Budget 2017 will focus on needs of poor, make India self-sufficient: BJP

Latest News - Confident that the Union and the Railway Budget 2017 will make the nation self-sufficient, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asserted that government's decision to present both the Union and the Railway Budget 2017 together is astute.

Speaking to ANI here, BJP Kolkata State chief Rahul Sinha further pointed out some of the features to look out for in the upcoming Budget.

"The budget, which will focus on the needs of the common people, will help in the economic progression of the country", he said.

He added, "The Budget will (Read More)

Economic Survey indicates high tax on gold to continue

Latest News - Economic Survey for 2016-17 has indicated that implicit subsidy for gold is still too high and it mostly goes to the middle class. Market participants say that this indicates that government is looking to have higher tax revenues from gold.

Survey notes that the calculations of implicit subsidies for the middle class, which forms top 40 per cent population, is estimated based on expenditure distribution as per NSS data of 2011-12

LPG subsidysubsidy for this class has been estimated at Rs 28,219 crore for 15-16 and for gold it has been estimated at Rs. 10,800 crore which is 0.08 per cent of (Read More)

PM Modi dismisses opposition's criticism of an early Budget

Latest News - Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the opposition has no real issue against his government and defended the decision to advance presentation of the Union Budget, to be tabled on February 1, saying it will facilitate execution of more development work.

He also cited the inclusion of several "common achievers" among the Padma awardees this year to claim it had happened for the first time as earlier the honour would be bestowed on those doing the rounds of power corridors.

At a meeting of BJP parliamentary party executive, which was followed by another of NDA leaders, Modi said the early passage of budget would lead to early start of developmental work. Earlier these works would begin only after monsoon had ended, he said referring to the (Read More)

Rail stocks slide 4% ahead of Rail Budget

Latest News - Shares of most of the railway sector related companies declined as much as four per cent ahead of presentation of the first Rail Budget subsumed in the General Budget tomorrow.

Titagarh Wagons settled 4.06 per cent down at Rs 115.90 on BSE today, while Kalindee Rail Nirman (Engineers) ended 3.27 per cent down at Rs 113.95 from the previous close.

Texmaco Rail & Engineering lost 3.22 per cent and closed at Rs 106.65. Stone India went down by 2.94 per cent to settle at Rs 69.30.

Kernex Microsystems tumbled 3.27 per cent and was (Read More)

Clothes, leather sectors key to jobs growth, says Economic Survey

Latest News  - Harnessing manufacturing sectors such as clothes and leather, which require low skill, is the key to large scale labour absorption and export growth for the country, according to the Economic Survey 2016-17.

Released by the central government on Tuesday, the Survey has an entire chapter on the subject, titled “Clothes and Shoes: Can India Reclaim Low Skill Manufacturing?”.

The Survey pointed out that India was at a good position to take advantage of China’s deteriorating competition because of higher wage costs. But, it also noted, with alarm, that this was not happening.

“The space vacated by China is fast being taken over by Bangladesh and Vietnam in case of apparels; Vietnam and Indonesia in case of (Read More)

Tap property tax potential at city level, suggests Economic Survey

Latest News - With rapid urbanisation posing tremendous challenges in delivery of services, the Economic Survey on Tuesday suggested that municipalities should tap the potential of "property tax" to generate additional revenues at the city level.

The survey found through a study that bengaluru and Jaipur are currently collecting no more than 5-20 per cent of their respective potential for property tax. It suggested that "satellite imagery" should be used for improving urban governance by facilitating better property tax compliance.

"Urbanisation will pose considerable challenges for municipalities over the (Read More)

Lack of sanitation facilities puts high burden on women: Economic Survey

Latest News - Stating that lack of access to sanitation facilities puts a disproportionate burden on women and girls, including the threat to life besides nutritional risks, the Economic Survey on Tuesday pitched for ensuring toilets in each household.

The pre-Budget Economic Survey 2016-17, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, also said to ensure safe and adequate sanitation, water security and hygiene — the objectives of Swachh Bharat — as part of a broader fundamental right to privacy for women is becoming a serious policy issue.

Stating that there is 'disproportionate burden' on women in households without (Read More)

Where are the jobs, asks Congress

Latest News - A day before the release of the official account on the state of the economy, the Economic Survey, the Congress party tore apart the government for hiding behind the dazzle of the GDP number, and ignoring key metrics such as jobs and investment.

It released its own detailed report titled 'The Real State of Economy 2017', fielding its two most senior leaders in these matters, Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram. Introducing the report, which he claimed was "closer to the truth that what I believe the government will say tomorrow", Chidambaram launched a broadside on the performance of the economy under the Modi government.

The report put together by Rajya Sabha member and IIM professor Rajeev Gowda pointed out the fact that against (Read More)

Budget 2017: After Health Minister's warning, health budget likely to be up

Latest News - India's health ministry is likely to see a substantial increase in funding, after it warned that its programmes were short of cash and sought more than $1.2 billion in additional money, according to government officials and documents seen by Reuters.

The final numbers could change when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presents the budget for fiscal 2017-18 on Wednesday. But one official familiar with the numbers said the health ministry is expected to get a $1.5 billion, or 27 per cent, increase in funding to around $7 billion.

The health and finance ministries did not respond to requests for comment.

An increase in the (Read More)

Budget 2017: Govt likely to hike agri-credit target to Rs 10 lakh crore

Latest News - The farm credit target is likely to be raised by a whopping Rs 1 lakh crore to Rs 10 lakh crore in Budget 2017-18 in order to increase credit flow in the agriculture sector.

According to sources, the government may increase the agriculture credit target to Rs 10 lakh crore for 2017-18 fiscal from the existing Rs 9 lakh crore.

During April-September period of 2016-17 fiscal, about Rs 7.56 lakh crore credit has been disbursed to farmers and the total target is likely to be surpassed.

That apart, the government may also allocate Rs 10,000 crore for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) in the Union Budget to be (Read More)

Passenger fares may be hiked marginally; exit rail stocks: analysts

Latest News - Rail related stocks have done well since December 26, 2016 when the market hit its recent low with counters such as Hind Rectifiers, Timken India, BEML, Kernex Microsystems, Titagarh Wagons, Texmaco Rail and Kalindee Rail gaining three per cent to 28 per cent till January 27. By comparison, the benchmark indices - the S&P BSE Sensex and the Nifty50 have gained eight per cent and nine percent each respectively, during this period.

Since the union budget would subsume the railways budget and internalise its revenues and expenditure, analysts believe these changes do not alter the overall aim and outlook of the budget, but will only change its format and presentation to some extent. The practice of presenting a separate railway budget was introduced by the British government 92 years ago to focus more on India's most important infrastructure network.

"We expect the finance minister to increase the capital outlay for the railways sector to (Read More)

Staffing industry seeks resolution of tax woes in Budget

Latest News - Wants TDS to be cut from 10% to 2%, and applied on commission earned, not on gross invoice value

The staffing industry, representing companies such as Team Lease and Quess, wants finance minister Arun Jaitley to resolve the tax anomalies it faces, in the upcoming Budget.

The Indian Staffing Federation says that its demand assumes significance since post-demonetisation it is the formal sector which will grow and the staffing industry will play a crucial role in that.

The industry represents contract hiring in organised industry done through tri-partite agreements -- between the company that is hiring, the person hired and the (Read More)

Budget 2017: Govt convenes all-party meet today, seeks Opposition's support

Latest News - The government has convened an all-party meeting today ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament to seek opposition's support for the smooth conduct of proceedings in both the Houses.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has also called a meeting of leaders of political parties in the House same evening.

The Budget Session will start from Tuesday with President Pranab Mukherjee's address to a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

The Economic Survey will (Read More)

Six expectations of banking sector from Budget 2017

Latest News - With the Union Budget 2017 just a sniffing distance away, banking stocks are on a roll.  

The BSE Bankex, the barometer of banking stocks, has shot up 12% since its December lows in the anticipation of budgetary stimulus to keep demons of demonetisation at bay. 

Since the low 2,0148 hit on December 26, the Bankex has risen 12% to settle at 22,566 last week. This is against an 8% rise in Sensex during the same period.

Bank stocks such as YES Bank (up 27%), Federal Bank (up 26%), Punjab National Bank (up 20%), IndusInd Bank (up 18%) and Bank of Baroda (up 14%) have seen a phenomenal rally in the (Read More)

Budget 2017: Aadhaar maybe made mandatory for rail concession

Latest News - The government is contemplating to make Aadhaar or Unique Identification (UID) card mandatory to avail rail concession, and an announcement is likely to be made by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while presenting the first combined General and Railway Budget on February 1.

The move will help the government in better targeting of benefits and check misuse of the facility, sources said.

The Railways provides concession on tickets to more than 50 categories of passengers which include senior citizens, students, research scholars, teacher, doctor, nurse, patients, sports people, unemployed youth, Arjun awardees among others.

At present, Railways is (Read More)

Budget 2017 wish list: Young India expects lower fees, cheaper gadgets

Latest News - Curtailment of education fees, cheaper electronic gadgets and more focus on jobs are some of the expectations Young India has from the Budget for fiscal 2017-18 that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will table in Parliament on Wednesday.

Many students and professionals who spoke said they wanted a youth-oriented budget that will help underprivileged students pursue higher studies and cheaper electronic gadgets to make the government's Digital India initiative a success in a country where almost 47.8 per cent of population is currently aged below 29.

With India set to account for 20 per cent of the world's workforce in the next three years, many young men and women wanted the government to largely focus its resources on how to (Read More)

Zuckerberg takes on Trump on immigration, calls US a nation of immigrants

Latest News - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to his social network to criticise US President Donald Trump's anti-immigration policies and his plans to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

In his first week in the White House, Trump signed executive orders for the border wall, withholding federal funding from sanctuary cities and blocking refugees from nations like Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria.

"Like many of you, I'm concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump. We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Friday. (Read More)

Chhattisgarh to become open defecation-free before Oct deadline

Latest News - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh exuded confidence that the state would achieve the open defecation-free (ODF) target before the deadline.

“My belief has gone stronger that we will make Chhattisgarh open defecation-free (ODF) state by October 2, 2018,” Singh said in his Republic Day speech on Thursday. 

The state is set to achieve the target a year ahead of the deadline set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to Singh, the state has already declared two districts, 4,900 villages and five cities as ODF areas. Singh appreciated the efforts of the non-governmental organisations(NGOs) working on issues of sanitation in the state.

The Chief Minister also said that (Read More)

L&T Q3 net up 39% at Rs 972 crore, calls note ban 'a disruptor'

Latest News - Larsen & Toubro (L&T), which on Saturday reported a 38.85 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit at Rs 972 crore for the December quarter, said the government's "cashless economy" efforts have caused "disruption" and its impact on business is yet to be assessed.

The industrial giant had clocked a net profit of Rs 700.34 crore for October-December last financial year.

The infrastructure conglomerate's total income from operations rose to Rs 26,286.98 crore during the quarter under review, from Rs 25,928.07 crore a year ago.

Its expenses during the quarter were slightly up at Rs 24,486.57 crore as against (Read More)

Nifty's one week pre-budget rally biggest compared to last 9 budgets

Latest News - Nifty gained the most in the one-week pre-budget rally as compared to the last 9 budgets as investors remained optimistic about pro-market policies by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Union Budget 2017.

With Budget 2017 four days away, Nifty rallied 3.5% for the week, its highest weekly gain since May 27. The index has gained 6% in the year so far.

Even though, not every Budget is preceded by a pre-budget rally, this year bulls have tightened their grip as government is expected to take measures to boost demand after the demonetization freeze.

The previous biggest pre-budget rally occurred in the election year 2009, during the interim-Budget, when the (Read More)

Demonetisation was a 'hoax', it won't kill black money: Chidambaram

Latest News - Dubbing the government's claim that demonetisation would weed out black money and corruption as "hoax", former union finance minister P Chidambaram has said that such issues are likely to persist since the November 8 decision was not "notebandi", rather it was a "notebadli."

"Demonetisation will not kill black money and corruption. Earlier, they asked and took bribes in old notes. Now they will take in new notes. The change of notes will not make any difference to these things. It is a complete hoax to say that demonetisation will kill corruption," Chidambaram said while delivering a lecture on demonetisation at Srimanta Sankardev Research Centre in Guwahati.

Throwing a challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress leader said, "Let me throw a simple challenge to the government, please guarantee to me that next time I go to a Tehsildar he will not ask bribe from me. Let the Prime Minister give the guarantee to (Read More)

Financial sector reforms in FY17: Road map in the works for state-run banks

Latest News - As the finance minister gears up to present the Union Budget for the new financial year, Business Standard scans the 2016-17 Budget speech for a status check on key announcements made by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley last year regarding financial sector reforms and assesses how much has been achieved.

Passage of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy law

Status: In May last year, Parliament passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy law code 2016. 

Code on Resolution of Financial Firms to be introduced as a Bill in the Parliament during 2016-17

Status: A draft Bill has been finalised by the finance ministry and put in the public domain for comments. The government is in the process of (Read More)

Weekly roundup: Best week in 8-month; Sensex surges a whopping 848 points

Latest News - The market put a stellar show in a holiday-truncated expiry week with benchmark indices rising the most in eighth-month thanks to higher rollovers to February series ahead of Union Budget 2017 as a pre-Budget rally defied the negative results from the companies such as Wipro, Ashok Leyland, HUL and M&M. Positive sentiment in global markets after Dow Jones, Wall Street’s closely-watched index, hit its fresh lifetime high of 20,000-mark, also aided the sentiment. 

During the week ended January 27, the S&P BSE Sensex added 3.1% or 848 points to settle at 26759, while Nifty50 gained 3.5% or 291 points to close the week at 8641. 

Midcap and Smallcap stocks jumped. The BSE Midcap index rose 3%, while the BSE Smallcap index surged 2.8%.

"With signs of FIIs taking interest in Indian equities, and with January derivatives’ expiry witnessing a 5-month high rollover in (Read More)

Consumption, Employment, Growth: Three-point agenda for Budget 2017

Latest News - The Budget 2017-2018 is not only being advanced by a month but also amalgamates the Railway budget with the Union Budget. Coming in the backdrop of impending election in the states of UP and Punjab and in the aftermath of demonetisation, we believe consumption, employment and growth could be key themes of the budget this year.

While demonetisation has made a bold start by channelizing the idle cash in the economy into the banking system, it needs to be followed through with measures to improve tax compliance and initiatives to boost the digital payment economy.

We believe it is an opportune time to boost consumption demand and business sentiment, which has shown some weakness following demonetisation. A hike in the personal tax limits can be a measure which helps towards this end. The government has rightly focused on boosting the low cost housing segment with interest subsidies and we believe that some  tax exemptions   on (Read More)

Budget 2017 expected to be market-neutral: Morgan Stanley

Latest News - The Union budget is going to be a "market-neutral" event as policymakers are not likely to change their policy stance and will continue to focus on fiscal consolidation, says a Morgan Stanley report.

"We do not expect major changes in the conduct of fiscal policy and hence, view the budget as a market-neutral event," Morgan Stanley said in a research note.

The Union budget for 2017-18 is due to be presented on February 1.

According to Morgan Stanley India Strategist Ridham Desai, the budget's influence on (Read More)

Budget 2017: IT, telecom players expect more for cyber security, broadband

Latest News - With the government's push for digitisation across the board, the information & technology and telecom players are expecting a Union Budget that will try to strengthen cyber security and make broadband available to all that will in turn catalyse digital payments.

"As India digitalises rapidly, holistic approach to cyber security is a pre-requisite to foster and sustain trust of all the stakeholders -- consumers, businesses as well as government," said Sanjay Rohatgi, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan, Symantec.

"The government should consider setting aside at least eight per cent of its overall IT budget specifically for cyber security starting with the upcoming budget," Rohatgi said.

After the demonetisation in November 2016, the Indian government is trying hard to (Read More)

India's oil consumption to be fastest in world by 2035: Survey

Latest News - Having pipped Japan to become world's third largest oil consumer, India's oil consumption growth will be the fastest among all major economies by 2035, BP Statistical Review of World Energy said.

India, Asia's second-biggest energy consumer since 2008, had in 2015 overtaken Japan as the world's third-largest oil consuming country behind US and China.

"We project that India's energy consumption grows the fastest among all major economies by 2035. As a result, the country remains import dependent despite increases in production," it said.

While energy consumption will grow by 4.2 per cent per annum — faster than all major economies in the world — India's consumption growth of (Read More)

Budget 2017: Centre may scrap Rs 4,500-cr PDS sugar subsidy

Latest News - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley might not offer Rs 18.50 per kg subsidy for purchase of sugar to states for selling at a subsidised rate via ration shops in his February 1 Budget and save about Rs 4,500 crore.

The Centre's contention is that there is no demarcation for BPL families in the new Food Law and there are apprehensions that state governments may divert subsidised sugar, which explains the current line of thinking, sources said.

At present, the scheme has a target of 40 crore beneficiaries of BPL (below poverty line) families. About 2.7 million tonnes of sugar per annum are required for PDS sale.

According to the existing scheme, states purchase sugar to be supplied through the public distribution system (PDS), popularly known as ration shops, from the open market at wholesale rates and sell at a subsidised rate of (Read More)

Good news! RBI may lift cash withdrawal limit by Feb-end

Latest News - With the cash crunch situation easing, the Reserve Bank might do away with the weekly withdrawal limits from banks as well as ATMs by the end of next month, bankers said.

The RBI had recently raised the ATM withdrawal limit to Rs 10,000 a day but maintained the weekly cap at Rs 24,000 for saving account and Rs 1 lakh for current account holders.

"I think the restrictions on withdrawal by RBI should be completely lifted by February-end or by first half of March as cash situation is easing gradually," Bank of Maharashtra executive director R K Gupta told PTI.

It is entirely RBI's decision and the (Read More)

Modi govt plans expansive budget despite growth, revenue worries

Latest News - India's finance minister is likely to borrow more than originally planned when he presents the budget on Feb. 1, senior aides and officials said, despite counting on revenues from a national sales tax whose launch date is still unknown.

Arun Jaitley is looking at how to fund giveaways to taxpayers and higher public investment to help nurse Asia's third-largest economy back to health after the government's shock decision in November to abolish high-value banknotes.

That is raising concern among some economists and investors that the government will take too many fiscal risks.

Yet officials say that, given the choice, they would choose growth sustained by (Read More)

Demonetisation may compel govt to provide stimulus: India Ratings

Latest news - Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget on February 1 may have to provide stimulus to the economy reeling under the 'Tsunami' of demonetisation, India Ratings and Research said today.

Amidst an uncertain global scenario, the Fitch Group company said that the Indian economy was cruising well till the tsunami of de-legalisation of high denomination currency hit the country.

"...The major dilemma for the finance minister in the Union Budget FY18 is — will a fresh round of fiscal stimulus be required to offset some of the ill effects of the currency de-legalisation," it said, in a report titled 'De-legalisation Tsunami May Compel Government to Provide Stimulus in Union Budget FY18'.

India Ratings estimates that GDP growth in the current fiscal will decline to 6.8 per cent from its (Read More)

Budget 2017: Crisis and opportunities in education sector

Latest News - The 2017-18 budget is an opportunity for the government to concentrate on improving school education for over 260.5 million children who enrolled in elementary and secondary school in 2015-16–children who will form the core of India’s working-age population, one billion by 2030, the largest in the world.

“Business as usual” will not solve the problem, submitted Pratham, an education nonprofit, in a pre-budget consultation with India’s finance ministry. “Unless major shifts are undertaken on an urgent basis to build children’s foundational skills, we are losing huge opportunities each year for improving the life chances of an entire generation of children and youth in this country,” the consultation note added.

IndiaSpend reached out to the education ministry for a comment on the 2017-18 budget, but we had not received a response at the time of publishing. (This story will be updated if and when the ministry responds.)

Higher education dominated last year’s education budget (with an increase of 13% over the 2015-16 budget) and the conversation about (Read More)

Most of the Rs 54,000-cr National Clean Energy Fund remains unused

Latest News - The effort of the Centre to financially support clean energy initiatives by imposing a cess on coal producers seems to have failed. 

The cess pool has collected Rs 54,000 crore since 2011-12 but only half has been transferred to the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF), and barely Rs 9,000 crore has been used to “finance clean energy projects”. NCEF was renamed Clean Environment Fund in last year’s Budget.

A major share of the NCEF fund went as “budgetary allocation” to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The amount of Budget grant to the MNRE was Rs 1,977 crore in 2014-15; Rs 4,000 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 4,947 crore in 2016-17 — 98 per cent of the MNRE’s budget — indicated data compiled by the finance ministry, which was reviewed by Business Standard.

The disbursed amount included projects from (Read More)

Sebi wishlist for Budget 2017: Here are the key points

Latest News - Ahead of Union Budget 2017, the capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has sent its list of recommendations to the Finance Ministry. Sebi has asked the government to encourage stock trading and investments in mutual funds by easing tax rules. 

The regulator has also recommended lowering the securities transaction tax (STT) for tax trading and a slew of other measures, a report published in Economics Times said. 

Lower STT for trading 

After its introduction in 2004, STT was fully deductible against the income tax payable. But, after (Read More)

Budget to focus on fiscal consolidation path: Nomura

Latest News - The Indian government is expected to continue with fiscal consolidation and deliver a "popular, but not a populist" budget with a fiscal deficit target of 3 per cent in 2017-18, says a report.

According to Japanese financial services major Nomura, a populist budget is not likely, though there are concerns that the government may be tempted to provide such measures amid derailment of growth momentum post demonetisation.

"While the theme of demonetisation will inevitably be present in the budget, we expect a popular and prudent plan, not a populist one, with the government sticking to its fiscal consolidation targets, aided by higher revenue collections," Nomura said.

It further said the budget is expected to aim at (Read More)

Pharma industry wants Budget to offer clarity on tax structure

Latest News - The pharmaceutical industry has asked the government to bring in more clarity in terms of tax structure and provide incentives on research and development (R&D) as part of its budget wish-list.

The industry players also want the government to provide a road map towards bringing down corporate income tax down to 25 per cent.

The Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA), a body comprising mostly home-grown pharma firms, said all excisable goods used for R&D purposes should be exempted from central excise duty.

"Introduce parity in the input (12 per cent) and output (6 per cent) rate of excise duty for pharmaceutical products," it said.

Revenue body asks FM not to implement GST in hurry; threatens legal action

Latest News - Claiming that demonetisation has affected country's growth, a major central revenue body has asked Finance Minister Arun Jaitley not to implement Goods and Services Tax (GST) in a hurry and threatened to take legal recourse in case their concerns are not addressed.

It termed as "illegal" certain decisions taken by Jaitley-headed GST Council and demanded a correction. It also sought that the officer's body be consulted before any final decision is taken.

The council in its meeting on January 16, had agreed to give states the powers to levy tax on economic activity within 12 nautical miles of territorial waters.

Also, it was decided that the states will have powers to assess and administer 90 per cent of the (Read More)

Tax rationalisation, digitisation key areas for Budget: HSBC

Latest News - Among the key expectations from the ensuing Budget are a new fiscal policy framework, corporate tax rationalisation, higher rural capex and focus on efficient social sector spending, says a HSBC report.

According to the global financial services major, the government should continue with its fiscal consolidation in a "practical fashion" and stick to the 3 per cent pre-announced fiscal deficit for 2016-17, but give itself headroom for compensating States for revenue losses once GST is in place.

"In our view, a balancing act would be to stick to the 3 per cent of GDP target for the core fiscal deficit, and, if necessary, use extra headroom of strictly under 0.3 per cent of GDP for compensating States for (Read More)

Budget 2017: EC bars govt from announcing schemes for poll-bound states

Latest News - The Election Commission tonight gave its nod to the Centre to present the Union Budget on February 1 ahead of the Assembly polls, but said no schemes related to these poll-bound states can be announced and the Finance Minister's speech should not refer to the government's achievements in these states.

It also reminded the government of a 2009 advisory which said vote-on-account instead of a full fledged budget is presented ahead of elections as per convention.

"The Commission hereby directs that in the interest of free and fair elections and in order to maintain level playing field... No state-specific schemes shall be announced which may have the effect of (Read More)

L&T, Reliance, M&M bet on higher defence budget

Latest News - Plans of companies like Larsen & Toubro, Mahindra & Mahindra and Reliance Infrastructure are riding on the government's budgetary allocation for defence. These players expect orders for the manufacture of single-and double-engine fighter jets, naval helicopters and submarines, and export of defence systems to pick up in the next financial year.

Excluding pensions, Rs 2,58,589 crore was allocated for defence in 2016-17, up from Rs 2,46,727 crore in 2015-16 and Rs 2,22,370 crore in 2014-15. India’s defence budget is 1.71% of its gross domestic product (GDP) and a parliamentary standing committee has recommended raising this to 3% of GDP.

Mahindra group president and chief executive officer, aerospace and defence, S P Shukla said he (Read More)

SC to hear plea to postpone Union Budget

Latest News - The Supreme Court will on Monday hear a plea seeking postponement of Union Budget presentation ahead of the upcoming assembly polls in five states.

Manohar Lal Sharma, who has filed a plea seeking postponement of the Union Budget to March, earlier on January 20 asked the apex court for more time to reply in the matter.

Sharma in his plea stated that the people would face a lot of problems due to the upcoming assembly elections in five states.

An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar said (Read More)

Samsung blames Galaxy Note 7 fires on faulty batteries

Latest News - The world's biggest smartphone maker Samsung blamed faulty batteries today for the fires that led to last year's humiliating recall of its flagship Galaxy Note 7 device.

Internal and independent investigations "concluded that batteries were found to be the cause of the Note 7 incidents", the South Korean company said in a statement.

The giant conglomerate was forced to discontinue the smartphone -- originally intended to compete with Apple's iPhone -- after a chaotic recall that saw replacement devices also catching fire.

The debacle cost the company billions in (Read More)