Page 2 - Finance Secretary

Time for private sector to think big & bold for investment cycle: DFS secy

Banks need to do stress testing for cyber risks

Finance Ministry holds a review meeting on large value fraud cases

During the review meeting, it was emphasised that all measures should be taken to further improve coordination between the CBI and banks for expeditious investigation

No legal bar on member's reappointment: Finance secy T V Somanathan

No further ToRs to come, says Somanathan

Retail inflation may ease by Dec owing to seasonal factors: Finance secy

Retail inflation remained above the upper end of RBI's 2%-6% tolerance band for a second consecutive month in August, though it eased from a 15-month high of 7.44% in July

'Finmin decided to seek explanation on Acharya's wrath of markets speech'

Achrya later resigned six months ahead of his three-year tenure for 'personal reasons', said the book titled 'We Also Make Policy: An Insider's Account of How the Finance Ministry Functions'

India to grow fastest among top economies: Finance secy T V Somanathan

He also outlined three channels through which the diaspora can exert influence: fund flow, trade, and knowledge transfer

India to clock highest growth among top 5 global economies: Finance secy

Finance secretary T V Somanathan on Thursday said India will continue to clock the highest growth rate among the top five economies in the world in the foreseeable future and asked Indian diaspora to act as a catalyst and supplement government efforts in making India the biggest opportunity. India is currently the fifth largest economy in the world. The top four are US, China, Japan and Germany. An S&P Global report had earlier this month projected India's economy to double to USD 6.7 trillion by 2031, from USD 3.4 trillion currently. "India is already the world's fifth largest economy and it is the largest country by population. India's rate of growth by any measurement is much faster than the top four. Today we can safely say that all four are likely to have lower growth rates than India in the foreseeable future. "... in terms of the size of opportunity, India is arguably the biggest development opportunity of the future because we are large and we are growing faster than the ..

Govt will stick to fiscal deficit target of 5.9% of GDP: Finance secretary

The government will stick to the fiscal deficit target of 5.9 per cent of the GDP as robust tax, non-tax collections will help meet the spending requirement and make up for any shortfall in disinvestment proceeds, Finance Secretary T V Somanathan said on Friday. Although there would be a shortfall with respect to disinvestment, he said, this shortfall would be met by non-tax revenue mobilisation. "Disinvestment target is unlikely to be met. However, I would say in aggregate the collective amount between disinvestment and non-tax revenue is likely to be very close to the budget," he told PTI in an interview. The total of disinvestment receipts, plus non-tax receipts are likely to be very close to the Budget Estimates, he said. "We expect to adhere to our fiscal deficit target this year...none of the events so far have caused anything for us to deviate from it," he said. The government has already got a higher dividend from the Reserve Bank of India and expects higher dividends from

Committee to review govt employees' pension, suggest changes: FinMin

The Finance Secretary-headed committee to review the pension system for government employees is in the process of consulting stakeholders and is yet to finalise its report, the ministry said on Thursday. The ministry in April set up a committee under Finance Secretary T V Somanathan to review the pension scheme for government employees and suggest any changes, if needed, in the light of the existing framework and structure of the National Pension System (NPS). "The Committee set up under the chairmanship of the Finance Secretary in pursuance of an announcement made by the Union Finance Minister in the Lok Sabha in the last Budget Session, is at present in the midst of its deliberations and is in the process of consulting stakeholders. The Committee has not yet reached any conclusions whatsoever, the finance ministry tweeted. As per its terms of reference, the committee would suggest measures to modify the same with a view to improving upon the pensionary benefits of government ...

Finance Secretary T V Somanathan to head panel on pension schemes: FM

"The approach will be designed for adoption by both the central government and state governments," the finance minister said

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

FM urges independence of CAs to preserve integrity of financial statements

Says statutory filings and audit reports by CAs are public documents that multiple stakeholders rely on; urges adherence to fair and transparent practices

Belt-tightening measures key to surviving pink slip, say experts

Cautious spending, reduced debt burden, and opting for gig work can help

India has nano demographic window to become developed country: Finance secy

India has a nano demographic window to achieve developed country status, and if it misses, it may not reach there, Union Finance Secretary T V Somanathan said on Saturday. The country has to grow at a rate of 8-8.5 per cent to reach developed country status, he said at an event here. "In the first decade of this century, China grew at approximately 9.5 per cent per annum and similar growth rates were witnessed in countries like South Korea and Taiwan" Somanathan said. The finance secretary made the comments while delivering the G Ramachandran Endowment Lecture on 'Development in Changing Times, the role of government efficiency' at the Madras School of Economics here. "The other thing which we often hear and it is an important point that a lot of people make is that we have nano demographic window in which to achieve developed country status, and if we don't catch this window or if we do not use this window, we may never get there," he said. "There are two widely held views abo

Finance secy appeals states to optimise Aadhaar use within legal framework

Finance Secretary T V Somanathan on Wednesday appealed states and Union Territories to optimise use of Aadhaar within the existing legal framework for improving delivery of services to people. While speaking at a workshop organised by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Somanathan said Indians must be proud of the fact that Aadhaar was created by India, not copied from the western world. He said that everybody shares a social security number in the United States and it is not a state secret there. "We already have a supreme court judgment on this subject and there is a law. So, within the contours of that law and sticking within the parameters of the law, we should unabashedly do everything that will help us to maximize the potential of Aadhaar without having any sort of apprehension that something is wrong," Somanathan said. He appealed the government departments to maximize the potential of the scientific and administrative achievement -- Aadhaar. Government think-

Revenue spend may be cut to limit slippage: Finance secretary TV Somanathan

To compensate for impact of over Rs 1.5 trn on account of measures announced to rein in inflation, including cut in fuel prices and Customs duty exemption: Somanathan

Will act against officers furnishing false info on schemes: Finance Secy

Letter sent to all Chief Secys of states and UTs said stated that if falsification of information is found, names of All India Service Officers will be passed on to DoPT by Finance Ministry

Former finance secretary Debasish Panda takes charge as Irdai chief

The appointment of the Irdai chairman comes nearly nine months after the vacancy was created following Subhash Chandra Khuntia completing his term in May last year

Health care Budget: Finance secy says it is responsibility of states

According to the budget proposals for FY23, the government is planning to spend about Rs 83,000 crore on healthcare, the same as it did in FY22

Cryptocurrency will never be a legal tender: Finance secy Somanathan

Cryptocurrency will never be a legal tender, Finance Secretary T V Somanathan said on Thursday clearing the air on the legality of private digital currencies in the market.