PM would have sacrificed TMC for me: Trivedi

Former Union Minister Dinesh Trivedi has claimed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would have been prepared to retain him as the Railway Minister, even at the cost of losing the TMC's support.

Mukul Roy announces rollback in rail fare hike

Railway Minister Mukul Roy on Thursday withdrew the increase in passenger fares in the sleeper, suburban, AC Chair Car and AC 3-tier classes announced by his predecessor Dinesh Trivedi, who had presented the budget on March 14. Roy's announcement was expected after his party, the Trinamool Congress, forced Trivedi to quit from Union Cabinet for increasing passenger fares across all the classes.

Mamata has her way, populism derails railways

Mamata Banerjee has had her way again and the passenger fare has been rolled back. The announcement was made by new Union Railway Minister Mukul Roy on Thursday. What happens to the railways now? Will the plans of modernisation of railways go off-track?

Budget fails to address fiscal constraint: Moody's

India's budget lacks new solutions to address the country's fiscal constraints, global rating agency Moody's Investor Service said on Monday.

Pressure tactics won't work: FM to bullion dealers

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday bluntly told bullion dealers, who have gone on strike against the levies on gold, that their pressure tactics "will simply not not work".

I was extra careful while formulating Budget: Pranab

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said he was "extra careful" while formulating his Budget proposals in view of the political situation on the ground.

DTC likely to become effective from FY14: Pranab

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday expressed hope that the direct tax regime would become effective from 2013-14.

Govt will address oil price rise issue: Pranab

Worried over the rising price of crude oil, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday said the government can address the issue even outside the Budgetary route if the upward trend continues.

Budget 2012: Pay more for the comforts of life

Budget 2012 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday, March 16, makes eating out and phone bills and other comforts of life costlier, pinching the common man. Increase in service tax will increase your mobile bills by 2 per cent every month.

Budget 2012: bland, with some big ideas

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has so consistently disappointed that it is difficult to believe he will keep his word on the fiscal deficit. This year's spending went over-board by nearly a third. That is an appalling record. There have been slippages in the past decade - but never of this magnitude (except in the year of financial crisis). He has made a virtue of honesty by hanging out the linen. He appears contrite and in a mood to make amends. Hopefully, he will not want to go down in history as the man who let down the country.

Budget not game-changing: US-India trade group

Calling the Indian budget "measured but without game-changing reforms", a US-India trade group has expressed the hope that the government would deliver on foreign investor friendly key reforms during the budget session.

No reforms + tax tweaks + higher prices = Budget

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee started his Budget speech with a lot of promise but at the end of it, he failed to give any roadmap about the reform process and plans to revive the economy. The was no indications on implementing goods and services tax or on subsidy cuts in Mukherjee's Budget while the Direct Tax Code has been deferred. According to the experts it is a '80s-style' budget.

Income tax exemption limit raised to Rs 2 lakh

Giving some relief to tax payers, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday proposed raising the income tax exemption limit for individuals to Rs 2 lakh per annum from Rs 1.80 lakh.