Prasanta Sahu

Southern Asia

Senior Assistant Editor and Journalist at Financial Express

Financial Express. Previously with WSJ, Dow Jones Newswire, Business Standard and The Press Trust of India. Tweets are personal.

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Articles

A quiet doer gets her due

5 days ago | financialexpress.com | Prasanta Sahu

When she is not immersed in work — which is a rarity for the 55-year-old Indian Administrative Service officer — Anuradha Thakur loves reading books on finance and public policy. Both the qualities will stand her in good stead when she begins her journey on June 30 as the secretary of the high-profile department of economic affairs. Thakur will be the first woman to occupy the seat when incumbent Ajay Seth superannuates. Till then, she will be an Officer on Special Duty in the DEA.
Tax on insurance likely to be cut to 5% at GST Council meet

1 week ago | financialexpress.com | Prasanta Sahu

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will likely meet in June or early July to consider reducing the tax rate on health and life insurance to 5% with input tax credit (ITC) from 18%, among other rationalisations. Among other matters, the Council may examine the GoM report on rate rationalisation to give further relief to people through rate reductions and rejig of the number of slabs. The GoM headed by Bihar deputy chief minister Samrat Chaudhary submitted its report in December 2024.
Centre may target asset monetisation of Rs 2L cr in FY26

1 week ago | financialexpress.com | Prasanta Sahu

The Centre may set an asset monetisation target of `1.9-2 lakh crore in FY26 under the second phase of the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), with a focus on sectors such as roads, power, railways, and coal and mines. Sources told FE that infrastructure development on vacant public land would be another major area of asset recycling in this phase.
Guaranteed pension scheme makes a modest start

1 week ago | financialexpress.com | Prasanta Sahu

The Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), which was opened for switching from the market-linked National Pension System (NPS) on April 1, has made a tepid start even though pension at 50% of the last 12 months’ average pay is guaranteed. With the central government staff weighing the cost-benefit between NPS and UPS, in the first two weeks since the option became available, just a little over 1,500 central government employees have opted for the UPS.
Niti Aayog pitches for incentive package for hand & power tools

1 week ago | financialexpress.com | Prasanta Sahu

Leveraging geopolitical opportunities, including US tariffs on China, a new NITI Aayog report has recommended targeted support to overcome a 14-17% cost disadvantage gap with competitors, to capture a 10% global market share in power tools and a 25% share in hand tools within a decade, sources told FE.
CPSE capex in FY25 at 103% of target

2 weeks ago | financialexpress.com | Prasanta Sahu

The central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) and other state-run agencies like NHAI and the Railways invested Rs 8.1 lakh crore, or 103% of the target, in 2024-25. Capital expenditure by these entities was aided by a surge in investments by the National Highways Authority of India and oil explorer ONGC. Railways and NHAI’s investments have been funded through the budget for the last few years. Both entities accounted for 55% of the CPSEs’ capex target for FY25.
Pay "fair" dividends to minority shareholders, Govt urges private firms - Market News

2 weeks ago | financialexpress.com | Prasanta Sahu

Commending the central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) for paying a record dividend relative to their market cap share, department of investment and public asset management secretary Arunish Chawla on Wednesday urged the private sector companies to also pay a ‘fair’ dividend to reward minority shareholders to create a vibrant market.
Centre revises norms for state capex loans

2 weeks ago | financialexpress.com | Prasanta Sahu

The Centre has issued new guidelines for the disbursal of Rs 87,000 crore, or nearly 60% of the Rs 1.5 lakh crore interest-free 50-year capex loans, to the state governments and union territories for FY26. The amount would be transferred to states and UTs largely as untied and project-linked loans. The balance Rs 63,000 crore capex loans will be linked to reforms, the guidelines for which would be issued later, sources told FE.
‘The new conflict of interest framework should be...': Tuhin Kanta Pandey - Market News

2 weeks ago | financialexpress.com | Prasanta Ghosh |Prasanta Sahu |Joydeep Ghosh

Tuhin Kanta Pandey, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), is seeking to simplify the regulatory regime. In his first interview after taking over as chairperson, he talks to Prasanta Sahu and Joydeep Ghosh about Sebi’s thought process on allowing foreign individuals to invest directly in the Indian equity market, the new conflict-of-interest framework, and more. Excerpts:Many Sebi regulations are decades-old. Are you looking at a regulatory review process?
Internal panel to review all regulations, says Sebi chief

2 weeks ago | financialexpress.com | Prasanta Ghosh |Prasanta Sahu |Joydeep Ghosh

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey will set up an internal panel to review current regulations and weed out those that have lost relevance. The exercise would be similar to the one carried out by the Income Tax department while drafting the Direct Tax Code, 2025. Terming it as an organisational mission, Pandey said he would accelerate the process within the next three months.