The outcome is beyond the market's expectation and will be a sentimental boost, say analysts.
Reforms are key to India sustaining the pre-economic crisis growth rate of 9 per cent, United States Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in New Delhi on Monday.
Other ministers who have presented five straight annual financial statements include Arun Jaitley, P Chidambaram, Yashwant Sinha, Manmohan Singh and Morarji Desai.
India's projected 8.1 per cent GDP growth rate this year was "quite achievable" as investors' confidence had gone up substantially due to sustained economic reforms, a noted economist said on Monday.
China has signalled that it will prevent India from assuming leadership of the Global South, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
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.
More and more states are organising investor summits, Jaitley said.
The government's annual Economic Survey on Friday strongly defended new farm laws, saying they herald a new era of market freedom which can go a long way in improving lives of small and marginal farmers in India. These legislations were designed "primarily" for the benefit of "small and marginal farmers", which constitute around 85 per cent of the total number of farmers and are the biggest sufferer of the "regressive" APMC-regulated market regime, the survey said. The pre-budget document defended the farm laws in the backdrop of long-running farmers' agitation at various borders of the national capital seeking repeal of these legislations expressing concern that they are pro-corporate and could weaken government regulated mandis, also called Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs).
The size of India's middle class will nearly double to 61 per cent of its total population by 2047, from 31 per cent in 2020-21, as continuing political stability and economic reforms with a sustained annual growth rate of between 6 per cent and 7 per cent over the next two and half decades will make the country one of the largest markets in the world. The findings are part of a report released on Wednesday by the People Research on India's Consumer Economy (PRICE) and India's Citizen Environment, a not-for-profit think tank. The report titled, The Rise of India's Middle Class, is based on an analysis of primary data collected by PRICE through its pan-Indian survey.
PM says FDI decision shows 'unwavering' commitment to reforms.
They discussed at length India's rapid progress in the space sector, including various space exploration missions being undertaken by India, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a press release.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has met leading American economist Paul Romer, investor and co-founder of hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates Ray Dalio, and other eminent thought leaders and exchanged views with them and briefed them about the reform trajectory of his government to foster economic growth. Prime Minister Modi is in New York on the first leg of his maiden state visit to the US at the invitation of President Joe Biden. Modi and Romer held discussions on India's digital journey, including the use of Aadhaar and innovative tools like Digilocker.
In a dazzling resurgence, foreign investors have graced the Indian equity markets with an influx of nearly Rs 1.5 lakh crore in 2023, fuelled by optimism over the country's resilient economic fundamentals amid shadows of a gloomy global scenario. Experts believe that the positive trend may continue in 2024. This follows Indian equities witnessing the worst-ever net outflow of Rs 1.21 lakh crore by FPIs in 2022 on aggressive rate hikes by the central banks globally after net inflows for three consecutive years.
Mamata Banerjee, a former United Progressive Alliance ally, said 'from petrol to onions, from diesel to dollar, from fertilisers to day to day expenses, prices are skyrocketing.'
A government that confuses PowerPoints for policy is delaying structural change too much.
'Maybe, India will never be reformed and maybe India will continue to have a quagmire for the rest of history.'
'If we don't want to be the poorest large economy even in 2030, we need to be doing very much more than is being attempted.'
Where do Vijay and his TVK expect to get their votes from? Vijay has a huge fan following among women, but will they automatically become his voters like they had done for MGR's AIADMK, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
UPA failed to undertake economic, social and administrative reforms to strengthen India's long-term development potential.
The BJP is the preferred choice because it offers what the Mughals and later British offered in their time: A stable polity and an environment in which business could function, explains T N Ninan.
The agency said announcements by Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after government formation 'signal a strong intention to pursue reforms'.
The external affairs minister, speaking at a media summit organised by the TV9 Network, described the rise of India and China as "significant" in the global geopolitical scenario.
The high-level committee on 'one nation, one election' approached 62 parties out which 47 responded -- 32 in support of holding elections simultaneously, 15 against it.
Among the Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro, UltraTech Cement, JSW Steel, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Nestle were the major laggards. Maruti, Power Grid, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, NTPC, HDFC Bank, ITC and IndusInd Bank were the gainers.
S&P earlier this week had said India faces 'one-in-three' chance of rating downgrade in the next two years
'Why do I have this feeling... why India could not pick their XI in last two years. It's a very strange thing to me that your squad is not settled. Who is your No. 4, where will Virat (Kohli) play 3, 4 or 5?'
This columnist cannot pretend to be an economic expert but can certainly point out that the statistics being reeled out on a daily basis now, have added to the economic burden of the people, says Seema Mustafa.
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.
Indian economy, dubbed the fastest growing major economy in the world, is faced with the single most important pressure point of job creation, says former RBI Governor Raghuram G Ranjan as he makes a strong case for improvement of human capital through skill development. Talking about the book 'Breaking the mould: Reimagining India's economic future', written jointly by him and Rohit Lamba, assistant professor of economics at Pennsylvania State University, Rajan said one of the greatest strength of India is its human capital of 1.4 billion and the question is "how do you make it strong?" The nation needs to create jobs at every level going along the path of development, said Rajan, presently Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth, USA.
Why is the Bharatiya Janata Party opposed to FDI in retail? A day after promising to scrap FDI in retail, the BJP set about fine-tuning its line to ensure it did not fall foul of the middle-class.
'What should surprise BJP supporters is Modi's call for 'stability' at the manifesto launch, a theme that he and his team members had not touched ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in 2014 and 2019.' 'The last time the party called for 'stability at the Centre' was in 1998 and 1999,' recalls N Sathiya Moorthy.
S&P in November ruled out an upgrade in the country's rating for some considerable period, citing India's low per capita GDP and relatively high fiscal deficit.
She alleged that today, the regime in power is misusing and subverting the institutions of the Constitution, and weakening its foundations of liberty, equality, fraternity and justice.
The report on the Economic Freedom of the States of India is the latest in a series of annual surveys on the economic freedom of Indian states, which started in 2004. The latest report takes 2009 as the period under review.
The new government that presents the full Budget for 2024-2025 in July should be ready to restructure the way divestment is managed and implemented, proposes A K Bhattacharya.
In its essence, GST is a national level system of value added taxation of goods and services, says Shankar Acharya.
Finance Minister pegs 2011-12 growth at 8.6 per cent, expects inflation to fall to 6-7 per cent by end of the financial year.
Nearly eight out of 10 Chinese, who took part in a national poll said they believe China should stay on the path of political reform while according top priority to stability to avert a collapse similar to that of the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1991.
Shehbaz, 72, who was the consensus candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), received 201 votes, 32 more than what was required to become leader of the House in the 336-member Parliament.
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