Nirmala Sitharaman

Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday dared Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to come to Parliament for a debate on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and EVMs, instead of "issuing challenges" on social media. In a post on X, the finance minister underlined that Union Home Minister Amit Shah has already said the government is ready to convene a special session of Parliament to debate on SIR and electronic voting machines (EVMs). Sitharaman's response came shortly after Gandhi dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to an open debate on his charge that the "opposition is anti-national" and asked why the PM has not filed a defamation case against him over his "foreign connections" allegation. She said, "Rahul ji, you ask the Prime Minister to choose a venue for a debate. There is already one: Parliament, where you happen to be the LoP. Why not show the same enthusiasm for a debate in Parliament that you show while issuing challenges on social media?" "Just yesterday

Asserts there is no fragility in the economy and India needs less cynicism

A reduction in LTCG tax would be desirable for a capital-starved economy but would not, by itself, trigger sustained foreign institutional investor (FII) inflows, said Venugopal Garre of Bernstein.

Industry body says proposed removal of GST arrest powers, higher prosecution thresholds and stronger taxpayer safeguards mark a major shift towards trust-based governance

Amid the IDBI bank disinvestment row, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has expressed solidarity with the employees and questioned the government's decision to sell off the profitable public bank to a Canadian firm. The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha asserted that public banks are not assets to be sold off, they are tools to build the nation. Hitting back, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Congress used banks and financial institutions as "personal entities" and pressured bank employees to extend loans at their whim, bypassing prudent lending norms. She also cited several instances from the Congress-led government, including the removal of SBI chairman R K Talwar in 1976 under Indira Gandhi's rule after he allegedly refused to give in to political pressure to relax lending norms for a company linked to Sanjay Gandhi. In a letter addressed to members of the IDBI bank family on Thursday, Gandhi said that in March last year, a group of employees of the bank came to meet him i

The six-member committee will review banking regulations, capital requirements, priority sector lending and digital innovation, and recommend reforms to boost global competitiveness.

Citing World Bank data, Sitharaman said 496 million people moved above the $4.20-a-day poverty line between 2011-12 and 2023-24, reaffirming the government's focus on inclusive growth.

Amid the row over divestment of IDBI Bank, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday took on the Congress party and the previous UPA government, alleging they used banks and financial institutions as "personal entities" and pressured bank employees to extend loans at their whim, bypassing prudent lending norms. In a post on X, the Finance Minister also cited several instances from the Congress-led government, including the removal of SBI Chairman R K Talwar in 1976 under Indira Gandhi's rule after he allegedly refused to give in to political pressure to relax lending norms for a company linked to Sanjay Gandhi. She was responding to a post on X by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on IDBI Bank. On the remarks made by Rahul Gandhi, Sitharaman said, "IDBI Bank was handed over to us in poor shape, as IDBI itself was forced to lend to large business groups with close connections to @INCIndia leaders such as Videocon, Winsome, ABG Shipyard, and Kingfisher. "These turned into bad .

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday hit out at Rahul Gandhi over his comments on Tata issue, saying the Congress leader is trying to incite business leaders to join him in spreading distrust and toxicity and he should refrain from "politicising" every issue. Accusing Gandhi of repeatedly decrying the successes of Indian industry and entrepreneurs, Sitharaman said the Narendra Modi government values Indian industry as job creators and drivers of economic growth. "Our policies have been tailored to enable enterprise, support industry and encourage investment," Sitharaman said in reply to a post on X by Rahul Gandhi, in which he claimed, "Tata is being criminally destroyed, and no business leader dares say a word". Sitharaman, in her reply, said: "Being the LoP @RahulGandhi, I suggest you refrain from politicising every issue. Also, casually labelling commercial and legal matters as criminal is unacceptable. You have repeatedly decried the successes of Indian industry &

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the Centre is committed to reducing the fiscal deficit, as evidenced by the annual budgets, stressing that the national debt will be limited to 50 per cent of the GDP by 2030. Addressing concerns about the national debt, she said that since the post-COVID period, every nation has faced debt challenges. "We are committed to reducing the fiscal deficit, as evidenced by our annual budgets. We have openly stated our goal that by 2030, the national debt will be limited to 50 per cent of the GDP. We are consistently putting in place measures to reduce the Union Government's debt, and international organisations have acknowledged India's disciplined approach to debt management." Sitharaman told reporters here.

The 18.55-acre facility in Jatni will support mission-critical payment systems, strengthen digital financial services and boost cybersecurity training

The FSDC, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, called for stronger financial safeguards amid geopolitical uncertainties, the AI boom and rising global bond yields.

FM calls for multilateral rules as economic penalties have consequences beyond their intended targets

A sharp 1-2 day market rally that an LTCG cut would trigger may actually be used to offload positions, Bernstein said in an October 19 note.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says China has denied market access to Indian products despite repeated requests, while calling for a review of India's trade pact with Asean.

India and Japan explore deeper cooperation in semiconductors, electric mobility and data centres, including through the $600 million India-Japan Fund

India wants to promote trade settlements in rupee to help partner countries facing a shortage of hard currencies so that they continue importing essential goods, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Friday. When countries struggling to access hard currencies often face difficulties in maintaining trade despite their need to import goods, and local currency settlements could help address the problem, she said in an interaction with the Atlantic Council on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank annual meetings at Bangkok, Thailand. "One of the things that we in India want to do is to settle in rupee, whatever the payment is got to be done by those countries which import goods from us," she said. She said India was working towards facilitating rupee and local currency settlements to ensure that trade continued with countries facing foreign currency constraints. "Rupee and local currency settlements are something which we want to do for the benefit of countries which are starved of

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday expressed hope that the India-US trade agreement would be concluded at the earliest, in the interest of global trade and bilateral economic ties between the two countries. "I think recently the Indian Commerce Minister has also spoken that they expect and wish to have the agreement signed soon. Negotiations have been going on. I hope, in the interest of global trade and in the interest of trade between the two partners, India and US, the trade agreement gets concluded at the earliest," she said. Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday said the first phase of the India-US trade pact has been finalised and is undergoing legal drafting. On trade with China, Sitharaman said the growing trade imbalance and persistent restrictions on market access for Indian products remained major concerns, despite years of engagement with Beijing. India has consistently sought market access in China for products such as generic medicines, ..

Finance Minister said that Chinese non-tariff barriers are restricting Indian exports of generic drugs, beef, and vegetables, complicating efforts to strengthen trade and improve bilateral relations

Open to views on long-term capital gains tax and securities transaction tax, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman