Page 9 - Finance Ministry

Top Headlines: One licence for insurance biz, amendment in IBC, and more

Here is our morning brief of today's top headlines

Govt proposes issuance of one licence for all insurance businesses

Suggests allowing insurers to sell other financial products

Sanjay Malhotra takes charge as Revenue Secretary in Finance Ministry

Senior bureaucrat Sanjay Malhotra on Thursday took charge as the secretary in Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance. Malhotra replaced Tarun Bajaj, who superannuated on November 30. A 1990-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Malhotra was working as an officer on special duty (OSD) in the revenue department since October this year. Prior to that, he was serving as the secretary in Department of Financial Services (DFS). Malhotra takes over as the top bureaucrat in the revenue department at a time when the government is preparing for the Union Budget 2023-24 to be tabled in Parliament on February 1. He would be looking into various tax-related proposals for the Budget and would also be the ex-officio Secretary to the GST Council. Malhotra is an IIT-Kanpur alumnus and holds a master's degree in public policy from the Princeton University, US. Shri Sanjay Malhotra takes charge as Secretary, Department of Revenue @FinMinIndia, in North Block, New Delhi, today. Prior to his

GST collection up 11% more than Rs 1.45 trn in Nov, gains from imports

GST revenues rose by 11 per cent to about Rs 1.46 lakh crore in November over the year-ago period, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday. This is the ninth straight month when collections from Goods and Services Tax (GST) has remained above Rs 1.40 lakh crore. The gross GST revenue collected in the month of November 2022 is Rs 1,45,867 crore of which Central GST is Rs 25,681 crore, State GST is Rs 32,651 crore, Integrated GST is Rs 77,103 crore (including Rs 38,635 crore collected on import of goods) and cess is Rs 10,433 crore (including Rs 817 crore collected on import of goods). "The revenues for the month of November 2022 are 11 per cent higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year, which itself was Rs 1,31,526 crore," the ministry said in a statement. During the month, revenues from the import of goods were 20 per cent higher and the revenues from domestic transaction (including import of services) are 8 per cent higher than the revenues from these sources during t

Govt to sell 50.79% in NMDC's steel plant at Nagarnar, invites bids

The last date for submitting queries by interested bidders is December 29, 2022, and that for submission of bids is January 27, 2023 as per the expression of interest (EoI)

Budget may not be right time to restructure capital gains tax: Revenue secy

There's no need for having so many buckets under the capital gains tax structure or so many different permutations and combinations, says Tarun Bajaj

Cross-border rupee trade: FinMin, bank heads to meet on December 5

The Finance Ministry has called a meeting of CEOs of banks, including top six private sector lenders, on December 5 to discuss ways to promote cross-border trade in the rupee instead of the US dollar. Besides, sources said the meeting to be attended by other stakeholders, including senior officials of external affairs and commerce ministries, will review the progress made on this front so far. Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi will be chairing the meeting and is also likely to see attendance from representatives of the Reserve Bank of India and Indian Banks' Association (IBA), sources said. Following detailed guidelines from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on cross-border trade transactions in domestic currency in July, about nine special vostro accounts have been opened with two Indian banks to facilitate overseas trade in the rupee. Sberbank and VTB Bank -- the largest and second-largest banks of Russia, respectively -- are the first foreign lenders to receive the approval

Budget 2023-24: 'Realistic' 10-11% nominal growth target on the table

Finance ministry expects moderation in retail inflation in FY24

'Budget For Children' charter demands more investment for PM-POSHAN

Increasing investment on all schemes for children, particularly on PM-POSHAN and raising health budget are among the demands in 'Budget For Children' charter presented to Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary. This charter is a result of numerous local to state and national consultations with over 3,500 of their peers across the country. The interaction was led by 15-year-old Ruksar Rehman, president, National Inclusive Children's Parliament, a statement said. The children's charter of demands stemmed from a report they had submitted to the United Nations as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process at Geneva and the Charter on Environmental Rights of Children in the lead up to COP 27 in Egypt. The demands include that the 6 per cent promise for education (GDP public spending) and 2.5 per cent on health be reflected in the upcoming Union and state budgets for 2023-24 in India. They have also sought an increase in the investment on all schemes for children, ...

Budget 2023-24 should clear confusion over options for personal income tax

From 2020-21 onwards, the Budget gave an option of a lower personal income tax regime to those earning up to Rs 15 lakh, provided they forgo some exemptions

Budget 2023-24: Stay on fiscal glide path, economists advise FM Sitharaman

The Finance Ministry was also urged to continue with long term loans to states to support their capex programs, and give them more leeway to spend, in order to boost growth

Going truly federal: Why states should be allowed to levy an income tax

We need to ask why, in India, income tax is levied only by the Centre while in many other federations, the constituent units also levy it

Union Budget 2023-24: Centre invites suggestions, Dec 10 last date

For the union budget 2023-24, which will be unveiled in February next year, the finance ministry has requested public ideas and comments

States' Budget demand: 60% GST share, extended compensation period

State finance ministers demanded greater fiscal autonomy through an increase in states' share in goods and services tax (GST) to 60 per cent, from 50 per cent at present

UTI AMC, Punjab National Bank shares jump on the stake sale plans

The stake is valued at around Rs 1,437 crore at UTI AMC's last closing price of Rs 743.5

300-400 new Vande Bharat trains to be announced in upcoming Union Budget

According to a railway ministry official, there will be an announcement for provision of 300-400 new Vande Bharat trains in the Union Budget 2023-24 which will be the highest ever allocation

States seek greater fiscal space, budgetary autonomy from finance ministry

The federal government fixes the permissible budget gap. It was set at 3.5% of GSDP for 2022-23, with some extra room given to states who meet certain conditions

Centre releases Rs 17k cr GST compensation to states, says FinMin

The central government has released Rs 17,000 crore to states towards balance GST compensation, taking the total amount released so far this fiscal to over Rs 1.15 lakh crore, the Finance Ministry said on Friday. "With this release, the Centre has released, in advance, the entire amount of Cess estimated to be collected this year till March-end available for payment of compensation to States," the ministry said in a statement. Goods and Services Tax (GST) was introduced in the country with effect from July 1, 2017, and states were assured of compensation for the loss of any revenue arising on account of the implementation of GST for a period of five years. For providing compensation to states, a cess is levied on certain goods and the amount of cess collected is credited to the compensation fund. The central government released an amount of Rs 17,000 crore to states/UTs on November 24, 2022, towards the balance GST compensation for the period April to June 2022. The total amount of

FM Sitharaman seeks to shrink budget deficit as global headwinds loom

A longstanding plan aims to shrink the shortfall to below 4.5% of GDP by 2025-26

Retail inflation likely to ease in coming months: Finance ministry

The MER, however, warned that the global macroeconomic situation remained precarious and a recession in many advanced economies would impact India's exports