Budgeting for agriculture and food
The Union Budget 2023-24 was presented against the backdrop of some critical geopolitical developments and was the last full budget before the next general elections. Signicantly, 2023 is also the year
Budget
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Bird sanctuary proposal at Munderikadavu cheers bird lovers
Finance Minister K.M. Mani’s announcement during his Budget speech in the Assembly that the biodiversity-rich wetland area of Munderikadavu here will be developed into a bird sanctuary has been greeted
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Waste processing plants with higher technology mooted in major districts
Finance Minister K.M. Mani has proposed a two pronged approach to address the state’s worsening waste management crisis with an allocation of Rs 100 crore each for source level waste treatment plants and centralised high tech waste management plants in the state annual budget for 2012-13. It has been proposed to construct large scale technology oriented waste processing plants in PPP model in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Kottayam and Kozhikode districts with an allocation of Rs 100 crores.
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Fuel price hike after consulting allies
Rejecting criticism that General Budget was not bold and he lost the opportunity, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday suggested his critics to look at ground realities in the political sphere. He also said that any reduction in subsidies and hike in petroleum product prices could be considered only after consultations with allies. In his customary post-Budget interaction with industry leaders, Mr Mukherjee said, “... Knowing the mood of the persons who matter here (in Parliament), I had to be extra careful and I had to make my colleagues extra careful. Therefore, many of things which could have been done,
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No lack of funds for Nrega, claims Ramesh
New Delhi Allocation for UPA’s ambitious MNREGA scheme may have come down in the Union Budget but there would be no lack of funds for the rural job programme, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh said today. The allocation for the scheme entitling employment to poor rural households has been reduced from R40,000 crore in 2011-2012 to R33,000 crore in the Budget presented by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee for 2012-2013.
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Rs 2 lakh-crore oil losses next year may play havoc with govt plans
The government’s plans to reign in petroleum subsidies to plug the fiscal deficit next financial year are in jeopardy, as a whopping Rs 2.13 lakh-crore revenue loss is expected at the current levels of global crude oil prices and domestic retail prices of controlled products. Non-revision of diesel, LPG and kerosene prices, firm crude oil prices and a weak rupee may combine to foil Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's subsidy-reduction plans.
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ECB for low-cost housing may go via NHB
External lenders may not find low-income or affordable housing attractive, due to the low profit margins and high risk A proposal has been mooted for all external commercial borrowing (ECB) for affordable housing to be routed through the National Housing Bank (NHB), mooted by the latter. Many in the real estate sector are sceptical about the practicality of the Budget proposal on ECB for this segment.
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Honda Eyes India as Diesel Hub: Move aims at remedying glaring absence of diesel cars from firm’s portfolio
Around the same time the finance minister was reading out his Budget speech, Honda Motors was applying the final touches to its long-term diesel game plan for India, which will culminate in India emerging
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NMDC to spend Rs 3,500 cr on Chhattisgarh steel plant
Country's top iron ore producer NMDC plans to invest Rs 3,513 crore on its upcoming 3 million tonne per annum capacity steel plant at Nagarnar in Chhattisgarh. According to the Budget documents, the state-owned firm has kept a capital expenditure target of Rs 4,655 crore in the next fiscal and over 75% of the amount (Rs 3,513 crore) will be spend on the Chhattisgarh plant, which would mark NMDC's entry into steel manufacturing.
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Growth Stimulus in a Challenging Environment
With the inflation beast tamed, the finance minister has tried to revive investments, stimulate demand and remove infrastructure constraints in the Union Budget The Honourable finance minister, in the
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Have to take parties on board before hiking diesel prices: FM
Even though the Union Budget 2012-13 has alluded to the possibility of freeing prices of diesel and fertiliser, the UPA is yet to build consensus amongst its allies on these contentious issues. “The Budget