Establishment of foreign liaison and branch offices: approvals and compliance obligations required for operation and repatriation.
Rules govern establishment, operation and reporting for foreign Liaison Office, Branch Office and Project Office in India: Form FNC applications to the Reserve Bank via an Authorised Dealer are considered under Reserve Bank or Government routes; sanctions consider track record and net worth; LOs are limited to liaison activities funded by head office remittances while BOs may undertake specified commercial activities but not retail trading or manufacturing; BO profits are remittable net of taxes subject to audit and CA certification; POs require contract and funding conditions and may maintain specified foreign currency accounts; nationality, property, reporting and winding-up conditions apply.

Undisclosed foreign assets compliance: declaration to designated commissioner, fair market valuation, payment and acknowledgement required.
Notification prescribes a declaration process in Form 6 to be filed with a designated Commissioner, requires determination of Fair Market Value for undisclosed foreign assets as the basis for tax and penalty, allows a short revision period after official intimation about existing information, mandates payment of tax and penalty followed by issuance of an acknowledgement in Form 7, and is supplemented by an explanatory circular available on the Income Tax Department website.

Undisclosed foreign assets: valuation rules, declaration and penalties required under new compliance and appeal procedures.
Rules under the Black Money Act set detailed fair market value methods for asset classes (bullion, artistic works, quoted/unquoted shares, immovable property, bank accounts, partnership interests and other assets), prescribe currency conversion rules, reductions where consideration is reinvested, and procedural Forms and fees for declaration (Form 6), acknowledgement (Form 7), notices, appeals (Forms 2 and 3) and recovery (Form 5).

Evidence-based targeting using provisional SECC rural data enables prioritized beneficiary selection and convergence in poverty reduction programmes.
Provisional SECC 2011 rural data has been released to enable evidence-based targeting of households for rural development programmes. The electronically collected dataset, managed centrally, classifies households via automatic exclusion (fourteen parameters), automatic inclusion (five parameters) and a seven-criteria grading of deprivation, covering housing, landholding, education, gender, disability, occupation, assets and social group. The Ministry of Rural Development will use the data for programme targeting, Gram Panchayat level planning and tracking households through the NPR Temporary Identification Number.

Compliance window for undisclosed foreign assets set with declaration and payment deadlines under the Black Money Act.
A notification implements a limited compliance window under the Black Money Act permitting declarations of undisclosed assets located outside India by 30th September, 2015, with the last date for payment of tax and penalty on such declared assets being 31st December, 2015. The Act establishes separate taxation for undisclosed foreign income and assets and prescribes stringent enforcement measures, including rigorous imprisonment up to ten years and an enhanced penalty determined as a multiple of the tax; detailed features of the compliance window are to be notified separately.

Income tax e-filing software released for ITR-1/2/2A and ITR-4S with PAN-based pre-fill; download and file early.
Departmental software for e-filing AY2015-16 ITR-1 (SAHAJ), ITR-2, ITR-2A and ITR-4S (SUGAM) is released; ITR-1/2/2A are for individuals/HUFs without business income, ITR-4S is for presumptive business income. The downloadable, free return-preparation software offers a PAN-based pre-fill of personal and tax/TDS information to reduce validation errors, and taxpayers are advised to e-file early.

Tariff value adjustment for specified edible oils, metals and agricultural commodities affects customs valuation under the Customs Act.
Amendment under section 14(2) of the Customs Act substitutes TABLE-1, TABLE-2 and TABLE-3 of Notification No. 36/2001-Customs (N.T.) with revised tariff values: US$ per metric tonne for specified edible oils (crude palm oil, RBD palm oil, palmolein variants, crude soyabean oil), brass scrap, poppy seeds and areca nuts; and unit tariff values for gold and silver where certain notification benefits are availed.

Know Your Customer principles strengthen bank risk controls and require enhanced monitoring, partner and employee due diligence.
Prevention centers on the Three KY Principles: Know Your Customer - substantive profiling through document verification, transaction pattern analysis, data analytics and cross-channel profiling; Know Your Employee - background checks, rotations, internal audits and ongoing vigilance; and Know Your Partner - due diligence on vendors, agents and outsourcing partners. Banks must invest in real-time analytics and intelligence, segment customers by risk, identify Red Flagged Accounts using Early Warning Signals, commission forensic audits, and adopt board-level anti-fraud governance and whistleblower mechanisms to enable timely detection and coordinated response.

Electronic transaction incentives to shift cash payments to digital channels through merchant and consumer tax benefits and infrastructure mandates.
The draft proposes incentives and regulatory measures to shift payments from cash to electronic modes by examining removal of convenience surcharges in government collections, promoting discounts for small electronic payments, rationalising Merchant Discount Rate and interchange fees, offering tax rebates to merchants and consumers for electronic receipts, mandating electronic settlement for high value transactions, increasing reporting ceilings for aggregated card payments, deploying POS infrastructure through banks and non banks, rationalising mobile USSD charges, and instituting fraud assurance and grievance redressal mechanisms.

Vote on Account sought to authorize interim expenditure while the full-year budget and revised estimates are finalized.
Request for a Vote on Account to authorize essential expenditure for three months while the Regular Budget for 2015-16 is finalized; presentation of the Annual Financial Statement and Demands for Grants for the year with Revised Estimates for 2014-15 that reduce Plan and Centrally Sponsored allocations, provide for specific subsidies and transfers, and require a supplementary Demand for Grants; and presentation of Budget Estimates for 2015-16 specifying financing from own revenues, limited central tax share, capital receipts and loans, alongside noted fiscal constraints related to land availability and central devolution.

Disaster reconstruction assistance expanded to fund road repairs, foodgrain relief and structured housing compensation for flood affected areas.
Central government announces enhanced immediate reconstruction and relief assistance for Jammu & Kashmir after floods, providing central financial assistance for repair of a national highway by the Border Roads Organisation, subsidised and extended foodgrain allocations for relief distribution with the Centre covering the differential price, clearance of outstanding plan liabilities, and sectoral consideration for longer term recovery. The package establishes structured ex gratia housing payments for completely, severely and partially damaged kuchcha houses above existing disaster funds and additional targeted funding for tourism infrastructure and pending tourism grants, with central agencies to assess state requirements.

Tariff value revision fixes updated unit import values for specified commodities, affecting customs valuation and import assessment procedures.
The Central Board of Excise & Customs has amended the Government Customs notification by substituting TABLE 1, TABLE 2 and TABLE 3 with updated unit Tariff Value tables, fixing US dollar per metric tonne (and per unit for specified metals) values for listed commodities including palm oils, palmoleins, crude soyabean oil, brass scrap, poppy seeds, areca nuts, gold and silver for customs assessment purposes.

Banking sector reform: enforce full rate transmission, targeted credit growth and coordinated NPA resolution across institutions.
The Finance Minister reviewed bank financial parameters, urging fuller transmission of policy rate cuts, higher growth in priority housing and education loans, and systematic remedies for rising Non-Performing Assets through sector-by-sector solutions, inter-agency coordination and potential regulatory adjustments. He called for identifying major projects stalled for financial reasons and de-bottlenecking them, promoted robust claim-settlement and awareness for social security schemes, sought greater private bank participation, and set a target to double lending to the small business sector while stressing effective grievance redressal by banks and financial institutions.

Capital requirement assessment: PSBs required to present to the Department of Financial Services under ministerial oversight.
Assessment of capital needs for public sector banks will be conducted by requiring all PSBs to make individual presentations to the Department of Financial Services; these regionally scheduled sessions will be attended by senior Ministry of Finance officials, including the Minister of State (Finance) and the Secretary (Financial Services), to inform the Department's capital planning for PSBs.

Public sector bank performance review assesses credit growth, NPAs, and social security scheme implementation across banks.
Review of annual financial performance of public sector banks and financial institutions focusing on credit growth in Agriculture, MSE, Education and Housing loans, assessment of Non-Performing Assets, and evaluation of implementation of key social security schemes, MUDRA progress, grievance disposal and the Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled Castes.

Company incorporation reforms streamline compliance and facilitate business entry; simplified trade documentation and MSME revival measures support market access.
Reforms to company registration and corporate compliance were presented to World Bank representatives: removal of minimum paid-up capital and common seal requirements, abolition of commencement filing, and single-step incorporation via INC-29. Administrative simplifications include eased loans or guarantees to wholly owned subsidiaries, simplified related party transaction approvals, and removal of certain board resolutions from disclosure. Trade and MSME measures include orders for MSME revival, Customs Clearance Facilitation Committees at ports, and reduction of import-export documents to three.

Prosecution of tax evaders: targeted prosecution and penalties in significant search-and-seizure cases to strengthen deterrence and promote compliance.
The CBDT states that decisive penalties and prosecution should be pursued only in known, large-scale tax-evasion cases where intrusive search-and-seizure action under Section 132 has been taken after intelligence-led selection and due diligence, because mere tax recovery in such exceptional cases lacks sufficient deterrent effect and undermines voluntary compliance.

Financial Redress Agency roadmap to implement a principle-based regulatory and governance framework for consumer redress.
Establishment of a Task Force to design a roadmap for creating a Financial Redress Agency to implement FSLRC recommendations, with the Task Force constitution published by the Ministry of Finance and a mandate to operationalise the Commission's proposal for a specialised consumer redress agency.

IBRD Loan Agreement enables financed urban services upgrades and credit enhancements, with grants and technical assistance supporting ULB reform.
Signing of an IBRD Loan Agreement and project agreements commits World Bank financing to a Tamil Nadu urban development programme aimed at improving urban services in participating Urban Local Bodies through capital investments, a reserve fund to provide credit enhancements for municipal bonds and other market-based instruments, result-based grants to eligible ULBs for governance and financial sustainability reforms, and technical assistance to strengthen ULB and sector capacity.

Automatic Exchange of Information expands cross-border financial reporting under CRS to detect offshore tax evasion.
India acceded to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement to implement the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), requiring financial institutions to report extensive account-level information, including controlling persons and beneficial owners, for automatic exchange. Domestic enabling amendments were made through the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2014 to the Income-tax Act reporting provision, and rules and guidance are being developed to operationalise cross-border information exchange to combat international tax evasion.