Tax evasion uncovered through bogus purchases and back to back cash payments, leading to seizures and ongoing investigations.
Searches and surveys in Bihar uncovered systematic tax evasion by contractor groups and traders through inflated expenses, bogus purchases and sham creditors; payments to non existent parties and bearer cheque payments returned in cash or routed as unsecured loans were used to generate undeclared cash for property acquisition. Seized cash, transactional documents and bank records support that assessees operated bank accounts of bogus parties; fixed deposits and properties have been placed under prohibitory orders and investigations continue.

Income-tax exemption for deemed LTC fare extended to non-Central employees subject to digital GST expenditure conditions.
Income-tax exemption is extended to deemed LTC fare paid as cash equivalent to non-Central Government employees provided the employee opts for deemed LTC in the 2018-21 block, spends three times the deemed LTC fare on goods or services with GST of at least 12% from GST-registered vendors through digital payments within the specified period, and furnishes vouchers/invoices; failure to meet the expenditure requirement reduces the payment and exemption proportionately and DDOs will verify invoices, while employees under the concessional tax regime are ineligible.

Tax search uncovers unexplained assets, dummy companies and alleged fund-layering, prompting investigation into sources of investments.
Search operations on a Bijnor-based real estate group revealed unexplained cash and jewellery, corroborated allegations of artificial share premium not supported by shareholders' incomes, and uncovered dummy companies used as conduits for layering of funds; sources of funds for domestic and cross-border investments are under verification.

Search and seizure uncovers suppressed student fees diverted to trustees and invested through a company, with bogus contractor expenses exposed.
Search and seizure operations of a group running educational institutions uncovered suppression of student fee receipts diverted to trustees' personal accounts and invested in real estate via a company; electronic devices and lockers were seized for examination. Concurrently, searches of a civil contractor revealed inflated expenditures through bogus labour and material charges, leading to identification of substantial unaccounted investments, on-money transactions, and large cash seizures, with searches continuing.

India UK Financial Collaboration advances shared frameworks on digital taxation, sustainable finance, fintech cooperation and market dialogue.
The 10th India UK Economic and Financial Dialogue advanced bilateral cooperation on pandemic response coordination, G20 finance track engagement including the Debt Service Suspension Initiative, and an inclusive approach to digital economy taxation; it agreed enhanced Financial Services Collaboration centred on FinTech, promotion of GIFT City, creation of an annual India UK Financial Market Dialogue, and establishment of an India UK Sustainable Finance Forum to mobilise infrastructure and green finance, supported by private sector initiatives and India's National Infrastructure Pipeline.

Vivad se Vishwas Scheme payment extension permits declarations by deadline with later payment without additional amount and proactive outreach.
The Vivad se Vishwas Scheme permits taxpayers who submit declarations by the declaration cut-off to make payment without additional amount within an extended payment period; only declarations filed by that cut-off qualify for the extended, surcharge-free payment. Tax administration measures require reconciliation of demands, disposal of rectifications, removal of duplicates, and proactive taxpayer outreach to ensure prompt issuance of procedural forms and expedited settlement, supported by periodic progress reviews.

Fake billing and accommodation entries exposed, prompting searches, seizures and ongoing probes into layered unaccounted funds.
Coordinated searches at 42 premises uncovered documentary and testimonial evidence of a network using fake billing and accommodation entries to generate and layer unaccounted cash through shell entities, dummy directors and controlled bank accounts; seizures included cash, jewellery and multiple bank lockers, and investigations continue into banking collusion and investments made by beneficiaries.

Pre budget tax consultation: industry invited to propose direct and indirect tax and duty changes with economic justification.
Invitation to industry associations to submit pre-budget proposals on direct and indirect taxes proposing changes to duty structures, rates and tax-base with economic justification and supporting statistics; corrections to inverted duty structures must be supported by value addition at each manufacturing stage. Direct tax suggestions should consider recent corporate tax rationalisation and the policy to phase out incentives while rationalising rates, and quantify positive externalities. GST-related requests are excluded from Annual Budget examination; Customs and Central Excise proposals must follow a prescribed format and supply detailed Annexure-A data.

Extension of income tax return deadlines: audited and specified-transaction filers moved to 31 January; others to 31 December.
The Government further extended filing deadlines: audited taxpayers and those with international/specified domestic transaction reports may file returns by 31 January 2021; other taxpayers by 31 December 2020. Furnishing of audit reports, including tax audit and specified domestic/international transaction reports, is extended to 31 December 2020 where applicable. Payment deadlines for self assessment tax for taxpayers with limited liabilities are aligned to these extended dates, with auditable and specified transaction cases following the 31 January 2021 date and others the 31 December 2020 date.

Tax search and seizure uncover undisclosed investments, non-filing of returns, and questionable property valuations prompting further investigations.
Income-tax search and seizure operations on a Srinagar-based group uncovered seizures, restraint of lockers and significant undisclosed investments and cash transactions; principal business entities and an engineering consultancy have not filed returns, with prima-facie unexplained investments in a mall and residential towers acquired under the Roshni Act, diversion of trust funds to business and personal uses, valuation irregularities facilitating mortgages, and further investigations and property valuations underway.

Searches uncover unaccounted income and undisclosed bank accounts leading to seizures and ongoing investigation into contractors and trader.
Search operations targeted contractors and a silk trader after intelligence of large-scale unaccounted cash; investigators found bogus expense claims, withdrawals via fictitious parties, maintenance of undisclosed bank accounts used to create fixed deposits pledged as security for contracts, incriminating documents including blank cheques, and evidence of suppression of income; seizures of unaccounted cash, fixed deposits, bullion and unaccounted stock were made and further investigation and property valuation are ongoing.

Infrastructure financing enables state road upgrades with performance-based maintenance, road safety audits and capacity building.
Loan financing obliges upgrading 450 km of state and district roads to two-lane standard and improving connectivity to highways, ports, airports and industrial and agricultural areas; it requires a road safety audit framework, five-year performance-based maintenance obligations on contractors, and capacity building for the Maharashtra Public Works Department in climate change adaptation and disaster-resilient road design and maintenance planning.

Search and seizure uncovers alleged unaccounted cash receipts and property investments, prompting an ongoing tax investigation.
A search and seizure operation by the Income Tax Department covered 38 premises across Delhi, NCR and Haryana, resulting in seizure of substantial cash, restraint of multiple lockers and recovery of documentary and digital evidence indicating large unaccounted cash receipts and divergent records; investigations suggest reinvestment of such cash into properties, trusts running schools, and transactions involving associates described as financers and builders, with further inquiries ongoing.

Arbitration appeal clarification: government rejects reports of legal advice and states options under review before any decision.
Ministry of Finance repudiates media reports attributing an opinion against appealing the Vodafone arbitration award, stating such claims are incorrect; the Ministry confirms the award and all options are under examination and that further course of action will be decided after internal review.

Leave Travel Concession requirements prevent retaining LTC without travel; a temporary voucher option permits non travel spending instead.
The Government LTC scheme requires actual travel for entitlement; failure to travel leads to deduction of the amount and possible disciplinary action, and employees cannot retain LTC by paying income tax. Entitlements are calculated at full cost inclusive of GST. A temporary third option allows use of LTC amounts for specified non travel purchases via vouchers due to Covid related travel risks, and GST on purchases reflects ordinary consumption rather than a scheme created burden.

Infrastructure financing supports water supply and sanitation in secondary towns with institutional capacity and O&M contracts ensuring sustainable services.
A multilateral loan finances water supply and sanitation infrastructure in 14 secondary towns, contingent on implementation of ten-year Operation and Maintenance contracts, adoption of smart and cost-effective technologies, and institutional reforms. The project strengthens urban local bodies and a state corporate entity, provides capacity building and targeted support for women and vulnerable groups, and aims to improve water systems in at least eight towns and sanitation citywide across 14 towns.

Consumer spending incentive via LTC cash vouchers and festival advances tied to digital GST transactions to boost demand.
The package provides a Leave Travel Concession Cash Voucher Scheme and a one time Special Festival Advance to stimulate consumer spending, requiring that cash-in-lieu benefits be spent on goods or services attracting GST of 12% or more from GST-registered vendors via digital payments with GST invoices; the Festival Advance is interest-free, disbursed via preloaded RuPay cards and recoverable in instalments. Separately, interest-free 50 year loans to states for capital expenditure are allocated in three parts, disbursed in two tranches subject to utilisation, to be spent within the prescribed timeframe and treated as additional to other borrowing ceilings.

Sovereign Gold Bond scheme offers fixed interest, tradability and capital gains exemption on redemption, subject to KYC and subscription limits
The Government, through the Reserve Bank of India, issues Sovereign Gold Bonds in multiple tranches denominated in grams of 999 purity gold, sold via banks, SHCIL, designated post offices and stock exchanges. Eligibility is restricted to resident individuals, HUFs, trusts, universities and charitable institutions with one gram minimum and fiscal-year subscription ceilings; PAN and KYC are mandatory. Bonds carry an eight-year tenor with an exit option after year five, pay fixed semi-annual interest, are tradable and convertible to demat, can be used as collateral with LTV parity to gold loans, and attract taxable interest while individual redemptions are exempt from capital gains with indexation benefits.

Tax evasion in real estate: search-and-seizure uncovered shell companies, unaccounted transactions and benami property probe underway.
Search-and-seizure operations targeted a real estate, construction and land-trading group, resulting in seizure of unaccounted cash, jewellery and bank lockers and recovery of extensive documentary and digital evidence. A network of companies at common addresses was found to lack real business and statutory filings, with nominee directors; intra-group routing, inflated property costs, off-books transactions, unaccounted cash expenses and on-money dealings were identified. Records linking properties to cooperative societies and registered sale-purchase instruments were recovered and applicability of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988 is being examined.

Foreign investment promotion urges American businesses to consider India amid reforms improving investment climate and trade ties.
Invitation to American investors frames India as an open, liberalising investment destination supported by reforms across taxation, insolvency, logistics, labour, banking, defence, mining and space, and by single window, cluster development and plug and play measures to reduce regulatory friction, speed registrations and improve infrastructure, thereby creating a transparent, rule based trading environment to facilitate trusted commercial engagement.