FM | Business Upturn

Union Budget 2021: FDI limit increased to 74%

Arnav Dogra — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 06:47:43 +0000

February 1, 2021: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget Speech today at the Parliamentary Session made an announcement about a major change in the FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) policy.

As a part of the Union Budget 2021, the Ministry of Finance has proposed an amendment of the Insurance Act by which it seeks to increase the current FDI limit of 49% to 74%, now allowing foreign companies to buy ownerships.

This is perhaps a part of the capitalist economic program which the Modi Government has advocated since it came into power in 2014.
FM Sitharaman also talked about investor protection saying, “towards investor protection, I propose to introduce an investor charter as a right for all investors in all financial products.”

This process will go down in complementation to another plan proposed in the budget by which the Ministry seeks to consolidate the provisions of the Sebi Act, Depositories Act, and two other major financial Acts and amalgamate them into a unified law called the Unified Securities Market Code.

Union Budget 2021: FM meets President of India ahead of Union Budget presentation

Arnav Dogra — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 04:44:56 +0000

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman moved to the Rashtrapati Bhavan where she met President Ram Nath Kovind before presenting the Union Budget 2021-2022 in the Parliament.

Accompanying the Finance Minister was the MoS Finance Anurag Thakur and other Finance Ministry officials.

The Finance Minister meeting the President of India before they present the budget in the Parliament has for long been a tradition. Commenting on the same, the official Twitter handle of the President of India tweeted –

Finance Minister @nsitharaman, MoS Finance & Corporate Affairs @ianuragthakur, and senior officials of the Ministry of Finance, called on President Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan before presenting the Union Budget 2021-22. pic.twitter.com/FUNptDXnHB

— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) February 1, 2021

The ‘bahi khata’ (the official paper documents) have this year been replaced with a tablet to help maintain the COVID-19 safety protocols.

After having met with the President of India, FM Sitharaman has now left for the Parliament where the the Union Budget will be presented in a while. The Budget speech is expected to begin at 11 am.

Union Budget 2021: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman leaves with her team for Rashtrapati Bhawan

Arnav Dogra — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 04:21:55 +0000

At 8:47 a.m.(IST) today, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman arrived at the Ministry of Finance, 10 minutes after MoS Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur.

Thakur has assured people that this year’s budget will be meeting the taxpayer’s expectations. He said – “I have full confidence that the budget will fulfill the aspirations of the people. We will continue to make efforts to make India self-reliant and make our economy grow.”

At 9:16 a.m.(IST), FM Sitharaman and MoS Finance Thakur left the Ministry to move towards the Parliament where the budget will be introduced today.

This year, for the first time, the budget is going to be paperless in adherence to the COVID-19 safety norms. Instead, the budget will be presented on a tablet and the soft copies of the Budget will be made available to the general public in the form of soft copies.

Finance Minister Sitharaman, while leaving the Ministry of Finance, was seen with a red tablet cover with a golden emblem of India embossed into it. This is the bag which contains the tab on which the Budget will be introduced.

Ahead of the Union Budget 2021-2022, the stock markets witnessed positive shifts with Sensex reporting a growth of 403 points.