Mumbai: Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Friday asked countrymen to contain their "uncontrolled passion" for gold and instead save in financial instruments. "Have faith in our financial sector. Unfortunately, we have difficulty shedding our old habits and put our money in gold," he said while speaking at an event to mark the platinum anniversary celebrations of state-run Dena Bank. "The uncontrolled passion for gold must be contained," Chidambaram said and reeled out data to show how increasing gold imports are hurting the Current Account Deficit (CAD).
People should rather switch to financial products to funnel their savings, the Minister said and added the soon-to-be-luanched inflation indexed bonds is a very lucrative option. He also sought to demolish gold as a hedge against inflation, saying many such investors are finding the going difficult ever since the price of gold plummeted to Rs 26,000 from over Rs 33,000 per ten grams last year. He said that in 2012 the country bought USD 50 billion worth gold and fortunately, it was able to finance the CAD of USD 90 billion on the back of higher foreign flows and could maintain the foreign exchange reserves level at around USD 290 billion.
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02:03 AM, May 25, 2013
Mumbai: The Direct Taxes Code (DTC) Bill, which aims to overhaul the over 50-year-old I-T Act, is almost ready and will be taken up in the Monsoon session of Parliament, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Friday. "I am just writing the Direct Taxes Code. We will introduce it in the Monsoon session. We have another week's work on that," he said. The Finance Minister was in Mumbai to attend...
08:38 PM, May 24, 2013
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will on Friday attend the silver jubilee celebrations of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in Mumbai. A commemorative postage stamp and a book on the history of the Indian securities market will be released on the occasion. Singapore Deputy Prime Minister T Shanmugaratnam, who also holds the finance portfolio, will be the guest of honour. He is scheduled to deliver...
06:23 AM, May 24, 2013
New Delhi: The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on Thursday opposed scrapping of the provision which requires the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to seek government's permission for probing bureaucrats in corruption cases. The DoPT raised the issue during a power-point presentation at the maiden meeting of the Group of Minister headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram which discussed the issue of giving greater autonomy and more financial powers...
10:44 PM, May 23, 2013
New Delhi: Faced with the Supreme Court rap on the independent functioning of CBI, the Group of Ministers headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday discussed ways to give greater autonomy and more financial powers to the agency. The GoM, at its first meeting, was given a power-point presentation by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in which it opposed scrapping of the provision which requires CBI to...
09:24 PM, May 23, 2013
New Delhi: Malayalam will soon be granted the status of a classical language. The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Thursday approved classifying Malayalam as a 'Classical Language', Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters. The benefits extended to Classical Languages include, two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence and setting up of a Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Languages. Other...
08:50 PM, May 23, 2013
New Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday sought to assuage the stock market, after it declined by over 350 points, by asserting that there was no need for any "nervousness" and the participants should read the situation correctly rather than be influenced by external developments. "There is no need for any kind of nervousness. I am looking forward to June and the second quarter with much greater confidence. I...
08:41 PM, May 23, 2013
Chennai: Days after the Supreme Court's interim relief to Tamil Nadu Cricket Association expired on May 14, Chennai Corporation officials on Thursday sealed three stands at the MA Chidambaram stadium here. On a petition by the TNCA after I, J and K stands were sealed by the Chennai Corporation, the Supreme Court had directed the civic body to de-seal three stands. The Chennai Corporation had, on May 12, sealed the...
07:29 PM, May 23, 2013
The rupee recovered from a more than 8-month low hit earlier on Thursday, as exporters took advantage of a spike in the dollar to sell the greenback and on fears the central bank would intervene to stabilise the local currency. The rupee still posted a fifth day of falls to mark its longest losing streak in over three months as worries about a potential pullback in the US monetary stimulus...
06:39 PM, May 23, 2013
New Delhi: The Group of Ministers formed by the PM to review the SC observations on the CBI met for the first time on Thursday in New Delhi. Union Ministers P Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and MoS PMO V Narayanasamy were in attendance. However, CBI Director Ranjit Sinha, who was one of the special invitees to the meeting, did not attend it. Coming out of the meeting, Sibal said...
05:11 PM, May 23, 2013
New Delhi: The first meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to ensure greater independence for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will take place on Thursday in the Finance Minister's office. The government had set up the GoM after the Supreme Court had pulled it over the lack of functional autonomy to the CBI. The Supreme Court in its order has asked the government to bring a law which...
02:20 PM, May 23, 2013
Dubai: Seeking to enhance bilateral trade and cooperation, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday held discussions with Qatar's Emir and the Minister of Economy and Finance, as he asserted the robustness of the Indian economy and its vast potential for the gulf country's firms. Chidambaram, who is on an official visit to Qatar, met with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the country's Minister of...
12:14 AM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: Finance Minister P Chidambaram will inaugurate a two-day conference of top Income Tax department and CBDT officers later this month in the national capital and discuss efforts to maximise revenue collection. The annual conference of Chief Commissioners and Directors General of the I-T department will be held on May 28 and 29. A host of challenges being faced by the department like illegal chit fund companies, ponzi schemes,...
09:55 AM, May 19, 2013
New Delhi: A delegation of MPs and MLAs from Delhi on Saturday met Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and requested him to release water to the national capital from Munak Canal in his state. The Munak canal was constructed by Haryana with financial assistance of around Rs 400 crore given by Delhi government on the condition that the national capital will be supplied 80 MGD water from it. But...
01:57 AM, May 19, 2013
London: Finance Minister P Chidambaram's reform push to revive Indian economy and restore investor confidence was on Thursday lauded by British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, who said he has done a great job. "When it comes to India, I think Mr Chidambaram has done a great job at telling and showing the world that India is open for business," Osborne told select Indian journalists after his meeting with...
02:20 AM, May 17, 2013
Thrissur: JPC Chairman PC Chacko has said it will be "unconstitutional" to summon former Telecom Minister A Raja, prime accused in the 2G spectrum case, before the Joint Parliamentary Committee to take evidence, as it would be an "infringement" of Article 20 of the Constitution. "Article 20 (iii) of the Constitution clearly states no person accused of any offence shall be compelled to be a witness against himself," Chacko said....
01:26 AM, May 16, 2013
A week after the Supreme Court pulled up the Government over its control on the functioning of the CBI, the Prime Minister on Tuesday constituted a Group of Ministers to review the SC's directives on CBI autonomy. The GoM is headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram and will include V Narayanasamy, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid and Manish Tewari. ...
07:14 PM, May 14, 2013
Bhubaneswar: Terming as shocking and unfortunate Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's reported statement favouring special category status to Bihar before report of a sub-committee, ruling BJD on Monday accused Congress of working against the interest of Odisha. "As far as I know (about) backwardness of Bihar, I am sure it will qualify to be a special category state by the sub-committee to be appointed under the chairmanship of Raghurama G...
02:25 AM, May 14, 2013
Sources said on Monday that a section within the Congress wanted Manmohan Singh replaced as PM before Parliament's monsoon session. ...
10:57 PM, May 13, 2013
Sources said on Monday that a section within the Congress wanted Manmohan Singh replaced as PM before Parliament's monsoon session. ...
09:19 PM, May 13, 2013
