The post Union Finance Minister Smt N Sitharaman receives a dividend cheque of Rs 1,370 crore for FY 2022-23 from Shri K Satyanarayana Raju appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

As finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman prepares to present her second budget—this one comes amid projections by the International Monetary Fund of growth slowing to 4.8% in the fiscal—here are five ways in which she can help stimulate the economy:

The post 5 Ways Budget can help India get out of an Economic Slump appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

The Finance Minister made the comment after a member of Parliament (MP) asked her if she eats onions.
Meanwhile The MMTC has further contracted 4,000 MT of Onions from Turkey which is expected to arrive by mid-January, 2020. This 4,000MT is in addition to the 17,090 MT of Onions already contracted which includes 6090 MT arriving from Egypt and 11,000 MT from Turkey.

Prices of onions in many places have crossed Rs 100 per kg mark because of shortages caused by unseasonal rainfall.

Sitharaman said that there are several structural issues related to storage of onions and the government is trying to address them.

She also said that due to implementation of direct benefit transfer scheme, the government has been able to save Rs 1.41 lakh crore in the last five years.

The government plugged all loopholes through DBT and “all dalals and middlemen have been eliminated from the system”, she said.

The Department of Consumer Affairs has also directed MMTC to issue three more tenders for import of Onions, out of which two tenders are country specific namely Turkey & European Union and one is a global tender. Each of these tenders are for 5,000 MT.

Certain relaxations have been provided in the new tenders issued such as size range of Onions have been expanded to 40mm-80mm, Consortium bidding has been allowed, exporters can offer shipment in multiple lots.

Additionally, fumigation condition relaxations that were earlier provided till 30 th November, 2019 have now been extended till 31st December, 2019. This is expected to further increase participation, competition & reduce price.

A coordination committee has also been formed by the Department of Consumer Affairs to ensure that the entire process of import and distribution is streamlined so as to ensure timely arrivals and movement of Onions and sale by States.

The committee is holding meetings on a daily basis with participation from officials of MMTC, NAFED, CONCOR and associated Ministries and Departments. The Ministry of Shipping has also assured that it will provide priority landing/docking for the ships containing the imported Onions and will also be appointing a nodal officer at JNPT, Mumbai for ensuring speedy arrivals and onward distribution/dispatch.

The post I don’t eat much onion: Nirmala appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

The meeting was attended by Shri Shaktikanta Das, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI); Shri Atanu Chakraborty, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs; Shri Rajiv Kumar, Finance Secretary and Secretary, Department of Financial Services; Shri Injeti Srinivas, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs; Shri Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Revenue Secretary; Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology; Dr Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser, Ministry of Finance; Shri Ajay Tyagi, Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India; Shri Subhash Chandra Khuntia, Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India; Dr M.S. Sahoo, Chairperson, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India; Shri Ravi Mital, Special Secretary, Department of Financial Services and in charge, Chairperson, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority; and other senior officers of the Government of India and Financial Sector Regulators.

The Council reviewed the current global and domestic macro-economic situation and financial stability and vulnerabilities issues, including inter-alia, those concerning NBFCs and Credit Rating Agencies.

The Council reviewed the action taken by members on the decision taken by FSDC earlier and held discussions on the proposals submitted for further strengthening of the resolution framework and framework for cyber security of the financial sector.

The Council also took note of the activities undertaken by the FSDC Sub-Committee chaired by the Governor, RBI and the initiatives taken by the various regulators in the financial sector.

The post FM chairs 21st Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

The former Prime Minister also referred to the Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) bank crisis and said the before one can fix the economy, one needs a correct diagnosis of its ailments and their causes. The government is obsessed with trying to fix blame on its opponent.

“When I was in office what happened did happen. There were some weaknesses. But you can’t claim that the fault lies with the UPA always. You have been in office for five years. Mainly passing buck to UPA is not enough,” said Dr Singh

On Tuesday, Nirmala Sitharaman had, at an event in the US, said she held the Manmohan Singh-Raghuram Rajan combination responsible for subjecting public sector banks to their “worst phase”.

Meanwhile I respect Dr. Manmohan Singh for telling me not to do the blame game, but recalling when and what went wrong during a certain period is necessary to put it in context,” adding that things went wrong during a period in which 

“I have no reason to doubt that Rajan feels for every word of what he is saying. And I’m here today, giving him his due respect, but also placing the fact before you that Indian public sector banks did not have a worst phase than when the combination of Singh and Rajan, as Prime Minister and the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), had. At that time, none of us knew about it,” the Finance Minister had said at Columbia University’s .

The post Manmohan Singh criticised the government for the economic slowdown. appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

Ms. Sitharaman has asked an official committee that includes the Banking Secretary and Department of Economic Affairs Secretary in the Finance Ministry, as well as a Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor, to check the legal framework governing co-operative banks .

All options, including a fresh look at the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill, are under consideration, the Minister said.

While addressing a press conference in Mumbai Ms. Sitharaman also saw protesting PMC depositors at the BJP’s State headquarters and met them 

She had assured them that she will have a fresh word with the RBI Governor to try to hasten the lifting of withdrawal restrictions of ₹25,000 currently applicable. While the RBI regulates multi-State rural co-operative banks and urban co-operative banks, their registration is governed by the Rural Development and Urban Development Ministries, the Minister said .

“Therefore, in such instances, where there is some malpractice and the boards get bypassed, the Reserve Bank takes care of placing a resolution professional that takes care of the matter. I also told the affected PMC customers this doesn’t mean that the Government of India is doing nothing about it,” Ms. Sitharaman said

 “I have asked the Secretaries in Ministry’s for banking and economic affairs to work with the Ministries of Rural and Urban Development to study in detail what is happening in multi-State co-operatives that also run banks. The RBI will also be represented of course, to understand where there were shortcomings and, if necessary, look at the ways in which the respective Acts can be amended,” Ms. Sitharaman said.

“If the amendments are going to help us curb malpractices, with better regulation and empowerment of the regulator, then we would like to do that. Necessary legislative steps will be taken to prevent such things from happening again in future and allow the regulator even better, if there are shortcomings,” the minister stressed, adding that the government will work to bring in necessary changes in the forthcoming Winter session of Parliament.

The post NEW LAW FOR COOPERATIVE BANKS appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

The Reserve Bank of India had imposed regulatory restrictions on the PMC Bank for six months over alleged financial irregularities. the RBI had initially kept the withdrawal limit for account holders at just Rs 1,000 for each customers for six months but the central bank later increased the withdrawal limit to Rs 10,thousand . The RBI has also banned the PMC bank from extending fresh loans or taking fixed deposits. The restrictions imposed by RBI had led to massive protests by PMC Bank account holders as they are feeling cash crunch .

Ms Sitharaman tweeted a helpline number to address the concerns of the account holders.A person named Rakesh Bhat urged the finance minister to resolve the matter quickly, saying “people are bound to consume poison and die”.

Sitharaman asked Bhat to calm down and appealed to him against posting “extreme” messages. The finance minister also said that Ministry of Finance has no control over multi-state cooperative institutions .

The post Nirmala Sitharaman urges not to say ‘extreme things’ appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

“We want ministries to spend… Expenditure secretary is meeting secretaries from other departments every week to push spending by departments and PSUs (public sector undertakings),” Sitharaman told media persons on Sunday, stressing that the government is not considering any reduction in spending.

With this rate cut, the direction has been set for direct taxes and it would be difficult to raise corporate tax rates from here, said the minister. Anyone who wants to do so would have to go to Parliament and explain the rationale for raising tax, she added.

The comments came two days after Sitharaman slashed base corporate tax rate to 22% from 30% for domestic companies and proposed a competitive 15% rate for new manufacturing units, offering a Rs 1.45 lakh crore fiscal boost as part of a series of measures to revive growth. The unexpected move had led to speculation that the government might resort to spending cuts to meet its budgeted fiscal deficit target of 3.3% of GDP for 2019-20.

The minister said on Sunday she will take stock of the fiscal situation during the exercise on revised estimates.

The minister said the government will continue to focus on disinvestment as planned, pointing out that 23 companies had been approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

Responding to a query on the proposed disinvestment of national carrier Air India, she expressed hope that it would be completed in the current fiscal. “The AISM (Air India Specific Alternative Mechanism) is likely to meet soon to finalise the contours,” Sitharaman said.

She said industry representatives had raised the issue of “reforms” in multiple interactions with her. Terming the corporate tax rate cut an “equivalent of surgical strike”, she said the government had taken a conscious call to keep the effective corporate tax rate below 25%. “High tax rates were one of the key impediments cited by foreign investors… With this cut, we have ticked all boxes for them,” she said. Further, the minister said, no country in Southeast Asia is offering a 15% tax rate (which is now applicable to new manufacturing units).

Asked about a reduction in personal income tax rates as demanded by many, the minister said the government has not yet thought of rate rationalisation. She said a detailed analysis of the Direct Tax Code task force report was on and that it had made very good recommendations for simplification and rationalisation of the tax structure.

The post NO CUT ON SPENDING appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.

Electronic-cigarettes are battery-operated devices that produce aerosol by heating a solution containing nicotine, which is the addictive substance in combustible cigarettes. These include all forms of Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems, Heat Not Burn Products, e-Hookah and the like devices. These novel products come with attractive appearances and multiple flavours and their use has increased exponentially and has acquired epidemic proportions in developed countries, especially among youth and children.

Implementation:

Upon promulgation of the Ordinance, any production, manufacturing, import, export, transport, sale (including online sale), distribution or advertisement (including online advertisement) of e-cigarettes shall be a cognizable offence punishable with an imprisonment of up to one year or fine up to Rs. 1 lakh or both for the first offence; and imprisonment of up to three years and fine up to Rs. 5 lakh for a later offence. Storage of electronic-cigarettes shall also be punishable with an imprisonment up to 6 months or fine up to Rs 50,000 or both.  

The owners of existing stocks of e-cigarettes on the date of commencement of the Ordinance will have to suomoto declare and deposit these stocks with the nearest police station. The Sub-Inspector of Police has been designated as the Authorized Officer to take action under the Ordinance. The Central or State Governments may also appoint any other equivalent officer(s) as Authorized Officer for enforcement of the provisions of the Ordinance.

The post Cabinet bans e-cigarettes appeared first on newsmantra.in l Latest news on Politics, World, Bollywood, Sports, Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Trending news | News Mantra.