Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah on Saturday presented a tax-free budget for financial year 2010-11 with an outlay of Rs 1,13,675 crore (Rs 1.13 trillion) and a projected expenditure of Rs 1,13,660 crore.
India's merchandise exports dipped by about one per cent to $38.01 billion in December 2024 against $38.39 billion a year ago, according to government data released on Wednesday. Imports increased by 4.8 per cent to $59.95 billion in December 2024 compared to $57.15 billion in the year-ago month.
'Maharashtra is virtually in a debt trap.'
The finance minister could well be on her way to setting a record of achieving the biggest single-year reduction in the government's fiscal deficit, explains A K Bhattacharya.
With the Forbes' richest people list out and 4 Indians featuring in it, it has been calculated that a mere 10 per cent of their net worth can erase our national deficit
If the fiscal deficit target of 4.9% of GDP has to be met for 2024-2025, which the government must in view of the uncertainties and challenges emerging both domestically and globally, the finance ministry may see in the composition of the current year's capex a sliver of hope, notes A K Bhattacharya.
The Interim Budget for 2024-25 (FY25) to be presented on February 1 is likely to assume 10-10.5 per cent nominal gross domestic product (GDP) growth against 8.9 per cent estimated for FY24 by the National Statistical Office (NSO). "We were waiting for the First Advance Estimates GDP numbers for FY24. "We will finalise the nominal GDP growth assumption for FY25 Interim Budget in a couple of days.
'The finance ministry's decision to accept the deficit target of 4.5 per cent in 2025-2026 appears to have emanated from its endorsement of the Finance Commission's view that the Indian economy will continue to remain impacted by the pandemic, adversely undermining its growth potential,' notes A K Bhattacharya.
Fiscal situation better but spending cuts likely in FY16 too.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said the interim Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman offers the "guarantee" of strengthening the foundation of a developed India and carries the "confidence of continuity".
'Your decisions should not be driven by your view on the market, but by your objectives, risk appetite, and time horizon.'
Stating that counter-cyclical measures to combat the impact of the global financial meltdown were important, Subbarao said the government borrowings had gone up 'rapidly and abruptly' hindering transmission of monetary measures to bring about lowering of interest rates.
India's exports declined by 2.83 per cent to $33.90 billion in November this year compared to $34.89 billion a year ago, government data released on Friday showed. Imports also declined to $54.48 billion in the month under consideration, as against $56.95 billion recorded in November 2022.
One Rank One Pension (OROP) will have a significant impact on the country's fiscal bill and the overall cost will be around Rs 16,000 crore.
The government does not seem keen on issuing fresh gold bonds given the overall cost and rising gold prices.
'Retail investors have to stick to their asset allocation plans and continuously do portfolio reviews.'
They want govt to raise excise duty and service tax rates, cut subsidies.
This will be the first full-year Budget of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government since it came to power for a third consecutive term in July last year.
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The agency also warned the government of overshooting the fiscal deficit target at 4.8 per cent due to poor revenue growth and pegged it at 5.2 per cent this fiscal.
The government on Tuesday said the IMF had expressed concern about sustainability of India's fiscal situation and debt position.
Politically, it will not be easy for Modi to take hard decisions such as raising fuel prices in the first budget, given the risk of higher inflation.
The country's exports edged up 1 per cent to $38.45 billion in December 2023 while the trade deficit narrowed to a three-month low of $19.8 billion, official data released on Monday showed. Imports declined by 4.85 per cent to $58.25 billion in December last year due to a dip in crude oil shipments. The previous low in trade deficit - the difference between imports and exports - was recorded in September at $19.37 billion.
The Unified Pension System (UPS), approved by the Union Cabinet on Saturday, is "fiscally prudent" as it will be funded within the Centre's fiscal projections, according to T V Somanathan, the Cabinet Secretary-designate. Speaking to Business Standard immediately after the Cabinet nod, former finance secretary Somanathan, who headed the committee set up in March 2023 to review the National Pension System (NPS), said the UPS will not postpone pension expenditure as it will be contributory and financed each year.
'This government has always been fiscally conservative. It never resorted to fiscal profligacy.'
The Budget should use the extra RBI surplus to better effect, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
The finance minister said the economy had been slowing.
Headline growth was quite weak heading into the Covid period but averaged 6.4 per cent and 6.7 per cent in the five years between FY16 and FY20 for GVA and GDP respectively, points out Abhishek Upadhyay.
These are the highlights of the Union Budget 2025-26 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Saturday.
The 50-share NSE Nifty also ended down 12.85 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 10,477.90. Intra-day, it shuttled between 10,534.55 and 10,460.45.
The 50-share NSE Nifty also ended down 12.85 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 10,477.90. Intra-day, it shuttled between 10,534.55 and 10,460.45.
'The Budget numbers presented severely underestimate the magnitude of the unstated fiscal crisis that we went through in 2018-2019, which cannot be conceivably be fully reversed in 2019-2020,' points out Rathin Roy, director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
The excise duty cuts on diesel and petrol will cost Rs 45,000 crore and lead to a 0.3 percentage point widening on the Centre's fiscal deficit, a foreign brokerage said on Thursday. Going by the overall consumption, the costs of the surprise move - which came after months of concerns over high payouts at filling stations - for the entire fiscal will come at Rs 1 lakh crore or 0.45 per cent of GDP, economists at Japanese brokerage Nomura said in a report. For the remaining months of the ongoing FY22, the cost will come at Rs 45,000 crore, which leads to an upward review of the fiscal deficit target.
Revenue from divestment has fetched Rs 40,000-50,000 crore against target of Rs 2.10 trillion.
During the pre-budget consultation with Union finance minister, some states made a case for fiscal expansion by boosting consumption to tide over the sluggishness in the economy.
Econometric callisthenics are to modern economists what curd-rice is to Tamil Brahmins - necessary as well as sufficient.
Government is likely to prepay another $3 billion worth of costly foreign loans this fiscal in continuance to the exercise started by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh last fiscal for reducing interest burden and fiscal deficit.
The Reserve Bank of India on Friday said fiscal deficit situation would be better than the budget estimate of 5.6 per cent of GDP for 2003-04, while inflation rate will start falling in the coming days.
Poor performance of the banking, oil and exploration industries have impacted corporate tax collections.
