Dr Manmohan Singh first embossed himself on the national consciousness when as India's finance minister he flagged off economic reforms which changed this nation forever.
India's economic growth during 2011-12 slipped to nine-year low of 6.5 per cent and during the first quarter of the current fiscal it was 5.5 per cent.
Last month, the agriculture ministry had projected 10 per cent fall in kharif foodgrains production at 117.18 million tonnes in view of poor rains and drought in more than 360 taluks in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
A large number of states, including Congress-ruled Kerala, are opposing the decision on concerns that the entry of foreign retailers like Walmart would lead to displacement of the neighbourhood kirana stores.
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal on Monday said the new version of the low-cost Aakash tablet PC is expected to be available to students on November 11.
The government on Monday said it will kickstart its ambitious Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) divestment programme with stake sale in RINL this month.
Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said he was confident of the DTC being recommended by the standing committee in the coming (winter) Parliament session.
Asked whether growth was responsible for rising prices, Ahluwalia replied, "I don't agree that whenever you have (high economic) growth then you have inflation."
The emphasis would be on curbing subsidies and promoting private sector investment by continuing stimulus measures.
In the first sign of dissent within the ruling UPA government, Agriculture & Food Minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday indicated that covering two-thirds of the population under the proposed Food Security Bill was not feasible.
At Economic Editors' Conference in New Delhi, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he has suggested to the Andhra Pradesh Government to address some stringent provisions of its recently promulgated ordinance to rein in MFIs.
According to a background note prepared for the Economic Editors conference, the Telecom Ministry has made a provision of adding 1,200 million new telephone connections by 2017.
For India, the ideal inflation rate would be 4-5 per cent although it may be difficult to attain, the minister said while inaugurating the Economic Editors' Conference in New Delhi.
The industry ministry and the finance ministry are holding consultations on whether to bring the banking sector under the purview of new FDI (foreign direct investment) rules, which will categorise some Indian banks -- like ICICI Bank -- as foreign banks.
The government had, on June 25, freed petrol price from its control resulting in a hike of Rs 3.50 per litre.
The government also informed that it has been decided to entrust IBPS the responsibility to conduct the common recruitment examination for PSBs.
Ahluwalia's assessment of economic growth is marginally higher than 6.3 per cent projected by the Commission earlier.
The government on Tuesday said inflation is not an immediate concern and will continue with the fiscal stimulus measures till the economy recovers fully.
The expectations of our people and that of our global collaborators and the foreign investors from us are high and rising. In the best of times these expectations would rest heavily on our shoulders.
Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG D-6 field's gas production will double to around 90 million standard cubic meters per day by next fiscal, government's background material for the Economic Editor's Conference said.
The government is looking at steps to cut subsidy on fertiliser and oil sale with an aim to cutting non-plan expenditure and contain fiscal deficit.
India's Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar says the government is taking a series of measures to liberalise futures trading in commodities.
Hoping that the worst is over on inflation, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said India must banish the thought of recession even though the overall outlook for the economy continues to be of "cautious optimism" in the face of global turbulence.
The Reserve Bank has given an in-principle nod to invest $5 billion of foreign exchange reserves annually in infrastructure projects through two subsidiaries of India Infrastructure Finance Company.India's forex reserves stood at $266.52 billion as on November 2 and experts believe that they should be utilised at least for financing infrastructure projects.
Petroleum Secretary R S Pandey said a revision in fuel prices was under consideration and a decision will be taken in due course. "Revision does not necessarily mean a cut in prices. We will have to wait and see on which products a reduction will be effected, by how much and when. The government will have to take a comprehensive view... What government will decide we cannot anticipate today."
Pawar said the decision to float a fresh wheat import tender on government account this week was also correct.
The government has no plans to raise fuel prices in the immediate future and will take a decision in this regard at an "appropriate time", Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Tuesday. "An appropriate decision on fuel price will be taken at an appropriate time," Deora said at the Economic Editors' Conference in New Delhi.
Jaipal Reddy made it clear that there were no efforts in this direction at present
'We have identified profit-making non-Navratna companies for divestment of minority stakes. We will begin discussions (with Left parties) soon,' said Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday refused to sing the requiem for industrial growth, which was poor in September, and said that industry and services sectors would actually grow close to 10 per cent this fiscal.Chidambaram said during April-September there was only a slight deceleration in IIP growth. The index grew by 9.2 per cent in the six month period compared to 11.1 per cent in the corresponding period last year.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the Indian economy would continue to grow at more than 8 per cent in the next few years.
India is expected to sign Double Taxation Avoidance Treaties with more countries as part of measures to ensure smoother international trade, a senior finance ministry official said on Wednesday.
Ahead of the next year's budget, finance minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday hinted at "bold reforms" and said government was "cautiously optimistic" in meeting the financial targets for 2004-05.
Prices of petrol and diesel will not be reduced immediately as oil companies continue to make losses even after the recent fall in international oil prices, Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said on Wednesday.
Even in the domestic aviation scene, consolidation talks are on among some private airlines.
Public sector carriers Air-India and Indian Airlines would not offload more than 20 per cent of their equity in their proposed initial public offer slated to be announced within this fiscal.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances