The much-delayed Insurance Bill seeks to raise the foreign investment cap in the sector from 26 per cent to 49 per cent, with a rider that the management control rests in the hands of Indian promoter.
The finance minister is "reasonably confident" that when it comes to the crunch, "it would be extremely difficult even for the Congress party to take a contrarian view" on the GST Bill.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday held a meeting at 6.30 pm at the PM's residence in the capital. The Congress leaders discussed the next course of action over the Women Reservation's Bill, which will be debated in the Parliament on Tuesday.
Amid the government's keenness to introduce Lokpal Bill in Parliament before the end of the winter session on December 22, the Union Cabinet on Sunday night had informal discussions on the much-hyped legislation which is expected to be taken up by the Cabinet formally on Monday.
On March 13, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary had tabled the second batch of supplementary demands for grants in the House amounting to a total of Rs 2,70,508.89 crore.
The finance ministry, in the explanatory memorandum to the Finance Bill 2008-09, proposes to withdraw the tax holiday which has been a window the petroleum ministry has been using to market the oil and gas exploration blocks under the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (Nelp) since 1999. The commitment to give a 7-year tax holiday to companies producing gas from Nelp blocks was finalised by the Union Cabinet after consultation with the finance ministry.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will hold talks with the opponents of Women's Reservation Bill before the government's takes the next step on it, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said on Thursday.
Suresh Prabhu on the priority being given to safety and the need for more funds for railways to move ahead.
The party says 23% of foreign investments should be by FIIs.
At present, zero coupon bonds which are issued at a discount to the face value and where interest is in-built, are allowed to be issued only by infrastructure companies or public sector organisations.
The Goods and Services Tax Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in May.
Due to Opposition anger over the non-availability of the finance minister during discussion on the Finance Bill in the Parliament.
The Parliament on Wednesday approved a watered down version of the fiscal responsibility bill aimed at disciplining state finances that left out clauses binding the government to tough fiscal deficit targets.
The new Insurance Bill may take little time to see light of teh day.
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
The legislation was passed by 125 votes in favour and 61 against.
A decision on the legal right of the poor to get wheat or rice at Rs 3 per kg was deferred on Thursday as Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar could not attend the meeting of a panel of ministers on the Food Security Bill on health grounds.
Dubbing the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre as "the most corrupt government ever seen by independent India", senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Saturday wanted the Lokpal bill to be passed in the next session of Parliament itself.
In a relief to industry, the government has accepted a parliamentary panel's recommendation on allowing cartels to opt for the settlement scheme under the Competition Amendment Bill, according to official sources. The proposed Bill seeks to introduce a clause for settlement and commitment that offers any enterprise against which an inquiry has been initiated to file an application for settlement. The Parliamentary Committee on Finance had suggested including cartels in the scope for settlement "as a pragmatic recourse to the whole process".
RBI, however, does not want banks to get into it, as it is speculative.
A Bill seeking to give more operational flexibility to the Reserve Bank of India in the conduct of monetary policy was passed in Lok Sabha on Friday.
Government introduced two Bills in Lok Sabha on Friday -- one seeking to phase out central sales tax in four stages and eventually abolish it in three years and another to give more operational flexibility to the Reserve Bank of India.
Will the so-called Third Front partners be able to retain their ambitious unity till the end of this month, when the Finance Bill comes for voting in the Lok Sabha? Doubts are hovering around the Yadav duo Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav -- as the two have taken different stands in the past one week on the issue.
The Union Cabinet Thursday approved the Contempt of Courts Amendment Bill, 2004, which seeks to liberalise the law by introducing "truth" as a defence in contempt proceedings.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday announced a slew of concessions, including a 1 per cent interest subsidy for lower and middle income housing loans, and exempted road repair and maintenance services from the ambit of service tax.
The new 10 per cent dividend tax will be payable only on dividend income over and above Rs 10 lakh threshold in a year, according to an amendment to the Finance Bill 2016 approved by Lok Sabha.
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The finance minister said the consensus between the Centre and states is required to amendment the constitution for implementing goods and services tax.
GST collection grew by 12 per cent in April to Rs 1.87 lakh crore, the highest monthly mop-up since the rollout of the indirect tax regime. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of April 2023 is Rs 1,87,035 crore of which CGST is Rs 38,440 crore, SGST is Rs 47,412 crore, IGST is Rs 89,158 crore (including Rs 34,972 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 12,025 crore, the finance ministry said in a statement. The previous high collection of Rs 1.68 lakh crore was in April last year.
The draft Companies Bill 2008 has identified the three key managerial positions as chief executive officer, chief finance officer and company secretary. By recognising these three key managerial positions, the Bill is fixing responsibility to bring out a system which is more accountable, transparent and workable, according to an official at the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday rejected Bharatiya Janata Party's charge that the Congress was taking a 'U-turn' on the Insurance Bill, saying that there are "no double standards" on the issue.
The first meeting of the newly-constituted joint committee comprising ministers and civil society activists to draft the Lokpal Bill will be held on Saturday.
Offenders will be tried under Prevention of Money Laundering Act
The finance minister said the government was open to suggestions.
The government banks on the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party to push the Insurance and LIC Bills in the next Parliament session, but it seems to have adopted different tactics on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill.
Former Union law minister and civil activist Shanti Bhushan has urged the government to hold an open debate on the Lokpal Bill so that the people of India get to know the stance taken by the various members of the drafting committee.Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, chairman of the Lokpal Bill Drafting committee, is yet to respond to Bhushan's demand.Bhushan, who is one of the five representatives of the civil society on the panel, said the government was backtracking.
'The prime minister took a meeting recently and he asked for suggestions and ideas for a plan till 2047.'
The Bill seeks to create a welfare fund for farmers at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led from the front a campaign to woo farmers and downtrodden sections of the society.
