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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)