He did not believe in any fiscal puritanism. In 2012, when it was almost certain that the government will breach the 2012-13 fiscal deficit target, he wrote that in abnormal times, abnormal measures are required to get back to normalcy.
In fact, no other recent Union Budget has held so much significance for the Indian economy as the one to be presented in about six weeks from now, notes A K Bhattacharya.
Thanks to the recapitalisation by the government and measures taken by the central bank, collapse of any large housing finance company won't pose as big a risk as it had six months ago.
There are many collateral advantages of taking the tough decision.
'An era of fiscal pessimism is setting in, which, if not countered intellectually, is going to have the same effect as export pessimism has had,' notes T C A Srinivasa Raghavan.
'Tax cuts will have only marginal effects in the short run and significant positive effects in the medium term,' says Shankar Acharya, former chief economic adviser to the Government of India.
'The Chinese made their point repeatedly after August 5. They backed Pakistan more overtly than in the past.' 'Kashmir is not completely off their radar. But in order to keep the atmosphere surrounding the Chennai meeting, they did not discuss Kashmir.'
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice has withdrawn herself from the race of Secretary of State, considering the stiff opposition she might have faced from the opposition Republican Senators during the confirmation process.
Rising fuel prices, intense competition and inability to pass on spiralling expenses have been negatively impacting the domestic airlines.
Concerned by GDP slowdown and unrealistic tax targets, the economists urged Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to implement long-term structural steps like land and labour reforms. Warning against any off-Budget financing the economists said the government should prepare a statement of intent for its social, rural and welfare sector expenditure.
The price of petrol is expected to come down to Rs 84.71 a litre and diesel to Rs 77.98
Government's objective is to bring down the cost of cultivation through efficient use of fertilisers and agro chemicals, and increase in realisation. It is, thus, planning to connect 200 agricultural mandis with electronic National Agricultural Mandis this year and 225 next year, to enable farmers to sell their produce hassle-free online.
Companies in China, South Korea and Indonesia pay 25 per cent tax, while those in Malaysia pay 24 per cent. Only Japan has a higher tax than India at 30.6 per cent. Hong Kong has the lowest corporate tax rate of 16.5 per cent while Singapore has 17 per cent rate and Thailand and Vietnam levy 20 per cent tax on companies.
Markets have opened marginally higher ignoring subdued global cues. The Sensex has advanced 51 points to 17,443 and the 50-share Nifty has opened higher by 14 points at 5,289 levels.
Indian economy was growing faster than the global average and all other major economies: FM
CARE Ratings, in a report, said it foresees an increase in the retail prices of petrol and diesel in the coming few days, depending on how the oil markets react in the reduction in supply from the cartel.
Both the government and RBI are expecting the CAD to be below $56 billion in the current fiscal compared to the record high of $88.2 billion, or 4.8 per cent of the GDP last fiscal.
India's fiscal deficit touched Rs 4.57 lakh crore or 84.4 per cent of budget estimates in the first seven months of the current fiscal, reflecting signs of stress in government finances.
By no means do economists see the Reserve Bank of India stop at just a 25-bp cut. Some of the economists such as Soumyakanti Ghosh of State Bank of India are of the firm view that rates have room to fall by a total of 75 bps in the current financial year, starting with 25 bps in the August 7 policy.
Showing signs of financial strain, the government's fiscal deficit in the first five months of the ongoing financial year has already touched 74.6 per cent of the budget estimate.
Modi will have limited choice other than stressing upon a request for more time to decide on tariff rates, especially with elections in 2019.
Levying buyback tax at a flat rate of 20 per cent (plus applicable surcharge and cess), irrespective of the period for which shares are held will be a dampener for equity shareholders who take inherent risks while investing, says Hitesh D Gajaria, partner and head of tax, KPMG in India.
Levying buyback tax at a flat rate of 20 per cent (plus applicable surcharge and cess), irrespective of the period for which shares are held will be a dampener for equity shareholders who take inherent risks while investing, says Hitesh D Gajaria, partner and head of tax, KPMG in India.
Gokhale and Pompeo expressed satisfaction over the significant progress and the quality of the India-US Strategic Partnership
India needs to sustain a GDP growth rate of 8 per cent to become a five trillion dollar economy by 2025, the Economic Survey has stated.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the excise duty cut would have an impact of Rs 10,500 crore on central government's tax revenues.
India's fiscal deficit trends are a bit like an alcoholic trying, unsuccessfully, to reform. Virtue does not last for too long, says Shankar Acharya.
The recommendation to slash duty was made by the Bharatiya Janata Party to ease retail prices of petrol and diesel.
CAD of a country represents the difference between inflows and outflows of foreign currency.
On the rupee, it expects some appreciation pressure on in the near term from greater portfolio flows.
FPIs are currently capped at 5 per cent of the total outstanding government dated securities, and own 4.5 per cent
Says fiscal trajectory has changed for the better over the past months.
The larger virtue of maintaining fiscal credibility should not be unduly diluted by quibbles on the fiscal math, says Sajjid Chinoy.
'On the tax front, most of the Budget proposals are sensible'.
Low consumer demand, a slide in investments and troubles in the banking sector should prompt the government to recalibrate taxes and expenditure. It is also important to ramp up spending on health care and education, says CII president Sumit Mazumder.
FinCom prescribes scrapping of effective revenue deficit.
'The Budget that Mr Jaitley will present on February 29 will be crucial.'
The use of RBI capital to strengthen public sector banks will have many positive implications for the economy -- and a few manageable downsides, points out R Jagannathan.
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