Page 19 - Subhomoy Bhattacharjee

Decoding 15th FC's estimate of mismatch in two sets of salary income data

The Commission asserts salary incomes shown by taxpayers are understated by 50%, finds scope to extract more direct tax by chasing evasion without changing tax rates; experts aren't convinced

Uttarakhand glacier burst may spell more trouble for Char Dham road project

Almost all the national highway projects in Uttarakhand had been grouped under the name of Char Dham project by the Union ministry of road transport and highways

Budget 2021 aims to reset economy with honesty in numbers, without doles

Budget aims for minimum government interference while ensuring there is certainty in the tax rates and other rules

Why grand policy statements in this 'never-before' like Budget are unlikely

In a CII event last year, Sitharaman said this time she shall offer a 'never before' like budget

Vital lessons from pandemic for a nation clawing back on to the growth path

While Centre-state cooperation on lockdown and vaccine roll-out are commendable, the fractious GST council meet and states not allowing in CBI could prove to be a spanner

Tax sops over subsidies: Why PLI scheme doesn't enthuse India Inc

Local sourcing of components and state monitoring keep firms away from production-linked incentives

Budget 2021: Super agency to probe financial sector frauds on cards

Move, proposed by CII in Budget wish list, could enhance ease of doing biz

No early end to India's love for coal despite climatic commitments

While home minister Amit Shah sees it as critical to India's goal of becoming a $5-trn economy, coal plays a crucial role in the politics of the Centre and eastern states too

How emerging uptick in commodity prices spells good news for Indian firms

A key reason the upswing in the commodity cycle is likely to help India is the relative performance of the dollar vis-a-vis the rupee

Gajendra Haldea (1949-2021): Guru for a generation of infra project administrators

In an administrative structure that punishes rather than builds up expertise in a sector, Haldea doggedly stuck to building up one, extensively writing policies and contracts for infra projects

Tightening revenue deficit doesn't seem the right course: NIPFP director

For the next year, a high buoyancy and a positive growth should increase fiscal space, says Chakraborty

Humungous land assets a major hurdle in the PSU privatisation process

Large land holdings with public sector companies can scare off potential investors, who have to deal not only with issues about pricing of the land, but also about ownership rights

Expense planning: Budgetary allocations likely to maintain status quo

The numbers in aggregate mean the Government of India will not let the fiscal deficit run away in FY22

Covid-19 pandemic effect: Budget documents will not be printed this year

Risk factor: Printing requires staff to be cooped up in North Block for a fortnight

Every breath you take

Book review of Breathing Here is Injurious to Your Health

Huge spike in states' Q4 spend to be used mostly to settle current bills

Aggregate debt raised from the market by states has risen in nine months of this year by a massive 43.5% over last year. It is the biggest jump in state borrowings ever

Team Joe Biden: A climate adviser who is an India-Pakistan pundit too

John Kerry, Biden's pick for climate envoy, also knows the Afghanistan-Pakistan axis for a long time

The surprising truths the pandemic has exposed about Railways' functioning

While better performance this year shows the enterprise could do without its passenger train service, the downside is that there is little scope for its operating ratio to drop below 90%

State governments may use bank guarantees to buy Covid-19 vaccines

Advice comes from Centre; some states begin talks with pharma firms

Going green: India to focus on hydrogen to meet zero-emissions target

Options include generating hydrogen from coal, biogas, and through electrolysis