Awareness film: Announces English movie TDS JAGRUKTA by DTRTI Kolkata in press release for public information
Announcement of an English-language awareness film titled "TDS- JAGRUKTA" produced by DTRTI, Kolkata, issued as a press release notifying the public of the film's release and authorship.

India-EU trade agreement negotiations: renewed stocktaking meetings signal India's commitment to an early, balanced bilateral outcome.
The India EU Broad based Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (India EU BTIA) negotiations began in 2007 and reached sixteen rounds until 2013 when the EU withdrew over unresolved issues; since January 2016 four stocktaking meetings have been held to reassess progress, and India has stated its commitment to an early and balanced outcome of the negotiations.

Institutional arbitration reforms: comments invited on Working Paper to strengthen institutional mechanisms and complete stakeholder questionnaires.
The High Level Committee seeking to review institutional arbitration invites public comments on its Working Paper and requests completion of two annexed questionnaires-one for existing arbitral institutions and one for stakeholders (parties, in-house counsel, lawyers, arbitrators). Responses must comply with a prescribed page limit and be submitted by the stated deadline via the designated email address or through the online Google form links to inform the Committee's assessment of institutional effectiveness and reform options.

Capital subsidy under Amended Technology Upgradation Fund Scheme enables targeted machinery modernization with specified rates and caps.
ATUFS provides a one time capital subsidy for eligible benchmarked textile machinery, with differentiated rates and caps for garmenting and technical textiles versus weaving, processing, jute, silk and handloom; it removes interest reimbursement, focuses support on targeted segments while excluding already modernized sectors, routes subsidy payments through nodal financial institutions, and employs i TUFS for web based claim monitoring and transparency.

Construction workers' welfare cess continues to be collected at the notified rate and utilized for construction workers' welfare.
The Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Act, 1996 authorises levy of a cess on the cost of construction at a notified rate; States and Union Territory Administrations collect the cess and the receipts are allocated to State Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Boards for implementation of welfare measures for construction workers.

International trade cooperation: India and Russia pursue transport corridor operationalisation, proposed FTA and revised investment treaty to boost engineering ties.
The release reports high level India-Russia interlocution at IESS emphasizing operationalising the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC), pursuing a proposed Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union and finalising a revised Bilateral Investment Treaty. Russia's designation as Partner Country and participation of ministries, technology institutions and MSME partners aim to advance trade facilitation, technology collaboration, vendor development and export promotion in the engineering sector.

EPF withdrawal for housing: members may access a large portion of funds to purchase or construct residential property under conditions.
A new provision in the EPF Scheme allows an EPF member who belongs to a cooperative or housing society with at least ten EPF members to withdraw up to ninety percent of their EPF balance to purchase, construct, or acquire a dwelling/site, and permits monthly instalments for repayments or interest to be paid from the EPF balance to the government, housing agency, primary lending agency, or banks, subject to prescribed eligibility conditions.

Establishment of new Kendriya Vidyalayas to expand central government school capacity and create regular teaching and non teaching posts.
Approval to establish fifty new Kendriya Vidyalayas under Civil and Defence sectors, opening from classes I to V with immediate creation of six hundred fifty regular posts; schools will grow annually to class XII, ultimately requiring about four thousand regular posts (teaching and non teaching) and adding capacity for approximately fifty thousand students to the Kendriya Vidyalaya system.

Pricing freedom for CBM allows arm's-length sales with transparent competitive processes and permits affiliate sales subject to government dues.
Policy grants marketing and pricing freedom to CBM contractors to sell CBM at Arm's Length Price through a fully transparent and competitive sales process; contractors may sell to an affiliate if no buyer is identified. Royalty and other government dues are payable on PPAC notified prices or the selling price, whichever is higher.

Equity sale approval allows transfer of joint venture stake to partner, enabling long term association and technology access.
Cabinet approval authorises Indian Oil Corporation to transfer its minority equity holding in its joint venture company to the existing foreign joint venture partner, permitting the sale of the company's joint venture stake to Lubrizol Corporation and enabling access to the foreign partner's global additive technologies and continuity of the commercial relationship.

Trade facilitation in services proposed to address border and behind the border barriers across modes, using a TFA-based model.
Proposal for a Trade Facilitation in Services aims to remove border and behind the border obstacles to services trade across all modes of supply by adapting the Trade Facilitation Agreement in goods to the services context. India tabled a concept note, a follow up paper outlining possible elements, and a draft legal text at the WTO to facilitate discussions; members raised issues of scope, mandate and Special and Differential Treatment, while India relies on GATS provisions as the negotiating mandate.

Infrastructure finance approval enables corridor development with multi tranche loans, grants, and long term LIBOR linked repayment terms.
ADB approved a combined financing package for the Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor comprising multi tranche loans for infrastructure and policy promotion, a concessional grant for climate resilient urban works, and technical assistance. The first tranche has DPRs prepared and provides long tenor financing with a defined grace period, straight line repayment, and interest determined under ADB's LIBOR based lending facility.

State handholding for business reforms to provide technical guidance and workshops to improve regulatory ease of doing business.
Central Government sought to improve ease of doing business by requesting states with high reform implementation to handhold low scoring states, providing technical guidance, organising workshops and knowledge sharing; DIPP also discussed next reform sets, evaluation methodology and incorporating private sector feedback, while the Centre offers workshops and video conferences to facilitate implementation and improve state regulatory environments.

National Industrial Corridor Trust centralises corridor development and routes SPV investments into a revolving public corpus.
Creation and mandate expansion of the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) designates it as an apex body under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion to coordinate development of multiple industrial corridors, support project development, appraisal, approval and sanction within extant delegation, and manage Government contributions as a revolving corpus by routing SPV investments and recycling SPV debt-service payments and equity disinvestment proceeds back into the corpus.

Wholesale price inflation rises, driven by primary articles and fuel & power, impacting manufacturing input costs.
The release presents the Wholesale Price Index (base 2004-05=100) for February 2017, showing a marginal month on month rise in the All Commodities index and a higher annual WPI inflation rate compared to the prior year. It disaggregates changes across Primary Articles, Fuel & Power, and Manufactured Products, naming specific commodities that contributed to increases (notably minerals, coking coal, selected foods and fuels) and those that declined, and provides annexed tables of weights, index levels and short term inflation trends for detailed subgroup analysis.

Wholesale Price Index rise signals broader inflationary pressure driven by primary articles and fuel & power increases.
The Wholesale Price Index for February 2017 showed a month on month rise and positive year on year inflation, driven by higher prices in Primary Articles (food and non food agricultural items and minerals) and Fuel & Power (notably coal and petroleum products). Manufactured Products were broadly unchanged overall, with mixed subgroup movements. The release supplies detailed subgroup indices, six month inflation trends and the final December 2016 WPI for comparative purposes.

Institution of National Importance status for FDDI to elevate footwear and leather design education and research nationally.
The Bill declares the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) an Institution of National Importance to facilitate and promote teaching, training and research in footwear and leather design and development, and to enable FDDI to function as a Centre of Excellence meeting international standards, building on its pan India campuses and role in sectoral human resource development.

Goods and Services Tax push emphasizes consensus and state cooperation to secure enactment during the parliamentary session.
Goods and Services Tax implementation is being pursued as a legislative priority to be secured within the current parliamentary session through consensus-building with state governments and political parties. Cooperative federalism and intergovernmental consultation are identified as the principal mechanisms to finalize decisions required for GST adoption, alongside ongoing parliamentary debate focused on welfare-related issues.

Advance Pricing Agreement certainty: bilateral APA with rollback provision extends transfer pricing stability for a multinational subsidiary.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes entered into a bilateral Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) with a Japanese subsidiary including a rollback provision, raising the total APAs concluded to 141 and bringing bilateral APAs with Japanese subsidiaries to five; the press release highlights that these bilateral APAs with Sogo Sosh s provide multiyear tax certainty and that further APAs are expected before the fiscal year end.

Ex-post facto approval of MoU on energy efficiency services enables NPC to offer assessments, training and demand side management internationally.
Ex-post facto approval was granted to an MoU between the National Productivity Council and Al Etihad Energy Services UAE under which NPC will provide Energy Assessment Services, Training and Certification of Energy Auditors, and Demand Side Management, while Al Etihad will provide customer liaison, local field audit support, local training and certification support, and demand side management support on a case by case basis, enabling NPC to pursue opportunities and strengthen institutional capacity in Dubai and other GCC markets.