Divestment can raise $95 bn, wipe deficit clean: Study

September 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Friday hit out at the shipping ministry's move to offload government stake in the Cochin shipyard, and said it will raise the issue in the shipping consultative committee of parliament. "I have conveyed my displeasure to Shipping Minister G.K.

September 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The shipping ministry has approved the Department of Economic Affairs' proposal to divest government state in Cochin shipyard, Shipping Secretary A.P.V.N. Sarma said here Tuesday.

July 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government's plan to sell stakes in state-owned enterprises will strengthen its financial position and help address India's many economic woes, says the economic research arm of consultancy Moody's. "Divestment is an answer to many of India's existing economic concerns.

July 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Wednesday ruled out rollback of tax cuts offered to various sectors as part of the fiscal stimuli announced earlier and said it intends to bridge the fiscal deficit largely through internal resource mobilisation. "The economy is slowly reviving.

July 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government remained committed to divesting stakes in the state-run companies, but without diluting their public sector character. Replying to the debate on the national budget in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, the finance minister said there was some disappointment that not enough was said on the government's divestment policy in his July 6 budget speech.

July 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday said the Indian economy was showing signs of recovery even as he defended the government's high fiscal deficit and borrowing programme as necessary to fund welfare schemes and spur growth. Replying to the debate on the national budget in the Lok Sabha, the lower house, he also categorically said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government remained committed to divesting stakes in state-run firms without diluting their public sector character.

July 11th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Saturday cautioned against raising funds through divestment of profitable state-run units to finance the fiscal deficit, terming this disastrous. "The corporate world is not entirely happy with the proposals in the union budget.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday revived the government's divestment programme, promising equity of state-run enterprises in the hands of general public. He also said that in areas like banking and insurance, specifically, the majority control in state-run companies would remain in the hands of the government with fresh infusion of equity to help them remain globally competitive.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Tax rates were not raised in the 2009-10 budget proposals as economic conditions remained difficult while tax relief for individuals would help boost consumption, Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla said here Monday. The finance minister has left unchanged the excise and customs duty cuts that were announced following the global economic meltdown because "the time is not yet right to raise any tax rate.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Salient features of a wish list in the Economic Survey for 2008-09 released by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament Thursday: - Cut fuel, food and fertiliser subsidy leakages - Raise foreign investment cap in insurance to 49 percent - Allow 100 percent foreign investment in health, weather insurance - Raise foreign investment cap in defence production to 49 percent and in high tech defence to 100 percent - Raise Rs.25,000 crore from divestment every year - Sell 5-10 percent in profitable non-Navratnas - List unlisted state-owned firms, divest at least 10 percent equity - Auction loss-making state-owned firms - Rationalise dividend distribution tax to avoid double taxation - Review customs duty exemptions - Remove fringe benefit tax - Remove commodity and security transaction taxes - Limit subsidy on cooking gas to six-eight cylinders per household - Kerosene subsidy only for non-electrified, non-cylinder homes - Introduce new income tax code - Provide fertiliser subsidy directly to farmers - Target zero fiscal deficit - Eliminate inverted duty structure - Convert specific textile taxes to ad valorem - Lift price control on all drugs except essentials - Roll back excess liquidity once growth picks up - Decontrol sugar and insurance industries - Auction spectrum and make it freely tradable Taking stock of the country's economic condition, the survey said India could grow by around 7.75 percent in 2009-10 if the US economy "bottoms out" by September. Among other observations it made on the economy are: - Economic growth decelerates to 6.7 percent in 2008-09 - Per capita growth at 4.6 percent - Agricultural growth falls to 1.6 percent from 4.9 percent in 2007-08 - Manufacturing sector grows at 2.4 percent - Ratio of fixed investment to GDP increases to 32.2 percent - Fiscal deficit stands at 6.2 percent - Merchandise export grows at 3.6 percent in dollar terms - Overall import growth at 14.4 percent - Social, agriculture and infrastructure sectors need boost - Rural demand still strong.

July 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Economic Survey the government presented in parliament Thursday called for revitalising the divestment policy so as to generate at least Rs.25,000 crore (Rs.250 billion/$5.22 billion) annually. List all unlisted public sector enterprises and sell a minimum of 10 percent of equity to the public, the survey stated.

June 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government can raise about Rs.80,000 crore ($16.6 billion) by divesting stake in public sector units, says an industry lobby report. "Dilution of stake in leading public sector units alone could fetch at least Rs.80,000 crore," the report by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) said, adding that this amount could be used to bring down the fiscal deficit burden.

June 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - President Pratibha Patil Thursday said changes will be made to India's foreign investment policy regime to attract more capital from overseas, even as the government will pursue divestment in state-run units without privatisation. The country has benefited from large foreign investment inflows in recent years, Patil told the first joint session of parliament after the national elections and constitution of the 15th Lok Sabha, the lower house.

May 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Inc has readied its 100-day wish list for the new government. It wants the policies to focus on agriculture, divestment, skill development, infrastructure and manufacturing to nurse the Indian economy back to high growth.

April 2nd, 2009 MUMBAI - The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) Thursday started gas production in its deep-sea Krishna Godavari (KG) fields, nearly seven years after it found the gas off the coast of Puducherry. The gas production from Dhirubhai 1 and 3 wells of the KG-D6 block is expected to add about Rs.4,000 crore ($795 million) to the annual revenue of RIL, the company said in a statement.