UNION BUDGER -2015
Union Budget 2015 Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley has
said that the Indian Economy has turned around dramatically in the last nine
months with the real GDP growth expected to accelerate to 7.4% making India
the fastest growing large economy in the world.
Presenting the General Budget for the year 2015-16 in Lok
Sabha today, he said macro-economic stability has been restored and conditions
have been created for sustainable poverty elimination, job creation and durable
double digit economic growth.
Shri Jaitley specifically talked about three key
achievements of the Government, the Jan Dhan Yojana which brought over 12.5
crores families into financial mainstream in a short period of 100 days,
transparent coal block auctions to augment resources of the states and ‘Swachh
Bharat’ which has become a movement to regenerate India.
Shri Jaitley said that India
has now embarked on two more game changing reforms which are GST and the JAM
Trinity-Jan Dhan, Aadhar and Mobile -to
implement direct transfer of benefits.
He added that GST will put in place a state-of-the art
indirect tax system by 1st April 2016 while the JAM Trinity will allow transfer
benefits in a leakage-proof, well-targetted and cashless manner.
Describing the declining inflation as one of the major
achievements of the Government, the Finance Minister said that this represents
a structural shift.
He said CPI inflation is expected to remain at close to 5%
by the end of the year which will allow further easing of monetary policy.
Shri Jaitley said a Monetary Policy Framework Agreement has
been concluded with the RBI to keep inflation below 6%.
Stating that while based on the new series, estimated GDP
growth for 2014-15 is 7.4%, Shri Jaitley said growth in the next financial year
is expected to be between 8 to 8.5% and aiming for a double-digit rate seems
feasible very soon.
The Minister underlined that India has to think in terms of a
quantum jump.
He said the year 2022
will be the Amrut Mahotsav, the 75th year, of India ’s independence.
He added the vision of what the Prime Minister has called
‘Team India’ led by the States and guided by the Central Government should
include a roof for each family which will require to complete two crore houses
in urban areas and four crore houses in rural areas with each house having 24
hour power supply, clean drinking water, a toilet and road connectivity.
He said, the vision includes that at least one member from
each family should have access to the means of livelihood, substantial
reduction in poverty, electrification of the remaining 20,000 villages
including off-grid solar power by 2020, connecting each of the 1,78,000
un-connected habitation, providing medical services in each village and city,
ensuring a Senior Secondary School within 5 km reach of every child,
strengthening rural economy-increase irrigated area, ensuring communication
connectivity to all villages, to make India, the manufacturing hub of the world
through Skill India and the Make in India Programmes, encourage and grow the
spirit of entrepreneurship and development of Eastern and North Eastern regions
on par with the rest of the country.
The Finance Minister counted five major challenges faced by
the Indian economy which are agricultural income under stress, weak private
sector investment in infrastructure, decline in manufacturing, resource crunch
in view of higher devolution in taxes to states and maintaining fiscal
discipline. Shri Jaitley assured that the country will meet the challenging
fiscal deficit target of 4.1% of GDP, that the Government had inherited.
Talking about the fiscal roadmap Shri Jaitley said that the
Government is firm to achieve fiscal target of 3% of GDP.
He added that the journey for fiscal deficit target of 3%
will be achieved in three years rather than two years.
Stating that the Government is committed in its resolve, as
Indians, to regain its pre-eminence as a just and compassionate country, Shri
Jaitley said that what is needed is a well targeted system of subsidy delivery.
He emphasized on need to cut subsidy leakages, to achieve
which the Government is committed to the process of rationalizing subsidies. He
said the direct transfer of benefits, started mostly in scholarship schemes,
will be further expanded with a view to increasing the number of beneficiaries
from the present 1 crore to 10.3 crore.
Reiterating that the Government’s commitment to farmers runs
deep, the Finance Minister proposed to fully support Agriculture Ministry’s
organic farming scheme – “Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana”. Stating that the
Pradhanmantri Gram Sinchai Yojana is aimed at irrigating the field of every
farmer and improving water use efficiency to provide ‘ Per Drop More Crop’’ ,
Shri Jaitley proposed allocation of Rs. 5,300 crore to support
micro-irrigation, watershed development and the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai
Yojana.
In order to support the agriculture sector with the help of
effective agriculture credit and focus on small and marginal farmers, the
Finance Minister proposed to allocate Rs. 25,000 crore to the corpus of Rural
Infrastructure Development fund (RIDF) set up in NABARD, Rs. 15,000 crore for
Long Term Rural Credit Fund; Rs. 45,000 crore for Short Term Cooperative Rural
Credit Refinance Fund; and Rs. 15,000 crore for Short Term RRB Refinance Fund.
He said that the Government has set up an ambitious target of Rs. 8.5 lakh
crore of agricultural credit.
Stating the Government’s commitment to supporting employment
through MGNREGA,
The Minister proposed an initial allocation of Rs. 34,699
crore for the programme.
The Finance Minister proposed to create a Micro Units
Development Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank, with a corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore,
and credit guarantee corpus of 3,000 crore, which will refinance Micro-Finance
Institutions through a Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana,.
He added that priority will be given to SC/ST enterprises in
lending. While showing concern over a large proportion of India’s population
being without any kind of insurance, Shri Jaitley said that the soon-to-be-
launched Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, will cover accidental death risk
of Rs. 2 lakh for a premium of just Rs. 12 per year.
Similarly, he said, the Government will also launch the Atal
Pension Yojana, which will provide a defined pension, depending on the
contribution, and its period.
To encourage people to join this scheme, the Government will
contribute 50% of the beneficiaries’ premium limited to Rs. 1,000 each year,
for five years, in the new accounts opened before 31st December, 2015.
The third Social Security Scheme that the Minister announced
is the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana which covers both natural and
accidental death risk of Rs. 2 lakhs.
The premium will be Rs. 330 per year, or less than one rupee
per day, for the age group 18-50.
Mentioning about unclaimed deposits of about Rs. 3,000
crores in the PPF and approximately Rs. 6,000 crores in the EPF corpus, the
Minister said that the amounts will be appropriated to a corpus, which will be
used to subsidize the premiums on these social security schemes through
creation of a Senior Citizen Welfare fund in the Finance Bill.
He reiterated the Government’s commitment to the on-going
schemes for the welfare of SCs, STs and Women.
The Finance Minister underlined the pressing need to
increase public investment in infrastructure.
He said that he proposes increased outlays on both the roads
and the gross budgetary support to the railways, by Rs. 14,031 crore and Rs.
10,050 crore respectively.
He said the CAPEX of the public sector units is expected to
be Rs. 3,17,889 crore, an increase of approximately Rs. 80,844 crore over RE
2014-15. He also proposed to establish National Investment and Infrastructure
Fund (NIIF) with an annual flow of Rs. 20,000 crore.
He said that he also intends to permit tax free
infrastructure bonds for the projects in the rail, road and irrigation sector.
He said the PPP mode of infrastructure development has to be
revisited and revitalized.
Shri Jaitley proposed to establish the Atal Innovation
Mission(AIM) in NITI which will provide Innovation Promotion Platform involving
academicians, and drawing upon national and international experiences.
A sum of Rs. 150 crore is proposed to be earmarked for the
mission.
The Finance Minister said that the Government is
establishing a mechanism to be known as SETU (Self-Employment and Talent
Utilisation) which will support all aspects of start-up businesses, and other
self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas.
Rs. 1,000 crore have been initially earmarked in NITI Aayog
for the purpose. Shri Jaitley said the Government also proposes to set up 5 new
Ultra Mega Power Projects each of 4000 MWs in the plug-and-play mode.
In order to promote investment in the country, the Minister
proposed to set up a Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) which will bring both
India ’s
external borrowings and domestic debt under one roof.
He also proposed to merge the Forwards Markets Commission
with SEBI to strengthen regulation of commodity forward markets and reduce wild
speculation.
He said enabling legislation, amending the Government
Securities Act and the RBI Act is proposed in the Finance Bill, 2015.
Regarding the
Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the Minister said the employees need to be
provided two options, EPF or the New Pension Scheme (NPS).
He said, for employees below a certain threshold of monthly
income, contribution to EPF should be optional, without affecting or reducing
the employer’s contribution.
Stating that India
is one of the largest consumers of gold in the world, Shri Arun Jaitley proposed
to introduce a Gold Monetisation Scheme, which will replace both the present
Gold Deposit and Gold metal Loan Schemes.
The New scheme will allow the depositors of gold to earn
interest in their metal accounts and the jewelers to obtain loans in their
metal account.
Banks/other dealers would also be able to monetize this
gold.
He also proposed a Sovereign Gold Bond, as an alternative to
purchasing metal gold.
He also announced commencing work on developing Indian Gold
Coin, which will carry the Ashok Chakra on its face.
Highlighting need for increasing investments from all
sources, the Finance Minister proposed to allow foreign investments in
Alternate Investment Funds.
He said in order to catalyze investments from the Indian
Private Sector in South East Asia, a Project Development Company will set up
manufacturing hubs in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. In order to support
Programmes for women security, advocacy and awareness, the Minister proposed to
provide another Rs. 1,000 crore to the Nirbhaya Fund.
Shri Jaitley said resources will be provided to start work
along landscape restoration, signage and interpretation centres, parking,
access for the differently abled, visitors’ amenities, including securities and
toilets, illumination and plans for benefiting communities around them at
various heritage sites.
Expressing concern over environmental degradation, the
Minister said that the target of renewable energy capacity has been revised to
1,75,000 MW till 2022.
He said the Government is also launching a Scheme for Faster
Adoption and manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) with an initial outlay
of Rs. 75 crore.
The Minister emphasized on formal skill training and said
the Government will soon launch a National Skills Mission which will consolidate
skill initiatives spread across several Ministries.
He said Rs. 1,500 crore has been set apart for Deen Dayal
Upadhyay Gramin Kaushal Yojana.
He proposed to set up a fully IT based Student Financial Aid
Authority to administer and monitor Scholarship as well Educational Loan
Schemes, through the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Lakshmi Karyakram.
The Minister proposed to set up several New Institutions.
An IIT will be set up in Karnataka and Indian School
New All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be
set up in J&K, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Assam .
Another AIIMS like institution will be set up in Bihar .
A post graduate institute
of Horticulture Research &
Education will be set up in Amritsar .
Three new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education
and Research will be set up in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh and one institute of Science
IIMs will be setup in J&K and Andhra Pradesh.
Shri Jaitley said India
is making good progress towards digital India .
He said the National Optical Fibre Network Programme (NOFNP)
of 7.5 lakh kms networking 2.5 lakh villages is being further speeded up by
allowing willing States to undertake its execution.
The Minister said that in spite of the large increase in the
devolution to states, adequate provision is being made for the schemes for the
poor with allocation of Rs. 68,968 crore to the education sector including
mid-day meals, Rs. 33,152 crore to the health sector and Rs. 79,526 crore for
rural development activities including MGNREGA, Rs. 22,407 crore for housing
and urban development, Rs. 10,351 crore for women and child development, Rs.
4,173 crore for Water Resources and Namami Gange.
The Minister said that adequate funds have been provided for
the needs of the armed forces. As against likely expenditure of this year of
Rs. 2,22,370 crore the budget allocation for 2015-16 is Rs. 2,46,727 crore.
Shri Arun Jaitley while giving the budget estimates for 2015-16 said Non-Plan
expenditure estimates for the Financial Year are Rs. 13,12,220 crore.
Plan expenditure is estimated to be Rs. 4,65,277 crore,
which is very near to the R.E. of 2014-15.
Total Expenditure has accordingly been estimated at Rs.
17,77,477 crore.
Gross Tax receipts are estimated to be Rs. 14,49,490 crore.
Devolution to the States is estimated to be Rs. 5,23,958 crore. Share of
Central Government will be Rs. 9,19,842 crore.
Non Tax Revenues for the next fiscal are estimated to be Rs.
2,21,733 crore.
He said with the above estimates, fiscal deficit will be 3.9
percent of GDP and Revenue Deficit will be 2.8 percent of GDP.
TAX PROPOSALS
The Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley has said that a very
important dimension to our tax administration is the fight against the scourge
of black money.
He said that taxation is an instrument of social and
economic engineering.
Tax collections help the Government to provide education,
healthcare, housing and other basic facilities to the people to improve their
quality of life and to address the problems of poverty, unemployment and slow
development.
To achieve these objectives, it has been our endeavour in
the last nine months to foster a stable taxation policy and non-adversarial tax
administration.
Shri Jaitley said that Goods and Services Tax (GST)
introduced in the last Session will play a transformative role in the way our
economy functions.
This transformative piece of legislation in indirect
taxation needs to be matched with transformative measures in direct taxation.
He said that the rate of corporate tax is proposed to be
reduced from 30% to 25% over the next four years. This will lead to higher
level of investment, higher growth and more jobs.
The broad things
adopted in finalizing the tax proposals include:-
A. Measures to curb black money.
B. Job creation through revival of growth and investment and
promotion of domestic manufacturing and
‘Make in India ’;
C. Minimum government and maximum governance to improve the
ease of doing business;
D. Benefits to middle class taxpayers;
E. Improving the quality of life and public health through
Swachch Bharat initiatives; and F. Stand alone proposals to maximize benefits
to the economy.
Shri Jaitley said that a considered decision has been taken
to enact a comprehensive new law on black money to specifically deal with such
money stashed away abroad.
The Bill in this regard is proposed to be introduced in the
current Session of the Parliament. The key features of the bill will include
punishment of rigorous imprisonment up to ten years for concealment of income and
assets and evasion of tax in relation to foreign assets.
This offence will be made non-compoundable and offenders
will not be permitted to approach the Settlement Commission.
Penalty for such concealment of income and assets at the
rate of 300 per cent of tax shall be levied.
Non-filing of return or filing of return with inadequate
disclosure of foreign assets will be punishable with rigorous imprisonment up to
seven years.
As regards curbing domestic black money, a new and more
comprehensive Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Bill will be introduced in the
current Session of the Parliament.
Shri Jaitley said that this law will enable confiscation of
benami property and provide for prosecution, thus, blocking a major avenue for
generation and holding of black money in the form of benami property,
especially in real estate.
Quoting of PAN is being made mandatory for any purchase or
sale exceeding the value of Rs.1 lakh.
To improve enforcement, CBDT and CBEC will leverage
technology and have access to information in each other’s data-base.
Mentioning job creation as the second pillar of taxation
proposals Shri Jaitley said that this will be ensured through revival of growth
and investment and promotion of domestic manufacturing and ‘Make in India’.
The tax ‘pass through’ is proposed to be allowed to both
Category-1 and Category-2 alternative investment fund so that tax is levied on
the investors in these funds and not on the funds per se.
To rationalize the capital gain regime for the sponsors
exiting at the time of listing of the units of Real Estate Investment Trusts
(REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) subject to payment of
Securities Transaction Tax (STT) is proposed, he said.
Permanent Establishment (PE) norm will be modified to
encourage fund managers to relocate to India .
The Finance Minister said that General Anti Avoidance Rule
(GAAR) will be deferred by two years. It will apply to investments made on or
after 01-04-2017, when implemented.
In order to facilitate young entrepreneurs rate of income
tax on royalty and fees for technical services will be reduced from 25 per cent
to 10 per cent. To generate greater employment opportunities the benefit of
deduction for employment of new regular workman to all business entities will
be extended.
The eligibility threshold of minimum 100 regular workmen
will be reduced to 50.
Recognizing the importance of indirect taxes in the context
of promotion of domestic manufacturing and ‘Make in India’, the Finance
Minister said basic custom duty on certain inputs, raw materials, intermediates
and components in 22 items is proposed to be reduced to minimize the impact of
duty evasion.
All goods except populated printed circuit boards for use in
manufacture of ITA bound items are proposed to be exempted from SAD.
Subject to actual user condition SAD will be reduced on
import of certain other imports and raw materials.
Shri Jaitley said wealth tax is proposed to be abolished and
replaced with an additional surcharge of 2 per cent on the super rich with the
taxable income of over Rs.1 Crore. With this 2 per cent additional surcharge a
collection of Rs.9,000 Crore is targeted against a tax sacrifice of Rs.1,008
Crore.
To eliminate the scope for discretionary exercise of power
and provide a hassle-free structure to the tax payers, Shri Jaitley proposed to
increase the threshold limit from Rs.5 Crore to Rs.20 Crore.
In order to rationalize the MAT provisions for FIIs, profits
corresponding to their income from capital gains on transactions in securities
which are liable to tax at a lower rate, shall not be subject to MAT, Shri
Jaitley said.
Education cess and the Secondary and Higher education cess
is proposed to be subsumed in central excise duty.
The general rate of central excise duty of 12.36 per cent
including the cesses will be rounded off to 12.5 per cent.
The Ad-valorem rates of excise duty lower than 12 per cent
and those higher than 12 per cent with a few exceptions are not proposed to be
increased.
Excise duty on foot-wears with leather uppers and having
retail price of more than Rs.1,000 per pair is proposed to be reduced to 6 per
cent.
Shri Jaitley said on-line central excise and service tax
registration will be done in two working days.
As a measure of business facilitation time limit for CENVAT
credit on inputs and input services to be increased from 6 months to one year.
Service tax plus education cess is proposed to be increased from 12.36 per cent
to 14 per cent to facilitate transaction to GST.
Shri Jaitley said that cleanliness of households and clean
environment are very important social causes.
As an initiative to Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Shri Jaitley proposed
100 per cent reduction for contribution, other than by way of CSR
contributions, to the Swachh Bharat Kosh.
A similar tax treatment is also proposed for the Clean Ganga
Fund, he said. Shri Jaitley proposed an increase in clean energy cess from
Rs.100 to Rs.200 per metric tonne of coal, etc. to finance clean environment
initiatives.
He further said that excise duty of sacks and bags of
polymers of ethylene other than for industrial use is proposed to be increased
from 12 per cen to 15 per cent.
He also mentioned an enabling provision to levy Swachh
Bharat Cess at the rate of 2 per cent or less on all or certain services if
need arises.
Shri Jaitley said that services by common affluent treatment
plant will be exempt from service tax.
He also proposed concessions on customs and excise duty
available to electrically operated vehicle and hybrid vehicle extended up to
31-03-2016. The Finance Minister proposed no change in the rate of personal
income tax and rate of tax for companies in respect of income earned in the
finance year 2015-16, assessable in Assessment Year 2016-17.
Shri Jaitley proposed to levy a surcharge @ 12 per cent on
individuals, HUFs, AOPs, BOIs, artificial juridical persons, firms, cooperative
societies and local authorities having income exceeding Rs.1 Crore.
Surcharge in the case of domestic companies having income
exceeding Rs.1 Crore and up to Rs.10 Crore is proposed to be levied @ 7 per
cent and surcharge @ 12 per cent is proposed to be levied on domestic companies
having income exceeding Rs.10 Crore.
He further proposed that in the case of foreign companies
the surcharge will continue to be levied @ 2 per cent if the income exceeds
Rs.1 Crore and is up to Rs. 10 Crore, and @ 5 per cent if the income exceeds
Rs.10 Crore. It is also proposed to levy a surcharge @ 12 per cent as against
current rate of 10 per cent on additional income tax payable by companies on
distribution of dividends and buyback of shares, or by mutual funds and
securitization trusts on distribution of income.
The education cess on income tax @ 2 per cent for fulfilment
of the commitment of the Government to provide and finance universalized
quality based education and 1 per cent of additional surcharge called
‘Secondary and Higher EducationCess’ on tax and surcharge is proposed to be
continued for the financial year 2015-16 for all taxpayers, the Minister said.
Describing the extension of benefits to middle class tax
payers as the priority of the government.
Shri Jaitley proposed
the following concessions:- A.
Increase in the limit of deduction in respect of health insurance premium from
Rs.15,000 to Rs.25,000.
(1) For senior citizens the limit will stand increased to
Rs.30,000 from the existing Rs.20,000.
(2) For very senior citizens of the age of 80 years or more,
who are not covered by health insurance, deduction of Rs.30,000 towards
expenditure incurred on the treatment will allowed.
B. The deduction
limit of Rs.60,000 towards expenditure on account of specified diseases of
serious nature is proposed to be enhanced to Rs.80,000 in case of very senior
citizens.
C. Additional
deduction of Rs.25,000 will be allowed for differently abled persons under
Section 80DD and Section 80U of the Income-tax Act.
D. The limit on
deduction on account of contribution to a Pension Fund and the New Pension
Scheme is proposed to be increased from Rs.1 lakh to Rs.1.5 lakh.
E. To provide
social safety net and the facility of pension to individuals and additional
deduction of Rs.50,000 is proposed to be provided for contribution to the New
Pension Scheme under Section 80 CCD.
This will enable India to become a pensioned society
instead of a pensionless society.
F. Investments in
Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme is already eligible for deduction under Section 80C.
All payments to the beneficiaries including interest payment on deposit will
also be fully exempt.
G. Transport
allowance exemption is being increased from Rs.800 to Rs.1,600 per month.
H. For the
benefit of senior citizens, service tax exemption will be provided on Varishta
Bima Yojana. Mentioning change, growth, jobs and genuine effective up-liftment
of the poor and the under-privileged as Government’s commitment and
re-affirming its commitment to the Constitutional principles of equality and
justice for all without concern for caste, creed or religion, Shri Jaitley
ended his budget speech with the Upanishad-inspired mantra.
National Science Day
- 28th February.
A Growth Rate of over
8 Per Cent Expected for the Coming Year: Govt
Major Reform Initiatives Undertaken by Government in
Banking, Insurance and Financial Sector:
Economic Survey 2014- 15 states that liquidity conditions
(money supply) have remained broadly balanced during 2014-2015 except for some
temporary tight conditions due to delayed government expenditure. Steps taken
by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) played a positive role in managing the
liquidity conditions.
- Till January 2015, RBI had kept the policy rates unchanged. As inflationary conditions eased, RBI softened the monetary policy by cutting the Repo rates by 25 basis points in January 2015 (from 8% to 7.75%).
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also
adopted new Consumer Price Index (combined) as the measure for nominal
anchor (Headline CPI) for policy communication.
Economic Survey 2014-
15 also mentions about the many reform initiatives undertaken in the banking
sector during 2014- 2015. These include:
1. Banks being allowed to raise capital from the market to
meet capital adequacy norms by diluting the government’s stake up to 52 per
cent.
2. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana launched to provide
universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account
for every household.
3. In April 2014, two applicants have been granted ‘in
principle’ approval to set-up new banks in the private sector within 18 months.
4. RBI released guidelines and invited applications for
setting up payments banks and local area banks.
According to Economic Survey, FY 2014- 2015 saw some stress
on the asset quality of the Scheduled Commercial Banks as there was an increase
in gross NPA (Non Performing Advances) to the total gross advances.
NPA increased from 4.1 %( March 2014) to 4.5 %( September
2014). As on June 2014 , five subsectors, viz. Infrastructure, Textiles, Iron
& Steel, Mining and aviation hold 54% of total stressed advances of Public
Sector Banks.
Actions taken by RBI
to deal with NPAs:
1. Issued guidelines, prompting banks to act as soon as a
sign of stress is noticed in borrower’s actions and not to wait for it to
become a NPA.
2. Tightened norms to Asset Reconstruction Companies,
increasing the minimum investment in security receipts to 15% from 5%.
3. Issued guidelines to bring flexibility in project loans
to infrastructure and core industry projects.
2014- 2015 also saw a
decline in the growth of bank credit due to high accretion of NRI deposits and
also due to low deposit mobilization Economic Survey points out that insurance
penetration in India
This insurance penetration level compares well with the
emerging market economies.
The sector registered a growth of 9.4% during 2013- 14 with
Life Insurance Corporation of India
registering 13.5 % growth.
Reform initiatives in Insurance sector during 2014- 2015
Promulgation of
Insurances Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2014 :
To remove archaic and redundant provisions in insurance laws.
Empowering Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority to
enable more effective regulation.
To increase the foreign equity cap in Indian Insurance
Companies from 26% to 49%.
Equity Markets continue to do well for the financial year
2014- 2015 as per the Economic Survey 2014- 15.
The benchmark indices, BSE Sensex and Nifty showed a general
upward trend in the current year with growth rates of 29.9 % and 31.4 % year on
year.
Reform initiatives in
financial sector during 2014- 2015
Improvement in Corporate Governance norms
Establishment of a foreign portfolio investor for better
functioning of both primary and secondary markets.
Overall Economic Survey 2014-15 talks about increased
financial inclusion, improved insurance penetration and fast growing equity
markets in India .
It also dwells into the problems faced by the banking sector and the major
policy initiatives by the government to enable the growth of banking, insurance
and financial sectors.
The Railway Minister said, one of the biggest problems faced
by the common man intending to travel in unreserved class is purchasing a
ticket. He said, the Railways is introducing ‘Operation Five Minutes’ to ensure
that a passenger travelling unreserved can purchase a ticket within five
minutes.
Finance Ministry to Provide Budgetary Support of Rs 40,000
Crore for the Railway’s Annual Plan.
At the 57th Grammy Awards held on Sunday February 8, 2015
night in Los Angeles, Bangalore based Indian origin musician Ricky Kej won the
best new age album award for his album ‘Winds of Samsara’, which was his
collaboration with African flautist Wouter Kellerman.
After that Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had appealed
to bank employee unions to call off their proposed strike as talks were being held
for their wage revision.
- In today’s talks with Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), wage revision has been settled at 15% with effect from November 2012.
- The bank employees will now also get
holidays on two Saturdays in a month. The banks, however, will work full-day on
remaining Saturdays instead of the current practice of half-day.
“Birdman”, surreal comedy about an aging superstar, claimed
the best picture Oscar besides best director and original screenplay.
The film also walked away with best cinematography award.
British star Eddie Redmayne walked away with the best actor
trophy for his physically- transformative turn as physicist Stephen Hawking in
“The Theory of Everything”.
It was a close call for the 33-year-old star as “Birdman”
star Michael Keaton was his most fierce competitor.
Julianne Moore finally won her first Oscar in the best
actress category for her poignant portrayal of a mother and academic struggling
with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in “Still Alice”.
JK Simmons won the best supporting actor Oscar for his role
as a bullying Jazz instructor in “Whiplash”(hold) Ida from Poland won the best foreign feature
film.
Nitish Kumar takes
oath as Chief Minister of Bihar .
Yuvraj Singh emerged as the costliest cricketer in the IPL 8
players’ auction, bought for a record Rs 16 crore (USD 2.57 million approx) by
Delhi Daredevils in Bangalore .
“Vanaj”- National
Tribal Festival- 2015 - New Delhi
The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee will open the
annual “Udyanotsav” of Rashtrapati Bhavan on February 13, 2015 (Friday) at 1630
hrs.
Aam Aadmi Party registers spectacular victory in Delhi ; Oath taking on
14th Feb.
The Minister for Health & Family Welfare Shri J P Nadda
launched the National Deworming initiative aimed to protect more than 24 crore
children in the ages of 1-19 years from intestinal worms, on the eve of the
National Deworming Day, at Jaipur today. Also present at the function were Shri
Rajendra Rathore, Health Minister, Rajasthan.
They administered the deworming tablets to some school going
children.
Marathi writer
Bhalchandra Nemade chosen for Jnanpith award.
Government Decides to
Infuse Rs.6990 Crores in Nine Public Sector Banks.
As per these above
mentioned two efficiency criteria, the amount allocated bank-wise is as follows:
Name of the Bank and Amount
(Rupees in crore)
1. State Bank of India - 2970
2. Bank of Baroda
- 1260
3. Punjab National Bank-870
4. Canara Bank-570
5. Syndicate Bank-460
6. Allahabad Bank-320
7. Indian Bank-280
8. Dena Bank-140
9. Andhra Bank-120
Total: 6990
15th Delhi
Sustainable Development Summit
L.C. Goyal appointed
as Home Secretary.
SCOPE HR Summit 2015
begin here in New Delhi
The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has expressed joy over
registration of 10 crore citizens, as a part of the PAHAL Yojana.
“Gives me great joy to know that over 10 crore citizens have
been registered as a part of the PAHAL Yojana.
A momentous accomplishment. This makes PAHAL Yojana among
the largest cash transfer schemes in the world.
Madhusudhan Prasad
takes over as new Urban Development Secretary.
The 17th edition of Bharat Rang Mahotsav, Asia’s largest theatre
festival, has started in Delhi .
MGNREGA Day -
February 2.
Dr. Nandita
Chatterjee takes over as new Secretary (Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation).
“Raahgiri day for the
persons with disabilities” day - February 1.
Paes-Hingis clinch Australian Open mixed-doubles 2015 title.
38th Raising Day of Indian Coast Guard - February 1, 2015.
LIST OF IMPORTANT
INTERNATIONAL DAYS IN FEBRUARY 2015:
4 February -
World Cancer Day.
6 February -
International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation.
13 February - World
Radio Day 20 February - World Day of Social Justice.
21 February -
International Mother Language Day.
