Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will take a final call on whether to break the tradition of presenting a separate Rail Budget, by merging it with the General Budget.
Pakistan has been scrambling in recent months to avoid being added to a list of countries deemed non-compliant with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations.
'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.'
Since no insurance companies share data on their claims with each other, the finance ministry and Irdai suspect that a lot of the resultant claims are duplicates.
'Somebody was using somebody to make statements that will stir the stock market and lead to a surge.' 'A sudden surge and a sudden crash is always an ideal situation for people to make illicit gains and then siphoning off the money.'
The heavy industries ministry has virtually consented to finance ministry's suggestion for part divestment of government equity in blue-chip PSU Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd and auto joint venture Maruti Udyog in the current financial year.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday pitched for formulating a policy for using the Reserve Bank of India's rising foreign exchange reserves for funding road projects, saying the country needs low cost finance for such infrastructure projects. Addressing a virtual event organised by industry body CII, Gadkari further said that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) should also have a financial arm like the power ministry's Power Finance Corporation (PFC). "We have a surplus of dollar reserves in the country. I have decided to talk with the RBI Governor, about how we can formulate a policy by which we can use this foreign exchange reserves for development of infrastructure in the country," he said.
The government would be ironing out issues related to the controversial 'bail-in' clause in the earlier Bill, explore hiking the deposit insurance cover of customers, and decide whether the resolution framework should apply to public sector banks.
The AIIMS has not issued any bulletin on Jaitley's health condition since August 10.
The sudden exit of Yogesh Agarwal as the chairman of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, or PFRDA, has once again brought the relationship between financial sector regulators and the finance ministry into sharp focus.
India and the US on Friday expressed concern over high inflation which is being driven by external factors and has become a challenge for both the nations. Speaking at the US-India Businesses and Investment Opportunities, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in India the inflation challenges are prompted more by external factors. "So while the number today is in a manageable range, the challenges are largely due to the import of crude.
'This is not just the IREDA's IPO. It is the success of the ministry of new and renewable energy and of the renewable energy industry.'
According to sources, in a January 6 letter to the department of financial services under the finance ministry, LIC said it wanted to stop sponsoring LIC Nomura Mutual Fund, and might offer some of its stake in LIC Housing Finance to other shareholders.
'It would be reasonable to assume that Modi 3.0 would be more focused on projects and schemes which do not require any legislative change or which have the support of its coalition partners,' asserts A K Bhattacharya.
Following his resignation, the Finance Ministry has appointed Joint Secretary Anup Wadhawan as Chairman of the PFRDA.
Likely to be merged with Union Budget from FY18
The Congress on Wednesday said the Supreme Court judgment on certain matters relating to transactions by the Adani Group has proven to be 'extraordinarily generous' to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and asserted that the party's fight against crony capitalism and its ill-effects on prices, employment and inequalities will continue.
The government has sacked these officers ranging from the ranks of principal commissioner to assistant commissioner, some of whom were already under suspension.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee has squarely blamed the finance ministry and the Securities and Exchange Board of India for last year's multi-crore securities scam.
United Nations proscribed terrorist Lakhvi, 61, who was on bail since 2015 in the Mumbai attack case, was arrested by the Counter-Terrorism Department of Punjab province on Saturday.
United Progressive Alliance-led government proposed lenders as insurance brokers; new FM not too keen, say insurers.
The finance ministry on Friday indicated it will not intervene in the foreign exchange market even if capital inflows into the country touches $50 billion during the 2010-11 fiscal.
As part of the long-standing ritual, the sweet dish is prepared in a large vessel and consumed by a large number of official and support staff who are required to stay in the North Block office till the presentation of the Budget, which is February 28 this year.
He was permanently absorbed into the ED cadre in 2014 and has headed some high-profile investigations into the 2G spectrum allocation case, the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the money laundering cases against former Union finance minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, the Aircel Maxis and VVIP choppers case.
Kumar, a 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, is currently an additional secretary in the ministry of electronics and Information Technology.
With the fall of Congress, Chidambaram's political graph too started moving southwards.
The finance ministry is working on a Cabinet note for establishing a full-fledged Public Debt Management Office, officials told Business Standard.
The finance ministry on Tuesday clarified that service tax would be levied only on air-conditioned or air-heated restaurants.
Is the exit of the capital markets joint secretary the reason behind this, wonders A K Bhattacharya.
The issue will now have to be resolved through arbitration.
The avoidable stresses and strains in ties helped in one way. It showed for the entire region how a matured India handled diplomatic relations, especially with a smaller and suspicious neighbour, with practised dignity and patience, unruffled by provocations in word, deed and action, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The 'Indira Gandhi award for best debut film' and the 'Nargis Dutt award for best feature film on national integration' have been retitled with the names of the late prime minister and legendary actor being dropped as part of a raft of changes for the National Film Awards, according to a notification.
Ministry says capital infusion if loans extended only to productive sectors
The ministry has said a more effective monitoring mechanism could be set up jointly with the ministries of commerce and urban development to ensure FDI does not 'render policy objectives in a sensitive sector of the economy with limited practical significance'
