Tariff valuation change under Customs Act: revised unit values fixed for specified imported commodities affecting customs assessment.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs, exercising power under the Customs Act, substitutes TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3 in the standing customs notification to fix revised tariff values in US dollars for specified imported goods, including vegetable oils, soybean oil, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nuts, and concessionary gold and silver entries, establishing the new unit valuation basis for customs assessment.

Financial inclusion prioritized at a bankers' retreat, with focus on technology, governance and bank restructuring recommendations.
The retreat brings together senior leadership of public sector banks, insurance companies and financial institutions to develop recommendations on six priorities: achieving universal financial inclusion; leveraging technology and digital channels to improve banking efficiency; rethinking priority sector lending; improving risk management, asset quality and recovery; building a robust people strategy for public sector banks; and consolidation and restructuring for improved efficiency, governance and capital utilisation, through expert facilitated working groups that report to plenary.

External debt rise driven by long term commercial borrowings and NRI deposits, with US dollar concentration and reserve coverage impact.
India's external debt rose from the previous reporting date principally due to increases in long term obligations, driven by commercial borrowings and NRI deposits; long term debt made up the majority while short term debt declined. Sovereign external debt also increased. Currency concentration remained highest in the US dollar, concessional debt share fell slightly, and reserve coverage and the short term debt to reserves ratio indicated modest changes in vulnerability.

Separation of Chairman and MD & CEO: part time chairmen to preside while appointed MDs & CEOs retain executive roles.
Appointments have been made elevating four Executive Directors to the posts of Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer for specified banks for three years or until superannuation. The Government has adopted a policy separating the roles of Chairman and MD & CEO in public sector banks (except SBI), making the Chairman a part time board member who will preside over board meetings without executive functions; selection procedures for part time Chairmen and for fresh searches in certain large banks will be announced shortly.

Urban water management investment supports infrastructure upgrades, incentive fund and PPP reforms for resilient urban water services.
A sovereign loan and complementary grant will finance an integrated urban water management program for three towns, financing expansion and upgrading of water supply, sewerage and treatment infrastructure, strengthening planning, monitoring and service delivery, and building operational capacity. The program conditions include an Urban Local Bodies Incentive Fund to support reforms and performance-based contracts, testing output-based approaches for the poor, and pursuing innovative instruments such as public private partnerships to promote climate resilient and sustainable water use.

Loan agreement secures urban infrastructure financing to improve water supply and transport in Jammu and Kashmir.
A Loan Agreement between the Government of India and the Asian Development Bank provides long term financing as the third tranche of the Jammu and Kashmir Urban Sector Development Investment Program to upgrade water supply, drainage and urban transport infrastructure in Jammu and Srinagar. Project implementation will be managed through the J&K Economic Reconstruction Agency, includes rehabilitation of infrastructure to increase average per capita water supply and reduce water logging, and incorporates capacity development for state departments and urban local bodies to improve service delivery.

Direct Benefit Transfer enhances transparency by sending subsidies and payments directly to beneficiaries' bank accounts, reducing intermediaries.
Measures to counter undeclared offshore and domestic wealth include constitution of a Special Investigating Team, support for a reciprocal global standard of Automatic Exchange of Information and legislative amendment to permit such exchange. Financial inclusion has been advanced through a large scale household bank account drive under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana with RuPay card issuance. Programmatic interventions include revival of the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana and reintroduction of Kisan Vikas Patra to mobilise household savings, together with promotion of Direct Benefit Transfer to deliver payments directly to beneficiaries and reduce leakage.

Goods and Services Tax urged as central reform; States' proposals to be considered with assurance of compensation and cooperative rollout.
The Finance Minister urged coordinated Centre-State action to raise growth, noting sectoral imbalances and that the Fourteenth Finance Commission report is under consideration. States submitted proposals-notably Goods and Services Tax, decentralisation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, fiscal transfers, infrastructure, water management, and financial inclusion-and requested measures such as direct allocations, tax holidays, removal of certain export duties, borrowing flexibility within FRBM limits, and support for urban renewal and SMEs. The Ministry committed to examine submissions for Budget inputs, stressed fiscal discipline, and sought cooperative implementation of GST with assurances of compensation for transition losses.

Good governance initiatives expand e governance, financial inclusion, DBT and tax transparency to improve service delivery and fiscal efficiency.
Good governance initiatives expand e governance and administrative delegation to improve service delivery and fiscal management through IT enabled measures (an e Book platform, e PPO issuance, digitalized application tracking, mandatory e payments), delegation of approval powers for plan schemes, and expedited financial transfers for pensions and disaster relief to increase transparency and reduce intermediaries.

Common clearing system for commodity exchanges: public consultation invited to reduce costs and strengthen risk management.
Consultation on a proposed common clearing system for all commodity exchanges aims to reduce transaction costs and strengthen risk management by consolidating clearing and settlement arrangements. The Working Group's Report has been published on the Ministry of Finance website and MyGov platform; stakeholders are invited to submit feedback to the Director(D), Commodity Derivatives Markets Division, Department of Economic Affairs at the specified email within thirty days of upload.

Banking sector reform: retreat to draft a blueprint for PSB restructuring, governance, risk management and financial inclusion.
A high-level retreat will convene government, central bank and PSB leadership to prepare a blueprint of reform action plan addressing PSB restructuring and capitalisation, risk profiling and recovery, human resources and training, technology adoption, financial inclusion and direct benefit transfer, and priority sector lending; structured expert sessions and group deliberations will produce a draft action plan for implementation by banks and the Government.

Identity of blacklisted companies: ministry collecting Department of Revenue and ROC reports before taking further administrative action.
No representation alleging concealment of the identity of blacklisted companies has been received by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs; a copy of the communication has been sent to the Department of Revenue and information is being collected. A state Minister's letter has been acknowledged, the matter is under examination with the Registrar of Companies, and further action will follow receipt of the ROC report.

Current account convertibility: investment income flows, including dividend and profit repatriation, are fully convertible under IMF Article VIII.
Payments of dividends and profits to non-resident shareholders and dividends repatriated by Indian companies abroad are classified as Investment Income in the Current Account of the Balance of Payments; since 1994, under Article VIII of the IMF, all current transactions are fully convertible, making such repatriation and income flows subject to convertibility under the external accounts framework.

Official gold reserves: India's ranking and central bank holdings disclosed alongside recent import trend data.
Disclosure in a parliamentary reply identifies the Reserve Bank of India as custodian of India's official gold reserves, states the RBI's holdings, and provides a year by year series of gold import quantities and rupee valuations to document recent import trends for public record and parliamentary oversight.

Quota and voice reform advance India's share in IMF and World Bank, subject to specified member consent thresholds.
India's IMF quota is projected to rise to 2.75% under the 2010 Quota and Governance Reforms, moving India to the eighth largest quota holder; IBRD reforms will raise India's voting power to 2.91%, making it the seventh largest shareholder. For reforms to enter into force, members holding at least 70% of quotas must consent in writing and Executive Board reform must be accepted by three-fifths of members representing 85% of voting power. Reported consent stands at 159 members (78.88% of quotas) for quota increases and 145 members (76.97% of quotas) for the Executive Board amendment.

Board-approved loan policy governs overdraft facilities and sets exposure, documentation, pricing and delegation rules under RBI directions.
Overdraft facilities are governed by Board approved credit policies in compliance with RBI directions under the Banking Regulation Act; such loan policies must prescribe exposure limits for individual and group borrowers, documentation standards, margin and security requirements, sectoral exposure limits, delegation of powers, maturity and pricing policies, and factors for deciding interest rates, and banks consider individual proposals based on commercial judgment within that policy framework.

Business Correspondent model expands small account access via secure CSP connections enabling real time online transactions recorded in bank CBS.
State Bank of India has engaged Zero Mass Foundation as a National Business Correspondent to open and operate Small Accounts in rural areas, achieving wide geographic coverage. Customer Service Points connect to the bank's servers in a firewall secured environment and execute financial transactions on an online, real time basis; each transaction posts to the Core Banking System and a system generated printout is issued to the customer as acknowledgement.

Export credit refinance supports banks' liquidity by allowing refinance of eligible export credit, subject to RBI-set limits.
Export credit refinance under section 17(3A) enables scheduled banks to obtain refinance on eligible rupee export credit at pre- and post-shipment stages. The Reserve Bank sets the quantum of refinance, currently fixed at 32% of outstanding eligible export credit as of the end of the second preceding fortnight; there is no cap on refinance of export bills purchase from individual exporters. Banks deploy the facility to manage liquidity, with recent utilisation by bank groups remaining at high levels comparable to the prior year.

Policy coordination: India and China agree to align macroeconomic responses and deepen regulatory cooperation across financial sectors.
The India-China Financial Dialogue committed the parties to policy coordination on shared macroeconomic challenges, greater cooperation within multilateral frameworks, exchange of views on fiscal and taxation reform, strengthened cooperation among financial sector regulatory agencies, and encouragement of long-term Chinese investment in Indian infrastructure.

Exchange rate expression corrected to per multiple units; corrigendum amends notification wording for Schedule II Column three.
Corrigendum amends Schedule II, Column (3) of the customs exchange rate notification by replacing the expression for the rate of exchange so that it is read on the basis of one hundred units of foreign currency equivalent to Indian rupees instead of a single-unit basis.