The country's leading cement maker UltraTech on Thursday said it will acquire a 23 per cent stake in its Chennai-based rival India Cements Ltd, in a deal estimated to be around Rs 1,885 crore. As part of the transaction, UltraTech Cement will acquire 7.06 crores equity shares of India Cements at a price of up to Rs 267 per share, according to a regulatory filing from the Aditya Birla Group flagship firm.
"We have to stand in readiness to go beyond keeping Arjuna's eye to deploying policy instruments, if necessary" to contain inflation, said Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on Thursday. Headline consumer price index-based inflation projection for the second quarter of 2023-24 has been revised up substantially, primarily due to the price shock from vegetables, at 6.2 per cent by the RBI form 5.2 per cent estimated in June. Unveiling the bi-monthly monetary policy, Governor Das said the moderation in headline inflation to 4.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2023-24 was in line with the projections set out in the June MPC meeting.
India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 4.1 per cent in January-March 2022 period, while for the full year 2021-22 the growth stood at 8.7 per cent, according to the government data released on Tuesday. GDP at constant (2011-12) prices in Q4 2021-22 is estimated at Rs 40.78 lakh crore, as against Rs 39.18 lakh crore in Q4 2020-21, showing a growth of 4.1 per cent, as per the National Statistical Office (NSO) data. India's GDP growth has slowed for the third straight quarter.
The government has utilised 'escape clause' under the FRBM Act which provides it leeway for relaxation of fiscal deficit roadmap during time of stress.
The government's fiscal deficit during 2011-12 worked out to be 5.7 per cent of the GDP, lower than 5.9 per cent projected in the revised estimates in the Budget.
'With Ramaland, the tourism department is looking to attract children and adults alike. It'll be learning with entertainment.'
Per capita income in the state has consistently been below the national average for at least 24 years. However, it has narrowed the gap with the all-India level in recent years.
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday marginally lowered the country's GDP growth projection for the current fiscal at 6.8 per cent from its earlier estimate of 7 per cent. However, despite the downward revision in the economic growth projection, India will remain among the fastest growing major economies in the world, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das while announcing the latest bi-monthly monetary policy.
In recent years, excise duty collections had always played truant to the expectations.
Exports contracted by 2.6 per cent to $34.47 billion in September even as the country's merchandise trade deficit narrows to $19.37 billion during the month under review, according to the government data released on Friday. Easing commodity prices helped in cutting down the country's import bill by 15 per cent to $53.84 billion in September, the 10th consecutive month of decline. During April-September this fiscal, exports contracted by 8.77 per cent to $211.4 billion.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Friday presented a populist interim Railway Budget in Parliament on Friday. Following is the entire speech of the railway minister:
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been allocated a total of Rs 18,050 crore in the Union Budget for 2023-24 which is an increase of around 4.64 per cent over last year's allocation of Rs 17,250 crore.
Signalling an improvement in the strained American labour market, US private companies added as many as 32,000 new jobs in April.
Whether she will pare the fiscal deficit target of 5.1 per cent of GDP, using the record dividend received from the RBI, or expand flagship government programmes will be keenly watched.
In the Budget for 2011-12, the government revised the tax mop-up target for 2010-11 to Rs. 4.46 lakh crore for direct taxes and Rs. 3.36 lakh crore for indirect taxes.
The government on Saturday allocated Rs 2826.92 crore to the sports budget for the next financial year, which is up by a mere Rs 50 crore from the revised estimates of 2019-20. The government gave a substantial hike of Rs 291.42 crore to its flagship Khelo India programme for development of sports at the grassroot and youth level, which meant that most of the other heads got reduced allocation in an Olympic year.
The government would fall short of its target for direct tax collections for the second consecutive year, with the revenue department estimating its direct tax receipts at Rs 3,70,000 crore (Rs 3700 billion) for 2009-10.
The government revised the economic growth rate for 2010-11 financial year slightly downto 8.4 per cent from the earlier estimate of 8.5 per cent.
Brokerage house Nomura today said the downward revision of FY'13 growth figure by the Central Statistics Office will have a positive base effect for GDP expansion in the current fiscal.
It should be noted that the CPC allocation is provisional.
The Centre mopped up Rs 2.46 lakh crore from indirect taxes in the last fiscal, as much as Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) more than the revised target, despite stimulus packages.
The finance ministry will kick-start the exercise to prepare the annual Budget for 2023-24 from October 10, in the backdrop of revival of the Indian economy and fears of recession in developed countries. The budget for the next year will have to address critical issues of high inflation, job creation, boosting demand, and putting the economy on a sustained 8 per cent-plus growth path. On Wednesday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said inflation is no longer "red-lettered" and the priority for the government now is job creation and boosting growth.
For the cooperation ministry, the government made a total budget outlay of Rs 1,150.38 crore for 2023-24, lower than the revised estimate of Rs 1,624.74 crore for 2022-23.
Many ministries couldn't use the allocated funds since it came into force, resulting in much-needed savings.
Over 1.6 million employees working in the estimated 240 central public sector undertakings (PSUs) are likely to receive a 50 to 60 per cent salary increase, possibly with retrospective effect from January 2006. The second PSU pay revision committee, headed by former Supreme Court Justice M Jagannadha Rao, is in advanced stages of finalising its award due April-end and plans to submit its report to the government soon after.
Defence exports grew 33 per cent in the calendar year 2023 (CY23) to around Rs 21,083 crore while domestic defence orders serviced by listed companies were Rs 48,000 crore. The sector is poised for steady growth. Budgeted domestic capex is likely to hit Rs 3 trillion per annum, and exports could reach $6 billion by FY29.
Berger Paints, the country's second-largest decorative paint maker, continued to outperform its peers and gain market share in the 2023-24 (FY24) October-December quarter (third quarter, or Q3). The company posted a consolidated revenue growth of 7 per cent compared to the year-ago quarter, surpassing Asian Paints (5.4 per cent) and Kansai Nerolac Paints (5.7 per cent).
FinMin urges reduction not be weighed against Budget estimates.
The Budget 2015-16 will include many of the schemes announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi such as smart cities and high speed trains, Finance Secretary Arvind Mayaram said.
"The final estimates in agriculture are much higher. It could be 3.5 per cent in the revised estimates," statistics and programme implementation secretary Pronab Sen said on Thursday, a day ahead of release of GDP growth figures for FY'08.
Citing faster-than-expected recovery, rising consumer confidence and the resultant spending spike, Swiss brokerage UBS Securities has revised upwards its growth forecast for the current fiscal to 9.5 per cent from 8.9 per cent in September. The brokerage also sees the economy clipping at 7.7 per cent in FY23 but moderating to 6 per cent in FY24, as it expects the benefit of the low-interest rate regime to end by the end of FY23, and it sees the central bank hiking policy rates by 50 bps in the second half of the next fiscal. The Reserve Bank also forecasts 9.5 per cent GDP growth this fiscal while the average projection ranges from 8.5 to 10 per cent.
CAG recommended fixing a definite time frame for rolling out simplified GST return forms.
Several questions arise on the appropriateness of the measure in the already strained fiscal scenario, says M Govinda Rao.
The technical report of the NSSO has generated controversy following its observation that as much as 36 per cent units forming part of MCA-21 database, used in computing GDP, could not be either identifiable or traceable in the field.
The minimum wage of Rs 80, which is applicable to central public sector undertakings, will see a 30 to 40 per cent jump in a single year once the changes are notified. The decision to hike the minimum wage level was taken by the Central Advisory Board at its meeting chaired by Minister for Labour and Employment Oscar Fernandes last week. The National Floor Level Minimum Wage of Rs 80 is likely to cross Rs 100 once the notification is issued.
Is it a case of poor targeting of a welfare scheme, or is it a reflection of the government's desire to expand the scope of this benefit to secure greater electoral dividends? asks A K Bhattacharya.
The increased plan allocation from the Centre is expected to help Delhi complete various projects related to next year's Commonwealth Games. The city got Rs 814 crore for projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, while Rs 315.82 crore has been proposed for providing basic services to the urban poor. The total allocation also includes Rs 1,129.82 crore given to the city under urban infrastructure development for small and medium towns.
The Indian economy is likely to post better than anticipated growth in the second quarter (July-September) owing to robust urban consumption and expansion in services, a Business Standard analysis of high-frequency indicators showed. While gross domestic product growth in the September quarter is expected to come below the 7.8 per cent print in the June quarter due to a favourable base fading, analysts say the print will be much closer to 7 per cent than the 6.5 per cent anticipated earlier. While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had estimated 6.5 per cent growth for July-September, last month Governor Shaktikanta Das said the growth figure would surprise on the upside.
