The Interim Budget documents for FY25 show central government employee strength is estimated to peak in 2024 at 3.51 million, growing 12 per cent over the preceding year

There is no adverse impact on India's exports and imports so far due to the Red Sea crisis, an official said. The official said that the transportation cost has increased as the shippers are taking a long route. "There is no impact in volume terms so far. Only the transportation cost is up. It has risen for all the countries. It has not affected the trade adversely so far. We have to see the long term demand, but it will depend on the EU and the US," the official added. These two regions account for over 30 per cent of the country's total exports. However, exporters said that they are keeping their fingers crossed as due to the significant jump in freight cost, India's exports may be impacted. The trade data for January will be released by the commerce ministry on February 15. In December last year, exports rose marginally by one per cent to USD 38.45 billion. Due to the attacks by Yemen-based Houthi rebels on commercial ships, the movement of goods from the Red Sea, the world's

The existing taxation structure for corporates with a 22 per cent tax is "very reasonable" when compared to an economy of the size of India and hence the concessional tax regime which was in force for four years for new manufacturing units was not extended beyond March 2024, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said. In an interview with PTI, Malhotra said the Interim Budget 2024-25 provides for continuity in taxation regime and the benefits given to taxpayers in the last years are showing results in the form of huge buoyancy in personal income tax. "Taxpayer services have been a major focus of the government and this will continue going forward. Taxpayer services includes rationalisation, simplification and trust-based taxation with less scrutiny and more pinpointed assessments and use of technology. We are hopeful taxpayer services will continue to improve helping us in compliance and improving tax collection efficiency," Malhotra said. To a question on why the concessional tax regim

Coming close on the heels of the interim budget which maintained the status quo on policy front, the Reserve Bank is likely to continue with the pause on the short-term lending rate in its upcoming bi-monthly monetary policy this week as retail inflation is still near the higher end of its comfort zone, say experts. It is almost a year since the Reserve Bank has kept the short-term lending rate or repo rate stable at 6.5 per cent. The benchmark interest rate was last raised in February 2023 to 6.5 per cent from 6.25 per cent to contain inflation driven mainly by global developments. The retail inflation in the current financial year has declined after touching a peak of 7.44 per cent in July, 2023, it is still high and was 5.69 per cent in December 2023, though within the Reserve Bank's comfort zone of 4-6 per cent. RBI Governor-headed Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will start its three-day deliberations on February 6. Governor Shaktikanta Das will announce the decision of the ...

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said India is in the driving seat of the Quad, while America is in the seat next to it with the corrective steering wheel, and added that it is up to India to "forcefully define" the nature of the diplomatic partnership. Garcetti, speaking here at the 17th edition of Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), used a rather unique analogy of 'eating, drinking and sharing a ride together' to explain the different roles of member countries in the Quad. The Quad is a diplomatic partnership between India, the US, Australia, and Japan to deepen economic, diplomatic, and military ties among the four countries. "India is very much in the driver seat of the Quad... may be America is in the next seat with the corrective steering wheel, I think Japan has been an avid navigator from the beginning and Australia is really excited to be back in the car and asking if everybody has enough to drink and eat, and where we are going. "So it is a great time and we love these

The government in October imposed a 28% tax on funds that online gaming companies collect from their customers for every bet, shocking a nascent $1.5 billion industry that is backed by global investor

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for projects worth over Rs 68,000 crore. Besides inaugurating the 400-crore permanent campus of IIM, Sambalpur, Modi unveiled several infrastructure projects across various sectors such as power, roads and railways. Modi had laid the foundation stone for the IIM campus in 2021. The PM also flagged off the Puri-Sonepur-Puri weekly express, which will improve connectivity in the region, and dedicated the Jharsuguda Head Post Office Heritage Building to the nation. He also inaugurated the 412-km DhamraAngul pipeline section of the Jagdishpur-Haldia and Bokaro-Dhamra pipeline project (JHBDPL)'. Built at a cost of around Rs 2,450 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga', the project will connect Odisha with the National Gas Grid. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Governor Raghubar Das and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan were present at the function.

The Indian economy is expected to grow at an average rate of 6.7 per cent per annum until the end of the decade, CRISIL said in its latest report. The economy will grow at this rate between the financial years 2024 to 2031, a notch above the pre-pandemic average of 6.6 per cent. According to CRISIL, the key contributor to this trend will be capital. This is a result of the investment-driven strategy of the government when the private sector was shy of making investments. The government increased capital expenditure significantly to support building expenditure and providing interest-free loans to states to bolster their own investment efforts, the report said. CRISIL said that after a robust 7.3 per cent growth this fiscal, there will be moderation to 6.4 per cent in the next financial year. There is also a need to monitor the impact of the escalation of the Middle East conflict on energy and logistics costs, it said. In India, the inflation level of 5.7 per cent in December 202

High interest rates, which tend to dampen economic growth and oil demand, in major economies like the United States and the euro zone appear to be here to stay in the near term

The nation's employers delivered a stunning burst of hiring to begin 2024, adding 353,000 jobs in January in the latest sign of the economy's continuing ability to shrug off the highest interest rates in two decades. Friday's government report showed that last month's job gain roughly twice what economists had predicted topped the December gain of 333,000, a figure that was itself revised sharply higher. The unemployment rate stayed at 3.7 per cent, just above a half-century low. Wages rose unexpectedly fast in January, too. Average hourly pay climbed a sharp 0.6 per cent from December, the fastest monthly gain in nearly two years, and 4.5 per cent from January 2023. The strong hiring and wage growth could complicate or delay the Federal Reserve's intention to start cutting interest rates later this year. The latest gains showcased employers' willingness to keep hiring to meet steady consumer spending. It comes as the intensifying presidential campaign is pivoting in no small par

The Budget indicates that the government is seeking participation from the private sector, suggested Aniket Dani, director, CRISIL Research

The yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond touched the day's low of 7.02 per cent as the government announced lower-than-expected gross borrowing for financial year 2024-25 on Thursday

The government has collected about Rs 1,260 crore in taxes till now this fiscal after a new TDS regime was brought in for online gaming and trade in cryptocurrency, CBDT Chairperson Nitin Gupta said Friday. About Rs 1,080 crore in taxes (under the tax deduction at source head) has been collected from online gaming and around Rs 180 crore through TDS has been mopped up during 2023-24 fiscal from the taxation of virtual digital assets (crypto currency), he told PTI during a post Budget interview. The data is till January 31. The Finance Act 2023 inserted a new section, 194BA, in the Income-Tax Act, 1961, with effect from April 1, 2023, which mandates online gaming platforms to deduct income-tax (TDS) on the net winnings in the person's user account. Tax is required to be deducted at the time of withdrawal as well as at the end of the financial year. Similarly, from April 1, 2022, income from transfer of virtual digital assets or cryptocurrencies is taxable at 30 per cent. Such income

Modi's ambition of privatising state-run firms has taken a back seat due to impending elections, but his government has delivered more stake sales than any previous administration

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India is moving fast and will become the world's third largest economy in the third term of his government. The general elections are due in April-May this year. Addressing the Bharat Mobility Global Expo here, the prime minister also announced that 1,000 modern rest houses in Phase-1 will be constructed along national highways for truck and taxi drivers. "India is certain to become the third largest economy in the world in the third term of our government," he said. Further, Modi said that in the 10 years before 2014, around 12 crore vehicles were sold in the country. However, since 2014 more than 21 crore vehicles have been sold in the country, he added. According to him, 10 years ago, around 2,000 electric vehicles were being sold. Now 12 lakh electric vehicles are being sold. In the last 10 years, around 60 per cent growth has been registered in passenger vehicles, he added. He also talked about the advancements India is making in

Monthly GST collections from online gaming companies have jumped over 400 per cent to about Rs 1,200 crore since October 1 when the 28 per cent levy on e-gaming platforms has come into effect, a senior official said on Friday. The GST Council had in August last year clarified that online gaming companies will have to pay 28 per cent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the full face value of bets placed on their platforms. Foreign e-gaming companies were mandated to register with the GST authorities, failing which their portals will be blocked. The amendments to GST law came into effect from October 1, 2023. "There has been a jump in GST revenues from online gaming companies post October 1. From monthly revenue of Rs 225 crore, the aggregate tax paid by the sector now stands at about Rs 1,200 crore," the official told PTI. GST officers had last year sent around 71 show cause notices to online gaming companies for alleged GST evasion of over Rs 1.12 lakh crore during financial years 2022

India's forex reserves increased USD 591 million to USD 616.733 billion for the week ended January 26, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday. In the previous reporting week, the overall reserves had dropped USD 2.795 billion to USD 616.143 billion. The country's forex kitty had reached an all-time high of USD 645 billion in October 2021. The reserves took a hit as the central bank deployed the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments since last year. For the week ended January 26, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased USD 289 million to USD 546.144 billion, the data said. Expressed in dollar terms, the foreign currency assets include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US units like the euro, pound, and yen held in the foreign exchange reserves. Gold reserves increased USD 269 million to USD 47.481 billion during the week, the RBI said. The Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) were up USD 27

The government expects average monthly GST collections to touch about Rs 1.85 lakh crore in the next fiscal, up from about Rs 1.66 lakh crore this year, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said on Friday. In a post-Budget interview with PTI, Malhotra also said the incorporation date for startups to avail of tax benefits for three years out of 10 have been extended by a year till March 31, 2025. He also said the customs duty cut in mobile spare parts and components to 10 per cent is intended to simplify tax structure, reduce classification disputes and should further spur investment in mobile manufacturing. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her 2024-25 interim Budget speech had said the GST taxpayer base as well as monthly revenues have doubled since its launch. The monthly Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection has crossed Rs 1.70 lakh crore in three months this fiscal, taking the average monthly mop-up to Rs 1.67 lakh crore in current fiscal. "GST collections are expected to g

The central government and Central Public Sector Enterprises are estimated to monetise assets worth Rs 1.50 lakh crore in the current fiscal, a tad lower than the targeted of Rs 1.75 lakh crore, a senior official said. Under the National Monetisation Pipeline, the aggregate monetisation potential of the central government's brownfield infrastructure assets has been estimated at Rs 6 lakh crore over a four-year period, from FY 2022 to FY 2025. In an interview to PTI TV, the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said about Rs 1.75 lakh crore was the target for asset monetization this year and "we are going to achieve something like Rs 1.50 lakh crore through monetisation". Pandey said monetisation is going on through infrastructure investment trust (InvITs), Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) in mining, road and power sector and is beginning to happen in the petroleum sector. "The asset monetisation proceeds do not visibly appear in the ..

Fitch Ratings on Friday said the slightly faster pace of fiscal deficit reduction does not significantly change India's sovereign credit profile but the government's emphasis on deficit reduction will help to stabilise the debt-to-GDP ratio over the medium term. In a post budget commentary, Fitch Ratings Director, Sovereign Ratings, Jeremy Zook said over the next five years, India's government debt-to-GDP ratio would be broadly stable at just above 80 per cent of GDP. This is based on a continued path of gradual deficit reduction, as well as robust nominal growth of around 10.5 per cent of GDP. In the interim Budget 2024-25, presented in Parliament on Thursday, the government revised lower its current year fiscal deficit to 5.8 per cent from 5.9 per cent budgeted earlier. The deficit, which is the gap between the government's revenue and expenditure, will come down to 5.1 per cent in 2024-25 and further to 4.5 per cent by 2025-26. Fitch said this demonstrates a firm desire to adher