A big push for infrastructure sector with a hefty 70,000 crore increase in investment, that's what Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday announced to pump the economy even though it means postponing by a year to 2017-18 achieving the stiff fiscal deficit target of 3 per cent. "It is no secret that the major slippage in the last decade has been on the infrastructure front. Our infrastructure does not match our growth ambitions.There...
Saturday, 28 February 2015
Holidays, movies, shopping get costlier: Middle class unimpressed with Budget ... - Firstpost
Kuch toh phool khilaye hai humne, kuch aur khilane hai. Diqqat yeh hai ki raahon mein kai kaante purane hain (I have made some flowers bloom, and many are yet to be bloomed. But I have to negotiate many old thorns that lie strewn on the path) - beginning his Budget presentation with this couplet, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may have summed up well his challenges and predicament, but the middle class seems to be tired of listening to...
BJP hails budget, opposition calls it pro-rich - BILKUL
Bilkul News, New Delhi, March 1: The NDA government Saturday hailed the Union Budget 2015-16 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling it "progressive and practical" while the opposition slammed it for being "pro-rich". Modi, commenting on the budget presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, said it had a "clear vision". "It is a budget that is progressive, positive, practical, pragmatic and prudent," he tweeted. Modi said the budget has "distinct focus on farmers, youth, poor, neo-middle class and the aam nagrik (common...
India's chance to fly: Budget 2015 sets stage for a new economic order - Firstpost
It would seem Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was well aware of the huge burden of expectations he was carrying on his shoulders this time, when he rose to present the Budget for 2015-16.Taking off from the view that the world now thinks it is “India’s chance to fly”, Jaitley put together a Budget which, if one joins the dots, sets the stage for a new economic order in India. Alongside, acutely aware of the need to push growth despite the...
India's chance to fly: Budget 2015 sets stage for a new economic order - Firstpost
It would seem Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was well aware of the huge burden of expectations he was carrying on his shoulders this time, when he rose to present the Budget for 2015-16.Taking off from the view that the world now thinks it is “India’s chance to fly”, Jaitley put together a Budget which, if one joins the dots, sets the stage for a new economic order in India. Alongside, acutely aware of the need to push growth despite the...
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to take oath as Jammu and Kashmir CM today - Hindustan Times
From two-storey chief minister residence on Jammu’s Wazarat Road to the Civil Secretariat, the tectonic political shift is visible in the power corridors of the state as people swarm the city to witness historic swearing-in ceremony of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alliance government on Sunday.Former chief minister Omar Abdullah has already vacated the Wazarat Road residence in Jammu, likely to be taken over by PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed. Abdullah’s staff had to carry humongous exercise...
India's chance to fly: Budget 2015 sets stage for a new economic order - Firstpost
It would seem Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was well aware of the huge burden of expectations he was carrying on his shoulders this time, when he rose to present the Budget for 2015-16.Taking off from the view that the world now thinks it is “India’s chance to fly”, Jaitley put together a Budget which, if one joins the dots, sets the stage for a new economic order in India. Alongside, acutely aware of the need to push growth despite the...
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to take oath as Jammu and Kashmir CM today - Hindustan Times
From two-storey chief minister residence on Jammu’s Wazarat Road to the Civil Secretariat, the tectonic political shift is visible in the power corridors of the state as people swarm the city to witness historic swearing-in ceremony of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alliance government on Sunday.Former chief minister Omar Abdullah has already vacated the Wazarat Road residence in Jammu, likely to be taken over by PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed. Abdullah’s staff had to carry humongous exercise...
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to take oath as Jammu and Kashmir CM today - Hindustan Times
From two-storey chief minister residence on Jammu’s Wazarat Road to the Civil Secretariat, the tectonic political shift is visible in the power corridors of the state as people swarm the city to witness historic swearing-in ceremony of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alliance government on Sunday.Former chief minister Omar Abdullah has already vacated the Wazarat Road residence in Jammu, likely to be taken over by PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed. Abdullah’s staff had to carry humongous exercise...
Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to take oath as Jammu and Kashmir CM today - Hindustan Times
From two-storey chief minister residence on Jammu’s Wazarat Road to the Civil Secretariat, the tectonic political shift is visible in the power corridors of the state as people swarm the city to witness historic swearing-in ceremony of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) alliance government on Sunday.Former chief minister Omar Abdullah has already vacated the Wazarat Road residence in Jammu, likely to be taken over by PDP patron Mufti Muhammad Sayeed. Abdullah’s staff had to carry humongous exercise...
Budget 2015: Arun Jaitley reiterates his promise of rolling out GST from April 1 ... - Economic Times
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may have avoided giving definite milestone for implementation of various components of goods and services tax (GST), but his Budget for 2015-16 clearly laid the ground for the new levy that will replace multiple central and states taxes.Jaitley also reiterated his promise for rolling out GST from April 1, 2016, ending any further doubts about the timelines for this ambitious tax reform. Increase in service tax rate, subsuming education cess with excise duty and pruning items on the exempted list...
The Crack(down) on Black - The New Indian Express
Action against illegal stash in off-shore accounts was one of the biggest promises of Narendra Modi’s 2014 poll campaign and one of the points that the government was cornered on by the Opposition in recent weeks. So, in its first full-fledged Budget, the Modi government not only unveiled a slew of tough measures to crackdown on hidden assets, it also introduced a new law that could see hoarders getting up to 10 years of imprisonment.Hard cash was almost made a bad word, to disincentive use of cash, and for any transaction-sale...
Budget 2015: Arun Jaitley reiterates his promise of rolling out GST from April 1 ... - Economic Times
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may have avoided giving definite milestone for implementation of various components of goods and services tax (GST), but his Budget for 2015-16 clearly laid the ground for the new levy that will replace multiple central and states taxes.Jaitley also reiterated his promise for rolling out GST from April 1, 2016, ending any further doubts about the timelines for this ambitious tax reform. Increase in service tax rate, subsuming education cess with excise duty and pruning items on the exempted list...
Bihar Niwas was washed with 'Ganga jal' for Nitish Kumar stay: Jitan Ram Manjhi - Economic Times
PATNA: Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi today stoked a controversy by alleging that Bihar Niwas in New Delhi was washed with 'Ganga jal (water)' after his visit so that his successor Nitish Kumar could stay there."I went to Bihar Niwas and found out that it was being washed with Ganga jal as I had stayed there earlier. How could Kumar stay at such a place where others have stayed? He is of such kind of mentality," Manjhi said, speaking at the launch of the Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM).The former chief minister said...
Budget 2015: Big print promises, small print chips away - Times of India
NEW DELHI: The applause for the finance minister had barely died down when it became apparent that the reduction in corporate tax from 30% to 25%, over the next four years, will actually have companies shelling out more — not less — next year because of the rise in surcharge. The phased reduction in corporate tax rates will kick in only from April 1, 2016.The surcharge for large corporate tax payers having more than Rs 10 crore as taxable...
Budget 2015: One-time chance on black money or 10 yrs in jail - Times of India
NEW DELHI: The government is working on a plan to provide a one-time opportunity to those who have black money abroad to pay taxes and repatriate their stash even as finance minister Arun Jaitley unveiled a raft of stringent measures in the Budget to crack down on offenders. He is likely to announce this facility when he introduces a comprehensive legislation to curb black money in this session of Parliament. The severity of punishments...
Budget 2015 — Sops ka saath, sabka vikas: Jaitley combines growth and give ... - Times of India
The headline-grabbing big bang measures might have been missing in finance minister Jaitley's maiden full-year Budget on Saturday, but it sought to diligently create an enabling platform, block by block, for future economic growth. At the same time, the FM announced a series of pro-poor measures to blunt the growing criticism about the Modi government being pro-rich. In the process, he might have just pulled off a rare feat of combining...
Union Budget 2015 is 'pro-industrialist', not meant for poor: Congress - Zee News
New Delhi: Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday slammed the Union Nudget saying it was "pro-industrialist", "pro-corporate" and not meant for the poor.He said the budget was vision document just like the Railway Budget, and was "impractical" in nature."The budget is only for big corporate houses and industries. It is for the rich who supported them (the BJP) during the Lok Sabha polls. It is not a pro-poor budget," Kharge told reporters outside Parliament.Observing that "it was just like the vision document of the...
Bihar Niwas was washed with 'Ganga jal' for Nitish Kumar stay: Jitan Ram Manjhi - Economic Times
PATNA: Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi today stoked a controversy by alleging that Bihar Niwas in New Delhi was washed with 'Ganga jal (water)' after his visit so that his successor Nitish Kumar could stay there."I went to Bihar Niwas and found out that it was being washed with Ganga jal as I had stayed there earlier. How could Kumar stay at such a place where others have stayed? He is of such kind of mentality," Manjhi said, speaking at the launch of the Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM).The former chief minister said...
Budget 2015 — Sops ka saath, sabka vikas: Jaitley combines growth and give ... - Times of India
The headline-grabbing big bang measures might have been missing in finance minister Jaitley's maiden full-year Budget on Saturday, but it sought to diligently create an enabling platform, block by block, for future economic growth. At the same time, the FM announced a series of pro-poor measures to blunt the growing criticism about the Modi government being pro-rich. In the process, he might have just pulled off a rare feat of combining...
Budget 'hollow and plain'; its 'dhanwapsi' programme: Oppn - Moneycontrol.com
Opposition on Saturday slammed as "hollow and plain" BJP's first full-year union Budget, saying it lacked the vision and alleged that it was "repayment" by the BJP government to the rich and the corporates. "The Budget is only for big corporates and industries. It is not a pro-poor Budget. Opposition on Saturday slammed as "hollow and plain" BJP's first full-year union Budget, saying it lacked the vision and alleged that it was "repayment"...
Budget 2015: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar praises Arun Jaitley for special grant - Economic Times
NEW DELHI: Poll-bound Bihar and politically volatile West Bengal were in for a bonanza in the Union Budget on Saturday, and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley promptly got a surprise pat on the back from Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. Kumar, a sworn political enemy of BJP, had raised a few eyebrows when he met both PM Modi and the FM on Thursday.Special status for Bihar was one of his long-standing claims, and on Saturday, Kumar thanked...