BJP said if voted to power, it would bring out a 'white paper' on the financial health of the state under the Congress rule.
State debt is rising because revenues are disappointingly weak. Ten states have debt ratios exceeding 30 per cent. In 2023-2024, states were borrowing simply to meet day-to-day expenses, points out Debashis Basu.
India has managed high government debt-to-GDP, a slowing domestic revenue engine, lower household savings and a more hostile geopolitical environment separately in the past. But together, they threaten to undo the growth narrative on which today's optimism rests, warns Debashis Basu.
The Opposition in Maharashtra boycotted the government's customary tea party on the eve of the Winter session, citing its failure to appoint leaders of the opposition (LoPs) in both houses of the state legislature.
The Congress, desperate to make a comeback in Gujarat, which has been ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party for over 20 years, has tried to reach out to various sections of society in its blueprint unveiled.
The initiative would provide double the relief announced by the states of UP and Maharashtra, the Punjab CM said.
Earlier, Preity posted about the platform's growing cynicism, especially when people expressed appreciation for public figures.
Last Monday, she termed the Centre's silence over loan repayment restructuring as a 'political vendetta' to ruin Bengal.
The Congress on Friday promised that if the party is voted to power in Gujarat, where assembly elections are due by the yearend, it would waive farm loans of up to Rs 3 lakh and provide free electricity for 10 hours daily to farmers in the state.
Government banks have demanded that the amount eligible under the farm waiver scheme should continue to be considered lending to the farm sector till the government clears the dues to help banks meet the mandatory priority sector lending target.
The amount of loans to small and marginal farmers that commercial banks, cooperatives and regional rural banks have been asked to waive is likely to be slightly over Rs 23,000 crore (Rs 230 billion), less than half that estimated by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his Budget speech. The share of this due to commercial banks is probably around Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) the total overdue from all farmers to commercial banks is around Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion).
She also ordered increase in gold allocation for women beneficiaries and reducing the working hours of state-run liquor outlets.
To bail out Hindustan Copper Limited from its financial morass, the government plans to restructure the company's capital and waive interest on its loan, guarantee fee among others to adjust against HCL's accumulated loss of Rs 723 crore.
She released the party's manifesto "Unnati Vidhan", which she termed as "Jan Ghoshna Patra'.
Public sector banks (PSBs) have written off bad loans of about Rs 5.82 lakh crore in the last five financial years, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. During 2024-25, the loan write-off of PSBs was at Rs 91,260 crore, compared to Rs 1.15 lakh crore in the previous fiscal, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Congress MLA Nana Patole was suspended from the Maharashtra assembly for a day on Tuesday after he climbed the speaker's podium, demanding action against Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Babanrao Lonikar and Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate for allegedly 'insulting' farmers.
MPs, state legislators and government employees will not receive the benefit of loan waiver.
Gandhi said for the first time he has seen that all sections of the society in the state were 'protesting', whether it was the Patidars, Dalits, anganwadi workers or farmers.
The finance minister has delivered a Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 billion) handout to farmers. How much of that will go to the farmers who are truly debt-stressed is a moot question. But is this the tonic that our farmers need in order to restore agricultural growth to the 4 per cent plus level that the Eleventh Plan wants? Are we addressing the right problems in our agriculture and food policy?
Over 25 crore workers across India are set to strike against new labour codes and privatisation, potentially disrupting banking, postal, and other essential services.
Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS release a joint manifesto for Mumbai civic polls, promising free power, allowances for domestic helps, and property tax waivers.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray criticized the BJP over the arrest of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk and accused the party of corruption and divisive politics during his Dussehra rally.
Such meetings are routine, the former state home minister added.
'When the BJP wanted the election to focus on 'ghuspathiya' and promises that look like pies in the sky, we forced them to talk about jobs, giving free 125 units of power, and addressing women's indebtedness.'
The PM's speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort today was " stale, hypocritical, insipid, and troubling", the Congress general secretary said.
Younger customers should opt for increasing cover as their financial commitments are likely to rise in the future.
Make sure the rider adds value rather than just adding to cost.
A total of 22,27,506 farmers have obtained loan of about Rs 10,736 crore from cooperative banks in the state.
The reduction in goods & services tax (GST) on individual life and health insurance premiums has been called a "landmark step" for making insurance affordable and inclusive. In a panel discussion at the Business Standard BFSI Insight Summit 2025, Anup Bagchi, managing director (MD) & chief executive officer (CEO) of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance; Mahesh Balasubramanian, MD & CEO of Kotak Life Insurance; Tarun Chugh, MD & CEO of Bajaj Life Insurance; and Ratnakar Patnaik, MD of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), listed what else the industry needs to reach more people.
The opposition party is likely to use this new-age technology to reach out to a wider section of people, specially youngsters who are tech-savvy.
Interacting with farmers in Gadak district of Karnataka, Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said he is opposed to blanket waiver on farm loans, as it could prove 'destructive for the system'. He called for strengthening micro-finance and credit lending systems as a remedy to farmers' problems. Gandhi stressed on rural excellence and indigenous knowledge to guide the country to a better agrarian situation. He stressed on micro-finance systems & grass-root political units.
In his address at a conference of state secretaries, Rajan stressed the need to strengthen state-level coordination committees by ensuring participation, conducting meetings more frequently and sharing quality information among all stakeholders, including state government agencies.
The government has extended the repayment date six months under the farm loan waiver scheme, a move that is expected to help banks set aside less money for non-performing loans, but has raised expectations of another loan waiver ahead of general elections.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to scuttle the possibility of his party's alliance with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena led by his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray ahead of civic polls.
He requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make an announcement that the farm loans would be waived, while a mechanism for the same could be worked out later.
The UPA government had last year announced a nearly Rs 71,000 crore (Rs 710 billion) farm loan waiver scheme to offer relief to farmers, especially the small and medium ones who were unable to access fresh loans due to non-payment of dues. Noting that the full impact of failure of monsoon was yet to be assessed, the minister said the country would, however, be able to achieve six per cent plus economic growth during the current fiscal.
The Reserve Bank on Tuesday asked all lending institutions, including non-banking financial companies, to implement the waiver of interest on interest for loans up to Rs 2 crore for the six months moratorium period beginning March 1, 2020.
Agriculture and allied activity loans are not eligible for the interest on interest waiver announced by the government last week, the finance ministry has clarified.
Business Standard's investigations in two of the four states (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala) covered under the prime minister's relief package for farmers following loan-related suicides show that the latest waiver will not reach the deserving for several reasons.
