Questions Montek Singh Ahluwalia didn't answer
Vivek (Fri Jun 5 1998 6:54 IST)
Sir, what are the moves the MOF is making in order to reassure the rating agencies who are threatening to downgrade India's status?
shalini (Fri Jun 5 1998 6:56 IST)
Hi Monty, I think the budget is a superb effort of balance - Why is it that there is a feeling of let down amongst various section of public ?
Deepak (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:6 IST)
Dr. Ahuluwalia are you here ?
Vivek Rao (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:10 IST)
Dr. Ahluwalia is the Finance Ministry in touch with major players in the Corporate world to lobby for India against the sanctions?
Vivek Rao (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:11 IST)
Dr. Ahluwalia is the Finance Ministry in touch with major players in the Corporate world to lobby for India against the sanctions?
Sujata (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:11 IST)
hi mr singh r u there?
Sammy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:11 IST)
Sir what was the reason for shielding the insurance sector from foreign companies?
goel (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:12 IST)
Sir, how does the government propose funding its fiscal deficit of Rs 92000 crores approx (your estimates) without crowding out private sector and raising inflationary expectations and interest rates?
Sammy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:13 IST)
how substantial will the effect of sanctions be? Was the effect of sanctions considered while making the budget?
Swadeshi (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:13 IST)
Good evening, Mr Ahluwalia. This Budget of yours. It tries to be all things to all people, but what disturbs me most is a lack of will to cut the deficit. Do you think the deficit will prove to be proverbial albatross around the economy's neck?
Vivek Rao (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:13 IST)
Sir when do you think the free fall of the Rupee will stop?
dhavalv (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:14 IST)
Montek, there still remains a grey area in the surcharge the finance ministry has imposed on across the board products. Is it also for computer related products
C D Deshmukh (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:15 IST)
Alka: Monty is here! Monty: How can the finance ministry be involved in a fracas like the rollback of petrol prices? Did no one know or foresee this problem? It was frighteningly amateurish.
Ajoy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:15 IST)
Mr. Ahluwalia, as a young upcoming businessman who is in the process of putting up a business, as a jt. venture collab. with a large MNC, in a remote corner of Gujarat, I hope you can throw some light on two areas which no Budget, Politician or Ministry seems to efficiently tackle: (1) The bureaucracy one experiences in small towns. Currently, I have lost approximately Rs. 1 crore in principal plus interest simply because my hands were twisted!! (2) Why is it the Labour Policy never seems to be an issue with all of you? Is it the vote bank effect?
man (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:15 IST)
Montek, how far will be the nuclear fall out on the economy ? be honest !
Sridhar (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:15 IST)
Montek: Why do you feel Mr Chidambaram's dream budget last year turned into a bad budget for Indians?
chandy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:15 IST)
Mr. Ahluwalia the union budget does not have an estimate for the monetised deficit or the extent of support from RBI to the government borrowing programme? Can we have the estimate?
raja rao (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:16 IST)
untapped source of tax income - why tax common man and his tea, bread, butter, spices etc. THE MPs ARE LAW MAKERS. LET THEM BE THE IDEAL TAX PAYERS AT A SPECIAL RATE THAN OTHERS... AS THEY EXPECT THEY SHOULD GET TOP PRIVILEGES DURING THEIR TENURE... WHY NOT THEN PAY SPECIAL TAX...LITTLE HIGHER THAN NORMAL CITIZEN, PERHAPS BUDGET DEFICIT WILL COME DOWN!!
Sammy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:17 IST)
Sir how prepared is the Indian economy to face the sanctions? What is the estimated loss in terms of loans
Sujata (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:17 IST)
I'm Sujata from Sunday Observer newspaper, would you please reply to my queries?
man (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:18 IST)
montek why has the share market reacted so badly to the budget ?
Sujata (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:18 IST)
Which Indian company would be able to match the two goliaths -- LIC and GIC?
shareef (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:19 IST)
Do you think service tax on advertising is really good idea for the amount of revenue you collect against the paper work and time input it is more of a loss to the exchequer, please comment.
Ajoy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:20 IST)
Sir, as an industrialist, I must admit that the Ministry had a difficult job on their hands in light of the recent events at Pokharan, the forex crisis of the far east, the Kashmir issue, the dwindling economy of our country and the political influence - consequently, much as I feel the budget has affected me adversely, I would also like to congratulate the Ministry on a job better done than expected!
Deficit (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:20 IST)
On the Rediff Budget Day Chat , a representative from one of the foreign insurance companies said joint venture insurance companies would be permitted to enter the insurance sector. Day before yesterday, the FM had a different POV. Could you please clarify? Is the finance ministry treading warily, lest it be caught up in a vicious war with the Opposition?
Sujata (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:20 IST)
Didn't the finance ministry foresee the unfortunate petrol price hike?
riaz ahmed (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:20 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia: Do you think the FDI and FII inflows will be affected due to the 8 per cent import duty. Is the government reconsidering the decision, as a leading business paper had reported.
man (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:21 IST)
montek, why has the share market reacted so badly to the budget ?
Sujata (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:22 IST)
The ADR/GDR-related stock option for software companies seem to be inadequate as very few Indian companies can opt for it?
harmindar (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:22 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia, don't you think that Mr Sinha missed a great chance to present a Budget that would once and for all change the face of Indian economics? Why did he not do so, and present a please-all budget?
goel (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:22 IST)
Sir, back to the question of how does the government propose funding its fiscal deficit of INR 92,000 crores approx (GOi's number) without crowding out private sector or raising interest rates?
ganeshr (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:22 IST)
Sir, as a top government official, do you see any change in the thinking of Indian Govt officials, compared to, say, 10 years ago ? Or are bulk of our bureaucrats living in the license raj ?
Ajoy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:23 IST)
To clear the Petrol faux pas, I would like to know if the increase in Excise has been withdrawn officially or does it need to go through the legislative process of Parliament since the Finance Bill has already been put to the floor? If the Excise is not withdrawn, and the consumers are affected to the extent of Re. 1 only (or thereabouts), who bears the Excise cost?
Deepak (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:23 IST)
Sir thanks for your reply, but this logic applies to many other industries as well. The very fact that the exemptions are so low that there is limited scope for growth and development in this sector for small entrepreneurs. The growth in this industry is not vertical but horizontal.
sanjaysub (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:23 IST)
Can the icome tax dept really be computerised?
chandy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:23 IST)
Mr. Ahluwalia : The union budget does not have an estimate for the monetised deficit or the extent of support from RBI to the government borrowing programme? Can we have the estimate?
Swadeshi (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:24 IST)
Mr Ahluwalia: For the last three years whenever I have had the good fortune to chat with you in this forum, you have assured me that the government is committed to fighting poverty. Yet I see no tangible sign of it on the streets of Bombay where I used to live. I also read with despair last evening that 320 million Indians live below the poverty level in this country. Now that is depressing. What anti-poverty initiatives have been enlisted in the Budget? And why has your government been unable to combat poverty?
Anil (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:24 IST)
Mr. Ahluwalia, I feel that we should be producing goods which have great demand outside the country too. The idea is to have better inflows than outflows. Inflows by means of FDI are superficial as they would like to take back more than what they put in. That way we will always be living on a time bomb. What do you say?
harmindar (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:24 IST)
Without allowing in foreign insurance companies, how is the government going to raise resources to pay for infrastructure? Do Indian companies have so much money?
Ajoy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:25 IST)
When is the Ministry aiming to shift from the Excise/Octroi regime to the VAT system, i.e. in terms of years? This seems to be the area where I, as a factory owner, find myself the most hurt and no matter whom I write to, the consequence is always negative!
man (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:25 IST)
montek, why are you taking so much time to reply?
Sujata (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:26 IST)
mr singh, would you reply only to one question? I'm sure we're not bombarding you with queries?
ANIL AGRAWAL (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:26 IST)
traders are exempted from 8% DUTY but will they be allowed to pass cvd they will pay on their imports while selling in local market
chandy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:26 IST)
Why is the government using the proceeds of disinvestment to fund revenue expenditure? Why is it not opting to retire low cost debt?
goel (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:26 IST)
Sir, I quite agree with you that exchange rate policy should not peg the INr value, however, neither should the GOI draw a line in the sand, which is what the present GOI was doing while talking about the INR value, isn't it?
Sujata (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:27 IST)
to add to what mr swadeshi is saying, this inflationary budget is already expected to hike the prices of general commodities. mr singh ur reaction to this?
man (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:28 IST)
there is something wrong here !like in the economy !!
james bond (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:29 IST)
mr singh is there any hope for Rupee. If u see the amount of depreciation over only last one year vis a vis fundamentals or even over last fifty years, there is no justification for such a huge depreciation. There seems like a hidden agenda to reduce the value gradually or by leaps and bounds. Comments pl
Sethu (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:30 IST)
What Bhindranwales couldn't achieve in a decade, Montek could do to India in 5-Yrs - destroy it. Your comments.
johnny (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:30 IST)
wouldn't converting bank's npa's into bonds be the same as the govt issuing junk bonds ?!
goel (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:30 IST)
This budget seems to be Dream budget Two? Expenditure allocation have all gone up but revenue side is a grey area? Increasing import duties by *% might not do the trick and if GOI is relying upon growth to increase tax collections then we might as well give up before starting? Where is the money coming from, might I ask?
Sethu (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:31 IST)
Montek: Index today was 3420.Does this Government plan to take the NSE and BSE the OTC index way :Way below the Base Index level
james bond (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:32 IST)
look at the finance, forex or money or stock markets. The industry is in recession.Our FM mr singh is on record saying I do not lose sleep over the state of the markets. Any hope for any markets or industry?
dhavalv (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:32 IST)
I think there should be a proper assorting of questions. Montek could take on the wider issues/ the macro issues and then get into the details And the questions should be handled and asked in that fashion
ganeshr (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:33 IST)
What is your estimate of GDP growth during the 1998-99 FY ?
goel (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:33 IST)
Sir, you are incorrect in saying that the GOI is not borrowing from foreign banks. It is in fact borrowing from all the foreign banks operating in India to the extent of 25% of their liabilities in form of impoundment for the purpose of SLR. Your comments?
Sethu (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:33 IST)
Dear Montek Singhji; Would you frankly clarify one issue: Last year's budget was a disaster. How could you manage to improve upon that with this year's budget. You really have some talent to make things bad! Your Comments
Ajoy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:33 IST)
As regards your comment to Mr. Vivek Rao about the sanctions, I agree that the major effect is of US banks not allowed to lend to us in India. But to be technical, is it also not true that all credit has been withdrawn from Indian Bank's branches in the U.S. also?
hemanthshareef (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:34 IST)
we feel that service tax on advertising is counterproductive. For the revenue it generates, it seems the effort is a liability to the exchequer. please comment.
Ajoy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:34 IST)
Is there an easier way to get through to you, Mr. Ahluwalia, considering that the last five questions posed by myself have remained unanswered and nor do I expect a response anytime soon?
james bond (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:35 IST)
On the service tax. Why is the service industry which purchases telephones, insurance courier c.a. etc services is not given modvat-type credit?
Sethu (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:35 IST)
Dear Montek: What is the philosophy behind this year's budget? With FII's getting out of this country in a rush , Surely, you have done something to improve the revenues of Air India finally!
Ajoy (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:35 IST)
Labour Policy - this is an issue that seems to be avoided by all and sundry. Any comments?
Sujata (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:36 IST)
Hi are u there, mr. singh
sanjaysub (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:37 IST)
One answer for every 15 or so questions!! C'mon, people there must be a better way to chat!
Jayashree Menon (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:37 IST)
As the government keeps on changing frequently, there is an adverse effect on the masses. Which in another way leaves behind unpleasant things on the mind of the people. As per your opinion, what do you think is this kind of a frequent change is necessary or not?
SAPNA (Fri Jun 5 1998 7:37 IST)
Sir, The Budget has totally ignored the capital market. Post Budget, does the Government propose to introduce any new measures e.g buyback of shares in order to revive the markets ? Are we sending out the right signals to FII who are the major players in the stock market ? Would you agree that Budget 98 is an inflationary Budget.? The rupee is inching its way to Rs 42 to a dollar . How far are we ready to let the rupee depreciate?
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