Page 22 - Finance Minister

LS election phase 2: FM Sitharaman, Rahul Dravid among early voters

Polling was underway on Friday in 88 constituencies spread across 13 states and union territories in the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging people to cast their votes in record numbers. Polling started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. Asserting that their vote is their voice, Modi especially told the youth and women voters to turn up at the polling booths in great numbers, and said a high voter turnout strengthens democracy. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also urged voters to come out and vote to protect democracy from the clutches of dictatorship. He also said that the Constitution should reverberate in their hearts before they push to voting button. In Kerala and Karnataka, long queues of voters were seen outside polling booths as soon as voting started. However, there were reports of EVM breakdowns in various booths across Kerala, delaying the election process in those places. Polling in underway at 20 Lok Sabha seats in .

Above-normal monsoon likely to ease food prices: Finance ministry

FinMin report says rupee expected to remain within comfortable range

Chandrasekhar writes to FM over unpaid dues to Kerala's govt employees

Training guns at the CPI (M) government, Chandrashekhar stated that for several months, the salary of pensioners has not been paid by the Kerala government

Lot of people coming back to India to establish business: FM Sitharaman

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said reverse migration had started as a lot of people are coming back to establish business here. According to her, reverse migration has started in which a lot of people, who have a global footprint, are finding businesses, professions and careers to be built in India. "Ideally, India should be a country which is worth for our grandchildren to stay and live and lead their lives and contribute for the country rather than run away from here because opportunities, job satisfaction, career enhancement, are better there and not here," the FM said during an interactive meet on Economy and The Vision for 'Amrit Kaal-2047.' The event was organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants Of India, Southern India Regional Council here in Bengaluru. Sitharaman appealed to chartered accountants to bring more informal businesses on the formal side so that they can reap the benefits of the open world. According to her, small businesses pref

BJP may bring back electoral bonds after 2024 elections: FM Sitharaman

Electoral bond issue: Finance Minister Sitharaman said electoral bonds could be reintroduced with improvements for transparency and stakeholder consultations if BJP came back to power after the ongoin

Electoral bonds better than giving sacks of money to parties, says FM

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday targeted the Congress for dropping the restoration of the old pension scheme that it promised in many states from its Lok Sabha election manifesto, saying the party is an expert in misleading people for votes. The senior BJP leader also defended the electoral bond scheme, saying it was introduced through a law passed in Parliament and was a better system as the transfer of money was visible in accounts instead of the earlier practice when cash-filled "sacks" and "suitcases" were given to parties. "Whether the system is perfect is a different matter, but it is a better system than what was there earlier because money will be visible in the accounts on both sides," she said at a press conference here. Rejecting the opposition's criticism over rising prices, she said the Centre's record is clear as it has taken continuous steps to reduce inflation and efforts are being made to reduce it further. She hit out at the previous Ashok Geh

India needs more leaders like Manmohan Singh to propel growth momentum

The standard critique of Singh mingles this lack of legitimacy with his retiring manner and stilted speechmaking to create a picture of a weak man who just happened to make history

RBI monetary policy highlights: Last mile of disinflation is always challenging, sticky, says Governor Das

RBI MPC highlights: Catch all the highlights related to RBI's Monetary Policy Committee announcements here

The long road to liberalisation

The return of Indira Gandhi and the subsequent takeover by Rajiv Gandhi saw one of the periods of highest economic growth initially but these and associated investments were powered by dollops of debt

GDP set to grow at least 8% in Jan-March quarter: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Country's economy is projected to grow at 7.6% in the current fiscal year to March 31, according to the latest government estimates

Cong leader Priyanka Gandhi slams govt over rising debt, inflation

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra slammed the BJP-led Centre on Saturday over its proposal to borrow more than Rs 14 lakh crore, asking why is the government "drowning the people in debt" when instead of relief being provided to them, the "burden of unemployment, inflation and economic crisis" is increasing. In her budget speech last month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed to borrow Rs 14.13 lakh crore by issuing dated securities to meet a revenue shortfall in the next financial year starting April 1. In a post in Hindi on X, Gandhi said: "The finance ministry stated that the government is going to borrow more than Rs 14 lakh crore in the current financial year. Why?" In the 67 years since independence till 2014, the country's total debt was Rs 55 lakh crore, the Congress general secretary said while pointing out that in the last 10 years, the Narendra Modi government increased it to Rs 205 lakh crore. The Modi government has borrowed about Rs 150 lakh crore in the

BS Manthan: Reforms momentum will continue, says FM Nirmala Sitharaman

From tariffs and Centre-state relations to how she unwinds, Sitharaman covered a vast ground at BS summit; Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw spoke on the steps towards India becoming a product nation

Tariffs not a permanent stance of our government: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

At Business Standard Manthan, Sitharaman said that in matters of economy, the differences between Centre and States must not arise on the grounds of politics

ED raids multiple Punjab locations in guava orchards compensation 'scam'

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted searches at multiple locations in Punjab in connection with a money laundering case linked to an alleged guava orchards compensation "scam", official sources said. The ED case was registered after the federal agency took cognisance of a Punjab Vigilance Bureau FIR pertaining to alleged embezzlement of nearly Rs 137 crore released as compensation for guava orchards on land acquired by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA). The premises of some senior government officials and some private persons are being covered, the sources said. The Punjab Vigilance Bureau had arrested a number of people, including some horticulture department officials, in this case, they said.

Business Standard Manthan: All roads lead to Bharat Mandapam today

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal & Railways and Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw among those who will discuss India's developed-nation roadmap at Business Standard

FM rubbishes K'taka's claim of injustice in fund's release from Centre

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday rubbished the Karnataka government's claim that the Centre was not releasing its due share of special grants' as recommended by the 15th Finance Commission. She denied that there was any recommendation by the Finance Commission. Karnataka government claims that Rs 5,495 crore special grant was not released to Karnataka and this is totally false. The Finance Commission did not in its final report recommend any such special grant, the Finance Minister claimed. Sitharaman's statement came a day after Karnataka filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court requesting a direction to the Centre to immediately release grants under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to the state, which is reeling under acute drought. In February, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, his deputy D K Shivakumar, Congress MLAs and other Congress leaders at the central level staged a demonstration in New Delhi alleging that the Centre was apathetic towa

FM meets ADB vice prez, urges to become partner in development agenda

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday met Asian Development Bank's new Vice-President (market solutions) Bhargav Dasgupta and discussed ways to further the development agenda. "Both exchanged views on how @ADB_HQ may partner with India to further the development agenda. They also discussed harnessing ADB's convening power to crowd in other public and private sector institutions to participate in India's growth," the finance ministry said in a post on X. ADB in September 2023, appointed Dasgupta as VP for a period of three years. Prior to this, he was MD and CEO of ICICI Lombard General Insurance. Established in 1966, ADB is owned by 68 members 49 from the region. It is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific, while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.

All that glitters is not gold for Reserve Bank & FinMin

Rightly so. Since November 1962, there have been many attempts to monetise gold. It's finally happening, but we must look for sustainable growth

Need to learn lessons from electoral bonds scheme, says FM Sitharaman

Sitharaman observed that more people are investing directly in stock market. Finance minister noted stability of Indian stock market, advocating for it to operate independently

Electoral bonds data: FM says party funding system needs transparency

Election Commission made public names of companies and individuals who had donated billions of rupees to political parties under the system that had kept their identities secret