الوسم: Nirmala Sitharaman

Business News & Politics

Why Is The Central Government Relying On Small Investments For Funding?

HT News

The central government first announced a steep cut on the interest rates on small savings on the last day of the financial year 2020-21 and then reversed the order today morning citing “orders issued by oversight” as the reason.

What were the interest rate cuts introduced?

The Finance Minister took the entire world by surprise by announcing a reversal of the order of cutting interest rates to schemes including National Savings Certificates (NSC) and Public Provident Fund (PPF) that would have hurt the middle and the lower-middle class hardest had the government allowed their implementation.

The government announced a cut of up to 1.1% in interest rates in the first quarter of 2021-22. It would mean reduction of PPF interest from 7.1% to 6.4%; of NSC from 6.8% to 5.9%; of 5-year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme paid quarterly by 0.9%; of Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna from 7.6% to 6.9% and of Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) by 0.7%.

According to experts, the government is reducing interest on small savings to finance its deficit that has widened due to severe lockdown restrictions and increased borrowings. But it has to withdraw the earlier order fearing strict backlash from the public.

Why was … Read the rest

National Today's Special

10 Points Of The 9th Budget Of The Modi Government

HT News

The nineth budget of the Modi government is expected to be different in many ways. The economy is in recession, jobs are gone and the pandemic has hit the country the hardest. Every sector requires expenditure but the people are also looking for relief from taxes. So, would the budget expectations be fulfilled.

Here’re 10 important points of the Union Budget that the FM will present at 11 AM today

  1. Finance Minister Ms Sitharaman has promised that this budget is going to be unprecedented as the PM has already hinted towards extension of the measures announced in 4-5 mini budgets in 2020.
  2. Ms Sitharaman was seen carrying a tablet with the national symbol embossed on it instead of papers indicating that it is going to be a paperless budget. And it will be the first time in the history.
  3. The FM is expected to unveil plans to revive the economy to achieve 11% growth target on the face of a forecasted 7.7% contraction in the current financial year.
  4. The FM needs doing more to revive the economy that was already in the slow down mode before the pandemic and slipped into recession to its lowest in 11 years during the crisis. There could be 15% more spending on healthcare and infrastructure. Also, the taxpayers could get further relief in the budget.
  5. The healthcare budget could be doubled to raise the expenditure to 4% of the GDP to meet healthcare needs highlighted during the pandemic. Also, there could be 1% of income and corporate tax to fund the healthcare budget.
  6. Pandemic-hit sectors like real estate, aviation, tourism and automobile are expecting tax relief in the budget.
  7. The FM could suggest measures to drive the fiscal deficit
… Read the rest