Pakistan on Tuesday increased its defence budget by 20 per cent, allocating PRs. 2,550 billion ($9 billion) for the fiscal year 2025-26, amid tensions with India.
They don't just want better returns -- they're looking for global opportunities, more variety and smarter ways to grow their money, says Soubho Moulik, CEO, Appreciate.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday unveiled 'transformative' tax reforms that ranged from a simpler income tax law to higher TCS threshold for remittances and income tax benefits for middle class.
Outward remittances under the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) liberalised remittance scheme (LRS) surged by 50.64 per cent to $9.1 billion in the April-June quarter (first quarter, or Q1) of 2023-24 (FY24), driven by healthy growth across segments due to a revision in the timeline of tax collected at source under the LRS scheme and normalisation in international travel. Major drivers include equity and debt investments, deposits, and the international travel segment, among others. According to the latest RBI data, the amount remitted under LRS stood at $9.1 billion in Q1FY24, compared with $6.05 billion in the same quarter last year.
ITRs with zero tax liability have increased to 55.7 million in FY25.
In a major relief for taxpayers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced an increase in the threshold for Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) on rent from Rs2.40 lakh per annum to Rs6 lakh per annum while presenting the Union Budget 2025-26. Presenting the budget in Lok Sabha, the Finance Minister said, "The annual limit of Rs 2.40 lakh for TDS on rent is being increased to Rs 6 lakh.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented her eighth budget on Saturday.
Can a culture survive as a way of life, even as the language and writing at its core, alter with time? Can we be rational and Malayalee or do we have to necessarily be religious and proudly cultural to be Malayalee? asks Shyam G Menon.
Of $90 billion remittances that India is expected to receive in 2022, only $27.4 billion has come in the first half of the year.
A former Bangladeshi beauty queen, Meghna Alam, has been detained for allegedly setting up a honey trap for a former Saudi ambassador in Dhaka, in an attempt to extort USD 5 million. Alam, who runs a charity, was initially detained without charge under the controversial Special Powers Act. Her arrest sparked a media outcry and concerns by rights watchdogs. Alam denies the allegations, claiming the diplomat wanted to marry her. The Saudi embassy has not commented, but media reports suggest the envoy left Bangladesh as the scandal unfolded.
The Indian economy could remain less affected by global trade wars than other countries because the two engines of domestic growth - consumption and investment - are likely to face a limited impact from such headwinds, according to an article on the 'State of the Economy' in the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) bulletin, released on Tuesday.
The money sent home by Indians from West Asian countries took a beating in 2020-21 due to the pandemic. On the other hand, overseas Indians in advanced nations - the United States, United Kingdom and Singapore - emerged as important sources of remittance, according to a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) survey. Indians working in informal sectors in West Asia seem to have been impacted the most due to the lockdowns and subdued crude oil prices as well as slower pace of migration in recent years.
According to the minister, the government continues to be engaged with the US to promote mutually advantageous and secure mobility frameworks for streamlining the movement of students and professionals and facilitating short-term tourist and business travel.
The government's indirect tax collection is expected to increase by 8.3 pc in the financial year 2025-26 (FY26), according to a report by ICICI Bank. The report also noted that this growth is higher than the 7.1 per cent increase seen in FY25 and is mainly driven by rise in GST revenue from strong urban consumption. It said "The increase is driven by higher goods and services tax collections which in-turn is explained by boost to urban consumption".
Spending on international travel tripled in April 2022 as Covid-related curbs were eased in various countries in FY22.
The time limit is proposed to be extended from the current two years to four years.
Non-banking entities such as fintech firms will have to tap into use cases beyond peer-to-peer (P2P) and peer-to-merchant (P2M) transactions to scale up the presence of the retail version of the central bank digital currency (CBDC), which is also known as the e, said industry players. These use cases will enable programmable transactions across domains, including the government's direct benefit transfer (DBT) schemes, with subsidies restricted to specific purposes such as food coupons, hospital bills, fertilisers, pesticides, and cross-border remittances.
Underlining the contribution of non-resident Indians, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said remittances sent to the country by overseas Indians were about $100 billion for the year 2022, an increase of 12 per cent in one year. Speaking at a session during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) convention in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city, she described NRIs as the "real ambassadors of India" and appealed to them to use made in India products and services as far as possible so that the country's individual brand can be promoted across the globe. Sitharaman also said that after the "China plus one" policy, the world is now talking about the "European Union (EU) plus one" policy.
According to IRDAI, Marsh India had held the premium received from the clients in an Insurance Bank Account for more than 15 days and did not remit the premium to the insurer/reinsurer within the time limit of 15 days.
One fact is irrefutable: Nepal's recent political history tells us that the route to a return of monarchy cannot go through India despite friends in high places, asserts Aditi Phadnis.
High frequency indicators, like vehicles sales, air traffic, steel consumption and GST E-way bills, point towards a sequential pickup in momentum of economic activity during the second half of the fiscal 2024-25 and sustain moving forward, RBI Bulletin said on Wednesday. However, a strong dollar, driven by US economic resilience and trade policy pivots, could exacerbate capital outflows from emerging economies, push risk premiums higher, and intensify external vulnerabilities, said an article on 'State of the Economy' published in RBI's February bulletin.
India needs another shot of difficult reform, of the kind only possible at gunpoint. Mr Trump holds that gun to our heads now. A drastic reduction in tariff protection, other elements of sarkari wet-nursing will force entrepreneurial India to become competitive again, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Remittances growth is muted due to "structural" reasons which will hamper consumption demand locally, a report said on Thursday. "...the muted external remittances growth is more of a structural issue than transitory," India Ratings and Research said in its note. India has been the largest recipient of remittances from its diaspora spread all across the world and received over $70 billion inflows last year. The agency argued that flows had started to moderate even before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, pointing out that as a percentage of gross disposable income, the share of remittances fell to 2.5 per cent in FY19 as against 3.5 per cent in FY10.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday announced the increase of the UPI Lite wallet limit to Rs 5,000 and per-transaction limit to Rs 1,000, in order to encourage wider adoption of the popular instant payment system through mobile phones. A limit of Rs 500 per transaction and an overall limit of Rs 2,000 per UPI Lite wallet, is presently applicable, with the facility of auto-replenishment. Unveiling the October bi-monthly monetary policy, Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das also said the per-transaction limit in UPI123Pay will be enhanced to Rs 10,000 from the current Rs 5,000.
Enforcement Directorate officials said on Friday they are probing a 'complex network' of agents and facilitators in India, Canada and the US who help Indians illegally enter the US via 'bogus' admissions in Canadian colleges.
The police went to Robin Uthappa's house to issue a notice. Since he does not reside at that address at present, a warrant has been executed for the former cricketer.
How have aspirations, ambitions and hopes broken down for these young men from the most advanced parts of India? asks Mihir S Sharma.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) is investigating a complex network of agents and facilitators in India, Canada, and the US who assist Indians in illegally entering the US through fraudulent admissions to Canadian colleges. Over 8,500 financial transactions are under scrutiny by the ED in a case related to money laundering, stemming from a 2023 Gujarat Police crime branch FIR. The investigation includes international financial companies involved in remittances abroad, with the ED conducting 35 searches in the past year and seizing assets worth Rs 92 lakh. The issue has gained significant attention following the deportation of 104 Indians from the US on Wednesday. The investigation is linked to the tragic death of an Indian family in January 2022, who perished while attempting to cross the Canada-US border illegally. The ED has identified a network of agents and facilitators who manage and facilitate the stay, transportation, visa arrangements, and legal matters of illegal immigrants who gained admission to Canadian colleges through fraudulent means. The investigation has revealed that the fees paid to Canadian colleges were remitted back to individuals' accounts, with around 8,500 transactions identified between September 2021 and August 2024. The ED suspects that approximately 370 individuals have entered the US using this illegal immigration scheme. The agency has recorded statements from parents and guardians of students enrolled in Canadian colleges and continues its investigation.
Remittances to India are likely to drop by 23 per cent from USD 83 billion last year to USD 64 billion this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in a global recession, the World Bank has said. Globally remittances are projected to decline sharply by about 20 per cent this year due to the economic crisis induced by the pandemic and shutdowns, according to a World Bank report on the impact of the Covid-19 on migration and remittances released on Wednesday.
NRIs still send largest remittances than counterparts elsewhere.
According to the data available on the Reserve Bank of India's website, net workers' remittances in April-June 2018 were $11.5 billion
Money sent abroad rises sharply in July; maintenance of close relatives, education expenses top the chart
Will allowing business correspondents to hawk insurance products help in reviving 5-lakh strong field agents as a viable channel?
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will launch the Unified Lending Interface (ULI) nationwide in due course, aiming to transform India's lending sector, similar to how the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) revolutionised the payments ecosystem, Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Monday.
The stronger-than-expected recovery in remittances -- payments that are key to supporting the economies of many poor countries -- was driven by growth in Europe, Russia, and the United States.
Remittances to the developing world are expected to reach $440bn in 2015.
The country's current account deficit widened marginally to $9.7 billion or 1.1 per cent of GDP in April-June 2024, as against $8.9 billion or 1 per cent in the year-ago period, Reserve Bank of India said on Monday. The crucial number representing the country's external sector strength has come on the heels of a surplus of $4.6 billion or 0.5 per cent of GDP recorded in the preceding January-March quarter. The Reserve Bank attributed the year-on-year widening in current account deficit to a rise in merchandise trade gap which was recorded at $65.1 billion in Q1 FY25 as compared to $56.7 billion in the year-ago period.
As a percentage of GDP, the top recipients of remittances, in 2012, were Tajikistan (48 per cent), Kyrgyz Republic (31 per cent), Lesotho and Nepal (25 per cent each) and Moldova (24 per cent).
India's current account deficit (CAD) may dip further in the March quarter of FY24 as pressure from the negative net exports during the January-March period eased to an 11-quarter high. A part of the gross domestic product (GDP) data, net export- which is usually negative for India - captures the difference between exports and imports of both goods and services, while the CAD data, released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), also factors in private transfer receipts.
India received $70 billion in remittances during 2014.
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