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| Fiscal deficit target of 4.6% achievable: Praanaba |
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| Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today exuded confidence that the fiscal deficit target of 4.6% of the GDP for 2011-12 would be achieved. Read |
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| Iron ore exports to come down by up to 35%: FIMI |
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| As a fallout of the duty hike on iron ore exports in the Budget, India's outbound shipment of the key steel making raw material will come down by up to 35%, miners' body the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) today said. Read |
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| Consumer goods firms may pass on duty change to customers |
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| Firms like Canon and Philips are mulling to pass on the benefit of the excise duty reduction announced in the Budget to consumers, while FMCG company Britannia may increase the prices of its products due to the 1% hike in excise duty. Read |
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| FDI in retail not essential to control inflation: Montek |
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| The Planning Commission today said the government does not hold the view that FDI in multi-brand retail is necessary to control the price rise. Read |
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| Budget impact: MFI lending expected to pick up |
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| Micro-finance lending by MFIs and banks is set to pick up in the coming months following the announcement of a Rs 100 crore fund for the sector in the Union Budget, a top Micro-Finance Institutions Network (MFIN) official said today. Read |
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| Semiconductor body welcomes Budget |
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| The India Semiconductor Association has said that the Finance Minister's decision to fully exempt raw materials used in manufacturing specified electronic components from basic customs duty is a good move and would result in higher value addition. Read |
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| Budget is growth-oriented, says SAIL chairman |
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| Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) has said the Union Budget was growth-oriented, and it had various positive proposals for the steel industry. Read |
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| Fiscal deficit target reachable with $100 oil: Montek |
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| Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, said the new budget's target to slash the fiscal deficit to 4.6% of GDP, a goal many economists deride as optimistic, is achievable even if oil averages $100 a barrel for the year. Read |
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| Pranab's Budget worthy of our praise: Corporate America |
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| Noting that the Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee sets forth clear parameters to sustain and spur greater investment in India's infrastructure sector, Corporate America on Monday said the confidence-building measures bode well for the country. Read |
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| Comment: Parkash Singh Badal |
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| Budget 2011-12 is totally directionless and will not give relief to any section of society. Read |
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| Comment: Mahesh Vyas |
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| Macro-economic stability is back in vogue. The gross fiscal deficit has been reined in at 5.1 per cent of GDP and is expected to go down further to 4.6 per cent in 2011-12. Government expenditure is expected to grow by just 3.3 per cent over the revised estimates of 2010-11. Compared to the budgetary estimates, this will be 13.4 per cent higher. These growth rates are much lower than the trend seen in the past five years when the year-on-year growth rates averaged at over 19 per cent a year. Some numbers do not add up. For example, although the NREGA expenses are now indexed to the Consumer Price Index ,they are the same as last year. Possibly, the expenses will be higher than budgeted. Read |
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| Comment: Ashima Goyal |
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| The budget shares out the fruits of higher growth and cutting waste: expenditure rises without higher tax mobilisation. The reform vision of growth, inclusion and governance is broader and deeper than just passing the many pending bills. There is a beginning in the use of technology to deliver subsidies and tax reforms, reducing waste and, thus, shifting social spending towards education, health and insurance that creates capacity. Transaction costs are to be lowered by shifting towards self-regulation in manufacturing and self- assessment in customs. An intelligent use of incentives pushes the system towards greater efficiency. Read |
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| Comment: Siddhartha Roy |
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| An interesting cocktail of growth orientation with inclusiveness and fiscal prudence. When one looks beyond the numbers, at the overall direction, there are distinct trends. There is clear recognition by the polity that a nine-plus per cent growth rate is not sustainable without fiscal consolidation. Read |
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| More guesswork on disinvestment |
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| With the postponement of public offers (for share sales) of some of its companies, the government expects to miss its Rs 40,000-crore disinvestment target this year by almost half. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said higher than expected revenue from the sale of telecom bandwidth allowed the government to reschedule some of the public issues. Read |
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| Comment: Rajesh Sud |
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| The finance minister has increased the service tax burden on life insurance policies. In ULIP, where service tax was earlier charged only on mortality and fund management charges, it will now be charged on a portion of the premium other than what is allocated for investment. In case of traditional endowment plans, the service tax rate has been increased from 1.03 per cent to 1.545 per cent. Read |
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| Addressing gaps in financing |
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| The Budget tries to address the financing challenge in infrastructure by deepening the corporate bond market. The limit for investment by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in corporate bonds with maturity of over five years has been raised from $20 billion to $25 billion. FIIs may also now invest in unlisted bonds with a lock-in period of three years and trade in these among themselves. Read |
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| Stress on supply-side constraints |
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| A 2.6 per cent increase in Plan outlay, programmes to improve production of palm oil, vegetables, millets, pulses, fodder and tax concessions on cold chains and storage equipment are some measures announced in the Budget as the government's response to address the supply-side constraints contributing to higher food inflation. Read |
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| Govt tries for an 'aam aadmi' orientation |
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| To promote low-cost housing, this Budget proposes to extend the existing one per cent interest subsidy for a loan up to Rs 10 lakh for a house costing not more than Rs 20 lakh to apply for a housing loan up to Rs 15 lakh for a house costing up to Rs 25 lakh. Read |
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| Fund squeeze for flagship schemes |
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| The Union Budget goes eloquent about the virtues of the flagship schemes of the UPA government but Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has kept a tight fist while allocating funds, whether for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) or those under the umbrella of Bharat Nirman. Read |
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| 'The budget meets the economy's challenges' |
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| Prime Minister, I would like to begin by asking how this Budget addresses current economic conditions, specifically inflation and sustaining rapid growth. Read |
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| Comment: Roopa Kudva |
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| The Union Budget 2011-12 attempts to ride on India's rapid recent economic growth while controlling the inflation that has flared up in the past few months. The Budget assumes a high GDP growth of nine per cent and attempts to better last year's fiscal targets. Read |
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| Akash Prakash: Good packaging |
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| The finance minister (FM) has done, for once, a good job of giving a positive spin to the Budget and its arithmetic. Read |
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| Abheek Barua: The devil's in the detail |
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| To be fair to the finance minister (FM), one can't complain of a "reforms" deficit in the Budget. Take tax reforms. Even as the current avatar of the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) might be quite different from the form in which it was conceived, it is now certain that it will be in operation from 2012. Ditto for the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is the more controversial of the two tax codes. Read |
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| With steep rise in export duty, miners will have to depend on home market |
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| The government has increased the ad valorem export duty on iron ore to 20 per cent — from five per cent for fines and 15 per cent for lumps. This has come as a major blow to the miners. Read |
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| Budget Nuts & Bolts |
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| Recapitalising Rural Banks Support for Regional Rural Banks has been increased from Rs 350 crore to Rs 500 crore in 2011-12, to enable them maintain a CRAR of at least 9 per cent as on March 31, 2012. New equity fund for small MFIs The Budget proposes to create a dedicated equity fund of Rs 100 crore with the Small Industries Development Bank of India for providing equity to smaller microfinance institutions, to help them maintain growth and achieve scale and efficiency in Read |
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| Prices to rise by Rs 400-500/tn |
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| Domestic waste paper-based newsprint and writing and printing paper industry will get relief from the halving of import duty on waste paper to 2.5 per cent proposed in the Budget. The increase in excise duty from four to five per cent is expected to result in an increase of Rs 450-500 a tonne in writing and printing paper prices. Read |
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| No push to higher education |
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| While Pranabda's budget is not a spectacularly reformist one, we should note that it does nothing to topple the economic apple cart. It is both balanced and growth oriented, although it falls short on some key dimensions. The positives were clearly the much-needed increase in public spending in the infrastructure sector and the FII limit to $25 billion. Read |
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| Comment: Digambar Kamat |
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| The Union budget 2011-12 is a growth oriented exercise with focus on the social sector. I am grateful for the jubilee package of Rs 200 crore to Goa for the maintenance of its greenery and beaches. Once the money arrives, we will decide how best to use it. Read |
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| CPI-IW inflation drops to 9.3% |
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| Inflation based on consumer prices of items consumed by industrial workers (CPI-IW) dropped marginally in January 2011 to 9.3 per cent as compared to 9.47 per cent in December 2010. However, inflation based on food items consumed by these workers rose to 10.22 per cent in January 2011 as compared to 7.98 per cent in December 2010. Read |
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| Comment: Nitish Kumar |
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| The budget for 2011-12 has sops only for election-bound states. We in Bihar are especially disappointed. Read |
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| A directionless Budget |
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| The budget presented by the UPA is directionless as it has failed to provide any relief to the common man affected by severe inflation and sky-rocketing prices. Read |
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| My Budget: Vijender Singh, Boxer |
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| There's nothing much from my point of view that looks good about the budget. Read |
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| Pranab plays party tune |
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| In his budget speech, when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed the creation of a women's SHG Development Fund with a corpus of Rs 500 crore, the first one to thump the desk in appreciation was Sonia Gandhi. Read |
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| State finance ministers on Union Budget 2011-12 |
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| The budget is progressive. The provision of Rs 200 crore for cleaning river bodies (other than the Ganges) is a good step. Haryana is looking to gain from the project as the state proposes to restore the health of the Kotla lake under this project. Read |
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| Comment: Deepak Kapoor |
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| Budget 2011 has clearly set the stage for the coming financial year with a growth expectation of 9% and projected gross fiscal deficit of 4.6 per cent. A closer look at the Budget financials reveal that gross tax revenue is projected to rise by over 18% on a year-on-year basis on back of FM's confidence in sustaining growth in the economy. Read |
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| Budget raises hope for common man |
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| Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has not paid much heed to most of the demands of the real estate sector. Instead, he has taken steps to make it easier for the aam aadmi to own a house. While not much has been offered to the mid-market segment, he has kept in mind the weaker sections of the society. Read |
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| Lower fiscal deficit gives us comfort: RBI |
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| Better fiscal balance on back of revenues from 3G auctions. Read |
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| 'Effective revenue deficit not jugglery' |
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| Finance Secretary Sushma Nath told Indivjal Dhasmana and Vrishti Beniwal that fiscal deficit could have been reduced to 4.8 per cent of GDP, but that would have meant more pressure next financial year on the fiscal deficit front. Read |
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| FM offers Rs 100-crore fund for microlenders |
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| Faced with an acute liquidity crunch, the Union Budget has brought little cheer to microfinance institutions (MFIs). However, MFIs have welcomed the recognition of their role in financial inclusion by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Read |
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| Impact on India Inc |
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| No extension of tax holiday available to STP units. Read |
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| Local refineries to be hit, soap firms to benefit |
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| While the government tried to synchronise the duty structure of by-products of edible oil refining with imported products, it is the domestic edible oil refineries that will be hit. Read |
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| Budget has a strong green leaning |
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| From an allocation of over Rs 600 crore towards forest regeneration and environmental remediation programmes, to exemptions given to hybrid automobile makers and solar lanterns, the 2011-12 Budget, though low on financial commitments, shows a strong green leaning. Read |
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| Industry doubts impact of import duty cut |
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| The domestic cement industry, which has been raising prices continuously since the beginning of this year, has not been able to comprehend whether the Budget was a relief or brought extra burden. Industry experts, however, said the measures would have neutral impact on the industry. Read |
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| No damage is good news for India Inc |
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| The key takeaway for India Inc from the finance minister's Budget speech was not what was in it, but what wasn't. The general pre-Budget worry of an excise duty increase for auto and cigarettes companies turned out to be misplaced. Read |
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| SEZs suffer MAT body blow |
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| Special economic zones (SEZ) have been given a body blow in the form of 18.5 per cent minimum alternate tax (MAT). The effective tax rate would be 20 per cent, including the surcharge and education cess. Read |
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| Silent majority |
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| There's less security than at your local five-star hotel and, for all its reform, the loos are still leaky and unwashed. But there's no doubt that yesterday in Parliament when Pranab Mukherjee presented Budget 2011-2012, even the Opposition benches caught a bit of the 'pleased-with-ourselves' air of the Treasury benches. Read |
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| Good news for anganwadis |
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| Budget 2011-12 has increased the allocation to the social sector by 17 per cent to Rs 1,60,887 crore. It has brought good news for the anganwadi workers and helpers under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme by doubling their salaries to Rs 3,000 and Rs 1,500, respectively. Read |
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| FM fast-tracks pension laws |
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| Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday said a slew of financial sector legislation to be introduced in financial year 2011-12 will pave the way for growth in foreign direct investments (FDI) in insurance, pension and banking sectors. Read |
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| Huge rally and then the U-turn |
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| Stock markets witnessed a highly volatile trading session on Monday. The key equity indices fell from their intra-day highs to close with marginal gains on the back of profit-booking. While there were no negative cues from the Union Budget, investors lacked the confidence for buying due to poor global sentiments in the backdrop of the ongoing West Asia crises. Read |
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| FM shows his hand: Squeeze spend, focus on reform |
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Riding on growth to help his revenues remain buoyant, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday presented the 2011-12 Budget that sought to cut the fiscal deficit to 4.6 per cent of gross domestic product, or GDP, by a combination of measures: A squeeze on expenditure and a small net tax give-away of only Rs 200 crore. Read
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| Banking Bill to be tabled this session |
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| The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed amendments to the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in his Budget speech on Monday. The government has decided to table the Bill during the Budget session of Parliament. Read |
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| Govt to infuse Rs 6,000 cr into PSU banks |
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| The government would provide an additional Rs 6,000 crore capital to state-owned banks in financial year 2011-12 to help them maintain at least eight per cent capital adequacy ratio in Tier-I level, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday while presenting the Union Budget for 2011-12 (April-March) at the lower house of the Parliament. Read |
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| T N Ninan: An anti-inflation Budget |
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| If there is a single issue which has proved to be an over-riding factor in the formation of this year's budget, it is inflation. Almost everything that the finance minister has done, and not done, can be explained by that one issue. Consider the following. Read |
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| On a wing and a prayer |
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| Apart from his invocation to Lord Indra and Goddess Lakshmi, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee should also have prayed to Lord Vinayaka, for good luck and Godspeed! His fiscal strategy is based on brave assumptions about robust economic growth, better tax compliance, stricter expenditure management and the world continuing to view India favourably. Read |
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| Firms see cheaper stainless steel |
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| Stainless steel products, including utensils, white goods for use in kitchen, pipes, tubes and fittings are likely to become cheaper due to the cut in tax on raw materials. Read |
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| Comment: Bhargav Dasgupta |
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| The Budget is growth oriented and aims to ride the positive momentum in the Indian economy. It continues to focus on the areas of financial inclusion, rural growth, education and infrastructure investment. While inflation continues to remain a concern and increased government spending envisaged in the Budget may continue to put demand-led pressure on prices, the thrust on addressing supply-side bottlenecks is a positive. Read |
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| Comment: Sanjay Nayar |
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| It's a pragmatic Budget with a bias to steady and consolidate last year's gains. Overall, it's non-populist, unless we see surprises during the year, and non-reformist, with no policy announcements on insurance, banking or retail. The importance of creating capacity in the key thrust areas has got due recognition. Read |
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| All unit-linked insurance plan charges to attract service tax |
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| If you use life insurance as an investment instrument, be prepared for slightly lower yields because of increased taxation. Read |
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| 'We're showing reforms are continuing' |
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| The main worry a lot of people have is prices next year, oil prices in particular. Read |
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| Market reactions |
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| For the last couple of months, the market and governance have both been reeling under a negative sentiment. Although most of the gains were reversed on Budget day, I still feel this Budget will go a long way in turning the India sentiment positive. Read |
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| After Saral, it's time for Sugam |
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| Filing income tax returns in the coming assessment year should be a much simpler task for small taxpayers. Introducing a form similar to the 'Saral' form, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee introduced 'Sugam' in his Budget speech on Monday. Read |
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| More education spend welcome |
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| The Budget has significantly increased spending on education and introduced a number of schemes to increase employment and employability. A number of subsidies for SC/ST students, funds for Maoist-affected areas and banking facilities for habitations with population less than 200 are measures for uniform wealth distribution. Infrastructure building in all forms has been given acute attention. Read |
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| Good life will come at a higher price |
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| SPENDING: Extra tax on airfare, hotel room and drinking at an air-conditioned restaurant. Read |
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| More money to keep investors happy |
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| As the finance minister increased the education outlay by 24 per cent, the stocks of education services companies cheered the move, with a few touching an intra-day high by rising between 2.5 per cent and 5 per cent. Read |
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| No push to higher education |
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| While Pranabda's budget is not a spectacularly reformist one, we should note that it does nothing to topple the economic apple cart. It is both balanced and growth oriented, although it falls short on some key dimensions. The positives were clearly the much-needed increase in public spending in the infrastructure sector and the FII limit to $25 billion. Read |
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| My Budget: Ramdev, Yoga Guru |
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| Organic farming has been given a boost. Almost 40 per cent of food that rotted because of inadequate storage will get saved to some extent. The Rs 300-crore for neutra-cereals is a positive step. Direct subsidies to the poor is also good. Read |
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| The jury is unanimous: good, but... |
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| The Budget continues in the direction set by the past few Budgets, with its orientation towards sustaining GDP growth at near double-digit levels, containing inflation and narrowing the fiscal gap. Superimposed on these multiple objectives is the overriding need to promote bring about greater economic and social justice. The Budget has a slew of positives. The fiscal stimulus package remains in place with the excise duty at 10 per cent. Read |
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| Comment: Shikha Sharma |
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| Multiple concerns have, of late, raised questions about India's continuing growth story. Persisting high inflation threatened a hard landing for India's economy. Potentially volatile portfolio capital flows were perceived to be financing a high current account deficit. An emerging infrastructure financing gap threatened the pace of investment. Read |
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| Healthcare to become costlier |
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| Health treatment, air travel and hotel accommodation are set to become expensive with the widening of the service tax net, though the rate has been kept unchanged. While some viewed it as a step towards introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), industry leaders unanimously gave a thumbs-down to it. Read |
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| Comment: Sanjiv Goenka |
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| At the end of a remarkable fiscal year, the finance minister has done an excellent job that tries to remove the bottleneck that had caused inflation and are coming in the way of faster development. The realistic Budget focuses on high growth and making the growth inclusive. This will pave the way of building a resilient economy. Read |
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| My Budget: Jaspal Bhatti, Actor-Satirist |
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| Budget has a direct connection with worry, not happiness. Read |
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| Eye on GST, govt prunes exemption list |
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| INDIRECT TAX: Proposals related to excise and Customs would result in a net revenue gain of Rs 7,300 crore. Read |
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| Comment: Rana Kapoor |
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| In the Union Budget tabled today, the government succeeded splendidly in retaining its focus on agriculture, infrastructure and social spending; to set the pace for sustainability of growth, not only in the near-term but also uncompromisingly in the long-term, while simultaneously maintaining focus on fiscal discipline. Read |
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| My Budget: Prasad Bidappa, Fashion Designer |
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| Nothing really. He's weighed and balanced to keep the money coming in. Read |
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| My Budget: Shubha Mudgal |
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| Its focus on senior citizens. Read |
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| Comment: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw |
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| Striving to augment growth in the face of rising inflation and falling investor confidence, India needed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to deliver a 2G Union Budget — a bold statement from the UPA government that addressed Growth and Governance. Unfortunately, all he has is delivered is a 'play-it-safe' budget by balancing his books, containing the deficit, averting subsidies and creaking open the door to foreign investment in Indian mutual funds. Read |
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| Comment: Neeraj Swaroop |
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| This was an important Budget as the Indian economy was grappling with important issues. The finance minister has touched upon many of these key issues, including growth, infrastructure development, social sector reforms, and government finances. Read |
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| The extra gold may not fill govt's coffer |
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| The rapidly growing domestic branded jewellery has received a body blow with the re-imposition of the excise duty. Read |
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| Comment: Gautam Adani |
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| The budget is a pragmatic and forward looking balanced effort across the social spectrum. While the urban middle class gets some relief by way of an increase in income-tax exemption level, a slew of initiatives have also been announced to strengthen agri infrastructure and help people in rural areas. Read |
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| Comment: Sajjan Jindal |
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| The finance minister has struck a fine balance between growth and inflation and has also given a strong indication of continuing on the reform path. Read |
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| Comment: D K Joshi |
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| Despite the strong performance of the economy in 2010-11, the outlook for 2011-12 is clouded by persistently high inflation and rising external risks. The Budget assumes a GDP growth target of 9 per cent, which is on the optimistic side, as we expect GDP growth to moderate to 8.3 per cent in 2011-12. By lowering the fiscal deficit target to 4.6 per cent in 2011-12, from 5.1 per cent in 2010-11, the Budget reiterates its commitment towards medium-term fiscal consolidation. Read |
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| Comment: O P Bhatt |
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| The finance minister has announced wide-ranging measures to ensure that economic growth remains robust in the medium term, with a thrust to infrastructure, social sector, boosting investment in agriculture, and expanding productivity in industry as well as attracting foreign investment in the country. Read |
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| Untouched excise brings relief |
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| Industries with a focus on consumers predictably had reasons to cheer after the finance minister decided not to roll back the excise duty by two per cent as expected. Read |
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| Comment: Vinita Bali |
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| The finance minister has presented a balanced budget with projected fiscal deficit at 4.6 per cent in 2011-12 as against 5.1 per cent in 2010-11, which is going to be challenging to achieve. Read |
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| Comment: Suman Bery |
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| Today's Budget, last week's Economic Survey and the coming Approach Paper to the Twelfth Plan will provide the compass to help India navigate the uncertainties of the post-crisis world. The Budget speech provided an intelligent and thoughtful response to a number of the underlying issues. Read |
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| Expensive breakfast, cheaper medicines |
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| HOUSEWIVES' BUDGET: By adding 130 items such as, coffee, tea, ready-to-eat packaged foods and ketchups, the Budget has hiked expenses further. Read |
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| Pay more for the label you wear |
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| Prices of readymade garments may go up following the finance minister's proposal to make excise duty of 10 per cent mandatory on readymade garments, dresses bearing a brand name or sold under a brand name. Read |
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| FM's tax menu upsets hoteliers |
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| Get ready to shell out more for your hotel accommodation. With the finance minister bringing hotel accommodation under the service tax net, unhappy hoteliers say room rents will go up which may impact demand. Read |
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| My Budget: Prahlad Kakkar |
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| There are quite a few good things in the budget. The fact that the age for senior citizens has been lowered from 65 to 60 and that a new tax slab has been created for the very senior citizens. Read |
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| Cold chains to bask in infra status |
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| The Budget has recognised post-harvest storage, including cold chains, as an infrastructure sub-sector. Further, capital investment in creation of modern storage capacity will be eligible for viability gap funding from the finance ministry. This was aimed at attracting investments into the sector, said Pranab Mukherjee. Investments in cold storage projects are gaining momentum. Read |
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| Funding well for that later dividend |
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| Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee referred to the 'demographic dividend' of a young population, while raising allocation for the education sector by 24 per cent from the previous year, from Rs 31,036 crore to Rs 52,057 crore. Read |
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| Right time to buy cars, bikes |
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| Car and two-wheeler manufacturers have heaved a sigh of relief after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed to maintain the excise duty at present levels while inviting companies to step up investments in the sector. Read |
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| More power to equipment makers |
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| As of now power projects above the size of 1,000 megawatts also called mega power projects, which import their equipment like boilers, turbines and generators, enjoy a concessional basic customs duty of 2.5 per cent and full exemption from counterveiling duty (CVD). Read |
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| Market cheers lower borrowings |
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| In his Budget, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday pegged the net government borrowings at Rs 3.43 lakh crore, lower than the Rs 3.45 lakh crore budgeted last year. Read |
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| Lower penalty, higher interest for late payment of service tax |
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| If you are providing any taxable service, you are in for some changes in penalties on late payment of service tax. The penal provisions of Sections 76, 77 and 78 of the Finance Act, 1994, have been changed a bit. Section 76 for penalty on late payment of service tax will charge an additional one per cent a month or Rs 100 a day, whichever is higher. Read |
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| Comment: Meher Pudumjee |
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| Overall, I would rate it as an inclusive rather than a populist corporate budget. The finance minister has maintained continuity of the reform agenda—like improved investments in infrastructure and social sector, promotion of in-house R&D, continuing with the support for green energy as well as indicated the roll out of the DTC and GST. Read |
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| Shippers see fall in repair costs |
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| Increase in FII investment limit in infrastructure sector will also help the sector. Read |
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| Budget 2011: A missed opportunity? |
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| SANJAYA BARU: Welcome to the discussion on the Union Budget. The initial reaction of the capital market was very enthusiastic but subsequently there's been a certain moderation. Read |
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| Health plan has a rural touch |
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| Service tax on all services provided by centrally air-conditioned hospitals with 25 or more beds. Read |
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| Govt mulls direct subsidy transfer from March '12 |
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SUBSIDIES: Roadmap laid out for proper utilisation of oil, food and fertiliser subsidies. Read
Source: Business Standard |
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