NEW DELHI, April 16 (Reuters) – India plans to kickstart
stake sales in state-run companies in June – preferably through
the auction of shares – to meet a target of 300 billion rupees

($5.65 billion) set for this fiscal year, the official in charge
of disinvestment said on Monday.

NEW DELHI, April 13 (Reuters) – India’s trade deficit
is seen at $185 billion in the 2011/12 fiscal year
on higher crude import bill, the trade minister said citing
provisional data, which may worsen the country’s current account
balance and further weaken the rupee.

Asia’s third-largest economy imports nearly 80 percent of
its crude oil needs, leaving it vulnerable to the vagaries of
the oil market.

NEW DELHI, March 30 (Reuters) – India’s finance minister
said on Friday the country will look into the possible tax
liability of foreign institutional investors, raising the
prospect that brokerages and other financial firms with
registered licenses in India could be liable to pay taxes.

The Indian stock market has been roiled this week by
investor anxiety over the prospect that foreign investors would
be subject to new taxes following a proposal included in the
recent federal budget. Investors have been clamoring for clarity
over the new proposals.

New Delhi (Reuters) – India’s army chief scrambled to distance himself from a leak of a letter describing ammunition shortages and archaic air defenses in the world’s second largest standing army, the latest deterioration in his relations with the government.

Army Chief V.K. Singh took the defense ministry to court earlier in the year in a failed attempt to prove he was a year younger than the army records showed.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The union government plans to raise 3.7 trillion rupees through bond sales during April-September, in line with market expectations, but dealers expect yields to rise on back of heavy weekly supplies.

The amount comprises 65 percent of the government’s gross borrowing target of 5.7 trillion rupees for 2012/13, and is in line with 3.6 trillion to 3.8 trillion rupees expected by the bond market.

NEW DELHI, March 27 (Reuters) – India plans to raise 3.7
trillion rupees ($72.98 billion) through bond sales during
April-September, in line with market expectations, but dealers
expect yields to rise on back of heavy weekly supplies.

The amount comprises 65 percent of the government’s gross
borrowing target of 5.7 trillion rupees for 2012/13, and is in
line with 3.6 trillion to 3.8 trillion rupees expected by the
bond market.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s annual budget on Friday fell short of market hopes for tougher fiscal tightening measures.

The government, facing political turmoil, fended off pressure to produce an even more populist plan, yet stopped short of offering meaningful economic reforms that might have cheered investors.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed trimming the government’s subsidy burden and called for speeding the pace of economic reforms, which have been stalled by political gridlock, in his budget speech on Friday.

High oil prices have swelled India’s subsidy burden to roughly 2.5 percent of GDP and Mukherjee called for reducing that to less than 2 percent in the fiscal year that starts on April 1.

NEW DELHI, March 16 (Reuters) – Indian Finance
Minister Pranab Mukherjee proposed trimming the government’s
subsidy burden and called for speeding the pace of economic
reforms, which have been stalled by political gridlock, in his
budget speech on Friday.

High oil prices have swelled India’s subsidy burden to
roughly 2.5 percent of GDP and Mukherjee called for reducing
that to less than 2 percent in the fiscal year that starts on
April 1.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian imports continued to outpace exports in February as demand remained weak in major exports markets like the United States and Europe, nudging the government to revise up the full-year trade deficit projections on Friday.

A widening trade deficit will likely worsen India’s current account deficit and further weaken the rupee.