Even as the debate over off-Budget liabilities continues, former finance ministry bureaucrats and leading economists say it's time the government went beyond the targets in the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act.
A major payment crisis involving Rs 5,600 crore (Rs 56 billion) broke out at National Spot Exchange last year.
The central government has given banks and credit card entities six to eight months to put in place the requisite reporting mechanism and related features to collect tax at source on international credit card transactions, a senior bureaucrat told Business Standard. According to the bureaucrat, the plan to bring overseas credit cards under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) has not been mothballed and is simply being deferred so that banks get adequate time to get the system up and running. The official expects the reporting mechanism to be ready in the given time, and the rule could be implemented in the next financial year (2024-25, or FY25).
No government in the past initiated the process of policy making for its next tenure even before going in for elections. Once the Model Code of Conduct is enforced by the Election Commission, should the government of the day refrain from taking an active interest in policy making for the next five years and let that be the function of the new government?, asks A K Bhattacharya.
The generation of quality jobs and skill development should be the focal point, cutting across ministries and departments, asserts Nivedita Mookerji.
Inter-ministerial programmes have run into obstacles as rules written by bureaucrats hamper rather than promote investments.
Coming Wednesday, Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman will present the 2023 Union Budget - the last full Budget ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. While India exited 2022 as a relatively bright spot in the global economy, the FM will endeavour to present a Budget that insulates India's economy against global headwinds and recession in advanced economies, while sticking to the path of fiscal consolidation. In this, she is being helped by her core team of trusted advisors.
The new system will allow all government employees to mark their attendance from any central government department, by entering a six-digit unique number, besides finger prints or iris scan.
Rahul Khullar's guiding credo was that a civil servant must never lose sight of his client: The little guy. The evil men are those who are decision-makers but abdicate their responsibility of taking decisions, leading people to lose confidence in public institutions.
From the rollback of customs duty on key electronic components to fast tracking delivery of goods imported from China, players are looking for incentives on several counts.
The strong message from the prime minister is of continuity of policies he considers right with strong emphasis on execution, points out T N C Rajagopalan.
Among others, the meeting was attended by Finance Secretary R S Gujral, Economic Affairs Secretary R Gopalan, Commerce Secretary S R Rao, Industry Secretary Saurabh Chandra and Power Secretary P Uma Shankar.
'We are engaging in substantial open market sales of both wheat and rice to control food inflation; special measures of market intervention in vegetables, pulses and oil seeds were also taken to cushion the impact.'
'The prime minister's comment on 'revdi culture' was welcome. But I am disappointed he did not follow up on that.' 'All political parties, including the BJP, have been guilty of this.' 'Now, Modi's guarantees, the Congress's 'nyay' path and both ruling and Opposition parties are vying with each other for freebies in my home state Andhra Pradesh.'
'The BJP's numbers in this government are almost the same as those enjoyed by the Congress under P V Narasimha Rao when the reform process was kicked off in 1991.' 'As before, the only constraints on the prime minister's actions are internal, not external.' 'They come from his own assessment of the political consequences of any action,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
The L-G will take decisions on police, officers of all-India services such as the IAS and the IPS, and giving sanction for prosecution in various cases.
The RBI was not party to the decision to demonetize 500 and 1,000-rupee notes, which was taken at the highest level of India's political leadership.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began his bureaucratic career as an advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Trade.
Currently, banks are closed every second and fourth Saturday of a month. Why shouldn't they be shut every Saturday? When most customers carry their banks in their pocket (the app on the mobile phone), there is no need to keep banks open on Saturdays, argues Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
A tussle between the Delhi government and the Lt Governor has left bureaucrats vulnerable to sudden transfers.
The government is targeting export of goods and services worth $2 trillion by 2030.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday replied to the 'history major central bank governor' taunt faced by him, questioning if Argentinian football legend Lionel Messi is also a post-graduate in history. An interviewer anchoring a fireside chat at a summit organised by Business Standard compared his position to an opponent facing Messi at a football arena in Qatar, to which Das replied with wit. "Don't mind it, but was Messi also a post-graduate in history? Not often, but I am sometimes reminded by people that I am supposed to have done history," Das said.
Spending continues to be less as people who are getting direct benefits from the government are choosing to save in the current situation.
Economists and investors want RBI to retain independence in setting rates
From defending the shock announcement of demonetisation to spearheading the remonetisation drive that included the cumbersome process of printing and supplying new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes, his calm composure brought a sense of serenity to an otherwise chaotic situation.
The government has also allowed individuals from the private sector to apply for the post
Bad loans of PSBs are at Rs 20 trillion. Most of it is, I sense, due to corruption and behest lending. Nobody pays a price for this charade. Not the promoters, the bankers, RBI officials, finance ministry bureaucrats or politicians, points out Debashis Basu.
At a time when scam-tainted politicians, bureaucrats and corporate honchos are lodged in jails due to their alleged involvement in massive scams, the finance ministry has shot down a proposal on prison reforms, claiming it has no money to spare.
Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia vacates his post on November 30 and Expenditure Secretary Ajay Narayan Jha, the second seniormost bureaucrat in the finance ministry, retires on January 31, the day before Jaitley presents the 2019-20 interim budget.
The Budget oration of the finance minister and the confidence with which she delivered it, along with the measures and the recent upsurge in the economy would all contribute to unleashing the storied 'animal spirits' and help the economy run on the growth path quite smoothly. Or so the government hopes, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
'He is positive and likes to get work done,' is how a retired bureaucrat described him. 'I assume he will push the reform agenda with strength.'
'Das is friendly, but he finally does what he does. The quality of engagement is very good.'
He will be the first bureaucrat to head the central bank in almost five years.
Despite the objections raised by Reserve Bank of India and Election Commission, India's politics has been funded anonymously and it is time to end this, asserts Aakar Patel.
The annual earnings of a non-executive chairman of a PSB is capped at Rs 10 lakh, inclusive of fees for attending board meetings. This is way below the compensation of the chairman of any private bank, reveals Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
Vodafone's long-pending tax dispute with the government might be heading for a resolution, with the finance ministry considering changing the Income-Tax Act's retrospective amendment and taxing indirect transfer of assets prospectively from 2012, the year the law was clarified.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the much-awaited 2022-23 Union Budget on February 1. While there has been strong recovery in some sectors, touch services like hospitality, tourism and leisure continue to suffer after two Covid-19 waves. Household savings have been hit due to increased spending on health care. Consumption has still not reached pre-pandemic levels.
Arun Jaitley has clarified his custodianship of 3 ministries - finance, corporate affairs and defence.
'The skills and abilities of civil servants are still respected, even though they become whipping boys when things go wrong.'
I&B Ministry, Prasar Bharati are in tussle over ministry's directives, reports Shreya Jai and Arindam Majumder.
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