Nirmala Sitharaman Archives - Page 11 of 13

Don’t be afraid of my questions on employment: Rahul to FM

February 3, 2020 - by IANS

New Delhi: Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday took potshot at Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman over unemployment and said that she should not fear her questions as he is asking …

National / News Update

44% people describe Budget as pro-poor: IANS-Cvoter poll

February 2, 2020 - by IANS

New Delhi: With Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the Union Budget 2020-21, around 44.7 per cent respondents in an IANS-Cvoter survey feel that the Budget was pro-poor to a large extent. …

National / News Update

FM’s budget proposals get highest-ever rating since 2013

February 2, 2020 - by IANS

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s marathon Budget 2020 speech that ran into two hours and 40 minutes with proposals covering all sectors of the economy seems to have gone down …

National / News Update

Government to launch new schemes to support export sector

February 1, 2020 - by IANS

New Delhi: To support and promote exports, the Centre on Saturday proposed to launch new schemes in FY 2020-21. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her budget speech, said that the Centre …

New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS) In a bid to increase demand in the realty market, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced a proposal to extend additional deductions of up to Rs 1.5 lakh for the interest paid on loans for purchase of affordable houses, up to March 2021. The deductions so far were allowed on housing loans sanctioned on or before March 31, 2020. "For realisation of the goal of 'housing for all' and affordable housing, in the last budget I had announced an additional deduction of up to Rs 1.50 lakh for interest paid on loans taken for the purchase of an affordable house. In order to ensure that more persons avail of this benefit and to further incentivise the affordable housing, I propose to extend the date of loan sanction for availing this additional deduction by one more year," Sitharaman said. Further, in order to boost the supply of affordable houses in the country, the Budget proposed a tax holiday on profits earned by developers of affordable housing projects approved by March 31, 2020. She also announced concession to real estate transactions. Currently, while taxing income from capital gains, business profits and other sources in respect of transactions in real estate, if the consideration value is less than the circle rate by more than 5 per cent, the difference is counted as income both in the hands of the purchaser and seller. "In order to minimise hardships in real estate transactions and provide relief to the sector, I propose to increase the limit of 5 per cent to 10 per cent," the Minister said. These announcements were, however, not adequate to raise the sentiment in the realty market. Niranjan Hiranandani, President, National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) said: "Marathon Budget 2020 has set the tone in a positive direction but failed to announce the much-awaited economic stimulus to kick-off the 5 trillion dollars economy. It subsequently has incremental allocation inadequacies with overemphasis on fiscal prudence and inflation target." "The labour-intensive real estate sector -- which had pegged hope on additional liquidity infusion, tax reforms and rental housing -- was overlooked in the Budget. Any fiscal measure in the sluggish real estate sector could have provided a fillip. Wherein, tax benefits extended to both home buyers and developers in affordable housing sector will encourage more launches in this segment," Hiranandani said. Rahul Grover, CEO of SECCPL, however, said that the Budget revealed the government's intentions towards bettering the infrastructure. "The real estate sector can expect an array of opportunities to explore different projects, both residential and commercial, and the tax benefits being offered on the affordable housing initiatives are a positive indication of the year to follow," he added.

National / News Update

Tax deduction on affordable housing loans extended by one year

February 1, 2020 - by IANS

New Delhi: In a bid to increase demand in the realty market, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday announced a proposal to extend additional deductions of up to Rs 1.5 …

National / News Update

Bengaluru corporates welcome ‘comprehensive’ Budget

February 1, 2020 - by IANS

Bengaluru: Corporates in Bengaluru welcomed the 2020-21 Union Budget for being comprehensive and focusing on rural India as well. “There is stability, overall it is a good Budget. Initially the focus …

National / News Update

Budgetary blues haunt education sector

February 1, 2020 - by IANS

New Delhi: The education sector doesn’t have much to talk about, so far as allocations in the latest Budget document are concerned. Compared to the last Budget when funds to the …

National / News Update

Fiscal deficit for FY20 at 3.8%: FM

February 1, 2020 - by IANS

New Delhi: The fiscal deficit for the current fiscal will be 3.8%, up from the earlier estimated 3.3%, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday. “The issue of fiscal deficit has …

Sensex tanks 1,000 points, Nifty down 300

National / News Update

Budget fails to cheer market, Sensex down over 300 points

February 1, 2020 - by IANS

New Delhi: As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for financial year 2020-21 on Saturday, the domestic equity markets responded in a subdued manner with the BSE Sensex trading …

National / Special

Bullet train project to be actively pursued: FM

February 1, 2020 - by IANS

New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said that the work on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious 508-km Ahmedabad-Mumbai High Speed train project will be actively pursued and also …