Tax information exchange: India-Liechtenstein pact enables cross-border access to banking and ownership data under confidentiality safeguards.
The Tax Information Exchange Agreement between India and Liechtenstein establishes a framework for transparency and exchange of information foreseeably relevant to domestic tax administration, obliges the requested Party to use its information-gathering measures even if not needed for its own tax purposes, and specifically covers banking and ownership information and onsite interviews and record examinations by requesting authority representatives.

Current account deficit: government commits to reduce it over time and ensure safe financing through foreign inflows.
The statement addresses management of the Current Account Deficit, noting it has been financed without using foreign exchange reserves and affirming a commitment to reduce the CAD over time while ensuring safe financing through adequate foreign inflows. Policy measures include increasing government and household savings, facilitating FDI and FII, and continuous monitoring by monetary and fiscal authorities with further steps to be taken if warranted.

Central bank offices to remain open for public transactions on April first, 2013, operating as scheduled.
Reserve Bank offices in the Mumbai metropolitan area are directed to remain open for the conduct of public transactions on April 1, 2013, via an official press release communicating that public-facing services and normal office operations will proceed as scheduled.

Tax payment facility: designated agency bank branches and central bank counters opened to accept taxes, with online and ATM options.
Designated branches of agency banks and central bank offices will keep counters open on March 29, 30 and 31, 2013 to accept government tax payments; taxpayers are urged to remit before the last date, and online payment and select ATM facilities are available as alternative payment channels.

Cross-border supervisory cooperation enabled through MoUs, enhancing information-sharing and coordination between banking regulators.
Signed Memoranda of Understanding establish cross-border supervisory cooperation between the Reserve Bank of India and three foreign banking regulators to facilitate structured exchange of supervisory information and promote regulatory coordination. The agreements formalise channels for sharing prudential and supervisory information, coordination on banking supervision matters, and mutual assistance in oversight, creating a framework for ongoing supervisory engagement and collaboration.

Special measures for tax collection: banks to keep counters open and run special clearing with payment system readiness.
Reserve Bank instructions required Agency banks to keep designated government business counters open with extended hours and accept tax payments at late hours on 29th-31st March 2013. Banks were also ordered to conduct a special clearing across participating members, including same-day return clearing on 31st March, keep inward clearing infrastructure open during special clearing hours, and be ready to operate Central Payment Systems (RTGS and NEFT) to ensure receipt and settlement of Government taxes.

Banking Ombudsmen Scheme provides an expeditious forum for resolving customer complaints and strengthening grievance systems.
Public sector banks contributed most customer complaints, notably failures to meet banking commitments and card-related issues. A strengthened grievance redressal framework seeks generally expeditious resolution, employing the Centralised Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System. The Banking Ombudsmen Scheme offers a regional, inexpensive forum for service-deficiency complaints. Banks must follow the BCSBI Code of Banking Commitments. Oversight actions include implementing Damodaran Committee recommendations, an RBI Working Group to review the Ombudsmen Scheme, and incognito branch inspections to assess customer service.

Provisional monthly services trade data released with a reporting lag and subject to revision in quarterly BoP compilations.
Provisional monthly aggregates of international trade in services are released with a reporting lag and remain provisional until revised through the quarterly Balance of Payments compilation; the release supplies monthly receipts and payments figures and refers users to prior BoP press releases for revised quarterly estimates.

Regulatory facilitation for overseas bank expansion: approvals and operational support provided on a case by case, merit basis.
Decisions to open overseas bank branches are made by each bank's Board authority for commercial and strategic reasons, while central banking and executive authorities provide regulatory facilitation-including approvals, removal of operational difficulties, and expedited processing-on the merits of each application to support cross border expansion.

Reference exchange rates published by the central bank set rupee conversions for major currencies and determine the SDR Rupee basis.
The Reserve Bank of India published Reference Rates for the US dollar and the Euro on March 14, 2013, with prior day comparisons; it also provided derived rupee rates for the British pound and for 100 Japanese yen using the US dollar reference and cross currency middle rates, and specified that the SDR Rupee rate will be based on the published Reference Rate.

Reference rate publication sets rupee benchmarks and underpins cross currency and SDR rupee conversions for market use.
The Reserve Bank of India issued daily reference rates for the US dollar and the euro as rupee benchmarks, and, using the US dollar reference rate together with middle cross currency quotes, derived exchange rates for other currencies such as the GBP and JPY; the SDR Rupee rate is stated to be based on the published reference rate.

Polymer currency introduction launches a targeted field trial in select cities to extend note life and deter counterfeiting.
The Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India will conduct a field trial issuing one billion polymer/plastic ten-rupee notes across five cities-Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Bhubaneswar and Shimla-to assess durability and potential to combat counterfeiting, as announced by the Minister of State for Finance.

Foreign exchange turnover data released showing daily merchant and interbank transaction breakdown by instrument and totals.
Reserve Bank of India released daily foreign exchange turnover data for February 18-22, 2013 presenting merchant and inter bank purchase and sale flows by instrument categories (FCY/INR spot, forward, forward cancel, spot swap, forward swap, FCY/FCY spot and forward). The table breaks out spot, forward and swap activity and aggregates purchase and sale totals, notes provisional status where applicable and records a holiday on February 19.

Reference rates set for major currencies determine published exchange benchmarks and guide SDR conversion and cross currency quotations.
The central bank published Reference Rates for the US dollar and the Euro, provided prior-day comparators, and reported derived exchange rates for other currencies based on the US dollar Reference Rate and middle cross currency rates; the release states that the SDR-Rupee rate will be based on the published Reference Rate, thereby supplying official daily benchmarks for conversion and quotation conventions.

Preferential treatment for long term investors expands infrastructure debt access and lowers withholding tax to attract offshore capital.
Preferential treatment for sovereign wealth funds and pension funds reallocates debt limits in government securities and corporate bonds to attract long term offshore capital. Complementary liberalisations increase foreign investment ceilings for long term infrastructure bonds, relax residual maturity and lock in requirements, rationalise debt limit allocation with a reinvestment facility and eased utilisation, and permit higher immediate use of debt limits for qualifying long term infra bonds without prior approval. Withholding tax on interest payments for Infrastructure Debt Funds and specified long term foreign borrowings has been reduced to incentivise offshore investment into infrastructure debt.

Card security measures require EMV and certified payment infrastructure, limiting international use unless customer opts in.
New cards must default to domestic use; international use only if customer requests and only on EMV Chip and PIN cards. Issuers must convert prior international users' magstripe cards to EMV and apply customer-accepted threshold limits on active magstripe international cards. Merchant terminals and acquiring IP-based infrastructure must obtain PCI-DSS and PA-DSS certification. Banks must adopt transaction-pattern rules with card networks, move toward real-time fraud monitoring, provide easy card-blocking (eg, SMS confirmation), and implement additional authentication for cards issued domestically but used internationally.

Currency swap facility provides short term liquidity backstop for SAARC members, enabling multitranche drawals in major currencies.
The Reserve Bank of India entered a three year Currency Swap Agreement with the Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan allowing multitranche drawals in US Dollar, Euro or Indian Rupee up to a prescribed ceiling to support bilateral economic cooperation and address short term liquidity needs.

Bank licensing clarifications to be posted online; applicants may submit confidential queries to the regulator for guidance.
Clarifications on licensing guidelines for new private sector banks will be posted on the regulator's website to address queries from prospective applicants; identities of those submitting queries will be kept confidential. Prospective applicants are invited to submit queries by the stated deadline to the designated senior official in the banking operations department by mail or email, and the clarifications will be published for wider use.

Foreign exchange turnover data released detailing merchant and inter bank spot, forward and swap transactions for a reporting period.
Release of foreign exchange turnover data for 11-15 February 2013 disclosing daily merchant and inter bank purchases and sales in US dollar millions, itemised by spot, forward (including cancellations) and swap transaction categories, presented in a date wise tabular format and issued as an informational press release signed by the Assistant General Manager.

Foreign capital inflows: net capital strengthened while FDI lagged potential, linked to policy and investment climate.
A monetary authority study reported that FDI inflows were below potential in 2010-11 while net capital inflows strengthened in 2011-12, with provisional inflows continuing in April-September 2012. The report quantifies net capital flows and net FDI across the reported periods and links variation in foreign capital to the macroeconomic policy framework, the host country investment climate, transnational corporation investment strategies and other commercial considerations.