Disinvestment targets: government outlines measures and transactions to meet CPSE and strategic disinvestment receipts.
The Government reported a shortfall against the 2015-16 disinvestment Budget Estimate, supplementing CPSE receipts with buyback tax and sale of bonus debentures, and set a lower 2016-17 disinvestment BE with allocations for CPSE and strategic disinvestment. To meet the 2016-17 target the Government realized early receipts from specific CPSE transactions, signalled participation in selected buybacks, identified CPSEs across key sectors for disinvestment, and adopted a Cabinet-approved structure for strategic disinvestment.

Repayment of Government Stock: holders must furnish bank details for electronic credit or tender securities twenty days before maturity.
Government Stock is repayable at par on maturity with no further interest; if the maturity date is a State-declared holiday under the Negotiable Instruments Act, repayment will be made on the preceding working day. Payment to registered holders in ledger accounts or by stock certificate will be by pay order with bank account particulars or by electronic credit; holders must submit bank account details or an electronic mandate in advance. Absent such particulars, holders may tender discharged securities at Public Debt Offices, Treasuries/Sub-Treasuries or designated bank branches in advance to facilitate repayment.

No-objection certificate requirement found anti-competitive, prompting penalties and orders to end restrictive stockist controls.
Mandating a No Objection Certificate (NOC) requirement for appointment of new stockists was held to restrict and control drug supply and qualify as an anti-competitive agreement. Associations issuing NOC demands-verbally or by benignly worded letters-cannot evade legal consequences. Companies that cooperate with such NOC conditions without contest are complicit; responsible office-bearers and officials who enabled or participated were attributed liability. The regulator directed cessation of the NOC practice and imposed monetary penalties on the association, the implicated company and specified individuals, taking mitigation into account for brief refusals to supply.

Special and Differential treatment urged to protect small-scale fisheries in WTO fishery subsidy negotiations, prioritising capacity building and livelihoods.
Negotiations on fishery subsidy discipline at the WTO have resumed and India, with other developing and ACP countries, insists that any discipline include meaningful Special and Differential (S&D) treatment recognising developmental needs, poverty reduction, livelihood and food security concerns of small, marginal and artisanal fisheries, with capacity-building assistance as an integral component.

National Manufacturing Policy drives manufacturing growth and job creation through policy initiatives; no amendment currently proposed.
The National Manufacturing Policy aims to raise manufacturing growth and employment by increasing the sector's contribution to national output through an enabling environment, investment attraction, and job-creation measures. Complementary initiatives to improve ease of doing business, boost FDI, support startups, and expand infrastructure are cited as contributing to improved manufacturing performance. There is currently no proposal to amend the NMP.

Implementation deadline for ease of doing business reforms leads to non-consideration of late dashboard uploads after cutoff.
A set of 340 action points was circulated to all State Governments and Union Territory Administrations requiring implementation by the implementation deadline and upload of an implementation report by the reporting cutoff on the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion's Ease of Doing Business dashboard. The Government of Telangana informed the Ministry that Andhra Pradesh uploaded reforms not implemented by the deadline, and reforms implemented after the deadline will not be considered.

Leather sector development assistance under ILDP: grants and co funding for modernization, training, clusters and environmental infrastructure.
The Indian Leather Development Programme is a central sector scheme with six sub-schemes that provide investment grants for leather unit modernization, placement linked and up skilling training support under Human Resource Development (with mandatory placement conditions), co funding for Mega Leather Clusters excluding land costs, support for artisans, assistance for CETP installation and environmental projects, and funding for new footwear design institute branches.

FDI policy remains liberal and investor-friendly, emphasising review-driven reforms to sustain inflows and domestic benefits.
The Government maintains a liberal and investor-friendly FDI policy without fixed inflow targets, acknowledging that FDI is driven by private investor decisions and factors such as market size, resources, infrastructure, political and investment climate, and macro-economic stability; policy focus is on ongoing review and regulatory changes to sustain attractiveness and promote FDI as complementary to domestic investment through access to capital, technology transfer, managerial practices, and global market integration.

MSME regulatory cooperation advances with focus on institutional frameworks, global value chain integration and services trade facilitation.
Deliberations focused on strengthening the MSME regulatory framework and institutional structures, promoting entrepreneurship and manufacturing, integrating MSMEs into global value chains, fostering innovation and technology transfer, and exploring a dedicated portal for cross-border SME linkages; delegations agreed to pursue further cooperation. Parallel seminar discussions targeted cooperation on services statistics and practical measures for trade facilitation in services to support regional services trade and collaboration.

Anti-dumping investigation into imported flat steel products alleges injury to domestic industry and awaits margin determinations.
Anti-dumping investigations were initiated into specified categories of imported hot rolled, cold rolled, wire rod and colour coated steel from multiple countries following petitions by domestic producers; DGAD found prima facie adverse effects on the domestic industry and will determine dumping margins and complete injury and causation assessments after examining submissions from all interested parties.

Anti-dumping duty targets imported purified terephthalic acid, restoring trade remedy protection for the domestic industry.
DGAD initiated an investigation into imports of Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) from China PR, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia and Chinese Taipei on 18 June 2015; following final findings dated 9 June 2016 the Department of Revenue imposed anti-dumping duties on those PTA imports effective 5 July 2016, with duties prescribed per metric tonne within a specified range to address injury to the domestic industry and restore fair competition.

Foreign direct investment limits in pharmaceuticals expanded, enabling greater automatic-route and government-route participation while protecting local production and R&D.
The government expanded foreign investment permissions in the pharmaceutical sector by permitting increased FDI under the automatic route for Brownfield projects, with additional investment beyond that threshold allowed under government approval; 100% automatic FDI remains for Greenfield projects. The policy prohibits non-compete clauses, requires specified production of drugs on the National List of Essential Medicines, and mandates a defined level of R&D expenditure by investee companies to ensure domestic availability and continued capital deployment in research.

Expedited patent examination introduced to prioritise applications where India is ISA/IPEA or the applicant is a startup.
Amendments to the Patent Rules provide for expedited examination when India is the International Searching Authority or elected as the International Preliminary Examining Authority in the corresponding international application, and when the applicant is a startup; the rules were notified and brought into force on 16 May 2016 to create specific grounds for prioritised examination.

Fund of Funds for Startups to channel public corpus into AIFs for seed, early and growth equity investment.
Governmental approval establishes a Fund of Funds for Startups to channel public corpus into professionally managed vehicles that invest in startups through Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs). The Fund is sector agnostic, contributes to the capital of AIFs which take equity in startups at seed, early and growth stages under the Startup Action Plan, and releases corpus subject to scheme progress and fund availability. A multi departmental Monitoring Committee will review progress, evaluate effectiveness, plan implementation, ensure beneficiary alignment, demonstrate impact, and ensure legal and policy compliance.

Price stabilization measures for tea shift from fund support to a market-linked revenue insurance scheme while maintaining statutory worker welfare protections.
The Government is transitioning from a centrally managed Price Stabilization Fund to a market-linked Revenue Insurance Scheme for Plantation Crops to protect tea producers against yield and price losses, while tea garden workers are covered by the Plantation Labour Act and multiple social and industrial security statutes, and receive additional welfare support through Tea Board Human Resource Development programmes.

Goods and Services Tax to subsume indirect levies and integrate markets, supporting broader tax base and investment climate.
Passage and implementation of Goods and Services Tax is presented as a central reform to subsume indirect levies, remove cascading taxation, widen the tax base and integrate goods and services markets to support medium term growth; complementary measures include liberalisation of foreign direct investment, new insolvency and bankruptcy legislation, fiscal incentives for infrastructure and manufacturing, and programmes to promote entrepreneurship, digitalisation and improved policy transparency to strengthen private investment and the ease of doing business.

Aadhaar e-Signature enables paperless PAN applications and rapid allotment, reducing duplicate PAN issuance via certified service providers on government portals.
A DSC-based application route allows company applicants to obtain PAN and TAN via authorised service provider portals with allotment within one day of a valid online application; an Aadhaar e-Signature option for individual PAN applicants enables paperless electronic verification and seeds Aadhaar with PAN to reduce duplicate PAN issuance, with application links published on the department's website.

Startup India initiative: States and stakeholders to discuss implementation, funding access, incubation and ecosystem support mechanisms.
The Startup India initiative establishes an Action Plan to create a supportive ecosystem for startups, targeting access to capital, incubation and mentoring, infrastructure, and regulatory measures to nurture innovation and scale enterprises. A DIPP-organised States' Conference convenes States, startups, investors, incubators and ministries to review implementation, share state-level policy practices, and discuss funding frameworks, incubation models and inter-ministerial coordination to operationalise the Action Plan.

Acquisition enables reverse merger and share swap, restructuring corporate ownership and enabling operational synergies and expansion.
Approval was granted for an acquisition of a minority equity stake in a holding company followed by a reverse merger implemented through a share swap, creating a linear parent-subsidiary structure to consolidate ownership, realise operational and financial synergies, strengthen the consolidated balance sheet and cash flow profile, and facilitate further expansion and employment generation.

Foreign direct investment in railways authorised for identified non operational areas to modernise network and attract technology.
Foreign direct investment is authorised in specified non-operational segments of the rail sector to support modernisation, technology infusion, manufacturing growth and competitiveness. The policy permits foreign equity participation in construction, operation and maintenance in identified areas that do not affect management or operational control of the national railway network, which remains with the Government, pursuant to sectoral guidelines issued by the Ministry of Railways.