News

7th Pay Commission: Cabinet approves big pay hike for government employees The union cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, a move which will boost consumption by putting extra disposable income in the hands of the central government’s 4.7 million employees. The   Seventh Pay Commission   (7th CPC) had recommended a 23.5 per cent increase in pay, pension and allowances under a ‘business as usual’ scenario. It had envisaged an increase in pay of Rs 39,100 crore, increase in allowances of Rs 29,300 crore and increase in pension of Rs 33,700 crore, taking the total financial impact for 2016-17 to Rs 1.02 lakh crore. The   pay panel   revisions are in force retrospectively from January 1, 2016. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said before the budget that he would provide Rs 1.1 lakh crore and the budget documents showed that Rs 1.06 lakh crore has been provided for. The centre ...

Switzerland could be backtracking on a recently proposed law that was going to allow it to provide information to countries like India making requests for information on  black money  investigations based on leaked data.  After the data leaked from HSBC Private Bank (Geneva) by whistleblower Herve Falciani in 2008 was shared by France with 30 countries, Switzerland was flooded with requests for information. But it continued to offer stiff resistance, saying Swiss laws did not allow sharing of information for cases revealed through leaked data.  Read Articles  

India’s fiscal deficit was Rs 4,88,000 crore ($71.90 billion) during April-December, or 87.9% of the full-year target, data from the government has revealed. The deficit was 100.2% of the full-year target during the same period a year ago. This means that the governnment will have to keep the excess of its expenditure over income  at  12.1% of budget estimates in the remaining three months of the fiscal.  Read Articles

The real estate sector is likely to see improvement in sales and equity deals in 2016 as the economy shows signs of revival on the back of various policy decisions taken by the government, a report said. Budget 2016  - According to a survey jointly conducted by JLL and RICS, nearly 66.7 per cent of respondents foresee improvement in sales over the next 12 months. “Pure equity investments have seen a return and been on the increase and the momentum is expected to continue over the 12 months. This aligns with the recalibration of the investment community’s role as a long term partner with key and select developers,” it added. Union Budget 2016-17  - A majority of respondents, however, feel that equity investments will be restricted to Grade A names and will not be available for developers with limited institutional financing track record over the next 12 months.  Read Full Article Over Here :  Business Standard News  

Budget 2016  - India will be the world’s fastest growing large economy at 7.3 per cent in 2016, improving further to 7.5 per cent in the following year, a United Nations world economy report said on Friday. “India’s economy, which accounts for over 70 per cent of South Asia’s GDP, is projected to grow by 7.3 per cent in 2016 and 7.5 per cent in 2017, slightly up from an estimated 7.2 per cent in 2015.” Union Budget 2016-17  - India will be the fastest-growing large economy in the world, said World Economic Situation and Prospects 2016, which was released by the UN here. The report said South Asia is expected to be the world’s fastest-growing region in 2016 and 2017.  Read Full Article Over Here :  Business Standard News  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may look to press the reset button on his leadership this spring to reinvigorate stalled economic reforms and appease critics, eyeing a mix of tried and tested allies and fresh blood, senior government sources said. The government has overseen rapid economic growth, but failed on tax and land reforms, and the euphoria that met Modi’s 2014 election triumph has given way to investor disillusionment; stocks have erased all of their gains since he won power. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faces a crucial election test in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh in 2017 that it probably needs to win if it wants to hold on topower nationally in 2019. Read Articles  

Banks and financial institutions pitched for a delay in the fiscal deficit road map and for more focus on greater public spending to ensure economic revival, at a pre-Budget meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday. The institutions also wanted incentives to encourage cashless transactions through debit/credit cards and rationalisation of interest rate of small savings schemes.  Read Articles   Read our full coverage on Union Budget

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday the government would continue the thrust on public spending in the upcoming Budget. The government would do this in spite of the additional expenditure burden of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore due to One Rank, One Pension (OROP) and the  Seventh Pay Commission  recommendations for the next financial year. “Public investment has been stepped up in the past year and it will continue to remain stepped up. When you fight a global slowdown, public investment has to lead the way,” Jaitley said at the foundation day of India Infrastructure Finance Company in New Delhi.  Read More