Few finance ministers announce any taxation measure that could upset the stock market. Ms Sitharaman decided to take that risk, observes A K Bhattacharya.
With the fiscal deficit target staring at the government, the FY25 Budget has limited expenditure options, points out A K Bhattacharya.
'I have serious doubts about the longevity of the NDA government and the longevity of the 18th Lok Sabha itself.'
The rising goods and services tax (GST) and personal income-tax collections may bolster the Narendra Modi government's ability to announce new schemes or enhance existing ones.
'During times of adversity, a brick becomes better than a stone. That is how I look at the election season.'
'We have essentially tried to set out an agenda for the next five years and it, in essence, represents the political commitment to that agenda.'
'Modi 3.0 will have more balanced policies like one saw in Modi's first term.'
The government, they said, will launch a mega drive, Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra, across all 2.7 lakh panchayats in the country to reach out to beneficiaries and enrol them.
The state's economic health is in focus as it has consistently breached the fiscal deficit in eight of the last 10 years since Telangana's formation.
A team of three Union ministers will hold talks on Monday with a delegation of farmer leaders, who are planning to march towards Delhi to press for their demands.
Mamata Banerjee accused Modi of trying to mislead the people with half-truth and distorted facts.
Confident of securing a massive majority in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday outlined his vision for his next five-year term saying the Modi 3.0 government will put all its might to strengthen the foundation of 'Viksit Bharat' or a developed nation.
Here are the 10 key issues likely to be the centre of discussion in the seven-phase general elections that begin on April 19.
The government will formulate a strategy to make India self-reliant in edible oils by boosting domestic output of oilseeds and launch a comprehensive programme to support dairy farmers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Thursday. India imports a large quantity of edible oils to meet the domestic demand. During the 2022-23 marketing year (November-October), the country imported nearly 165 lakh tonnes of cooking oils, valuing a whopping Rs 1.38 lakh crore.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her sixth straight Budget ahead of the Parliamentary elections, matching the record of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai. Sitharaman in her pre-election Budget, which technically is a vote on account and popularly termed an interim Budget, will seek Parliament's nod for a grant in advance to meet the central government's essential expenditure for the first four months of the new fiscal year that starts in April. A new government elected after the April/May general elections will present the full Budget, likely in July.
Could the MPCE survey results be used as a basis of reconstructing the Consumer Price Index with new weights, asks Madan Sabnavis.
Riniki Bhuyan Sarma, the wife of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has filed a Rs 10 crore defamation suit against Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi for 'false' allegations of irregularities in a food processing project.
If Modi wants to leave a real legacy, breaking India's strategic triangulation would be the real gift, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 11.11 lakh crore spending on infrastructure and vowed to continue reforms as she resisted resorting to populist measures in Modi government's last Budget before general elections, instead choosing to stay on the path of cutting deficit while bolstering measures for focus groups.
The deposit facility for the women and girls will be for a period of two years with a rate of interest of 7.5 per cent, Sitharaman announced.
Buoyancy in the real estate sector along with improved construction activities created jobs and facilitated the return of migrant workers to cities, the Economic Survey for 2022-23 tabled in Parliament on Tuesday said. This assumes significance in view of loss of jobs due to lockdown restrictions imposed in various parts of the country from time to time amid different waves of pandemic since March 2020. The survey points towards sustained recovery in the economic activities during 2022-23 fiscal year.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday released its manifesto for the November 17 Madhya Pradesh elections promising MSP for wheat at Rs 2,700 per quintal and paddy at Rs 3,100 and houses for beneficiaries of the state's flagship scheme 'Ladli Bahna'.
Gehlot said he was welcoming Modi to Rajasthan through his tweet as he would not be able to do so through his speech.
Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress alleging that the opposition party has become outdated and has always been against any kind of reservation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the Centre has transferred around Rs 1,35,000 crore so far under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme with the payment of eighth instalment on Friday and is also procuring higher quantity of paddy and wheat at minimum support price to boost farmers' income.
'...Market-linked debentures, high-value insurance, exemptions from capital gains by investment in real estate, etc.' 'So, there are a number of measures directed at collecting a fair share from higher income individuals.'
In an address at an election rally in this southern-most part of Mizoram bordering Myanmar, Singh said violence is no solution to any problem and the two communities in Manipur must talk to each other to improve the situation in the troubled state.
Gogoi and Sarma have been locked in a war of words on 'X' since Wednesday on the issue of the chief minister's wife's company allegedly being given a credit subsidy of Rs 10 crore.
Whether it was the MGNREGS or the NFSA or the Aadhaar-based DBT scheme for cash transfer, the Modi government has built on the basic architecture created by the Singh government. Policy makers in the Modi government, instead of discarding them as products of the previous political regime, worked on them, expanded their scope and reach, and used new tools to improve their performance, explains A K Bhattacharya.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has already 'accepted defeat' by requesting him not to stop schemes initiated by the Congress in Rajasthan, and gave a guarantee that the Bharatiya Janata Party will not stop any scheme but only try to improve it.
He also accused the TMC government of politicising the administration and criminalising the police.
Pre-Budget excercise next month should scrupulously avoid adventurism of all types and refrain from making excessively ambitious projections on revenue and expenditure numbers for 2023-24, suggests A K Bhattacharya.
The BJP's challenge is whether it can again deflate a Congress, which now looks reinvigorated and has adopted sharper messaging around its 'guarantees', and several regional parties, especially in Bihar, Maharashtra and West Bengal.
It also promised financial assistance of Rs 24,000 annually to all dependent widows and single mothers, two free LPG cylinders to all the beneficiaries of the PM Ujjwala Yojana and 24x7 power supply.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has released its manifesto for the upcoming Nagaland assembly elections, promising a special package for the eastern part of the state and establishment of a board for the holistic development of the region if the party returns to power for the second time in a row.
In his address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session, Kovind said the Rs 64,000 crore PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission will prepare the country for a health crisis in the future.
Following are the highlights of the Economic Survey 2022-23 tabled in Parliament on Tuesday
On the completion of two years of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said his government ushered a historic increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for crops and was doing everything possible to double the income of farmers.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday said the country's farm production and procurement increased during 2020-21 crop year despite the pandemic and agricultural exports reached a record level of Rs 3 lakh crore during the same period. In his address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament at the start of the Budget session, Kovind said the government is focusing on making the country self-sufficient in edible oils besides making special efforts to promote organic farming, natural farming and crop diversification. "My government is working continuously to empower the farmers and the rural economy of the country... I would like to give maximum credit to the small farmers of the country for this consistent success and strengthening of the agriculture sector," he said.
In the coming few weeks, agriculture markets in North and Central India will be full of wheat, mustard, and chana - the three main rabi crops grown in these parts. Not only will the price trajectory of these determine the course of food inflation in the months to come, but it could also have a wider impact on the rural economy in the main growing states for these crops. Wheat and chana are largely grown in Madhya Pradesh (MP).
