Page 3 - Union Budget 2016

Up against excise duty, bullion traders shut shops for 2nd day

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Budget for 2016-17 had proposed 1% excise duty on jewellery

China's vocational training 16 times India's: Can Budget push help?

Finance Minister announced in Budget his plans to establish 1,500 multi-skill training institutes across India

RBI pores over Budget 2016-17, worries on fiscal math

Three policymakers said they are combing through numbers to test how Jaitley struck a balance, and question some of the assumptions

AIBEA asks government to cancel proposal reduce stake in IDBI Bank

Says the decision, which will effectively lead to privatisation, is a breach of assurance made in the Parliament

Budget has offered room for monetary policy easing: Jayant Sinha

He said macroeconomic stability is fundamental to ensure that monetary policy has space and they have tried to provide that in the Budget

Budget 2016 'credit negative' for PSU banks: Moody's

Capital infusion road map falls short of the required Rs 1.45 lakh crore

Inflow hope for government

The Budget has allowed public sector companies to increase their foreign portfolio investment from 24% to 49%

Defence allocation remains a mystery

Govt has not clarified if new accounting base used

RIL, Tata Steel, Adani to gain from investment allowance rejig

This amendment is proposed to be made retrospectively effective from FY16 onwards

Budget 2016: Organised dairies to add capacities

Better milk production coupled with power availability will boost rural demand.

Lack of pricing clarity clouds natural gas sector

K Ravichandran from ICRA says there is no clarity whether announcement pertains to existing discoveries or future discoveries

Bulk of crop loan interest subvention for settling earlier dues

A sum of Rs 15,000 cr has appeared under the head of interest subsidy as allocation for short-term credit to farmers in the 2016-17 Budget

Focus on fiscal consolidation a positive: Naresh Takkar

Benefitting from various revenue augmentation measures, the overall tax revenue growth assumed in the Budget appears realistic

Much preparation ahead for listing state-owned general insurers

It is anticipated that New India, which is among the largest in the public sector, could be the first to be taken to the listing path

No tax when MF plans merge

Investors were stuck in old schemes though they were suspended because of tax implications

A V Rajwade: The Budget - A few question marks

Are monetary and exchange rate policies adding to the NPA burden? Is inefficiency of governance causing time and cost overruns for stalled projects, thus piling up NPAs?

Coal cess may further stress discoms if consumer tariff not hiked

In the process of fulfilling part of India's commitment made in COP21 to reduce its carbon footprint by promoting alternate means of power while lessen thermal energy dependence, union finance minister Arun Jaitley's decision to double the cess on coal may increase the stress on the already debt ridden distribution companies besides negatively impacting the thermal power sector which presently caters to more than 80 per cent of India's energy needs.The minister's decision in the budget to modify the Clean Environmental Cess on coal into Clean Energy Cess and increase it from Rs. 200 to Rs. 400 will not only pull up the cost per unit of power generation between 10-15 paise but may stress the already ailing distribution companies (discoms) further.Power producing companies and market analysts alike have opined that the cost of power will definitely surge."If (the increase in costs) passed on to consumers, this would mean an increase in end consumer tariffs upto 20 paise per unit. If not

Not sops but a vast playing field of opportunities: Gopal Srinivasan

Government approved start-ups will now be eligible for an income tax holiday for three consecutive years during their first five years of operation

Mercedes-Benz to hike prices by up to Rs 5 lakh

In India, the German luxury carmaker sells models ranging from A Class to Maybach, priced between Rs 28 lakh & Rs 1.67 crore.

Govt can exceed growth target with less obstructions: Arun Jaitley

Important bills like GST and the bankruptcy law should be pushed through, he added