11844 stories by IPA Staff
OID Cess, Service Tax Hike Add To Woes Of Oil Companies
RS Sharma, Ex-chairman, ONGC The revenue of ONGC, the largest oil producer in the county, will get negatively impacted by R5,400 crore on account of the Oil Industry Development (OID) cess and the increase in service tax. This Budget has belied the hopes of the oil and gas industry....
RIL, Cairn India, ONGC Down 6% On Higher Cess On Crude
MUMBAI: Investors booked profits in oil and gas majors— RIL, Cairn India and ONGC— after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today announced cess on crude petroleum oil products. Cairn India was the worst hit and plunged 6.02% to close the day at Rs 345.55, while ONGC dipped 4.66% to close...
Reference To Gas As An Infra Entity Highlight Of Budget
From a very specific petroleum industry’s stand point, I think the reference to natural gas as an infrastructure entity and the fact that custom duties might be reduced on the natural gas import is the highlight of the Budget. Natural gas as an industry help us in incentivising the...
LNG Imports Made Duty-Free For Power Generation Firms
NEW DELHI: Benefits of Budget proposal to abolish five per cent import duty on liquefied natural gas (LNG) seem to be only for the power generation companies such as NTPC and Reliance Power. The Budget proposes that natural gas/LNG imported for power generation by a power generation company is...
Sell-Off Target Feasible, Say Players
After falling short of the disinvestment mop-up targets this financial year as well as in the previous one, the government aims to mobilise 25 per cent less through selling stakes in state-owned companies in the next financial year. “The government will raise about Rs 14,000 crore from disinvestment in...
I'm Ready To Even Bite The Ballot If Necessary: Pranab Mukherjee
NEW DELHI: Pranab Mukherjee admits the life of India’s Finance Minister isn’t easy. Few know it better than him. This Budget, after all, is the Congressman’s seventh, only one less than Morarji Desai and on a par with his cabinet colleague, P Chidambaram. But more than merely being an...
Defence Budget Shoots Up 17 Per Cent
Military spending has gone up by 17 per cent, or Rs 28,992 crore, to Rs 1,93,407 crore in the Budget. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said this allocation was based on the needs projected by the defence ministry. For 2011-12, the spend was pegged at Rs 1,64,415 crore, an increase...
ISRO Gets Rs 125 Crore For Mars Mission, Eyes Nov 2013 Launch
NEW DELHI: After the moon mission, Isro’s plans for Mars exploration got a shot in the arm with the government allocating the ambitious programme Rs 125 crore in the Union Budget announced today. The budget documents state that the space agency plans to launch a Mars Orbiter as early...
A Lot Of Money Was Spent To Tarnish My Image: Army Chief
NEW DELHI: Army chief Gen V K Singh, whose date of birth was mired in a huge controversy, has alleged that “a lot of money” was spent by people within the force to get a “false” birth certificate and tarnish his image as he had stopped their wrongdoings. He...
Kashmiri Youth Turn Out In Record Numbers To Join Army
More than 6,000 enthusiastic Kashmiri youth turned up for recruitment in the Indian Army Friday in south Kashmir and police and army men had a tough time controlling the swelling crowds. The army held a recruitment rally at the High Ground in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district Friday for the...
Safety Concerns Ground Mirage Fleet, French Team Helping Probe
After two successive crashes that have been pinned down to engine failure, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has grounded its fleet of Mirage 2000 fighters even as a French technical team has arrived to help probe the accidents. The front line fleet of 49 fighters, some of which are...
Pharma Sector Says No Life In Budget
As usual, the pharmaceutical industry has termed the Union Budget a total disappointment. Though the FM has given a big bonanza to the pharma sector through extension of the 200 per cent weighted deduction for research & development (R&D) expenditure, raise in service tax to 12 per cent from...
Sell-Off Target Feasible, Say Players
After falling short of the disinvestment mop-up targets this financial year as well as in the previous one, the government aims to mobilise 25 per cent less through selling stakes in state-owned companies in the next financial year. “The government will raise about Rs 14,000 crore from disinvestment in...
Greener Pasture For Private Funds In Agriculture
If Pranab Mukherjee’s earlier Budget focused on addressing the supply-side constraints in pulses, oilseeds and fodder, this year’s Budget was skewed towards solving some of the persistent bottlenecks in the agriculture sector — such as irrigation, seed development and poor post-harvest facilities — by roping in the support of...
FM Revives Hopes Of Aviation And Power Sector, Disappoints Oil Companies
The budget has fuelled hopes of a grand revival of the power sector, accelerated road projects, propped up wobbly airlines and given tax breaks to large projects, cheering power and road firms but oil firms seeking market prices for diesel and equipment makers aspiring for tariff protection were disappointed....
FII Investment In Bonds To Help Markets
The budget presents a realistic assessment of the current political and economic situation. Targeting fiscal deficit at 5.1% and 4.5% of GDP for the next two years, along with subsidy at 2% of GDP, are reassuring for optimists. Sceptics would, of course, like to see execution through steps like...
Allies will be consulted on ‘tough’ decisions: Manmohan
New Delhi: Against the backdrop of stiff opposition by UPA constituent Trinamool Congress to FDI in retail and rail fare hike, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said the government will consult allies and take them on board whenever “tough” decisions are taken. In his reaction to the General Budget...
SC sets up special bench to deal with 2G cases
New Delhi: A special two-judge bench was on Friday constituted by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia for hearing all cases arising out of 2G spectrum allocation scam. In view of a large number of petitions and applications being filed in the apex court by the Centre, telecom companies and others after...
