India

New Delhi, Feb 1: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today described the Budget as "futuristic" with an aim on fulfilling the "dreams" of every section, including the poor, the farmers and the under-privileged while focussing on job creation, transparency, urban rejuvenation and rural development. He said the Budget is a key link between the work done by his government over the last two-and-a-half and

New Delhi, Feb 1: Softening the demonetisation blow, the Budget for 2017-18 today halved the tax to 5 per cent on incomes upto Rs 5 lakh but proposed a new surcharge of 10 per cent on incomes between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore and raised duties on cigarettes and pan masala while stepping up allocations for infrastructure, rural, agriculture and social sectors. Breaking from the past, Finance

New Delhi, Feb 1: In a move to push digital payments, the government today removed all duties on devices used in the process of cashless transactions like point of sales machines, finger print readers etc. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in his budget speech, "To promote cashless transactions, I propose to exempt BCD (basic custom duties), excise duties, CVD (countervailing duties), SAD

New Delhi, Feb 1: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the focus of his Budget for 2017-18 will be on 10 important sectors, including farmers, infrastructure, digital economy and tax administration to transform, energise and clean India. The other areas of focus include rural India, the youth, poor and under-privileged, the financial sector, public service and prudent fiscal management. "The

New Delhi, Feb 1: Terming demonetisation as "bold and decisive" measure, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said it will have a multiplier effect on the economy and will create bigger, cleaner and real GDP. "We are moving from informal to formal economy and the government is now seen as a trusted custodian of public money," he said while delivering the Union Budget 2017-18. Demonetisation was a

New Delhi, Feb 1: The Income Tax department has identified 18 lakh people who have made 'suspicious' cash deposits post demonetisation, including those having deposited over Rs 5 lakh, and will send emails and SMSes seeking explanation about their source of funds. These people will have to reply within 10 days to avoid any notice from the tax department or further enforcement action. The

New Delhi, Jan 31: IT stocks plunged over 4% on Tuesday, knocking off more than Rs 33,000 crore in market valuation of top five firms, after a new H-1B Bill in the US+ set off concerns that it will adversely impact hiring plans of Indian technology firms. TCS slumped by as much as 4.47%+ to settle at Rs 2,229.90 on BSE. Intra-day, the stock had hit a low of Rs 2,206.55. Infosys lost 2.01% to close

Srinagar, Jan 31: Two snowshoers from Kashmir have alleged they have been denied visa to the US due to "current (US) policy". "Indian Snowshoers Denied Visas, due to 'current (US) policy'. This from our good friend Abid Khan, from Kashmir, minutes ago in our Facebook Messaging," Clyde Rabideau, Mayor of the Village of Saranac Lake in New York, wrote on his Facebook page. The snowshoers reportedly

Bulandshahr, Jan 31: BJP lawmaker Yogi Adityanath has praised US President Donald Trump's temporary ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries - roundly condemned within the US and worldwide - and said similar action is needed to check terrorism in India. While campaigning for the Uttar Pradesh polls to be held from February 7, the firebrand leader also focused on his party colleague's

New Delhi, Jan 31: Demonetisation will shave off the economic growth for the current fiscal by 0.25 per cent to 0.50 per cent though it will have long-term benefits for the economy by reducing interest rates and eliminating corruption, besides bringing in more activities in the formal sector. The cash squeeze, following junking of high value notes of Rs 500/1000 on November 8, 2016, the Economic