The Government has taken up several important reforms for building institutions and improving public service delivery across the country over the last three and a half years. While presenting the General Budget 2018-19 in the Parliament today, the Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Shri Arun Jaitely said while AADHAR has provided identity to every Indian, every enterprise, big or small, also needs a unique ID. The Government will evolve a scheme to assign every individual enterprise in India a unique ID, the Finance Minister announced.

 

            Further, capital of the Food Corporation of India will be restructured to enhance equity and to raise long-term debt for meeting its standing working capital requirement.  Budgeting of Government of India’s contribution in equity and debt of the metro ventures floated by the State Governments will also be streamlined, the Finance Minister stated.

 

The Government has approved listing of 14 Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), including two insurance companies, on the stock exchanges. Shri Jaitely said that the process of acquisition of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation by the ONGC has been successfully completed. Three public sector general insurance companies National Insurance Company Ltd., United India Assurance Company Limited and Oriental India Insurance Company Limited will be merged into a single insurance entity and will be subsequently listed.

 

The Finance Minister also announced that the Government will formulate a comprehensive Gold Policy to develop gold as an asset class.  The Government will also establish a system of consumer friendly and trade efficient system of regulated gold exchanges in the country. Gold Monetization Scheme will be revamped to enable people to open a hassle-free Gold Deposit Account. 

 

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