The government’s outstanding off-budget loans, typically garnered through public-sector entities to fund welfare expenditure, are less than Rs 50,000 crore now and even these would be cleared up at an “opportune time”, finance secretary TV Somanathan said on Wednesday. Such off-Budget liabilities were in excess of Rs 3.65 lakh crore until the government cleared food and fertiliser subsidies worth Rs 3.15 lakh crore in FY21. “We are taking no new loans (off-Budget) …. If cost of those (existing loans) become higher than our borrowing cost, we may at an opportune time try to get out of them,” he told reporters in an interview.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday unveiled a Budget that sought to keep the momentum of economic recovery going with a 35% increase in government spending on asset creation. The Budget, which left income tax rates and slabs unchanged and was bereft of populist promises despite coming ahead of assembly polls, appears to be banking on growth.

Sitharaman told reporters the PM’s message was clear: “No additional taxes” during the pandemic. If the content of the Budget was an intended booster shot, its focus was unmistakably digital with the use of tech to ensure prompt and targeted delivery running as a constant theme through much of her speech. It also marked a bold move into ‘sunrise’ spheres: green technology, AI, semi-conductors and drones.

A day before the Union Budget, Centre on Monday approved the strategic sale of 93.71 % sale of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) to Tata Steel which had offered the highest bid of Rs 12,100 crore.

This is the second biggest disinvestment of the Union Government after Indian Airlines, and both the leading Public sector Units were sold to Tata Groups of Industries.

Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd. (NINL) is a joint venture of 4 Centre Public Sector Enterprise (CPSEs), namely MMTC, NMDC, BHEL, MECON, and 2 Odisha Govt. PSUs, namely OMC and IPICOL. It has an integrated steel plant with a capacity of 1.1 MT, at Kalinganagar, Odisha, and has been running in huge losses with a huge debt of Rs 6,600 crores.

The debt includes Rs 4,116 overdue of promoters, Rs 1,741 crore to various banks. The company has a negative net worth of Rs 3,487 crore and accumulated losses of Rs 4228 crore, said a senior officer of the Finance Ministry.

The coming decade will see an upsurge in capital expenditure across many sectors, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said in a post on his reflections of the last two years. Birla said the twin-balance sheet problem of stressed loans and over-leveraged corporates is behind us and “we have upon us a forthcoming decade of ‘Capex Mahotsav’ in India”.

Birla said a generation of entrepreneurs in India are now taking advantage of the 1991 economic reforms. The private sector, he added, is also firing on two-engines — the conventional and the new-economy. “I call it the ‘Double-engine growth’. Investors are excited about growth prospects in core sectors as well as sunrise sectors. In my view though, the word sunrise sector applies to the entire landscape in India, which includes both conventional sectors like cement, steel, power & auto and emerging areas like digital & renewables. Both hold the promise of high and sustained growth,” said Birla.

The government on Thursday handed over Air India to the Tata group. Strategic disinvestment of Air India has successfully concluded today with the transfer of 100 per cent shares along with management control to Tata firm Talace Pvt Ltd, the DIPAM Secretary said.

The Tata Group in an official statement announced the completion of the transaction for the purchase of Air India from the Government of India.

The Tata Group takes over management and control of the airline, starting today, the official statement reads.

The transaction covers three entities Air India, Air India Express and AI SATS.