While Arun Jaitley remains part of the decision making process, Piyush Goyal, who was given additional charge on May 14, attends cabinet meetings and takes the day-to-day decisions.
Usually, a fall in oil prices is followed with a cut in retail prices of auto fuels and the government passes on the benefit to consumers. However, Morgan Stanley believes gains this time around will remain capped.
'The stimulus packages, sector reliefs, loans etc are coming to industry, but state governments have not got any money from GST, no money from excise, no money from any income source.'
'According to the government's Economic Survey, the Indian state's generosity is not restricted to its poorest citizens. In fact, in many cases, the beneficiaries are disproportionately the well-off.'
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday presented the Union Budget for 2016-17.
'Perhaps GST was too complex a system for the Indian economy at its present stage of development,' argues T N Ninan.
Also, the import tariff value -- the base price at which customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing -- in case of silver has been reduced to $644 per kg from $694 per kg earlier, a notification by the Central Board of Excise and Customs said.
Has the Modi government been more at odds with institutions than other governments? There is no doubt that there have been more run-ins. While the RBI and CBI cases have drawn attention, there have been others, less publicised, Subhomoy Bhattacharjee points out.
Referring to her party's pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, she said it was based on "mutual respect" and "honest intentions", adding that "the SP-BSP alliance is perfect enough to defeat the BJP, especially in Uttar Pradesh.
Finance Minister P T R Palanivel Thiagarajan has proclaimed his determination to set Tamil Nadu's fiscal house in order in five years, and Friday will show how he plans to go about it when he rises to present the Stalin government's maiden budget, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Raghuram Rajan rejected the argument that inflation has come down largely because of "good luck" stemming from low oil prices.
Several exemptions have been given to reduce the cost of raw materials.
The court accepted the scheme formulated by the state government to provide "ex gratia assistance" of up to Rs 50,000 to all religious places, including mosques and temples.
FM should avoid proposals such as to tax financial transactions and fringe benefits
The levy has also been removed on low cost houses up to a carpet area of 60 square metres in a housing project under any housing scheme of the state government.
Over to the government how they manage the uncertainty of monsoon and revive spending in order to entice RBI for another round of rate cuts
Top management of firms should be summoned for a few specified reasons and after written justification at a senior level.
Reform ideas do not occur overnight and evolve over the years.
Softening the demonetisation blow, the Budget for 2017-18 on Wednesday halved the tax to 5 per cent on incomes up to Rs 500,000 but proposed a new surcharge of 10 per cent on incomes between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore and raised duties on cigarettes and pan masala while stepping up allocations for infrastructure, rural, agriculture and social sectors.
FY16 GDP growth was seen at 7.5%, against 8.1-8.5% earlier.
State after state has imposed an alcohol ban, and has had to retreat, unable to address the financial and administrative fallout. Are we set for more of this cycle, asks Aditi Phadnis.
The Budget sets out a comprehensive vision.
The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday approved the biggest tax reform since Independence.
Domestic wineries have moved from creating predominantly sweet wines in their initial years to drier, complex blends now. They also seem to be investing more in wine tourism.
The biggest achievement of demonetisation is that it has brought about a social revolution against black money and corruption, says Sukumar Mukhopadhyay.
Even as the government's move to hike import duties on 45 items is seen as a sign of protectionism, the prime minister was himself involved in the process.
'The IAS officers are after the rich people, the IRS officers are after the middle class and the IPS officers are after the poor. This is the new varnashrama created by the bureaucracy.'
A probe finds several pharma majors in breach of the law; and in turn they blame the government.
Industry demands the basic customs duty on all steel imports to be raised to 25%
This Budget plans for an increase to 10.3% of GDP from 9.9%.
Indian economy about to take-off
'We are in the reverse gear and we are not there anywhere compared to the rest of the world'
The dates of general elections in 2019 and the presentation of the final Budget of the Modi government are so far removed from each other that Jaitley is not under any pressure to present a populist Budget. Instead, he could well unveil an array of schemes and proposals that he believes are necessary for the economy, even if a few of them could be unpopular, says A K Bhattacharya.
The GST has been a great achievement, but it does suffer from weaknesses, says Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian.
Sanjay Mathur, managing director and head of economics research for Asia Pacific (ex-Japan), Royal Bank of Scotland, tells Business Standard that in the emerging market pack, India needs to learn lessons from Korea and Taiwan, which have managed their economic situations well.
NDA government has shunned populism.
The larger virtue of maintaining fiscal credibility should not be unduly diluted by quibbles on the fiscal math, says Sajjid Chinoy.
'On the tax front, most of the Budget proposals are sensible'.
The task of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to keep inflation under check, even when the country reeled under severe drought for two years in a row, and reduce the current account deficit, was made easier by low crude oil prices.
If GDP growth in Q2FY18 remains below 7%, the outlook for Samvat 2074 would remain uncertain at best, says Nitin Desai.
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