Tag: Nirmala Sitharaman

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BUDGET 2024: What Becomes Cheaper And What’s Costlier?

The Finance Minister announced a reduction of customs duty on mobile phones and mobile chargers to 15 per cent in Union Budget, reports Asian Lite News

With Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing a major reduction in customs duty on cancer drugs and mobile phones, it is set to considerably bring down their prices in the market. The three cancer drugs are Trastuzumab deruxtecan, Osimertinib and Durvalumab.

The Finance Minister also announced a reduction of customs duty on mobile phones and mobile chargers to 15 per cent.

“The government will exempt three cancer treatment drugs from customs duty. I will also reduce basic customs duty on mobile phones, chargers and other mobile parts,” FM Sitharaman said presenting the Budget 2024.

Other products that are set to become cheaper include mobile phones, imported gold, silver, leather goods and seafood.

The reduction in duties on gold and silver by 6 per cent will significantly give a fillip to the retail demand.

FM Sitharaman also proposed a reduction in customs duties on platinum by 6.5 per cent and 5 per cent cut on seafood which includes shrimps and fish feed.

For the salaried class, the Finance Minister announced tax sops for over 4 crore salaried individuals.

Those under the new tax regime, have been given relaxation in the standard deduction limit from Rs 50,000 to Rs 75,000 while the deduction on family pension for pensioners has been enhanced from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.

This will provide relief to about four crore salaried individuals and pensioners, the Finance Minister said.

ALSO READ: BUDGET 2024: Relief For Salaried Class On Tax Slabs

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BUDGET 2024: Nirmala Breaks Morarji’s Record

Nirmala Sitharaman will now also hold the record for the maximum consecutive budget presentations, reports Asian Lite News

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is set to make history by presenting her seventh consecutive Budget on Tuesday, surpassing the record of former Prime Minister and Finance Minister Morarji Desai.

Sitharaman, who holds the record for the longest budget speech delivered on February 1, 2020, which lasted two hours and 40 minutes before being cut short, will now also hold the record for the maximum consecutive budget presentations.

Desai presented six budgets during his tenure as Finance Minister from 1959 to 1963 and from 1967 to 1969.

Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai still holds the overall record for presenting the most number of budget speeches, with ten in total. He served as Finance Minister under former Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri.

The Union Budget 2024 aims to lay a roadmap for Viksit Bharat by 2047. Following the budget presentation, Sitharaman will address a press conference alongside Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, Finance Secretary T. V. Somanathan, other Secretaries of the Ministry of Finance, and Chief Economic Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran.

The Union Budget is expected to focus on several key areas, including greater allocations for rural economy, taxation reforms, infrastructure development, local manufacturing, job and skill creation, and increased production-linked incentive (PLI) allocation to labour-intensive sectors.

Changes in the income tax structure to benefit taxpayers and measures to improve the ease of doing business are also anticipated to be major highlights.

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Sitharaman to present Union Budget on July 23

The government on Saturday announced the dates of the budget session of Parliament which will start on July 22 and conclude on August 12….reports Asian Lite News

The first full budget of the BJP-led NDA government in its third successive term will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23.

The government on Saturday announced the dates of the budget session of Parliament which will start on July 22 and conclude on August 12.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who will present the Union Budget 2024-25, has been holding pre-budget consultations.

As part of the deliberations, she has met economists, experts in finance and capital markets, industry representatives and agriculture experts.

Industry bodies, including the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), have urged the government to increase capital expenditure in the upcoming budget.

This will be Sitharaman’s seventh budget in a row. She will be the first Union Finance Minister to present seven consecutive union budgets. Former Prime Minister Morarji Desai had presented six budgets in a row.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiran Rijuju announced the dates of budget session.

“Hon’ble President of India, on the recommendation of the Government of India, has approved the proposal for summoning of both the Houses of Parliament for the Budget Session, 2024 from 22nd July 2024 to 12 August 2024 (Subject to exigencies of Parliamentary Business). Union Budget, 2024-25 will be presented in Lok Sabha on 23 July 2024,” he posted on X.

The Modi government had presented an interim budget in February this year.

Sitharaman had announced in the interim budget that the capital expenditure outlay for the next year is being increased by 11.1 per cent to Rs 11,11,111 crore, which would be 3.4 per cent of the GDP.

The government had also announced that Rs one lakh crore corpus will be established with five-year interest free loan for youth.

Newly-elected Lok Sabha members took oath in the first session of 18th Lok Sabha held from June 24 to July 2 following the results of the general elections.

President Droupadi Murmu addressed the joint sitting of two Houses on June 27 and both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha adopted a motion of thanks on the President’s address. Prime Minister Narendra Modi replied to the debate on the motion of thanks in the two Houses of Parliament.

BJP-led National Democratic Alliance returned to power for the third successive term in the general elections. (ANI)

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Sitharaman, Yellen Discuss IMF’s Policy Priorities

The two met on the sidelines of the ongoing IMF-World Bank Annual meetings in Marrakech, Morocco…reports Asian Lite News

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held discussions with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on the policy priorities of the International Monetary Fund and how the institution should support its membership.

The two met on the sidelines of the ongoing IMF-World Bank Annual meetings in Marrakech, Morocco, the Union Ministry of Finance informed.

In her intervention, Sitharaman spoke about IMF’s mandate and lending policies, a strong, quota-based, and adequately resourced IMF, Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT) Financing and IMF Governance reforms.

In her address, she also highlighted the role of IMF in addressing debt restructuring process bottlenecks and fostering cooperation on debt issues, including through co-chairing the Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable (GSDR) with India and the World Bank, according to the Finance Ministry.

The roundtable discussion was hosted by US Treasury Secretary Yellen.

A high-level seminar on “Strengthening the Financial Capacity of MDBs” was also organised by the G20 India Presidency.

Sitharaman drew attention to India’s G20 Presidency’s focus on the importance of multilateralism to move towards coordinated and consensus-based solutions to global challenges and also highlighted that in line with the evolving needs of the membership, the IMF’s primary focus needs to be macroeconomic surveillance and policy guidance.

The participants during the seminar deliberated on various options to enhance multi-lateral development banks (MDBs) financing and how these options can be implemented most effectively across the MDBs.

The Union Finance Minister also underscored the importance of the IMF to remain well-capitalised through quota-based resources to remain central to the global financial safety net.

Expressing India’s support for the gender and governance reforms in the IMF Executive Board, the FM mentioned that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s direction, India has recently enacted the Nari Shakti Vandan (Women’s Reservation Law), which reserves 33 per cent seats in the Parliament and State Legislatures for women, posted the Ministry of Finance on X.

The Union Finance Minister also met Ilan Goldfajn, President of Inter-American Development Bank and the two exchanged views on current development challenges and opportunities.

Union Finance Minister also met Mze Abdou Mohamed Chanfiou, Minister of Finance, Budget and Banking Sector, Comoros, and exchanged views on issues like Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), development partnership and other areas of mutual cooperation.

Referring to the initiative ‘Voice of Global South’ as envisioned by PM Modi, she said that India is looking forward to the participation of the President of Comoros in the ‘Voice of Global South’ Summit on November 17 as well as the G20 Virtual Summit on November 22 in Comoros’s capacity as Chair of the African Union.

The FM also expressed India’s readiness to share its technical capabilities and knowledge resources for empowering the people of the “Global South” and also stated that the Technical Cooperation Agreement (TCA) on India-Africa Economic Cooperation between the Government of India and the African Development Bank is currently in its final stages.

She also met Ajay Banga, president of World Bank. They discussed several issues related to India’s development priorities and global challenges – in the context of a bigger, better and more effective World Bank, as per the Ministry of Finance.

Highlighting the ‘One Sun, One World, One Grid’ initiative articulated by PM Modi, Sitharaman encouraged the World Bank’s active involvement in taking it forward, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The FM emphasised that India has delivered on its commitments towards Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and this rich experience can be used by the World Bank in its engagement with other countries.

Citing India’s rich and varied development experience, she said India can become a strong partner for Sandboxing the eight global challenge programmes proposed to be taken up by the World Bank.

Welcoming Morocco’s participation through the African Union in the G20, Sitharaman said India has always supported Africa and is privileged to have had the historic opportunity to propose permanent membership of the African Union and also that this will make G20 much more inclusive.

The fourth G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (G20FMCBG) and fourth G20 Finance and Central Bank Deputies (G20FCBD) meetings are being held here in Morocco from October 11 to 13 and Sitharaman and Governor of Reserve Bank of India, Shaktikanta Das are co-chairing these meetings, the Ministry of Finance said. (ANI)

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‘India-EU FTA Advancing, Works Ahead’

The negotiations for an FTA between the EU and India were relaunched last year, marking a significant step in trade relations.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met European Commission’s Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and discussed bilateral and financial issues of mutual interest on Saturday.

In a meeting that was held in New Delhi, both the leaders exchanged views on ongoing consultations for India-EU Investment Protection Agreement IPA and India-EU Free Trade Agreement FTA, informed the Ministry of Finance.

EU Trade Commissioner also co-chaired the EU-India High-Level Dialogue on Trade and Investment with Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in Delhi on Saturday.

The negotiations for an FTA between the EU and India were relaunched last year, marking a significant step in trade relations.

Prior to the meeting with the Union Finance minister, In a press conference, the EU Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis acknowledged that while progress has been made in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) discussions, there are still substantial challenges to address.

He said, “The discussions on the Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Union (EU) have made “progress but a lot of work is still ahead of us”, said on Saturday, adding that the ties between the two sides have a lot of untapped potential”.

At a press conference held in India, Dombrovskis emphasized the untapped potential in the relationship between India and the EU, stating, “India and the EU are important partners. We share fundamental values and interests.” He also highlighted that the EU is India’s second-largest partner.

Dombrovskis noted that the FTA negotiations come at a time of conflicting geopolitical situations, emphasizing the increasing importance of trust and credibility in international relations.

Providing an update on the FTA talks, Dombrovskis, who also serves as the EU Commissioner for Trade, stated that both sides have engaged in intensive discussions.

He highlighted the potential benefits of an FTA, such as providing preferred access for India to the EU market, which is the largest single market globally.

Dombrovskis arrived in India earlier in the week and participated in the G20 Trade and Investment Ministers Meeting in Jaipur.

The negotiations for an FTA between the EU and India were relaunched last year, marking a significant step in trade relations.

FTA aims to eliminate trade barriers between participating countries, facilitating smoother import and export processes and fostering stronger trade relations.

Talks initially began in 2007 but were frozen in 2013. The decision to resume negotiations in 2021 reflects the shared commitment to deepen economic ties and promote free and hassle-free trade between the two major partners.

The negotiations encompass a wide range of areas, including sustainability, labour standards, and environmental considerations, to ensure that trade benefits both parties without adverse impacts on the environment or labour rights. (ANI)

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Yellen meets Indian IT bosses in Bengaluru

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen holds a meeting with the Chief of Indian IT Companies, in Bengaluru on Saturday. Wipro chairman Rishad Premji, Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani, IBM India managing director Sandip Patel and others also present. (ANI Photo)

Janet Yellen said the US was advancing an approach called “friend-shoring” to bolster the resilience of its supply chains, reports Asian Lite News

US Treasury Secretary Janet L Yellen on Saturday held a meeting with the chief of various IT companies like Infosys Technologies Limited Nandan Nilekani, Wipro’s head Nishad Premji and others in Bengaluru.

Yellen, who arrived in India for the G20 Finance Ministers meet, had addressed the roundtable with US and Indian tech business leaders on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in southern Bengaluru city on Saturday. Yellen, in the roundtable meeting, said that under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and investment (PGII), the US announced investments in agri-tech to enable climate-smart agricultural production, and in digital payments systems for microentrepreneurs.

Yellen said going forward, “I am eager to deepen our ties in the technology sector.” She said the US was advancing an approach called “friend-shoring” to bolster the resilience of its supply chains.

The treasury secretary said, “We are doing this by strengthening integration with our many trusted trading partners — including India. We are seeing progress; as an example; technology companies like Apple and Google have expanded their phone production in India.”

Yellen said through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), the US is investing in digital technologies that will drive inclusive and resilient growth in India.

She said these stand alongside investments in renewable energy, health and other infrastructure sectors in India. Overall, the United States aims to mobilise USD 200 billion through 2027 for PGII, and we look forward to partnering with India to continue investing in its future, the US treasury secretary said in a statement released on Saturday morning.

Yellen said one of the most rewarding parts of my job is meeting with innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders across the globe and this is especially true in India, which has one of the most dynamic economies in the world.

Yellen said the US is India’s biggest trading partner. She said in 2021, bilateral trade between the two countries was over USD 150 billion.

US Treasury Secretary meets with Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman in Bengaluru on the sidelines of G20 meet.

“Our people-to-people ties affirm the closeness of our relationship. 200,000 Indians are studying in America and enriching our schools and universities,” she said.

Yellen said, “We depend on each other on a daily basis: Indians use WhatsApp to communicate and many American companies rely on Infosys to operate.” (ANI)

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Sitharaman to contest for RS from K’taka

From Uttar Pradesh, Laxmikant Vajpayee, Radhamohan AAggarwal, Surendra Singh Nagar, Baburam Nishad, Darshana Singh and Sangeeta Yadav have been fielded…reports Asian Lite News

The BJP on Sunday announced 16 candidates for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections from different states.

The party has fielded Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman from Karnataka and Piyush Goyal from Maharashtra.

In a statement, BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said that the party’s Central Election Committee has approved 16 names for the Rajya Sabha elections.

BJP has fielded finance minister Sitharaman and actor-turned-politician Jaggesh from Karnataka, while Kavita Patidar will contest from Madhya Pradesh. From Maharashtra, Union minister Goyal and Anil Sukhdevrao Bonde have been fielded.

From Uttar Pradesh, Laxmikant Vajpayee, Radhamohan AAggarwal, Surendra Singh Nagar, Baburam Nishad, Darshana Singh and Sangeeta Yadav have been fielded.

In Bihar, the saffron party has given tickets to Satish Chandra Dubey and Shambhu Sharan Patel. The BJP has fielded Kalpana Saini from Uttarakhand, Krishan Lal Panwar from Haryana and Ghanshyam Tiwari from Rajasthan.

Biennial elections for 57 Rajya Sabha seats will be held across 15 states on June 10.

Congress names 10 candidates

The Congress on Sunday announced a list of 10 candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections, which includes Randeep Singh Surjewala, Imran Pratapgarhi and Pramod Tiwari, among others, leaving out prominent G-23 leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma.

Biennial elections for 57 Rajya Sabha seats will be held across 15 states on June 10.

The Congress has nominated Rajeev Shukla and Ranjeet Ranjan from Chhattisgarh, Ajay Maken from Haryana, Jairam Ramesh from Karnataka, Vivek Tankha from Madhya Pradesh and P. Chidambaram from Tamil Nadu.

Imran Pratapgarhi has been fielded from Maharashtra, while Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Singh Surjewala and Pramod Tiwari have been nominated from Rajasthan.

Akhilesh uses RS elections to forge alliances for 2024 LS polls

In an attempt to forge alliances for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav has backed veteran former Congress leader Kapil Sibal, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary and the SP’s Javed Ali Khan for the Rajya Sabha polls. By nominating these three leaders, Akhilesh has tried to score many goals with one shot.

In fact, to placate Azam Khan who is angry with the SP these days, Kapil Sibal, who was his lawyer, was backed by the SP. On the other hand, Jayant Chaudhary has been given a message to follow the alliance ‘dharma’. The party has reposed faith in Sambhal’s Javed Ali Khan. Along with this, the party has also tried to woo Muslim voters amid the increasing distance from Azam.

If political analysts are to be believed, Akhilesh’s reason for supporting Kapil Sibal is that it will give the party a loud voice in the Rajya Sabha, while the internal differences in the party will also end. Along with this, due to his father Mulayam Singh Yadav’s health issues and the compulsion for his own active presence in Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh needed an effective advocate for himself in the politics of Delhi, who would not only sit in important places but also have contacts and dialogue with the leaders of active and major parties of other states. Sibal fits the bill.

The SP is very upset with the rebellious attitude of Azam and Akhilesh’s uncle and SP leader Shivpal. In such a situation, it is believed that Kapil Sibal can play a big role in persuading Azam. The way the minority community unilaterally supported the SP in the assembly elections, it was believed that the SP would give a chance to a Muslim face in the Rajya Sabha elections. As expected, Javed Ali Khan was nominated by the SP.

The SP chief had got some advantage in the assembly polls by tying up with Jayant. Akhilesh is sending Jayant to the Rajya Sabha so that the alliance gets stronger in the Lok Sabha and in western UP.

ALSO READ-India wants to be strong friend of West, says Nirmala Sitharaman

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India wants to be strong friend of West, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Indian Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman

Sitharaman made the remarks on Friday in the United States where she attended the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank…reports Asian Lite News

India wants to be strong friends with the “liberal world” but it needs Russia’s assistance to defend its borders, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Bloomberg in an interview in Washington.

India procures most of its military hardware from Russia and in recent weeks has rejected appeals from Western nations to limit bilateral relations with Moscow in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has faced criticism from Western allies with regard to its refusal to outright condemn Russian President Vladimir Putin over the devastating conflict in Ukraine.

Sitharaman said India, which has long-standing border disputes with neighbouring Pakistan and China and in the past has gone to war with both, was focused on protecting its own regional interests.

Alluding to Pakistan and China, Sitharaman told Bloomberg: “You have a neighbour who joins hands with another neighbour, both of whom are against me. In the context of the Russia-Ukraine war, God forbid, if there are alliances created, India has to be strong enough to protect itself.

“India wants to be friends with the European Union and the Western, free, liberal world,” she added, “but not as a weak friend that needs desperate help here and there.”

Sitharaman made the remarks on Friday in the United States where she attended the annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

While the United States has traditionally sought to balance relations between arch regional rivals India and Pakistan, in recent years it has also improved strategic ties with New Delhi to counter China.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was in India this week to ramp up security and trade relations, said that it was unlikely India would end its long-standing ties with Russia.

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Ukraine crisis: Nirmala makes India’s stand clear with US

Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said: “India certainly wants to be a friend but if the US also wants a friend, the friend can’t be a weak friend, the friend should not be weakened.” … reports Yashwant Raj

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India’s stand on the Russia-Ukraine war was predicated on the security challenges in its own neighbourhood and the US should understand that though it has a friend in India, that “friend can’t be a weak friend (and) the friend should be not weakened”.

On Friday, the Union Minister said she found that understanding in her interactions during her ongoing visit to the US for the Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group.

She met many US officials on the sidelines, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and other officials, over a dinner hosted by Indian Ambassador to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu.

India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman meets with World Bank Group President David Malpass.

“India certainly wants to be a friend but if the US also wants a friend, the friend can’t be a weak friend, the friend should not be weakened,” Sitharaman told reporters at a new conference concluding her visit.

She added: “So we are taking decisions, we are taking calls, we are taking calibrated positions because we need to be strong where we are, given the geographical locational realities.”

These neighbourhood challenges included, as she laid out “tension” along the northern border with China that continued despite the Covid-19 pandemic, a western border with Pakistan that is “constantly at odds”, and the influx into India of military hardware sent to Afghanistan for counter-terrorism operations.

India has been under pressure from the US to take a more forceful position against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and cease or curtail trading relations, especially energy imports. A senior US National Security Council official went as far as to threaten India with “consequences”.

India has not condemned the invasion outrightly — and abstained on two votes in the UN Security Council — but it has made clear its disapproval of it.

New Delhi has called for the cessation of hostilities and for differences to be resolved through diplomatic channels. Further, it has invoked UN Charter’s cardinal principle of respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations in a thinly disguised criticism of Russian aggression, and has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

India has condemned the massacre in Bucha though and supported a call for an independent investigation called by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

India has also cited its long relationship with Russia going back decades to the ertswhile Soviet Union — including its decisive intervention in 1971 to keep off the US — and reliance on military hardware exports in support of its less-than-shrill condemnation of Russia.

Despite the threat of consequences, the Biden administration has acknowledged India’s reasons and assured Indian officials it understands but, as conceded by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar during his recent visit for the 2+2 meeting, India lacks the same level of understanding outside the circle of officials and policy experts.

“Your neighbourhood is what you have, as a given,” Sitharaman said, adding, “You have to keep that in mind when you’re talking about relationships.”

While the Russia-Ukraine war has brought India challenges — such as dried up supplies of sunflower oil from Ukraine and fertilisers from Russia — the Union Minister said it has also presented opportunities.

Minister Sitharaman with Ambassador of India to the US, Taranjit Singh Sandhu and CEA to Government of India, Dr V. Anantha Nageswaran.

Sitharaman was most upbeat about the possibility of the lifting of WTO (World Trade Organisation) restrictions on Indian exports of cereals.

“The DG WTO (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of Nigeria) was also present,” she said, adding, “She was gracious enough to say — addressing me in the plenary — that you raise this issue, but we are looking at it positively and hopefully sort it out.”

Indian exports of foodgrains run into WTO regulations on state-subsidised products because of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) that the government offers to guarantee farmers an assured return on their produce. WTO rules tend to extend the same restrictions to agricultural produce outside the MSP programme.

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