Nirmala Sitharaman reads out Budget speech from tablet

This time, the Budget will be a paperless document and it would be available to parliamentarians and the public online.

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FM proposes increase in FDI cap in insurance sector to 74%

The insurance sector, both life and health, have assumed importance in the post-pandemic phase. High medical costs associated with Covid-19 have made people realise the value of having a good health insurance plan.

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Mega plans announced for Railways, substantial mark-up in budgetary allocation

The eastern and western dedicated freight corridors will be commissioned by June 2022, it was announced. The FM also announced plans for east coast corridor, east-west corridor, north-south corridors.

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Aatmanirbhar packages totalling Rs 27.1 lakh crore accelerated structural reforms, says FM

She noted that the government has stretched its resources for the benefit of the poorest of the poor.

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Your chance to be a part of India's infrastructure story gets a big boost in Budget 2021

The finance minister announced the creation of a Development Financial Institution (DFI) for which the Budget 2021 has allocated Rs 20,000 crore to capitalise it.

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Budget 2021: Big leg-up for healthcare, major move on vehicle scrapping to tackle pollution

The areas of focus will be preventive and curative healthcare as well as well being, she said. The allocation is likely to be around Rs 2,23,846 crore, a 137% percentage rise from the previous budget.

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Cabinet approves Union Budget for 2021-22

The Budget will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in a short while from now in the Lok Sabha.

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Technew

The investors that caused GameStop to surge are now turning their attention to silver.

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Stardust 1.0 has become the first commercial launch of a rocket powered by bio-derived fuel.

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Tensions are rising in Delhi where thousands of farmers are demanding agriculture reforms be repealed.

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Almost 100,000 people have seen Amy Hawkins sing World War One song It's A Long Way to Tipperary.

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Technew

Twitter users take time off their busy writing schedules to share helpful - or unhelpful - tips.

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Since the pandemic hit the UK, reports of investment scams targeting Instagram users have risen 50%.

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January factory activity hits 3-month high, job cuts subside

The Nikkei Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index , compiled by IHS Markit, rose to 57.7 in January from December's 56.4, above the 50-level separating growth from contraction for the sixth straight month.

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Nirmala Sitharaman replaces Swadeshi 'bahi khata' with tablet as Union budget goes digital

The Finance Minister was seen carrying a tablet kept inside a red coloured cover with a golden coloured national emblem embossed on it.

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Budget will be in accordance with people's expectations, says Anurag Thakur

"I have full confidence the budget will fulfill the aspirations of the people. We will continue to make efforts to make India self-reliant and make our economy grow," he added.

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Union Budget: Nirmala Sitharaman reaches Ministry of Finance

The Budget presentation will begin with a speech from Finance Minister scheduled to take place at around 11 am. The duration of the budget speech usually ranges from 90 to 120 minutes.

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Budget 2021 presentation today: Where to watch

The "Union Budget Mobile App" will provide hassle-free access of Budget documents to MPs and general public. The App will facilitate complete access to 14 Union Budget documents, including the Annual Financial Statement (commonly known as Budget), Demand for Grants (DG), and Finance Bill as prescribed by the Constitution.

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Union Budget 2021 Highlights: Can Sitharaman mark the turning point in India's recovery?

The FM’s third Budget tackles the considerable wishlist of industries and consumers that were impaired by the Covid-19 pandemic, while acknowledging the spending challenges of the administration.

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Budget 2021: Govt may spend big to push growth

It has been billed as a Budget like never before, triggering expectations that the government will open the purse strings to nurse the Covid-hit economy back onto a robust growth trajectory with a massive fiscal push.

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India's budget aiming to revive economy despite limited fiscal headroom

The government is likely to hike import duties on a number of high-end goods in a bid to raise more than 210 billion rupees in revenue, government sources earlier told Reuters.

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Home working increases cyber-security fears

IT experts say that with people working from home the risk of hacking has increased.

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IT experts say that with people working from home the risk of hacking has increased.

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Five key numbers to watch out for in Niramala Sitharaman's Budget spending plan

While the success of the budget depends on how effectively India is able to contain rising infections through vaccine drives in the nation of more than 1.3 billion people, here are five key numbers to watch out for in the spending plan:

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Budget likely to increase food subsidy allocation by 4%-6%: Sources

For the 2021/22 fiscal year, India's total outlay toward the food subsidy is expected to cross Rs 2.1 lakh crore ($28.7 billion), but the budgeted allocation is likely to go up by only 4 per cent-6 per cent from Rs 1.16 lakh crore earmarked in the previous year.

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GST fraud of Rs 940 cr busted, 340 bogus firms under lens

With the arrest of six persons, including the kingpin, Delhi Police's Cyber Crime Unit (CyPAD) has busted a GST refund scam involving fake business transactions worth Rs 940 crore.

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Budget FY22: Can FM rejuvenate the Indian economy? Here are some possibilities

Will she be able to provide the spark that can turn the recovering economy into an engine of growth? ET looks at the possibilities.

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Legislative agenda on budget day: Cryptocurrency, infrastructure, investment

Government to set up new DFI for infrastructure financing. Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill is also on the agenda.

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View: It’s important to get real about what Budget can — and cannot — do

For starters, remember the budget is really a statement of GoI’s receipts and expenditure for the current year, and an estimate of receipts and expenditure for the next fiscal. It is not a magic wand that can dramatically set all our economic ills right. Two, it is the budget of the Union government.

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GST collections for Jan 2021 touch all-time high of Rs 1.2 lakh crore

"The GST revenues during January 2021 are the highest since the introduction of GST and have almost touched the ₹ 1.2 lakh crore mark, exceeding last month’s record collection of ₹1.15 lakh crore," the ministry said.

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Sitharaman's 'Economic Vaccine' coming on Monday; will Budget 2021-22 go beyond 'bahi-khata'?

As India emerges from the COVID-19 crisis, the ninth budget under the Modi government, including an interim one, is widely expected to focus on boosting spending on job creation and rural development, generous allocations for development schemes, putting more money in the hands of the average taxpayer and easing rules to attract foreign investments.

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Why Budget 2021 should make space for technology & robotics adoption

According to a recent study, the total number of jobs related to developing and deploying new technologies, like automation, AI and robotics-related applications, may grow to 20 to 50 million globally by 2030 and more than 375 million workers globally.

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Rural demand seen ebbing in 2021-22, but urban consumption to rise: Report

The report said the boost to rural demand by a bumper autumn kharif harvest is largely offset by weakening pricing power. Accordingly the report, estimates farm income growth will slow to 7.4 per cent during the kharif harvest from 10.6 per cent last year, while summer rabi income will grow by 10.4 per cent in 2021, from 8.7 per cent last year.

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Government mops up Rs 19,499 crore from CPSE disinvestment, buyback so far in FY21

FM Nirmala Sitharaman had in her budget for 2020-21 set a target of raising Rs 2.1 lakh crore from privatisation, sale of minority stakes in state-owned companies and share buyback by CPSEs. While Rs 1.20 lakh crore was to come from stake sale in CPSEs, Rs 90,000 crore was to be mopped up from share sale in financial institutions.

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Budget Bites: Quirky and unconventional aspects of the Union Budget

Budget Bites: Quirky and unconventional aspects of the Union Budget

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Fun facts about Union Budget

Fun facts about Union Budget

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View: Let the RBI simply print the extra money needed, avoiding the risks of a Covid tax in this Budget

Past experience (ask Vodafone or Cairn) means the credibility of Indian politicians is almost zero in tax matters. Covid could continue for years if new strains appear, and so could the proposed tax.

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Happy about jabs, worried about jobs: India's mood ahead of Budget

ET Magazine conducted a three tier poll — of 100 CEOs, 27 economists and 3,476 middle-class Indians — over a fortnight in January to better understand the year gone by, where India is today and do some crystal-gazing into the future. What do they want from this budget? How do they look at this long pandemic period? How do they see the government’s handling of crucial issues and what more do they expect?

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With fiscal support, growth will be 6.5-7.5% by FY23: CEA

Asked about the timing for pulling back the stimulus, he said the Economic Survey had clearly stated fiscal support should continue till the country returned to the pre-pandemic growth path.

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Budget 2021: Infra sector seeks spending boost, continued focus on ease of doing business

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India needs to make efforts to get rating upgrade in line with fundamentals: CEA

The Economic Survey presented in Parliament on Friday expressed concern over lower sovereign rating assigned by agencies like Fitch, S&P and Moody's to India despite its strong economic fundamentals.

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Revival of animal spirits with 11% growth rate next fiscal year: CEA Subramanian

The Economic Survey 2020-21 presented in Parliament on Friday expects the growth rate to rebound sharply from an estimated record contraction of 7.7 per cent in the current financial year on account of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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US lobby group urges India not to tighten foreign e-commerce rules

India is considering revising the rules after traders in the country accused Amazon's Indian division and Walmart's Flipkart of creating complex structures to bypass investment regulations, Reuters reported this month.

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Government to introduce bills to set up DFI, Digital Currency

“To set up a new DFI as a provider, enabler and catalyst for infrastructure financing,” the NaBFID Bill 2021 purpose of statement noted, adding that NaBFID will be the, “principal financial institution and development bank for building and sustaining a supportive ecosystem across the life cycle of infrastructure projects.”

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The tax reliefs that can make this a Budget India hasn't seen in a hundred years

The end of pandemic in sight, all eyes are now on the upcoming Budget in the hope of some much-wanted reliefs and incentives.

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View: It is time to view government health spending as an investment, not expense

It would be wise for both governments and individuals to consider health as an investment instead. Individual ‘investment’ in self-care and preventive health yields returns by lowering need for, and spending on curative care. Government investment in health has a strong multiplier effect throughout the economy in addition to enhancing the population’s well-being.

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Saving lives came first: Economic Survey establishes how India’s lockdown controlled Covid and will help in a V-shaped recovery

​The response drew on epidemiological and economic research, especially those pertaining to the Spanish Flu, which highlighted that an early, intense lockdown provided a win-win strategy to save lives, and preserve livelihoods via economic recovery in the medium to long term.

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Putting changes in perspective

Covid-related relaxations gave a boost to NPS. Contribution under NPS grew over 30% with assets under management at Rs 4.94 lakh crore as on September 30, 2020, as compared to Rs 3.71 lakh crore a year ago.

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Growth Gyaan: Tips on raising women’s participation in workforce, and how digitization may reduce inequalities in education

Besides, non-discriminatory practices at the workplace like pay and career progression are needed to help draw more females to join the labour force. Female labour force participation stood at 26.5% in 2018-19 compared to 80.3% for males.

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Recovery play: Economy will take two years to surpass pre-pandemic levels

​Following a strong 10-12% rebound in FY22, survey looks ahead assuming a 6.5% rise in FY23 and 7% GDP growth in FY24

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India’s economic recovery like cricket team’s performance down under: CEA

India’s V-shaped recovery was like the Indian cricket team’s performance in Australia which bounced from an all-time low score of 36 runs to clinch the four-match Test series 2-1.

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Fiscal push or reforms: What should it be? Fine print holds clues

Importantly, and perhaps more so after the pandemic, it calls for increasing investment in health infrastructure, by boosting public spending from 1% of GDP currently to 2.5-3.0% of GDP, along with the setting up of a sectoral regulator in light of the market failures due to information asymmetry.

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Staying on track amid a pandemic, says Economic Adviser Rajiv Mishra

The SOE describes the policy dilemma of lives versus livelihoods faced globally at the beginning of the pandemic forcing countries to choose between the two. Deploying the containment strategy India initially chose lives but soon enough livelihoods as well once the system to handle the pandemic was in place to hasten the unlocking of the economy.

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Commerce Ministry recommends imposing anti-dumping duty on Chinese chemical

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended the duty after concluding in its probe that '1-phenyl-3-methyl -5-pyrazolone' from China has been exported at dumped prices into India, which impacted the domestic industry.

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Robert Downey Jr: Planet faces existential crisis

The Hollywood star says his role as Iron Man led him to think about climate change.

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Technew

The Hollywood star says his role as Iron Man led him to think about climate change.

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India says economy will take two years to reach pre-pandemic level

"Overall, India is well on its path to a V-shaped recovery to pre-pandemic levels and beyond," the government said.

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Govt has executed infra projects even during pandemic for Atmanirbhar Bharat: President

"My Government believes that building modern infrastructure will serve as a strong foundation for a new and 'Atmanirbhar Bharat'. Rapid execution of major infrastructure projects and their completion, even during the coronavirus pandemic, demonstrates our resolve," the President said.

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India projects economic growth of 11% y/y for 2021/22

While the survey forecast a "V-shaped" economic recovery, it also cautioned that it would take at least two years to revert to pre-pandemic gross domestic levels.

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India says fiscal deficit may overshoot budget estimates in 2020/21

"In order to sustain the recovery in aggregate demand, the government may have to continue with an expansionary fiscal stance," the report said, adding the growth recovery would facilitate buoyant revenue collections in the medium term and enable a sustainable fiscal path.

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