Official Development Assistance loan supports India's COVID 19 response and strengthens health system resilience through grant aid.
An Official Development Assistance programme loan and a complementary grant-in-aid from Japan were formalised by Exchange of Notes and a Loan Agreement to support India's COVID 19 response, enhance health system capacity to manage future epidemics, and provide medical equipment to strengthen public health facilities for critical patient care.

Tariff value fixation updated for specified imports, altering valuation methodology and customs assessment for listed goods.
The Board amends the principal tariff valuation notification by substituting TABLE 1, TABLE 2 and TABLE 3 to fix unit tariff values for specified imports, including edible oils, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nut, and detailed categories of gold and silver with explanatory scope and exclusions for certain import modes.

Sustainable finance: consultation yields recommendations on taxonomy, disclosures, blended and green finance to guide framework development.
Launch of a Sustainable Finance Collaborative to design India's sustainable finance architecture, focusing on impact investing, the role of blended and green finance instruments, barriers to deployment, the need for an environmental taxonomy, and enhanced sustainability related disclosures; the consultation also addressed preparing the financial sector for climate and environmental social risks and produced recommendations to inform a national Sustainable Finance framework and roadmap.

Financial inclusion via PMJDY expands access to banking and DBT delivery, strengthening direct transfers and account usage.
Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) ensures universal access to banking, remittance, credit, insurance and pension through BSBD accounts with relaxed KYC, RuPay/AePS interoperability, fixed Business Correspondents and core-banking online accounts. The programme layers overdraft facilities, micro-insurance and micro-pensions, and uses DBT through PMJDY accounts with active monitoring to reduce payment failures; subsequent revisions shifted focus to every unbanked adult and enhanced RuPay-linked insurance and overdraft eligibility, while promoting digital payments and micro-credit access.

Structural reforms driving regulatory changes to remove movement curbs, speed disinvestment, and support manufacturing recovery.
Structural reforms are the government's priority, with measures to keep movement of people and inter-state goods unrestricted, review SOPs for hotels and related activities, implement cabinet-cleared strategic disinvestment decisions, and promote private investment and data-driven manufacturing. PLI schemes have sped production of critical drugs and APIs. The Finance Ministry is addressing delayed government payments and is open to external infrastructure financing; a GST rate revision for two-wheelers will be taken to the GST Council.

Project financing to upgrade suburban rail capacity and safety, enabling modal shift to lower carbon transport and improved service.
A loan agreement was executed among the Government of India, the Government of Maharashtra, Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to finance Mumbai Urban Transport Project III, aimed at increasing rail network capacity, reducing journey times and fatal accidents through trespass control and station and service improvements; the international loan provides long tenor financing with a multi year grace period and extended maturity, and the Project also aims to shift commuters to lower carbon rail travel and improve safety for female passengers.

Benami property investigations reveal undisclosed real estate investments and physical seizures, prompting an ongoing tax inquiry.
Income-tax authorities conducted search and seizure operations that recovered documents relating to about one hundred immovable properties acquired with substantial undisclosed cash, many held in names of persons of no means and indicative of benami properties, together with seized cash and jewellery; investigations into source of funds, associated partnerships and benami holdings remain ongoing.

Income tax refunds issued to large numbers of taxpayers, reinforcing tax administration efforts to clear pending refunds and aid taxpayers.
The tax administration has disbursed substantial personal and corporate tax refunds by aggregate value and case counts since 1 April 2020, demonstrating operational throughput of the refund mechanism. The statement emphasises clearing pending refunds and sustaining tax-related services during the COVID-19 pandemic as part of taxpayer service and continuity measures.

Third party reporting of high value transactions consolidated in Form 26AS; taxpayers need not disclose them in ITRs.
Taxpayers are not required to report high value transactions in their income tax returns; any expansion of reporting will be undertaken through third party reporting under the Statement of Financial Transactions. Specified persons such as banks and registrars will transmit transaction data, which will be consolidated in the revised Form 26AS to aid identification of non-filers and support voluntary compliance without obliging taxpayers to disclose such transactions in their returns.

Faceless Tax Administration simplifies scrutiny and introduces faceless assessment and appeal backed by a Taxpayers Charter.
Implements a national platform for Transparent Taxation focused on Faceless Assessment, a Taxpayers Charter assuring fair and courteous treatment, and phased rollout of Faceless Appeal, with the stated goal of making tax administration Seamless, Painless and Faceless and reducing direct taxpayer-officer contact in scrutiny, notices, surveys and assessments.

Faceless Assessment reduces human interface and discretion, enhancing taxpayer dignity alongside a taxpayer charter and faceless appeal.
Transparent Taxation introduces Faceless Assessment, Faceless Appeal and the Taxpayers Charter to reduce human interface and discretion, using technology and randomised case allocation to make assessment, scrutiny and appeals geographically neutral; the Charter codifies taxpayer rights to dignified treatment and access to appeal while emphasising corresponding taxpayer duties, and broader procedural measures and online dispute-resolution aim to simplify compliance, lower litigation, and strengthen voluntary participation in the tax system.

Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) framework clarifies MAP access, CA roles, negotiation and implementation processes for treaty double taxation resolution.
The guidance establishes India's administrative framework for the Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP), defining MAP as a taxpayer remedy under DTAAs to resolve juridical and economic double taxation arising from transfer pricing, permanent establishment, profit attribution, and characterisation disputes. Two designated Competent Authorities process MAP requests under rule 44G using Form 34F, exchange position papers with treaty partners, negotiate bilateral or parallel multilateral solutions, and formalise mutual agreements, subject to taxpayer acceptance and domestic law constraints on implementation.

Tariff value fixation for specified imports reaffirmed through substitution of valuation tables under Customs Act authority.
Amendment under sub-section (2) of section 14 of the Customs Act substitutes TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3 of the principal notification to fix tariff values for specified imported commodities, including edible oils, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nut, and specified forms of gold and silver; the tables list each tariff item, describe covered forms and exclusions, and set the operative tariff values for valuation purposes under the notification.

Faceless e-assessment centralises notices and uses automated, anonymous allocations to reduce in-person tax interactions.
The faceless e-assessment framework operates through a central National e-Assessment Centre that issues assessment notices, requires taxpayer responses within a set timeframe, and allocates cases to Assessment Units by an automated system preserving assessor anonymity; the scheme replaces territorial jurisdiction with dynamic jurisdiction and aims to eliminate in-person interfaces to enhance transparency and reduce harassment and corruption.