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Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal on Saturday said that despite a fiscal pressure, the state government made payments to the tune of Rs 26,000 crore to various sectors in March alone. Talking to the media after visiting the treasury here in the state capital on the last working day of the fiscal year, Balagopal said, "We made payments to the tune of Rs 26,000 crore in this March alone. This is higher than the last fiscal year. We made payments to various sectors at a time when we were facing financial pressure." He said the state government effectively intervened to manage the financial crisis and an interim application on the borrowing limit and other matters are pending before the Supreme Court. Balagopal added that the apex court recently ruled in the state's favour as there was substance in its arguments regarding the financial strangulation. The apex court was hearing a suit filed by the Kerala government that alleged that the Union of India was regulating the state's ...
The Uttarakhand government on Tuesday tabled the annual budget of more than Rs 89,000 crore for financial year 2024-25 in the state assembly. Presenting the budget in the House, state finance minister Premchand Agarwal said it was an inclusive budget aimed at building a developed Uttarakhand. The budget will be passed on March 1 after a debate in the house over the next few days.
Finance Ministry has asked other ministries and departments to surrender unspent Budgetary allocation for 2023-24 by March 8. The last date for accepting the Surrender of Savings anticipated in the grants for 2023-24 has been fixed as March 8, 2024, an office memorandum issued by the Department of Economic Affairs dated February 22 said. It is requested that the details of surrender of savings under each unit of appropriation may be sent to the Budget Division, Ministry of Finance by the said date in a specified format, it said. "The ministries/departments are also requested to furnish the details of excess or shortfall in recoveries, receipts if any, in the respective grants against the original estimates or recovery, while intimating the surrender of savings," it said.
A bill which seeks to deal sternly with malpractices and irregularities in competitive examinations, with provisions for a maximum jail term of 10 years and a fine up to Rs 1 crore was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, 2024 was introduced by Union minister Jitendra Singh. Students will not be a target of the proposed law. It will act against organised gangs, mafia elements and those indulging in malpractices and will not even spare government officials found in collusion with them. The move comes against the backdrop of cancellation of a series of competitive tests such as the teacher recruitment exam in Rajasthan, Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group-D posts in Haryana, recruitment exam for junior clerks in Gujarat and constable recruitment examination in Bihar following question paper leaks. The bill also proposes a high-level national technical committee on public examinations that will make recommendations to ma
Jindal Stainless Ltd (JSL) MD Abhyuday Jindal has urged the government to remove import duty on raw materials in the upcoming Union Budget, a move, the industry leader said, will provide a level-playing field to domestic players. He suggested levying Basic Customs Duty (BCD) on imports as the domestic market is being affected by cheap and sub-standard stainless steel products from select group of countries like China and Vietnam. "One long-standing requirement of the stainless steel industry has been that there are certain raw materials that are not present in the country like ferro nickel and ferro molybdenum," Jindal told PTI. At present, 2.5 per cent import duty is levied on ferro nickel and 5 per cent on ferro molybdenum. Speaking further on Budget expectations, the JSL MD said severe dumping is happening from China, Vietnam, and certain countries with which India has Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). This is putting severe pressure on MSMEs and preventing the stainless steel indu