The negotiations on a draft Lokpal Bill on Monday gained momentum with government and civil society members agreeing on a number of basic principles of the proposed law and deciding to meet more often.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday warned of greater sophistication in economic crimes and of its growing threat to national security.
He said the states needed to also do their bit on reduction of petrol price.
If accepted, the plan could give the sector Rs 70,000-crore (Rs 700-billion) relief.
Mukherjee said about Rs 2.42 lakh crore (Rs 2.42 trillion) in taxes is locked up in litigation before the CIT appeal, ITAT and high courts.
Banerjee, during a nearly 50-minute meeting with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at his south Kolkata residence on Saturday, proposed that Congress should join the ministry to be headed by her.
The Telecom Commission (TC) on Saturday put the onus of deciding the contentious issue of the base price for auction of 1,800 MHz of 2G band spectrum on the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
'The inflow of FII or FDI has not distorted the market sentiments and therefore there is no question of putting any curbs.'
Rejecting the 'protectionist policies' of the US, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday free flow of goods, services and capital would ease the global financial crisis.
Participatory Notes (P-Notes) are derivative instruments issued by FIIs to foreign investors -- individuals or corporates -- who want exposure to Indian equities, but do not want to register with Sebi.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is slated to present the Budget on February 26.
The standoff between the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha appears set to end on Thursday when a discussion on an adjournment motion on the issue of black money takes place following an agreement reached between the two sides on Wednesday night.
The finance minister attributed the rising prices to demand-supply mismatch, depreciating rupee, global commodity prices and easy monetary policy followed by some countries.
The Indian rupee dropped by 58 paise to a lifetime low of Rs 52.73 per US dollar in early trade on Tuesday on persistent demand for the American currency from banks and importers amid sustained foreign capital outflows from the equity market.
In an interview with CNN-IBN, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seemed reluctant to embrace Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee as her party's choice for the post of the President of India.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Wednesday assured Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that land acquisition issues for the proposed Tata Steel plant in the neighbouring country would soon be resolved.
The assurance was given by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung when India's Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee called on him in Hanoi.
Mukherjee said uncertainty was still there on oil prices front due to unrest in West Asia and North Africa.
The manual, released by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, details various aspects about the Budget, including the constitutional provisions, structure of government accounts and budget preparation.
"I am not revising it (the target) right now. We have fixed the target and we will try to achieve it, but it depends on many other situations, particularly the economic health conditions," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.
Supporting Reserve Bank's hawkish stance on monetary policy, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday said the increase in the key rates was necessary to contain inflation.
The government on Friday decided to allocate five million tonnes of additional wheat and rice for distribution through ration shops to BPL families, giving them some relief from high food inflation.
The two major changes include: keeping an option open for supplying more than 3 kg of subsidised foodgrains to general households and widening its reach to include lactating women, destitute and aged people and providing nutritious food to children.
"Oil marketing companies are to take decision depending on cost of their imports. It is market related as per as oil market companies are concerned on petrol," Mukherjee told reporters.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has termed the service tax charged on air tickets by the Indian government as illegal according to the Chicago Convention.
RBI is scheduled to announce the annual credit policy on May 3.
The rise in inflation based on wholesale prices in October from 9.72 per cent in September was mainly on account of higher prices of fruits and vegetables, manufactured goods and petrol.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Executive Director Anand Sinha is set to replace Usha Thorat as deputy governor. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has recommended Sinha's candidature to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
Hours after his angry outburst led to an hour-long adjournment of Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday expressed his "regret" for losing temper, saying it was not appropriate.
Justice Santosh Hegde on Saturday indicated that he may not resign from the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement that the government was looking forward to enacting a strong anti-corruption legislation.
Amid divergent views within the Congress on tackling Maoists, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that Naxals are political elements out to capture power and the issue of development was "more imaginary than actual".
Communist Party of India general secretary A B Bardhan and national secretary D Raja will go to Kolkata and represent their party at the cremation.
Trade union leaders in the pre-Budget consultation with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday demanded reigning in prices of essential items and increasing exemption limit on income tax to Rs 2 lakh (Rs 200,000).
Cash-strapped domestic airlines have asked the government to declare the civil aviation sector as 'core infrastructure' and rationalise taxes and duties on jet fuel, equipment, services and other items.
Unable to comprehend the deliberations in English in the joint drafting committee on Lokpal Bill, anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has sought an interpreter for himself from the next meeting.
RBI is expected to raise its short-term borrowing and lending rates at its September 16 mid-quarter review.
The joint drafting committee on Lokpal bill on Saturday had its first meeting when civil society representatives presented a new draft of the legislation to the government with both sides expressing hope that the new law will be brought in the monsoon session of Parliament.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said the wrong policy and non-functional police of the Left Front government in West Bengal were responsible for the rise of Maoism in the state. "The Left Front government should be blamed for the rise of Maoists in West Bengal. Their wrong policy and non-functional police have allowed the Maoists to enter the state and strengthen their base in Junglemahal," the senior Congress leader told an election rally at Harishchandrapur.
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.
The government on Friday admitted that providing more and better jobs to the young still remained a challenge, even as the Indian economy was back on a high growth path after hit by the global financial crisis for two years.
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