New Delhi: The new tax policy and charges announced in Union Budget and Railway Budget 2013-14 have become applicable from Monday. Sparing the common man and taxing the super-rich - both individuals and corporate houses, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has increased social spending but stayed away from blatant pre-poll sops in his Budget. Belying fears of profligate spending to win votes, the Finance Minister kept a tight grip on his fiscal deficit and current account deficit targets without raising income-taxes or excise taxes across the board.
Train ticket prices and freight tariff will see an increase from Monday. Freight tariff has been hiked by 5.7 per cent from April 1. India's financial capital Mumbai is going to be one of the worst hit because after auto and taxi fare hike, travelling in BEST buses will also cost more. BEST has increased the fares by Rs 2 while the tickets of air conditioned buses will cost Rs 5 more. Even the charges of monthly bus passes have been increased.
BEST chairman Ashok Patil said that the decision to hike fares has been taken to minimise losses as it has become uneconomical to run the buses after hike in petrol and diesel prices.
Those using luxury cars and bikes will also have to shell out more as the government has imposed customs duty of 100 per cent. In addition, three per cent excise duty on SUVs is also set to increase the price....
01:20 PM, Apr 01, 2013
Seeking to dispel fears over the state of economy, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said the country will return to high growth of 7 per cent in two years and promised adequate public spending to stimulate it. Replying to a debate on the Budget 2013-14 in the Lok Sabha, he said the government was committed to ensuring reduction of fiscal deficit from 5.2 per cent to 3 per cent...
11:15 PM, Mar 14, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said the government wants to introduce the Direct Tax Code (DTC) bill in the Budget session of Parliament. He also said that Goods and Service Tax (GST) would become a reality within 2013, if all state governments come on board. ...
10:59 PM, Mar 09, 2013
The government on Friday set up a committee headed by former chairman and managing director of Canara Bank MBN Rao to prepare the blueprint for the country's first women's bank. ...
04:28 AM, Mar 09, 2013
CNBC TV18 has emerged as the clear winner as far as the race for the leadership position for business channels coverage of the Union Budget is concerned. Despite its bevy of competitors, CNBC TV18 has managed to stay ahead and remain the head of the pack. ...
04:34 PM, Mar 08, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram answered questions about Budget 2013 using Google Hangout, a multi-person online video chat, on Monday. Chidambaram joined the camp of other personalities like Barack Obama to use Google Hangout to reach out to people. ...
11:21 AM, Mar 05, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram answered questions about Budget 2013 using Google Hangout, a multi-person online video chat, at 8:00 pm on Monday. Chidambaram joined the camp of other personalities like Barack Obama to use Google Hangout to reach out to people. ...
10:15 AM, Mar 05, 2013
Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram joined a Google Hangout to field questions on Budget 2013-14. ...
07:56 PM, Mar 04, 2013
India's 2013/14 budget unveiled last week offers a "realistic" plan to meet the country's fiscal deficit target, and should be a credit positive for its sovereign ratings, Moody's Investors Service said in a report on Monday. ...
11:35 AM, Mar 04, 2013
In warning to tax dodgers, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday said that a huge amount of data is being mined to go after them and ruled out any amnesty scheme for defaulters. "No. In income tax there is no case for amnesty. Because now almost all returns are online except a small category which was exempt. We have a huge amount of data which is being mined. Therefore, there...
10:45 AM, Mar 04, 2013
Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia lauded P Chidambaram's suggested measures during the Budget speech on Thursday and said the Finance Minister cleared up many doubts in the mind of foreign investors that could invite more investments and boost economy. He also said that Chidambaram's efforts will be able to achieve fiscal deficit of 4.8 per cent by 2014. ...
09:51 PM, Mar 03, 2013
India's first all-women bank will start operations from November this year through six branches spread across the length and breadth of the country, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today. "It will be inaugurated in November. Initially we should start with at least one branch in each major region of this country, South, West, East, Centre, North and North-east. So that will mean immediately we should start with six branches," he...
02:12 PM, Mar 03, 2013
A number of non-legislative decisions covering customs, excise, service tax, insurance and banking to promote growth will be announced in Parliament before the passage of the Finance Bill. Disclosing this here today, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said that the budget presented by him on February 28 focussed on the legislative areas and the broad agenda. The government was now working on non-legislative decisions. ...
12:25 PM, Mar 03, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday said the revenue department will send tax notices to 35,000 assesses next week, beefing up efforts to reach the collection target for the fiscal. ...
03:46 AM, Mar 03, 2013
The episode also features a review of the Hyosung Aquila Pro. ...
11:16 PM, Mar 02, 2013
The ministry of Rural Development was allocated just Rs 5000 crore more than the Rs 74,000 crore in 2012. However, the big story in the rural development ministry is the inability to spend the allocated amount. ...
06:28 PM, Mar 02, 2013
Former Chief Justice of India JS Verma, who headed a panel that examined laws on crimes against women, on Saturday said in the absence of meaningful social change, measures like the proposed special bank for women were merely tokenism in quest for securing gender justice in the country. ...
05:51 PM, Mar 02, 2013
Deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said he is hopeful that the much delayed Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be implemented across the country no later than next year while speaking to Karan Thapar on Devil's Advocate. ...
10:27 AM, Mar 02, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram appealed to people not to buy so much gold as a way of reducing hefty imports, speaking on television a day after his 2013/14 budget surprised traders by keeping gold import duty unchanged at 6 per cent. ...
05:17 AM, Mar 02, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram sought to ease concerns it was targeting double taxation treaties on Friday, saying a proposal that sparked alarm among foreign investors was clumsily worded. ...
04:10 AM, Mar 02, 2013
