Page 49 - Finance Ministry

Finance ministry looking into life insurers' tax relaxation plea

Officials say Budget's proposal to tax high-value policies of Rs 5 lakh and above is unlikely to have significant impact on the industry

India Inc sees winter chill as no big ticket deals in January: Report

Dealmaking activity witnessed a huge decline in January, with only 145 transactions worth USD 2.7 billion being undertaken by India Inc, a report said on Monday. By value, the overall flows suffered due to the absence of any big-ticket deal and were 56 per cent down as compared to USD 6.12 billion in the year-ago period, and 62 per cent down compared to the previous month, the report by consultancy firm Grant Thornton said. The volumes were down 41 per cent when compared with 244 deals in January 2022, while the same were down by 3 per cent as compared to the preceding month of December. "India managed to account for record deal values last year (2022), which made investors hopeful about the future. However, the deal momentum in January 2023 did not match the expectation and witnessed a declining trend," its partner Shanthi Vijetha said. The mergers and acquisition (M&A) deal volumes declined by 62 per cent at 26 deals worth USD 311 million, an 88 per cent decrease compared to ...

India's GDP growth in FY23 expected to be 7%, FY24 at 6%: Acuite Ratings

Credit rating agency Acuite Ratings and Research on Monday reiterated India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth estimate for FY23 at 7 per cent

Govt taking steps to control inflation, will continue to focus on it: FM

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that the government is taking a lot of steps to control inflation and will continue to focus on it. For instance, in the case of pulses, the government is encouraging farmers to grow pulses to boost domestic production and has also reduced the import duty on some of the pulses to improve local availability. When asked whether Budget 2023-24 would bring down inflation, Sitharaman said: "The government is taking a lot of steps to control inflation and will continue to focus on it." She was in the city for a post-budget 2023 discussion with various stakeholders. "We have taken a lot of steps, for example, encouraging farmers to sow pulses so that the production of pulses in India increases in the coming sowing season," Sitharaman told reporters here. She further said that as a short-term step, "wherever we are importing, whether Masoor, Moong or whatever pulses, the government has reduced the import duty to single digit or has

Simplified filings: RoC approval not required for most corporate actions

The govt has introduced a new system called "file and forget," which is part of its ongoing revamp of the statutory filing website, MCA21

FinMin to meet heads of banks on Feb 22; to review progress ECLGS for MSMEs

Extension of ECLGS and LGSCAS beyond March 31 as well as challenges related to these would be deliberated

Bankers highly optimistic about credit demand across sectors: RBI survey

Bankers are "highly optimistic" about credit demand across all the main sectors in the short term, a RBI survey of lenders said on Friday. After sagging for the last two years, the non-food credit growth has been hovering above 15 per cent in FY23. "We observe that bankers are highly optimistic of credit demand across all the main sectors in the coming quarters, viz., Q4:2022-23 to Q2:2023-24," a paper based on the survey released in the February bulletin of the RBI said. The Bank Lending Survey provides sentiments of banks on loan demand, loan terms, and their outlook in the near term across major sectors. It captures senior loan officers' expectations on future credit demand along with adjustments in its terms and conditions and also seeks feedback on prevailing credit market conditions. The current survey covers a panel of top 30 scheduled commercial banks (SCBs), which account for more than 90 per cent of the total outstanding, it said. The paper said bankers' sentiments on ..

Fund allocation for MGNREGA has not been reduced, says Sitharaman

The fund allocation for MGNREGA has not gone down, FM Nirmala Sitharaman here on Friday, adding it is a demand driven scheme and as and when the demand increases, the Centre provides money

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to visit India for G20 finance meetings

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to India next week to attend Group of 20 finance minister meetings in Bengaluru and will address the global economic impacts of Russia's invasion of Ukraine as her visit coincides with the one-year anniversary of the invasion. Yellen's schedule of events will begin on February 23, where she plans to give a speech about the state of the economy as the US and its allies assist Ukraine in defending itself against the invasion, according to the Treasury Department. She will also talk about bolstering public digital infrastructure and reforming the multilateral development banks, including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, to make their investment requirements more climate-focused. This will be the first finance ministers' meeting since India officially became chair of the Group of 20 leading economies in December. The Indian government has put climate issues at the top of the group's priorities. A senior Treasury official who s

Budget prepared keeping mind external challenges also: FM Sitharaman

The Union Budget 2023-'24 has been prepared keeping growth in focus and also external economic challenges such as fuel prices, Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman said on Thursday. In an interactive session on the Budget, she said the focus was on the common man and weaker sections and to ensure that their businesses are supported, their education is supported, the opportunities which are available for them to skill themselves are also given enough provision. "The priority is to keep the growth momentum as it is and also to make sure that the further support measures for sustaining growthAnd be conscious of the fact that challenges which are extraneous to India. External challenges will have to be kept in mind. We should be ready for any unpredictable events from outside of our border," she said when asked what the priorities were when the budget was given a final shape. "Economic challenges which are even today prevalent in terms of fuel and fertilisers. Fertilisers are coming dow

LIVE: Appetite of states for capex has gone up, says FM Sitharaman

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Petroleum products can be brought under GST if consensus reached: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said that if states arrive at a consensus, then petroleum products can be brought under the GST regime

5 PSU insurers have Rs 347-crore exposure to Adani firms: FinMin

Earlier this month, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan had termed the Adani issue a 'storm in a teacup'

Gross direct tax mop-up grows 24% to Rs 15.67 trn, net collection rise 18%

Gross direct tax collections grew 24 per cent to Rs 15.67 lakh crore so far this fiscal, the finance ministry said on Saturday. After adjusting for refunds, the net direct tax collection stood at Rs 12.98 lakh crore, a growth of 18.40 per cent. The net collections are about 79 per cent of Revised Estimates (RE) of direct tax collection for current fiscal, the CBDT said. The revised estimates for the current fiscal pegged direct tax revenues at Rs 16.50 lakh crore, higher than the budget estimates of Rs 14.20 lakh crore. "The provisional figures of direct tax collections up to 10th February, 2023 continue to register steady growth. Direct tax collections up to 10th February, 2023 show that gross collections are at Rs 15.67 lakh crore which is 24.09 per cent higher than the gross collections for the corresponding period of last year," Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement. In the current fiscal (2022-23), the revenues from direct tax (which includes income and ...

Vivad se Vishwas-II scheme looks to settle financial disputes only

Centre notifies the scheme; disputes with states govts, another pvt firm not covered

FinMin issues draft scheme for settling disputes related to govt contracts

The finance ministry on Wednesday came out with a draft scheme for settlement of pending disputes related to government contracts. Under the Vivad se Vishwas II (Contractual Disputes) scheme, contractors would be offered settlement amounts depending on the status of a dispute. In cases of disputes where court or arbitral order have been passed, the settlement amount would be 80 per cent or 60 per cent of the amount awarded by the court or the arbitral tribunal. With respect to cases of ongoing litigation for disputes arising out of contracts in which physical activity has been stopped or contracts terminated, the settlement amount would be 30 per cent of the net claim amount. For ongoing litigation where physical activity in the disputed contract is ongoing, the settlement amount would be 20 per cent of the net claim amount -- claims by the contractors minus counter-claim by the procuring entity. In cases where the total claim amount exceeds Rs 500 crore, the procuring entities wi

Maha Budget session from February 27 to March 25; to be tabled on March 9

The budget session of the Maharashtra legislature will be held from February 27 to March 25 and the state's budget for fiscal 2023-24 will be presented on March 9, a government release said on Wednesday. This will be the first budget of the government led by Eknath Shinde, who broke away from the Shiv Sena last June and joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Deputy Chief Minister and state finance minister Devendra Fadnavis will present the budget, it said. On the first day of the session on February 27, the newly recognised state song Jai Jai Maharashtra Majha' will be played, said the release. The decision on the budget session was taken at a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the assembly, chaired by Speaker Rahul Narvekar and Neelam Gorhe, deputy chairman of the Legislative Council, said the release. Five bills that have been cleared by the state cabinet will be tabled during the budget session, while eight more, yet to be cleared, are proposed to be tabled, t

Govt to come out with discussion paper on contractual disputes: Somanathan

In a bid to free up thousands of crores of rupees locked up in litigation and arbitration, the government will come out with a discussion paper on a scheme detailing the percentage of amount which could be paid for expeditious resolution of contractual disputes, Finance Secretary T V Somanathan said. To begin with, the Department of Expenditure under the finance ministry will seek stakeholder suggestions on the quantum of percentage that could be offered for settling contractual disputes, besides other terms and conditions. The scheme would cover disputes relating to government contracts which are currently under arbitration or litigation. Under the scheme, which would be voluntary, contractors can come forward for resolution of disputes by accepting a specified percentage of the contract value. The percentage would be notified separately and will be 'reasonable and fair' so that many people take it, Somanathan told PTI. "...if they're willing to accept that percentage, it (dispute

Union Budget 2023: FinMin notifies refund of security deposits to MSMEs

In her budget speech, FM had proposed refund of 95% of amount forfeited on account of non-performance of contract due to Covid

India will get into global bond indices on own terms: FinMin official

India will not bend over backwards to get included in the global bond indices, a top finance ministry official said on Saturday. Deploying a sartorial analogy, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan said the indices are an exclusive club or gymkhana, which insists on entry only for those wearing ties. "...if we get into this club, it will be with our dhoti and saree. We will not change our domestic policies to suit foreign investors," he said, addressing a post-budget interaction with industry players in the financial capital. He said there are both positives and negatives of such an inclusion, which was spoken about in a previous budget announcement, and India will not "bend over backwards" to gain entry. India's policies will be based on domestic requirements, and there will not be any change to the stance to suit the fancy of global bond investors, he said. The global indices should allow entry for India only if such a stance is acceptable to them, he said. Positives of gaining entry