Fresh Mint News

 RBI keeps Repo rate unchanged at 6.5% In its February review meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) unanimously opted to maintain the policy repo rate at 6.5 percent, marking the sixth consecutive time of keeping it unchanged. The repo rate denotes the interest rate at which the RBI lends to other banks. Following a three-day review meeting, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, deliberating on the policy statement on Friday morning, cited favorable inflation levels and robust growth dynamics as the rationale behind maintaining the current policy stance. Das noted that inflation is approaching the target and growth is outperforming expectations. Despite retail inflation in India being within the RBI's comfort range of 2-6 percent, it exceeds the ideal scenario of 4 percent, standing at 5.69 percent in December. The MPC, with a majority of 5 out of 6 members, resolved to maintain its focus on withdrawing accommodation to ensure a gradual alignment o...

  Budget 2024 Live: Union Cabinet has approved Interim Budget The Interim Budget 2024–25 will be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to Parliament on Thursday, February 1, one day following the start of the Budget Session. Estimates of the government's spending, receipts, fiscal deficit, financial performance, and forecasts for the following months are included in the interim budget. The newly elected government is expected to present the whole budget following the Lok Sabha elections. The Finance Minister will lay the groundwork for the interim financial plan until the next government takes office on February 1 at 11 a.m. The finance minister will deliver the budget for the sixth time, five of which will be annual and one interim. The budget address by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be broadcast live on Doordarshan and Sansad TV, the official channels of Parliament. Live Updates: Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approves pre-election Budg...

  Budget 2024: Taxpayers expectations Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget in the Parliament on February 1, 2024,. It will be an interim budget because this is an election year. The government is expected by middle-class taxpayers to maintain tax stability and rationalization. The government's expenses are covered by the interim budget, which is a short-term financial plan, until elections are held and a new government takes office. The whole budget will be presented by the incoming administration following the Lok Sabha elections. There might be potential changes to the tax regime in order to encourage more taxpayers to choose the new tax system. The government may reduce tax rates and increase the basic threshold for income that is exempt from tax. This would provide relief to middle-class taxpayers. Many tax deductions and exemptions are not available under the new tax regime. To address this, it proposes increasing the standard deduction limit to ac...

  Budget 2024: Expectations of Commodity markets The commodities market is among the many sectors of the Indian economy holding its breath as the deadline for the presentation of the interim budget approaches. Participants in this market are keen to learn how the government's fiscal policies  Stakeholders in the gold industry want the import duty on gold to be lowered from 15% to 10%. Special benefits, such as 0.5% tariff reduction for imports through the India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX), are also sought after by the gold business. Industry leaders think that these actions might strengthen the gold market and promote economic expansion. The gold industry also expects for other policies that are favorable to consumers in addition to lowering import duties. This includes eliminating the capital gains tax on jewelry sales and allowing monthly installments for gold purchases. The removal of the commodities transaction tax (CTT) and the admission of Non-Resident Indians ...

  ICICI Bank Q3 Results:  Net profit rises 24% to ₹10,272 crore, 13% surge in Net Interest Income India's second-largest private sector lender ICICI Bank on Saturday (January 20) witnessed impressive year-on-year growth, with a 23.5% increment in standalone profit and a 13% ascent in net interest income for the third quarter of FY 2023-24.  The Mumbai-based ICICI bank's standalone profit surged to ₹10,271.54 crore for the third quarter, marking an increase from the ₹8,311.85 crore reported in the same period the previous year, as disclosed in its BSE filing. Furthermore, the bank's net interest income (NII) experienced a year-on-year growth of 13.4%, reaching ₹18,678 crore for the quarter under review from ₹16,465 crore in the same period a year ago. (Image Courtesy: https://www.newsbytesapp.com)

  Closing Bell: Nifty below 21,600, Sensex drops 1,628 pts; Nifty Bank down 4% After witnessing a heavy fall on Wednesday, Sensex and Nifty continued to face selling pressure in Thursday's trade as HDFC Bank shares extended their slide. LTIMindtree and Asian Paints too dropped after their December quarter results today. IT index was among the worst sectoral performers on NSE. "At elevated valuations the market needs only a trigger for a sell-off and yesterday this trigger came in the form of HDFC Bank’s worse-than-expected results. It is also important to understand that there was a sell-off in other emerging markets like Taiwan and Korea indicating that this is an emerging market correction driven by FPI outflows. Investors may wait and watch for this turbulence to subside. The resilience in IT stocks in this crash is an indication of the strength of the sector. Apart from IT, large caps like RIL, ICICI Bank, L&T and Bharti have strength to tide over this turbulence,...