Tax reforms to be expedited, says Mukherjee

September 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - In a clear and firm message Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday that ministers and bureaucrats who are entitled to travel on state expenses should undertake domestic travel in economy class. Mukherjee said that they could fly in business class for international travel.

August 28th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said that India may be able to attain over six per cent growth rate in the current fiscal. "In the last five years, the GDP growth rate was eight per cent.

August 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - A conference of Secretaries of Administrative Reforms will be held here today. It will be inaugurated by Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

August 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A conference of Secretaries of Administrative Reforms will be held here tomorrow. It will be inaugurated by Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.

July 26th, 2009 KOLKATA - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Sunday ruled out privatisation of state-run banks and said market economy was not the solution to the nation's economic problems. Recalling that the late prime minister Indira Gandhi had nationalised banks 40 years ago in 1969, Mukherjee said, "We survived the economic meltdown because of this step.

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 - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday said recovery of Indian economy in the current fiscal would be difficult unless there were visible improvements in the global economic scenario. Speaking to a television channel after presenting the union budget for 2009-10, Mukherjee said the economy would likely recover in the third quarter of 2009-10, but if the western economies did not improve, we will take a longer period.

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 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today appealed to find ways to bring the economy on the higher growth path without increasing fiscal deficit. Addressing a conference of state finance ministers as part of a pre-budget here, Mukherjee said the Central Government would focus on infrastructure, agriculture and employment generating sectors to promote growth and protect jobs.

May 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI -; Pranab Mukherjee on Monday assumed his charge as the new Finance Minister. Mukherjee was welcomed by the Finance Secretary, Revenue Secretary, Expenditure Secretary, Disinvestment Secretary, CEA, Chairman, CBDT and Chairman, CBEC.

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 MUMBAI - Indian equities slipped further Monday as acting finance minister Pranab Mukherjee delivered his interim budget speech. In the first part of his speech, Mukherjee signalled that the future economic situation looked grim.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The revision of the Companies Act of 1956 would enable adoption of internationally accepted best practices, said External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee while presenting the interim budget on behalf of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday. 'The government undertook a comprehensive revision of the Companies Act, 1956 to make it a compact law that, while responding to the changes in the business environment, would enable adoption of internationally accepted best practices,' he said.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005 has made public servants more accountable than before, acting Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Monday. 'The enactment of the Right to Information Act 2005 at the centre and in many states has bridged a critical gap in the public decision making process and ushered in greater accountability of public servants,' Mukherjee said while presenting the Interim Budget 2009-2010 in the Lok Sabha.

January 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has undergone a successful heart surgery, must have had 'some stress', External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said. 'Some stress must have been there but I really don't know how this has happened,' Mukherjee told Shekhar Gupta in an interview for NDTV to be telecast Jan 31.