FM sticks to fiscal roadmap, FY17 deficit at 3.5%

February 29, 2016

New Delhi, Feb 29: Amid debate over balancing growth and financial management, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today adhered to the fiscal consolidation roadmap by proposing to keep the deficit at 3.5 per cent of GDP in 2016-17.

aj copyHe also assured that development agenda will not be compromised and a committee would be set up to review the working of Fiscal Resposibility and Budget Management (FRBM).

The fiscal deficit in current fiscal has been estimated at 3.9 per cent, which will be brought down to 3.5 per cent in next fiscal.

"While doing this I have ensured that development agenda has not been compromised," Jaitley said in the next fiscal's Budget speech.

Total government expenditure in next fiscal would be Rs 19.78 lakh crore. Of this, Rs 5.50 lakh crore would go towards Plan expenditure and another Rs 14.28 lakh crore towards non-Plan expenditure.

The revenue Deficit for current fiscal has been bettered to 2.5 per cent of GDP, from the budgeted 2.8 per cent.

Jaitley further said that in view of the uncertainty and volatility in global markets, time has come to review the FRBM Act.

A committee to review the implementation of FRBM would be set up, he said, adding that the government will also work with the state governments towards doing away with the distinction between plan and non-plan expenditure.

Last year Jaitley had delayed the fiscal consolidation roadmap in order to build infrastructure by boosting public investment.

As per the deficit roadmap announced by Jaitley in last budget, fiscal deficit was to be brought down to 3.9 per cent in current fiscal and further to 3.5 per cent by 2016-17. The deficit was to be lowered to 3 per cent by 2017-18.

As per the earlier roadmap for fiscal consolidation, the deficit was to come down to 3 per cent by 2016-17.

The Economic Survey tabled in Parliament on Friday had said that "credibility and optimality" argued in favour of sticking to deficit target of 3.5 per cent of GDP for 2016-17, indicating some room for an upward revision.

"There are very good arguments for a strategy of aggressive fiscal consolidation...and equally good arguments for a strategy of moderate consolidation that can place the debt on a sustainable path while avoiding imparting a major negative demand shock to a still-fragile recovery," it had said.

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News Network
July 22,2020

New Delhi, Jul 22: Congress leader Sachin Pilot has served a legal notice to party MLA Giriraj Malinga, for claiming that the former had offered him money to join the BJP.

"Former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot has served a legal notice to Congress MLA Giriraj Malinga for his Rs 35 crore bribery allegation," a source close to Pilot said.
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Earlier, addressing a press conference, Malinga said, "Those MLAs who are stuck either in Haryana or Jaipur, are running after money. To say, they are not, are false claims. Even I was offered the same by Pilot, which I had refused. Came to this party knowing BJP and Congress do not accept money to give tickets."

When asked by the reporters whether he was offered Rs 35 crore, he claimed by saying, "Yes, 35." The MLA claimed he was himself the prove when the reporters asked for the same.

The political situation in Rajasthan is in turmoil after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot sacked his then-deputy Sachin Pilot and the latter's confidants from his council of ministers. The Congress has also claimed that BJP was trying to buy its party MLAs.

On Monday, the Rajasthan High Court had said that it would hear the petition filed by Pilot and 18 of his loyalist MLAs on July 24, against the disqualification notices issued against them, a lawyer said.

"The arguments in the matter have been concluded. The court has heard the arguments from all the parties. The High Court has slated the matter for orders on July 24," Advocate Prateek Kasliwal told reporters after the hearing. 

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News Network
February 17,2020

New Delhi, Feb 17: Four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder will be hanged on March 3 at 6 am a Delhi court said on Monday.

The Patiala House Court on Monday issued fresh death warrants against four convicts while hearing a petition by the state and Nirbhaya's parents.

Earlier, Delhi High Court on February 5 granted a week's time to the four convicts to avail of all legal remedies available to them and said that the convicts cannot be hanged separately since they were convicted for the same crime.

A Delhi Court had earlier issued a death warrant against the four convicts -- Vinay Sharma, Akshay Thakur, Pawan Gupta, and Mukesh Singh -- on January 7 and they were scheduled to be executed on January 22 at Tihar Jail. Later, the execution was suspended indefinitely by a Delhi court.

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News Network
May 18,2020

May 18: Goldman Sachs expects India will experience its deepest recession ever after a poor run of data underscored the damaging economic impact of lockdowns in the world’s second-most populous nation.

Gross domestic product will contract by an annualized 45% in the second quarter from the prior three months, compared with Goldman’s previous forecast of a 20% slump. A stronger rebound of 20% is now seen for the third quarter, while projections for the fourth quarter and first of next year are unchanged at 14% and 6.5%.

Those estimates imply that real GDP will fall by 5% in the 2021 fiscal year, which would be deeper than any other recession India has ever experienced, Goldman economists Prachi Mishra and Andrew Tilton wrote in a note dated May 17.

India’s government has extended its nationwide lockdown until May 31, while further easing restrictions in certain sectors to boost economic activity, as coronavirus cases escalate across the country. The announcement followed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s fifth briefing in as many days, in which she outlined details of the country’s $265 billion virus rescue package, which is equivalent to 10% of India’s GDP.

 “There have been a series of structural reform announcements across several sectors over the past few days,” the Goldman economists wrote. “These reforms are more medium-term in nature, and we, therefore, do not expect these to have an immediate impact on reviving growth. We will continue to monitor their implementation to gauge their effect on the medium-term outlook.”

Infections are surging across the South Asian nation of 1.3 billion people, with more than 91,300 infections, including 2,897 deaths as of Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

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