Who were the last 5 NDA's Finance Ministers?

The Last 5 National Democratic Alliance Finance Ministers.

Budget 2019 Live : Today Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present her first Union budget in Parliament at 11 am. This is also the first Budget of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government in its second term.

Here is the list of last 5 NDA’s Finance Ministers who presented Union Budget for the people of India:

1. Yashwant Sinha (19 March 1998 – 1 July 2002)

2. Jaswant Singh (1 July 2002 – 22 May 2004)

3. Arun Jaitley (26 May 2014 – 14 May 2018)

4. Piyush Goyal (14 May 2018 – 22 August 2018 & 23 Jan 2019 – 15 Feb 2019)

5. Nirmala Sitharaman (31 May 2019 – Incumbent)

If you want to catch the live updates on today’s union budget 2019 than please follow the link → Budget 2019

Budget 2019 LIVE : Nirmala Sitharam to present her first budget in Parliament today at 11 am

The annual Union Budget 2019-2019 will be tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam today.

Budget 2019: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam will present her first Union Budget in Parliament today at 11 am. This is also the first Budget of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government in its second term.

Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget will be keenly watched, as it comes at the back of record unemployment, farm distress, a sagging investment ecosystem and contracting service sector. Macroeconomic cues are not encouraging either, with the rise of protectionism trade disputes (specifically the US-China trade war) emanating around the world.

Nirmala Sitharaman will become the second woman to present the Budget in the Indian parliament. In 1970-71, the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi took the portfolio of the Finance Minister after Moraji Desai resigned. But Sitharaman does hold the distinction of being the first independent female finance minister of India as Indira Gandhi was also the prime minister of the country at the time she handled the finance portfolio.

Budget 2019 is expected to lay down the Modi 2.0 government’s road map for the economy and the nation for the next five years. It might look to boost spending at the cost of short-term slippage in fiscal deficit targets.

Catch LIVE Updates here → Budget 2019 Live

Interim Budget 2019: Modi assures more sops and benefits in full budget after the elections

Narendra Modi said that his government has been able to address the problem of financial distress of the farmers from the roots in the Interim Budget 2019.

 

Interim Budget 2018: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hailed the interim Budget 2019-20 as a “historic” step towards empowering peasants, workmen and the middle class, and promised more benefits for all sections in the full Budget if his party returned to power after the Lok Sabha polls.

In his presentation of the interim Budget in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal had announced an income support scheme for farmers, a pension scheme for workers in the unorganised sector, and a rebate for taxpayers with a taxable income of up to Rs 5 lakh, among other measures, making a strong pitch for the re-election of the National Democratic Alliance government.

“The interim Budget was just a trailer,” the Prime Minister said at a rally in Durgapur, West Bengal. “Wait till we bring out the regular Budget, which will have much more to offer and help the country emerge as a new India. Be it taxes or reaching out to farmers, the Budget was prepared keeping in mind that everybody benefits. It truly reflects our philosophy of sabka saath, sabka vikas.”

The PM said his government had been able to address the financial distress of farmers. Instead of announcing a one-time loan waiver for farmers, he said, the government had come up with a long-term solution whereby assistance worth Rs 7.5 trillion would be given to them in the next 10 years.

Read the full story here → Highlights of Budget 2019

Interim Budget 2019: In Modi's pro-farmer, pro-middle class Budget, here's what was missing

Conscious of unfulfilled promises and a patchy performance meant Goyal curbed use of 'development,' 'manufacturing,' 'growth' and 'infrastructure' unlike previous years.

 

Interim Budget 2018: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration delivered an election-year budget with a focus on rural parts of the country and the middle class.

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal unveiled measures on Friday that will allocate around $10 billion a year for an income plan for about 120 million farmers and give 185 billion rupees of relief to taxpayers in the year to March 2020.

Modi stormed to power in 2014 on promises of higher growth, faster job creation and better days for the country’s billion-plus population. But a lackluster performance on some of them coupled with relentless attack from the opposition, meant a last ditch attempt to set things right.

What Was Missing?

Conscious of unfulfilled promises and a patchy performance meant Goyal curbed use of ‘development,’ ‘manufacturing,’ ‘growth’ and ‘infrastructure’ unlike previous years.

Read the full story here → Highlights of Budget 2019

Interim Budget 2019: Tax rebates for middle class to benefit travel, tourism sector

The focus on tax rebates for the middle class has brought a sigh of relief for them and now they will be able to spend more on vacations.

Interim Budget 2018: Various initiatives in the interim budget such as tax rebates for the middle class will benefit the travel and tourism sector, industry players said.

"On the whole, the interim budget is promising for the travel industry, complemented by further tax rebate for the middle income group more savings, more travel," said FCM Travel Solutions MD Rakshit Desai.

Expressing similar views, EaseMyTrip Co-Founder & CEO Nishant Pittie said the budget announced promising initiatives that will definitely augur well for the Indian travel and tourism industry.
The focus on tax rebates for the middle class has brought a sigh of relief for them and now they will be able to spend more on vacations.

The government has increased the funds for the tourism ministry to Rs 2,189.22 crore for 2019-20.

"The exemption of income tax for middle and lower class segment of the society will increase the disposable income, which in line will trigger demand across consumer focused industries," Royal Orchid Hotels MD Chander Baljee said.

Read the full story here → Highlights of Budget 2019

Interim Budget 2019: Individuals earning Rs 8-9 lakh annually can escape taxes

Interim Budget for 2019-20 proposed to give full tax rebate to individuals having taxable annual income up to Rs 5 lakh with a view to benefiting around 3 crore middle class taxpayers. 

Interim Budget 2018: Individuals earning Rs 8-9 lakh annually would not have to pay any income tax if they make proper investments in tax saving instruments like provident fund, life insurance, pension scheme and home loan, Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said Saturday.

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal in the Interim Budget for 2019-20 proposed to give full tax rebate to individuals having taxable annual income up to Rs 5 lakh with a view to benefitting around 3 crore middle class taxpayers at an estimated revenue sacrifice of Rs 18,500 crore.

"We have given complete rebate of Income Tax so that people having taxable income of Rs 5 lakh do not have to pay any tax. Now people having even higher gross income if they make investment in 80C or if they pay interest on education or home loan, or if they invest in pension scheme, mediclaim, critical illness then people having much higher income in the range of Rs 8-9 lakh also can get their taxable income reduced to below Rs 5 lakh and get advantage of rebate and not pay any tax," Pandey told PTI in an interview.

The move would provide relief to middle class taxpayers comprising self employed, small businesses, small traders, salary earners, pensioners and senior citizens.

Under Section 80C of I-T Act, tax rebate is available for investments made in specified instruments like PPF, life insurance, tution fee, five-year term deposit in banks and Post Office, up to Rs 1.5 lakh in a year.

Read the full story here → Highlights of Budget 2019

Interim budget 2019: Soon, assessment and refunds for taxpayers in 24 hours

Technology-led improvements being undertaken by the government will result in a more user-friendly experience for taxpayers.

Interim Budget 2018: The government has been using technology extensively to make taxpayers’ lives easier. Even during the interim Budget, the finance minister (FM) highlighted the progress that has been made on the increased use of technology by the tax department.
Many functions such as returns, assessment, refunds and queries are now undertaken online.
With a massive increase in the number of tax return files - almost 68.5 million - it is not easy to deliver a taxpayer-friendly experience. Strong technology support is required to process returns without errors and to carry out other functions online.
The government is moving ahead fast. As the FM announced in his speech, the government has approved a technology-intensive project wherein tax returns will be processed within 24 hours and refunds will be issued simultaneously.
This is certainly music to the ears of taxpayers. It means if they have refunds, they will get it back almost immediately.
Questions and queries will be raised by the Income Tax (I-T) Department sooner, making it easier for taxpayers to respond, as the details will be fresh and handy.

Read the full story here → Highlights of Budget 2019

As India's quality of schooling plummets, here's how Budget 2019 can help

The school education system in India is facing a shortage of trained teachers and a lack of proper infrastructure.

 

Interim Budget 2019: India stepped up its spending on school education by 9.35% from 2014-15 (Rs 45,722.41 crore) to 2018-19 (Rs 50,000 crore). But education’s share in the total union budget fell from 2.55% to 2.05% in this period, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of budgetary data.

On February 1, 2019, when the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) presents its last budget before general elections, it will have to address a critical issue in India’s school education: Its quality compares poorly with many south Asian and BRICS nations even though India spends a higher percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP) on education.

In rural India, almost half of grade V students cannot read a grade II text and more than 70% them cannot do division, said the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2018. These numbers indicate a fall in standards over the last 10 years.

Twin problems of school funding: low allocation and underutilisation

Till April 2018, school education in India was mostly covered by three centrally-sponsored schemes:

• Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA or education for all) that aims to provide universal education to all children between the ages of 6 to 14 years.
• Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA or national middle education mission) which facilitates secondary education.
• Teacher Education which aims to create sound institutional infrastructure for pre-service and in-service training of elementary and secondary school teachers.

Read full News → Budget 2019 Expectations

Govt's intent to present 'regular budget' serious, grave: Congress

Tewari said the NDA-BJP government does not have the electoral mandate and it does not have the electoral legitimacy to present six full budgets in five years.

 

 

Interim Budget 2019: The Congress on Thursday said it will strongly oppose both inside and outside Parliament the presentation of a "full budget" by the BJP-led NDA government as it has "no electoral legitimacy" and the step will go against set precedents and Parliamentary traditions.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari termed as "serious and grave" reports claiming that the BJP-led Government was planning to present a "regular budget" and demanded that it should follow constitutional propriety and only presents a vote-on-account on February 1, 2019 ahead of general elections.

BJP sources have indicated that the Modi government is likely to present a full-fledged budget with a slew of announcements on welfare measures relating to farmers, youth and women.

"A budget is budget. The government is likely present a full-fledged budget. There is no such rule that the government before elections should not present a budget for the entire year. The new government may make changes after the polls if it so wishes," a sources in BJP said.

Tewari said if the reports in public space are correct then it would be "a flagrant violation" of all parliamentary conventions, procedures and traditions that have been followed over the past seven decades since the Constitution of India came into effect.

Read full News → Budget 2019 Expectations 

What 2019 Budget can do to help India clean its air, reduce coal addiction

Addressing policy issues are important if India is to fulfill its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement 2015 to install 175 giga watt (GW).

 

Interim Budget 2019: India has one of the world’s largest programmes to expand renewables--a doubling of capacity over the next four years--but India’s ambitious 2022 target of generating enough non-coal energy to replace the equivalent of 175 coal-powered plants is veering off track

On February 1, 2019, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a chance to get things back on track, help India reduce its addiction to coal, help clean the country’s air and meet the global climate-change commitments of the world’s fourth-fastest growing carbon polluter

After record growth in the installed capacity of renewables over the four years to 2017, capacity addition slowed down in 2018. The main reasons: an anti-dumping duty imposed by the government on imported solar modules to aid domestic manufacturing, higher rates of taxation under the goods and service tax (GST) and unclear policy.

So, the last budget before 2019 general elections is of particular significance to the renewables sector, which comprises electricity from solar, wind, hydro and bio power.

The upcoming budget can help remove policy uncertainties from the sector and provide “long-term indications”, Daanish Verma, executive vice president, sustainable investment banking, YES Bank, told IndiaSpend.

Read full News → Budget 2019 Expectations 

Explainer: What is an interim budget? What FM Jaitley can and cannot do

This will be the last Budget of the current BJP-led NDA government before the 2019 General Elections.

Interim Budget 2019: With just a few months left before the Narendra Modi government formally completes its tenure, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present NDA regime's first interim budget on February 1, 2019.

As this will be the ruling BJP government’s last budget before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, here's an explanation of what an interim budget actually means.

What is an interim budget?

An interim budget is presented by a government which is going through a transition period or is in its last year in office ahead of the general elections. Traditionally, an incumbent government cannot present a full-fledged Union Budget in the election year. Instead, the Finance Minister presents an interim budget during the joint sitting of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha in the Parliament, the livemint reported.

With an interim budget, the incumbent government seeks a vote of approval from the Parliament to draw money from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet its budget expenses before the end of the financial year, i.e; March 31st, 2019. It is a traditional practice which takes place in the run-up to every general election, according to an India Today report.

The full-fledged Union Budget is presented by the newly-elected government after Lok Sabha polls. In recent times, interim budgets have been instrumental for the incumbent governments to list out their achievements to draw voters' support.

Read full news here → Union Budget 2019

Budget 2019: FinMin starts 'Know Your Budget' series to educate people on Twitter

The 'Know Your Budget' series, which explains the importance of Union Budget and its making, would continue for about a fortnight.

Interim Budget 2019: Seeking to educate general public about the budgetary process, the finance ministry Tuesday started a series on Twitter providing definitions of various terms used in the budget.

The 'Know Your Budget' series, which explains the importance of Union Budget and its making, would continue for about a fortnight.

The government on February 1 would unveil the interim Budget for 2019-20 as the general elections are due in the next couple of months. The Union Budget 2019 for the next fiscal would be presented by the new government.

The series which began on the ministry's Twitter handle on Tuesday explained what is Union Budget and Vote on Account.

The Budget, the ministry explains, "is the most comprehensive report of the government's finances in which revenues from all sources and outlays for all activities are consolidated.

Read full news here → Budget 2019

To bridge fiscal deficit, RBI likely to pay govt $5.8 bn interim dividend

The dividend could help Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration bridge a widening budget deficit following a drop in tax collections.

Interim Budget 2019: 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.

"We are absolutely sure that an interim dividend of more than 300 billion rupees would be paid before March end," one of the sources told Reuters.

Read the full news here → Union Budget 2019