Spending on the social sector is expected to come down, with the finance ministry informing central ministries that their allocation may be cut by 40% this financial year to effect fiscal consolidation.

Wall Street firms gambled on Mitt Romney and lost. Now, faced with the prospect of even tougher regulations in President Barack Obama’s second term, they have to build better ties with the new financial regulators he will appoint.

Barack Obama’s return as US president is sparking optimism and confidence among Americans but his second innings at the White House has made Indian IT-BPO players edgy and cautious over a possible backlash on outsourcing as a business model. Vivek Sinha reports. Wary on services, rosy on growth | Wasting no time, Obama calls leaders of Congress

Plan Comm deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Wednesday stressed the need for speedy resolutions on the issue of price pooling for domestic and imported fuel coal and gas for the fuel-starved power plants in India. HT reports.

Fear of a 2008-style financial catastrophe is holding back the global recovery but business must be more confident and seek out investment opportunities, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper said today.

Fearing a credit ratings downgrade on account of difficult cash flows, state-run oil companies are anxiously waiting for a comfort letter from the finance ministry on the release of fuel subsidy payments for the first six months of 2012-13. Anupama Airy reports. Panic in the air

Giving some breathing space to companies, finance minister P Chidambaram has indicated in internal discussions with his officials that the government is in no mood to bring in additional taxes in the next Union Budget.  Mahua Venkatesh reports.

Leading world economies pressed the United States on Sunday to act decisively to avert a rush of spending cuts and tax hikes, warning that the so-called fiscal cliff is the biggest short-term threat to global growth.

India's economic growth could slow to 5.5% during the current fiscal year, said finance minister P Chidambaram, signalling the possibility that Asia's third-largest economy will expand at its slowest pace in a decade.

In a bigger and bolder role as the chief economist of the World Bank, former chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu said on Monday that India needed to make contract labour easier to boost jobs. HT reports.

Amidst a row over CAG audit of Reliance Industries' KG-D6 gas field spendings, oil minister M Veerappa Moily today said audit was a contractual obligation and hoped that the company will abide by it.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in some of his toughest remarks on foreign investment yet, signaled a willingness to block foreign purchases of Canadian companies if other countries are not open to Canadian investment.

Promising a hawk-eyed vigil on those trying to make unlawful gains through manipulations, market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India has said it has developed a surveillance system that even foreign regulators are looking to emulate.

The Prime Minister's key economic adviser, C Rangarajan, has said that there is no case for lowering India's credit rating and global agencies need to look at the international scenario before taking any rating action.