Indian Government not to monetise debt

The Government on Tuesday categorically said that it has "no intention" to monetise its debt, which implies that it will not directly borrow from the Reserve Bank of India.

"Government has no intentions of monetising its debt," Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Lok Sabha in his reply to the debate on Union Budget (read budget highlights).

He said during the first half of 2009-10, the Government plans to borrow Rs 2.41 lakh crore from the market and RBI is supporting it through its Open Market Operations (OMO), through which the central bank releases or sucks money from the market against government securities.

"OMO should not be confused with monetisation of debt," Mukherjee said. Monetisation of the Government debt would be when RBI directly subscribes to the Government paper.
(read budget highlights).
As fiscal deficit is projected to be at 6.8 per cent of GDP this fiscal and the Government has pegged its market borrowings at around Rs 4 lakh crore for 2009-10.

Mukherjee also dispelled fears that higher government borrowings would leave little resources for the private sector and would increase cost of borrowings, as also apprehensions that the private sector will be elbowed out due to this.

FBT and Commodity transaction tax abolished

Finally Bowing to the long standing demand of India Inc, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has abolished the fringe benefit tax and commodity transaction tax. in union budget 2009 - 10 which he presented today in parliament (see budget highlights)

However, Minimum Allocation Tax (MAT) on book profits has been increased from 10 percent to 15 percent, but with a provision of carrying forward the tax credit on MAT to 10 years from the current seven years.

Railway Budget - List of new trains to be started

Following is list of new trains and their routes with frequency as announced by railway minister Mamta Banerjee -

1. Vishakhapatnam – Secunderabad – Mumbai Superfast (Bi-weekly).

2. Sriganga Nagar – Delhi – Nanded Superfast (Weekly)

3. New Jalpaiguri – Sealdah Superfast (Tri-weekly)

4. Bangalore – Hubli – Solapur Superfast (Tri-weekly)

5. Howrah – Bangalore Superfast (weekly)

6. Pune – Daund-Solapur Superfast (Daily)

7. Ranchi-Howrah (3 days via Ghatshila-Kharagpur and 3 days via Asansol) Intercity (6 days a week)

8. Kamakhya-Puri Express (Weekly)

9. Jabalpur-Ambikapur Express (Tri-weekly)

10. Gandhidham-Howrah Superfast (Weekly)

11. Delhi-Sadulpur Express (Tri-weekly)

12. Ajmer-Bhopal Express (by intergration of 9655/56 Ajmer-Ratlam and 9303/04 Ratlam- Bhopal express trains) (Daily)

13. Bilaspur-Tirunelveli Jn. (Thiruvananthapuram) Superfast (Weekly)

14. Mumbai-Karwar Superfast (Tri-weekly)

15. Durg-Jaipur Express (Weekly)

16. Dibrugarh Town-Chandigarh Express (Weekly)

17. Delhi-Farakka Express (Bi-weekly)

18. Hazrat Nizmmudin-Bangalore Rajdhani Express (Tri-weekly) via Kacheguda

19. New Jalpaiguri-Delhi Express (Bi-weekly) via Barauni

20. Mumbai-Varanasi Superfast (Daily)

21. Mysore-Yesvantpur Express (Daily)

22. Koraput-Rourkela Express (Daily) via Rayagada

23. Agra-Ajmer Intercity Superfast (Daily)

24. Mumbai-Jodhpur-Bikaner Superfast (Bi-weekly)

25. Agra-Lucknow Junction Intercity (Daily)

26. Hapa-Tirunelveli Jn. Superfast (Bi-weekly) via Thiruananthapuram

27. Gwalior-Bhopal Intercity Express (5 days a week) via Guna

28. Kanyakumari-Rameshwaram Express (Tri-weekly) via Madurai

29. Howrah-Haridwar Superfast (5 days a week)

30. Varanasi-Jammu Tawi Superfast (Daily)

31. Gorakhpur-Mumbai Superfast (Daily)

32. New Delh-Guwahati Rajdhani Express (Weekly) via Muzaffarpur

33. Veraval-Mumbai Link

Service (Daily)

34. Ranchi-Patna Jan Shatabadi Express (Daily)

35. Jhansi-Chhindwara Express (Bi-weekly) via Bina-Bhopal

36. Mumbai-Jodhpur Express (Weekly)

37. Jamalpur-Gaya Passenger (Daily)

38. Jhajha-Patna MEMU (Daily)

39. Kanpur-New Delhi Shatabdi Express (6 days a week)

40. Bhopal-Lucknow-Pratapgarh Superfast (Weekly)

41. Lucknow-Rae Bareli-Bangalore Superfast (Weekly)

42. Shimoga-Bangalore Intercity Express (Daily)

43. Mdurai-Chennai Express (Bi-weekly)

44. Guwahati-New Cooch Behar Express Intercity (Daily)

45. Balurghat-New Jalpaiguri Express (Daily) via Kishanganj

46. Alipurduar-New Delhi Jalpaiguri Express Intercity (Daily) via Siliguri

47. Dharmanagar-Agartala Fast Passenger (Daily)

48. Rewari-Phulera Passenger (Daily) via Ringus

49. Shoranur-Nilambur Road Passenger (Daily)

50. Coimbator-Shoranur Passenger (Daily)

51. Mathura-Kasganj Passenger (Daily)

52. Farakka-Katwa-Azimganj-Nawadwip Dham Express (Daily)

53. Bangalore-Kochuveli Superfast (Weekly)

54. Kolkata-Rampurhat Express (Daily)

55. New Jalpaiguri-Digha Express (Weekly)

56. Purulia-Howrah Express (Bi-weekly)

57. Kolkata-Bikaner Express (Weekly) via Nagore