Page 37 - Finance Minister

India has robust commercial systems giving confidence to investors: FM

FM Nirmala Sitharaman said that it is now agreed during the negotiations of bilateral trade treaties that India has a better robust commercial system giving investors the confidence they need

G20 Sherpa's meeting: Negotiations to begin on leaders' statement

There have been differences between the two groupings over the language used to criticize Russia's invasion of Ukraine

China rolls over $2 bn as loan to Pakistan: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar

Cash-strapped Pakistan has received a rollover loan of USD 2 billion that matured last week from its "all-weather ally" China, finance minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday, a move that will help Islamabad secure the much-required bailout from the IMF. The rollover is one of the key requirements for Pakistan meeting its external financing needed for it to ink the staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "I am happy to confirm that this has been rolled over on March 23," Dar told parliament, adding that all formalities were completed. Pakistan, currently in the throes of a major economic crisis, is grappling with high external debt and dwindling foreign exchange reserves. Pakistan is scrambling to increase its forex reserves which are estimated to be at USD 4.8 billion after China refinanced USD 500 million a fortnight ago. Pakistan has been negotiating with the IMF for the release of a USD 1.1 billion bailout package since February but has so far met with litt

PSU banks recover 14% of written-off loans in last 5 years: FM Sitharaman

Public sector banks could recover only 14 per cent of the written-off loans worth Rs 7.34 lakh crore in the last five years ending March 2022, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. Of Rs 7.34 lakh crore written-off loans, state-owned lenders recovered Rs 1.03 lakh crore, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. So after recovery, net written-off stood at Rs 6.31 lakh crore in the last five years. Replying to another question, the Finance Minister said non-performing assets (NPAs), including, those in respect of which full provisioning has been made on completion of four years, are removed from the balance-sheet of the bank concerned by way of write-off as per RBI guidelines and policy approved by bank boards. Banks evaluate/consider the impact of write-offs as part of their regular exercise to clean up their balance sheets, avail tax benefits and optimise capital, in accordance with RBI guidelines and policy approved by their boards, she said.

FM moves amendment to Finance Bill in Parliament to correct STT rate

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday moved an amendment to the Finance Bill in Rajya Sabha to correct the figures with regard to rate of Security Transaction Tax (STT) to be levied on sale of options as well as futures. The amended Finance Bill 2023 by correcting STT rate has been returned to Lok Sabha, sources said. The amended Bill is likely to be taken up by Lok Sabha either today or tomorrow and thereafter the Budgetary exercise would be complete. The Lok Sabha is adjourned till 4 pm. In the Finance Bill 2023, passed by the Lok Sabha on Friday, the Securities Transaction Tax on options is proposed to be increased to 0.0625 per cent from 0.05 per cent and on futures contracts to 0.0125 from 0.01 per cent. After the Lok Sabha cleared the Finance Bill, which has 64 official amendments, the finance ministry issued a statement saying that there was a typographical error in the amendments with respect to the change in STT on options trading. The error, the finance ministry

Total amount of cess and surcharge grew by 63.74% from 2017-18 to 2022-23

Collections under GST Compensation Cess grew by 107.6 per cent from 2017-18 to 2022-23 (RE), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha in a written reply

Indian govt has 54 Chinese investment proposals pending: Finance Minister

The Indian government has received about 54 foreign direct investment proposals from China since last year that are pending for approval, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

FM tells PSBs to diversify deposit, asset base amid global financial stress

Use the crisis to frame detailed crisis management strategies, FM to bankers

FM Sitharaman reviews PSBs' performance amid banking crisis in US, Europe

After detailed deliberations, the Finance Minister advised PSBs to remain vigilant about the interest rate risks and regularly undertake stress tests

Finance Bill: Withholding tax on royalty and technical fee doubled to 20%

The decision is part of the 64 amendments introduced through the Finance Bill 2023

Govt will set up a committee to review pension scheme: FM tells Parliament

Employees from several states have been demanding a change in the current pension system. Some states, including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand have already switched back to the old pension scheme

Tamil Nadu annual revenue deficit down by Rs 3,000 cr: Finance Minister

The Tamil Nadu government has reduced the annual revenue deficit by about Rs 3,000 crore in the revised estimates of the current year, from about Rs 62,000 crore inherited when the DMK assumed office nearly two years ago, Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said on Monday. Presenting a tax-free budget for 2023-24 in the Assembly, he said the government's measures have helped to reduce the revenue deficit. "This was approximately Rs 5,000 crore lower than the level of the pre-COVID year of 2019-20," he said. "In accordance with the mandate of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of achieving zero-revenue deficit, the State will adopt a smooth glide path without compromising on our welfare initiatives and developmental priorities," he said. Fall in tax revenue in the previous years was the main reason for the fiscal stress faced by the government at the time of assuming office, he claimed. The State's own tax revenue (SOTR) is estimated to increase to Rs 1,51,870.61 crore in the revise

Urban infrastructure principles on the cards in July G20 meeting

The dates for the Gandhinagar meeting have not been finalised

Sitharaman to present J-K budget in LS today as 2nd leg of session begins

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday will present the budget for 2023-24 for the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir in the Lok Sabha

FM Sitharaman to table supplementary grant for J&K in Rajya Sabha

While Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan will move a motion for appointment of members in the Public Accounts Committee and public sector undertakings

CAG to chair G20 SAI on March 13-15 in Guwahati, 'Responsible AI' in focus

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India is the Chair of the Supreme Audit Institutions-20 (SAI20) Engagement Group under India's G20 Presidency

Rs 31,462.62 cr collected in taxes till Feb of this fiscal: Delhi FM Gahlot

The Delhi government collected Rs 31,462.62 crore in taxes till February of this financial year, including Rs 26,096.79 crore from GST, according to an official statement. Ahead of presenting the Budget for Delhi, Finance Minister Kailash Gahlot on Friday convened a meeting with senior officials of the Department of Trade and Taxes. He reviewed the budget preparations and discussed measures to promote trade in Delhi and analysed the efforts being made to augment revenue from tax collection in the city. In a statement, he said, "The Trade and Taxes department plays an important role in the government. The revenue collections in GST and VAT combined was more than Rs 27,000 crores in 2021-22. This year, we expect remarkable growth in the collection." Gahlot rued that in addition to tax detault, evasion is a big problem for any state. "Under Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the government wants to have a transparent system and is continuously working on identifying defaulters. Regular

Central policies financially choking state, its development work: Kerala FM

The Centre through its various policies on borrowing was financially choking Kerala and the welfare and developmental activities it was undertaking, state Finance Minister K N Balagopal said in the Assembly on Monday. The Minister referred to the financial restrictions by the Centre in response to a query by CPI(M) MLA I B Satheesh on how the central government was trying to weaken the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) which bankrolls the majority of developmental projects in the state. Balagopal said that one of the means adopted by the central government to financially choke the state was by adding to its borrowings the loans taken by KIIFB and the company which takes care of social security pensions. However, the Central government implements national highway projects through loans taken by entities like National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), but these are not added to the borrowings by the Centre, he said. "This is the double standards of the central ...

Govt not in 'crazy rush' to sell everything: FM Sitharaman on privatisation

The government is not in a "crazy rush" to sell everything and it will continue to have a presence in four strategic sectors, including telecom, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday. In strategic sectors, a bare minimum presence of the existing public sector commercial enterprises at the holding company level will be retained under government control. The remaining enterprises in a strategic sector will be considered for privatisation or merger with another PSE or for closure. Speaking at the Raisina Dialogue, the minister said that the country will have government-owned professionally run companies in four broad strategic sectors. According to the PSE Policy, the four broad strategic sectors are - atomic energy, space and defence; transport and telecommunication; Power, Petroleum, Coal and other minerals; and Banking, Insurance and Financial Services. The policy, she added, "is not a crazy rushing out to sell everything..nor it is saying that the government will ru

As states table their Budgets, here's how the capex numbers stack up

Capex is not the favourite word in the lexicon of ministers despite the generous flow of resources for building assets