| Satya Nadella bullish on Microsoft Surface sales Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:04 AM PST Satya Nadella bullish on Microsoft Surface sales Taking about Microsoft 365, Satya said Microsoft Teams was the hub for teamwork and a powerful on-ramp for Microsoft 365. Source: TFE  |
| Apple says fixed FaceTime privacy bug that let users snoop on caller Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:04 AM PST Apple says fixed FaceTime privacy bug that let users snoop on caller Apple turned off the FaceTime group chat feature on Monday as its engineers worked to fix the issue. The company said it has fixed the bug on its servers and will turn on the feature for users again next week. Source: TFE  |
| SIMI ban: Modi government outlaws Students Islamic Movement of India for another five years Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:04 AM PST SIMI ban: Modi government outlaws Students Islamic Movement of India for another five years SIMI ban: The Centre has extended ban on Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) for another five years as it continues to indulge in subversive activities. Source: TFE  |
| Budget 2019: Modi’s growth mantra! Can schemes for farmers, rural poor ensure a spurt in demand, fuel growth? Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:04 AM PST Budget 2019: Modi's growth mantra! Can schemes for farmers, rural poor ensure a spurt in demand, fuel growth? Budget 2019: Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday presented the interim budget for FY20 in Parliament. The budget proposed various schemes for farmers and rural sector. Source: TFE  |
| Budget 2019: Major hits and misses of Interim Budget from taxpayers, common man’s perspective Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:04 AM PST Budget 2019: Major hits and misses of Interim Budget from taxpayers, common man's perspective India Union Budget 2019: The Interim Budget 2019, being the last budget before the country goes for polls in a few months, widely focused on providing relief to the middle-class taxpayers, small farmers and workers in the unorganized sector. Source: TFE  |
| Google googly: Sundar Pichai’s brilliant interview response that landed him the job Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:04 AM PST Google googly: Sundar Pichai's brilliant interview response that landed him the job In the first few rounds, Pichai said that interviewers asked him what he thought of Gmail. There was just one problem: Google had just announced the email service that very same day, on April 1st. Pichai said that he thought it was an April Fool's Day joke. Source: TFE  |
| Lucknow University result: Over 50% failed in B.Sc. first semester Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:04 AM PST Lucknow University result: Over 50% failed in B.Sc. first semester Lucknow University result: Students who have failed to pass the first semester will also get promoted to the second semester, according to the University's policy. Students will get another opportunity to clear the semester along with the third-semester examination. Source: TFE  |
| Budget 2019: Interim Budget focused on rural and agricultural sector, notes DBS bank Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:04 AM PST Budget 2019: Interim Budget focused on rural and agricultural sector, notes DBS bank India Union Budget 2019: Presenting the interim budget for FY 2019-20 ahead of the general elections due in April-May this year, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday proposed an array of incentives for both middle-class and farmers. Source: TFE  |
| Budget 2019: Taxpayers Alert! 5 significant personal tax changes you need to know Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:04 AM PST Budget 2019: Taxpayers Alert! 5 significant personal tax changes you need to know India Union Budget 2019: The budget also had a lot of expectations from different strata of the society. Though there have not been many changes at the corporate tax level, quite a few significant changes have been proposed at the personal tax level. Source: TFE  |
| NCDRC asks SBI to allow widow access to monthly pension Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:03 AM PST NCDRC asks SBI to allow widow access to monthly pension Sarkar had been receiving pension in her savings bank account, jointly held with her son, Suman Kalyan Sarkar, after her husband's death. Source: TFE  |
| Former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin’s nephew Yusuf shot dead in Siwan Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:03 AM PST Former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin's nephew Yusuf shot dead in Siwan RJD strongman Mohammad Shahabuddin's nephew Yusuf was shot dead in Bihar's Siwan on Friday night, news agency ANI reported. Source: TFE  |
| 129 Indians among 130 students arrested in US immigration fraud, attorneys cry foul Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:03 AM PST 129 Indians among 130 students arrested in US immigration fraud, attorneys cry foul The university in Detroit's Farmington Hills was part of an undercover operation by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) designed to expose immigration fraud, according to federal prosecutors who announced charges in the case. Source: TFE  |
| Cannot allow trade deficit with China to continue, says US President Donald Trump Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:03 AM PST Cannot allow trade deficit with China to continue, says US President Donald Trump After his meeting with Xi in Argentina on December 1, the two countries agreed to pause their trade war for 90 days and arrive at a trade deal by March 1. Source: TFE  |
| Budget 2019: Interim budget will support consumer spending, economic growth: USIBC Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:03 AM PST Budget 2019: Interim budget will support consumer spending, economic growth: USIBC India Union Budget 2019: Reaching out to a large electorate ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Modi government Friday announced a cash dole for small farmers, a mega pension scheme for the unorganised sector and doubled the threshold income tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh. Source: TFE  |
| Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu meets AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:03 AM PST Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu meets AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal Earlier in the day, Naidu had met opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, in an attempt to bring together opposition parties on a platform to take on BJP in the polls. Source: TFE  |
| Indian embassy opens hotline for students detained by US authorities Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:03 AM PST Indian embassy opens hotline for students detained by US authorities As many as 129 Indians are among the 130 foreign students arrested for enroling at a fake university allegedly to remain in the US. Source: TFE  |
| Govt targets 12 crore farmers, 3 crore taxpayers in election-year budget Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:03 AM PST Govt targets 12 crore farmers, 3 crore taxpayers in election-year budget After reminding voters of BJP's seminal reforms like GST & IBC, and infra-buildup, Piyush Goyal targets 12 cr farmers and 3 cr taxpayers Source: TFE  |
| Market rally continues - e paper - english news paper today - news headlines today Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:02 AM PST Market rally continues A farm package at a cost lower than market expectations and minor slippage in fiscal deficit target by 10 basis points, tax benefits for the middle class and salaried persons and for the real estate sector announced in the Interim Budget led to a rally in the equity market. In a repeat of the Budget day sessions, the market turned volatile soon after the Budget speech by the finance minister as the budget announcements led to a flurry of buying in the consumption related stocks led by auto, consumer durable, FMCG, housing finance and agri input stocks. The Sensex rallied to a high of 36,778.14 and the Nifty to 10,983.45 intra-day gaining more than a per cent but then fears of the fiscal math going wrong saw the benchmark index dropping to the red briefly to the day's low of 36221.32 and the Nifty-50 to 10,813.45. However, buying resumed later, leading to a positive close with a gain of 0.6 per cent for both Sensex and Nifty-50. The Sensex added another 212.74 points on Friday's closing at 36,469.43, topping Thursday's pre Budget rally of 665 points while Nifty-50 closed at 10,893.65. With economic benefits announced for a wider section of the population consumption related stocks got a big boost. The two-day rally in the market led to big gains on BSE in consumption related blue chip names led by Hero MotoCorp(7.60 per cent), Maruti Suzuki(6.49 per cent), Asian Paints(4.86 per cent), HDFC(3.97 per cent), Hindustan Unilever( 3.79 per cent), Bajaj Auto(4.11 per cent), Reliance Industries(4.35 per cent), Tata Motors(4.27 per cent), Eicher Motors(3.92 per cent), HDFC Bank(2.89 per cent), ITC(2.18 per cent), Mahindra & Mahindra(1.45 per cent). Shiv Gupta, CEO, Sanctum Wealth Management said, "The budget is clearly consumption friendly, with tax cuts and consumption support, and markets have lauded the programs with up moves the past couple of days. India remains a consumption-driven economy, much as the U.S. has been for the past 40 years, and this will remain the most important driver of economic growth for the foreseeable future." Analysts from the foreign brokerage UBS commenting on the direct income support for farmers in interim Budget said, "This was not a surprise considering the street was expecting some support to farmers but the relief was that the cost of this package was lower than market expectations." Also the minor fiscal deficit slippage was not a negative for the market. "The government missed the FY19 fiscal deficit target by 10 bps to 3.4 per cent of GDP, which was largely in line with market expectation," UBS analysts said. Foreign portfolio investors were not disappointed with interim budget announcements as they turned net buyers of Indian equities worth Rs 1315.89 crore just a day after massive Rs 2,891.04 crore buying that took place on Thursday. Meanwhile the domestic institutions were cautious and watched the event from the sidelines as there was no buying seen from them on Friday and they provisional data showed DIIs as net sellers by Rs 5.07 crore. However mutual funds may resume buying after the budget announcements are digested and dust settles down. Navneet Munot, executive director & chief investment officer, SBI Mutual Fund said, "The thrust towards income enhancement is positive for the consumption oriented sectors. From equity market perspective, budget would be seen as a positive event given the continued focus on income enhancing measures." Brokerages expect tax incentives announced in the budget to be ploughed back in the capital market by individuals. Satish Menon, executive director, Geojit Financial Services said, "The Finance Minister's announcement in the Union Budget 2019-20 to increase the no tax cap to those who have a gross annual income of Rs 5 lacs and those individual's with a gross annual income of Rs 6.5 lakh provided they invest in tax saving schemes has buoyed the market sentiments. This is because a majority of the estimated 3 crore middle-class tax payers who is expected to benefit from the tax relief may invest the tax savings to the tune of Rs 18,500 crore into financial investments. Market has factored this positive news leading to a broad-based rally with all major indices clocking smart gains." Led by big gains for Hero MotoCorp, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Eicher Motors Nifty Auto index gained 2.71 per cent. Nifty FMCG index also gained 1.34 per cent led by gains for Jubilant Food, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Marico, HSK Consumer Healthcare and Dabur. Realty stocks and housing finance companies also were big gainers with FM announcing several measures to boost housing sector. Nifty Realty index gained 1.25 per cent led by gains for DLF, Indiabulls Real Estate, Sobha, Oberoi Realty and Phoenix. Bank stocks fell led by PSU banks as rating agency S&P Global Ratings in a bulletin said, "Former ICICI Bank CEO's case raises serious questions on governance at Indian banks." As the news came during the market hours, bank stocks came under severe selling pressure. The Nifty PSU Bank index fell 3.12 per cent while Nifty Bank index fell 0.77 per cent. Among the top bank losers were Punjab National Bank(4.77 per cent), ICICI Bank(-3.05 per cent),SBI (- 3.76 per cent), Yes Bank(-4.53 per cent). Mutual fund managers expect budget to have low impact on equity market as it's a populist move by the government. Anand Radhakrishnan – MD & CIO, Emerging Markets Equity, Franklin Templeton, India said, "We view this interim budget as a populist approach adopted by the government, though minimizing impact on the fiscal situation. Absence of strong positive or negative triggers makes this budget a low impact one from the equity market view. From an investor's perspective, equity funds with core exposure to large cap and prudent risk taking in mid/small cap space may be well positioned to capture the opportunities presented by prevailing valuations in the market and expected earnings growth." With budget over analysts expect market to be volatile till the general elections are over. Axis Mutual Fund in its comment said, "The budget is likely to be a sentimental positive for consumption and real estate. With a view of weakening fiscal conditions, the budget is likely to receive mixed signals from the equity market and is likely to keep markets volatile in the run up to the elections." Source: EP  |
| MSME remains a focus sector for government - e paper - english news paper today - news headlines today Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:02 AM PST MSME remains a focus sector for government Though the government continued to dole out incentives for the micro small and medium enterprises in the budget, there seems to be a gap between what the government has been offering and what MSMEs have been receiving. Among the key announcements made for the MSMEs, GST registered SME units will get two per cent interest rebate on incremental loan of Rs one crore. The requirement of sourcing from SMEs by government enterprises has been increased to 25 per cent. Of this, the material to the extent of at least 3 per cent will be sourced from women owned SMEs. "In government projects, the decision to source 25 per cent material from SMEs, 3 per cent from only women-owned SMEs is a case of lead by example and would usher more opportunities to the doorsteps of SMEs," said Sunil Gupta, founder and director, ExportersIndia.com. Further, exemptions from GST for small businesses have been doubled from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 40 lakh. Businesses with turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore have to pay only one per cent flat rate and have to file only one annual return. Similarly, small service providers with turnover up to Rs 50 lakhs can pay GST at 6 per cent instead of 18 per cent. Soon, businesses comprising over 90 per cent of GST payers will be allowed to file quarterly return. Customs department is also introducing full and comprehensive digitalization of export/import transactions and leveraging RFID technology to improve export logistics. This will benefit all the exporters and importers, including SMEs. However, the SMEs were not in agreement with some of the claims made by the government. According to the Finance Minster, the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), created two years ago, has transformed public procurement by making it fully transparent, inclusive and efficient. MSMEs have an opportunity to sell their products through GeM and transactions of over Rs 17,500 crore have taken place, resulting in average savings of 25-28 per cent. Now the government has extended the GeM platform to all central public sector units. "We have been interacting with the MSMEs and a vast majority of them are not even aware of the GeM platform. Almost 97 per cent of them are not even aware of the Export Credit Guarantee Scheme that has been there for ages. GeM is a great initiative, but to create value out of it, the awareness has to increase," said Pawan Gupta, founder of Connect2India. Further, the minister claimed that a recently launched scheme of sanctioning loans up to Rs one crore in 59 minutes has been very helpful for the MSME sector. "The 59 minutes announced by the government is for the in-principle approval of the loan. But one has to produce more than 10 documents for this in-principle approval. After the approval, a bank will have to sanction the loan. The entire process will take more than two weeks," said Gupta. Considering the trader community, the government also renamed Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion as Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade. "We have focussed on supporting domestic trade and services. Our Government has recently assigned the subject of "promotion of internal trade including retail trading and welfare of traders, and their employees" to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, which will now be renamed as the Department for Promotion of Industries and Internal Trade," minister said. However, the traders found that they were neglected by the budget. "By including internal trade under DIPP, government has legitimized retail trade and we hope that in the future we will have a regulatory body and retail policy. However, the budget as such has disappointed the seven crore traders in the country. None of our demands were met by the budget," said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general, Confederation of All India Traders. MSME remains a focus sector for government Source: EP  |
| Lower income class takes centrestage - e paper - english news paper today - news headlines today Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:02 AM PST Lower income class takes centrestage Lower income class taxpayers took the centrestage in the Interim Budget 2019-20 presented by the Finance Minister Piyush Goyal with significant relief being granted in direct taxes. However those in the 20 per cent and 30 per cent tax bracket were in for a disappointment, as their tax outgo remains the same. The Budget proposed that individual tax-payer having taxable annual income upto Rs 5 lakhs shall get full tax rebate. This translates into zero tax for individuals earning between Rs 7 lakh to 7.5 lakhs per annum. However, as tax slabs and threshold were not changed, people in middle to higher income bracket will not reap any benefit. Though limited in application, the tax proposals seems to have gone down well with a large chunk of lower and middle-class taxpayers that have also been an important vote bank for the ruling BJP. This section was seen moving away from the party in the recently concluded state elections where the ruling combination lost. The other relief in the interim budget for the middle mclass is increase in standard deduction by Rs 10,000 (from Rs 40,000 currently to Rs 50,000) and increase in threshold limit for deduction of tax at source for interest income on bank deposit to Rs 40,000. Presenting the budget in Parliament, Goyal said that his proposals will provide tax benefit of Rs 18,500 crore to an estimated 3 crore middle class taxpayers comprising self employed, small business, small traders, salary earners, pensioners and senior citizens. The increase in standard deduction provides additional tax benefit of Rs 4,700 crore. "Because of major tax reforms undertaken by us during the last four and half years, both tax collections as well as the tax base have shown significant increase and we have made progress towards achieving a moderate taxation–high compliance regime. It is, therefore, just and fair that some benefits from the tax reforms must also be passed on to the middle class taxpayers," Goyal said while justifying his tax proposals for middle-income group. While the interim budget proposal for salaried will benefit small tax-payers by way of tax rebate, they have not been exempted from filing returns as tax exempt threshold limit remains at Rs 2.5 lakh per annum. Goyal has not changed the tax slabs citing interim nature of the budget and that this could be taken care of by the next government when a full-fledged budget is presented. So the biggest relief in Budget is for those in the 5 per cent tax bracket earning an annual salary up to Rs 5 lakh. "The maximum benefit (exemption under Section 87) is Rs 12, 500 annually for people whose taxable income is below Rs 5 lakh. And if a person is salaried, then he sees an additional tax reduction of Rs 500 (on account of standard deduction of Rs 10,000 announced in the Budget). For those in the 20 per cent and 30 per cent tax bracket, the net-in-hand increases by only Rs 2000 and Rs 3000 under the standard deduction, provided they are salaried employees. However business class is excluded for availing benefit under standard deduction." said Pankaaj Maalde, a certified financial planner. "A saving of Rs 13,000 for those in the lowest tax bracket translates into a mere monthly saving of around Rs 1000 and that would just be spent on expenses. One should have a financial plan to meet their financial goals irrespective of the Budget and continue with their monthly Systematic Investment Plans (SIP)," added Maalde. Vaibhav Agrawal senior vice-president head of research at Angel Broking said, "The overall limit under Section 80C and Section 24 for interest on home loan have been kept constant. However, since the rebate up to Rs 5 lakh is on taxable income, your actual exempt income can be Rs 9.5 lakh assuming that you utilize your Section 80C investments Rs 1.5 lakh, NPS limit of Rs 50,000 and the home loan interest limit of Rs 2 lakh to the fullest." The budget has gone a step forward to reward honest tax-payers by providing relief on income earned from rent and tax on capital gains accruing from sale of self-occupied house. It has also raised the TDS threshold on interest earned on bank/post office deposits to provide benefit to small depositors and non-working spouses. It proposed to exempt levy of income tax on notional rent on a second self-occupied house. Currently, income tax on notional rent is payable if one has more than one self-occupied house. The changes have been made to avoid difficulty faced by the middle class having to maintain families at two locations on account of their job, children's education, care of parents. With regard to TDS on interest earned on bank/post office deposits, the threshold has been raised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000 per annum. Further, the TDS threshold for deduction of tax on rent has also been increased from Rs 1,80,000 to Rs 2,40,000 for providing relief to small taxpayers. "There proposals will ease tax administration for small savers. But the biggest change is on the proposed changes in tax administration over the next two years wherein all tax returns will be processed in 24 hours and the refunds will be processed simultaneously," said Agrawal. The middle-class flavour of the budget will also benefit those home owners looking to invest in a new residential property. The benefit of rollover of capital gains under section 54 of the Income Tax Act has been increased from investment in one residential house to two residential houses for a tax payer having capital gains up to Rs 2 crore. This benefit can be availed once in a life time. "Raising TDS threshold for interest and rental income should be welcome to passive income earners, such as senior citizens. Eliminating tax on the notional income of second self-occupied house and allowing capital gain exemption on investment in the second house were much needed rationalization and should rejuvenate interest in real estate. Anonymous electronic assessment is novel and augurs well for the road to minimum government and maximum governance. Sustained effort to enhance tax base by reducing complexity and moderating rates seem to yielding result as the FM points out in number of return filers increasing from 3.79 crores to 6.85 crores. The interim budget, as expected, has kept to the theme of being good to the lower and middle income strata of the economy." Said Rahul Garg, sr partner - tax & regulatory, PwC India. "Overall, the budget proposals on the personal taxation front would put more money in the pockets of small taxpayers and increase their purchasing power. In short, it is a progressive budget from a Chartered Accountant FM," said Naveen N D Gupta, president, ICAI. "Increase in disposable incomes for urban and rural India will provide a kicker to consumption demand. Improvement in consumer sentiment will boost demand for low value durables due to additional income of Rs 3,000 -10,000 in the hands of consumers next fiscal," said Amish Mehta, COO, CRISIL. Lower income class takes centrestage Source: EP  |
| Budget Special: Did You Know? - e paper - english news paper today - news headlines today Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:02 AM PST Budget Special: Did You Know? As Finance Minister Piyush Goyal presented his Interim Budget 2019 during the last parliamentary session before the country heads to the general elections, here are a few lesser- known facts on budget The word Budget was derived from the Middle English bowgette, which came from Middle French bougette, which in turn is a diminutive of bouge, meaning a leather bag Indian budget is presented in Parliament on a date fixed by the President. The Budget speech of the finance minister is usually divided in two parts. Part A deals with general economic survey of the country while Part B relates to taxation proposals The Finance Bill seeking to give effect to the Government's taxation proposals which is introduced in Lok Sabha immediately after the presentation of the General Budget, is taken up for consideration and passing after the Appropriation Bill is passed The employees printing the Budget papers are kept in complete isolation (quarantine) in the Finance Ministry for one week before the Budget The Budget is the most extensive account of Government finances in which revenues from all sources and expenses of all activities undertaken are aggregated. It comprises the revenue budget and the capital budget. It also contains estimates for the next fiscal year called budgeted estimates The Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission, Administrative Ministries and the Comptroller & Auditor General are the main players in the declaration of the Union Budget Budget was first introduced in India on 7th April, 1860 from East-India Company to British Crown The first Finance Member, who presented the Budget in India, was James Wilson on 7th April, 1860 The precedent for the convention of the budget speech started at 5:00 pm was set by Sir Basil Blackett in 1924. According to him, this was done to give some relief to officials who worked all night to present a financial statement After Independence, India's first Finance Minister R.K. Shanmukham Chetty, presented the first Budget at 5 pm on 26th November, 1947 Independent India's First Budget spanned a period of just 7-1/2 months from August 15, 1947 to March 31, 1948 The word "Interim Budget" was for the first time introduced by R.K. Shanmukham Chetty in his budget speech for 1948-49. From then onwards an interim budget began to mean a budget for a short period The first Budget of the Republic of India was presented by John Mathai on February 28, 1950 Planning Commission came into existence while presenting the budget for 1950-51, the first budget for the Republic of India C.D. Deshmukh, the first Indian Governor of the Reserve Bank of India as well as the Finance Minister, presented an interim budget for 1951-52 Budget papers began to be prepared in Hindi also from 1955-56 'Krishnamachari-Kaldor's 1957 budget featured the first attempt to distinguish between active income (salaries or business) and passive income (interest or rent) Jawaharlal Lal Nehru was the first prime minister to present the budget when he held the union finance minister portfolio in 1958-59 Morarji Desai has presented the maximum number of budgets so far- ten. They included five annual and one interim budget in the second tenure when he was both Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Morarji Desai presented annual budgets for each year from 1959-60 to 1963-64 and the interim budget for 1962-63. The annual budgets for three years between 1967-68 and 1969-70 and the interim budget for 1967-68 were also presented by Morarji Desai TT Krishnamachari as the finance minister during 1964-65 introduced the voluntary disclosure of concealed income scheme in India for the first time The 1965-66 budgets contained the first disclosure scheme for black money Budget of 1973-74 is known for 'Black Budget' in India. During this year budget deficit in 1973-74 was Rs 550 crore Morarji Desai was the only Finance Minister to present two budgets on his birthday – in 1964 and 1968 on February 29 Indira Gandhi was the only woman Finance Minister who took over the Finance portfolio from 1970 to 1971 V.P. Singh as finance minister dwelt excessively on concessions for poor. In his 1986 budget, he proposed railway porters, bank loans with a subsidy for rickshaw pullers, cobblers and setting up of a small industries development bank, an accident insurance scheme for municipal sweepers R Venkataraman is the only finance minister of India who later also served as the President of India from 1987-92 Jawaharlal Lal Nehru, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi have presented the budget while serving as the Prime Minister of India Corporate tax (today is known as Minimum Alternate Tax) was first introduced by Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 Budget This was the first occasion when the interim and final budgets of 1991-92 were presented by two ministers of two different political parties. Yashwant Sinha presented the interim budget while Manmohan Singh presented the final budget The Epochal Budget of Manmohan Singh 1992-93, reduced peak import duty from 300 plus percent to 50 percent, liberalized the economy and promoted foreign investments in India Manmohan Singh during his speech for the 1992-93 Budget, said, "It is said that child is the father of the man, but some of our taxpayers have converted children into tax shelters for their fathers. Services Tax was introduced by Manmohan Singh in budget 1994 to tap the growing sector in Indian economy Three interim budgets were presented in the 1990s. While Yashwant Sinha presented the interim budget for 1991-92 and 1998-99, Dr. Manmohan Singh presented for the year 1996-97 The final budget for 1996-97 was presented by P. Chidambaram then Tamil Maanila Congress. It was the second time that interim and final budgets were presented by two ministers of different political parties Budget Special: Did You Know? Source: EP  |
| RE-ELECT US, RAM RAJYA PROMISED IN 2030 - e paper - english news paper today - news headlines today Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:02 AM PST RE-ELECT US, RAM RAJYA PROMISED IN 2030 With 99.54% of the returns filed online today, the focus on 24-hour tax refunds and complete electronic scrutiny for returns filed is a welcome move to reduce tax terrorism The finance minister had clearly broken away from the convention of presenting a "Vote on Account" by presenting a full-fledged budget. However, the budget was in expected lines. It is an election year budget with announcements to please its specific vote banks - farmers, middle class, labourers, etc., Most part of the budget speech was dedicated to what has been achieved in the last 5 years and promising a new India by 2022. To cater to the needs of the Hindi heartland, the finance minister had delivered most part of his speech in Hindi to directly reach out to its electorate there. The budget had something for everyone. There is a new programme namely "Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi" that provides a direct income support of Rs. 6,000 per year to all small farmers holding upto 2 hectares of land that too effective December 1, 2018. This will entail an annual expenditure of Rs. 75,000 crore every year. There will be a transfer of Rs. 20,000 crore in the current fiscal much before the elections. This is clearly aimed at addressing the huge rural distress, which costed the ruling establishment three states in the Hindi heartland in the recent by-elections. For the middle class there is a full tax rebate for income upto Rs. 5 lakhs, increase in standard deduction from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 50,000, increase in threshold for TDS, and benefit on capital gains tax on residential houses of upto Rs. 2 crore. There is also increase in limit for gratuity and ESI, which will benefit the salaried tax players to a larger extent. A new pension scheme was also announced for unorganised labourers. The announcement related to simplification of direct tax system is welcome. With 99.54 per cent of the returns being filed online today, the focus on 24-hour tax refunds and complete electronic scrutiny for all returns filed in the next two years is a welcome move to reduce tax terrorism which every honest tax payer face today. The finance minister thanking all the honest taxpayers in his speech will encourage more people to participate in the nation building. Interestingly, there was also announcement on creating a "Rashtriya Kamdhenu Aayog" to upscale sustainable genetic up-gradation of cow resources and to enhance production and productivity of cows. The finance minister also gave a glorified review of movie "Uri" during his speech. These are clearly aimed at its core "Hindutva" voters. Even the articulation of "ten dimensions" to create a ten trillion dollar economy in 2030 to a large extent resembles the "India Shining" campaign of NDA in 2004. The film fraternity which met the prime minister recently also got some goodies in the form single window clearance for ease of shooting films and amendments in Cinematograph Act to control the menace of privacy. If all these results in increase in fiscal deficit to 3.4 per cent, so be it. The biggest challenge for the economy today is lack of jobs, slower growth in the economy, lack of capital investments, rural distress and balance sheet problem of the banks. The budget does not address any of these issues. The revenue targets assumed for both direct and indirect taxes for next year seems to be aggressive with little increase in capital spending by government. With private sector showing reluctance in spending more on capex there is a need for government to step in to kick start the economy. The biggest let down by the government is lack of aggression in disinvesting PSUs. The key slogan of the government "Minimum government and Maximum governance" still remains a slogan as there is no significant improvement in ease of doing business on the ground. Any entrepreneur in private will vouch this point. As Bill Clinton once said, "It's the economy, stupid". The key issue before the electorate today is the lack of jobs and lacklustre economic growth. There is distress all around. Farmers, middle class, SMEs all were impacted one way or another. The economy is still struggling to recoup from the twin impact of demonetisation and GST. While demonetisation was a big blunder, the GST was very poorly implemented. This government had missed a golden opportunity in the last five years that too with an absolute majority. The budget is a clear acceptance by the government of its mis-managing the economy in the last five years and hope the last minute goodies in the budget will sail them through in the elections. Only time will tell whether this strategy worked on the ground or not. –– The writer is former CFO, Infosys RE-ELECT US, RAM RAJYA PROMISED IN 2030 Source: EP  |
| On expected lines - e paper - english news paper today - news headlines today Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:02 AM PST On expected lines The Union Budget placed in the Parliament on Friday was exactly on expected lines. It has given comprehensive compilation of the work done by hte government in the last four years in different sectors and outlined the Vision/Intention going forward. There are announcements of reliefs to Farmers, Fisheries, Health, Housing, Education & Energy in addition to the biggest announcement of an increase in the limit of exemption in Personal Tax. All these along with Large outlays announced in various sectors will require increase in generation of revenue from sources expected to be found in the finer details of the budget. The corporate India was expecting a reduction in Corporate Tax Rate that is, Composite Tax Rate of 18 per cent to 20 per cent as in other countries so that the retained profit can be ploughed back for further investments and also to expand and strengthen their existing operations and create new employment opportunities. Industry and particularly Export Sector has been requesting for withdrawal/reduction of MAT on SEZ which has made the sector unviable and un-attractive. The readily available Investment and Infrastructure of more than Rs 2 lakh crores in SEZ can be ideally utilised immediately by withdrawing/reducing MAT on SEZ. As known, the existing trade tension between the US and China offers avenues for enhanced bilateral trade and increase in exports to the US which will give quantum jump to "Make in India" mission with multiplier all round effect. But we all know budget is not a one day exercise but a continuous journey. The writer is Managing Director, Patton Group Source: EP  |
| Strengthening the positive image - e paper - english news paper today - news headlines today Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:02 AM PST Strengthening the positive image We live in a democracy and are proud of the power in our hands to elect our leaders. Every political party does its best to balance short-term gains with the long-term agenda they are committed to. Elections are round the corner and hence, the government has to do its best to strengthen the positive image and neutralize negatives in the minds of the electorate. Interim budget does that well! Farmers, small businesses and new entrants to the talent pool constitute the majority in the electorate. The budget provides something or the other for each of these categories to build an environment of positivism. Income Tax proposals favour a significant number of people in the salaried class and their families. They will have more money at their hands to spend. Economy will get the necessary boost due to increase in retail demand for consumer goods and services. This would have an indirect positive impact on consumer lending business. Jobs in sales, marketing and supply chain would get a mild boost as a result of this intervention. While this might sound populist, but we reckon this as a major positive in the budget. Significant outlay of 75000 Crores has been given for the farmers to provide them income support of Rs. 6000 per year. The idea of UBI (universal basic income) has been doing the rounds for long. No Government has yet been able to implement the idea due to lack of funds. While this is an attempt in that direction, it is possibly too little and might not make a difference in their lives. We need agricultural economists and scientists to provide feasible solutions which will bring in transformational changes in farm productivity in the backdrop of declining landholding. Our budget needs to support those proposals, however the current budget scores well in creating the much-needed sense of optimism and boosting consumption. Let's hope, this is the first step, the creative and transformative steps will come in the future budgets. Boost for clean energy and electric vehicles has been along the expected lines. Similarly, infrastructure development and continued commitment to affordable housing, commitment to digital India and budget for railways are along expected lines. The investments in railways, infrastructure anddefence would create new jobs. Similarly, income tax rebates to salaried class, doles to farmers and a few other rebates proposed in the budget will indirectly create jobs. However, these may not be adequate to accommodate the 12-13 million youth who are joining the labour force each year. We need a few more creative steps to reduce under-employment. Fiscal deficit is bound to rise when you let go of some revenues due to rebates in taxation and increased spend in sectors like defence, animal husbandry, and provide benefits to farmers. Though the slippage is not alarmingly high, I am not sure if these measures are adequate to boost the economy to reach the goal of being a $10 trillion economy in 8 years. On the whole, theinterim budget fulfils the immediate needs of a large section of our economy and paves the way for structural interventions in the forthcoming budgets. The writer is Director and CEO, CIEL HR Services Strengthening the positive image Source: EP  |
| Impressive Show - e paper - english news paper today - news headlines today Posted: 02 Feb 2019 12:02 AM PST Impressive Show A promise to turn India into a $10-trillion economic powerhouse in eight years Finance Minister Piyush Goyal prefers to call it interim budget. It's beyond the usual vote on account and annual financial statement presented in an election year like this. Goyal's maiden show within Lok Sabha and outside was impressive. His chaste Hindi and English rendition of budget speech bringing in informality to narrating even the most serious issues like farmers' distress was refreshing. Goyal's family sat through in the Lok Sabha visitors' gallery to witness singularly the most important moment in his life. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also could not help but to break into a broad smile, walk up to Goyal and pat his newest stand-in finance minister. Home Minister Rajnath Singh followed suit with a big grin. Goyal, on his part, bent down to touch the feet of senior BJP leader L K Advani who readily gave his blessings. The last budget of this government gave an insight into BJP's thrust if re-elected for a second term. The eight point 'vision statement' promises to turn India into a $10 trillion economic powerhouse in eight years. The grandiose vision may be intended at enlisting support of international community, foreign investors apart from selling progressive face of the party to voters back home. This may well serve as a vital input into BJP manifesto and the party's election campaign machine. Contrary to popular notion, BJP government's budget may not be populist though intended at pandering to its core constituency of voters that is now broad based and extends hugely to rural India. Otherwise, how does one explain Piyush Goyal sticking to path of fiscal prudence and at the same time finding Rs 75,000 crore as assistance to small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares landholding? The Rs 6,000 annual support will benefit over 20 crore farmers' families in all. This support through "PM Kisan Nidhi" is superior to the universal basic income or minimum income support schemes floated from within and opposition. Most importantly, it's workable with the available resources. Government's push in fisheries and 'Kamadhenu' project to develop dairy industry apart from commitment to expand rural industrialisation is wholesome. Modi, Arun Jaitley and Goyal, troika behind the budget seem to have stuck to path of fiscal consolidation while thanking the middle class taxpayers that are also main stray of the BJP vote bank. Huge tax incentives and concessions provided through higher exemption limits, standard deduction, concessions' to buy a second house have revenue implication worth a whopping Rs 20,000 crore next financial year. What stand out in a big way are the concessions offered to individual homebuyers that would spur the real estate sector big time. That's the only plausible explanation to providing capital gains rollover on buying two houses as once in a life opportunity. Extension of tax holiday for unsold real estate domestic units to two years and tax exemption on rental income up to Rs 240,000 per individual is a big announcement. Providing monthly pension of Rs 3,000 for both organised and unorganised sector workers with 50% contribution by the government again is sign of a maturing welfare state that practices free economy. Thankfully, Piyush Goyal did not attempt taxes recast for corporate sector that would have turned the interim budget into a regular one. Already, the opposition parties have upped the ante citing possible constitutional violations made by Goyal while offering income tax concessions to the middle class. In all, the interim budget is for the quintessential 'aam aadmi'. Source: EP  |
