Page 19 - Nirmala Sitharaman

BITs should capture national interest, current model will be revamped: FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that going forward the bilateral investment treaties should capture national interest in relation to regulatory powers and serve as a guide to arbitrators in resolving disputes. Speaking at the inauguration of the first PG Certificate Course on International Commercial & Investment Treaty Arbitration in New Delhi, Sitharaman said issues related to Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) are unique to the sovereign and hence BIT should be negotiated stand-alone rather than as a part of FTA agreement. Stating that arbitrators have often ignored the judicial decisions of the host country, Sitharaman said an investment treaty must not only provide better regulatory powers to the nations but must also serve as guidance to arbitrators to restore faith in arbitration. "I strongly believe, moving forward, the framework of investment treaties should capture national interests in relation to regulatory powers and strengthen guidance for ...

Select Committee of Lok Sabha to examine Income Tax Bill constituted

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday constituted a 31-member Select Committee of the lower house to examine the Income Tax Bill. To be headed by BJP's Baijayant Panda, the panel is mandated to submit its report by the first day of the next session. The ongoing Budget Session will conclude on April 4 and the Monsoon session could commence in the third or fourth week of July. While introducing the Bill in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had urged Birla to refer the draft law to a Select Committee of the House. The much-anticipated Bill will replace terminologies such as "assessment year" and "previous year" with the easier-to-understand "tax year" as part of a move to simplify language while removing provisos and explanations.

FinMin asks ICAI to review new Income Tax Bill 2025, suggest improvements

Central Board of Direct Taxes expects the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India to go through the bill section-by-section, keeping in mind the needs of both businesses and individual taxpayers

Govt, RBI keeping vigil on rupee fluctuation: FM Sitharaman in Rajya Sabha

The FM said that the value of the Indian rupee is influenced by various factors such as the index of the dollar, trends in capital flows, interest rates, and crude price movements

FM Nirmala Sitharaman introduces new Income-Tax Bill in Lok Sabha

Speaker to send the bill for examination to a select committee of house members

Income Tax bill tabled, Modi-Trump meet, Adani Green's projects in Sri Lanka & more

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced the Income Tax Bill 2025 in Lok Sabha today. PM Modi arrived in Washington DC, today for a bilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump.

FM replies to Jaya Bachchan: Tax on movie tickets reduced from 28% to 18%

Responding to questions raised by MP and former actor Jaya Bachchan's about the film industry, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said entertainment tax has been streamlined under the GST regime

No state has been ignored: Nirmala Sitharaman defends Budget in Rajya Sabha

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman counters Opposition claims that the Budget favoured BJP-ruled states, especially poll-bound Bihar

FM presents new I-T Bill in LS, to be reviewed by a standing committee

The Income Tax Bill 2025 will undergo review by a standing committee before being sent back to the government for approval. Thus it will some time for it to be passed in the Parliament

New Income Tax Bill tabled in LS: Here's what's changing & what's not

If passed, the new Income Tax Bill, 2025 will replace the Income Tax Act of 1961 and come into effect on April 1, 2026

New I-T Bill more complicated than previous one: Congress MP Manish Tewari

The new Income Tax Bill is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday

Debt-to-GDP over fiscal deficit: Will FM Sitharaman's strategy pay off?

Since the finance minister announced a glide path based on debt-to-GDP ratio to measure fiscal deficit, opinion has been divided on the move since it would also reflect on government borrowings

Income-Tax Bill, 2025 to be tabled in Parl: New tax slabs, reforms & more

The new Income Tax Bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament on Thursday, Feb 13, replacing the six-decade-old Income Tax Act of 1961. Here are the highlights of the Bill

Masterclass in deflecting blame: KC Venugopal slams FM's Budget reply

In his X post, he said Sitharaman's reply was more about political point-scoring than addressing the concerns raised by the opposition

Speedy rebound in growth on strong foundation: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

India's economy is expected to grow by 6.4 per cent in real terms and by 9.7 per cent in nominal terms, according to advance estimates released by the National Statistics Office

Govt using almost entire borrowings in FY26 towards capex: FM Sitharaman

The government is using almost the entire borrowing in 2025-26 towards financing capital expenditure, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. She said the effective capital expenditure in FY'26 is Rs 15.48 lakh crore, which is 4.3 per cent of GDP. The fiscal deficit target is 4.4 per cent of the GDP for next fiscal. "It indicates that the government is using almost the entire borrowed resources for financing effective capital expenditure. So the borrowings are not going for revenue expenditure or committed expenditure, or any of those kinds. It's going only for creating capital assets. So, in effect, the government intends to use about 99 per cent of borrowed sources to finance effective capital expenditure in the upcoming year," she said in the Lok Sabha. Replying to a discussion on General Budget 2025-26, Sitharaman said the Budget has come in a time of immense uncertainties, changes in the global macro-economic environment, stagnating global growth and sticky ...

Budget Session highlights: After tax cuts, all eyes on Finance Bill, new Income Tax Bill

Parliament Budget Session highlights: Catch all the major updates from the ongoing Budget session of the Parliament

Congress leader Chidambaram finds faults with Budget in Rajya Sabha

Chidambaram termed it a "politically-driven budget" with the income tax cut being the "main thrust" of the Budget with an eye on the Delhi Assembly polls

Parliament Budget Session Highlights: Sonia Gandhi urges govt to conduct Census at earliest

Parliament Budget Session: Catch all the Parliament updates here

Action against banks, NBFCs if they violate gold auction norms: Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said action will be taken in case there are violations of well laid down processes for auctioning of gold by banks and NBFCs when a borrower fails to pay the gold loan. During Question Hour in Lok Sabha, she said Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) are guided by similar rules. There are very well laid down and tight processes in place for auctioning of gold by NBFCs and banks in case a borrower fails to pay the gold loan. These processes are followed by NBFCs and banks, she told Lok Sabha. There is a process for giving enough number of notices to bank account holders to say their servicing is not up to the mark. In the eventuality of a borrower not coming back to pay, the bank or NBFC will be forced to go for an auction, the minister said. Sitharaman stressed that even while going for an auction, there are very well laid out procedures and tight processes. "... if these processes are violated,