says Vijay Joshi.
Delhi faces a severe financial crunch and the deficit is largely due to numerous welfare schemes without adequate revenue flowing in. The success of welfare schemes and electoral promises will need careful financial planning and out of the box thinking to whip up additional revenue, notes Ramesh Menon.
Investors need to carefully assess country-specific risks. 'This is especially true of a market that is less transparent than the US.'
India's cities must switch over to piped gas leaving LPG cylinders.
rediffGURU Vipul Bhavsar answers readers' personal income tax queries.
Apart from Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, where none of the estimated 6.7 million construction workers got cash transfer benefits, the coverage of the construction workers was the lowest in Delhi, where only about 5 per cent of the estimated workers received cash under the PMGKY, followed by Kerala and Uttar Pradesh (22 per cent), among major states. In India, construction workers belong to the unorganised sector but account for the highest share of non-farm jobs after manufacturing.
Data mining with the object of ensuring that resources are properly deployed to legitimate beneficiaries is a valid ground for the state to insist on the collection of authentic data
The BJP and Congress have called out the 'Delhi model' as a hoax, built on sustained propaganda when the ground reality is different.
Among the 11 equity sub-categories, thematic funds received the highest net inflows at Rs 9,017 crore, followed by smallcap funds at Rs 5,721 crore and flexicap funds at Rs 5,698 crore.
'Maharashtra is virtually in a debt trap.'
As the government is all set to roll out direct cash transfer for its welfare schemes, the National Payment Corporation (NPCI) on Thursday said seven banks have already implemented the Aadhar-enabled payment system (AEPS) and seven more are in the process of doing so.
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
'Money power was deployed like an army in a war.' 'None of the MVA parties had that kind of money.'
'That was my mistake.' 'Gautam Adani was not involved in forming the Maharashtra government.' 'Adani was not there in the meeting.' 'The meeting was at his guest house and we were sitting in his guest house.'
rediffGURU T S Khurana answers readers' personal income tax queries.
'If you invest in a rush at the last moment, you could compromise on selecting the best tax-saving options.'
80% of beneficiaries in 300 districts to be linked with direct benefits transfer
Under the scheme called Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, Rs 6,000 will be transferred into bank accounts of farmers holding up to 2 hectares of land in three equal instalments.
The assertion comes in the wake of the Supreme Court directing the SBI to submit the details of the electoral bonds purchased since April 12, 2019 to the EC.
Even though stocks may remain volatile in the run-up to the polls, as political parties stitch up alliances, the long-term trajectory for the markets remains bullish.
Voters, it is said, get the government they deserve. We will soon see what voters in Maharashtra choose. Till then, a sense of helplessness and scepticism hangs in the air, notes Ramesh Menon.
These schemes are a good choice for investors contemplating a large investment in equity funds. Instead of investing all the money in one go, they can do so in a staggered manner by parking it in these schemes and then transferring it to equity mutual funds through a systematic transfer plan.
If you lack an emergency fund or it is depleted, use part of your bonus to build or replenish it.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday said financial inclusion will continue to be a "policy priority" for the central bank to make the post-pandemic recovery more equitable and sustainable. The Reserve Bank of India will very soon be coming out with the first financial inclusion index, which will assess progress in terms of access, usage and quality, Das said, while speaking at the Economic Times Financial Inclusion Summit. It is the responsibility of all stakeholders to ensure that the financial ecosystem (including the digital medium) is inclusive and capable of effectively addressing risks like mis-selling, cybersecurity, data privacy and promoting trust in the financial system through appropriate financial education and awareness, he added.
Telangana govt currently provides the state's 5.83 million farmers an income support of Rs 4,000 per acre per season, irrespective of the size of their land holding
Despite the growing clamour from the central government on India turning digital, and banks requesting direct bank account transfer, the state government decided to hand over cheques to the farmers, which can be immediately converted into cash.
According to officials aware of the matter, restarting the project could mean inviting the court's 'contempt' as the case -- in which the Supreme Court has held that biometric identification cannot be a criterion for a citizen's access to welfare -- has still not been closed yet.
Free provision of food, cash transfers, and jobs in villages see enhanced flow of funds despite a precipitous fall in revenue. Till May, defence spend was nearly 30 per cent less than the previous year.
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