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

The economic success of India is grounded in the pursuit of reforms over the last years, Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Kristalina Georgieva said Thursday exuding confidence that it would achieve its goal of being a developed nation by 2047 by staying the course. "India has been a bright spot in the world economy, and it continues to be so. We are upgrading projections for Indian growth to 6.5 per cent in 2024. This comes on the back of fairly strong performance in 2023. The success of India is grounded in the pursuit of reforms over the last years," Georgieva told a group of reporters here. Georgieva said that one very significant advantages of India is the bold actions on the digital front with the digital public infrastructure, digital ID and making digital a strong comparative strength of India allowing small entrepreneurs to tap into markets in the way they were not able to do before. "We also see in India recognition that female participation in the ...

The Union Cabinet on Thursday extended the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) till 2025-26. In June 2020, the government had approved setting up of AHIDF worth Rs 15,000 crore. According to an official statement on Thursday, the Cabinet approved the "continuation of Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) to be implemented under Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF) with an outlay of Rs 29,610.25 crore for another three years up to 2025-26." The scheme will incentivize investments for dairy processing and product diversification, meat processing and product diversification, animal feed plant, breed multiplication farm, animal waste to wealth management (Agri-waste management) and veterinary vaccine and drug production facilities. "Government of India will provide 3 per cent interest subvention for 8 years including two years of moratorium for loan up to 90 per cent from the scheduled bank and National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC)

While overall capex has increased, some analysts had expected higher outlays for road, defence and railways

India's budget deficit is projected to be 5.8% of gross domestic product in 2023-24. The government aims to curb the deficit to 5.1% in the next financial year

India's power consumption grew nearly six per cent to 133.83 Billion Units (BU) in January 2024 as compared to the year-ago period, according to government data. In January 2023, power consumption stood at 126.30 BU, higher than 111.80 BU recorded in the same month a year ago, the data showed. The peak power demand met -- the highest supply in a day -- rose to 222.32 GW in January 2024. The peak power supply stood at 210.72 GW in January 2023 and 192.18 GW in January 2022. Experts said that power consumption as well as demand improved in January as mercury fell sharply in the month, especially in North India. The cold wave resulted in increased use of heating equipment like heaters, blowers and geysers which led to increase of power demand as well as consumption. The power ministry had estimated the country's electricity demand to touch 229 GW during the summer in 2023. The demand did not reach the projected level in April-July due to unseasonal rains. The peak supply, however,

Moody's in August had affirmed a 'Baa3' rating on India with a stable outlook. A higher rating implies lower economic risk, allowing a country to borrow at cheaper rates

Revised estimate for FY24 slashed to Rs 30,000 from Rs 51,000 crore

The government on Thursday approved the continuation of an export incentive scheme - RoSCTL - for apparel, garments and made-ups up to March 31, 2026. The Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) scheme is aimed at compensating for the state and central taxes and levies in addition to the rebate provided under duty drawback scheme on export of apparel/garments and made-ups. "The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the continuation of scheme for RoSCTL for export of apparel/garments and made-ups up to March 31, 2026," an official statement said. It said that the move will provide a stable policy regime which is essential for long-term trade planning, more so in the textiles sector where orders can be placed in advance for long-term delivery. "The continuation of RoSCTL will ensure predictability and stability in policy regime, help remove the burden of taxes and levies and provide level-playing field on the principle that goods are exported an

The government's gross tax revenue is projected to grow 11.46 per cent to Rs 38.31 lakh crore in the next fiscal, buoyed by 11.6 per cent growth in GST collections. Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection in 2024-25 is estimated to rise to Rs 10.68 lakh crore, an increase of Rs 1.1 lakh crore or 11.6 per cent. Of the total tax collections, Rs 21.99 lakh crore is estimated to come from direct taxes (personal income tax + corporate tax), and Rs 16.22 lakh crore from indirect taxes (customs + excise duty +GST). In the current fiscal, the government estimates gross tax revenue to exceed the budget estimated by about Rs 76,000 crore. The budgeted tax revenue for current fiscal was Rs 33.61 lakh crore, while the revised estimate pegs it at Rs 34.37 lakh crore, as per the Interim Budget 2024-25. Even though the corporate tax collections remained as per the FY24 budget estimates, the personal income tax collection is expected to overshoot budget estimates by over Rs 1.20 lakh crore in cur

The US on Thursday announced that a landmark agreement on supply chain resilience under the Indo-Pacific economic framework involving 14 partner nations, including India, Japan and Australia, will come into force on February 24. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the pact will facilitate a collaborative approach to strengthen supply chains and prevent potential disruptions. The US Department of Commerce said the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) agreement relating to supply chain resilience will enter into force on February 24. The agreement is aimed at coordination among the IPEF partners on building resilient, efficient, productive, sustainable, transparent, diversified, secure, fair, and inclusive supply chains. "This is a critical step in bringing the landmark, first-of-its kind agreement into action and promoting coordination among the IPEF partners on building resilient, efficient, productive, sustainable, transparent, diversified, secure, fair, and