The government on Thursday announced raising basic custom and countervailing duty on steam coal, used in power generation, a step which analysts said will lead to marginal increase in power tariffs. Finance Minister P Chidambaram in his Budget speech announced a hike in the basic customs duty on steam coal from present nil to two per cent and countervailing duty (CVD) from one per cent to two per cent. ...
06:05 PM, Feb 28, 2013
The government has announced construction of a power transmission link between Srinagar and Leh at an investment of Rs 1,840 crore. "To improve power supply in the Leh-Kargil region (Jammu & Kashmir) and connect it to the northern grid, the government will construct a transmission system from Srinagar to Leh at a cost of Rs 1,840 crore," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said in his Budget speech. ...
06:00 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Gems and jewellery sector on Thursday heaved a sigh of as there is duty hike in gold or jewellery in Budget 2013-14. "We thank the Finance Minister for accepting our demand by not increasing the Customs duty on gold and not levying Excise or any other duty on gold jewellery. We accept the Budget with a positive attitude," Bombay Bullion Association President Mohit Khamboj said. ...
05:59 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Modified version of controversial General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) provisions will come into effect from April 2016, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Thursday. A number of representations were received against GAAR provisions introduced in the last Budget. Following which the government had set up an expert committee under Parathasarthi Shome to give recommendations on the anti-avoidance tax proposals. ...
05:52 PM, Feb 28, 2013
The Reserve Bank on Thursday welcomed the General Budget, saying it has laid the foundation for lowering fiscal and current account deficits, apart from supporting both domestic and foreign investments. The central bank said the government's net market borrowing target of around Rs 5 lakh crore (budget estimate for the next fiscal is Rs 4.84 lakh crore) is manageable. ...
05:46 PM, Feb 28, 2013
National broadcaster Prasar Bharati was allocated a sum of Rs 2,180 crore as grants-in-aid under the annual budget for 2013-14, which is a 26 per cent increase over the amount received in the previous fiscal. As per the revised estimates for fiscal 2012-13, Rs 1,729 crore had been granted to Prasar Bharati. ...
05:42 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Notwithstanding the hike of nearly 16.5 per cent in the budget allocation for Ministry of External Affairs for 2013-14, India's overseas developmental projects are expected to take a hit with the budgetary assistance falling short of actual demand. The budget presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram allocated Rs 11,719 crore to the Ministry as against Rs 10,062 in the revised budget 2012. ...
05:36 PM, Feb 28, 2013
CBI has received Rs 461.66 crore in budgetary allocation for the next fiscal which is a marginal increase of approximately 14 per cent over 2012-13. The agency has been allocated Rs 461.66 crore in the budget on Thursday as compared to Rs 404.97 crore in the last fiscal marking an increase of approximately 13.99 per cent. ...
05:34 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Infrastructure got a major thrust in Budget 2013-14 with Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday announcing a slew of measures to boost sector's growth, like raising Rs 50,000 crore through tax-free bonds, setting up of major ports and a road regulator. ...
05:33 PM, Feb 28, 2013
A hike of Rs 214 crore was allocated to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports with Finance Minister P Chidambaram earmarking Rs 1219 crore for it in the 2013-14 budget presented in Parliament on Thursday. In his Budget presented in the Lok Sabha, Chidambaram allocated Rs 1093 crore as plan outlay while Rs 126 crore was set aside for non-plan. ...
05:28 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday hailed Finance Minister P Chidambaram for promising to revisit criteria for special category status and said that it was a 'victory in-principle' for Bihar in view of its consistent demand for grant of such a status. ...
05:26 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on said work on the Direct Tax Code (DTC) Bill, which seeks to overhaul income tax laws, is in progress and the amended Bill will be introduced in the ongoing Budget session. Presenting the Budget, he said that the DTC is not intended to be an amended version of Income Tax Act, 1961 but a new code based on the international practices that will be compatible...
05:23 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Resisting the temptation of election-year populism, the General Budget on Thursday offered no major tax sops but slapped a surcharge on 'super-rich', raised duties on mobile phones, cigarettes and imported luxury vehicles and introduced tax deduction at source (TDS) on property sale above Rs 50 lakh. ...
05:22 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Galvanised steel makers like SAIL and Tata Steel will reap benefits with the Budget 2013-14 bringing down export duty on certain items to nil from 7.5 per cent earlier. ...
05:14 PM, Feb 28, 2013
To prevent harassment to passengers, the government on Thursday proposed increasing the limit of duty-free import of jewellery via passenger baggage to Rs 50,000 for males and Rs 1,00,000 for females. The rule has been amended for Indian passenger who has been residing abroad for over an year or a person who is transferring his residence to India. ...
05:13 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Delhi Police will get Rs 4,455.21 crore for next fiscal, an increase of Rs 587.88 crore from the last budget, after the year saw demands that it spruce up training and infrastructure to provide better security to people, especially women, in the national Capital. For upgrading training facilities and installation of traffic signals Rs one crore and Rs four crore respectively have been allocated while another Rs two crore has...
05:13 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday announced a Rs 2,000 crore urban housing fund, while making luxury homes costlier by cutting abatement on service tax on a flat with a floor area of over 2,000 sq ft, or prices exceeding Rs 1 crore. ...
05:08 PM, Feb 28, 2013
For every rupee the government proposes to spend in 2013-14, as much as 18 paise will go for paying interests. As per Budget 2013-14, presented by Finance Minister P Chidambaram in Parliament on Thursday, Central Plans expense will see a slight decline at 21 paise out of the total expenditure, from the provision of 22 paise in 2012-13. ...
05:06 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Duty concessions on import of spare parts and testing equipment for aircraft MRO industry were granted in the Union budget today, as the government proposed to provide a plan outlay of Rs 5,000 crore in Air India in the next financial year. "The aircraft manufacture, repair and overhaul (MRO) industry is at a nascent stage. Encouraging the MRO sector will generate employment besides other benefits. Hence, I propose to provide...
04:59 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Except for carmakers who were hit by a surprise tax, industry leaders largely cheered Finance Minister P Chidambaram's Union Budget 2013-14 and termed it as "people's budget", "balanced" and "strong". "Finance Minister did the best he could. He revised the bad decisions of previous budget restoring hope for people," former Infosys director Mohandas Pai said. ...
04:54 PM, Feb 28, 2013
