S Ramadorai, chief executive officer and managing director, Tata Consultancy Services, was conferred the Business India Businessman of the Year 2004 Award.
"Attempts should be made to curtail growth of subsidies to achieve nine per cent growth. We are trying to achieve nine per cent growth. Though there are major challenges like global slowdown, we will achieve the target," Singh said.
The government last month revised the growth forecast for the current fiscal downward to 7.5 per cent on domestic concerns like high inflation and slowing industrial output, besides a global slowdown.
Power distribution companies in the country are estimated to have incurred a staggering loss of about Rs 70,000 crore (Rs 700 billion) in the last fiscal and the amount is expected to be as much as Rs 1,16,000 crore (Rs 1,160 billion) by 2014-15.
The plan panel on Thursday termed the housing finance racket, involving the chief of LIC Housing Finance and several other officials of PSU banks, as a "very small" incident as far as banking system as a whole was concerned.
The Reserve Bank of India has already raised its key short-term rates by 25 basis points to cool inflation and many experts believe that it will make money dearer to tame inflation in its April 20 annual monetary policy announcement.
A controversial bill that sought to debar women in Jammu and Kashmir from their civil rights if they marry a non-domicile was dropped on Sunday from the Legislative Council after the government admitted a "technical flaw" in introducing the proposed law.
The data further revealed that GDP growth rate was 9.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2009-10 and 8.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2010-11.
According to the IMF sources, the 27-member European Union bloc had asked the Chinese for support for Lagarde.
Conceding that the fiscal deficit could exceed the targeted 4.6 per cent of GDP for 2011-12 by up to one percentage point, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia today said such a situation need not be a matter of concern.
In September, industrial growth fell to just 1.9 per cent, its lowest in two years. Inflation is at 9.73 per cent, its 10th month above nine per cent.
Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, is among 19 members chosen by UN chief Ban Ki-moon for a high-level advisory group on Climate Change Financing tasked with mobilising funds pledged during the Copenhagen meet to tackle global warming.
The Plan panel on Wednesday said it has appointed civil rights activist Binayak Sen, convicted for sedition, on the board of one of its steering committees to give input for 12th Plan (2012-17) on health related issues.
Barely days after imposing a 40 per cent export tax on onions to cool down soaring prices, which, in turn, triggered widespread protests across the main growing belts, the Centre on Tuesday sought to mitigate both political and economic tensions gripping parts of Maharashtra. It decided to procure an additional 200,000 tonnes of onions at Rs 2,410 per quintal for its buffer stock from farmers, a rate that is strikingly close to the price at which they were being exported before the 40 per cent duty was levied on August 19. The export price before the imposition of the duty stood at around $320 per tonne free on board (approximately Rs 2,650 per quintal).
Dr Shreekant Sambrani pays tribute to M S Swaminathan, renowned agricultural scientist and a lifelong crusader against hunger who passed away in Chennai recently.
Kejriwal said the eight MPs were fighting for the rights of farmers without worrying about heat, mosquitoes or other inconveniences and have spent the night protesting in the Parliament complex.
Current account deficit, which represents flow of money out of the country barring capital movements, stood at $4.5 billion in the first quarter of previous financial year.
The Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said on Wednesday objections to the disinvestment progammes of the government can be sorted out through discussions. Although the government has expressed its commitment to offload equity in state-owned companies while retaining 51 per cent share, the supporting Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam had raised objections to it.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge will provide a much-needed lift for the troubled Commonwealth Games when he visits the site of the multi-sports gathering on Friday.
Replying to a question related to the possibility of additional fiscal stimulus measures in the forthcoming Budget, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said: "We have started some discussion with the finance ministry. This is related to what should be an appropriate size for planned expenditure for 2009-10." In the interim Budget announced in February this year, the planned expenditure for 2009-10 was budgeted at Rs 2,85,149 crore.
India on Wednesday said it hopes the G-20 nations will pay heed to its call for a strong action on the issue of black money stashed in tax havens during their crucial summit in Cannes.
Government sources in the PMO said Montek Singh Ahluwalia and other panel members will continue till the next Planning Commission is constituted by the prime minister. The apex panel plays a crucial role in the budgetary process. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to present the Budget in the first week of July. Though the recommendations of the Plan panel are not legally binding, the inputs are crucial in dealing with the planned expenditure by the government.
"In China's 12th Plan, exports do not hold the same place. Besides, the Chinese will be vacating the lower end of value spectrum like textiles and leather...So who will replace them? Are we going to step in or will it be Vietnam or Turkey or Indonesia," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.
Government and the Planning Commission had earlier projected a growth rate of 9 per cent during 2011-12, up from 8.6 per cent in the previous fiscal.
The Planning Commission's term runs concurrently with that of the government. The commission, whose inputs are vital on important policy related matters, is likely to have new faces when the new team is announced, said a top government functionary who had earlier worked in the apex planning body.
There had been a paradigm shift in international perception about India's economic policies and technological prowess, a United Nations official said on Wednesday.
The process of preparing approach paper to the 12th Plan has already been started and the panel wants that besides its experts and committees on different areas, the general people particularly youngsters share their views about how should the country should go about the next Five-Year Plan.
Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and former Planning Commission member Kirit S Parikh, who heads an expert committee on fuel pricing, may join the deliberations, official sources said.
Besides undertaking the routine work, Ahluwalia entrusted the task of revamping the Commission to new member Arun Maira, formerly with the Boston Consultancy Group. "We cannot work is silos. We need better lateral inputs," Ahluwalia had said at a recent internal meeting of the commission.
Shiv Sena Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut's article on North Indians has brought down the image of parliamentarians in the public eye, a Rajya Sabha Privileges Committee on Monday held.
The session will have nearly 18 sittings, Parliamentary Affairs minister Ananth Kumar said.
The committee is expected to submit its report soon.
The nation's highest policymaking body, the National Development Council, will focus on five key areas, including the Naxal menace, power reforms and water crisis, at its meeting on Saturday.
Freight corridor project slipping, needs supervision revamp, says Plan panel.
Ahead of the July 24 National Development Council (NDC) meeting, the Planning Commission will come out with a report on the problems in the Naxal-hit areas and the issues being faced by tribals.
Reva, which had recently entered into an agreement with General Motors India for launching electric version of the compact car Spark, said it was also open to partnering other companies.
The rupee will soon join the elite currencies like the US dollar, the euro, British pound and Japanese yen in having a distinct identity.
A report by a senior official in the Planning Commission has said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is heading towards bankruptcy, as its debt is set to increase five times in the next three years.
