Gross budgetary support for annual plan increased by Rs. 40,000 crore

August 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Union Cabinet today approved the relaxation of the Debt Consolidation and Relief Facility (DCRF) guidelines, to enable the States to borrow upto four percent of their respective Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) during 2009-10. The States will not lose the benefits of DCRF, provided they are in compliance with this modified fiscal deficit target.

July 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Continuing its robust growth, the Indian telecom industry saw its gross revenues growing 2.6 percent to more than Rs.40,000 crore in the quarter ending March 31, said the sectoral watchdog here Monday. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the gross revenue of the telecom sector for the period under review stood at Rs.40,444.66 crore, as against Rs.39,408 crore in the previous quarter.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday increased the 2009-10 budgetary outlay for the national capital by over 200 percent to about Rs.2,500 crore (Rs.25 billion). The city will get more funds for housing, infrastructure and for basic services to the urban poor.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has earmarked Rs.700 crore for the ministry of culture with more allocations for zonal cultural centres, the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi, Sahitya Akademi, the National School of Drama, the Asiatic Society, the National Gallery of Modern Art and the Archaeological Survey of India. In the 2009-10 budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament Monday, Rs.36.1 crore has been earmarked for the building projects of attached and subordinate offices of the ministry of culture.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Highlights of the union budget for the current fiscal presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha Monday: - Plan expenditure up 34 percent to Rs.1,025,838 crore, non plan spend up 37 percent - Total spending increased to Rs.10.2 lakh crore - Rs.420 crore for new IITs and NITs - Commonwealth Games allocated Rs.3,472 crore - National unique identification numbers to start rolling out in 12-18 months - Paramilitary forces such as CRPF to get 100,000 homes - Banking services in under-banked areas to be increased, scheme allocated Rs.100 crore - Agriculture debt waiver extended by six months - Outlay for national rural health mission increased by Rs.2,057 crore from the Rs.12,070 crore provided in the interim budget - Allocation towards National Rural Employment Guarantee Act increased by Rs.39,100 crore - Allocation for Bharat Nirman scheme increased by 45 percent - Rs.20 billion for rural housing - Rural electrification scheme to get Rs.7,000 crore more - Tax department to work on early introduction of Saral 2 forms - Stimulus for print media extended from June 13 to Dec 31 - Rs.1,000 crore to accelerate irrigation projects - Agriculture development fund increased from Rs.2.87 lakh crore to Rs.3.25 lakh crore - Market development assistance scheme for exporters increased by 148 percent to Rs.124 crore - Pre-shipment interest subvention set at 2 percent for textile exporters - Sufficient funds for infrastructure development - Allocation for national highways development stepped up by 23 percent - Allocation for urban poor schemes to be raised to Rs.39,730 crore - LNG infrastructure to be expanded - Allocation for Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission raised by 87 percent to Rs.12,887 crore

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Out of a total plan outlay of Rs.12,165 crore for the civil aviation ministry, a sum of Rs.190 crore will be provided as budgetary support to various organisations under the ministry, the government said Monday after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the annual budget in Parliament. Out of the Rs.190 crore, India's airport developer, Airports Authority of India (AAI) has been allocated Rs.99.15 crore for development of airports.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday gave the country's elite investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), a Rs.330 crore (Rs.3.3 billion) support in the financial budget for its modernization. The CBI received Rs.71 crore (Rs.710 million) more than the last fiscal when it got Rs.259 crore (Rs.2.59 billion).

May 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The state-owned power utility NTPC Ltd, formerly National Thermal Power Corp, posted a net profit after tax of Rs.8,201 crore in 2008-09 against Rs.7,415 crore netted the last fiscal, an increase of Rs.786 crore, the company announced Friday. Total income increased from Rs.40,018 crore 2008-09 to Rs.45,273 crore the previous fiscal, NTPC said in a regulatory statement.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Holding a 'threshold has been crossed' with the Mumbai terror attacks, the Indian government hiked the allocation for defence by 34 percent to Rs.141,703 crore (Rs.1.417 trillion) in the interim budget for 2009-10 External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented in the Lok Sabha Monday. The allocation is nearly 15 percent of the total interim budget of Rs.953,231 crore for the fiscal beginning April 1.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Following are the highlights of the interim budget presented by Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha Monday: * Plan expenditure for 2009-10 pegged at Rs.952,231 crore (Rs.9.52 trillion) * Budgetary support for 2009-10 at Rs.2,85,149 crore (Rs.2.85 trillion), 17.16 percent * Additional plan expenditure between 0.5 percent to 1 percent of GDP may be considered * Fiscal deficit forecast 5.5 percent of GDP for 2009-10 * Revenue deficit forecast 4 percent of GDP for 2009-10 * Subsidy for food, fertiliser and petroleum at Rs.95,579 crore * Defence allocation increased to Rs.141,703 crore (Rs.1.417 trillion) * Urban renewal spending pegged at Rs.11,842 crore (Rs.118.42 billion) * Rural sanitation spending at Rs.1,200 crore (Rs.12 billion) * National rural health mission spending at Rs.12,070 crore (Rs.120.7 billion) * Rural infrastructure development outlay at Rs.14,000 crore (Rs.140 billion) * Midday meal scheme spending at Rs.8,000 crore (Rs.80 billion) * India remains second-fastest growing economy in the world * Economy expected to grow 7.1 percent this fiscal * Need to make economic growth inclusive * Government spent Rs.70,000 crore (Rs.700 billion) on 37 infrastructure projects in 2008-09 * Under public-private partnership (PPP), 54 central infrastructure projects approved * Total expenditure of PPP projects estimated at Rs.67,700 crore (Rs.677 billion) * India Infrastructure Finance Company to raise Rs.10,000 crore (Rs.100 billion) by end-March * India has weathered inflation crisis, but no room for complacency * Country's agriculture outlook is encouraging * Focussed attention to agriculture * Plan allocation for farm sector hiked 300 percent in past five years * Three-fold increase in short-term agriculture credit to Rs.250,000 crore (Rs.2.5 trillion) * Farm debt worth Rs.65,300 crore (Rs.653 billion) waived * Government will continue to provide additional subsidy to farmers * Corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund hiked to Rs.14,000 crore (Rs.140 billion) from Rs.5,500 crore (Rs.55 billion) * Outlay for higher education hiked 900 percent for 11th Five Year Plan * Country's social security net will be strengthened * New scheme unveiled for young widows in the age group of 18-40 * New disability pension scheme introduced for age group of 18-40 * 15 point programme for welfare of minorities set up * Record foreign direct investment of $32.4 billion attracted * Global economic situation not encouraging * Extraordinary situation merits extraordinary measures * Need to consider additional fiscal measures in regular budget * Financial sector reforms need to be accelerated * Non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector banks have declined * State-run banks see NPAs drop from 7.8 percent to 2.3 percent in four years * Number of loss-making state-run units down from 73 to 58 * Profit-making units up from 143 units to 158 units * In past three years, India grew by average of over 9 percent * Per capita income expanded by 4.7 percent per annum * Fiscal deficit was brought down from 4.5 percent to 2.7 percent * Revenue deficit was cut from 3.6 percent to 1.1 percent * Exports increased 26.4 percent per annum * Foreign trade increased from 27.3 percent to 35.5 percent * Tax to gross domestic product ratio expanded by 9.2 to 12.5 percent * Agriculture grew by 3.7 percent per annum * Revised estimates for 2009-09 peg plan expenditure at Rs.282,957 crore (Rs.2.83 trillion) * Central plan increased for host of areas like telecom, rural development * Tax collections expected to fall to Rs.627,949 crore (Rs.6.28 trillion) * Revised revenue deficit is 4.4 percent of GDP against 1 percent * Revised fiscal deficit at 6 percent of GDP against 2.5 percent

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Following are the highlights of the interim budget presented by Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha Monday: * Total expenditure for 2009-10 pegged at Rs.953,231 crore (Rs.9.52 trillion) * Plan expenditure for 2009-10 at Rs.2,85,149 crore (Rs.2.85 trillion) * Non-plan expenditure at Rs.668,082 crore (Rs.6.68 trillion) * Provision for subsidy on food, fertiliser and petroleum at Rs.95,579 crore (Rs.955.79 billion) * Defence allocation increased to Rs.141,703 crore (Rs.1.417 trillion) * Urban renewal spending pegged at Rs.11,842 crore (Rs.118.42 billion) * 2009-10 gross budgetary support at Rs.2,85,000 crore (Rs.2.85 trillion) * Substantial relief of about Rs.40,000 crore (Rs.400 billion) due to tax cuts in 2008-09 * Rural job schemes to get Rs.30,100 crore (Rs.301 billion) in 2009-10 * Rural sanitation spending at Rs.1,200 crore (Rs.12 billion) * National rural health mission spending at Rs.12,070 crore (Rs.120.7 billion) * Rural infrastructure development outlay at Rs.14,000 crore (Rs.140 billion) * Midday meal scheme spending at Rs.8,000 crore (Rs.80 billion) * India remains second-fastest growing economy in the world * Economy expected to grow 7.1 percent this fiscal * Need to make economic growth inclusive * Government spent Rs.70,000 crore (Rs.700 billion) on 37 infrastructure projects in 2008-09 * Under public-private partnership (PPP), 54 central infrastructure projects approved * Total expenditure of PPP projects estimated at Rs.67,700 crore (Rs.677 billion) * India Infrastructure Finance Company to raise Rs.10,000 crore (Rs.100 billion) by end-March * India has weathered inflation crisis, but no room for complacency * Country's agriculture outlook is encouraging * Focussed attention to agriculture * Plan allocation for farm sector hiked 300 percent in past five years * Three-fold increase in short-term agriculture credit to Rs.250,000 crore (Rs.2.5 trillion) in 2007-08 * Farm debt worth Rs.65,300 crore (Rs.653 billion) waived of 360 million farmers. * Government will continue to provide additional subsidy to farmers * Corpus of Rural Infrastructure Development Fund hiked to Rs.14,000 crore (Rs.140 billion) from Rs.5,500 crore (Rs.55 billion) * Outlay for higher education hiked 900 percent for 11th Five-Year Plan * Country's social security net will be strengthened * New scheme unveiled for young widows in the age group of 18-40 * New disability pension scheme introduced for age group of 18-40 * 15-point programme for welfare of minorities set up * Record foreign direct investment of $32.4 billion attracted * Global economic situation not encouraging * Extraordinary situation merits extraordinary measures * Need to consider additional fiscal measures in regular budget * Financial sector reforms need to be accelerated * Non-performing assets (NPAs) of public sector banks have declined * State-run banks see NPAs drop from 7.8 percent to 2.3 percent in four years * Number of loss-making state-run units down from 73 to 58 * Profit-making units up from 143 units to 158 units * In past three years, India grew by average of over 9 percent * Per capita income expanded by 4.7 percent per annum * Fiscal deficit was brought down from 4.5 percent to 2.7 percent * Revenue deficit was cut from 3.6 percent to 1.1 percent * Exports increased 26.4 percent per annum * Foreign trade increased from 27.3 percent to 35.5 percent * Tax to gross domestic product ratio expanded by 9.2 to 12.5 percent * Agriculture grew by 3.7 percent per annum * Revised estimates for 2009-09 peg plan expenditure at Rs.282,957 crore (Rs.2.83 trillion) * Central plan increased for host of areas like telecom, rural development * Tax collections expected to fall to Rs.627,949 crore (Rs.6.28 trillion) * Revised revenue deficit is 4.4 percent of GDP against 1 percent * Revised fiscal deficit at 6 percent of GDP against 2.5 percent

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Monday revised the total expenditure estimate in the current fiscal to a little over Rs.9 trillion (Rs.900,953 crore), an increase of Rs.1.5 trillion (Rs.150,069 crore) on account of increased assistance to states, greater sectoral investments and a higher subsidy burden. In the interim budget that he presented in the Lok Sabha, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee hiked the plan expenditure by Rs.395.71 billion (Rs.39,571 crore) to Rs.2.82 trillion (Rs.282,957 crore), against the budgeted estimate of Rs.2.43 trillion (Rs.243,386 crore).

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Following are the highlights of the interim budget presented by Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha Monday: * Plan expenditure for 2009-10 pegged at Rs.953,231 crore (Rs.9.52 trillion) * Budgetary support for 2009-10 at Rs.2,85,149 crore (Rs.2.85 trillion), 17.16 percent * Additional plan expenditure between 0.5 percent to 1 percent of GDP may be considered * Subsidy for food, fertiliser and petroleum at Rs.95,579 crore (Rs.955.79 billion) * Defence allocation increased to Rs.141,703 crore (Rs.1.417 trillion) * Urban renewal spending pegged at Rs.11,842 crore (Rs.118.42 billion) * Gross market borrowing estimated at Rs.3,62,000 crore in 2009-10 (Rs. 3.62 trillion) * 2009-10 gross budgetary support at Rs.2,85,000 crore (Rs.2.85 trillion) * Substantial relief of about Rs.40,000 crore (Rs.400 billion) due to tax cuts in 2008-09 * Rural job schemes to get Rs.30,100 crore (Rs.301 billion) in 2009-10 * Rural sanitation spending at Rs.1,200 crore (Rs.12 billion) * National rural health mission spending at Rs.12,070 crore (Rs.120.7 billion) * Rural infrastructure development outlay at Rs.14,000 crore (Rs.140 billion) * Midday meal scheme spending at Rs.8,000 crore (Rs.80 billion) * India remains second-fastest growing economy in the world * Economy expected to grow 7.1 percent this fiscal * Need to make economic growth inclusive * Government spent Rs.70,000 crore (Rs.700 billion) on 37 infrastructure projects in 2008-09 * Under public-private partnership (PPP), 54 central infrastructure projects approved * Total expenditure of PPP projects estimated at Rs.67,700 crore (Rs.677 billion) * India Infrastructure Finance Company to raise Rs.10,000 crore (Rs.100 billion) by end-March * India has weathered inflation crisis, but no room for complacency * Country's agriculture outlook is encouraging * Focussed attention to agriculture * Plan allocation for farm sector hiked 300 percent in past five years * Three-fold increase in short-term agriculture credit to Rs.250,000 crore (Rs.2.5 trillion) in 2007-08 * Farm debt worth Rs.65,300 crore (Rs.653 billion) waived of 360 million farmers.

February 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - General insurance premium earning is likely to grow at 20 percent annually over the next six years and top the Rs.1-trillion (Rs.100,000-crore) mark by 2015, says an industry report released Sunday. The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), in a joint study with the United India Insurance Co, also said the massive increase in premium earning from Rs.280 billion (Rs.28,000 crore) currently would be on account of increased awareness.

February 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Planning Commission has fixed Kerala's annual plan for 2009-10 at Rs.86.60 billion (Rs.8,660 crore), Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said here Tuesday.