Addressing parliament, Jaitley called his fourth budget one for the poor. Yet, while vowing prudent fiscal management, he also raised his 2017/18 federal deficit target to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product to cov TOKYO, Feb 1 Japan’s top government spokesman said on Wednesday there is no change to the government’s stance that it will take steps on foreign exchange when it deems it necessary.

Today is Monday, Jan. 30, the 30th day of 2017. There are 335 days left in the year.

Jan 30 India has surrendered its status as the world’s top importer of coal back to China, with its overseas purchases in 2016 falling to less than 200 million tonnes. The question now is whether lower Indian coal imports is the new reality, or if last year was just a blip.

New Delhi, Jan 28 – President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday launched the Pulse Polio Programme for 2017 under which about 17 crore children of less than five years age will be immunised. The drive is a part of the government’s efforts to sustain polio eradication from the country.

New Delhi , Jan. 27 : Backing President Pranab Mukherjee’s assertion on demonetisation, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy on Friday said one has to take a balanced view on the government’s move. “The President having been a finance minister knows very well what all could have been done.

India celebrated its 68th Republic Day on 26 January 2017 at Rajpath in New Delhi. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is the guest of honour of the occasion and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were also present.

Indian school children perform in the Republic Day Parade at Rajpath in New Delhi on January 26, 2017. / AFP / Prakash SINGH

New Delhi, Jan 25 European auto major PSA Group today announced a partnership with the CK Birla group to re-enter the Indian market and earmarked an initial investment of 100 million euros to set up vehicle and powertrain manufacturing in Tamil Nadu. “As part of the first agreement, the PSA Group will hold a majority stake in the joint-venture company being set-up with HMFCL for the assembly and distribution of PSA passenger cars in India,” the two firms said in a joint statement.

Jan 25 PSA Group will return to India by 2020, the French carmaker said on Wednesday after unveiling a modest production investment with CK Birla Group, the New Delhi-based conglomerate. PSA, maker of Peugeot, Citroen and DS cars, said it will build cars in Tamil Nadu under an initial 100 million-euro joint venture investment with Birla-owned HMFCL, with an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles.

Berlin, Jan 24 – The German Cabinet is set to finance long term strategic projects in India particularly in the railway, infrastructure and smart cities sectors, a top official said here. According to an official statement issued by the Indian embassy in Berlin, the remarks were made by Matthias Machnig, State Secretary of Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy in a meeting here on Monday with a visiting Indian CEO delegation led by the Confederation of Indian Industry .

New Delhi [India], Jan. 21: The Election Commission of India on Saturday censured Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for violating the Model Code of Conduct for his bribe remark, while addressing an election rally in Goa, after the commission found the latter’s reply unconvincing. The Election Commission observed that Kejriwal had made remarks to the effect of promoting bribery to the electors in a public meeting in Goa.

New Delhi, Jan 21 : : A soldier, who had inadvertently crossed the Line of Control in September last year, when surgical strike was conducted inside the neighbouring territory, was handed over to India by Pakistan at Wagah Border on Saturday, NDTV reports. Sepoy Chandu Babulal Chauhan was being released on humanitarian grounds, Pakistan said in a statement.

New Delhi, Jan 20 – The National Payments Corporation of India on Friday directed mobile phone e-wallet PhonePe to comply with the UPI guidelines. The development comes a day after the NPCI advised lending major ICICI Bank to ‘open UPI transactions’ through the mobile phone e-wallet ‘immediately’.

New Delhi, Jan 20 – President Pranab Mukherjee on Friday congratulated Donald J. Trump as the latter was sworn in as the 45th President of the US and said he looks forward to welcoming the Trumps in India. Please accept best wishes for your success, personal well-being and for continued progress & prosperity of the people of USA, President Mukherjee tweeted.

New Delhi, Jan 19 : A delegation comprising Muslim Ulemas, intellectuals, academicians and other eminent people called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday. The delegation congratulated the Prime Minister on the steps taken by the Union Government for inclusive growth, socio-economic and educational empowerment of all sections of the society including Minorities.

New Delhi, Jan 19: A petition has been filed in Supreme Court seeking removal of the present Board of Directors of Reserve Bank of India for not following its mandate and recommending demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 currency notes on the advice of the Centre. The petition said that the central bank has failed to “prepare a plan, feasibility and impact assessment of note-banning and chose to act on the advice of Central Government, without application of mind”.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Urjit Patel is learnt to have told the parliamentary panel on demonetisation that discussions between the central bank and the government on the process began early last year. NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India has injected Rs 9.2 lakh crore worth of new currency notes into the banking system to help replace the notes banned in November, a parliamentary panel member quoted RBI governor Urjit Patel as saying on Wednesday.

New Delhi , Jan. 19 : Union Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will today inaugurate a three-day National Meet on Grassroot Informatics at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The meet is being organised by the National Informatics Centre .

Link to Fitch Ratings’ Report: 100 Indian Listed Corporates: Credit Change Zones 2016 here SYDNEY/NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE, January 18 Fitch Ratings and India Ratings & Research are less optimistic in their projections for the 27 Indian corporates they publicly rate compared with Bloomberg consensus estimates , the agency says in its credit change zone report for the country’s listed corporates. BEst expect 87 of India’s top-100 listed non-financial corporates by market capitalisation to be in the credit-positive change zones of cash flow growth exceeding net debt growth over the financial years ending-March 2016 to FY18, while 13 are expected to be in the credit-negative change zones of net debt growth exceeding cash flow growth.

NEW DELHI: The government may pare excise duty on motor fuel if price rise “pinches hard”, but will not revert to the subsidy regime, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday . “There will be no subsidy regime in petrol and diesel…Petrol price was deregulated in June 2010 and diesel in October 2014 and the same will continue… subsidies are anti-poor.

New Delhi: Indian captain Virat Kohli feels that chinks in his technique apart from utter desperation to succeed in England led to a disastrous tour of 2014 post which, he not only worked on his mindset but also on his batting. In a chat with former England captain Nasser Hussain on bcci.tv , Kohli decoded his technique that led to his downfall during 2014 England series where he failed to get 50 plus score in five Tests and then smashed four hundreds in four Tests Down Under a few months later.

New Delhi , Jan. 16 : The stage is set for the Uttar Pradesh elections, which will be held in seven phases between February and March this year. The politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh is all set to witness a tough fight between the ruling Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming 17th state assembly elections.

New Delhi , Jan. 15 : Nepal Foreign Minister Dr. Prakash Sharan Mahat will tomorrow arrive in India on a two-day official visit. [NK World] He will also meet Minister of State for External Affairs General V.K. Singh on Tuesday at South Block and will later take part in the 2nd Edition of Raisina Dialogue organised at the Taj Palace here.