Page 92 - Nirmala Sitharaman

Inflation kept at 6% or below despite adverse circumstances, says FM

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the inflation has been kept at six per cent or below despite adverse circumstances as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Price rise is a matter on which the Centre is very sensitive and responsive, she said. Sitharaman said the pandemic and the conflict had a bearing on the prices of commodities which India import, adding that the government has taken measures including giving subsidies. Will you compare the situation prevailing everywhere, particularly after COVID, particularly after Russia and Ukraine war? The (prices of) commodities we import are all sky-rocketing. They are not produced in India. We totally import. Is that price rise mine? But that price hits me. And there, I have to give support, the Minister said. Even in this adverse circumstances inflation has been kept at six per cent or below. There are times it goes up. Then we work together with RBI and say please control it, ...

More than Rs 40,700 crore sanctioned under Stand-Up India Scheme in 7 years

The scheme aims to promote entrepreneurship at the grassroot level focusing on economic empowerment and job creation and has been extended up to the year 2025

India has robust commercial systems giving confidence to investors: FM

FM Nirmala Sitharaman said that it is now agreed during the negotiations of bilateral trade treaties that India has a better robust commercial system giving investors the confidence they need

Government asks state-run banks to conduct more robust stress tests

The matter was reviewed at a March 25 meeting of the bank leaders with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who met to discuss progress of a reform agenda for the lenders

Centre may announce Aadhaar-based KYC norms for small savings schemes

The simplified KYC, along with small savings rates for the April-June 2023 quarter, may be announced on March 31, the official said

PSU banks recover 14% of written-off loans in last 5 years: FM Sitharaman

Public sector banks could recover only 14 per cent of the written-off loans worth Rs 7.34 lakh crore in the last five years ending March 2022, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. Of Rs 7.34 lakh crore written-off loans, state-owned lenders recovered Rs 1.03 lakh crore, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. So after recovery, net written-off stood at Rs 6.31 lakh crore in the last five years. Replying to another question, the Finance Minister said non-performing assets (NPAs), including, those in respect of which full provisioning has been made on completion of four years, are removed from the balance-sheet of the bank concerned by way of write-off as per RBI guidelines and policy approved by bank boards. Banks evaluate/consider the impact of write-offs as part of their regular exercise to clean up their balance sheets, avail tax benefits and optimise capital, in accordance with RBI guidelines and policy approved by their boards, she said.

FM Sitharaman to seek LS nod for passing Competition Amendment Bill

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will move the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 in the Lok Sabha for consideration and passing.

FM moves amendment to Finance Bill in Parliament to correct STT rate

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday moved an amendment to the Finance Bill in Rajya Sabha to correct the figures with regard to rate of Security Transaction Tax (STT) to be levied on sale of options as well as futures. The amended Finance Bill 2023 by correcting STT rate has been returned to Lok Sabha, sources said. The amended Bill is likely to be taken up by Lok Sabha either today or tomorrow and thereafter the Budgetary exercise would be complete. The Lok Sabha is adjourned till 4 pm. In the Finance Bill 2023, passed by the Lok Sabha on Friday, the Securities Transaction Tax on options is proposed to be increased to 0.0625 per cent from 0.05 per cent and on futures contracts to 0.0125 from 0.01 per cent. After the Lok Sabha cleared the Finance Bill, which has 64 official amendments, the finance ministry issued a statement saying that there was a typographical error in the amendments with respect to the change in STT on options trading. The error, the finance ministry

Total amount of cess and surcharge grew by 63.74% from 2017-18 to 2022-23

Collections under GST Compensation Cess grew by 107.6 per cent from 2017-18 to 2022-23 (RE), Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told the Lok Sabha in a written reply

Indian govt has 54 Chinese investment proposals pending: Finance Minister

The Indian government has received about 54 foreign direct investment proposals from China since last year that are pending for approval, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance minister asks public banks to take stress tests; what are these?

Bank stress tests were introduced after the 2008 financial crisis, and they revealed the vulnerability of banks to market crashes and economic downturns

Govt tells PSBs to monitor, make provision for companies' pledged shares

Directs banks to double down on comprehensive stress testing of portfolios at micro-cluster level

FM tells PSBs to diversify deposit, asset base amid global financial stress

Use the crisis to frame detailed crisis management strategies, FM to bankers

FM Sitharaman reviews PSBs' performance amid banking crisis in US, Europe

After detailed deliberations, the Finance Minister advised PSBs to remain vigilant about the interest rate risks and regularly undertake stress tests

Finance Bill: Withholding tax on royalty and technical fee doubled to 20%

The decision is part of the 64 amendments introduced through the Finance Bill 2023

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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

Taxpayers with income over Rs 7 lakh to get relief under new tax regime

In a relief to taxpayers opting for new tax regime, individuals earning marginally higher income than no-tax ceiling of Rs 7 lakh will pay tax only on the differential income after the government amended the Finance Bill. The Finance Bill 2023, passed by the Lok Sabha on Friday, has proposed a marginal relief to taxpayers under new tax regime. Explaining the provision, the finance ministry said under the new tax regime with effect from April 1, if a taxpayer has annual income of Rs 7 lakh s/he pays no tax. But if s/he has income of Rs 7,00,100 s/he pays tax of 25,010. Thus an additional income of Rs 100 leads to a tax of Rs 25,010. Hence, marginal relief is proposed to that so that the tax what one pays should not be more than the income that exceeds Rs 7 lakh (Rs 100 in this case), the ministry said. Nangia Andersen LLP Partner Sandeep Jhunjhunwala said the amendment to Finance Bill seeks to provide a marginal relief to individual taxpayers having borderline income by proposing a

Finance Bill: Centre hikes STT on futures and options trading by up to 25%

STT was introduced in 2004 and is levied on transactions involving different types of securities through the stock exchange route

STT hike to GST appellate tribunal: Key takeaways from Finance Bill 2023

Finance Bill 2023: Debt funds with less than or equal to 35 per cent invested in equity shares will be taxed at the investors' income tax slab and treated as short-term capital gains