|
|
Good rain this year will help check inflation: FM
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
SME Times News Bureau | 13 Jul, 2015
With rains this year having advanced well into the country, Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said a better monsoon would help check
food inflation.
"It appears that the rain gods may be kinder this
year to us than they were last year," he said at the Nabard foundation
day celebrations in Mumbai.
Expressing the hope that the monsoon would
be as good as it was last month, Jaitley said the department of
agriculture expects better rainfall in most parts of India for higher
yields of oilseeds and pulses, whose prices are currently a concern in
terms of inflation.
"I hope their estimates turn out to be true," he said.
The
finance minister also referred to Saturday's official data on overall
growth in indirect tax revenue collections during the first quarter and
said rising tax revenues and improving macroeconomic fundamentals will
take the economy to an accelerated growth trajectory.
"Saturday's
indirect revenue data for the first quarter did indicate that customs
duty, excise duty and service tax, even without additional revenue
measures, were up 14.5 percent over the past fiscal," he said.
"There are some sporadic data which indicate a significant recovery," the finance minister said.
"With
the ongoing reforms process, and some more significant changes like
goods and services tax in the pipeline, increased infra spending,
emphasis on smart cities -- when all these initiatives get onto the
field, then our aspiration to cross that 8 percent growth and get to the
8-10 percent level is not something which is completely out of sight,"
he added.
"The silver lining is that the revenue situation may be more comfortable, compared with last year," Jaitley said
The overall growth in indirect tax revenue collections during the April-June quarter was 37.4 percent.
"The
overall growth in indirect tax revenue (provisional) collections during
the first quarter of current fiscal year, that is, April-June 2015,
have increased from Rs.112,094 crore to Rs.153,980 crore suggesting an
increase of 37.4 percent over the corresponding period in the last
financial year," an official statement said on Saturday.
It added that in June 2015, the indirect tax collections increased by 33.3 percent compared to June 2014.
These increases were spread across all three tax categories of "customs, central excise and service tax".
"These
collections reflect, in part, additional measures taken, including the
excise increase on diesel and petrol, increase in clean energy cess,
the withdrawal of exemptions for motor vehicles and consumer durables,
and in June, the increase in service tax from 12.36 percent to 14
percent," it said.
It further said these collections indicate
that the underlying momentum in the economy is improving, across all
sectors, including manufacturing, reflected in healthy excise tax
collections.
"The growth in underlying indirect tax collections
of 14.5 percent suggests a healthy increase in nominal gross domestic
product growth, which constitutes the tax base for indirect tax
collections," the statement added.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
|
|
Daily Poll |
|
|
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations |
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|