Cash withdrawal at petrol pumps via debit card-enabled POS expands to ease currency shortage, with staged nationwide rollout.
Public sector oil retailers and a public bank enabled cash dispensing at selected petrol pumps via SBI POS machines against debit-card swipes, subject to a per-person daily withdrawal cap, with an initial set of outlets operational and a planned staged expansion with banks and oil companies; the facility continues beyond a noted date when certain high-denomination notes were accepted, and petroleum product supply at pumps remains uninterrupted.

Ban on unregulated deposit schemes proposed, with enhanced depositor protection and public consultation to refine scope and enforcement.
The revised draft proposes a statutory framework to prohibit unregulated deposit schemes and enhance protection of depositors' interests, addressing gaps in oversight of deposit taking activities through prohibitory measures, depositor safeguards, and administrative or legislative tools. The draft is the product of prior review including an Inter Ministerial Group report and has been reissued for public consultation to refine scope, definitions, enforcement mechanisms, and institutional roles.

Trade facilitation portal enables an e marketplace and information sharing to ease bilateral commerce between India and Iran.
Launch of a bilateral online trade facilitation portal to support commerce between India and Iran. The Hind Iran portal, a joint initiative of STC and Douman Queshm, is intended to disseminate information relevant to Indo Iran trade and provide an electronic marketplace to bridge communication gaps and improve market access for buyers and sellers.

Mutual Agreement Procedure yields coordinated resolutions and first bilateral APA terms, strengthening cross-border tax dispute resolution.
The Competent Authorities under the bilateral Mutual Agreement Procedure and Advance Pricing Agreement process agreed to resolve 66 transfer pricing MAP cases and 42 treaty-interpretation MAP cases covering various international transactions and PE/profit attribution issues, and reached terms for the first-ever bilateral APA between India and the USA, reflecting strengthened cooperation to facilitate cross-border investment and dispute resolution.

Demonetisation cash limits imposed daily exchange and withdrawal caps to manage currency replacement and bank cash flows.
The demonetisation of specified high-denomination notes led to concentrated deposit inflows and cash-exchange activity within a seven-day period; banks reported substantial cash withdrawals in the same interval. Customer-facing transactional constraints were implemented: a daily cash exchange limit for the withdrawn notes, a daily ATM cash withdrawal limit, and a weekly consolidated cap on cash withdrawals (covering ATMs and over-the-counter withdrawals against slips or cheques) to manage currency replacement and short-term cash flow.

Business reform assessment framework to prioritize key reforms and embed beneficiary feedback for outcome-based state rankings.
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion convened a workshop to develop a new business reform assessment framework, proposing an embedded beneficiary feedback mechanism, greater weight to key reforms, and measurement of quality of service to industry. The framework focuses on outcome-based evaluation-timelines for clearances and administrative costs for permits/NoCs-and recommends grouping States/UTs by per capita income while enabling high-performing States to guide lower-performing jurisdictions.

Make in India programme: national initiative to attract investment and boost manufacturing through facilitation reforms.
Make in India is a non statutory initiative to make India an investment destination and manufacturing hub by promoting 25 focus sectors through approved Action Plans; it relies on improving Ease of Doing Business, building modern infrastructure, liberalising FDI access, and shifting government agencies from regulators to facilitators to attract investment and expand domestic manufacturing.

GST reform: call for inclusive parliamentary debate and state consultations to advance One Nation, One Tax consensus.
Prime Minister emphasised advancing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) reform under the objective of One Nation, One Tax, reported prior consultations with state governments and political parties to carry forward GST work, and invited open parliamentary debate and collaborative participation from all parties to achieve consensus and conduct parliamentary business inclusively.

Currency validity extension temporarily eases payments while cash shortages and ATM failures cause widespread queueing and disruption.
Demonetisation caused acute cash shortages that left many ATMs dry and numerous branches overwhelmed, producing long queues, service interruptions, and concerns about public order; to relieve immediate transactional hardship, the government temporarily extended the use of withdrawn higher denomination notes for specified categories of payments while cash distribution and ATM recalibration continue to be constrained.

Taxation of cross-border digital services: foreign B2C OIDAR supplies to Indian consumers become taxable effective 1 December 2016.
Exemption for foreign providers of taxable OIDAR services supplied to persons in India is withdrawn, rendering cross-border B2C OIDAR and electronic services to Indian consumers taxable from 1 December 2016. A simplified online compliance framework accompanies the levy, including deemed registration on online application submission and streamlined online tax payment and return filing, with a detailed explanatory circular issued to address implementation issues.

Indian trade policy consolidates export incentives, digitises procedures, and expands infrastructure to boost exports and market access.
The Department of Commerce implements the New Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20) consolidating merchandise and services incentives into MEIS and SEIS, expanding tariff coverage and transferable scrips; complements these with an Interest Equalisation Scheme for rupee export credit, outreach and capacity building, digitisation of trade procedures including e-IEC, eBRC and SEZ Online, GeM e-marketplace, customs integration, and targeted export infrastructure and trade remedial measures to protect sensitive domestic industries and improve market access.

Indian investment and industrial reforms expand FDI limits, streamline licensing, promote startups and IPR commercialization.
Policy reforms narrow industrial licensing to specified security/environmental categories, extend licence validity and commencement timelines for select sectors, and narrow public-sector reservations while expanding private and foreign participation through revised FDI caps and automatic routes across multiple sectors. Complementary institutional measures create a National IPR Policy with CIPAM to fast-track and commercialize IP, and a suite of digital facilitation tools (e-Biz, Make in India Dashboard, Invest India) alongside Startup India incentives, insolvency and GST reforms to improve ease of doing business and attract investment.

Free and open investment climate urged as Japanese investors seek relaxed land acquisition norms and competitive project bidding.
Japanese business leaders urged policy changes to enhance bilateral investment by advocating a free and open investment climate, specifically calling for relaxation of land acquisition norms and adoption of competitive bidding processes. They noted progress on the Goods and Services Tax, recommended implementation of India Japan Business Forum proposals, and encouraged further investment in mega projects such as industrial corridors to strengthen foreign direct investment and manufacturing collaboration.

Investment facilitation: measures and regulatory reforms to attract and secure long term Japanese investment in major infrastructure and manufacturing projects.
India seeks to deepen its economic partnership with Japan by facilitating Japanese investment across manufacturing, services, infrastructure and new sectors through Japanese Industrial Townships, enhanced visa facilities, implementation of a Social Security Agreement, and proactive policy refinement. Major collaborative opportunities are identified in large-scale infrastructure projects-freight and industrial corridors, high-speed rail, smart cities, coastal and metro projects-while domestic reforms including a national indirect tax regime, an insolvency framework, commercial courts, arbitration amendments, relaxed foreign investment rules and a new intellectual property policy are advanced to strengthen investor confidence.

Partnerships for sustained growth promote policy dialogue and industry collaboration, linking investment opportunities with targeted state facilitation.
The Partnership Summit 2017 is a two day international forum organized by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion with the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Government of Andhra Pradesh to promote partnerships for sustained economic growth, discuss innovative policies, and showcase state initiatives to improve ease of doing business. Program features include plenaries, a Make in India virtual exhibition, Business Excellence awards, B2B and B2G meetings, and focused sessions hosted by the State Partner to highlight regional investment and facilitation measures.

Acceptance of demonetised notes permitted for government and utility payments until a specified deadline.
Acceptance of demonetised 500 and 1000 rupee notes is authorised for payment of fees, charges, taxes and penalties to Central and State Governments, Municipal and Local Bodies, and for utility charges including water and electricity, but this facility is available only until the midnight deadline on 11 November 2016.

Withdrawal of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes: legal tender status removed; exchange, deposit and banking operational rules specified.
The Central Government declared Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes to cease being legal tender from 9 November 2016 and set out procedures: banks and treasuries must report holdings and remit specified notes to currency chests or RBI; public may exchange specified notes at RBI Issue Offices and bank branches up to 30 December 2016 subject to documentation and limits; deposits to bank accounts may be credited without limit except where KYC is incomplete (cap Rs. 50,000); cash withdrawal and ATM limits, temporary bank closures, recall of notes from machines, and daily reporting by banks to the Reserve Bank were mandated.

Currency invalidity: High denomination notes withdrawn; exchange and deposit procedures, temporary ATM limits, and essential service exemptions announced.
Declaration that specified high denomination banknotes will cease to be legal tender from midnight on the notified date, with procedural measures for deposit and exchange at banks and post offices within a defined time window, initial cash withdrawal and ATM limits subject to later increase, targeted temporary exemptions for essential public services and international airport exchanges, continuation of non cash payment channels, and Reserve Bank issuance of redesigned currency as part of coordinated anti corruption and financial integrity measures.

Financial inclusion policy advances: recommendations to expand credit access for MSMEs and low income housing through guarantee schemes.
The India-UK Financial Partnership recommended strengthening credit guarantee schemes to expand credit access for MSMEs and low income housing, and proposed an Indian Stewardship Code to enhance responsible shareholder engagement and oversight of small investor savings, while reporting continued practitioner-regulator collaboration as India implements the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016.

Make in India electronics and IT policy: achievement report released outlining sector initiatives and progress.
A government press release announces the Make in India Electronics & IT Sector Achievement Report, presenting a consolidated account of sectoral progress under the Make in India initiative. The report compiles achievements, policy measures, promotional initiatives, and implementation milestones relevant to electronics manufacturing and information technology, serving as an official summary for stakeholders and directing readers to the linked report for detailed administrative information.