India’s financial sector is sound: Finance Commission chief

October 7th, 2009 TORONTO - Canada's Jim Flaherty has been named the finance minister of the year by Euromoney magazine. The honour comes after the World Economic Forum rated Canada's performance as the best among G8 economies in the current global crisis.

September 25th, 2009 Freddie Mac CFO to receive $5.5M pay packageWASHINGTON — Freddie Mac's new chief financial officer, lured from the banking industry this month, is receiving a pay package worth up to $5.5 million. The government-controlled mortgage finance company tapped Ross Kari for the position on Sept.

September 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government Thursday extended the term of the 13th Finance Commission by three months to Jan 31 next year. The commission, which was supposed to submit its report by Oct 31, had sought extension as it could not complete the deliberations due to the general elections.

August 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The erratic monsoon could hit India's economic growth this year, but the country has enough food stocks to counter inflationary pressures, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said here Tuesday. "The existence of drought by itself can only lead to some shaving down of growth projections," Ahluwalia told reporters on the sidelines of a conference.

July 15th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Chief Minister Mayawati is out to impress the 13th Finance Commission whose members are here look into Uttar Pradesh's financial demands out of the central government's kitty. Top bureaucrats have been on their toes right from the time Finance Commission chief Vijay Kelkar landed here Tuesday night along with B.K.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday said the government would go in for disinvestment of public sector undertakings, pointing out that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had expressed this commitment in his budget. In an interview to the CNN-IBN news channel after Mukherjee presented his budget in parliament, Manmohan Singh said: "The finance minister has committed our government to increase disinvestment while maintaining the public sector character of public enterprises." Without dwelling upon the details and the time frame, the prime minister said: "I haven't done any detailed calculations.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's fiscal budget has risen from Rs.193 crores to over Rs.10 lakh crores in the 63 years since independence of the country in 1947, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said while presenting the budget for 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha Monday. "Madam speaker, I am happy to announce that for the first time, the budget estimates have crossed Rs.10 lakh crores.

June 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The Export-Import Bank of India is getting a $60 million international trade facility to help support export-focused small and medium enterprises, which have suffered reduced access to finance due to global financial crisis. The trade facility, shared equally by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank group, and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, will improve the Exim Banks ability to provide access to short-term trade funding for smaller businesses, enabling them to carry out export orders.

April 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has urged the government to set up a 'separate infrastructure financing fund' worth $90 billion to finance infrastructure projects in the next three years. In a note submitted to the Planning Commission and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Assocham secretary general D.S.

March 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - High interest rates coupled with an uneven spread of micro-financial institutions are among the major reasons for credit still not being available to a sizable portion of the underprivileged, experts said Tuesday. 'There is an uneven spread of the micro-finance movement,' B.P.

March 22nd, 2009 RAIPUR - The Election Commission has approved the Chhattisgarh government's request to implement the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations from April 1 that will benefit about 250,000 state government employees, official sources said Sunday. 'The Commission has approved a request of the finance department's principal secretary Ajay Singh, who had sent a letter on March 19 seeking approval for implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission,' sources in the finance department informed.

March 16th, 2009 MUMBAI - A delegation from the Channel Island of Jersey is in India this week, to highlight the capabilities of its finance centre as a gateway to European investment, wealth management and to emphasize the regulatory standards and legal and regulatory features of the jurisdiction. Jersey is an Island close to the coast of northern France but still a part the British Crown.

January 27th, 2009 SRINAGAR - Nearly 400,000 employees of the Jammu and Kashmir government Wednesday observed a day-long strike demanding extension of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations in the state. Work in various state government offices remained paralysed due to the strike call by the employees' joint co-ordination committee.

January 8th, 2009 CHENNAI - Gujarat will build a financial hub like New York and Frankfurt over 500 acres of land at an estimated cost of Rs.150 billion ($3 billion), the state's Chief Minister Narendra Modi said here Friday. 'Gujarat has traditionally been a land of entrepreneurs with strong financial acumen.

January 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - International Finance Corp (IFC), a World Bank member organisation, Tuesday anounced it will spend $6 billion to support the private sector in emerging markets hit by the global financial crisis. IFC will double the existing global trade finance programme to $3 billion over a three-year period to meet a large increase in demand for short-term trade finance.