Search Result for : Shaktikanta Das

PTI Upset over not getting a rating upgrade, India has lashed out at global rating agencies saying they are far detached from ground realities and must introspect as the reforms initiated certainly warranted an upgrade. Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said India was being denied an upgrade even as growth and fundamentals improve. In past too, India has questioned the methodology used by global rating agencies saying the nation compares favourably with other emerging countries on metrics such as default risk. In particular, it points to S&P Global Ratings keeping China at AA- despite rising debt and slowing growth while India has been kept at one step above junk. Moody's and Fitch too give similar rating citing ...

Ranjeet Mahtani & Sweta Rajan All eyes and ears are on the GST Council's meeting this weekend. At the time of stop press, the update is that the GST Council has reached a consensus on the CGST  and IGST bills, but the State GST bill could not be discussed - it emerges that some amendments by the Law Department are yet to be incorporated. These agreed bills will be taken up later this month by the Parliament, and the GST Council will have a further meeting on March 16th. Ahead of the GST Council’s meetings today, March 4th and tomorrow, a limited indication of some of its proposals to the provisions of the GST laws has been provided.  Peak rate at 40% One such ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Delighted at the GDP figures, the Ministry of Finance said that the growth of 7% in the third quarter has refuted negative speculations and projections about the impact of demonetisation on growth. Shaktikanta Das, Economic Affairs Secretary, said that the growth in the third quarter and the projected growth of 7.1% for entire fiscal are noteworthy. “The overestimation that was done about the so-called negative impact of demonetisation it is very satisfying to know that it is not there. Because we still remain 7% plus growth country. The third quarter GDP numbers are out and as you have seen the numbers completely negate the kind of negative projections and speculations made about the impact of demonetisation,” Das told ...

The Dollar Business BureauUnderlining India’s strong macroeconomic parameters, the government on Tuesday held a meeting with the global credit rating agency Fitch and pitched for an upgrade in the country’s credit rating. Finance ministry officials explained to the agency about the government’s intended fiscal disciplines while indicating that the Union Budget 2017 will spur economic growth in the country. Recently, several credit rating agencies have denied providing an upgrade to the country’s credit ratings, citing reasons such as stressed balance sheets of corporates as well as banks. The government officials also asked Fitch to explain how it rated the credit ratings of any country. The Fitch officials, in turn, explained that they considered the government’s structural reforms, which ...

The Dollar Business Bureau Shaktikanta Das, Economic Affairs Secretary, said that India is trying to enhance shipments to China in order to reduce the trade deficit, which reached $46 billion in 2016. "Our commerce and trade department is working with China to increase our exports there. So that there is parity in trade with China," Das said while interacting with the Chinese media delegation in New Delhi. In 2016, trade between the two countries was $71 billion. But India had a huge trade deficit of $46 billion with China. The Finance Ministry, in a series of tweets, said that India is intending to augment exports to China and was also working on that. For sustainable trade ties, trade balance is required between China and India ...

The Dollar Business Bureau The government has yet to come to a decision with regards to tax on banking transactions, but it has got various recommendations from the Committee of Chief Ministers, constituted by the NITI Aayog, said Economic Affairs Secretary, Shaktikanta Das on Thursday. “The government is carefully examining the report, no decision has been taken so far, as and when a decision is taken, naturally government will give it out,” said Das, while speaking at the ASSOCHAM’s 96th Annual Function in New Delhi. Mentioning the strong fiscal foundation of India, he said that the fiscal deficit of the country has gradually been cut down,and that it is essential to find the perfect balance between the public expenditure requirements and fiscal consolidation by focussing those ...

The Dollar Business Bureau  Inter-ministerial body Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) will consider 17 proposals of foreign investment on December 28 that includes proposals of Sanofi Synthelabo India Pvt Ltd, Gland Pharma Ltd and Star Den Media Services.  Headed by the Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, FIPB is scheduled to have a meeting on December 28. There are around 17 proposals on the agenda, the Finance Ministry said in its notice. The other proposals of foreign investment on the agenda are Flag Telecom Singapore Pte Ltd, You Broadband India, Idea Cellular Infrastructure Services and AMP Solar India Pvt Ltd.  India permits Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in most of the sectors via the automatic route. However, in some specific segments, which are considered sensitive for the country and security, the investment proposals have to be first approved by FIPB.  In ...

The Dollar Business Bureau The lack of cash in the economy after demonetisation is expected to be fixed with the government issuing high-volume limited tender to import currency paper from different foreign firms to be used by the country’s four security printing presses. According to a Finance Ministry meeting, chaired by Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, the volume of the import order may stand at 20,000 tonnes. This is a huge number when compared to 8,000 tonnes of currency paper imported in the current year. The order is expected to fulfill the printing requirement of the economy for over a year. As per officials in the ministry, it is not a very big import order as the country has always imported currency paper in the past.  But the ...