Jaitley said massive efforts are needed in the form of investment in social infrastructure, skill development and empowerment of women, an official release said.<br />
Jaitley said massive efforts are needed in the form of investment in social infrastructure, skill development and empowerment of women, an official release said.<br />
Chidambaram welcomed the declaration of the NDA government that "the emphasis of policy would have to remain on fiscal consolidation and removal of structural constraints".<br />
While Citi and Morgan Stanley are expecting the RBI to announce a rate cut in March, a lot will depend on the budget.
Capital spending should also be a priority as removing road blocks to facilitate infrastructure is important, said Laura Papi, division chief - Asia and Pacific department of the International Monetary Fund.
For the rally in Nifty,Morgan Stanley says many stocks have now become more expensive than their fundamentals can allow.
Although the government is unlikely to introduce the DTC from April 1, 2012, as planned earlier, it may incorporate some of the provisions of the proposed law in the Budget for 2012-13, to be unveiled on March 16.
Against a budgeted deficit estimate of 4.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for the year ending March 2012, most economists believe the deficit could come in as high as 5.6 percent - a full percentage point higher.<br /><br />
<br /><br /> In the last Union Budget, government imposed a minimum alternate tax of 18.5 percent on the book profits of SEZs developers and units.
The budget needed to embolden investors into investing capital in the country.
As Pranab Mukherjee gets ready to present Budget 2012 the message is clear - focus on accelerating infrastructure spending and break the policy logjam.
There is a strong need to set up a real estate regulator to ensure fair play and transparency in the industry.
The Union Budget 2012 should focus on introducing GST and DTC, along with growth in rural areas and provision of more education and health facilities through centralized sponsored schemes.
The brokerage predicts the budget will focus on two issues: cut government expenditure and boost private investment.
To boost tax revenues, the government could do two things: one, increase tax rates and/or get more people under the tax bracket.
Analysts reckon if the diesel tax is levied, it could result in the cost of a diesel car increasing by up to 20 percent, causing a further dent on the auto industry's outlook in the immediate term.
Manika Premsingh spoke to Ajay Shah of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy for Firstpost.
Rupa Rege-Nisture, chief economist and general manager of the Bank of Baroda, speaks to Firstpost's Rajanya Bose in an exclusive video interview.
Economists are keeping their fingers crossed on what lies ahead. But their prescriptions are clear: fiscal consolidation, energy pricing reforms, and rationalisation of subsidies.
The only positive to look forward to, brokerage Credit Suisse says, is that there could be a small boost to consumption.
Spending on rural employment takes away much needed resources for building infrastructure. Similarly, any loan waiver program will eat into capital spending on infrastructure.
The priorities for the government while preparing Budget 2012 should be to start looking at the whole situation in a multi-dimensional way and not take growth for granted.
Manika Premsingh talked to Surjit Bhalla of Oxus Investments on behalf of Firstpost, and he made it plain that "the top priority must be move away from populist measures".
Dr Ashima Goyal of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Mumbai told Firstpost's R Jagannathan that it is not the raw numbers that matter to fiscal consolidation, but the quality of the adjustment.
In an exclusive interview to Firstpost, Ashima Goyal of IGIDR, said the challenge for the government is to rein in the deficit while addressing the issue of slowing economic growth.
The report suggested that the wealth tax limit be pegged at Rs 5 crore, while the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) be abolished.
The Infosys CFO is hoping for an aspirational budget which must revive the confidence of global investors in the India Growth story.
"The government has boxed itself into a corner, where the only priority is fiscal consolidation," Walker told Firstpost in Hong Kong.
The government's willingness to cut back subsidies will be on stern test, but it will likely disappoint, says the economist.
While the industry would like to abolish or reduce the Minimum Alternative Tax on SEZs, the likelihood of this getting announced in the budget is almost nil.