Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth has said that a draft Bill for setting up a National Financial Information Registry (NFIR) is almost ready and it may be introduced in the July session. The objective is to build a public infrastructure for credit-related information and the right information can be made available by the NFIR to lending agencies. A National Financial Information Registry will serve as the central repository of financial and ancillary information. This will facilitate efficient flow of credit, promote financial inclusion, and foster financial stability. "Stakeholder consultations on the draft bill are over now and it is almost ready. We will shortly take it to the Cabinet for its approval but introduction in this session will not be possible," Seth told PTI in an interview. However, he said, the Bill may be introduced in the July session. The July session would be the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha after the general elections in the next couple of months. .
A chemistry professor's technology, developed more than 20 years ago, is being improved upon
No new taxes were proposed on Friday in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's Rs 59,954.75-crore budget for 2024-25, the highest ever, as it made special provisions for the coastal road project and proposed four new schemes, one of them for providing medicines free to patients at civic hospitals for which Rs 1,200 crore was set aside. The expenditure on the health budget was hiked to Rs 7,191 crore from Rs 6,309 crore in 2023-24 and a provision of Rs 340 crore was made for upgradation of footpaths, lanes and bylanes. A sum of Rs 100 crore was allocated for implementation of a scheme for women's security. The budgetary estimates were 10.5 per cent more than the 2023-24 amount of Rs 54,256.07 crore. The administration of India's richest civic body presented the budget for the next fiscal to municipal commissioner-cum-administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal at the BMC headquarters in south Mumbai. Chahal, a senior IAS officer, was appointed the BMC administrator by the Maharashtra ...
The government's focus on governance, development, and performance, along with bilateral trade agreements that promote FDI, will prioritise domestic development
Outlay for infrastructure has been increased to Rs 11.11 trillion in FY25, gets mixed reactions from the industry
The Union Cabinet on Thursday extended the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) till 2025-26. In June 2020, the government had approved setting up of AHIDF worth Rs 15,000 crore. According to an official statement on Thursday, the Cabinet approved the "continuation of Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) to be implemented under Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF) with an outlay of Rs 29,610.25 crore for another three years up to 2025-26." The scheme will incentivize investments for dairy processing and product diversification, meat processing and product diversification, animal feed plant, breed multiplication farm, animal waste to wealth management (Agri-waste management) and veterinary vaccine and drug production facilities. "Government of India will provide 3 per cent interest subvention for 8 years including two years of moratorium for loan up to 90 per cent from the scheduled bank and National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC)
The government plans to set up more medical colleges by utilising existing hospital infrastructure and will set up a committee to examine the matter, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while presenting the interim Budget for 2024-2025 on Thursday. The minister also said that the government will encourage vaccination for girls in the 9-14 year age group for the prevention of cervical cancer. Various schemes for maternal and child healthcare will be brought under one comprehensive programme for synergy in implementation, Sitharaman said in Parliament. "Several youth are ambitious to get qualified as doctors. They aim to serve our people through improved healthcare services. Our government plans to set up more medical colleges by utilising the existing hospital infrastructure under various departments. "A committee for this purpose will be set up to examine the issues and make relevant recommendations," Sitharaman said. The newly designed U-WIN platform for managing immunisatio
Only fertilisers and cement sectors see acceleration in output
The company, which has steel, mining and infrastructure businesses, said its consolidated net profit after tax increased to Rs 1928 crore ($232 million) in the three months to Dec. 31, from Rs 518 cr
India will share the PM GatiShakti initiative with some of the neighbouring countries free of cost as the infrastructure planning tool is helping in effective planning and implementation of projects, a top government official said on Tuesday. The initiative was launched to develop an integrated infrastructure to reduce logistics costs. Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) Rajesh Kumar Singh said that as India has rolled out the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in seven countries, the country similarly wants to showcase and integrate the PM GatiShakti initiative also. "We want to showcase it and roll out and integrate and provide it free of cost to some of our neighbouring countries and eventually to other countries in the global south as a part of India's commitment to the global south," Singh said here at a function. Over 1,400 layers of data, including those related to land, ports, forests, and highways, are available on the PM GatiShak
The growth of the big companies is trickling down to smaller companies and suppliers too
The 67.57-Km Ayodhya bypass project in Uttar Pradesh was planned and implemented under the PM GatiShakti initiative, the commerce and industry ministry said on Friday. It said that the project would facilitate uninterrupted freight flows and decongest Ayodhya. It "will cover key districts such as Lucknow, Basti, and Gonda. This project will facilitate improvement in connectivity to economic, social and logistics nodes, including tourist and pilgrim sites, across these three districts," the ministry said in a statement. Ayodhya is situated between two economic hubs (Lucknow and Gorakhpur) and major commodities such as leather, engineering goods, building materials, iron and steel, pass through the city therefore the construction of this bypass route will facilitate uninterrupted freight flows and decongest the city. An idol of the new Ram Lalla was consecrated at the Ayodhya temple on January 22, a landmark event led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who also gave a clarion call to go
Tariff revision can enable telcos to spend on infrastructure
State-owned REC has inked an initial pact with the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund Ltd for collaborating to finance renewable and large scale infrastructure projects in the country. Both entities have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard, according to a statement on Thursday. "The collaboration with REC aligns perfectly with NIIFL's broader strategy to enhance financing and attract private capital into the infrastructure sector. Through this partnership, we aim to develop innovative financial solutions supporting major infrastructure," Prasad Gadkari, Executive Director & Chief Strategy Officer at NIIFL, said.
Three infrastructure projects of roads and railways worth Rs 9,600 crore have been recommended for approval under the PM Gati Shakti initiative, an official statement said on Thursday. These projects were assessed in the 64th Network Planning Group (NPG) meeting on October 17. "During the meeting, the NPG discussed three proposed greenfield projects of Ministry of Railways (1) and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (2), with an aggregate project cost worth about Rs 9,600 crore," the commerce and industry ministry said. The meeting was chaired by Special Secretary (Logistics), Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Sumita Dawra. The inter-ministerial NPG meets every fortnight and appraises infra projects to ensure multi-modality, synchronisation of efforts, and comprehensive development in and around the project location. The initiative was launched to develop an integrated infrastructure to reduce logistics costs. All logistics and connectivity ...
The coupon was fixed at 7.57 per cent for the 10-year paper. Bond market sources said the initial guidance for the coupon was 7.63-7.64 per cent
India Inc is confident of achieving USD 5 trillion economy with the central government's support in infrastructure investments, additional reforms, and enhanced technology adoption, according to a CXO survey by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP. Stating that business leaders anticipate strong economic growth for the next fiscal year, Deloitte in a statement said about 50 per cent of India Inc reflects optimism about the country posting above 6.5 per cent growth in FY25. Amongst industry sectors, automotive (50 per cent), consumers and retail (66 per cent), technology, media, and telecommunication (47 per cent) and energy, resources and industrials (44 per cent) anticipate high growth. "Government initiatives, increased trade collaborations, lowering of logistics cost, and policies to increase industrial production (such as intelligent automation in manufacturing and increased investment towards sustainable technologies), will further this momentum. Changing consumer preferences and
NHAI proposes major reforms in BOT projects
The investment commitments are usually received in tranches from investors by the fund managers and are reflected in the total funds raised
The biggest impediment in India securing transformative prosperity for its citizens by 2047 is the suboptimal utilisation of its resources