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Nirmala Sitharaman
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday appreciated Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah for his "focused" approach to restore the Union territory's economy, to which he responded by thanking her and quipping, "Please show me the money ma'am." The finance minister's commendation, delivered at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, came while reflecting on the national economy's journey, and highlighting the specific efforts in Jammu and Kashmir. She recalled how the UT's economy had been picking up under the Central rule, citing the successful "restoration of the J-K Bank", and the Centre's efforts to go into the "granular details" to boost the local economy. However, she noted that the revival took a "major hit" when the crucial tourism sector "came to a standstill" following external factors, in a veiled reference to border troubles and attacks, including the April 22 incident in Pahalgam. "I must appreciate the chief minister of J-K who met me twice, focu
Ahead of Budget 2026, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the simplification of customs would be the next big reform agenda for the government. During the current financial year, the government undertook reforms such as rate rationalisation and simplification of the income tax and Goods and Services Tax (GST) in a bid to boost consumption by providing more cash in the hands of the common man. "We need a complete overhaul of customs... we need to have customs simplified for people to feel that it is not cumbersome to comply... need to make it more transparent," Sitharaman said while speaking at the HT Leadership Summit here. There is a need to bring the virtues of income tax to the customs side in terms of transparency, she said, adding that the proposed reforms will be comprehensive and entail customs duty rate rationalisation. The announcements to this effect can be made in the upcoming Budget, likely to be presented on February 1. "We have brought down customs d
The Lok Sabha on Friday passed a bill to levy a cess on manufacturing units of pan masala, and utilise the fund for strengthening national security and improving public health. Replying to the debate on the Health Security se National Security Cess Bill, 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the cess will be shared with the states, as public health is a state subject. The bill was later passed by voice vote by the Lok Sabha. The bill seeks to augment the resources for meeting expenditure on national security and for public health by levying a cess on the machines installed or other processes undertaken to manufacture pan masala and similar goods. The purpose of the bill is to create a "dedicated and predictable resource stream" for two domains of national importance -- health and national security, she said. Sitharaman said pan masala will be taxed at the maximum 40 per cent rate under Goods and Services Tax (GST) based on its consumption, and there will be no impact of t
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said with the growing digitalisation of the economy and emergence of new financial products, countries globally will have to cooperate with timely exchange of information, while ensuring fairness and public trust in the tax system. Speaking at the 18th Global Forum Plenary meeting, Sitharaman said technological tools like artificial intelligence, along with judgement, should be used to ensure that tax information exchanged among jurisdictions leads to measurable outcomes. The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is a multilateral framework comprising 170 jurisdictions. It monitors and peer reviews the implementation of international standards on transparency and information exchange. Stating that confidentiality and cybersecurity must be maintained with great care, the minister called for joint attention and cooperation to the new challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy, emergence o
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said her ministry does not issue advisory or directions to Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) regarding its investment decisions, and emphasised that the investments that the state-owned insurer made in Adani Group were as per established SOPs. India's largest insurer has, over the years, made investment decisions across companies based on fundamentals and detailed due diligence. Following due diligence as per established standard operating procedures (SOPs), it has bought shares across half a dozen listed companies of Adani Group, whose book value stands at Rs 38,658.85 crore and invested another Rs 9,625.77 crore in debt instruments of the conglomerate. "The Ministry of Finance does not issue any advisory/direction to LIC in connection with matters related to investment of LIC fund," she said in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha. The investment decisions of the state-owned insurer, she said, are taken by "LIC alone ...
The government on Monday sought Parliament's nod for net additional spending of Rs 41,455 crore in the current fiscal, which includes over Rs 18,000 crore expenditure towards fertiliser subsidy. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the first batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants for 2025-26 in the Lok Sabha. It seeks Parliament's approval for a gross additional expenditure of Rs 1.32 lakh crore. This includes proposals with a net cash outgo of Rs 41,455.39 crore and gross additional expenditure, matched by savings of the Ministries/Departments of Rs 90,812 crore. As per the Supplementary, approval of Parliament is being sought for spending Rs 18,525 crore on fertiliser and related subsidies, and about Rs 9,500 crore by the Petroleum Ministry to compensate oil marketing companies for under-recoveries.