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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)