India’s Growth and Fundamentals are Strong and Look More Attractive in a World Confronting Problems; RBI is Closely Monitoring the Rupee Situation and will Do the Needful as Required, Says FM.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said that the Reserve Bank of India is keeping a close eye on the value of rupee against dollar. Talking to reporters outside Parliament, Mr Mukherjee however said that RBI can not make much intervention as the rupee volatility is because of uncertainty in the international market. He added that the situation will improve if Foreign Direct Investments in the country increases.

The Income Tax department has started investigating 782 people suspected of having stashed away unaccounted wealth in accounts with the HSBC Bank in Geneva. A senior official with the department, on condition of anonymity, said the newly created Directorate of Criminal Investigation has started sending notices to individuals, seeking explanation on the source of funds in these HSBC Bank accounts in Geneva.

The C&AG’s role in the audit of social sector spending is particularly crucial. While the Government is committed to allocate the required resources for socio-economic development programmes for creating improved employment opportunities, better health and education capacities, improved water supply and sanitation, agriculture self-sufficiency and food security, we have to ensure that every rupee that is spent on these initiatives gets the best returns.

The government today deferred a decision on the new Companies Bill and said it would be taken up next month after sorting out issues concerning delegation of powers to the market regulator Sebi. “Finance Minister has been told by Sebi that few fine tuning matters have to be taken care of before it is actually [...]

The Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee has said that the present global economic developments and more particularly the sovereign debt crisis of Europe has once again brought into focus the need for better co-ordination between monetary and fiscal policies towards improving overall economic stability and growth. He was speaking on the occasion of the 81st [...]

he Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee is likely to raise the issue of exchange of information among different countries to fight against the menace of blackmoney and terror financing. Tax evasion and illicit flows have posed serious challenges to the world economy. Shri Mukherjee may impress on G-20 member countries to start exchanging information automatically for tax purposes on a voluntary basis including exchange of past banking information.

There is a consensus among analysts that India has a remarkable stretch of growth over the next thirty years. Several reasons support growth to be sustained at a high rate of 8 to 9 per cent per annum. First, the savings and investment ratios have gone up in the last few years and are reminiscent of the high growth East Asian economies. Secondly, India’s working age population is young with over half the population is in the twenties

The Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee was speaking in Mumbai today while reviewing the flow of credit under various schemes and progress of the financial inclusion with the representatives of State Governments/UTs of Western Region and Chief Executive Officers(CEOs) of Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and Financial Institutions(FIs).The Finance Minister said that the credit flow to Agriculture Sector has been exceeding the annual target for the past many years.

FM Pranab Mukherjee on Friday moved a bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the Customs Act to validate the showcause notices given by different officials during the past several years. The bill, which seeks to validate notices rendered invalid by the Supreme Court on technical ground, will be taken up for discussion and passage next week.