Project Development Fund to catalyze Indian economic engagement in CLMV through bank-backed project support.
Creation of a Project Development Fund (PDF) to catalyse Indian economic presence in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, housed in a government commerce agency and implemented through a bank financial intermediary, governed by an Inter-Ministerial Committee chaired by the commerce secretary. The PDF's operative purpose is to reduce information, infrastructure and contingent risks that hinder Indian entrepreneurs, support business expansion, cost-competitive supply chains and integration into regional value chains.

Goods and Services Tax reform and Bankruptcy Code reforms aim to boost bank capacity to finance growth and investment.
Central policy now prioritises enhancing banks' capacity to support growth, linking that objective to enacted structural reforms: the approved Goods and Services Tax Constitution Amendment Bill and the approved Bankruptcy Code, which together are framed as improving the investment climate and enabling greater domestic and foreign investment in infrastructure and development.

Bilateral commercial dialogue advances CEO Forum recommendations for government consideration and progress review ahead of strategic talks
The reconstituted India-U.S. CEO Forum convened to review implementation of its prior recommendations and to prepare a fresh set of proposals for submission to both governments; the Commerce and Industry Minister held an interactive session with Indian Forum members to discuss the status of progress and the new recommendations.

Bilateral trade and investment cooperation emphasized, with preparatory coordination for an upcoming India-UK economic and trade meeting.
Discussion between senior trade officials focused on strengthening bilateral trade and investment cooperation and practical preparations for an upcoming India-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee meeting, with diplomatic attention allocated to preparatory work for the scheduled high level session.

Time-bound payment obligations streamline supplier payments and expand mandatory online government procurement through GeM portal.
The Government implemented a fully online e procurement portal as an end to end electronic marketplace emphasising transparency, efficiency, ease of operation, supplier access, and mandatory time bound payment obligations; rollout includes training for suppliers and buyers, portal disclosures of schedules, and mechanisms to enable procurement that can bypass traditional tendering to support domestic industry.

Commercial cooperation: India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue advances work streams to boost trade, investment and standards alignment.
The Commercial Track of the India-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue establishes four work streams-infrastructure and smart cities, ease of doing business, innovation and entrepreneurship, and standards-and leverages the CEO Forum's recommendations to drive operational initiatives such as energy finance collaboration, defence procurement facilitation, smart city partnerships, digital infrastructure exchanges, FDI policy simplifications, and technical cooperation on metrology and standards to expand bilateral trade and investment.

Market access challenges addressed in diplomatic talks to coordinate trade positions and advance free trade agreement priorities.
Discussions between the Commerce Secretary and Indian Ambassadors in European countries via video conference focused on institutional mechanisms for trade engagement, market access challenges for Indian exporters, and negotiation and implementation dynamics of free trade agreements to coordinate negotiating positions and refine trade facilitation priorities.

Intellectual property rights awareness campaign launched to promote IP education, outreach and National IPR Policy implementation nationwide.
A nation-wide campaign to promote Intellectual Property Rights awareness, outreach and promotion will be launched to operationalise the first objective of the National IPR Policy, advanced by the Department through its implementation cell in collaboration with the national patent and trademark administration and industry associations to disseminate information across schools, colleges and industry.

e procurement portal enables transparent and accountable government purchasing; training expanded nationwide and payment timelines mandated.
The Government e Marketplace (GeM) is an end to end online procurement portal developed by DGS&D with NeGD support to increase transparency, accountability and efficiency in government purchasing. Training emphasised hands on user adoption, nationwide rollout and continuous improvement of the secure portal. Operational expectations include keeping the system free from manipulation and a mandatory requirement to make vendor payments within ten days of receipt of goods or services, with efforts encouraged to reduce this period further.

Government innovation acceleration through a dedicated task group to identify and rapidly implement policy and administrative steps.
The central executive will constitute a dedicated group charged with identifying and expeditiously implementing practicable government steps to accelerate national innovation, prioritizing policy and administrative interventions to stimulate R&D, commercialization, and ecosystem facilitation; the initiative is motivated by recent improvement in the nation's Global Innovation Index standing and intends to use international benchmarking and multi-stakeholder engagement to inform domestic policy measures.

Holding period for immovable property determined by registered deed; other declared assets treated from scheme commencement for capital gains.
The FAQ answer applies only for determining the holding period of immovable property where acquisition is evidenced by a deed registered with any State Government authority; for assets other than immovable property declared under the Scheme, the holding period for computation of capital gains shall commence from 01.06.2016.

Income distribution data update: Version 2.0 corrects inconsistencies and adds taxpayer-type tables for public analysis release.
Central Board of Direct Taxes released Version 2.0 of the income tax return statistics for Assessment Year 2012 13, adding disaggregated gross total income tables by taxpayer category and correcting internal inconsistencies caused by return-level data quality issues; the updated dataset is publicly available on the official income tax website to support more consistent analysis.

Special assistance to Andhra Pradesh bridges post bifurcation resource gaps and funds backward districts and capital development.
Central Government provides special assistance to Andhra Pradesh to compensate fiscal impacts from bifurcation, allocating separate funds in 2016 17 to bridge the resource gap, develop backward districts, and assist capital city creation, supplementing prior disbursements made under the Andhra Pradesh Re organisation Act, 2014.

Consent mechanism under Article 293(3) simplified to three annual approvals for state open market borrowings.
Central Government replaces quarterly consents with a three-stage consent cycle under consent under Article 293(3): one-time consent in April for the first nine months based on a borrowing calendar within the Net Borrowing Ceiling, a December consent for the first two months of the fourth quarter based on actuals and estimates, and a March consent after reassessment of actual borrowings for eleven months.

Consumer Price Index accuracy ensured by representative market sampling, transaction based prices, and real time data scrutiny.
The Consumer Price Index presents a realistic price picture by using actual transaction prices from a nationally distributed sample of rural and urban markets, staggered across weeks to capture intra month variation; market wise item specifications and common purchase quantities reflect local buying behaviour, while the basket prioritises items with significant household consumption shares including Public Distribution System items, and web based collection provides real time upload monitoring and scrutiny for data quality.

Foreign Direct Investment approval permitting a share swap issuing Jana Capital shares to non resident holders in an NBFC.
The Government approved one FDI proposal permitting a share swap whereby non resident shareholders of Janalakshmi Financial Services Limited will be issued shares in Jana Capital Limited in lieu of JFS shares, affecting the NBFC sector. Several other proposals were deferred for further consideration, four were rejected for seeking full foreign ownership or post facto approvals, two did not lie before the FIPB, and three were withdrawn by applicants.

Technology acquisition funding for MSMEs enables capital subsidies, interest reimbursement, and patent cost support to promote clean manufacturing.
The Technology Acquisition and Development Fund (TADF) provides MSMEs, including units in NIMZs, funding to acquire and develop clean and green manufacturing technologies for investments made after notification. Operative incentives include interest reimbursement by lenders, a capital subsidy for plant and machinery for pollution control, energy and water measures, grants for environmental and water audits in NIMZs, a one time subsidy for verified zero water discharge systems, and access to a patent pool or partial reimbursement of technology acquisition costs within specified ceilings.

National Industrial Corridor Development Authority to centralise funding and oversee planning, appraisal and implementation of corridor projects.
Proposal to create National Industrial Corridor Development Authority to channelise central and institutional funding and to ensure coherent planning, project development, appraisal and sanction, implementation, coordination and monitoring of industrial corridor projects under unified central oversight.

Government procurement reform: an online marketplace standardises purchases, speeds payments and increases transparency across public buying.
GeM is a fully end to end e procurement platform designed to enhance transparency, speed and accountability by providing online supplier and buyer registration with electronic authentication, standardised specifications, full audit trails, linkage to government payment portals for online settlement, and automated user alerts. The General Financial Rules have been amended to enable platform procurement with a two tier mechanism allowing direct purchase for low value needs and competitive procurement for higher value needs; paying authorities must make timely payments and goods are deemed accepted if not accepted or rejected within the prescribed period.

Loans to rural entrepreneurs supported by government schemes and lending measures to expand credit access and reduce repayment burden.
Loans to rural entrepreneurs are provided by banks and financial institutions and supported by government interest subvention and capital subsidy schemes to reduce repayment burdens. Core schemes include employment generation, credit-linked capital subsidy and amended technology upgradation support. Complementary measures to boost lending comprise priority sector lending targets for MSMEs and weaker sections, targeted credit schemes, credit guarantee arrangements, differential rate lending, and initiatives to facilitate small-enterprise finance, collectively aiming to expand credit access and mitigate lender risk.