Skip to main content

Budget session of Parliament likely to begin on January 3

By

The budget session of Parliament is likely to begin on January 31, advancing it by over three weeks, the cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs decided on  Tuesday.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley will present the combined Union budget – including allocations for the railways and ending a 92-year-old tradition of presenting a separate railway budget – on February 1.
Jaitley was present at the meeting also attended by home minister Rajnath Singh, parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.
Officials expect the move will allow for earlier allocation of funds for government schemes and projects and lead to their better implementation on the ground. In the past, funds were usually not allotted from the beginning of the financial year on April 1, creating a backlog and choking funds.
Though the budget was presented in February, several tax proposals kick-in only from June after Parliament passes the annual finance bill in May. A group of secretaries in the government had recommended advancing the budget to overcome the problem.
The move will also allow individuals and companies more time to firm up savings and tax payout plans.
Parliament passes the budget through a two-stage process. A vote on account is passed in March to meet necessary expenses on employees’ salaries and other costs for two to three months.
The finance bill, which contains tax changes, and the demands and appropriation bill, which spells out full year expenditure details, are passed in May. Political. Pressures often force tax changes proposed in February during the finance bill’s passage in May.
Parliament had witnessed disruptions through the month-long winter session that was a virtual washout as opposition parties and the government clashed primarily over the recall of 500- and 1,000-rupee banknotes.
The confrontation overshadowed Parliament’s legislative business, including passage of key social and financial reforms bills.
The Lok Sabha, where the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) enjoys a brute majority with more than 330 parliamentarians, managed to pass two bills in the winter session. The Rajya Sabha, where the NDA is in a minority, passed a single legislation.
The Lower House was able to use 15% of the allotted time, against the Rajya Sabha’s 19% - a sharp fall from the previous session in which the two Houses spent 101% and 96% of their time.
These allegations and counter-allegations ahead of elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and three other states next year could cast a shadow on the legislative agenda of the government in the coming session of Parliament.

Hindustan Times New Delhi , 02nd May 2017

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

By
  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...
Post a Comment
Read more

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

By
  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Healthy balance sheets augur well for economy: RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra

By
  Large tariffs by the United States administration and elevated geopolitical risk have increased near-term global financial stability risks, and along with weather events pose downside risks to domestic growth, Reserve Bank of India(RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra said in the foreword to the Financial Stability Report released today.Noting that domestic growth momentum is buoyed by strong domestic drivers, sound macroeconomic fundamentals and prudent policies, Malhotra said: “External spillovers and weather-related events could pose downside risks to growth.”On the other hand, he said the outlook for inflation is benign, and there is greater confidence in the durable alignment of inflation with the Reserve Bank’s target.Commenting that the structural shifts reshaping the global economy are making policy intervention challenging, the Governor emphasised the need for central banks and financial sector regulators to remain vigilant, prudent and agile in safeguarding their economies and...
Post a Comment
Read more