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The PM announced several measures for senior citizens, farmers, pregnant women and home buyers Latest News   -   Business Standard   brings you its selection of 10 important takeaways from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation on the New Year's Eve: Here are 10 important takeaways from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation on the New Year's Eve: 1. The government will bear 60 days' interest on select farm loans. 2. In 2017, the government is bringing new housing schemes. a) On home loans of up to Rs 9 lakh, for poor and middle class people will get 4% exemption on interest; b) on loans of up to Rs 12 lakh, the exemption will be 3% 3. PM announced schemes for women: Rs 6,000 assistance for pregnant women. 4. "I am overwhelmed by the public support after demonetisation," said Modi. 5. Modi says honest taxpayers will get benefit. 6. Thirty million kisaan credit cards will be converted into RuPay cards, said the PM...

Breaking News   : Dismissing the criticism of frequent changes in rules after demonetisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday alleged that those who cannot endorse corruption and black money openly are relentlessly finding fault with his government. He vowed to take forward the fight against unaccounted money and corruption by implementing a strong law against benami properties. “I assure you this is just the beginning in our fight against corruption. We have to win this war. There is no question of stopping... there is no question of retreat,” said   Narendra Modi , under sharp attack from the Opposition over demonetisation, with Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi levelling allegations of “personal corruption” against him. In his last monthly address this year in the Mann ki Baat programme, Modi defended the changes in the rules related to deposits and withdrawals, saying these have been done to reduce people’s problems and defeat the forces which are out to ...

The move comes after govt reviewed the situation post demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes To encourage widespread usage of digital payments post demonetisation, the government on Wednesday said no transaction charges will be levied on debit cards till December 31. All public sector banks and some private sector ones have agreed to waive the transaction cost for all payments made through   Debit Card Payments , Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said. The move comes after the government reviewed the situation post demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes and decided to encourage digital payments. "Public sector banks and some of the private sector banks, and some of the service providers who provide switching services, have agreed to waive the service charges on the use of debit cards up to December 31, 2016," Das said. As of now, Rupay debit cards have already waived the switching charges. Other debit cards which operate international card net...

Through 'Jan Jan Ki Baat,' Modi asked 10 questions to gauge the mood of nation post demonetisation After ‘Mann Ki Baat’, the   Narendra Modi   government is experimenting with ‘Jan Jan Ki Baat’ to get people’s feedback on burning issues. Within an hour of the Prime Minister asking citizens of the country to rate his latest initiative—demonetisation —on his narendramodi app, there were 3,700 retweets and 7,900 likes on his Twitter handle. Soon, Jan Jan Ki Baat was trending on social media with ‘’cashless India’’ stopping to give its feedback on the banning of big notes. It is not known yet how many have taken time out to assess the latest initiative of the government, but the questions asked are pointed. With several state elections lined up through 2017, the PM wants to be sure how people have responded to demonetization as a step to eliminate black money. It’s a 10-step survey, beginning with a simple question—do you think there’s black money in India. Then it goes ...

Modi's demonetisation drive marks a break from past practice but his claim is just a jumla It’s hard to tell whether  demonetisation  will turn out to be a bold hit or a costly miss, but it appears to many that the government has taken the black money bull by the horns. Announcing the withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, Prime Minister  Narendra Modi listed several steps that his government had taken so far in its war on black money: Looks impressive, what’s not to like? Just that, once you discount the hype, it’s not very different from what’s been done by past governments, whether the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) or the United Front (UF). Show me the money Consider the figure of Rs 1,25,000 crore collected over two-and-a-half years. The government hasn’t provided a break-up, but based on finance ministry replies to parliamentary questions, it includes the following: Rs 65,250 crore declared under the 2016 Income Disclosure Scheme (of which 45% wi...

The clean-up drive saw the bank forgoing almost Rs 1,201 crore in dues owed by Vijay Mallya's defunct Kingfisher Airlines The  State Bank of India  has cleaned up non-performing assets worth Rs 7,016 crore from its books by writing off loans given to 63 wilful defaulters, Daily News & Analysis reported on Wednesday. Of the 63 accounts, 31 have been partially written off and six shown as NPAs. The clean-up drive saw the bank forgoing almost Rs 1,201 crore in dues to Vijay Mallya’s defunct Kingfisher Airlines, which is at the top of the list of wilful defaulters. In other words, loans given to Kinfsiher Airlines will no longer be shown in the bank’s balance sheet, though the airline has outstanding dues of almost Rs 1,201 crore. Some of the other prominent defaulters who feature in the write-off list are KS Oil (Rs 596 crore), Surya Pharmaceuticals (Rs 526 crore), GET Power (Rs 400 crore) and SAI Info System (Rs 376 crore). The Congress party immediately reacted to...

ArthaKranti claims its leading light Anil Bokil, an Aurangabad-based chartered accountant and architect, was allocated nine minutes' audience with Modi in July this year Pune-based economic think tank ArthaKranti, which claims to have suggested to Prime Minister   Narendra Modi   to demonetise the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, wants the government to abolish income tax and 56 other taxes and replace it by a banking transaction tax, or BTT, of two per cent on earnings. “Imagine, taxes reduced. Petrol at Rs 28 per litre. That is ArthaKranti’s next proposal,” the outfit tweeted on Monday. ArthaKranti, which literally means financial or economic revolution, is a group of technocrats and chartered accountants. It first proposed its five-point proposal for tax reforms in 1999. It had even planned a meeting in Pune on November 11-13 to demand that the PM implement its five-point agenda. According to the organisation, it has had regular interactions with officials in t...

Your money will remain yours. You need have no worry on this point My dear citizens I hope you ended the festive season of Diwali with joy and new hope. Today, I will be speaking to you about some critical issues and important decisions. Today I want to make a special request to all of you. You may recall the economic situation in May 2014  Narendra Modi when you entrusted us with an onerous responsibility. In the context of BRICS, it was being said that the “I” in BRICS was shaky. Since then, we had two years of severe drought. Yet, in the last two and a half years with the support of 125 crore Indians, India has become the “bright spot” in the global economy. It is not just we who are saying this; it is being stated by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. In this effort for development, our motto has been ‘Sab Ka Saath Sab Ka Vikas’: We are with all citizens and for development of all citizens. This Government is dedicated to the poor. It will remain dedi...

PM to visit Switzerland, US in five-nation tour   Prime Minister   Narendra Modi  will embark on a five-nation tour from Saturday. He will visit Afghanistan, Qatar, Switzerland, the  US  and Mexico. He is also slated to head for a four-nation tour to Africa in the first half of July. While the itinerary of that visit is still being worked out, it is likely to include visits to Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya. It will be the first visit of his tenure to mainland Africa. The PM had visited the island nations of Seychelles and Mauritius in March 2015. The highlight of the PM’s five-nation tour will be the visit to  Switzerland  on June 5 and 6, en-route to the US. In Switzerland, the PM will hold discussions with the President of the Swiss Confederation Johann Schneider-Ammann. Modi is also likely to take up early conclusion of an agreement on the automatic exchange of tax information. This agreement will facilitate the exchange o...

Swachh Bharat, Digital India score poorly, top rating for Railways The National Democratic Alliance government under Prime Minister   Narendra Modi   has kicked off a two-part survey where the people will rate its policies and initiatives as it completes two years in office. Thousands have already joined in to answer the 30 questions covering anything from   foreign policy   to signature schemes such as Swachh Bharat,   Digital India   and Make In India, hosted on the citizen engagement platform mygov,in. While Make in India, ease of doing business and controlling corruption figure somewhere in the middle of the ratings, other schemes such as Swachh Bharat, Digital India and unearthing   black money   have scored the least. Initial data captured on the portal will make Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu happy. More than 74 per cent of the people who have participated in the survey so far have given 5 stars to the government effort in moderni...