Foreign direct investment approvals: multiple proposals cleared, several deferred or rejected, high-value cases referred for higher consideration.
Forty FDI proposals were approved across ministries for activities including retail, broadcasting, power, telecom, infrastructure and financial services, many involving conversion of operating companies into operating-cum-holding companies to permit downstream investment, issuance of warrants, share allotments and regularisation of equity; seven proposals were deferred and four rejected; two high-value proposals and one previously CC(F)I-approved proposal were referred to CCEA for consideration.

External Commercial Borrowings policy relaxed to allow rupee and foreign currency expenditure under the automatic route and broaden eligible uses.
ECB policy now permits specified borrowings under the Automatic Route for rupee and foreign currency expenditure for permissible end uses, removes a prior minimum maturity requirement for large rupee infrastructure capital expenditure within the threshold, and recognises telecom spectrum payments as an eligible end use. Borrowers may hold proceeds offshore in prescribed instruments, with overseas bank affiliates, or remit to rupee accounts pending utilisation, subject to prohibitions on capital market, real estate and inter corporate lending. Authorities have raised and will review all in cost ceilings by maturity band, instituted monitoring of SME unhedged forex exposures, and will operationalise the credit enhancement window.

Corporate governance reform modernizes company law, strengthening director liability and time bound insolvency procedures.
Companies Bill, 2008 proposes a consolidated legal framework for corporate regulation from incorporation to winding up, reinforcing corporate governance through strengthened shareholders' rights, director duties and liabilities, recognition of Key Managerial Personnel and board committees, mandatory Director Identification Numbers, introduction of One-Person Companies, application of e-Governance, harmonisation with sectoral regulators, mandatory consolidation of group accounts, prohibition of public deposit-raising except by special statute, criminalisation of insider trading by directors and KMP, a graded penalty and adjudication regime, and unified time-bound insolvency, merger and rehabilitation procedures under the National Company Law Tribunal.

Scope of service tax cannot be expanded by administrative circular; chit fund activities fall outside taxable services.
In the absence of any statutory definition of cash management or asset management, chit fund activities cannot be treated as falling within banking and financial services for service tax purposes, and the scope of service tax cannot be extended by issuance of a circular; any extension requires specific legislative inclusion rather than importation from the RBI Act or other provisions.

Service charge caps for electronic payments and cheque collection set, limiting bank fees and promoting electronic settlement.
Levy and limitation of bank fees for electronic payment products and outstation cheque collection are prescribed, establishing service charge caps and conditions for their application. Inward electronic credits are to be free; outward transfers and outstation cheque collections are subject to capped, all-inclusive charges. Banks may not levy additional courier or out-of-pocket fees, must accept deposits for collection, and are encouraged to use electronic modes and enhanced clearing to expedite settlement. The provisions apply only to transactions within India and exclude large-value cash handling charges.