May 07, 2021 01:50 PM IST

Second Covid wave poses downside risks to economic activity, says finance ministry

The ministry says it expects a 'muted' economic impact when compared to the wave. Learning to 'operate with COVID-19' provides a silver lining of economic resilience, it said in its April report.

What caused record GST collections in April?

CCEA clears 'strategic divestment' of IDBI Bank

The centre and LIC together own more than 94 percent of equity of IDBI Bank, with the centre owning 45.48 percent and LIC owning 49.24 percent. LIC is currently the promoter of IDBI Bank with management control and GoI is the co-promoter.

New Finance Secretary TV Somanathan: An articulate economic voice trusted by the top leadership

Somanathan, Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth, DFS Secretary Debashish Panda and DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey are all from the 1987 batch of the Indian Administrative Service. But Somanathan had a higher rank in his batch, when he stood second in the All India exams. This is a deciding factor between officers of the same batch.

Expenditure Secretary TV Somanathan designated as finance secretary

He is the seniormost, by age, of the three 1987 batch officers in Finance Ministry.

FinMin relaxes COVID-relief material import norms for Indian Red Cross

In instruction to field offices, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said in the wake of the extraordinary situation arising out of the COVID pandemic, the issue of providing seamless clearance to such relief material received from foreign governments and imported by the Indian Red Cross Society was discussed in a meeting chaired by the Cabinet Secretary on April 27.

Retailers Association of India urges govt to extend ECLGS benefits to retailers

Putting forward a series of demands, RAI said around 80 percent of the retail stores are closed due to various restrictions across states and almost Rs 75,000 crore could turn NPA if urgent measures to ease the working capital challenges are not taken by the Reserve Bank and the Centre.

Finance Ministry relaxes spending norms to boost capital expenditure

To enable ministries/departments expedite capital expenditure, it said, the cash management guidelines issued by the Ministry of Finance under the OM of 2017 have been relaxed.

Industry requests Finance Ministry for more handholding on filing GST, other taxes

Industry tells government that more handholding is required to clear tax related confusion on the ground. Also calls for tax compliance deadline to be extended.

Govt gives ‘advance’ of around Rs 4,500 crore to Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech

“The Finance Ministry today has relaxed the general financial rules and permitted the Ministry of Health to pay, if they so wish, to make advance payment to vaccine suppliers, without a bank guarantee. I believe the Health Ministry is already doing so,” a top official told Moneycontrol

India not imposing safeguard duty on optic fibre imports

Consideration into the matter began after domestic fibre optic players such as Birla Furukawa Fibre Optics and Sterlite Technologies complained about the boost in imports since July 2019.

Fundraising through public issues more than doubled in FY21

In terms of numbers, FY21 witnessed 55 initial public offerings (IPO) and one follow-on public offer (FPO), the finance ministry said in a statement.

2020-21 indirect tax collections beat revised estimates by 8%: CBIC Chief

Out of the total provisional indirect tax collections, custom duty collections came in at Rs 1.32 lakh crore, excise and service tax collections came at Rs 3.91 lakh crore, while the net GST collection for the centre stood at Rs 5.48 lakh crore.

India unlikely to go along with US' global minimum corporate tax proposal

The feeling in the government is that Yellen’s statement stems from the United States’ ‘one-shot’ approach to providing stimulus in face of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is opposed to India’s response, which has been more deliberate and has focused on the credit and fiscal side of things.

Major reshuffle in Finance Ministry as Tarun Bajaj shifted to Revenue Department; Bangalore Metro chief is new economic affairs secretary

Ajai Seth’s appointment as economic affairs secretary raises questions as to who will be designated as the finance secretary. Seth, Expenditure Secretary TV Somanathan and DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey are all from the 1987 batch.

Economy better equipped to deal with second Covid-19 wave, says Finance Ministry

"As the vaccination drive continuously upscales in India and guided by the learnings of India’s successful management of pandemic during its first wave, India is now well armed to combat any downside risk posed by the recent surge in COVID-19 cases," the Department of Economic Affairs said in its economic report for March.

Banks sanction Rs 25,586 crore to 1.14 lakh Stand-Up India accounts in 5 years

Under the scheme, bank loans between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore are provided to at least one Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch of Scheduled Commercial Banks.

CBDT notifies new income tax return forms for AY 2021-22

Keeping in view the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and to facilitate the taxpayers, no significant change have been made to the ITR forms, the CBDT said.

Rate cut U-turn: Election states contribute nearly a fourth of total small savings schemes

West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where high-stakes electoral battles are underway, together contribute 23.9% in gross collections of national small savings, according to latest available data. Assembly elections give small savers a reprieve from interest rate cut.

Govt extends Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme till June 30

The National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company will issue the revised operational guidelines.

Government gives Monetary Policy Committee unchanged inflation target till FY26

While the official gazette notification is still awaited, this means that the Monetary Policy Committee now has the mandate to take steps under monetary policy and inflation targeting frameworks to keep consumer price index-based inflation in the 2-6 per cent range from 2021-22 till 2025-26.

Govt to borrow Rs 7.24 lakh crore between April and September

For the current financial year (2020-21), the gross borrowing estimate was revised to Rs 12.8 lakh crore as against the Budget estimate of Rs 7.8 lakh crore. However, Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj said the Centre has borrowed a record gross Rs 13.70 lakh crore in 2020-21, while net borrowing was Rs 11.43 lakh crore.

India's April-February fiscal deficit at 76% of FY21 revised estimates

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had, in her 2021-22 Union Budget, revised the fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal year to Rs 18.49 lakh crore, or 9.5 per cent of real gross domestic product, compared to budget estimates of Rs 7.96 lakh crore or 3.5 percent of GDP.

Govt achieved revised divestment target for FY2021: Report

Due to the pandemic, the divestment process in the first five months of FY21 was completely stalled due to which the target was revised to Rs 32,000 crores.

Exclusive | Lack of funds may end government incentives for services exports

Facing a funds crunch, and under international pressure by the WTO to realign the benefits it gives traders, the government had suspended the Merchandise Exports from India scheme (MEIS). Now, a similar scheme focusing on services exports may face the axe.