Strategic economic partnership deepened through ministerial visits and investment dialogues to boost trade, investment and sectoral cooperation.
The ministerial visit to Saudi Arabia centers on deepening bilateral economic engagement through participation in an international investment forum, investor outreach, diaspora-focused cultural promotion including One District One Product, and bilateral and ministerial meetings to advance cooperation on renewable energy, digital infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture, and trade facilitation to strengthen investment flows.

Sustainable design standards guiding administrative buildings in new greenfield industrial smart cities to inform SPV procurement and planning.
NICDC and CEPT Advisory Foundation convened a workshop to guide SPVs and state officials on integrating biophilic architecture, energy efficiency, climatic bio-massing, and inclusive planning into administrative buildings for new greenfield industrial smart cities, and CAF outlined a transparent procurement process for architectural services to balance quality and cost while commissioning competent designers.

Return filing deadline extended for specified assessees under Section 139(1), permitting filing until the revised due date.
The due date for furnishing the Return of Income under sub Section (1) of Section 139 for assessees referred in clause (a) of Explanation 2 to sub Section (1) has been extended to 15th November, 2024 by Circular No.13/2024, altering the procedural filing timeline for Assessment Year 2024 25.

Repayment of government stock at par with electronic-credit or pay-order payment; submit bank particulars to receive maturity proceeds.
Outstanding principal of the 9.15% GOVT.STOCK 2024 is repayable at par on maturity with no further interest; repayment moves to the preceding working day if a state-declared holiday affects the repayment date. Payment to registered holders in ledger or certificate form will be made by pay order with bank particulars or by electronic credit, and holders must submit bank-account particulars in advance or tender discharged securities at paying offices within the prescribed advance window to receive the discharge value.

International technology and climate collaboration drives joint AI, semiconductor and green technology scaling for global growth.
India-Germany collaboration targets advancement in AI adoption, semiconductors and green technology by combining India's capacity to scale with Germany's precision engineering to drive global industrial growth. The Conference serves to identify trends, exchange best practices and shape policy for deeper strategic partnerships. India reaffirms commitment to international climate obligations, asserts it is on track to exceed its nationally determined contributions, and highlights Asia's demographic expansion as a major commercial opportunity.

Industry-government collaboration accelerates manufacturing startups' global market access and product development under Startup India partnership.
DPIIT partnered with HCLSoftware under the Startup India framework to incubate manufacturing startups by providing access to the HCL SYNC program and end-to-end support in design, development, sales and marketing. The collaboration aims to foster Indian intellectual property, improve product quality to global standards, and establish a networked manufacturing value chain of startups and suppliers, thereby advancing the Manufacturing Incubation Initiative and supporting the Make in India objective.

Loan limit increase under PMMY expands eligible microenterprise financing with continued credit guarantee support.
The loan ceiling under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana has been raised and a new Tarun Plus category created for larger loans, available to entrepreneurs who have previously availed and repaid Tarun loans; such loans will continue to receive guarantee coverage under the Credit Guarantee Fund for Micro Units.

Public procurement modernization via GeM MoU expands state buyer adoption and local seller onboarding for transparent e procurement.
A Memorandum of Understanding between GeM and the State of Sikkim commits both parties to increase GeM adoption by State buyer departments through training, handholding, capacity building and seller onboarding. GeM will provide operational facilitation via consultants and business facilitators, using the unified portal for procurement methods including direct purchase, L1 purchase, bidding and reverse auction, with an emphasis on transparency, inclusivity and enhanced market access for state sellers.

Shareholding increase: Bharti Airtel's stake in Indus Towers approved following Indus Towers' buyback of shares.
The Competition Commission of India has approved an increase in Bharti Airtel's percentage shareholding in Indus Towers pursuant to Indus Towers' buyback of its own shares, resulting in a larger consolidated stake for Bharti Airtel; a detailed order will follow.

Competition approval granted for acquisition of housing finance company, triggering share transfer and mandatory open offer under takeover rules.
Competition approval was granted for the proposed acquisition of Aavas Financiers Limited by Aquilo House Pte. Ltd., a newly incorporated acquirer wholly and indirectly held by certain CVC-managed investment funds. The transaction involves share sale agreements with existing promoters and the mandatory open offer obligations under the SEBI Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers Regulations, 2011. The Target is a National Housing Bank-registered non-deposit taking housing finance company offering home loans, MSME loans, loan-against-property and insurance distribution to its customers.

Repayment of GOI Floating Rate Bond requires bank mandate for electronic credit or tendering discharged securities for payment.
Outstanding principal of GOI Floating Rate Bond 2024 is repayable at par on maturity with no interest thereafter; holiday in a State shifts repayment to the previous working day. Maturity proceeds will be paid by pay order with bank particulars or by electronic credit to the holder's bank account if mandate is furnished in advance. Absent bank particulars, holders must tender duly discharged securities at designated paying offices at least twenty days before the due date to obtain the discharge value.

Industry engagement: encourage startups, women entrepreneurs and tourism promotion to boost jobs and skills through public-private partnership.
Union Minister urged industry associations to engage startups and women entrepreneurs, promote tourism through overseas representative offices to create jobs by removing language barriers, and partner with government initiatives on skill development and employment. He called for industry support to showcase India's advances in AI, machine learning, data analytics and clean energy as part of advancing the national economic agenda toward the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.

Arbitration law reform invites public comment to strengthen institutional arbitration and reduce court intervention, and ensure timely conclusions.
The draft Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Bill, 2024 aims to promote institutional arbitration, limit court intervention in arbitration proceedings, and ensure timely conclusion of arbitrations to strengthen enforcement of contracts and ease of doing business; a tabular statement of existing and proposed provisions accompanies the draft, which is published for public consultation with comments invited by email and materials made available on the Department of Legal Affairs website.

Time-series data update: CBDT published tax datasets through the latest fiscal year, now available on the official website.
CBDT published an updated Time-Series data set through the most recently completed fiscal year and made it publicly accessible on the official income tax website for download and analysis.

Integrated infrastructure planning under PM GatiShakti enables district-level GIS project selection and area-based development decision-making.
The PM GatiShakti National Master Plan was operationalised at district level through a capacity building workshop promoting GIS-based decision support, the Area Development Approach, and inter-ministerial data integration. The programme advances creation and enrichment of District Master Plan portals with central and state data layers, provision of District Nodal Officer credentials, and technical support from BISAG-N to enable site selection, gap analysis, disaster management, and integrated area-based project planning.

Repayment of government securities: holders must provide bank account details or tender securities early for electronic credit.
Outstanding security 6.18% GS 2024 is repayable at par on November 04, 2024, with no interest thereafter; if a State Government declares a holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, repayment will be made on the previous working day. Payment of maturity proceeds for securities held in Subsidiary General Ledger or as Stock Certificates shall be made by pay order incorporating bank account particulars or by credit to a bank account capable of receiving electronic funds; absent such particulars, holders may tender duly discharged securities at designated paying offices twenty days before the due date.

Minimum Support Prices raised for mandated rabi crops to ensure remunerative returns and incentivise crop diversification.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved increases to the Minimum Support Price for all mandated Rabi crops for Marketing Season 2025-26, reporting revised MSPs, absolute increases for individual crops, and All-India weighted average costs of production. The decision follows the Union Budget commitment to set MSP at at least 1.5 times the weighted average cost of production and presents expected margins over cost for each crop, stating the objective of ensuring remunerative prices to farmers and incentivising crop diversification.

Dearness Allowance increase approved to raise compensation for central employees and pensioners, effective from July, under pay commission formula.
An additional instalment of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief, increasing the existing rate by three percentage points, is approved effective 1 July 2024 for Central Government employees and pensioners, applied under the formula based on the 7th Central Pay Commission and entailing an estimated recurring fiscal impact and specified beneficiary populations.

Acquisition approval for bank stake in insurance firms under insolvency resolution plan permits stake transfer
The Competition Commission has permitted the proposed acquisition by Central Bank of India of minority equity stakes in Future Generali India Insurance Company Limited and Future Generali India Life Insurance Company Limited, to be effected through a bid or resolution plan submitted under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016; a detailed order will follow.

PM GatiShakti Master Plan expands district infrastructure planning, enabling geospatial data-driven logistics and social infrastructure integration.
Launch of a district-level PM GatiShakti Master Plan for 27 aspirational districts pairs with Guidelines for Preparing City Logistics Plans, creating a GIS-enabled, data-validated platform that prioritises continuous data updating and validated geospatial inputs to improve the speed, cost-efficiency and quality of infrastructure planning while extending mapping to social infrastructure through an Area Development Approach.