New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Supportive policies and light-touch regulations to build domestic capacities and promote research & development will guide the government's approach, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Presenting the Union Budget 2022-23, Sitharaman said government contribution will be provided for R&D in "sunrise opportunities". "Artificial Intelligence (AI), Geospatial Systems and Drones, [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday unveiled a bigger Rs 39.45 lakh crore Budget, with higher spending on highways to affordable housing with a view to fire up the key engines of the economy to sustain a world-beating recovery from the pandemic. While she primed up spending on infrastructure to [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said 95 per cent of Aspirational Districts have made significant progress in key sectors such as health, nutrition, financial inclusion and basic infrastructure. Presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23, she said, 95 per cent of those 112 districts have made significant progress in key sectors such [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The government on Tuesday said it will allow the setting-up of world-class foreign universities in Gandhinagar's GIFT City, free from domestic regulations, to facilitate the availability of skilled manpower in the financial services space.In addition, an international arbitration centre will be set up in the GIFT City for timely settlement of [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) A Digital Ecosystem for Skilling and Livelihood, the DESH-Stack e-portal, will be launched to empower citizens to skill, reskill or upskill through online training, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Presenting the Budget 2022-23 in Parliament, Sitharaman also announced that a digital university will be established to provide access [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The government proposes to reduce the Alternate Minimum Tax (AMT) for cooperative societies from current 18.5 per cent to 15 per cent at par with private companies, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Presenting the Budget 2022-23 in the Lok Sabha, she said the government has also proposed to [...]

Ranchi, Feb 1 (PTI) Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday said Maharatna public sector undertaking Coal India Ltd (CIL) has agreed to offer work contracts up to Rs 1 crore to those who will be affected by its projects in the state to provide livelihood support to them. The CM said the decision was [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The government on Tuesday proposed to significantly step up the public investment by raising capital expenditure by 35.4 per cent to Rs 7.5 lakh crore or 2.9 per cent of the GDP in the next financial year. Presenting the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said [...]

SOLAN, India, Feb. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Shoolini University Founder and Pro Chancellor Mr Vishal Anand has been ranked among Under-50 Business Corporate leaders by Business Mint, a leading market research Company. The organisation honours outstanding Indian business executives and organisations for their dedication to excellence, best practices, and creative tactics since the awards were [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The government on Tuesday proposed to replace the existing law governing special economic zones (SEZs) with a new legislation to enable states to become partners in 'Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs'. The existing SEZ Act was enacted in 2006 with an aim to create export hubs and boost manufacturing [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The government's subsidies on food, fertilisers and petroleum are estimated to decline by 39 per cent to Rs 4,33,108 crore in the current fiscal, according to the Budget document.During 2022-23, the subsidies are estimated to further decline by 27 per cent to Rs 3,17,866 crore, it said.In its revised budget [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday gave a one-time window to taxpayers to correct any discrepancy or omissions in their ITRs within two years of filing, subject to payment of taxes. In her 2022-23 Budget speech, the Minister said this is an "affirmative step in the direction of voluntary tax [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the Union Budget lays down the foundation to steer the economic developments for the next 25 years with holistic and future priorities. In her Budget Speech in the Lok Sabha, the minister said the Union Budget for 2022-23 seeks to lay the foundation [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said customs duty rates are being calibrated to provide a graded rate structure to facilitate domestic manufacturing of products like wearables and electronic smart meters. Presenting the Union Budget 2022-23, Sitharaman said duty concessions are also being given on certain items to enable domestic [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said measures will be taken to increase financial viability of infrastructure projects, including public-private partnerships (PPP), with technical and knowledge assistance from multi-lateral agencies. In her Budget speech, the minister said for financing the infrastructure needs, stepping-up of public investment will need to be [...]

Bhubaneswar, Feb 1 (PTI) The Odisha government said it will provide 15 per cent subsidy on the purchase of electric vehicles.For two-wheelers, the subsidy will be 15 per cent of the cost, up to a maximum of Rs 5,000. The cap on 15 per cent subsidy for three-wheelers is Rs 10,000, and for four-wheelers, it [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced allocation of whopping Rs 48,000 crore for completion of 80 lakh houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), both rural and urban, during the next fiscal year.In her budget speech, the minister said: "In 2022-23, 80 lakh houses will be completed for [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will introduce digital currency in the next financial year beginning April 2022 to boost the digital economy and efficient currency management, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed in her Budget 2022-23 speech on Tuesday.The introduction of a central bank digital currency will give a big [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan is a transformative approach for economic growth and sustainable development and is driven by seven engines — roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transport, waterways and logistics infrastructure. All seven engines will pull forward the economy in [...]

Kolkata, Feb 1 (PTI) The Union Budget provided nothing to the common people who have been "crushed" by unemployment and inflation, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday, terming it a "Pegasus spin budget".Banerjee said the Centre was lost in "big words" signifying nothing."BUDGET HAS ZERO FOR COMMON PEOPLE, WHO ARE GETTING CRUSHED [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) that provided much needed additional credit to over 1.3 crore MSMEs will be extended till March 2023 with its guarantee cover expanded by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 5 lakh crore, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. The additional amount will be [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said national highways will be expanded by 25,000 km during 2022-23 and the national ropeway development programme will be taken up in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Sitharaman announced this while presenting the Budget 2022-23 in Parliament. She also said contracts for the implementation of multimodal [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday proposed enhancing the funding under the PLI scheme for domestic solar cells and module manufacturing to Rs 24,000 crore from the existing Rs 4,500 crore to make India an exporting nation. "For facilitating domestic manufacturing for the ambitious goal of 280GW of installed solar [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday announced cutting import duty on cut and polished diamonds and gemstones to 5 per cent while on sawn diamond to nil in order to boost the sector. At present, import duty on cut and polished diamonds as well as gemstones is 7.5 per cent. [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Belying expectations, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not tinker with the personal income tax rates in the Budget for 2022-23. The minister also did not raise standard deduction, which was widely anticipated in view of elevated inflation levels and impact of the pandemic on the middle class. The standard deduction [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said a task force on animation visual effects, gaming and comic promotion will be set up to recommend ways to serve markets and global demand. In her Union Budget 2022-23 presentation she also said states will be encouraged to adopt Unique Land Parcel Identification [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) GST collections touched a record of Rs 1.40 lakh crore in January on rapid economic recovery, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. In her 2022-23 Budget speech, the minister said there has been a remarkable progress made in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, but still a few [...]

New Delhi, Feb 2 (PTI) Import duty on cut and polished diamonds and gemstones will be reduced to 5 per cent while on sawn diamond to nil in order to boost the sector, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. At present, import duty on cut and polished diamonds as well as gemstones is 7.5 [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday proposed to reduce customs duties on certain chemicals, including methanol, to promote domestic manufacturing.She also announced a reduction in customs duty on cut and polished diamond, gemstones to 5 per cent.Besides, she said that the government will introduce IT-driven reforms for special economic zones [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) India's fiscal deficit will unexpectedly rise to 6.9 per cent of GDP in the current fiscal and it is being targeted to be cut to 6.4 per cent in the next financial year. The fiscal deficit or the gap between expenditure and revenue was estimated at 6.8 per cent of [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said GST revenues are buoyant despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Presenting the Union Budget for 2022-23, the finance minister said remarkable progress has been made in GST regime, although there are still few challenges remaining. She also informed that no set off of any loss [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the government will provide a one-time window to correct omissions in income tax returns (ITRs) filed. She said that the updated returns will have to be filed within two years. The minister also said that the government proposes to reduce Minimum Alternative Tax [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday proposed to issue sovereign green bonds to mobilise resources as part of the government's borrowing programme. She said that outlay for capital expenditure has been stepped up by 35.4 per cent to Rs 7.5 lakh crore in FY'23. Effective capital expenditure will be Rs [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said data centre and energy storage system will be given infrastructure status to provide easy financing to the sector.While presenting the Union Budget 2022-23, she informed that private equity and venture capital investors invested Rs 5.5 lakh crore in startups.She further said an expert [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) The government is committed to reduce imports and promote self-reliance in the defence sector, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. She said that 68 per cent of capital for the defence sector would be earmarked for the local industry. Sitharaman also said that 5 per cent of Universal Service [...]

New Delhi, Feb 1 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said Rs 19,500 crore additional allocation under the PLI scheme for manufacturing high efficiency solar modules has been made.Presenting the Union Budget 2022-23, she said financial support will be provided to farmers to take up agro-forestry.Sitharaman further noted that the economy has shown resilience [...]