Pranab Mukherjee assumes charge as Finance Minister

September 12th, 2009 KOLKATA - Setting a personal example of austerity, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday travelled from Delhi to Kolkata in economy class of a budget airline. "It's nothing new to me.

September 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said he talked to Andhra Pradesh's Finance Minster K.Rosiah regarding the tragic incident of the State CM Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy. "I have talked to the State Finance Minister.

August 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said that the government had taken steps to save the weaker sections of the society from the rising prises. Addressing the members of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Pranab Mukherjee said that the government was providing subsidy to the people using the Public distribution system.

July 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday had a ready answer to the remarks by opposition leader Jaswant Singh last week that the income tax exemption in the budget was not enough to even buy a bottle of whiskey. "He should give up (whiskey) if he has not already given it up," Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament, responding to Singh's remarks during the debate on the Finance Bill.

July 19th, 2009 KOLKATA - Union Finance Minister and West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) President Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday ruled out any possibility of further division of West Bengal. Mukherjee said this while commenting on the indefinite bandh that has been called by Gorkha Janamukti Morcha(GJM) in the Darjeeling Hills, which has been demanding for creation of a separate state of Gorkhaland.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A new direct tax code will be introduced in 45 days and bring changes in the indirect tax structures, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday said while presenting the union budget for 2009-10 in the Lok Sabha Monday. Reiterating his commitment to expedite tax reforms, Mukherjee also said he would aim to introduce the goods and services tax by the initial deadline of April 10, 2010.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will present the first general budget at 11am today in Lok Sabha. This is the first general budget of the UPA government after coming to power for second term.

June 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday defended his decision to despatch the Central forces to Lalgarh in West Bengal, signifying Centre's commitment to provide security personnel to any state government which requests for them. "If any state government requests for paramilitary or other Central forces to tackle difficult law and order situations by following constitutional norms, the Central government will send them," said Pranab Mukherjee.

June 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - S. S. Palanimanickam joined as Minister of State (MOS) in the Ministry of Finance here on Monday.

May 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee formally assumed charge of his portfolio - an office he returns to after a quarter of a century - Monday and immediately got down to business with a meeting with top officials on the preparation of the national budget. "Immediately after assuming charge, Mukherjee had a series of meetings with all senior officers of the ministry and reviewed the status of various programmes and issues related to all departments of the ministry," said an official statement.

May 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday expressed optimism that the government would be able to present the financial budget in due time. "Indian economy is resilient, strong and we shall have to build up and come back to the growth track as early as possible.

May 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday promised every effort to lift the Indian economy out of the current slowdown and said the regular budget will be presented in due course. "The Indian economy remains resilient," the veteran Congress leader told reporters at his residence, soon after a Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqu named him finance minister.

April 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has rejected BJP claims that the United Progressive Alliance is falling apart. On Sunday, Mukherjee told reporters in New Delhi that all the constituents of the alliance except PMK are still with the UPA.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee began presenting the interim budget for the next fiscal amid expectations that measures will be announced to cushion the impact of global meltdown on the Indian economy, and help revive consumer demand. The exercise began with Mukherjee reading out his budget speech in the Lok Sabha, during which he will also seek an approval to finance the government's expenditure, till such time the regular budget is presented by a new government after elections, and passed by parliament.

February 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government would be incapable of taking 'firm and timely decisions' in the times of the global economic crisis as it has only a 'part-time finance minister' in Pranab Mukherjee, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial hopeful L.K. Advani said Thursday.