Page 27 - Nirmala Sitharaman

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,

Taxonomy for climate finance should be ready in 6 months: DEA secretary

Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth has said work with respect to developing a taxonomy for climate finance is going on and it should be ready in the next six months or so. "Work is happening, and in fact, the steel ministry has completed their work. They have issued their taxonomy for the steel sector," he told PTI in an interview. However, he said, a much more comprehensive exercise covering all sectors of the economy is going on and a concept paper has already been shared with stakeholders concerned and their views have been obtained. "Various committees have been formed, one for each sector, and we expect that over the next six months that exercise can be completed," he added. Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman in her Budget 2024-25 had announced a proposal for developing a taxonomy for climate finance. "We will develop a taxonomy for climate finance for enhancing the availability of capital for climate adaptation and mitigation. This will support achievement of the country's

How Nirmala Sitharaman turned the tide in BJP's favour in Delhi elections

With over 60 per cent of Delhi's electorate belonging to the middle-class, the Budget announcement of an increased income tax rebate threshold to Rs 12 lakh may just have won BJP the election

Fiscal, monetary measures to boost consumption, pvt investment, says FM

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said fiscal and monetary measures announced recently will help boost consumption and promote private investment. The Budget presented by the Finance Minister on February 1 proposed a slew of measures including significant income tax cuts for the middle class. Individuals earning up to Rs 12.75 lakh in a year will not have to pay any taxes, benefiting 1 crore taxpayers. On the monetary side, the Reserve Bank on Friday slashed the policy rate by 25 basis points, the first rate cut in five years to support growth. "After the Budget, the few inputs I've had from some business leaders is that the orders for fast-moving consumer goods for April-June are already getting booked, and the industry is clearly seeing signs of a possible recovery of consumption," she said at a media interaction after addressing the Board of the RBI in the customary post-budget meeting. As a result, she said, many of them are looking at reviewing their capacity ...

Hope to introduce new income tax bill in Lok Sabha next week: FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said she is likely to introduce the new income tax bill, which will replace the six-decade-old I-T Act, in the Lok Sabha in the coming week. After introduction in the Upper House, the bill will be sent to a parliamentary standing committee for scrutiny. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the bill on Friday. "Yesterday, the Cabinet cleared the New Income Tax proposal, I hope to have it introduced in the Lok Sabha in the coming week. Post that it will go to a committee," Sitharaman said a media briefing after addressing the post-Budget customary meeting with the central board of directors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The bill will again go to the Cabinet after the parliamentary committee gives its recommendations on it. After Cabinet approval, it will again be introduced in Parliament. "I still have three critical stages to pass through," Sitharaman said to the query regarding rollout of the new

BJP govt will transform Delhi in line with Viksit Bharat goal: Sitharaman

Expressing happiness on the Delhi assembly election outcome, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday exuded confidence that the BJP government will certainly transform the national capital in line with India's Viksit Bharat aspirations. "...indeed, happy to know that because under Prime Minister Modi's leadership, we are very keen that Delhi gets a government which serves its people. And that's something which is the need of the hour for attaining Viksit Bharat 2047," Sitharaman said when asked for her comments on the trends showing the saffron party ahead. The BJP is poised to form a government in Delhi after 26 years, with the latest EC trends showing the BJP ahead in 43 of Delhi's 70 seats and AAP in 16. The BJP won five seats and AAP six seats in polls so far, according to the latest Election Commission (EC) data. The Minister further said India's national capital should have a government which serves the cause of its people. "And I strongly believe that the road map th

Secy group on asset monetisation to meet on Thursday; to discuss NMP 2.0

The CGAM, comprising relevant infrastructure secretaries, undertakes periodic reviews to monitor the progress of transactions and resolve structural issues

Debt management: India must focus on sustained fiscal consolidation

Although public debt has gone up across the world after the pandemic, it is in India's interests to reduce it to a more manageable level

Parliament updates: We live by spirit of Constitution & do not resort to politics of poison, says PM

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

GST Council to soon take decision on rates, number of slabs: FM Sitharaman

The GST Council will soon take a decision on having fewer and lower rates as the review work is almost complete, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Currently, Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a four-tier tax structure with slabs at 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. Luxury and demerit goods are taxed at the highest bracket of 28 per cent, while packed food and essential items are in the lowest 5 per cent slab. The Council, chaired by Sitharaman and comprising her state counterparts, has set up a group of ministers (GoM) to suggest changes in GST rates as well as reduce slabs. "To be fair to the GST and the ministers who are all in the council, the work on rationalizing and simplifying GST rates has already commenced. In fact, it had commenced nearly three years ago," she said at the India Today-Business Today Post Budget Round Table. Sitharaman said later the scope was widened and now the work is almost complete. Mentioning that she told ministers in the Council to have a

Budget 2025 aims to foster public-private cooperation in infra sector

The budget announcements aim to foster public-private cooperation and are expected to attract global investments in the infrastructure sector, industry players and experts said. In her budget speech on Saturday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made several announcements to give a push to various sectors, including infrastructure. She said Rs 1.5 lakh crore will be provided towards 50-year interest free loans to states, for infrastructure development, and an asset monetisation plan will be launched for 2025-30 period to infuse Rs 10 lakh crore capital in new projects, besides an outlay of Rs 500 crore for setting up a centre of excellence in artificial intelligence for education. Rasmi Ranjan Ray, SUEZ India CEO said the Budget has set the stage for transformative, infrastructure-led growth with a record allocation of Rs 1.5 lakh crore in the form of 50-year interest-free loans to states for infrastructure projects. Virendra D Mhaiskar, Chairman & Managing Director, IRB ...

PM Internship Scheme aims to provide exposure, not jobs: FM Sitharaman

As part of the Viksit Bharat initiative, announced in the July 2024 budget, the government launched a comprehensive internship scheme aimed at providing opportunities to 1 crore youth over five years

Substantial increase in budget allocation to several states: Vaishnaw

There is a substantial increase in budgetary allocations to all the states for 2025-26 as compared to that of between 2009-14 for the development of rail infrastructure, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Monday. Presenting a state-wise break up of the budgetary allocation for railways and the pace of development of rail infrastructure, Vaishnaw said that while railways was moving at a snail's pace before 2014, it has made historic progress in the past ten years during the NDA rule. Holding separate interaction with media persons and senior officials of respective divisions and zones via video conferencing, Vaishnaw provided a detailed update of various significant aspects and progress status of projects. According to Vaishnaw, when a comparison is drawn with 2009-2014, the average budgetary allocation for the next financial year 2025-26 is 27 times higher for Delhi, 23 times for MP and 22 times for Chhattisgarh. While the annual average budget for Bihar was Rs 1,132 crore .

FM Sitharaman says no targets for rupee value, it is market-determined

The value of Indian rupee is market-determined, and there has been no devaluation, which is a feature of a fixed exchange rate regime, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday. The rupee has been falling in recent weeks, and on Monday touched an all-time low of 87.29 against the American currency. Various domestic and global factors influence the exchange rate of the rupee such as the movement of the Dollar Index, trends in capital flows, level of interest rates, movement in crude prices, and current account deficit. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said there has been no devaluation of the Indian Rupee (INR), which is a feature of a fixed exchange rate regime. "The value of the INR is market-determined, with no target or specific level or band," she said. The minister further said the depreciation of currency is likely to enhance the export competitiveness, which in turn impacts the economy positively. On the other hand, depreciation may raise the prices

States must raise tax devolution concerns with Finance Commission: FM

With southern states voicing concerns over 'unfair' tax money devolution, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the states have to engage and highlight their concerns with the 16th Finance Commission, whose recommendations will decide how the funds are divided. Population is one of the criteria used by Finance Commissions to decide how the tax revenues are divided. Southern states, which have managed to check the rise in population, feel they get a raw deal when compared to the northern states with much larger population growth. In an interview with PTI, Sitharaman said the central government does not decide on the devolution formula. The devolution of taxes is made in accordance with the recommendations of the Finance Commission and the aggrieved southern states should approach the panel for change in parameters. "It is for the states to engage with the Finance Commission to express their concerns about the parameters based on which the tax devolution principles are laid dow