Nirmala Sitharaman News

Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said micro, small and medium industries will play an important role in realising the vision to transform India into a developed nation by 2047. Therefore, she said, they have been given special priority in the Union Budget. The finance minister was addressing the discussion programme with MSME marble cluster units in Udaipur on Thursday evening. «The participation of MSME is important in realising the vision of 2047. Therefore, it has been given expert priority in the budget,» she said.

Reserve Bank of India allowed foreign currency cards on RuPay. In FY24, there were 968 million transactions via RuPay cards, lower than 1.26 billion in FY23. The quantum of transactions remained unchanged at ₹2.4 trillion across both years.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday asked the Income Tax department to work towards being identified as fair and friendly. The FM was speaking on the occasion of Income Tax day celebration, where she marked 165 years of Income Tax, and congratulated Indian taxpayers for the feat achieved. Furthermore, Sitharaman took this opportunity to emphasise on the need for the language of income tax notices and letters issued to the public to be simplified.

Note that not all Indian nationals are required to obtain an ITCC prior to departing the country, despite what some recent stories claim, stated a Press Information Bureau press release on August 20, 2024. Tax clearance certificate: What was announced in Budget 2024 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced a significant amendment in the Union Budget 2024 for those planning to relocate from India. According to the Budget 2024 announcement, the new law requires individuals domiciled in India to clear all tax dues and get 'clearing certificates' before departing the country.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman chaired a meeting to review performances of Public Sector Banks in Delhi on Monday. The meeting was also attended by Dr Vivek Joshi, Secretary, M Nagaraju, Secretary-Designate, Department of Financial Services, Heads of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and senior officials of Department of Financial Services (DFS). Various financial parameters like Deposit Mobilisation, Digital Payments and Cyber Security, Implementation of new credit products/ schemes and Access to Credit under Financial Inclusion were discussed in detail. During the meeting it was noted that during FY24, the PSBs performed well across all financial parameters as evidenced by improved asset quality with Net NPAs (NNPAs) declining to 0.76 per cent, sound capital adequacy of the banks at 15.55 per cent, Net Interest Margin (NIM) of the banks at 3.22 per cent, and highest ever net aggregate profit of Rs. 1.45 lakh crore with the dividend of Rs 27,830 crore to the shareholders. Improvements over various parameters have also enhanced the ability of PSBs to raise capital from the markets.

Deposit growth is the Indian banking sector’s biggest challenge as customers choose from an increasingly diverse range of investment alternatives, according to Shalini Warrier, retail business head at Federal Bank Ltd. “There is no silver bullet for this,” Warrier said on Bloomberg TV Monday. When “fixed deposit rates don’t go up as much as customers would like them, they look for alternates.” Deposit growth has lagged strong demand for credit in India for several quarters now, prompting top officials to weigh in. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Shaktikanta Das, governor at the Reserve Bank of India, has urged banks to innovate in order to increase their deposits as household savings shift to investment products.

Union Budget being passed in Parliament, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is on a two-day visit to Delhi to push for early implementation of the promises made to his state in the Budget. Naidu met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday. Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party (TDP) provides the vital numerical support of 16 MPs to National Democratic Alliance (NDA), is expected to raise the issue of Central support for Polavaram irrigation project and development of Amravati as state capital. Naidu met Jal Shakti minister C R Patil on Saturday to discuss Polavaram project. Naidu also visited the civil aviation ministry to take stock of the various airports under developments and improvement of air connectivity in Andhra Pradesh.

Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that inadequate access to developmental finance is hindering developing economies from achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and underscored the urgent need to address this USD 4 trillion annual financing gap. Addressing the third Voice of Global South Summit virtually, Sitharaman said that recent reports reveal that the implementation of many SDGs in developing economies is stagnating, with some indicators even regressing. The SDG financing gap is estimated to be USD 4 trillion annually for developing countries, she said. Observing that the global South is affected by global uncertainties, she said one in four developing countries will be poorer by the end of this year than they were before the pandemic as per a recent World Bank report.

equity instruments of a local company in exchange for those of a foreign firm in a significant rejig of foreign investment norms. Investments by an overseas citizen of India (OCI) on a non-repatriation basis would not be counted as indirect foreign investment, as per the changes, which were announced late on Friday. The amendments in the Foreign Exchange Management (Non-debt Instruments) Rules follow the budget pledge by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman to simplify overseas investment rules. The latest changes have aligned the provisions governing downstream investments by overseas citizens of India with those for non-residents. This, experts said, would encourage greater participation of NRIs in the country's economy. Easier share swap rules will «facilitate global expansion of Indian companies through mergers, acquisitions, and other strategic initiatives», the finance ministry said. The government also clarified that transfer of all shares in companies having foreign direct investment (FDI) from countries sharing land borders with India would require prior nod irrespective of the sector.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Friday released a consultation paper seeking feedback on proposals, including alignment of provision regarding approval and authentication of financial results for entities having listed non-convertible securities with that for equity listed entities. Under the proposed norms, the quarterly financial results submitted shall be approved by the board of directors. Further, the financial results submitted to the stock exchange shall be signed by the chairperson or managing director, or a whole-time director. In the absence of all of them, it should be signed by any other director of the listed entity who is duly authorised by the board of directors to sign the financial results.

Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) will hold outreach programmes in five key cities, introduce a new five-digit code for calls and tweak rules to expedite claim settlements, a senior official told ET. Other planned measures include a revamped interactive voice response system (IVRS) and a call centre. Securities, dividends and debentures that remain unclaimed for more than seven years are transferred by companies to the IEPFA under the corporate affairs ministry. The authority then oversees claim settlements, with the companies playing a key part in verification and other processes.

Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday defended the extant taxation regime, highlighting that the pressure of meeting several challenges and compelling spending requirements, including for research and development, are preventing the government from slashing tax rates. The minister called on academics to apply for more and more patents to cash in on the commercial value of such knowledge while benefiting society at large. She was speaking at a convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Bhopal. «There are times when being the finance minister, it doesn't give me motivation when I have to answer people about why our taxes are like this? Why can't we even be lower than this?» she said.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will hold its next meeting in September to discuss the pending reforms and to kick-start rate rationalisation for goods and services. «The 54th Meeting of GST Council will be held on 9th September, 2024, at New Delhi,» the council said in a post on social media platform X. It will also take up the issue of removing duty inversion under GST,

Indian regulators and policymakers have amplified their call for banks to become innovative in raising deposits. This low-cost source of funds is trailing the pace of bank lending, and if credit-deposit gaps persist, lenders would either need to rely more on costlier sources or go slow on credit, which could drag the growth of our economy back. Over the weekend, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman exhorted banks to pre-empt such a scenario.

Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said lenders need to focus on raising smaller deposits that come in “trickles,” but are the “bread and butter” of the banking system. She commented on the widening gap between deposits and credit, which has become a cause for concern, at a media briefing after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) board meeting in the capital on Saturday. Sitharaman said deposits and lending are the two wheels of a cart, but “deposit is moving slowly.” RBI governor Shaktikanta Das said the banking regulator had sounded out banks on this as a matter of proactive caution as the trend can lead to potential liquidity issues.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday while replying to the discussion on the Finance Bill in Lok Sabha said, «Without drastically increasing taxes, we have brought in a simplified taxation regime, eased compliance.» Effective tax on annual income of Rs 15 lakh was reduced to 10 per cent in 2023 and further reduced this year as well under new I-T regime, said FM. «The vision of PM Modi has been to establish a simple, efficient and fair technology-driven taxation regime in this country. So, simplification and ease of compliance for the taxpayer has been the primary objective with which in the last 10 years, and this year, in the third term of PM Modi, the approach to taxation has been to simplify it, reduce the burden on taxpayer and make sure it is transparent and Equitas,» said Sitharaman.

GST of 18% on life or health insurance policies pinches policyholders and discourages citizens from taking a new or higher insurance cover. The pain of policyholders gets amplified as insurance is a product where most beneficiaries will get the benefit only when they face an eventuality like death or hospitalisation. What this means is that in some cases, they would pay the premium and high tax but not get the benefit. While the insurance industry has been raising its voice against this, the issue of 18% goods and services tax (GST) on life and health insurance premiums has again come to the forefront now. The political parties of the INDIA bloc have recently protested the high tax outside the Parliament building and demanded that the central government withdraw this GST. At least one person in the government has also aired similar views. A few days ago, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari wrote to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman urging her to roll back the 18% GST on such financial products. After Gadkari's letter, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has also urged Sitharaman to remove GST on insurance premiums. So will the central government remove the 18% GST and bring down your life and health insurance premium? As the Centre looks into the issue, let us understand why everyone wants the government to remove GST from insurance premiums and how it can lower your insurance premiums.

Mahua Moitra on Tuesday hit out at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, saying she has made a mockery of people of India in the budget by doing absolutely nothing and whatever little changes are there are regressive and ill thought of. Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Moitra criticized the budget for failing to address the needs of the common people. «People wanted a course correction, but you have done the exact opposite. You have kept the same Cabinet, the same Finance Minister, who has given the same shoddy budget,» Moitra said. «The Finance Minister has made mockery of people of India in the budget by doing absolutely nothing, whatever little changes are there are regressive and ill thought of,» she added.

global food security, said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi while Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of the 32nd International Association of Agricultural Economists (ICAE). «Along with water shortage and climate change, nutrition is a big challenge but India has a solution for this — India is the biggest producer of millets — to which, the world called as a superfood, we have named it as Shri Ann. Based on the principle of minimum water and maximum production, India's superfood can solve the issue of global nutrition concern. India is willing to share its basket of superfoods with the world,» the Prime Minister said in his address. Moreover, India is promoting chemical-free natural farming, he added.

Companies reward shareholders by way of dividend payment or share buybacks. Both are done from tax-paid reserves and company profits. Such payments are also used as tools of wealth distribution and efficient allocation of capital.

Nirmala Sitharaman Wednesday said the budget seeks to strike a fine balance among several overriding priorities and will provide impetus to local manufacturing, boost employment and raise India's share in global growth. «Growth, employment, welfare spending, capital investments, and fiscal consolidation are given equal place,» she said in Rajya Sabha.