Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge with other opposition parties MPs addresses the media at Vijay Choek during the Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Thursday, Feb. 2. (PTI) Budget Session in Parliament Live Updates: The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day as Opposition members, led by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) or Supreme Court-monitored probe into allegations against the Adani group of companies. The Opposition claimed that “a significant volume of public money through SBI and LIC is locked in the Adani Group”. Similar scenes were seen in the Parliament on Thursday as well.
Meanwhile, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will brief all BJP MPs in Parliament later in the day. All Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha MPs are expected to be in attendance for the meeting, according to news agency PTI.
Speaking with The Indian Express a day after presenting the Budget, the Finance Minister said: “This (capex expenditure) is a golden opportunity for India and (we have to ensure that) government expenditure continues in infrastructure building, capital investments, and so on.” Sitharaman added that the huge capex did not mean that the government was cutting back on welfare spending, citing the Rs 79,000-crore allocation for PM Awas Yojana and the higher outlay for Jal Jeevan Mission.
Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran with his team presents the Economic Survey 2022-23 during a press conference, in New Delhi, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023. (PTI Photo)
The railway in Rajasthan has been allocated a record Rs 9,532 crore in the Union Budget for 2023-24, about 14 times the annual average allocation of Rs 682 crore between 2009 and 2014, Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday.
Addressing a press conference, the minister said rail development in Rajasthan will pick up pace with the allocation. This year's Budget allocation is higher than last year, with priority given to North Western Railway.
North Western Railway has been allocated Rs 8,636.85 crore in the Budget, about 28.44 per cent more than last year's 6,724.29 crore, a press release said.
Vijay Sharma, the North Western Railway general manager, said special attention has been given to strengthening railway infrastructure, safety and passenger facilities. An allocation of Rs 923 crore has been made to North Western Railway for passenger facilities, the press release said. (PTI)
The stock market turmoil created by rout in Adani group shares is a "storm in a tea cup" from a macroeconomic point of view, finance secretary T V Somanathan said on Friday, emphasing that India's public financial system is robust.
The senior most bureaucrat in the finance ministry also said that movements in the stock market per se is not the government's concern and there are independent regulators to take necessary action.
Replying to a question on the impact of the fraud allegations on the Adani group on financial system considering banks and insurance companies exposure to the group, Somanathan said India's public financial institutions are robust.
"There is absolutely no concern from the point of view of financial stability, either for depositors, or for policyholders, or for anyone holding shares in these institutions. The share of any one company is not such as to create any impact at the macro level and so there is absolutely no concern from that point of view," he told PTI in a post-budget interview.
The first Union Budget of the "Amrit Kaal" will ensure rapid development of the country and Uttar Pradesh will benefit immensely from it, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Thursday.
He said Uttar Pradesh will get a share of Rs 1.83 lakh crore as compared to Rs 1.46 lakh crore it had received in the previous budget and it will help the state government take up various development works. "Seven opportunities have been addressed as 'saptarishi' in the budget. The 'saptarishi' have been the founders of Indian systems under whose guidance the sanatan traditions of India grew and established India as the leader of the world," the chief minister said at a press conference in Lucknow.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who presented the Union Budget for 2023-24 on Wednesday, listed seven priorities -- Saptarishi (seven priorities) -- to guide the country through the Amrit Kaal, the 25-year journey towards its centenary as a modern nation. (PTI)
The salaried common man would benefit from the new income tax regime announced in the Union budget 2023-24, said finance secretary TV Somanathan.
"The vast majority of people will benefit and we expect that the majority of people will shift to the new income tax regime. We are confident of that," Somanathan told news agency ANI.
Somanathan said there are only winners in the new income tax regime, no one is a loser. "I am confident that people will choose the new income tax regime. Today's situation is that if someone's income is up to five lakhs, then they do not have to pay tax. From the next year, those whose income is up to Rs seven lakhs will not have to pay tax. This limit has been increased by 40 percent which was Rs 5 lakh earlier. This is absolutely beneficial. Government jobs or private, whose monthly salary is 40,000 to 60,000, they come in this bracket. For them, there is only profit. Those who are saying that it is not beneficial, are wrong." (ANI)
Terming the Union Budget 2023 all-inclusive, balanced and development-oriented, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel Thursday said the upcoming state budget would take inspiration from it.
“The budget is going to benefit the entire country. And when Gujarat is the growth engine of the country, it will make efforts to take maximum benefit of the same and move ahead,” CM Patel said addressing a press conference as he praised the Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Wednesday.
“When the Central government’s budget has provided direction, Gujarat will take inspiration from it and progress under the leadership of (Prime Minister) Narendrabhai (Modi),” the CM said in reply to a question on the upcoming state budget. Read more
IIT Madras announced that will receive a grant of Rs 242 crores over a period of five years to conduct research on lab-grown diamonds (LGD). The research will be focused on driving the indigenous manufacturing of LGDs.
This development comes in the wake of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing an LGD research grant for an IIT. “Lab grown Diamonds (LGD) is a technology and innovation-driven emerging sector with high employment potential. These environment-friendly diamonds have optically and chemically the same properties as natural diamonds. To encourage indigenous production of LGD seeds and machines and to reduce import dependency, a research and development grant will be provided to one of the IITs for five years,” said Sitharaman while presenting the budget on Wednesday. Read more
New schemes, a change in tax slabs, econ. trivia that shows up every year — without taking a peek, how much of the Union Budget do you think you remember?
Put your memory to the test with our new finance quiz, which has 12 questions on the projects and changes announced by FM Nirmala Sitharaman this week. Play to win, for the top 10 scorers will receive a prize and get featured by The Indian Express. Take the Union Budget quiz
In the Union Budget 2023-24 tabled Wednesday, Rs 1,258.68 crore was allotted to the Union Cabinet, under various heads of expenditure, including salaries, sumptuary (food etc), travel by ministers and entertainment of foreign State guests.
The amount includes the expenditure for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the National Security Council Secretariat, the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor and Secretariat assistance to former governors. It also includes a provision for special extra-session flight operations for VVIPs.
The bulk of the allocation — Rs 832.81 crore — has been earmarked for the Council of Ministers, while Rs 62.65 crore has been allocated for the PMO for administrative expenses. Read the Political Pulse
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The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan (JSA), a national platform of a group of organisations that coordinates action and activities on health and healthcare, on Thursday condemned the inadequacies in the Union Budget and its allocation for the health sector.
“While the central government claims that ‘India has emerged a shining star, showing signs of robust viability’, we find that the Union Budget allocations for the health sector have declined further, making it the second year in a row to have witnessed sharp budgetary cuts in crucial health schemes,” activists with the JSA said in a statement issued on Thursday. Read more
India’s economy will withstand the stock rout caused by allegations against Adani Group, while any impact on the broader equity markets is set to be short-lived, a top minister said.
“India has a very broad spectrum of infrastructure companies,” Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s minister for tech and railways, told Bloomberg TV’s Rishaad Salamat and Haslinda Amin on Thursday. “Whatever blip is there on the stock market is not going to affect the overall economy, I am very sure of that.” Read more
SENSING an opportunity to put the Narendra Modi government on the mat in a crucial election year, the Opposition Thursday put up a united front seeking a probe by either a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) or headed by the Supreme Court or monitored by the Chief Justice of India, into the allegations of accounting fraud and stock manipulation against the Adani Group.
The protests by the Opposition did not let Parliament function the day after the Union Budget was tabled, and could end up derailing the rest of the Session as well.
Around the same time five years ago, the BJP government and Modi had faced Opposition heat over the Rafale fighter jet purchase. While the allegations then did not stick to the BJP, both politically and legally, the difference this time is that the Opposition can make it about the hard-earned savings of crores of Indians being “endangered” through investment in Adani Group companies. Manoj C G writes
The Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Wednesday evoked mixed reactions from various sectors with some experts raising concerns about government making no efforts to control steel price, and less allocation in health sector, and some terming the Budget as growth-oriented and MSME-friendly and one meant to give a fillip to the economy.
Pankaj Sharma, president of the Association of Focal Point industries, Ludhiana, and general secretary of Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU), said that the revamped credit guarantee scheme for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will help reduce the cost of financing by 1 per cent.
Sharma said the increase of capital expenditure by 33 per cent amounting to a total of Rs 10 lakh crore will help boost the infrastructure of roads and railways that will subsequently give a direct fillip to steel and cement industry and increase employment opportunities. Read more
Even as industry representatives welcomed the 2023-24 Budget speech by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, announcing that a new programme to promote research and innovation in pharmaceuticals will be taken up through centres of excellence, stakeholders believe that though a macro move, it will encourage skill development and innovation, which in turn will result in indigenous versions of medical devices.
Zydus Lifesciences Limited chairman Pankaj Patel said, “The medical devices sector will also stand to gain from the new multidisciplinary courses which will be introduced as they will bring in skilled talent, enable high-technology collaborations and promote research and manufacturing of these technologies in India.”
Terming the budget as “growth-oriented”, Zydus’ Patel added, “The life sciences and medical sector will stand to benefit greatly with the impetus on innovation and R&D…Setting up of centres of excellence for innovation and the Government’s initiatives to encourage investments in R&D will go a long way in bringing Indian Innovation to the forefront.” Read more
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Thursday said the Hindenburg research expose about the Adani Group has "created fear among common man".
"SBI, LIC have money of common man which was invested. Large section of the country is investing in stock market. We've demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe from government," news agency ANI quoted Chowdhury as saying.
Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman who presented the Narendra Modi government's last full budget ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, will hold a briefing for the BJP MPs both of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Friday, sources said.
She will explain the budget to the MPs in the meeting. The briefing will be held at 9 am at the Balayogi Auditorium in Parliament Library Building in the national capital, all MPs have been informed.
This briefing comes at a time when the party has asked all its members of Parliament to go to the respective constituencies and tell the common man what does budget means and how it has been brought out, keeping the interest of every stratum of society in mind. (ANI)
After both the houses were adjourned on Thursday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed reporters outside the Parliament, where he asked why the Centre forced government institutions to invest in or lend to companies which have been blamed of malpractice in the Hindenburg report.
Kharge demanded an investigation into forced investments made by the Life Insurance Corporation, State Bank of India and other public institutions in the Adani Group. He also sought a probe either by a Joint Parliamentary Committee or a team constituted by the Chief Justice of India to look into the issue, which has cost the government-owned companies huge losses in recent days.
The Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day as Opposition members demanded discussions on the Adani Group. They submitted adjournment notices, stating that “a significant volume of public money through SBI and LIC is locked in the Adani Group.”
Earlier, following ruckus in both Houses, proceedings in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned till 2 pm on Thursday. Ahead of the Parliament Session, a meeting organised by Kharge was attended by leaders of the Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray faction, DMK, CPM, AAP and CPI(M), where they had decided to raise the issue together.
The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day as Opposition parties sought a discussion on allegations of fraud against Adani Group.
Both Houses are set to resume at 2 pm. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned shortly after proceedings began Thursday morning as Opposition members demanded discussions over the Adani Group.
Stay tuned as we bring you the latest updates!
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sought details from banks about the exposure to Adani group of companies amid the sustained fall in its share prices and scrapping of the Rs 20,000 crore FPO, a source said.
When contacted, an RBI official refused to comment on the development. After Credit Suisse stopped accepting bonds of Adani Group as collateral for margin loans to its private banking clients, Citigroup’s wealth unit has stopped extending margin loans to its clients against securities of Adani group companies. “This might have prompted the regulator to step in,” said a banking source. Read more