« Top Headlines » Open DEMAT Account in 24 hrs  Mock Test Papers Series - I & II for Students appearing in CA Foundation January 2027 Examination.  Income Tax Rules 2026: CBDT Introduces Revised Form 161 for Penalty Waiver, Clarifies Misreporting Categories and Taxpayer Relief  ITR Filing and Income Tax Audit Deadline Extended: 5 Critical Things Taxpayers Must Know  Filing Belated ITR for AY 2026-27? Know Which Losses You Can Carry Forward and Which You May Lose  CBDT Extends Tax Audit Report Deadline to October 21, ITR Filing Last Date to November 21 for AY 2026-27  CBDT Extends AY 2026-27 ITR Filing Deadline for Tax-Audit Cases: New Dates and Key Compliance Details  Foreign Assets Missing From Your ITR? Income Tax Department Opens One-Time Disclosure Window  Tax Audit Deadline September 30: Why AIS, TDS and GST Figures May Not Match Your ITR and What Taxpayers Should Do  Tax audit deadline September 30: Common mistakes taxpayers should avoid  Your ITR says ‘verified’, but the refund hasn’t arrived? 5 reasons why your money could be stuck  Missed the ITR Deadline but TDS Refund Is Due? Here’s How You Can Still Claim Your Money «  ST dept checks books of hotels in Gujarat... Cut Customs, abolish FBT, CII tells govt... » FM hints at belt tightening November, 14th 2006 In yet another indication of his priorities for Budget 2007-08, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today hinted at hard decisions on managing government expenditure.    As we make further progress in fiscal consolidation, the softer options for scaling back committed expenditures or increasing revenues are getting diminished. We now have to take hard decisions to restructure certain expenditures, to choose between important but competing priorities for allocation of scarce resources and maximise available public resources by enlisting private resources wherever feasible, Chidambaram said.    The finance minister, who last week said the government planned to re-examine existing tax incentives, today said a major rebalancing was required to improve the composition of the public expenditure portfolio.    The comments came in the backdrop of an increase in non-Plan expenditure in the current financial year.    Chidambaram made these comments at a Defence Finance and Economics seminar here today, where he pointed out that the defence sector could emerge as one of the key growth drivers of the Indian economy, which grew at 8.4 per cent in 2005-06.    Terming the macroeconomic environment as propitious, Chidambaram said high growth    has provided the government the opportunity to assess economic and fiscal challenges for improving the current growth rate and ensuring flexibility to work out a credible strategy for meeting the challenges of the economy.    In order to sustain and accelerate the growth momentum without compromising on macroeconomic stability, the finance minister said it was of utmost importance that the government continues on the path of fiscal consolidation.    Pointing out that the virtuous cycle of savings, investment and growth has enabled India to sustain high growth rates, Chidambaram said there was still some dis-saving on the government account to the extent of 2.2 per cent of the gross domestic product in 2005-06.    Governments dis-saving has to be fully reversed so that funds are available for investment in key sectors, Chidambaram added.