With the retrospective taxation issue spooking investors, the Narendra Modi government committed to making the tax regime non-adversarial and investor friendly, and promised to introduce the GST.

The first major price hike in four years would mark an important step by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new government to cut wasteful use of urea and ease fiscal pressures resulting from a weak economy.

Outlining its agenda for five years, the government on announced a slew of measures to push growth and create jobs, which will include encouraging investment and creating a predictable, transparent and fair environment.

While the 30-share Sensex settled at 25,580.21, up by 183.75 points, the 50-share Nifty flared up by 71.20 points, or 0.94 per cent, to log its fresh closing high of 7,654.60. Overall, 10 out of 12 BSE sectoral indices closed up.

Ten days after the arrest of Amway India's Managing Director and CEO William Scott Pinckney, corporate leaders remain upset and worried.

According to news agency PTI, while asking the government to restore confidence in India's investment potential, Amway president Doug DeVos also wanted clear guidelines for direct sellers in India to avoid such arrests in the future.

Market-capitalisation (m-cap) of all the listed companies stood at Rs 89,31,898 crore. At the closing rate 59.17 for USD-rupee pair, the market value stands at $1.5 trillion.

According to a report by real estate portal 99acres.com, \"Prices per square foot in Delhi-NCR region have remained unchanged in Q1-14 as compared to Q4-13. On the other hand, an annual comparison (Q1-14 with Q1-13) reflects no change in capital prices.\"

The finance minister said he would accord top priority to skill development to afford better employment opportunities for people.

The rupee is among the best-performing emerging currencies this year, rising 4 per cent since January. It hit a one-year high of 58.25 against the dollar on May 22 - a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's landslide victory in general elections.

An MP from Indore, Mahajan's name was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and seconded by BJP patriarch LK Advani and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, and many others, cutting across party lines.

IMD Director General LS Rathore said there was \"sluggish march\" in the onset phase. Monsoon normally hits Kerala on June 1 but this year, Met department had predicted that it will hit the state on June 5.

The government is likely to hike natural gas prices from July 1 after a new price formulation is approved by the Cabinet, a senior petroleum ministry official said.

A. Vellayan, Chairman of Murugappa group, says there are signs of liquidity of the economy improving and consumer confidence returning. \"These factors, coupled with a good budget, should trigger an overall improvement in consumption.\"

The surge in utilisation has triggered expectations of a further increase in the cap on foreign investment in government bonds. The government had raised the FII limit in government bonds by $5 billion to a total of $30 billion last year.

The 30-share Sensex is hovering around 25,000 mark at present. The stock markets have witnessed strong rallies, mainly fuelled by expectations from the Narendra Modi-led BJP government .

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will kick off pre-budget consultations with different interest groups from Thursday, starting with the representatives of the farm sector.

Among other things, it sought extension of tax benefits to telecom and power sectors, simplification of tax structure, bringing down personal and corporate income tax rates.

It is important that a few pressing issues in key sectors are addressed on a priority basis by the government, so that the investment and consumption sentiment in the country is boosted and economic growth can be revived.

Anuj Nangpal, Managing Director, Investor Services, DTZ tells Sarika Malhotra that the new Land Acquisition Act would lead to enhanced project costs.