Sitharaman added that no Union finance minister can play with the Finance Commission's recommendations.
In order to reduce government litigations, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the GST Council has fixed a monetary limit for filing appeals by the tax department before the various appellate authorities. It has recommended a monetary limit of Rs 20 lakh for GST Appellate Tribunal, Rs 1 crore for the High Court and Rs 2 crore for the Supreme Court for filing of appeals by the department before these legal forums, she said after the 53rd GST Council meeting held in New Delhi.
Average monthly GST collection rose from Rs 90,000 crore during the first year of its implementation -- 2017-2018 -- to Rs 1.68 trillion during 2023-2024, representing an 87 per cent rise.
Polling is scheduled in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh, 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha and three seats in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh.
'For me, if I want to buy a house to stay, I don't care about indexation because I don't want to sell that house.' 'The only thing that matters to me as a buyer is that the home price should be within my reach.' 'Any market, when speculators and investors go out, it will benefit the middle class.'
It is possible to be blind to this and pretend to carry on as if nothing has happened but that will not change the reality, asserts Aakar Patel.
The expansion of existing airports and development of new airports will continue expeditiously, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday and emphasised that the country's aviation sector has been galvanised in the past 10 years.
'Generating employment requires a shift in policy.' 'If not, the country will face economic, social and political challenges in the coming years.'
But it is disappointing to note that Sitharaman's third Union Budget continues to promote a few problematic ideas, observes A K Bhattacharya.
Nirmala Sitharaman's maiden Budget has not disappointed but vision and details, particularly for the revival of agriculture, are missing.
Veteran Gandhian Nirmala Deshpande passed away in New Delhi early on Thursday morning. She was 79. Deshpande, a Rajya Sabha member, had not been keeping well since the past two-three days, and she died in her sleep early today morning, Rajshree, one of her close associates, told PTI."Deshpande had returned from Dhanbad on Tuesday and had some gastric problems. She was suffering from fever from last evening," she said.
Presenting the interim budget for 2024-25, she said the government is working with an approach to ensure development that is all-round, all-pervasive and all-inclusive.
Politely decline to be prime minister, and hand the baton to someone else in the BJP -- like Sonia did to Manmohan Singh -- advises Krishna Prasad.
Rediff.com spoke to registered investment advisors to figure out how best the extra Rs 17,500 saved ever year can be invested to create a decent corpus in the years ahead. This is what they said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party vs ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam battle over live telecast of the Ayodhya Ram temple consecration in Tamil Nadu shrines reached the Supreme Court on Monday, with the apex court asking the authorities to act in accordance with the law and not based on any oral instructions.
She has shown shrewdness, sensitivity, and courage. All of these will be needed in ample quantities for the real challenge that will emerge after the elections, notes Shreekant Sambrani.
'If you invest in sovereign gold bond, you are going to get the price rise of gold over an eight year period.' 'You're also going to get that two-and-a-half percent which the Government of India is willing to give you, treating the money that you've invested in the sovereign gold bond as a kind of a FD or a deposit.' 'That kind of return you can never get anywhere else.'
Thrust on infrastructure and capital expenditure is expected to continue in the Union Budget for FY25.
The police said that the threat email was sent from the accused, Mohammed Arshil's ID.
'I have serious doubts about the longevity of the NDA government and the longevity of the 18th Lok Sabha itself.'
Sir Osborne Smith was the first governor of the Reserve Bank, serving from April 1, 1935, to June 30, 1937.
'Like every Budget, this time, too, there is chatter around tinkering with the long-term capital gains tax.' 'Investors may not want to jump into the markets until there is clarity on this front.'
Those joining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers for the first time include three former chief ministers -- Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh), Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and H D Kumaraswamy (Karnataka).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain DoPT, Atomic Energy as well as all important policy issues and portfolios not allocated.
There is an authenticity and sense of purpose about Dry Day which is appealing, observes Deepa Gahlot.
Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was the first and only women till now to have presented the Union Budget.
He alleged that besides Modi and Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had also commented on the stock markets ahead of elections, which has never happened in the past.
According to an Andhra government statement, Naidu 'reposed confidence' in the PM's leadership.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said she declined the offer of the Bharatiya Janata Party to contest elections pleading that she did not have the 'kind of funds' required for fighting the Lok Sabha polls.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday made a modest increase of 11 per cent in capital expenditure (capex) to Rs 11.11 lakh crore for the next financial year as private investment picks up. The government had hiked capex by 37.5 per cent to Rs 10 lakh crore for the current fiscal. Against this, the government expects to spend Rs 9.5 lakh crore in the financial year ending March 2024.
With the strain and anxiety of the longest Lok Sabha polls now behind the leaders, governance, with consensus, is the next step.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said projects for port connectivity, tourism infrastructure and amenities will be taken up 'on our islands, including Lakshadweep' to address the 'emerging fervour' for domestic tourism in the country.
Structural reforms, pro-people programmes and employment opportunities helped the economy get new vigour, the finance minister said. After contracting by 5.8 per cent in 2020-21, the economy recorded a growth of 9.1 per cent in 2021-22.
Her visit comes a day after Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi campaigned at Wayanad for her brother and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.
The 155-millimetre, 52-calibre Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System, which was successfully tested in Pokhran, demonstrated its potential to be a world-beating system.
The Budget should use the extra RBI surplus to better effect, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
Here are the key highlights of the BJP's 'Sankalp Patra' for the 2024 parliamentary polls.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the budget to be presented on February 1, 2024 would not have any "spectacular announcement" as it would be a vote on account in run up to the general elections. "It is a matter of truth that February 1, 2024 budget that will be announced will just be a vote on account because we will be in an election mode. "So the budget that the government presents will just be to meet the expenditure of the government till a new government comes to play," she said.
