Loan Agreement for Official Development Assistance supports infrastructure projects and strengthens bilateral development cooperation between India and Japan.
Loan agreements were executed for Japanese Official Development Assistance to finance the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project (I) and the Kolkata East-West Metro Project (III), providing concessional loans to support construction using Japanese high speed rail technologies and expansion of mass rapid transit to improve connectivity, mitigate traffic congestion, and reduce pollution in metropolitan areas.

Trade cooperation frameworks underpin Indo Uzbek economic engagement, enabling MFN treatment, tax avoidance and investment protection.
Bilateral relations rest on interlocking instruments: the Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation provides for Most Favoured Nation treatment and promotes economic, industrial, scientific and technical cooperation including SME participation; complementary instruments include an Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation and a Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection arrangement, while the Inter Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation convenes periodic sessions to advance bilateral engagement.

Financial inclusion: Jan Dhan Darshak app guides users to nearby financial service touchpoints nationwide conveniently.
Jan Dhan Darshak is a mobile application designed to promote Financial Inclusion by enabling citizens to locate banks, ATMs, post offices and other financial touch points nationwide through location based and place name search, including a voice interface, integrated branch calling and a user feedback mechanism that forwards update requests to the concerned bank.

Financial Inclusion Index as a composite measure to guide macro policy and monitor access, usage and quality of financial services.
The Financial Inclusion Index is an annual composite measure published by the Department of Financial Services that aggregates access, usage and quality of formal financial products and services - including savings, remittances, credit, insurance and pension products - to provide a snapshot for macro policy guidance and to support policy formulation and research.

Bank recovery targets and asset rationalisation drive strengthened PSB capital, governance reforms, and expanded financial inclusion.
Central review requires PSBs to pursue enhanced recoveries, monetise non-core assets to strengthen capital, and rationalise foreign operations. Banks must meet performance milestones including improved risk-weighted asset and cost-to-income ratios, complete timebound fraud detection and action on large stressed accounts, and implement monitoring reforms such as independent stock audits, CIC reviews, invocation of personal guarantees, integrated NPA databases, and an end-to-end OTS platform. EASE and financial inclusion directives require branch modernisation, expanded account and insurance coverage, Bank Mitra deployment, and activation of enrolment centres.

In principle MSME loan approval via contactless portal enables rapid credit access with automated documentless underwriting.
A SIDBI led public sector bank consortium launched a contactless digital portal to provide in principle approval of MSME loans by automatically analysing IT returns, GST, bank statements and corporate filings, eliminating physical document submission for sanction and presenting a real time dashboard of credit, valuation and verification; banks may then disburse approved loans after their internal processes within a short working day period.

Filing deadline extension for income tax returns and audit reports; interest liability for late filing remains applicable.
Due dates for filing Income Tax Returns and statutory audit reports that fell on 30th September 2018 for specified categories of taxpayers have been extended to 15th October 2018. The extension does not affect liability for interest on delayed filing; assessees remain liable to pay interest under the provision governing interest for defaults in furnishing returns.

Tax survey of airline books for alleged falsification and suspicious transactions underway at multiple premises.
Income-tax authorities commenced a survey inspection of Jet Airways' books at four business premises to determine whether accounting falsification, suspicious dealings or other tax-related violations occurred; the operation inspects books of account at two Mumbai locations and two in the national capital.

Loan agreement for workforce development expands certified short term skills training and institutional capacity under concessional financing.
A Loan Agreement was executed to finance the Uttarakhand Workforce Development Project aimed at improving quality and relevance of training at priority ITIs, increasing the number of short term training participants certified under the National Skills Qualification Framework, and supporting policy and institutional development and project management; twenty five ITIs were selected and the financing carries a five year grace period, seventeen year maturity, and a closing date of 30 June 2023.

Exemption on interest for off shore rupee bonds: no tax deducted for interest on specified issuances during the announced window.
Interest payable by an Indian company or a business trust to a non resident in respect of rupee denominated bonds issued outside India during the specified issuance window shall be exempt from tax and consequently no tax shall be deducted under section 194LC on such interest; legislative amendments will be proposed to formalise this change.

Distributed ledger research cooperation enables joint exploration of blockchain applications to improve financial-sector operational efficiency.
The Cabinet approved a Memorandum of Understanding for collaborative research among BRICS development banks to study Distributed Ledger/Block Chain technology for development of the digital economy, aiming to deepen understanding and identify application areas within participating banks' business operations to enhance operational efficiencies.

Public debt management shifts to longer maturities and higher yields, using cash management bills and liquidity absorption measures.
Public debt management in Q1 FY2018-19 featured issuance of dated securities with longer weighted average maturity and higher weighted average yield, use of Cash Management Bills to bridge temporary cash mismatches, and net liquidity absorption by the central bank under LAF. Total government liabilities rose provisionally at end-June with public debt forming the bulk and internal debt the principal component; a notable portion of dated securities had residual maturities below five years. Market yields hardened and yield spreads widened due to global and domestic factors, while central government securities dominated trading volumes.

Voluntary compliance rise leads to substantial growth in e-filed income tax returns and higher uptake of presumptive taxation.
A substantial increase in e filing of Income Tax Returns up to 31 August 2018 reflects strengthened voluntary compliance, with total e filed returns rising from 3.17 crore to 5.42 crore and notable spikes on the extended due date. Growth was pronounced among salaried taxpayers and users of the Presumptive Taxation Scheme. The release attributes the rise to demonetisation effects, enhanced taxpayer persuasion and education, an impending late filing fee, and increased technology use for taxpayer services.