The issue of constituting a mechanism for the wide ranging consultations promised by the Centre on Telangana is expected to come up on Friday at a meeting of the Congress core group headed by party president Sonia Gandhi.
The 2009 Budget had raised the rate of MAT to 15 per cent. The industry wants it to be lowered to at least 10 per cent in the forthcoming Budget.
From withdrawing the stimulus to implementing the Finance Commission proposals, the FM has his task cut out.
On the eve of an all-party meeting on Telangana, Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief K Chandrashekhar Rao on Monday said the Centre should follow its announcement on creation of a separate state with a resolution in Parliament but set no deadline for it.
Banks have sought relaxation in norms for classifying loans to delayed infrastructure projects as sub-standard assets even as the Reserve Bank of India has indicated its unwillingness to ease the group exposure ceiling.
The finance ministry is planning to change the face of banking in the Red corridors at the tribal heartlands of India. The move is part of the government decision to redraw its law and order management and development plans in view of the growing Naxalite menace threatening India.
What if Madhu Koda or A Raja becomes the prime minister of this country? What if a prime minister, who is privy to the entire security secrets, sell such crucial information? In a 14-page letter to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday, these were some of the reasons raised by Anna Hazare-led civil society members while arguing for bringing the PM under the purview of Lokpal.
He indicated that the government was looking into the problems of the small and medium sector. To a question Mukherjee said, 'there will always be a gap between what should be done and what can be done. The Union Budget is usually presented on the last day of February every year'.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday asked banks to tap the vast opportunity provided by the semi-urban and rural markets by converting savings in these areas into financial assets.
Upon discovery of the price for 3G and Broadband Wireless Access spectrum, BSNL and MTNL recently paid Rs 18,500.38 crore (Rs 185 billion) and Rs 11,097.97 crore (Rs 110.97 billion), respectively, to the government.
The government on Sunday ruled out rolling back increase in fuel prices, even as the Opposition National Democratic Alliance called for an all-India bandh on Monday to protest the price hike and rising inflation.
During the last few years, finance ministers like P Chidambaram and Jaswant Singh limited their pre-Budget discussions to representatives from the industrialists' lobby, economists, farmers and trade unions. This time, Pranab Mukherjee has held exclusive meetings with exporters, the financial sector, electronics and information technology. He will also hold a meeting with the finance ministers of the states.
On an annual basis, onions became costlier by 33.48 per cent, whereas on a week-on-week basis, the increase was 4.56 per cent, government data released here shows.
The EGoM was originally scheduled to meet on Wednesday but has been deferred because of non-availability of certain ministers in the grouping.
The government contained its fiscal deficit, the gap between overall expenditure and receipts, at 4.7 of GDP during 2010-11 much lower than the revised estimate of 5.1 per cent, a development which provide much needed comfort to the Centre fighting stubborn inflation.
Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and former Planning Commission member Kirit S Parikh, who heads an expert committee on fuel pricing, may join the deliberations, official sources said.
P Chidambaram was conspicuous by his absence on the dais at the second day of the plenary.
In its interaction with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday, the IT-BPO industry - represented by Nasscom -- stressed that the industry and government would have to join hands to accelerate IT adoption in the government sector. "We received a positive response from the government," said Nasscom president Som Mittal.
The first meeting of the Group of Ministers on inclusion of caste categories in the census is likely to be held on July 1.
In their respective memorandums, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and the Confederation of Indian Industry asked for re-introduction of investment allowance, restoring the depreciation rate to 25 per cent and an increase in plan public expenditures, primarily in infrastructure, which would boost private investments.
If economic pundits and analysts are to believe, India's growth story presents a rosy picture and it is destined to be a significant economic power soon.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Centre was willing to consider a phased approach to the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST), to reach a consensus on the issue. Mukherjee said he would expect the rollout of GST simultaneously with the Direct Taxes Code (DTC), scheduled for April, but there were some issues.
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