Page 40 - Finance Ministry

Ensure smooth implementation of PM Vishwakarma scheme: FinMin to PSBs

Under the scheme, the government will provide credit support of up to Rs 1 lakh for the first tranche and Rs 2 lakh for the second tranche at an interest rate of 5 per cent

Number of Jan Dhan accounts crosses the 500 million mark, shows data

The average balance in PMJDY accounts stands at Rs 4,076, and over 55 million PMJDY accounts are receiving Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) benefits

Railways seeks finance ministry's help in addressing pension liabilities

FinMin had earlier rejected the request; Railways had met pension needs for FY23 from its own funds

Contract reform seeks to settle disputes, make doing business easier

Second edition of the Vivad Se Vishwas scheme nudges government officers not to pursue adverse arbitration orders endlessly

FinMin to hold Chintan Shivir in Gujarat, discusses roadmap for India 2047

The finance ministry will organise a two-day Chintan Shivir in Gujarat starting from August 20 to discuss various issues, including the roadmap for India to become a developed nation by 2047, officials said on Monday. Secretaries and senior officials from the six departments in the finance ministry and the corporate affairs ministry will attend the two-day session that will be held at Kevadia. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman will address the meeting on August 21. The Chintan Shivir, which is being held days before the G20 Leaders' Summit, will also see separate sessions on various agenda being pursued under India's Presidency. India is currently holding G20 Presidency and the Summit meeting is scheduled to be held on September 9-10 in the national capital. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a clarion call to make India a developed country by 2047 -- the 100th year of its independence. In the nine years of the Modi government, the Indian economy has moved from being the te

Direct tax collections rise 16% to Rs 6.53 trillion till Aug 10: I-T dept

Gross direct tax collection grew 15.73 per cent to Rs 6.53 lakh crore till August 10 in the current fiscal, the Income Tax department said on Friday. Net direct tax collection after adjusting refunds stands at Rs 5.84 lakh crore, which is 17.33 per cent higher than the net collections for the corresponding period of last year. "The provisional figures of direct tax collections up to 10th August, 2023 continue to register steady growth," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement. The collection is 32.03 per cent of the total budget estimates of direct taxes for current fiscal 2023-24. Refunds amounting to Rs 69,000 crore have been issued till August 10, which are 3.73 per cent higher than refunds issued during the same period in the preceding year.

FM Sitharaman exhorts int'l community to help debt-saddled countries

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday pitched for greater coordination among the international community to address the challenges faced by debt-saddled low and mid-income countries. Addressing a seminar on the global economy organised as part of the finance track of India's G-20 presidency, Sitharaman said such a move can help shield vulnerable populations from economic hardships. "The international community must collaborate and find stronger ways to coordinate debt restructuring, for low-income and vulnerable middle-income countries facing debt distress," the finance minister said in a video address. She said as part of the Indian presidency of the top economies' grouping, the country has placed great importance on the management of global debt vulnerabilities because of its commitment to be the voice of the global south. The finance minister said the G-20 finance track has discussed the issue of debt challenges in vulnerable economies which present "significant ..

Sri Lanka now offers many opportunities to Indian investors: Lankan FM

Sri Lanka has outperformed the IMF targets with the country becoming revenue surplus and the country is offering many opportunities for Indian investors, the island nation's Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe said on Thursday. The Minister, in Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena's cabinet, said the Sri Lankan government has commenced negotiations to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). "Compared to the IMF target for the quarter, we have outperformed the set targets with the country's revenue now in surplus in the first quarter of 2023," he said at an event organised by CII. 2023 is "very crucial" for the island nation as the International Monetary Fund is scheduled to hold its review meeting in September, he said. "We are introducing the Public Finance Management Act by December 2023 and other legislation bringing in robust fiscal rules and disciplines on fiscal transparency," he said. "In one of the many firsts, our government has commenced negotiations

Finance ministry cautions people against 'matrimonial dating scam'

The Ministry of Finance said that customs will never call or send a text message asking people to pay customs duty through a personal bank account

India's anti-dumping duty impositions drop amid post Covid-19 shift

The Indian government's stance on anti-dumping duties has seen a decrease in the acceptance of recommendations from the DGTR, particularly concerning goods from China

Govt lost Rs 1 trn in taxes in FY21 due to corporate tax cut: MoS Fin

The government lost a little over Rs 1 lakh crore in 2020-21 on account of a cut in corporate taxes, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said on Tuesday. In September 2019, the government announced a cut in base corporate tax for then existing companies to 22 per cent from 30 per cent; and for new manufacturing firms, incorporated after October 1, 2019, to 15 per cent from 25 per cent. Companies opting for these new tax rates had to forego all exemptions and incentives. The effective tax rate for existing units, after considering surcharges and cess -- such as Swachh Bharat cess and education cess, which are levied on top of the income and corporate tax rates -- is 25.17 per cent as compared to 34.94 per cent earlier. For new units, it is 17.01 per cent as against 29.12 per cent previously. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Chaudhary had said the estimated revenue loss (due to reduction in corporate tax) in FY 2020-21 has been reestimated to be Rs 100,241 crore. In

CAG asks FinMin to put in place online Customs refund system for efficiency

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has asked the Finance Ministry to consider having an online system for processing customs refunds along the lines of the GSTN system to make it more efficient. The official auditor has also flagged "inordinate delays" in the implementation of the module for daily updation of exchange rate and asked to make the system operational at the earliest. Under the Customs Act, refunds can be claimed in cases where the imported goods are found to be defective or not in conformity with the specification agreed upon, when the goods are exported after payment of the export duty/cess and the exported goods are returned to the exporter. A refund can also be claimed by a person who has paid duty on assessment of imported goods and applies for refund of duty consequent on remission /abatement of duty due to pilferage/damage of goods. "The Ministry may consider having an online workflow for capturing and processing refunds on the lines of the GSTN System so

14,277 GST appeals pending against disputed tax demands by authorities

As many as 14,227 appeals against disputed tax demands raised by Central GST authorities are pending as of June 2023, Parliament was informed on Monday. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the 49th meeting of the GST Council had approved the setting up of GST Appellate Tribunals across the country. "It has been planned to establish the State benches in a phased manner based on the request of states," the Minister said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha. He also gave details of the number of GST appeals against demands by Central GST authorities pending at various levels. During 2023-24 (up to June 2023), 14,227 appeals were pending. The number was gone up from 11,899 pending appeals as of March 2023. Setting up of GST Appellate Tribunal benches in states would help in faster dispute resolution. Currently, taxpayers aggrieved with the ruling of tax authorities are required to move the respective High Courts. The resolution process takes longer time as High Courts a

Five-day work week in banks soon as industry demand gets nod from IBA

The proposal has now been sent to the finance ministry for its final approval. If approved, all Saturdays will be declared as bank holidays

Policy repo rate cut not likely before Q1FY25: Business Standard poll

Despite inflation worries, MPC to maintain status quo on rates in its meet this week

India's improved monsoon performance, capex augur well: FinMin report

India's improved monsoon performance, continued expansion in manufacturing, and vigorous capital expenditure spending by the public and private sectors augur well for macroeconomic stability and growth during FY24, the finance ministry said in a report. However, it cautioned that cross-border spillovers and adverse global developments can act anytime as a deterrent to achieving the potential high growth path in the current financial year. The government's emphasis on capex in recent years has given a much-needed thrust to investments in key infrastructure, which has resulted in crowding in of private investment to kickstart the virtuous circle of job creation, income, productivity, demand, and exports supported by favourable demographic dividend over the coming years, said the June edition of the Finance Ministry's Monthly Economic Review. As per Axis Bank Business and Economic Research, Capex by the Corporate sector increased by 22.4 per cent in FY23 compared to the last year, driv

Top 50 wilful defaulters owe Rs 87,295 cr to banks: Finance Minister

The finance ministry on Tuesday said top 50 wilful defaulters including Gitanjali Gems Limited, Era Infra Engineering Limited, REI Agro Limited, and ABG Shipyard Limited owe Rs 87,295 crore to banks and financial institutions. Of this, top 10 wilful defaulters owe Rs 40,825 crore to schedule commercial banks (SCBs), Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha. SCBs have written off an aggregate amount of Rs 10,57,326 crore during the last five financial years (RBI provisional data for FY 2022-23), he said. "The Reserve bank of India (RBI) has apprised that the amount owed by top 50 wilful defaulters in SCBs was Rs 87,295 crore as on March 31, 2023," he said. Fugitive Mehul Choksi's Gitanjali Gems is the biggest wilful defaulter owing Rs 8,738 crore to banks. It is followed by Era Infra Engineering Limited owing Rs 5,750 crore, REI Agro Limited Rs 5,148 crore, ABG Shipyard Limited Rs 4,774 crore, and Concast Steel and Power Limited Rs 3,911 ...

Improved detection, reporting bring down bank fraud cases: MoS Finance

Improved detection and reporting, along with steps taken to check bank frauds, have resulted in a sharp decline in the occurrence of such incidence, Parliament was informed on Monday. Sharing data, Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad said bank frauds have declined from Rs 77,544 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1,650 crore in 2022-23. Comprehensive steps, including measures to address security flaws/loopholes and to strengthen the fraud risk management mechanism in banks, have been taken by the government, RBI and public sector banks (PSBs), Karad said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. Some of the measures include an online searchable database of frauds reported by banks, in the form of the Central Fraud Registry has been set up to enable timely identification, control and mitigation of fraud risk and also to carry out due diligence during the credit sanction process and heads of PSBs have been empowered to issue requests for issuance of Look-Out circulars. Besides, he said a ...

77% of Rs 2,000 notes returned by users to banks as of June 30: FinMin

The number of Rs 2,000 notes in circulation fell to 418 million in volume terms on June 30, from 1.77 billion on May 19, the ministry said

AIGF appeals to FinMin against repeated taxation in online skill gaming

AIGF pointed out that while certain companies across formats that offer large tournaments may scrape through, even their revenues will be substantially affected