Bank of Baroda is set to become third largest lender of the country after amalgamation with Vijaya and Dena Bank effective April 1.

The next bureaucrat in line to be designated the finance secretary is expenditure secretary Ajay Narayan Jha, a 1982-batch Manipur cadre officer.

According to sources, the new rules would affect nearly 533 posts of assistant commissioner and deputy superintendent of police.

The finance ministry is staring at a whopping 30,000 vacancies across all levels.

GST collections stood at Rs 94,016 cr in May, Rs 95,610 cr in June, Rs 96,483 cr in July and Rs 93,960 cr in Aug.

Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia has started meeting with GST officers, both from central and state tax departments.

GST collection for month of July touched Rs 96,483 cr, slightly higher than Rs 95,610 cr collected in June.

Wasteful use of capital is hardwired into a system which prices capital cheaply.

Currently, diesel, petrol, crude oil, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel are outside the purview of GST.

After registering highest GST collections of Rs 1,03,458 cr in April, revenue has fallen to Rs 94,016 cr in May.

Currently, private financial institutions are the majority owners in GSTN with 51 per cent stake.

India revised its fiscal deficit target to 3.5 pc of GDP from an earlier 3.2 pc of GDP for 2017-18 fiscal year.

For year 2016-17, 1.89 cr salaried individuals have filed I-T returns and paid total tax of Rs 1.44 lakh cr.

Moody upgraded India's sovereign rating to Baa2 from Baa3 and changed the outlook to stable from positive.

The Budget is likely to be presented on February 1, 2018 by finance minister Arun Jaitley.

Finance Secretary's post was vacant following the superannuation of Ashok Lavasa last month.

Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, however, said the rejig would require some calculations by the fitment committee.

The 23rd GST Council meeting is scheduled to be held on November 10, 2017 at Guwahati. 

The revenue secretary said the overhaul would require some calculations by the fitment committee.

The 23rd GST Council meeting is due to be held on November 10 in Guwahati.