In a big boost to farm sector, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday proposed a whopping Rs 1.25 lakh crore increase in agri-credit target for next fiscal at Rs 7 lakh crore and raised allocation to the ministry by a handsome 22 per cent. ...
07:09 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Hotels and restaurant owners on Thursday asked Finance Minister P Chidambaram to roll back the service tax proposed on all air-conditioned restaurants. "The Finance Minister should reconsider it. This will have a very bad impact on the hospitality industry," Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) Secretary Vijai Pande said. He said the move will mean an additional burden on customers. ...
07:04 PM, Feb 28, 2013
India held its gold import duty unchanged in Thursday's budget, defying industry expectations that the world's biggest bullion buyer would increase rates to curb demand and rein in a record current account deficit. The government could still raise the duty if imports do not ease in response to a January hike to 6 per cent from 4 per cent. ...
06:44 PM, Feb 28, 2013
NATGRID - a pet project of Finance Minister P Chidambaram during his tenure as Home Minister - witnessed a quantum jump in the 2013-14 budget getting a six-fold increase with the allocation pegged at Rs 66.5 crore. ...
06:43 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Indicating that his hands were tied because the economy is "challenged", Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said more "measures and decisions" will be announced during the Budget passage in Parliament. Addressing a post-Budget press conference, he said Budget is not a one-stop or one-step measure and is a continuing process. ...
06:30 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Is the Union Budget 2013-14 good for India? Ambedkar University's associate professor of Economics Surajit Mazumdar shared his perspective in an interaction with IBNLive readers. ...
06:27 PM, Feb 28, 2013
How will Budget 2013 impact you? Senior journalist Vivian Fernandes shared his perspective in an interaction with IBNLive readers. ...
06:22 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Global rating agency Standard & Poor's on Thursday said the Union Budget for fiscal year 2013-14 will have no impact on the country's sovereign credit rating. "The latest budget details have no rating impact on our sovereign credit rating on India (BBB-/Negative/A-3)," S&P said in a statement. ...
06:17 PM, Feb 28, 2013
Tax expert Subhash Lakhotia joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the impact of Budget 2013 on taxes and investments. ...
06:10 PM, Feb 28, 2013
CNBC-TV18 Banking Editor Latha Venkatesh joined IBNLive readers for an interaction on the bigger implications of Budget 2013 for the Indian economy. ...
06:10 PM, Feb 28, 2013
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
Finance Minister P Chidambaram has enhanced budgetary allocation for all subjects dealing with upgrading police infrastructure and enhancing weapons and training of personnel deployed to tackle Naxalism. Chidambaram, who held the Home portfolio before taking over the new assignment in August 2012, enhanced the allocation under eight various heads of subjects which are crucial to deal with the Naxal menace in various states of the country. ...
05:54 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
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
