New Delhi: Brushing aside denigration of not having done adequate reforms in the resources, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said this was the establishment of the journey and he did all he could do below the given circumstances.

"This is the inauguration of our voyage, not the end. Abhi hum jitna kar sakte the, humne utna kiya hai (Whatever I could do now, I have done). And all the decisions are not in use on day one," Mr Jaitley said.

Mr Jaitley, who accessible his maiden Budget on July 10, is being criticized, particularly by rating agencies, for not repealing the presentation tax alteration and not given that enough sops for the manufacturing.

The Minister, however, has provided relief to the salary earners by sacrificing Rs 22,200 crore in direct taxes. Refuting the disapproval, he said the government has taken chief steps which are needed but not taken in the past 10 years.

Budget 2014-15: Govt surprises by keeping gold import duty at 10 per cent

The government astounded gold bars markets by observance the introduce duty on gold and silver unmoved at 10 per cent in its Union Budget for 2014-15, a move likely to limit out of the country purchases by the second-biggest bullion shopper and further hearten smuggling.
India's major bullion trade group had on Wednesday said the economics minister would likely cut the gold introduce duty to 6 per cent in the just now elected government's first budget arrangement.
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Indian bullion futures jumped 2 per cent on Thursday, widening the premium over global prices which had pointed on the probability of a duty cut.
"This will basically force jewellers, who were on the sidelines pregnant a duty cut, to re-stock," said Sudheesh Nambiath, senior analyst with Thomson Reuters GFMS.
Premiums should get better to $20-30 an ounce in the next few days, he said, against $10 on Wednesday.
India, anxious to orderly a wide open present account shortage, took a slew of actions last year to limit require for bullion, its second-biggest import after oil.
Besides the duty compulsory by the finance ministry, India's central bank also imposed the so-called 80-20 rule that necessary a fifth of all gold imports be re-exported.
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The rules have curly supply and pressed premiums up to as high as $160 an ounce in December.

Union Budget 2014-15 to be presented in Parliament today amid expectations of tax sops

New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present his maiden Budget on Thursday after his Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, won a landslide victory in May to form the first majority government in three decades.

Jaitley's maiden Budget is expected to be a tightrope walk of trying to meet demands for tax sops especially from the middle class and pursuing fiscal prudence to spur investment and growth.

There are high hopes from the new government that it will raise tax slabs and also significantly hike the annual tax exemption limit to provide a much-needed relief to salaried class, which is reeling under the stubbornly high inflation.