News Overview

The vote-on-account on Feb 16 ?09 may include some changes in the tax structure, Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram said on Thursday. The government will present an interim budget on Feb. 16. National elections are due by mid-May. However, Mr Chidambaram remained non-committal on the announcement of a stimulus package in the interim budget to be unveiled on February 16. “Wait till February 16. There may […]

The government may cut taxes and unveil further steps to stimulate the economy in its interim budget on Feb 16 ?09. Suresh Tendulkar, the chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, said the combined fiscal deficit of federal and state governments is expected to be 10 percent of gross domestic product during fiscal year 2008/09.

Given that the cost of credit needs to fall to boost confidence, the Reserve Bank of India may eventually cut interest rates. This could happen after the interim budget is approved, Suresh Tendulkar, Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council was quoted as saying. The RBI has cuts its key lending rate, the repo rate, by 350 basis points to 5.5% since October, but […]

With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recovering from his coronary bypass surgery, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, currently in charge of the finance ministry, will present the interim budget on February 16. The prime minister is expected to attend the last Parliament session of the 14th Lok Sabha on February 26 ?09.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government will present an Interim General Budget on February 16, according to a Parliament communiqu?. Railway Minister Lalu Prasad will present an Interim Railway Budget on February 13, the second day of the coming Parliament session. The session, scheduled as the last one of the 14th Lok Sabha, will begin on February 12 with the customary speech of President Pratibha […]