Heena Sharma Blog

  The government on Monday announced a Rs 18,000 crore scheme to augment public transport in urban areas. In the first paperless Union Budget , Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said there will be 100 per cent electrification of broad gauge rail tracks by December 2023. She also said a record Rs 1,10,055 crore will be provided for railways, of which Rs 1,07,100 crore will be for capital expenditure in 2021-22. Read More

  Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting her third Budget in a short while from now. Here are the key numbers to watch out for in the Budget for 2021-22 , which is widely expected to be a " economic vaccine " for the pandemic-battered economy. Sitharaman, who had in her first budget in 2019 replaced leather briefcase -- which had been in use for decades for carrying budget documents -- with a traditional red cloth 'bahi-khata', had last month stated that the budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 will be "like never before". Check Budget live updates here Covid-19 spending: India has started the world's largest Covid inoculation programme from January 16 and is using two vaccines Covishield and Covaxin. The expenditure on vaccination this fiscal as well as in the next would be the most watched figures in the Budget. Fiscal Deficit: The budgeted fiscal deficit, which is the difference between government expenditure and income, was 3.5 pe...

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may announce second-round capital infusion for public sector general insurance companies in the upcoming Budget to improve their financial health. The government infused Rs 2,500 crore in the three insurers -- National Insurance, Oriental Insurance and United India Insurance -- through first supplementary demands for grants for 2019-20 last month. However, these companies would require additional Rs 10,000-12,000 crore capital dose to meet the prescribed solvency margin, sources said. The sources further said that announcement to this effect can be made in the Budget 2020-21 that is scheduled on February 1. Infusion will not only improve their financial health but facilitate merger announced in the Budget 2018-19. In the Budget 2018-19 speech, then Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced that the three companies would be merged into a single insurance entity. Read More

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), having changed management last month following a clash with the government, is likely to transfer an interim dividend of Rs 300-400 billion ($4.32 billion-$5.8 billion) to the government by March, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The dividend could help Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration bridge a widening budget deficit following a drop in tax collections, and would come after the government pushed the RBI for the additional funds ahead of a national election due by May. Former finance ministry official Shaktikanta Das was appointed as the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), following resignation of Urjit Patel last month amid tensions over the dividend payout and other issues. The government and RBI have now appointed a panel to look into the issue around the sharing of the RBI's reserves. Read More Business Standard