The Railway Minister has got what he was waiting for a long-long time. The Parliamentary Advisory Committee has demanded a hike in the rail fares in order to improve the condition of Indian Railway. This is for the first time when MPs have supported any hike in rail fares.

The cash-strapped railways is understood to have got an approval of Rs 25,000 crore as gross budgetary support (GBS) from Finance Ministry for the fiscal 2012-13.

A high-level railway safety review committee here on Friday suggested Rs one lakh crore investment in five years and setting up of a railway safety authority as an independent body for improving the deteriorating condition of Indian Railways.

Union Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi on Sunday emphasized on raising funds for the safety operations of the Indian Railways.

A majority of employees surveyed expect Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to increase the income tax exemption limit to Rs 3 lakh in the upcoming Budget, in line with rising inflation, Assocham has said.

The cash-starved airline industry is looking forward to the ensuing budget with great expectations as it desperately wants changes in the FDI policy on aviation and more tax sops to help reduce the high debt and cost burden.

At a stage when the Finance Minister is looking for a way to increase revenues, the assembly results in the five states have left Pranab Mukherjee with a lot of thinking to do.

Effects of the Supreme Court’s ruling on 2G spectrum allocation is likely to be seen on the coming budget as well. Constant eyebrows have been raised on the way allocation of natural resources has been done by the government. In an effort to clear the stand, the Finance Minister is expected to present the roadmap for allocation of natural resources in the coming budget.

Developers in the realty sector, which is facing severe credit crunch due to higher interest rates, expect the government to relax norms for repatriation of FDI and external commercial borrowings (ECBs) in the forthcoming Budget for 2012-13.

States have no objection to the Centre widening its service tax net in the forthcoming Budget, as long as 35 services like ambulance, beauty parlours, marriage halls, interest on bank deposits, leasing of vehicles and machines are kept out of the ambit of the levy.